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Monday, May 20, 2013
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Criminally Stupid
Humourous side to a job that often wasn’t
In more than three decades as a reporter with the AJC, mostly covering cops, crime and other forms of wrongdoing and public idiocy, (see legislature, Georgia) what I wrote was seldom funny.
I guess that’s why the rare exceptions stick with me years. There were two, and both took place in the south metro Atlanta area near College Park.
The first was an attempted robbery of a Taco Bell by a 20-year-old guy with a shotgun and wearing baggy, low slung pants drooping around his butt — a fashion style that never made much sense to me, at least. I’m told by folks who get paid to study such things that it was a form of defiance — a raised middle finger if you like — to society.
The bandit didn’t count on a hired window washer at the fast food joint, who suddenly grabbed him from behind; in the ensuing scuffle, the shotgun went off, but fortunately hit no one, and the bad guy’s pants fell off.
When the perp dropped the gun to pull his pants up, the window washer kicked the weapon across the floor. The bandit fled out the door, only to run to straight into employees and customers of a neighboring McDonald’s, who grabbed and held him until police arrived.
About a year later, in the same area, police were dispatched to the Checkers on Old National Highway, where manager Arnita Green was understaffed, a frequent headache, and fed up with customer Timothy Troutman’s impatience with the slow service.
According the police incident report, Green told Troutman: “Quit talking so loud! You snaggle-toothed (obscenity)! You need to get your food and go!”
“Ms. Green stated that Mr.Troutman called her a bitch and talked about her momma,” stated the police report. At that point, Green told her ticked off customer to “go get some teeth and comb your hair,” at which point Troutman threw his cold drink at her.”
Police charged both with misdemeanors.
Happy New Year, everybody.
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Bill Montgomery
Bill Montgomery, aka "Monty," packed it in a few years back after 38 years as a reporter with the AJC, covering mostly crime and other forms of public insanity, such as political campaigns, strip club crackdowns, and the Georgia legislature. His career includes coverage of zanies that run the gamut from Lester Maddox and J.B. Stoner to Larry Flynt, and crime reporting that followed the 1973 Alday family killings in South Georgia to the execution of ringleader Carl Isaacs 30 years later, and the 20-year saga of Palm Beach millionaire James V. Sullivan, who hired the murder of his estranged wife at her Buckhead condo by a gunman packing a pistol in a box of roses. Montgomery lives in a Decatur condo with his wife Linda and their Boston terrier.
