Police Blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:
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Man selling car is punched
A Grovetown man said he was assaulted Thursday while meeting with a potential car buyer in a Martinez parking lot.
The 49-year-old said that about 9 p.m. he got a call from someone interested in meeting him about a car he had for sale in the parking lot near Stevi B's Pizza.
He said the customer told him, "You sold my cousin a car a few weeks ago and it caught fire. What are you going to do about that?"
The seller said he was sorry to hear it but that the car was sold "as is."
He said the buyer punched him in the face, and he fell and hit his head on the curb. The caller ran to his car and left.
The seller gave police the telephone numbers the assailant had called from and said he provided information about the previous car sale to police.
County utility truck stolen
A Columbia County water utility employee told police Saturday that a truck was stolen from a Martinez water treatment plant.
The employee said the unlocked Ford F-150 was taken between 3 and 4 a.m. from the parking lot of the Jim Blanchard Water Treatment Plant, 832 Point Comfort Road. The white truck had Columbia County magnetic signs on both doors.
The plant's video surveillance system recorded a white man about 6 feet tall, weighing 210 to 220 pounds, and wearing a white shirt and tan pants getting into the truck and driving away.
Cars entered in West Lake
Five residents of West Lake subdivision told police Saturday that money and electronics had been taken from their vehicles during the night.
Three residents on Inverness Way and Pebble Beach Drive said that after 11 p.m. Friday someone broke out windows of the vehicles in their driveways and stole two iPods and $50. Two other residents on Inverness Place and West Lake Circle said that during the same time someone entered three unlocked cars in their driveways and stole three laptop computers, an iPod and $1,700.
Vandals can't spell slur
A Grovetown woman told police Friday morning that she believes neighborhood juveniles vandalized her garage.
The 60-year-old said that between 6 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday someone entered the open garage door of her Laurel Falls home and painted a vulgarity on the wall. She said she believes the vandals are neighborhood children because they misspelled the word.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue report for May 30-June 5:
Structure fires, six; vehicle fires, two; controlled/unauthorized burns, three; activated fire alarms, 20; activated carbon monoxide detector, one; gas line rupture, one; electrical incident, one; medical incidents, 17; vehicle accidents, 10; investigate various incidents, three; assist residents, three; mutual aid/public safety assistance, three; and other, one.