The information contained here was provided by the Portsmouth Police Department’s Chief Briefing
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Calls Involving Children
Portsmouth Police responded to multiple calls over the weekend involving the safety of children. Fortunately, all of the kids turned out to be okay.
On Saturday, a Kendall Avenue father called police to complain that his seven-year-old daughter was punched by another child. Officers spoke to the parents.
Also on Saturday police responded to a call on 17th street where a passer-by found a six-year-old boy who said was locked out of his house and there were no adults around to help. It turns out the child had walked from his home to visit his grandmother and she hadn’t arrived home yet.
On Sunday, around 4:30 pm, police responded to a report that he heard a child yelling “rape” from the play area at Tracy Park. Officers checked the slides and play area and found no children in distress. They also spoke to parents who said they hadn’t heard a child crying for help. The caller then told officers that he heard his daughter whom he’s never met crying for help. Officers called EMS for an evaluation of the caller but he refused help saying he was having some anxiety issues.
On Monday, officers assisted a driver who had locked a toddler in their car with getting the vehicle open
Early Tuesday, some called to report a little boy wrapped in a blanket walking on railroad tracks in the rain near 10th and Lincoln street and then called back to report that the child was now running. It turned out to be a middle schooler on his way to school.
Traffic
Portsmouth Police responded to 47 incidents involving crashes, parking violations, and lockouts along with 6 incidents of suspicious vehicles, and 2 reports of grand theft auto between Friday, March 06 and Monday, March 10.
Included in the calls were a 03/06 crash at 12th and Lincoln street just after 10:30 where a man in a brown car hit multiple parked cars and then fled his vehicle.
Police detained Amber Osborne and Jerry Potts for obstructing official business after they say both subjects came to the scene and tried to convince police they were the driver and passenger of the vehicle. Osborne eventually admitted that a friend of Jerry Potts’ cousins had come to their 12th St. home and asked one of them to pretend to be the driver because he lacked a valid license. Osborne claimed not to know his name and Potts refused to provide further information. Osborne’s refusal to name names cost her a box of Malboro Reds found among her property that police disposed of.
On Saturday 03/07, a woman called to report that her mother’s vehicle was stolen by a family member two days earlier but the mother did not have a phone with which to report the theft. Officers took the report. The vehicle was returned later that day and the victim decided not to make a report.
Also on a man wrecked a vehicle into the yard of Holy Redeemer Church on Gallia Street. The driver submitted a breath test and blew .172. He was arrested and transported to the Scioto County Jail. Ted’s Towing took away the vehicle.
Officers also assisted five drivers who were locked out of their vehicles.
Distress Calls
Portsmouth police responded to multiple people in distress between Friday, March 6 and Tuesday, March 10.
Just after midnight on Friday police responded to a Campbell Avenue address for what appeared to be an overdose death. They contacted the next of kin and notified the coroner.
Just after 5:30 am, police found a man slumped over in a white van at the First Stop Market on Harding Avenue. Police impounded the van and transported the subject to the jail for an arrest warrant.
Just after 9 am, they responded to a call at McDonald’s on Gallia Street for a man bleeding heavily after ripping out an IV port. He was taken to the hospital.
Around 8 pm that evening officers responded to a call about a suspected overdose with a child in the back seat yelling for help. Turned out to be a woman with a flat tire and a screaming child. She agreed to let police search her car and they found nothing.
On Saturday afternoon police responded to a call about a man slumped over the wheel of a car at a car wash on 3rd Street. Officers impounded two small baggies, one containing an off-white substance.
A call to the Royal Inn just after noon on Saturday for screaming and crying inside a room turned out to just be a loud TV and a barking little dog.
A man who called police to a Gay Street address Saturday evening to report his family members being held hostage turned out to be having a mental health crisis and was transported to the hospital for evaluation.
On Saturday night an officer offered a pep talk to a man who called police to talk about his issues with drug and alcohol abuse. The officer encouraged him to get sober.
Just after 11:30 pm on Sunday, officers received a report of a man passed out in a car at the Sixth Street Carryout. He was transported to the hospital and his daughter came to pick up his car.
Around 1 pm on Sunday, a man OD’d on 18th Street but did not immediately respond to Narcan. By the time police arrived, he was alert and breathing and refused treatment.
Just before 8 pm Sunday, police responded to a report of a woman on top of a 6th Street garage with drug paraphernalia who refused to leave. Police transported a 7-year-old boy to his grandfather’s house for his protection.
Shortly after 8 pm, a man was found passed out in the bathroom at Bob Evans on Gay Street and transported to the hospital.