July 25

5:35 p.m. A driver reported that he saw the driver of a Toyota Camry exit his vehicle at the Postage Road traffic light on Hill Road to yell at the driver of the Subaru behind him. The witness said the man then kicked the driver’s side door of the Subaru, returned to his Camry, and ran a red light.

Police found the woman driving the Subaru, who told the officer that the Camry driver also spit in her face. Officers located the 32-year-old man driving the Toyota. He alleged that the woman had been driving erratically and gave him the middle finger.

6:21 p.m. Police responded to The Landing on a report that a German Shepherd had reached over a fence and grabbed its neighboring Aussie Doodle by the jaw. Police noted damage to the Doodle’s chin as well as missing teeth.

7:20 p.m. The Loss Prevention Officer at Kohl’s alerted police that two teenagers had left the store after allegedly concealing Sephora merchandise in their purses. Officers stopped their Uber and had the girls step out of the vehicle to wait for their parents. The 17-year-old had allegedly shoplifted $369 worth of merchandise, while the 16-year-old had allegedly shoplifted $803 worth.

July 26

1:26 a.m. Officers stopped a Mazda 3 near the corner of Refugee and Hill Roads for an expired license plate and cited the 28-year-old driver for not having a license or insurance.

July 27

2:51 a.m. An officer noticed a blue Dodge Charger with an expired license plate pull into Circle K. After responding to another call, the officer noticed the vehicle was still there with the driver standing nearby. Three hours later, the driver was still standing there when a white Dodge Charger arrived. The two men allegedly began working under the hood of the blue vehicle.

The officer suspected the first driver was creating a ruse because he knew that as soon as he left the parking lot, he could be pulled over. The officer drove to the police station, then returned to Circle K to discover that the white Charger and the two men were gone, but the blue Charger was still in the lot.

A clerk allegedly told the officer that the driver of the blue car had mentioned that he could not leave the parking lot with police nearby. As the officer spoke with the clerk, a tow truck arrived to take the Dodge to an apartment near the Meadows neighborhood.

The two men returned, and the 25-year-old driver of the blue Charger allegedly admitted that he called for a tow truck to avoid a traffic stop. The car reportedly had a false license plate. Both men were charged with obstruction of justice.

8:52 p.m. Police stopped a 53-year-old woman as she left Kohl’s with merchandise she had allegedly concealed in her bag. When asked to identify herself, she reportedly told officers her full name, birthdate, and social security number, but when police ran the information, the driver’s license photo did not match the suspect. When asked to provide the address on her license, she allegedly claimed to suffer from amnesia. The dispatcher was able to determine the woman’s true identity.

Upon searching her purse, police allegedly discovered a headphone charger containing a white substance. When asked to identify the substance, the woman reportedly responded, “you know what that is,” and later admitted it was cocaine. Officers also allegedly found credit cards belonging to two other people.

The Kohl’s Loss Prevention officer calculated the value of the merchandise the woman took as $211.86, which included a shower curtain, two bed sheets, men’s socks, fake eyelashes, and a shower loofah.

July 28

6:33 a.m. An unknown person allegedly broke the window of a work van parked in the Graystone neighborhood and stole tools worth an estimated total value of $6,115.

11:26 a.m. A Pickerington man reported that an unknown person accessed his bank account and made three withdrawals of $103.50 and one withdrawal of $183.50.

11:35 a.m. Officers stopped a 28-year-old man after he allegedly left Kohl’s with a cart full of merchandise valued at $1,091.54, which he had not purchased. The man reportedly told police that he planned to sell the items to “the doughboy” for a couple hundred dollars.

After allegedly seeing drug paraphernalia through the window of the Chevrolet Malibu that the man had approached, officers searched the vehicle and seized several crack pipes and small amounts of unknown drugs.

11:59 a.m. A teenage girl called police to report that while making a turn in the Preston Trails neighborhood, she had to brake quickly to avoid striking a toddler. The one-year-old, clad only in a diaper, was accompanied by his twin brother, who was playing in a nearby yard.

Neighbors directed police to the babies’ home, where a 13-year-old boy answered the door. The teen told officers that the twins had learned to unlock the door and kept escaping. Officers contacted the children’s mother, who said she had purchased a new lock and would install it when she came home.

2:56 p.m. At Kohl’s, a 29-year-old man allegedly stuffed Nike clothing into his pants, then left without paying.

7:56 p.m. Police from Amarillo, Texas, requested that Pickerington Police apprehend a 23-year-old burglary suspect who had checked into the Comfort Inn.

July 29

7:29 a.m. Officers issued a “No Trespass” order to a 79-year-old woman who allegedly began yelling at employees at Fifth Third Bank regarding a problem with the key to her safe deposit box. She reportedly took the box outside, dumped the contents into her vehicle, then threw the empty box at a bank employee.

5:20 p.m. Police arrested a 44-year-old man on charges of being drunk and disorderly after he allegedly threatened staff at Tim Horton’s.

6:12 p.m. A resident in the Pine Ridge neighborhood reported that her daughter’s Dodge Charger had been stolen. Columbus Police located the vehicle in the George’s Creek Apartment complex off Gender Road. In addition to a smashed window, all four wheels had been removed and the radio was missing.

6:47 p.m. A wallet containing a significant amount of cash was found in the middle of Durand Street in the Fox Glen West neighborhood. When the owner came to the Pickerington Police station to retrieve his wallet, he was arrested on an outstanding warrant out of Columbus.

July 30

8:20 a.m. A man called the Police Department to report that he had dashcam footage of a Pickerington police cruiser driving recklessly on Morse Road but did not intend to share the video. The caller has an alleged history of filing false complaints against Gahanna police officers and Mifflin Township firefighters.

7:15 p.m. Police were again called to a home in Preston Trails regarding twin toddlers unattended near the street. The mother reportedly told police that she was at work and her other children (ages 16, 13, and 7) were supposed to be watching the one-year-old boys. The older children all told police they thought one of their siblings was watching the babies.

July 31

1:35 a.m. A regular at Classic’s Sports Bar reportedly began cursing at the bartender and making insensitive comments about the bartender’s late son. A 27-year-old customer asked the man not to speak that way to the bartender. After a pause, the angry customer allegedly began punching the other man in the face. Witnesses told police that the victim sustained at least eight strikes to his head before falling to the ground.

The victim was transported to OhioHealth Pickerington, then transferred to Grant Medical Center due to the severity of the damage to his eye and orbital bone.

11:02 a.m. A Melrose resident told police that someone had left items on the hood of his car parked in the driveway. The large amount of property included household items such as towels and hand tools, but also personal items including a wedding video and family photos. A wallet, mail, and a checkbook helped officers track the items to a 74-year-old man who had no idea how his property came to be found on a stranger’s car.

12:11 p.m. While at a work party at Rule 3, a man said a coworker shoulder-checked him, then punched him in the stomach.

August 1

5:58 a.m. An unknown man wearing a toboggan, mask, and gloves was allegedly caught on video smashing the window of Smoke Zone with a rock, then stealing 72 packs of cigarettes worth a total of $806.

6:15 a.m. Design Plumbing reported that someone broke into company vehicles and stole tools.

1:20 p.m. Police cited a 26-year-old woman for leaving the scene of an accident after the Chevrolet Cavalier she was driving clipped a Chevrolet Impala exiting Interstate 70 onto Hill Road. Both vehicles stopped at Cracker Barrel, but the 18-year-old driving the Impala told police the woman refused to share insurance information. He claimed she said the damage “was not that bad” and drove off. She claimed that the teenager and his friend were aggressive, so she left.

3:01 p.m. A 54-year-old woman was cited for driving without a license after a box truck rear-ended her Ford Focus on Hill Road at the Tussing Road traffic light.

5:10 p.m. Police issued a “No Trespass” order to a 21-year-old man parked behind a tree line on Windmiller Road who was allegedly watching his ex-girlfriend’s place of employment.

7:16 p.m. The Kroger on Hill Road called police to escort a 60-year-old woman from the store. The woman told police she was frustrated that staff would not help her with issues she was having with the self-scan/pay shopping cart. The manager alleged that the woman had placed items in the cart without scanning them and appeared to be preparing to leave without paying.

August 2

1:45 a.m. A man called police to report that while he attended the funeral of his fiancée, someone stole her engagement ring from a dresser drawer in his Overland apartment. Surveillance footage allegedly showed that a maintenance worker had let himself into the apartment to deliver flowers.

8:31 a.m. A family in Preston Trails found a two-year-old girl wandering in their backyard. Police found the girl’s grandmother a few houses down, where she had been visiting a friend. The grandmother told officers that she fell asleep and the toddler must have left through the back door.

10:44 p.m. An officer pulled over a Honda Odyssey on Columbus Street near Hill Road for traveling 40 mph in a 25-mph zone. The 16-year-old driver was cited for speed, and the vehicle was towed for having a license plate that expired in 2016.

August 3

3:20 p.m. An anonymous caller reported that a Chevrolet Avalanche heading westbound on Refugee Road was swerving between lanes. Police caught up with the vehicle near Spring Creek Drive. The 33-year-old driver completed a field sobriety test with no observable clues indicating impairment; however, he had been driving on a suspended license.

8:35 p.m. A boy told police that while he was playing basketball at Victory Park, someone stole his cell phone. His father, using the Life360 app, tracked the phone to Dairy Queen, but it turned off before they arrived.

August 4

9:51 a.m. After a Jeep Compass and a Honda Civic collided in the left-turn lanes from Tussing onto Hill Road, the 25-year-old woman driving the Civic was cited for an expired driver’s license.

Police Reports July 20-24, 2025