Every day, police officers respond to reports of all sorts of events and nonevents, most of which never make the news. Here is a sampling of lesser-known — but no less noteworthy — incidents from police log books (a.k.a. blotters) in our communities.
OUT ON A LIMB
On March 31, Westborough firefighters responded to Lake Chauncy to help a crow that was entangled in fishing line in a tree. Ladder 2 was put to use to free the crow from this predicament, and afterward the bird was brought to Tufts Wildlife Clinic for treatment.
UNEXPECTED DELIVERY
At approximately 11 a.m. March 21, police and fire department personnel responded after a 62-year-old woman drove into the UPS Store at 25 Main St. in North Reading. The building inspector checked out the condition of the store and determined that despite significant damage to its facade, the building remained structurally sound, which was welcome news. Also good news? There were no reported injuries.
UMMM…THANK YOU?
At 11:37 a.m. March 20, a resident of Bradley Lane in Bridgewater came into the town’s police station to report that a man walked into her backyard and cleaned the gutters on her home. The resident wanted police to document the incident.
OOPS
At 10:13 a.m. April 11, police in Peabody received a call about a vehicle that had been left unoccupied with the engine running in the parking lot of Bishop Fenwick High School. The caller said it had been there since 6 a.m. and didn’t belong to any staff or students at the school. A police officer spoke to the owner of the vehicle, who said her daughter drove there to go on a retreat and apparently forgot to turn the car off.
HIGH SCHOOL HIJINKS
At 7:40 p.m. April 3, a concerned mother in Wilmington called police to report that a black Dodge Charger had been in her neighborhood three nights that week. The caller said one night the Charger drove past her young daughter, then had returned to the neighborhood another night. The car was back again the night she called police and she said the two male parties in the Charger were wearing face masks. Police located the Charger and spoke to the young men, who explained that they were students at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica and they were looking for a someone who lived in the neighborhood as part of a senior prank. They were sent on their way, and the caller was informed of the situation. Of course, Wilmington isn’t the only community subjected to these high school shenanigans, which some consider to be a rite of passage for seniors. On April 14 Tewksbury police warned the public that a similar game known as “Senior Assassin’’ was underway. “High school seniors are out playing the annual water gun game around town,’’ police said. “It’s a spring tradition, but it can definitely catch people off guard if they don’t know what’s going on.’’
NEW TWIST ON PACKAGE THEFT
Back on Jan. 13, Norfolk police were alerted to some suspicious activity at a home on Pennacook Street after three delivery drivers, all of whom appeared to work for DoorDash, arrived within 25 minutes of each other looking to pick up packages. But there was one problem, and it was big one: No one at the home had requested any packages to be picked up, and it appeared that the delivery drivers had been duped. “Three packages had been delivered to the address earlier that day, two of which contained Apple products,’’ police wrote. “The preliminary investigation indicates that the DoorDash drivers were legitimate and following order instructions from the person or people attempting to commit theft.’’ Anyone with information about this incident or who believes they may have been the victim of a similar setup is asked to contact Norfolk police at 508-528-3206.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.
