Car Break-Ins, Shoplifters Keep Cops Busy in Forest Hills

July 20

• An Avenue A resident reported that a coffee can holding roughly $50 in change had been stolen from her boyfriend’s car between 7 a.m. and noon. Other valuable items, including a $1,200 diamond necklace, weren’t taken from the car.
• Police responded to an argument between a manager and suspected shoplifter at the Rite Aid on Yost Boulevard. When police arrived, the woman was gone. A store manager told police he stopped the woman when he thought she had put an item in her purse, over which the two proceeded to argue. A tug of war ensued, with the woman finally leaving the purse behind. The $26 item was recovered, and the purse and its contents were turned over to police.
• Police received a report that a car was entered and ransacked in the early morning on Avenue D, but nothing was taken. 
• An officer assisted Braddock Hills police in handling a verbal domestic dispute on Brinton Avenue.

July 21

• Police charged a man with disorderly conduct for marijuana possession after seeing pot “scattered upon his shirt” during a stop at a DUI check point. The man, Richard Jennings, said he was trying to get rid of the marijuana. Jennings was also cited for driving with a suspended license.
• A woman was hit with a water balloon thrown from a moving car as she left work at the Electric Avenue Cafe. She called police after following a vehicle occupied by three young men before it turned off of Ardmore Boulevard. Officers referred the incident to North Braddock police.
• An officer assisted North Braddock police in breaking up a fight between three men in the middle of Brighton Avenue.
• Police received a report that two vehicles were racing down Ardmore Boulevard around 6:30 p.m. County dispatch told an officer to let state police handle it, since the cars were heading onto the parkway.

July 22

• Police responded to a verbal dispute that broke out on Marwood Avenue after a family reunion. Officers noted no signs of physical abuse and advised the folks to part ways.
• After receiving a complaint from a nearby resident, police told a woman on Batavia Road to stop screaming profanities on her porch. 
• An officer assisted North Braddock police in responding to a suicide threat. When they arrived, the man had calmed down and was taken to a hospital.
• Officers stopped three juveniles on the 200 block of Avenue A shortly after 1 a.m., questioning them about a rash of car thefts in the area. A search produced nothing suspicious. Police notified them of their curfew violations and sent them home.

July 23

• Police received word that a woman was driving her scooter along Ardmore Boulevard with a small child seated on its back. When police arrived, they spotted the woman on the sidewalk and saw no problem with it.

July 24

• Officers responded to a report of a raccoon in a resident’s grill. The raccoon, which scurried away, didn’t seem rabid to the officers. Police told the resident to remove garbage from the back yard and call if the animal returns.

July 25

• An officer assisted Wilkins Township police in apprehending a person suspected of stealing from Sears. After observing a woman who fit the suspect’s description moving items from her vehicle to her garage, the officer turned her over to Wilkins Township officers who had arrived at the scene.
• Forest Hills and Churchill police searched a Churchill civic association building after finding the door open. Officers found nothing unusual inside.

July 26

• After using a Taser on a theft suspect and punching him in the face, police arrested a 16-year-old North Versailles boy suspected of breaking into three cars on Avenue A and Sumner Ave. early this morning. Read more .