Driver beaten in parking lot; vandal allegedly causes $10,000 in damage to vehicle parked at The Oread hotel; police retrieve stolen motorcycle; call roundup
Just after 5 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a battery at an apartment on Lynch Court where a man had allegedly beat up an individual who he believed “had made advances on (his) girlfriend,” Lawrence Police spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley said.
The victim allegedly told police that he had parked his vehicle in the parking lot when the man, whom the victim knew, approached him. The victim said the man opened his vehicle’s door and punched him in the face.
Then, the victim said the man pulled him out of his vehicle, continuing to hit him before leaving the area on foot, McKinley said. Later, the victim would discover his apartment window had been smashed in, as well.
Officers found the suspect on foot nearby and gave him a notice to appear in court on suspicion of battery and criminal damage to property.
A condition update on the victim was not available.
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Another parking lot horror story from this weekend:
Just before 4 a.m. Sunday, someone reported seeing a man battering a “late model Chevy Tahoe” parked in the half-circle driveway of The Oread hotel, 1200 Oread Ave.
Witnesses said a man had “walked around the vehicle damaging it with some kind of object,” McKinley said. Responding officers discovered “deep scratches” in the vehicle’s paint and “noted the passenger side mirror had been knocked off.” Damages were estimated at $10,000.
Officers were able to get in touch with the Tahoe’s driver, who McKinley said was staying at the hotel. The driver told police that the Tahoe was a rental car and he’d parked it in front of the hotel around 11 the night before.
Dispatchers broadcast the suspect’s description, McKinley said, and an officer found a man, 23-year-old Brenan Patrick Cavanaugh, matching the description in the area. Cavanaugh was allegedly “holding a baseball bat in one hand and a large knife in the other.”
Luckily, there was no trouble with the officer and Cavanaugh dropped the weapons when ordered. He was arrested on suspicion of felony criminal damage to property and booked into the Douglas County Jail at 4:21 a.m. Sunday.
Cavanaugh’s address is just about a block and a half away from the Oread, according to Douglas County Jail booking logs. He’s also listed as “released” after posting a $1,500 bond. From what I can tell, he’s only ever had a speeding infraction in his Douglas County District Court history.
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It really wasn’t a great weekend for vehicles, apparently. But at least police were there to save the day with this one.
Around 9 p.m. Saturday, a good Samaritan reported seeing two subjects pushing a motorcycle out from behind a building in the 700 block of Vermont. The motorcycle was “taken a short distance,” then hidden close to another building and covered with a tarp, McKinley said.
Officers responded, contacting one suspect and issuing the man a citation for possession of stolen property. McKinley said the motorcycle was then returned to its owner.
Now, this happy ending may not have been possible if not for that watchful neighbor. The original call came in as a “suspicious activity” report. I can’t tell you enough how important it is to report things to dispatch that you find suspicious, because it might just be the tip that saves someone else a lot of heartache — or worse.
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And now for our daily roundup of police calls. As always, I’ll remind you that this is a list of noteworthy calls I pulled from the Lawrence Police Department call log. Not all calls yielded police reports, and many may have gone unsubstantiated. The list is meant to give you an idea of what kinds of calls police are responding to within a given time period.
This list is a collection of calls that police responded to between Monday and Tuesday mornings:
Violence
• Disturbance (verbal or physical arguments): 3
• Domestic disturbance: 9
• Battery: 4
Traffic
• Noninjury accident: 7
• Injury accident: 2
Medical
• Medical: 3
• Suicide attempts: 1
• Suicide threats: 2
Person crimes
• Harassment: 3
• Criminal threat: 3
Miscellaneous
• Suspicious activity: 4
• Fireworks: 1
• Vicious animal: 3
Drugs
• Drug Activity: 3
Property crimes
• Burglary: 2
• Stolen vehicle: 1
• Theft: 4
• Criminal damage: 3
• Trespassing: 5