Perhaps Commerce area residents are practicing their good behavior in preparation for Christmas, because in the past week the Commerce Police Department announced just five arrests and reported only one other incident.
The most serious of those was an arrest for battery. Police charged Eric Vester Brown, 36, of 430 Williford Street, following an argument in which he allegedly struck another man in the face.
The victim, a 62-year-old white male, came into the police department on Thursday, Nov. 17, to report an incident that happened the day before.
He said he and Brown got into an argument and Brown, “for unknown reasons” attacked him, striking him repeatedly in the face with his hands and fists.
The officer noted that the victim’s face was bruised.
The victim said he did not call police immediately because on the day of the incident he had no telephone service, according to the police report. The report did not indicate the circumstances in which Brown was taken into custody.
Other Charges
The Commerce Police Department charged the following people during the past week:
•Juan Chiquette Mendoza, 35, 804 Lanier Mill, Oakwood, driving without a license. An officer pulled him over on Interstate 85 for a window tint violation. Mendoza gave the officer a Mexican driver’s license and said that the vehicle he was driving belonged to a friend and that his (Mendoza’s) name was not on the insurance policy.
•Jennifer Brooke Loop, 32, 205 Weston Road, Arden, NC, speeding (71/55) and driving with a suspended license. The officer pulled her over on U.S. 441 near W.E. King Road after clocking her at 71 miles per hour. According to the report, she was traveling to Athens with her 4-year-old son and their dog to see her mother. The mother came to the scene to take custody of the child and the dog as police took Loop to the Jackson County Jail.
•Charity Ann Pirkle, 29, 75 Ivey Street, Commerce, driving without a license, no insurance and a windshield violation. The officer pulled her over for the windshield issue, and when he asked her for her driver’s license, she told him she did not have one, according to the incident report. The officer asked if her license was suspended, and she answered affirmatively. When he asked for her insurance information, the report said she admitted that the policy had lapsed.
•Kristen Danielle Jones, 22, 5 Cedar Drive, Watkinsville, picked up from the Athens-Clarke Police Department on a failure to appear warrant.
Aside from the arrests, the Commerce Police Department reported just one incident — a case of shoplifting at a North Elm Street address. There was no information about the incident on the police report.
