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BCSO blotter: Deputies kept busy over July 4 holiday weekend
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From Bryan County Sheriff’s Office incident reports:

 DUI, reckless driving, more: A 31-year-old Ellabell woman was arrested around 2:40 a.m. July 6 after she was clocked going 104 mph on Highway 280 and then tried to outrun the deputy, turning onto Toni Branch Road and then into a subdivision before stopping at a residence. The 5-foot, 120-pound woman had to be stunned with a Taser twice after she got out of the car and seemed to be out of control, the report said. She was eventually taken to jail. An open bottle of sangria and another alcoholic beverage were found in her vehicle. She is charged with DUI, fleeing a police officer, failure to maintain lane and reckless driving.

Cruelty to children, suspended license, fleeing, etc: A deputy on “routine patrol” on July 4 in North Bryan heard a call to be on the lookout for a Toyota “with a driver under the influence,” and spotted the car coming off Bacontown Road and onto Highway 280.

The car headed west, the deputy followed and tried to pull it over, and “the vehicle started to slow down and pull over, but then got back onto the road,” and a chase followed in which the car passed a car on a hill in a no-passing zone and speed up to 75 mph on the two-lane road, “holding speed in the 70s even when we went into a 45 mph zone,” the deputy’s report said.

Evans County Sheriff’s Office deputies took over as the driver headed into Claxton, and the BCSO deputy’s supervisor “advised (him) to fall back because there was a small child in the vehicle not secured in a car seat.”

In Claxton, the ECSO deputy and a Claxton Police Department officer were able to box the driver in. He was arrested and turned over to the BCSO deputy, who arrested him on a list of charges, and took him to Bryan County Jail.

Speeding, no insurance: A deputy pulled over a car on Highway 144 over around 8:30 a.m. July 5 for doing 90 mph in a 55 mph zone. A check showed the driver’s insurance had been canceled. The woman was cited for no insurance and speeding and her car was towed.

Verbal dispute: A woman from Pooler and a woman from Helena got into a fight at the Bryan County Jail around 5:21 p.m. July 5.

“Upon review of the security footage it appeared that a verbal dispute occurred between the two before shoving, and hard fist blows were exchanged between the two,” a report said.

Both women “suffered redness and swelling in the face,” and both will be charged with “riotous activities in a penal institution,” the report said.

Identity theft: A South Bryan woman reported Jan. 2 someone tried to file unemployment benefits in Texas and North Carolina using her name and social security number. The woman said in April someone forged a check to her account from South State Bank, and that she closed her account there and then “an unknown offender with a heavy Indian accent was impersonating a Bryan County Sheriff’s Office Deputy on the phone and instructed her to turn herself into custody at (BCSO).”

A deputy told the complainant there was no deputy by the name the caller gave her and recommended the woman check with the credit bureau to “see if any other activity of that nature was occurring without her knowledge,” and to tell her bank what was going on. She was also given a case card and told how to get the incident report.

Matter of record: A Richmond Hill man reported June 5 a man in a Jeep twice drove by and tried to strike up a conversation with his teen daughter while she was walking the family’s dog on Barnard Road.

The man was described as driving a gray Jeep and at one point “got out of his vehicle and showed (the man’s underage daughter) a picture of his dog form his phone,” and invited her to “have her dog play with her dog,” before asking her to where she lived. The girl’s father said tried to “make contact” with the man but was unsuccessful. Another girl gave a similar story about the man driving past.

The father said he checked the sex offender registry and did not find anyone in the area but wanted to report the incident. He was given a case report number and told how to get a copy of the report.

Suspended license: A Rincon man was arrested July 6 after he was pulled over by a deputy after his vehicle was clocked doing 77 mph on Highway 280 near Stubbs Road. “As the vehicle came to a complete stop the driver, later identified as (a Rincon man), jumped out of the vehicle and began hitting his fist on the vehicle appearing very upset.”

After calling for backup, the deputy was given a different name by the man, who later offered his real name and date of birth, which led authorities to discover the man’s license had “multiple active suspensions,” the report said, noting he cooperated with deputies and was also able to contact the vehicle’s owner to come pick it up while he was taken to Bryan County Jail.

Bomb threat: Deputies were sent to a bomb threat at a business in the Interstate Centre on July 2. Deputies evacuated the building and bomb sniffing dogs from Chatham County and Long County were brought out to help search, and nothing was found and the building was cleared, the report said.

A complainant said an employee might have called in the threat, but deputies checked and found no record on his phone that “would put him calling in the bomb threat.”

Management got a case report number and told how to get a copy of the report.

Simple battery: An Ellabell man reported July 2 he while he was on his way home from the grocery store he came across two cars parked in the road, and waited for the drivers to finish their conversation.

“(Complainant) stated that he waited for the vehicles to move and didn’t say anything to them,” the report said, but “when the vehicle in front of him pulled away, the other vehicle pulled up to him, and he noticed (a man he’s allegedly had issues with in the past was driving one of the vehicles.”

The complainant said the man began “yelling at him and then spit on him and his vehicle,” then, “had followed him home and continued yelling and threatening to hurt him,” and “drove through his yard and stopped and threatened to hurt him.”

The complainant got a case report number card and told how to get a copy of the report.

Meth possession: A deputy was sent to a Pembroke address around 9:30 a.m. July 2 “in reference to a 29 year of age male high on an unknown substance and being belligerent.”

There, the deputy found the complainant and offender in the front yard, and after some discussion the offender told the deputy someone stole drugs from him at his motel room and also asked to be taken to jail for a “cool off period.”

The deputy complied after a search of the man’s belongings turned up suspected methamphetamine.

Drugs: Deputies were sent to the Strathy Hall pool around 1 a.m. July 4 regarding a car parked with a man inside. After a search with a K9 suspected fentanyl was found, and detectives were called. The man was arrested and the case is under investigation.

Hit and run, etc: A report of a “vehicle in a ditch with smoke coming from the engine area,” around Lee Drive and Bill Futch Road around 9:30 p.m. July 2 led to deputies finding the car and the owner living nearby.

“Heavy damage was observed to the front of the vehicle with a damaged interior portion of the windshield typical with an unrestrained driver impacting the windshield,” the report said. “No keys were located in the vehicle. With the assistance of Bryan County Fire Department the immediate surrounding the vehicle was searched with a thermal imaging camera in the event the driver exited and collapsed in the surrounding area.”

The vehicle, meanwhile, was towed, and deputies went to the registered owner’s address. “Before deputies could approach the residence the owner greeted deputies at the door,” the report said, “it was apparent (he) was heavily intoxicated due to his slurred speech pattern and well as constant swaying while standing and an odor (the deputy) associate with alcoholic beverages.”

The man apparently told deputies his vehicle had been taken at some point that day and that he’d already called his insurance company about it, “however he provided no answer as to why he had not called 911 for a stolen vehicle.”

He also told deputies the vehicle was usually used by a cousin, but they couldn’t find the man.

“Due to (the owner’s) inconsistent testimony and intoxication deputies provided a case report number and explained how to obtain a copy of the report.”

Traffic and drug offenses: Three Charlotte, N.C., men were arrested on the night of July 1 after deputies clocked the car they were in doing 86 mph on Highway 17 south, then had to chase the car onto I-95 at speeds of over 100 mph all the way up to Port Wentworth, were the car was ultimately stopped near the 109 mile marker by Georgia State Patrol, the Georgia MCCD, Pooler Police and Port Wentworth police. A Pooler officer reported he saw objects being thrown from windows, and police recovered “pills believed to be Xanax” in a small plastic bag. The three men were taken to Bryan County Jail on an assortment of charges.

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