Published: April 22, 2008 08:40 pm      

BLOTTER: Police reports published April 23

NIAGARA FALLS

Bench injures woman on Old Falls Street

A TeleTech employee reported to police Tuesday morning that she was injured when a bench on Old Falls Street she was sitting on gave way.

The 34-year-old woman, who was on a break at the time, said screws on one side of the bench “gave out” and the bench flipped over, causing her to fall to the ground. The woman was taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center for treatment and x-rays, police said.



Florida man gets rocky Falls welcome

Sitting in his parked car on the 2200 block of Woodlawn Avenue about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, a West Palm Beach, Fla., man told police a Niagara Towing truck driving by dropped several stones from its rear flatbed, one of which cracked the windshield of his ’98 Ford Windstar. Niagara Towing told police if the man filed a report he would be reimbursed for the damage.



GRAND ISLAND

School locked down after bullet found

Grand Island High School went into “lock-down mode” Tuesday morning after live ammo was found inside the school.

A 16-year-old student told school officials he found a .270-caliber rifle round on the hallway floor of the foreign language department about 10:45 a.m., according to State Police. Troopers brought in a K-9 and reviewed video surveillance but were unable to determine how the bullet got in the school or find any others.

The lock-down was terminated and the school was dismissed at its normal time of 2 p.m., according to police. An investigation is continuing.



Niagara Falls

• DWI: Mark B. Willard, 43, Buffalo, was charged with DWI and speeding about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to city police. Willard was stopped after officers said they spotted his ’99 GMC Jimmy traveling at a high rate of speed down the westbound lane of the LaSalle Expressway. Once pulled over, officers said it appeared Willard was intoxicated but he refused to take field sobriety tests, telling officers, “No, I won’t take them. You might as well arrest me now.” Officers obliged him and he was taken to police headquarters where he also refused a breath test.

• DRUG CHARGE: Lester Cook Jr., 24, 1759 Virginia Ave., was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance about 3 a.m. Tuesday, according to police. An officer on patrol noticed a Chrysler 300 parked on the 1700 block of Ashland Avenue with the engine running and three people apparently asleep inside. When Cook, who was in the driver’s seat, opened the door of the car, officers noticed a hydrocodone pill in a plastic container. Cook said it was for a toothache.

• DISORDERLY CONDUCT: Larese E. Ellison, 28, 1005 17th St., was charged with disorderly conduct about 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to police. Officers stopped Ellison’s ’99 Chevy Suburban near 17th Street and LaSalle Avenue and charged him because the stereo was playing too loudly.

• THREAT: A 34-year-old city resident told police a man on a bicycle waived a gun at her after she told him and a woman to leave the area of a vacant garage in an alley near the 1900 block of Falls Street. While pointing the gun, the woman said the bicyclist told her, “ ... I’m gonna shoot you. This is my neighborhood.” Several officers responded to the area but were unable to locate the man.

• THREAT: A couple sitting in a parked car on the 1700 block of Caravelle Drive early Tuesday morning reported a man threatened them with a knife. The couple said they were sitting in the car about 4:30 a.m. when a man walked up to the car and asked, “Are you the (expletive) who woke me up?” As he spoke the man tapped a knife on the side of the car. The couple drove off and reported the incident.

• THEFT: School officials at LaSalle Middle School, 7236 Buffalo Ave., told police a purse containing an iPod was stolen from a student’s locker Tuesday. The lock for the locker had previously been stolen, the student reported, so the locker was unlocked at the time of the theft.

• THEFT: A resident of the 1300 block of South Avenue told police she saw a man running from her property about 2 p.m. Tuesday and then discovered copper piping had been taken from several places in her home.

• THEFT: The owner of a residence on the 600 block of Pine Avenue reported that sometime between Saturday and Tuesday someone took $500 in copper piping from the vacant three-apartment building.

Grand Island

• DWI: Michael S. Brady, 54, of Grand Island, was charged with DWI on Thursday, according to State Police. Brady was stopped for not wearing a seat belt while driving north on the I-190 and charged.

Lewiston

• POSSESSION: Van Herkimer, 35, 614 35th St., Niagara Falls, was charged Tuesday with criminal possession of a weapon. Herkimer and a woman were found lying naked and asleep in the backseat of a parked car. After being waking the couple up, police said a search of the car turned up a pair of metal knuckles.

City of Lockport

• SUSPENDED LICENSE: Kenneth Wrobel, 27, 7870 Gill Road, Gasport, was charged Monday with for having a suspended registration and operating a vehicle with a suspended license. The police report said police spotted a vehicle heading southbound on South Transit Street and a vehicle check revealed the registration was suspended. He is held in lieu of $250 bail. Wrobel is due at 9 a.m. April 30 in Lockport City Court.

• ALCOHOL: Joseph Lequeux, 18, 122 Cottage St., and Joshua Cooney, 20, 111 Elmwood Ave., were both charged with underage possession of alcohol. The report said police saw Lequeux and stopped him when he attempted to enter a house he did not belong in. He was found to be carrying a bottle of alcohol. While interviewing Lequeux, the report said Cooney walked by with a bottle of alcohol. Both were found to be underage. Both are due at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Lockport City Court.

Town of Lockport

• BURGLARY: A Holly Drive man reported to police Monday he left his residence to go shopping and his wife wanted to stay home. While they were watching TV in bed they noticed his watch missing from the top of the dresser next to the bed, and noticed the screen ripped open on the side door of the trailer. The man immediately went to his dresser and open the top drawer where he keeps his hand gun and it was missing along with three loaded speed loaders. The man said his $50 watch and a $300 hand gun and speed loaders from the drawer were missing. The wife stated when her husband left to go shopping she sat on the porch with the dog and never heard any noise coming from the back of the trailer. There were bicycle tracks leading up to and away from the side door of the trailer going in a south east direction.