Police Blotter
Man charged in fatal shooting after fight
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An Augusta man was arrested Sunday, charged in the shooting death of a Columbia County man.
Terry Antwan Ramsey, 40, of the 2300 block of Gordon Highway, was booked into the Augusta-Richmond County Detention Center at about 9:30 a.m. on charges of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, according to a jail official.
He was being held without bond in the death of Richard Paprocki, 36, of the 300 block of Avery Landing in Martinez.
According to a statement from the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, police went to Ramsey's home at 3:22 a.m. after a report that shots had been fired there.
Richmond County sheriff's Lt. Scott Peebles said deputies were told the men had argued before Ramsey fired at least nine shots at Paprocki using a handgun.
Woman is killed in wreck after her car runs off road
An Evans woman died Sunday afternoon after she lost control of her car on a two-lane gravel road in Appling.
Linda Kay Hayes, 50, of Skeeter Lane, died about 5 p.m. in the single-car accident on Gray Road off Louisville Road, according to Columbia County Deputy Coroner Harriett Garrison.
Hayes was driving a 1995 Volkswagen Jetta at high speed when she lost control and ran into a tree, Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.
Garrison said a toxicology examination is pending.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional police reports are available at www.columbia countyso.org:
Robbery attempted in store restroom
An Augusta woman called police Friday to report that someone had tried to rob her at knifepoint in the restroom of a Martinez store.
The 49-year-old said she was walking into a stall in Kmart, at 3830 Washington Road, about 5 p.m. when a woman entered mumbling that she was going to get the purse. The stranger pushed her face-first against the stall door and hit her on the neck while struggling over her purse. The complainant said her attacker held a small-bladed knife to her wrist.
The attack ended when someone else walked into the restroom. The victim stayed in the stall, where she heard her attacker speak to the newcomer, then leave the restroom.
The victim said that nothing was taken but that the strap on her purse was broken during the struggle.
Man is arrested after five-mile police pursuit
An Augusta man was arrested Sunday morning after leading police on a five-mile chase along Belair Road in a stolen pickup truck.
Michael Danelo King, 33, of 1900 block of Murphy Road, was charged with theft by receiving stolen property, fleeing and attempting to elude police, and five traffic violations. He was being held without bond in the Columbia County Detention Center Tuesday, according to jail records.
A Columbia County sheriff's deputy responded to a call of a reckless driver at the eastbound Interstate 20 off-ramp at Belair Road about 4 a.m. and saw King's truck swerve out of its lane and run over a curb at Park West Drive. When the deputy tried to pull over the Ford F-250 pickup, a chase began.
King drove over a median and made a U-turn on Belair Road, not stopping for red traffic signals at Columbia, Cox and Washington roads, the deputy said. King drove into oncoming traffic for about a quarter-mile near Roxbury Drive, the deputy said.
Police used spike strips at University Parkway to flatten all four of King's tires, but he continued at 40 to 50 mph to Evans to Locks Road and Industrial Park Drive, where he was arrested. The truck he was driving had been reported stolen from Monroe County.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Activity Report for July 27-Aug. 2:
Structure fires, three; vehicle fires, four; wood/brush/grass fires, three; controlled/unauthorized burn, one; activated fire alarms, 12; medical incidents, 20; vehicle accidents, nine; gas line rupture, one; investigate various incidents, six; assist residents, two; mutual aid/public safety assistance, one; and other, two.