Fire truck catches fire
A fire truck belonging to the Sand Hill Fire Department mysteriously went up in flames June 13, prompting the fire chief to suspect arson, a Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office report shows.
The older truck had been parked in a field off Geddisville Road, not far from the fire station, for the past 18 months. The vehicle was given to the fire department and had no insurance, Fire Chief Zacheus Goodwine told the reporting deputy.
Sand Hill firefighters put out the blaze.

Stolen frog ‘leaves note’
After noticing her green ceramic frog was missing from her front yard, a Ladson woman found a note explaining how the frog had gone on vacation and would write, the sheriff’s office reported.
The woman knew something was wrong when she saw that the frog was no longer in its usual spot — atop a bicycle. She phoned the sheriff’s office and gave the reporting deputy the letter as evidence.
According to the report, the woman suspects neighborhood children are to blame for the theft. She told the deputy that she spoke with her neighbors, but they said they had not seen anything. One neighbor, however, said she saw a car full of teenagers in the area, the report says.

Officer, Taser disarm suspect
A seemingly routine trespassing call at Somerset Apartments last week escalated when a Summerville police officer had to disarm a man as he reached for a gun, a report shows.
Police learned en route to the Boone Hill Road apartment complex June 11 that the man, 28, was wanted in Berkeley County. When they got there, he immediately fled on foot and ignored verbal commands to stop, the report says.
One officer, Taser in hand, followed the man around an apartment building. The man reached into his waistband, turned and pulled out “an orange object with a pearl handle,” the report says.
The officer believed the object was a gun and he was correct, according to the report, which lists the weapon as a semi-automatic, .25-caliber pistol.
Believing it to be a firearm, the officer fired his Taser at the man before he could turn around, striking him at point blank range with both probes, the report says. The pistol fell to the ground, as did the man.
The officer gave the man several commands to put his hands behind his back, but he resisted and tried to get up, the report says. The officer again used his Taser to subdue the man. This time, the other officer was able to handcuff him.
The flash of orange the officer saw turned out to be a Clemson cell phone case, which the man was reportedly using as something of a gun holster.
Police searched the man and found bags of substances believed to be powder cocaine and crack cocaine, the report shows. He was charged with resisting arrest with a deadly weapon, possession of cocaine base (crack) with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute in proximity of a school.

Contact David Berman at 873-9424 ext. 214 or dberman@journalscene.com