Police had a weird and somewhat wild Wednesday. Here are some highlights from yesterday's police activity:
Dining In: At some point between 1 and 7 a.m., someone broke into the banquet hall of Skyline Ranch on Wheatland Road and helped themselves to $30 worth of food. They dined in, then proceeded to bathe after eating. The banquet hall does not, far as we know, have a bath tub. But they somehow made do. (Update: Robert Pitre, the owner of Skyline Ranch, called to complain about the above item being included in the post "You put us with some bullshit, and that's way out of line," he said, among other things.)
Fake Weed: Around 2:30 p.m., a pair of Dallas cops were conducting a routine convenience store inspection at Cloud 9, a smoke shop on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The manager met the officer at the door and showed him in but was reluctant to unlock the bars blocking access to the cashiers area. When the officers told him that refusing access to parts of the store was a violation of city ordinance, the man relented and let them back.
There, in plain sight, were "several clear gallon bags containing assorted pouches of K-2," the officers reported. More bags were behind the tobacco rack and in the hall leading to the restroom. One was stuffed with $890 cash. A log book on the counter listed various brands of K-2 with tally marks beside each. Officers seized a dozen pounds of the stuff. They did, however, let the manager keep the cash.
Embezzling Video Games: At 4 p.m., a manager at a GameStop on Buckner Boulevard reported that an employee had been giving unauthorized, under-the-table discounts to family and friends. All told, this cost the store $11,000, which suggests that the employee hangs out with people who do an enviable amount of video-game playing.
Fake License Plates: Maria Vargas, 34, showed up at the appointed location -- the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 3400 block of Webb Chapel -- at the appointed time -- 5:15 p.m. -- and handed the dealer $350. In exchange, he was supposed to give her two fake Texas license plates, but he demanded more. When she told him that was all she had, he slapped the 34-year-old in the face and snatched her purse. The man discovered that Vargas was, in fact, telling the truth, so he took her Mexican consular ID instead, then drove off. Police arrived and took Vargas' information. Then they took the fake license plates.
A Shotgun Wins Every Argument: At 6 p.m. Kevin Mitchell, 49, pulled his car into the parking lot of an auto shop at 2458 Fabens Road in Northwest Dallas. The owner of the shop, Kenneth Green, asked Mitchell to move the vehicle, which he said was blocking his front door. They argued. Then, Mitchell reached in the car and pulled out a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, which he pointed at Green. "I'm going to kill you," he said. Green ran to a neighboring business and called police from a cell phone. Mitchell was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Foiled Laundromat Robbery: At 8:30 p.m., Luis Muñoz was washing clothes at the Kool Wash Laundry in the 7900 block of Ferguson Road and minding his own business when, out in the parking lot, he saw someone being robbed at gunpoint. He grabbed a nearby screwdriver and rushed from the laundromat, tackling the robber, who was wearing a tan, long-sleeved shirt, gray sweatpants, and a do-rag around his forehead. They struggled briefly there on the asphalt before the robber was able to get his finger around the trigger and squeeze. He fired one shot into Muñoz's leg and another into his Nissan before taking off on foot down an alley. Muñoz was taken to Parkland.
