Piedmont’s Automated License Plate Reader system helped lead to the recovery of a pair of stolen vehicles during the week of October 2-8.
The first incident happened on October 2 beginning around 1:50 p.m. A 2014 blue four door Nissan Sentra was traveling westbound on Moraga Avenue. According to Piedmont Police Department Captain Chris Monahan, units responded and found the car parked in front of 45 Arroyo Avenue. It was unoccupied. A woman was located sitting on the front steps at an address on Arroyo and was detained and later determined to have been a passenger in the car.
The drive had fled the scene. The woman was released. The vehicle was towed.
On the morning of October 8, a green four door 1999 Honda CRV was driving westbound on Oakland Avenue. At 5:09 a.m., officers were dispatched to the area of Oakland and Monte Vista avenues. The vehicle was located parked on Ridgeway Avenue near Piedmont Avenue, according to Captain Monahan.
The vehicle took off at a high rate of speed and crashed into a parked car on How Avenue near Ridgeway. The driver fled on foot.
Oakland Police arrived to assist and the vehicle was towed.
On October 6, an call came in around 11:50 a.m. about an animal stuck in a garbage can at a house on Magnolia Avenue. Animal Control responded and freed what turned out to be a skunk.
On October 7 around 5:10 p.m., a man was reported to be on York Drive “swinging a metal tool” while walking, asking kids why they were outside. The man was described as a white male, heavyset, in his early 20s, wearing all black. The suspect was gone when police arrived.