From Bryan County Sheriff’s Office and Richmond Hill Police Department incident reports.
April 14
A woman went to the BCSO office to report the following: “She stated she has been trying to sell her 1989 Chevy RV. She stated Friday a (man) approached her about the RV and was interested in buying the vehicle for $1,500. She stated no money has been given to her nor her (mother) at this time.”
Later that day, the deputy was sent to the woman’s home “in reference to an unwanted subject on her property in her RV. Upon my arrival, I made contact with (the mother, who) advised that the subject was living in her RV without permission.”
All’s well that ends well, apparently. The deputy went to check and “no one was in the RV at this time. I gave (the mother) a case number and advised her to call if the subject comes back.”
April 15
BCSO deputies were sent to Interstate 95 near mile marker 80 around 2:30 a.m. “In reference to a semi-truck, which had struck something in the middle of the roadway, which caused his fuel tank to puncture,” a report says.
The deputy who wrote the report said that while on his way to the call, he ran over a “piece of tire” in the middle lane near mile marker 82. When he got to the tractor-trailer, Liberty County authorities also were there, and the driver said he hit a “tire tread in the roadway causing a puncture to his driver’s side diesel tank.”
The driver said he kept driving “into Liberty County with the punctured tank to keep the diesel fuel from spilling into the marsh,” the report says, noting the truck had just fueled up in Savannah and had around 500 gallons in the tanks.
What’s more, there was no shutoff valve to the two tanks, which were connected. And the driver’s side tank had already leaked half of its fuel and “it was still flowing,” the deputy reported.
It apparently was a mess.
“There was an abundance of diesel fuel on the bridge in Liberty County, enough to where it was puddling up on the bridge. A Liberty County fire engine from Station 20 arrived on scene,” the report says. “They evaluated the scene and began to dump absorbent powder on the diesel fuel nearest the truck.”
Then, a chief from Liberty County said the diesel fuel on the bridge would “dissipate,” the report said. “However, I called for our Battalion 1 captain … to come to the scene. Additional Liberty County and Bryan County responding units were told to disregard by Liberty County’s Station 20 Chief ….. “
This apparently was because the leak from the fuel tanks “appeared to have been slowed down by someone on scene, possibly the fire units, stuffing a glove in the puncture. After the two bags of absorbent powder were put on the spilling diesel fuel, (the Liberty County firefighters) left the scene” the deputy reported.
The deputy stayed put.
“Due to the amount of diesel fuel which was still spilling onto the grassy area beside the truck, I radioed central to have the Department of Transportation respond to our location in reference to performing evaluating the area for a HAZMAT containment area,” he wrote.
Another BCSO deputy at the site asked the truck driver what tow company he wanted to call. He was told the driver’s boss was on the way from Hardeeville, South Carolina, and wanted to drive the truck out of there.
“I informed (the driver) to tell his boss that the truck was not going to be able to be driven due to the leak,” the deputy reported. “Again, (the driver) said his boss declined a tow service and was wanting to drive the truck. Therefore, I radioed central to make contact with the Department of Public Safety and to have a motor carrier compliance division officer en route to evaluate the truck’s condition.”
By now, Liberty County’s EMA deputy director had shown up to take over.
“At this point, the fuel had leaked about 15 feet onto the grass,” the report says, adding that the EMA deputy director was beginning his assessment.
The reporting deputy left the driver a business card, left another deputy at the site to wait on DOT and later learned the DOT had sent a Brunswick-based contractor known as DBi to clean things up.
April 18
Police were sent to the Scottish Inn around 4 a.m. regarding a woman who wanted a man out of her room.
Officers met the woman in the lobby and she “stated an unauthorized male was in her room.” They then checked the front desk and learned the room was rented out to the woman and “an unknown guest.”
Police then went to the room, where they met the man, which the report described as “the complainant’s longtime boyfriend,” and “advised him of the situation.”
That didn’t go over so well.
“(The man) stated since he was having to leave the room he was going to let (the officers) know there were drugs in the room,” the report says.
The woman refused to allow the men to search the room, but did let them search her purse. Meanwhile, “(the man) took it upon himself to pull a used crack pipe from behind the refrigerator and retrieved an empty … plastic bag from the bathroom counter that (he) stated contained (his girlfriend’s) crack.”
The room was then searched and officers found a scouring pad, which is commonly used as a crack-pipe filter, in a small bag. The stuff was confiscated and taken to RHPD. The boyfriend left, but not before letting police search his belongings after his girlfriend claimed he’d stolen some of her belongings. He didn’t have anything on him, the report says.
April 19
An RHPD officer patrolling Highway 17 spotted a car at the Richmond Hill Car Wash with “the driver door open and a white male subject laying on the ground next to it.”
The officer turned around and pulled into the parking lot of the car wash and “made contact with this individual …” the report says, claiming the 32-year-old man reeked of alcohol, was hard to understand because he mumbled “and he did not know where he was or how he got to where he was at.”
“At this time, I requested for EMS to come and check this subject sure he was okay,” the officer wrote. “EMS squad 2 responded to the scene and checked him out and stated he was okay just intoxicated. While EMS was speaking to (the man) I heard him tell them that he was drinking at a bar and consumed at least seven or eight beers before trying to walk to his residence (a Willow Oak address).”
And then this: “(The man) also told (EMS) that he did not know who the vehicle belonged to but opened the door to sit inside and rest before he finished walking the rest of the way home.”
The man refused to be taken to the hospital and “was up and walking just fine upon the departure of EMS,” the officer noted, then checked information on the car, which had a New York registration sticker on its windshield. After failing in his attempt to discover who owned the vehicle, which seemed to be undamaged, the officer arrested the man for public drunkenness and loitering.
He was taken to RHPD, cited and then was bonded out by his mom.
Fuel leak causes lots of problems
RHPD, BCSO blotters
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