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 communities.
RACCOON RESCUE
When a baby raccoon somehow got its head stuck in a storm drain in Newburyport, local first responders came to the rescue. On the morning of July 22, firefighters and Animal Control Officer Kayla Provencher donned protective gloves, flipped open the storm drain, and were able to successfully free the raccoon.
RAT RACE
In the early afternoon on Aug. 20, Globe photographer Pat Greenhouse was driving north on Interstate 93 in Boston when she saw a surprising sight before her: a rat scampering across the highway. “I was going at a good clip,” said Greenhouse, who watched as the rodent literally ran for its life across every lane of the highway. “It made it across.” Greenhouse has seen a lot of things in her career as a photojournalist, but this was definitely a first. She’s no fan of rats, but she acknowledged that what she witnessed was a testament to their resilience.
SUSPICIOUS GOLF CART
Imagine this: A mysterious golf cart puts a neighborhood on high alert. Sound like something that would happen on the Cape or Islands? You got it! On Aug. 5, a homeowner in Sandwich emailed police to let them know that two men on a golf cart had been caught on the owner’s Ring camera turning around in their driveway in the wee hours of Aug. 3 — 1:15 a.m., to be exact. A couple days later, another homeowner who’d seen a neighborhood Facebook post about the mysterious golf carting duo reported a similar sighting to police. Police said a golf cart that appeared to look like the one in the security camera videos was located in a local driveway, and neighbors said the owner was away but his son had been at the home on the weekend of Aug. 3. Police contacted the homeowner who made the initial report about the duo, who now reported that two Amazon packages that had been on their front porch that evening had not been touched, alleviating any further concerns. “Sounds like joy riders but extra patrols have been added to the area,” police wrote.
BOYFRIEND TROUBLE
At 5:18 p.m. July 5, Bridgewater police received a call from an individual on Meadow Lane who reported that their vehicle had been broken into and rummaged through, and the perpetrator had left a clue inside the vehicle: a screwdriver. Upon investigation, police learned that the caller’s boyfriend had actually borrowed the vehicle.
OFFICER, THE GPS DID IT
Let’s face it, we’re more reliant on GPS devices than ever. But sometimes following the digital map on the glowing screen before you just doesn’t make sense. Case in point: At 3 a.m. July 14, MBTA Transit Police were alerted to a vehicle that had driven onto the trolley tracks at Packard’s Corner, located at the intersection of Commonwealth and Brighton avenues in Boston. The driver of the 2020 Kia told police that he was following his GPS and ended up on the Green Line tracks. T officials responded to inspect those tracks and the vehicle had to be towed from the scene, police said. Another instance of GPS-blaming occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 6, when the 35-year-old driver of a 2004 Honda crashed into the back of an MBTA bus at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Dimock Street. According to MBTA Transit Police, the driver “claimed they were following their GPS.” Police said the vehicle was towed from the scene and the driver would be summoned to court for driving with a suspended license. There were no reports of injuries.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.