Every day, police officers respond to reports of all sorts of events and nonevents, most of which never make the news. Here is a sampling of lesser-known — but no less noteworthy — incidents from police log books (a.k.a. blotters) in our suburbs.
WHEN COFFEE BECOMES A PROJECTILE
At 12:18 p.m. Jan. 5, Medfield police received a call from a driver of a gray 2018 Toyota RAV4 who alleged that another driver threw a cup of coffee at his vehicle on Main Street at the intersection of Routes 27 and 109. According to the log entry, the driver was calling from just over the Millis town line. The officer who was dispatched to the scene managed to track down both drivers and speak to them. The log entry stated that the motorists were “satisfied and have left the area without incident.”
HE CALLED POLICE ON HIMSELF
If you work in law enforcement (or if you’re a regular reader of this column), you’re probably aware that accidental 911 calls happen all too frequently. It’s usually an honest mistake, but imagine if the caller was wanted by authorities? That was the case when a man mistakenly dialed 911 on Jan. 19. The call came in to Bridgewater police at 11:35 p.m. and officers responded. The caller told police the call was accidental, and there was no emergency, but he made a major mistake when he gave a fake name to police. Upon further investigation, the officers determined that he had two active warrants out of New Bedford and Brockton, according to police, and he was placed under arrest.
SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY AT LOCAL BANKS
At 6:32 p.m. Dec. 21, Medfield police received a call from a citizen who saw two men who were apparently taking photos of an ATM machine. Police spoke to the men and confirmed that they weren’t doing anything nefarious; they were just employees working on the ATM machine.
At 12:08 p.m. Jan. 9, a resident of Olson Street in Wilmington told police that a suspicious man was taking photos of the Bank of America branch and the surrounding area. The resident told police the man was now in a black SUV in the parking lot. Police responded and located the fellow, who turned out to be a contractor from an engineering firm who was working for the bank on a planned renovation.
ODD THEFTS
At 11:51 a.m. Dec. 17, Bridgewater police heard from a local bus company reporting that around 2 a.m., someone was seen siphoning gas from the buses. Police later tweeted that the incident was under investigation.
On Jan. 12, police were called to Linden Place in Brookline to investigate a report of a larceny. The victim told officers that someone took outdoor statues from their property.
On Jan. 17, Stow police received a call from a man on Red Acre Road reporting “an attempted larceny of his father’s snow blower.”
KUDOS
The Natick Police Department recently gave a shout-out to Officer Derek Kane, who stopped a stolen vehicle in December. “That alone would be praise worthy but this story gets better,” police wrote on Facebook on Dec. 21. “During his investigation, he recovered tools in the vehicle. Through tenacity, he was able to trace these tools back to their owner. ... Although the original crime took place in Medford, Officer Kane was able to reunite the owner with his much missed and needed tools [in Natick]. Just in time to make the holidays merry and bright. Great job, as usual for this guy!”
Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.