Police make jest: ‘Donut’ litter the streets
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 lesserknown — but no less noteworthy — incidents from police log books (a.k.a. blotters) in our suburbs.
DROPPIN’ DONUTS
Someone in the Freetown Police Department has a sense of humor. On Oct. 17, the department tweeted a photo of a Freetown police cruiser stopped in front of an overturned box of Dunkin’ donuts; a few of which were strewn across the middle of a road. The photo was accompanied by the coyly written caption: “Okay folks… We take this one personally,” along with the hashtags “#donutlitter” and “#thingsyouseewhileonpatrol.”
’TIS THE SEASON
At 11:48 a.m. on Oct. 2, Medfield police received a report of a suspicious-looking sign in the upper window of a house on Lincoln Court. Police were told the sign was emblazoned with the words “DON’T ENTER, HELP” written in red. Police checked on the home, and everything was actually fine. The sign in the window was a Halloween decoration.
At 9:13 a.m. on Oct. 4, Hingham police received a call from a person who was out running and noticed something strange in a side yard of a home on Main Street: a bag with the the words “city morgue” written on it. Police went out and checked on the bag, and reported that it was not an actual body bag; just another Halloween decoration.
WHAT’S HE DOING?
At 7:02 a.m. on Oct. 13, Norwood police received a report of a man on a bridge on Brook Street climbing over the guardrail toward the water. The responding officers spoke to the man and learned he had a good reason for doing so, because he was taking water samples for the Neponset River Watershed Association.
JOY RIDING ON THE WATER At 5:56 p.m. on Oct. 16, Hingham police received a call from a person at the Hingham Maritime Center at 23 Summer St. who said someone took one of its boats, put it on a dolly, dragged it to the water, and then took one of the oars and “went for a joy ride.” The freeloader did, however, put the boat back on the beach with the oar and the dolly. Police took a report of the incident.
TIKTOK BEANING
At 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 6, a woman walked into the Saugus police station to report that someone had dumped out a can of Goya beans on her concrete front steps and left the can behind. She said she was told the prank is a TikTok challenge and wanted to make the police aware of it in case similar incidents were reported elsewhere.
UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS
At 12:13 a.m. on Sept. 17, Wilmington police received a call from an employee at McDonald’s who was dealing with a “verbally abusive” customer at drive-thru window. According to the log entry, the man drove off in a blue Nissan Altima. Police told the employee to call back if he returned.
The very next day, at 3:19 p.m., an employee at Market Basket in Wilmington reported a disturbance with a customer in a checkout line. The log stated that when the customer was told he couldn’t go in that particular line due to the number of items he had, he became belligerent and started swearing at the employees. Police responded and reported that the customer eventually checked out and was sent on his way. Before he left, however, he was advised of his license status — he wasn’t allowed to drive — and he had a friend pick him up and get his vehicle.