The following were taken from actual incident reports filed last month by the Folly Beach Public Safety Department. These are not convictions and the names of businesses, complainants, and suspects have been left out to protect the innocent. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty … of course.
Sunday, May 1
Nudie Time
The Responding Officer (R/O) was on routine patrol around 1 a.m. in front of a Folly Beach hotel when he observed three subjects, a 27-year-old male, a 41-year-old male, and a 37-year-old female yelling on the beach and running into the ocean while wearing no clothing. The officer also observed other beachgoers were leaving the area due to the subjects’ antics. The officer made contact with the offenders (hopefully got them clothed), and issued them all citations for Disorderly Conduct.
Tuesday, May 3
Animal Molestation
The R/O was dispatched to the fifth block of East Erie in reference to suspicious activity. A witness had observed an unknown person flying a drone around a nearby cell phone tower and buzzing an osprey nest on the tower. The witness said they believed the drone operator was attempting to drive the federally protected bird from its nest. The witness had obtained a tag number for the drone operator’s vehicle and the Department of Natural Resources was contacted to investigate.
Wednesday, May 4
Beastie Boys Visit Folly
The R/O was dispatched to a West Arctic residence around 11:30 a.m. in reference to a case of vandalism. Upon arrival, he met with two victims, a 26-year-old man and his 52-year-old mother, both visiting Folly Beach. The victims reported that sometime during the morning, two Mercedes Benz vehicles had had their Mercedes emblems removed from a 2005 Roadster and 2008 C-class. The female victim said she had seen two juvenile males loitering around the cars that morning, and gave the officer a description of the suspects.
Wednesday, May 4
Bad Day on Folly
Around 2 p.m. a group of patrons outside of Loggerheads heard a car crash on the street below the deck. They observed a silver in color SUV crashed into a telephone pole. They observed a 21-year-old male exit the vehicle and walk away from the scene. The police were called and the 45-year-old female owner of the car was called to the scene. The woman said she knew the man who had been driving her car, and that she had not given him permission to do so. However, she declined to press charges “due to his rough past and hard life.” The vehicle was towed and a crash report completed.
About two hours later, an officer was dispatched to the community park behind the library around 4 p.m. in reference to a case of vandalism and other crimes. Upon arrival, the officer met with a witness who said she had seen the 21-year-old male subject (the same as the hit and run incident) stab and deflate a tire on a Ford van in the parking lot and then brandish the knife. The witness got scared and went into the library to call police. The R/O observed the flat tire and located the subject behind the library using an outside power outlet to charge his phone. The officer asked the subject if he was carrying a knife and he replied he was. The officer took the knife off of the subject and found it to be an illegal weapon according to the city’s laws on length of blades in the city. The knife was confiscated and the subject was issued citations for illegal possession of a weapon and vandalism and released.
Thursday, May 5
Call for Service Backfires
The R/O was dispatched to and East Hudson Avenue residence in reference to an illegally parked vehicle. Upon arrival, the officer met with the 58-year-old male complainant who was requesting the vehicle be towed. Upon further investigation it was determined the complainant had an active warrant out for his arrest from 2014. The subject insisted the warrant was a mistake and he had already served the time for the crime. However, Charleston County dispatchers insisted the warrant was valid, and the man was taken into custody and transported to the county jail.
Monday, May 9
Blazing Up on East Ashley
The R/O was dispatched to an East Ashley residence around 7 p.m. in reference to a woman starting a fire in her yard. Upon arrival, the officer met with the 32-year-old female subject who admitted to starting a grass fire in her yard, which by then had been extinguished. At this time a neighbor showed the R/O a video of the woman lighting a 10 to 15-foot strip of grass and leaves on fire. During the investigation, the subject said she had started the fire to clear some debris and to try to get rid of fire ants. Fire department personnel were called to the scene and determined the fire to be an illegal burn, and the subject was ticketed for the crime.
Tuesday, May 10
The Trouble with Cleaners
A 30-year-old woman entered public safety headquarters around 9 a.m. to report a case of possible harassment. She said she worked at a Folly Beach hotel, and believed two other women previously under her employ as housekeepers might be trying to intimidate her. She said the two subjects were poor employees, and she would often have to go behind them to compete inadequately performed tasks. At some point a of this lead to conflict between the three women, however the complainant said she thought the issue had been put to rest. However, the previous week, she had been driving around James Island and noticed a car following her. She observed one of the subjects driving. The car followed her for awhile before turning off. A similar incident occurred the following day. The R/O informed her that she would need to contact the Sheriff’s Department if she wanted to pursue the matter. She said she didn’t want to proceed with the issue, but wanted if documented.
Tuesday, May 10
Missing Meds
The R/O was dispatched to a Folly Beach hotel around 1:30 p.m. in reference to missing medication. He met with the 56-year-old female victim who said she was missing over 120 tablets of various mood stabilizing drugs and painkillers. The woman said the pills were in a paper bag from her pharmacy in England, and believed the meds might have been thrown out by housekeeping by mistake. She said she was in contact with her pharmacy back in England and was trying to get her prescriptions emailed to her.
