Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Police Beat (04/14/15)

Photo by Kyle Hayden, Design Editor

Graffiti vandals deface Oxford homes

Between 1 and 7 a.m. Sunday, vandals embarked on a graffiti spree across town, bravely armed with a can of cherry red spray-paint and nocturnal anonymity. According to OPD, the suspects are still at large, but their vibrant, explicit work has tainted several blocks.

The cancer spreads down W. Church St. where can be found a star, which OPD suspects is "Satanic in nature," and a swastika. A home on N. Beech St. was defaced with the word, "cumster." A home on W. Withrow St. was tagged with the crudely scrawled, "Sex Shack" and on a blank sign before a structure formerly a church was sprayed, "666."

The vandals' stupefying cleverness crept to N. Campus, where "F*ck Boys" was written on the side of a house. A structure on E. Church St. was tagged with the C-word, again in bright red spray paint. Two other structures were painted with unreadable verbiage, OPD said.

OPD said they are concerned these incidents may have been inspired by recent news coverage regarding similar vandalism on and off-campus.

Afternoon assault at The Wood's

At 5:11 p.m. Saturday, OPD was dispatched to the intersection of Church and Main Streets in response to an alleged assault at The Wood's, 17 N. Poplar St. A Wood's employee claimed he was hit once in the back of the head and twice in the nose by the assailant, who he had followed from the bar to the intersection upon the arrival of an OPD officer.

The officer spotted the employee following a white male, who the officer immediately recognized as the same suspect he had transported to Butler County Jail two weeks prior, after he mailed himself four pounds of marijuana.

The employee reiterated to the officer his accusations against the suspect, who admitted to smacking the victim upside the head but denied blows to the nose, according to OPD.

The suspect repeatedly stated he was drunk, OPD said, though the rank odor of an alcoholic beverage wafting from his person had already let that cat out of the bag. He was cited for assault and taken to OPD.

He was released on his own recognizance to a sober friend. Indeed, the same friend who was with him at his drug trafficking arrest and attempted to flee the scene.

Germ-fearing female pulled over for drunk driving, mistakes police car for own car

At 12:56 a.m., Friday, an OPD officer pulled over a red Mazda at the intersection of Oxford-Millville Rd. and University Park Blvd. after clocking the vehicle traveling south at 61 mph - 16 mph over the speed limit of 45 mph.

The driver, the sole occupant, admitted to having consumed two drinks of Makers Mark and Diet Coke at Buffalo Wild Wings earlier that evening. Speaking to the suspect, the officer could smell the drinks ripe on her breath, and observed her words were slurred, OPD said.

Having driven barefoot, the suspect insisted she put on her high heeled shoes before exiting the vehicle to perform the field sobriety tests. The officer, citing warm weather, assured her this was not necessary. However, fearing "germs on the ground," the suspect eventually exited the vehicle in her heels, immediately stumbled and planted her hand on the car for balance.

After that confidence-inspiring start, the suspect revealed six clues of intoxication and at one point lost her balance and flung her arm toward the officer to hold her up. The suspect decided she would search for her gym shoes in a bag in her backseat. The officer obliged, but the female instead approached the police cruiser and grasped the driver's door handle. Suddenly realizing she did not, in fact, drive a police cruiser, the suspect slowly removed her hand and moved on to her vehicle in which no shoes were found.

The officer identified a rather clean patch of sidewalk and convinced the suspect to continue the tests barefoot. However, this was no help and she failed as deftly as in her heels, saying, "I know this doesn't look good," according to OPD.

The officer arrested the suspect on suspicion of OVI and transported the 26-year-old woman to OPD, where she was notified of her license suspension and refused a breath test, saying, "I am not denying I have done anything wrong," but fearing she was over the legal BAC limit of .08, OPD said. As she spoke with officers, the slur in her speech thickened, which indicated to officers she was "still climbing," according to OPD. She was cited for speed and OVI.