Drunk driver arrested after witness takes car keys

Catherine Marie Bruce, 45, 1059 Grady Cleveland Road, Elberton, was charged with one count of DUI/alcohol.

According to the incident report, the witness said he had followed Bruce all the way from Commerce to Fowler Freeman Lane, where he managed to get the keys away from her. He said he saw her run a stop sign at Hwy. 106 and Hwy. 98 in Ila and that he followed her until she pulled into a driveway at the end of Fowler Freeman Lane, where he thought she would stop, but that she then pulled back into the road. He managed to get her stopped and took her keys to keep her from hurting someone.

Bruce’s eyes were glassy and her speech slurred. She was arrested at the scene.

In another incident, a driver pulled over last week for no headlights was ultimately arrested on drug charges after cocaine and marijuana were reportedly found in his vehicle.

Corey Brandon Price, 20, 969 Hwy. 172, Colbert, was charged with no proof of insurance, knowingly driving a motor vehicle on suspended, cancelled or revoked registration, more than two headlights prohibited and illegal possession of a controlled substance.

Other incidents on file at the sheriff’s office this week included:

•A 15-year old boy was arrested last week for simple battery FVA after he reportedly tried to stab his grandmother in the face with a pair of tweezers. The boy’s grandmother said he was unruly and she wanted him out of the house. She said he was breaking items and cursing her and his mother because they wouldn’t take him to Athens.

•Harassing phone calls were reported on Hardman Morris Road. A woman there said her ex-boyfriend had been calling her after they argued and she kicked him out of the residence earlier in the evening.

•A hit and run was reported last week after someone reported that a reckless driver on Hwy. 72 West ran off the roadway and struck and broke a water line. The vehicle also struck a mailbox. A partial front bumper and a headlight were left behind at the scene. It is believed this incident is connected to another call of a reckless driver involving a black Cavalier that ran off the roadway.

•A woman on Yarbrough Road reported that she and her brother were in a fight. She said her brother was angry at her for leaving her father’s residence for a couple of hours and that they argued when he came over that morning to bring their father’s medication. The argument turned physical and the brother allegedly threw their father’s walker at her and pushed her, then took the modem for her computer. She said she did not want to press charges.

•A Madison County Middle School student allegedly brought a razor knife on board a school bus last week. When the principal asked her about the knife she reportedly said that “it was for defending herself.” She was charged by the school resource officer with disrupting public school and carrying weapons within school safety zone.

•Simple battery FVA was reported on Hwy. 172 by a woman who was left by her husband on the highway. According to the incident report, she said she and her husband had gone to their residence to retrieve some of her personal items while he waited in the car. When she came back to the car she noticed he had been drinking and he became irate with her while going down the road. Her husband started pulling the vehicle over and she attempted to get out, but he pulled at her hair to pull her back inside and during the struggle he broke one of the straps on her purse. He then got back in the vehicle and left her on the highway.

•Copper wiring was reportedly stolen from chicken houses on Joe Cooper Road.

•A man went to the sheriff’s office last week to report that someone opened a Dish Network account using his information. He said he found out when he tried to open his own account in January and was told there was already one open in his name and with his Social Security number. He wanted a report filed so the account could be closed.

•Theft was reported on Buddy Moore Road when a man came to the sheriff’s office to report items missing from his barn and vehicles.

•A woman and her mother went to the sheriff’s office to report that someone took items from the mother’s residence on Hudson River Church Road while she was hospitalized.

•Burglary was reported at a storage building on Hwy. 29 South.

•Stalking was reported by a couple on Acorn Road. The man said his ex-wife’s cousin has harassed them and made threats towards his current wife. He said that the suspect had pulled into Diamond Hill Grocery that evening while they were there and threatened them and then followed them to Ingles.

•Criminal trespass was reported on First Street at A&T Plumbing where someone reportedly broke a window with an orange road reflector.

•A woman on New Haven Church Road reported that “someone she loves very much” was trying to kill her and asked what she could do to protect herself. She did not want to tell the responding officer who the person was at first, but finally admitted it was her brother, but would not explain why she thought he wanted to kill her. She said she would seek a TPO through the court system.

•Criminal damage to property was reported on Norwood Road when a man said two black juvenile males were spotted breaking windows out of a trailer. The victim said he chased them from the location after finding them on the property – where one was on the roof and the other was inside the trailer. He said he chased them into the woods, but was unable to catch them. The officer noted severe damage to the residence with several outside windows broken, holes made in the siding and the inside ransacked. The victim was in the process of remodeling the residence, which was vacant at the time. Two Daisy BB guns were found outside near a trampoline, which had been shredded. The guns were taken as evidence.

•Battery was reported on Hannah Heights Trail following a fight between cousins over missing prescription pills.

•A man on Bishop Carey Road reported that he had not heard from his girlfriend since Feb. 2010 when she was admitted to a hospital. The officer found that she had been taken from that hospital to an Athens hospital in April, which was the last place she was known to be. She was placed on the missing person’s listing.
•Child molestation was reported on Bishop Carey Road by Madison County DFACS. No other information was available on this incident.

•A blue Manco go-kart was allegedly stolen from the yard of a home on Roger’s Church Road.

•A man reported that parts were reportedly stolen off his vehicle, which was parked at his ex-girlfriend’s house, while he was in North Carolina. He said he believed his ex-girlfriend stripped the truck. He showed the officer a title, which had his information on it, but had been signed over to his ex-girlfriend on the back, which he said she had forged. The girlfriend denied tampering with the truck and said she did not know who did, but that the victim had signed the vehicle over to her prior to their separation. He was advised of the warrant process.

•The school resource officer heard from the middle school principal that two white juvenile males had attacked a third white juvenile male in the locker room, causing injuries, all while another student videoed the incident on an iPod.

•Battery and reckless conduct were reported on Paoli Road after a woman came to the sheriff’s office to report a fight she had had with her niece the week before. According to the report, the woman said she went to her niece’s home and that everything was fine until her niece began drinking liquor, at which point she started beating her (niece’s) live-in boyfriend with a broom. She stated that she told her niece to stop, that he hadn’t done anything to her and that she reportedly turned and said “you want some of this *#$%^?” and came at her, throwing her to the floor where the two fought. She said her niece beat her in the chest and bit her hand, breaking the skin. She said she has had back surgeries and open heart surgery. She said she had a family member take photos of her following the fight and she brought those along with her. She was advised to let the sheriff’s office know immediately if anything like that were to happen again, and explained the warrant process for this incident.

•An officer was dispatched last week to Norwood Road following a BOLO for a disorderly black juvenile male with a gun. While in the area, he was then dispatched to a residence to meet with a woman concerning a black juvenile shooting a gun on her property. The victim took the officer to a vacant mobile home on her property that has damaged by vandals. She said on that day she went to the property with a camera in case they were there. While there, she saw two juvenile males, one white, one black walk out from the woods. The black male was wearing a camouflage jacket and had what appeared to be a black rifle in his hand. She said he saw her in the driveway and pointed the gun at her. She jumped behind a tree and showed them her camera. When they saw the camera, they allegedly took off running back into the woods. Officers were unable to locate the juveniles.

•A woman on Farm Road reported that her ex-boyfriend came into her residence while she was sleeping and that she found him standing by her bed when she woke up. He then allegedly forced her to go across the road with him to his residence to help him look for his cigarettes. She then said she went to his mother’s house where he followed her and “jumped on her.” There were no signs of injury on her, according to the report and her ex-boyfriend was not located at the time of the report. She was advised of the warrant and TPO process.

•Officers were summoned to Hillwood Drive early one morning last week after a woman said her dogs woke up her to the sound of someone walking through the woods behind her residence. The deputies went into the woods where they found a naked man struggling through the brush, disoriented and unable to respond to verbal commands. He had lacerations from walking through the brush and was blue from the cold. EMS was summoned and he was transported to ARMC for treatment.

•A woman on Ed Coile Road reported that she believes a man she was having evicted from a mobile home had stolen axles and duct work from under the home.
•Two metal signs were reportedly stolen from JJ&G Drive.

•Approximately 200-feet of wire was reportedly taken from where it connected a pond to a shop and the pump was left lying on top of the ground.

•Two 100-foot green drop cords were reportedly taken from a front porch on Madison Boulevard.

•Possession of marijuana and possession/manufacture/distribution etc. were reported at the high Freshman Academy after an assistant principal told the school resource officer that some juvenile male students were smoking marijuana in the breezeway. A third student was found to have marijuana in a bag in his front pocket.