The gayborhood feels considerably safer than it did last year, but we still have some bizarre crime stories.
Here’s a running list of notable crime stories in Oak Lawn.
Police documenting the scene of an officer attack in Oak Lawn.
The Naked Brawler — April 16, 2016
Michael and I were walking the dogs on Easter Sunday when we noticed a bunch of police cars swarming the closed AT&T store across from Starbucks and Eatzi’s.
It was strange to see four Dallas Police cars and two Highland Park patrol cars around a closed store. We grabbed Starbucks and watched as a crime lab van pulled up.
I took a picture of the squad cars and sent it to our breaking news team to investigate. What they found out was hilarious: a Highland Park officer apparently came across a naked woman in the street around 9 a.m.
She was distraught and punched him.
The puppy killer — April 13, 2017
Thyren Clent Justus
A 36-year-old Oak Lawn man was recently sentenced to 5 years in prison for beating his Australian shepherd puppy to death after the 2016 St. Patricks Day Parade.
Thyren Clent Justus was reportedly out drinking all day and came back to find that his young puppy had pooped in the apartment because it had been left alone during Justus’ bender.
Justus then beat the dog to death but said that he “remembers nothing about breaking his dog’s leg and stomping him so hard that the puppy’s lungs collapsed.”
A neighbor called the cops after hearing the yelping amid loud banging.
Timothy Box — Ongoing
Timothy Box
One of the local homeless men has been on a crime spree lately — Timothy Box is a prolific criminal with arrests for theft, assault, and prostitution, among other things.
Box has been gradually trespassed from most businesses on Cedar Springs Road, but continues to linger in the neighborhood and randomly assault Oak Lawn residents.
He reportedly assaulted two women at Cedar Springs Tap House in early April. Box was subsequently arrested on April 12, and then again on Saturday, April 15, after shoving a firefighter.
The comment string over at Take Back Oak Lawn is pretty epic.
One of the most confusing things about the Timothy Box situation is that he keeps getting bailed out of jail. The cops arrest him, but then he pops back in the neighborhood a few days later.
At this point, the local crime watch group monitors Box at all times between his arrests.
The gay Nazi tattoo case — February 9, 2017
A loud set of booms went off near my apartment building one Thursday afternoon. It was a SWAT drug raid which resulted in the arrest of a local go-go boy from a bar called “BJ’s NXS.”
Turns out that Timothy Harper, 29, is also an adult film star with Nazi tattoos.
And there was a strange side-story involved with this raid — apparently a small dog ran from the apartment building because of the flash bombs and got run over by a car.
Yikes.
The Havana nightclub assault — January 2017
We had an awkward moment at Havana nightclub patio recently. A group of people came out of the pizzeria next to the club, started fighting, and a guy was knocked unconscious after he was shoved on the pavement.
The assailant then punched a bar patron who tried to help, and then things got awkward. Full story here.
The Highland Park package thief — December 15, 2016
Kyle Cassady
A 25-year-old man was arrested at the Highland Park Village Jimmy Choo store in December while trying to return a pair of shoes.
Kyle Cassady insisted that he was returning the shoes for his wife. The problem is that he’s a local gay guy who was reportedly stealing packages from people’s front doors.
Police also say that Cassady’s car had several packages in plain view that were stolen from other houses in the area.
Highland Park police booked Cassady on a charge of theft between $30,000 and $150,000, along with several Class C warrants from Dallas and Irving.
The ilume cat burglar — December 10, 2016
One of my neighbors left his apartment briefly to visit a friend down the hall. When he got back, he found a man hiding behind his kitchen island with a bag full of his stuff.
The burglar apparently snuck into my neighbor’s apartment right after he left and before his automatic lock activated.
My neighbor and his friend forced the burglar to give his stuff back, but the police refused to charge the man. The burglar was back casing the building the next day.
More
There are several low-level crime stories from my apartment building, iLume Park, and there’s also the time that we had homeless people living at our pool.
Check out the Take Back Oak Lawn Facebook page for the latest neighborhood crime alerts.
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