Mug Shots

The following were taken from actual incident reports filed last week by the City of Charleston Police Department. These are not convictions and the names of businesses, complainants, and suspects have been left off to protect the innocent. All suspects are  innocent until proven guilty, of course.
August 20 | General information
A man told police that after entering an Ashley River Road convenience store, two men began arguing in line, and one of the men showed an older woman a gun he was carrying. The woman exclaimed, “Lord, I just want to go home tonight.” Police soon found two men matching the description given by the witness. They both claimed not to have been fighting, and one of the men claimed that he had had a cigarette lighter that looked like a pistol, and had lit his cigarette with it, but that he didn’t know where it was. A quick search of the area uncovered a small butane cigarette lighter that looked like a pistol.
August 21 | Death investigation
Police responded to an Old Towne Road drugstore to investigate a report of a suspicious vehicle. When they arrived, the found an SUV parked with a man in the driver’s seat, slumped over the center console, pale and unresponsive. The man was pronounced dead. The plates on the vehicle turned out to be stolen and the investigation continues.
August 21 | Vandalism
A woman working late into the night at her Middlebury Lane home heard a suspicious noise and soon discovered it was someone trying to enter her bathroom through a window. The woman immediately called police, and a police dog tracked someone to a spot nearby on Westbury Road, where there were visible tire marks.
August 21 | Drunkenness
Police responding to a Sam Rittenberg Boulevard storage center found two non-English speaking, shirtless men, drunkenly walking around after business hours. Officers soon discovered a storage unit that was a makeshift bedroom, replete with sleeping bags, filled with phonebooks. Told they had to leave the premises, the men said they didn’t have money for a hotel room for the night, and asked if they could drive their van out of the center and find a place to park and sleep for the night. After officers informed them they were too drunk to drive, one of the men ignored orders and began walking toward a van that, as it turned out, had been involved in a collision with another vehicle parked inside the center. Both men were arrested.
August 21 | All other offenses
Following up on a disturbance complaint at a Savannah Highway hotel, police talked to a man staying in one of the rooms who had a hard time remembering his birth date. Several times, the man stuttered out dates close to each other when asked, and giving what turned out to be a false name. Eventually, he gave his real name and birth date, which resulted in the officer discovering two active warrants for his arrest. The man said “just take me to jail,” which the officer did, noting the good job the man did remembering his name, date of birth, and even Social Security number once incarcerated.
August 21 | All other offenses
Police tracked a car travelling in excess of 70 miles per hour along the Mark Clark Expressway and followed the car into West Ashley. The car tried to elude police by charging through a red light, eventually coming to a stop near Hazelwood Drive. Once stopped, the driver of the car leapt out and ran into the night. A female passenger then clambered into the front seat. She told police that she knew the driver from Facebook, but didn’t know his real name; his profile included a name with the word “Jiggy” in it, but no photos.
August 21 | Forgery/counterfeit
A worker at a Savannah Highway fried chicken restaurant reported a man passing two altered checks for $1,500 at the establishment in the same day.