Oconee Blotter: Motorist driving wrong way on the loop says it was a mistake. Deputy says DUI.

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office reported the following incidents:

SHOPLIFTERS CAUGHT: On March 5, Deputy Bill Reynolds was dispatched to Walmart, where a loss prevention officer had detained two Peachtree City women, ages 54 and 19, for shoplifting. One woman was riding a mobile cart while they proceeded to put food items and pharmacy products into their purses. As they were leaving, they paid for a bunch of bananas, but not the $42 worth of stuff in their purses.

DRUNK DRIVING: On March 6, Deputy Jonathan Strum responded about 2:35 a.m. to a report of a reckless motorist driving the wrong way on the Athens Perimeter. Strum located the Cadillac SRX stuck in a ditch and an Athens-Clarke police officer was already at the scene. The driver had apparently tried to turn around and once in the ditch, he couldn’t get out. The 24-year-old Athens man driving the Cadillac explained he and his 20-year-old friend from Danielsville were returning from a concert in Atlanta. He said he accidentally got in the wrong lane when he entered the loop. An open can of White Claw brew was in the car. The man said he only had one drink at the concert. A blood-alcohol test showed a reading of 0.11. He was charged with DUI and having an open container.

SUSPENDED LICENSE: On March 6, Deputy Dustin Mines was dispatched to a wreck on Epps Bridge Parkway, where a 35-year-old man from Westbury, N.Y., had run his pickup into the rear of a Ford Edge. The driver was also charged with having a suspended license from New York.

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SHOPLIFTER CAUGHT: On March 7, Deputy Doug Mattocks was dispatched to Walmart, where a loss prevention officer had detained a 25-year-old Athens woman for shoplifting after she was seen not only switching price tags but skip-scanning during checkout. She was taken to jail and a friend came to the location to get her dog.

HIT AND RUN: On March 8, Deputy Seth McCart was dispatched to meet with a 51-year-old Athens woman, whose parked vehicle was hit while she was in a store shopping. She returned to find the damage and a note left by a person who witnessed the crash and saw the offender drive off. On the ground near her bumper was a broken Ohio State Buckeyes tag. The witness had left his number, so she called and was given the license plate number of the offender, who was later identified as a 44-year-old man from Gainesville. The deputy called the suspect, but no one answered the phone.

SUSPICIOUS MAN: On March 9, Deputy Richard Buzzard responded to a report by a woman, who said she observed a stranger on a motorcycle stop on the roadway near her home in Bogart and begin talking to her young son. She said the motorcyclist then drove off and she saw it headed toward Hog Mountain Road. The deputy spotted the motorcycle, which sped off and passed two vehicles on a double yellow line. The cyclist escaped, but deputy Bill Reynolds spotted it near Snows Mill Road, where a stop was made. The 20-year-old Good Hope resident admitted his license was already suspended and he did attempt to flee from the deputy. The man’s version of his conversation with the child did not match what the child said happened. The man had a GoPro on his helmet, so it was confiscated as evidence.

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RECKLESS DRIVER: On March 9, Cpl. Baer Schiffer was working an off-duty detail in a shopping center off Epps Bridge Parkway, when he heard a dispatch to be on the lookout for a reckless driver on a dirt bike. Schiffer was near a theater complex when he saw the dirt bike driving fast through the area among numerous pedestrians. Schiffer activated his lights and sirens in his patrol unit, and the dirt bike fled through the parking lot dodging in and out of cars. The bike crossed into the highway and due to heavy traffic, the bike disappeared and couldn’t be located.

BURGLARY REPORTED: On March 12, Deputy Joshua Warren was dispatched about 4:30 p.m. to a home on Bent Tree Point, Watkinsville, where a burglar alarm was activated. The deputy observed a window broken on a door at the back of the house. He also cleared the house to make sure no one was inside.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Oconee Blotter: Guy on dirt bike rolls through pedestrians, cars