Bus driver finds small boy on roadside

A bus driver found a small boy in his underwear on the side of Hardman Morris Road recently.

The driver told officer Stephen Waller that she found the boy standing on the white line near the railroad tracks and stopped and put him on her bus, bringing him to Colbert Elementary School.

She said the boy told her his dad had left him at home alone. The father had already called 9-1-1 and picked up the child when officer Waller arrived. Investigator Patrick Holl went to the residence and met with the parents and a DFCS caseworker. The man told Waller that he always takes his son to daycare but this morning his wife was home so he left his son on the couch asleep. He said the boy apparently woke up and saw his dad leaving and went out the door thinking he was alone in the house. The child was left in his parent’s care.

Other incidents investigated by the sheriff’s department last week included:

•A female student was charged with carrying a weapon inside school grounds after another student told the resource officer that she saw the student with the knife in the lunch line. School officials confronted the girl, who took the knife out and handed it to an assistant principal. She said her boyfriend had tossed her the knife that morning as she arrived for school. The resource officer called the girl’s father to come pick her up and the man became irate, saying that they were “all liberals and what happened to the day when we all used to bring knives to school.” He also said they were just trying to “ruin” a kid.

•Criminal trespass and harassing phone calls were reported on Oak View Drive last week after a woman there said a man she had dated once was at her house and would not leave. She said she called 9-1-1 and set off her alarm to scare him away. He was gone by the time officer David Kidd arrived. She told Kidd that she has only known the man for a short while and that he has “some issues” concerning her. She showed Kidd where he had been texting her and calling her after she told him she did not want to speak with him anymore. She said she is afraid of him.

•Two boys were charged with simple battery and disrupting public school after a fight on a high school bus. The fight was allegedly over one boy texting his ex-girlfriend, who was the current girlfriend of the other boy.

•A woman on Christmas Circle reported that someone has taken the light bulb to her pump house twice.

•A wheelchair was stolen from the county government complex sometime in January.

•A woman on Kellogg Drive reported that she woke up to noises in her home. She said at first she thought it was her daughter coming home until the noise continued. She said she walked outside to find two young men loading her air compressor into their car. She said she walked toward them but that they did not appear nervous. After they left, she found that her husband’s toolbox and tools were also taken.

•A man on Colbert School Road reported that his backyard storage building had been burglarized.

•A woman on Hill Street reported that she and her friend got into an argument and that she told him she wanted him to leave. At that point she went inside and locked the door. He proceeded to knock over her scooter and take her dog.

•A missing person was reported on Jot-Em-Down Road last week. A woman said her son was last seen at Chicken Express in Danielsville after school a few days before.

•A man on Amberly Drive called 9-1-1 to ask that his wife and her grandfather be removed from the residence. Officer Gary Floyd told the man that since they lived there, they could only be removed through a civil process. The wife stated that she and her husband had been arguing that day and he had told her he would shoot himself in the head with the shotgun. The man denied this, but Floyd verified that a shotgun was in the house, and was kept under the couch for protection. Floyd told them they would need to separate for the evening. They agreed and the man said he would collect his belongings later.

•A man on Norwood Road reported that a woman had held a knife to his neck (which was covered in a neck brace) and stated that she wished he was dead. He said the woman also stole his Lortabs. She had left prior to the officer’s arrival.

•A man on Bellew Drake Road reported that his Snapper lawnmower was stolen from his house. He said he had been doing yard work and had left the mower to go to the store. A neighbor told him they saw an older model Chevrolet truck riding up and down the road while he was gone.

•A woman on New Hope Church Road said someone had placed nails across her driveway. She said she had a suspect in mind but did not wan to list them on the report.

•A middle school student was charged with disrupting public school last week after he had an outburst in class and refused to follow instructions or obey his teacher.

•A man on Clover Avenue reported that two chainsaws and a thermal imaging camera were stolen from his garage.

•Two dogs were “put down” by an officer after he was summoned to a trailer park on Willis Glenn Road. Officer Jason Ring responded to the scene where he found two dogs fighting. The owner of the dogs said his pit bull had bit him while he was attempting to break up the fight and requested that the dog be put down. After several attempts to stop the pit bull from attacking the other dog, Ring complied and shot the dog. The other dog was seriously injured and in shock. The owner signed the animal over to animal control officers, who took it to the landfill, where it was also put down by Ring. The owner said the dogs were not up to date on their rabies vaccines. He later drove himself to the hospital for treatment.

•A resident on Adams Duncan Road reported that a utility trailer stored on her property had been stolen sometime in the past week. The trailer was stored in a garage away from her house, so she couldn’t name a specific date that it was taken.

•A woman on Hwy. 29 North reported that the battery was stolen from her van overnight.

•Three boat motors were taken from a garage at a home on David’s Home Church Road.

•Officer Joshua Smith responded to the Quick Pick on Hwy. 72 regarding a report of a woman allegedly wanting to commit suicide by jumping into traffic. Smith met with the woman, who said she had become depressed over a situation with a family member. Smith asked her multiple times if she was thinking of hurting herself or others and she reportedly responded “no” each time. She refused transport to the hospital for an evaluation and left the store walking toward Athens, after refusing transport to a safe location.

9-1-1 reports

Calls made to the county 9-1-1 office in the past week included:

•A person was transported to a local hospital following a two-vehicle accident on Hwy. 72 in Carlton Jan. 14.

•A woman who was eight-months pregnant complained of back pain following a two-vehicle accident at 7:24 a.m. Jan. 16 on General Daniel Avenue.

•A driver complained of chest pain after a one-car accident at Hwy. 98 and Pine Valley Farm Road at 6:19 a.m., Jan. 17.

•A woman refused medical attention after she ran her vehicle down an embankment on Jot Em Down Road near Hwy. 98 at 8:28 p.m., Jan. 17.