The following is based on selected Arlington Police Department logs from Nov. 7 through 13, 2023.

One arrest was reported; YourArlington published it as a separate item earlier.

Excerpts from the Arlington Police Department log:

Tuesday, Nov. 7
11:48 a.m. – Larceny. An Arlington resident appeared at the APD front desk to report that a new Xfinity cellphone that the company claimed had been mailed to his house had apparently been intercepted, signed for and activated by someone else. Police are working with Xfinity to locate the guilty party by monitoring the phone's usage or, failing that, disabling it.

Wednesday, Nov. 8
8:08 p.m. – Accident with Injury. A 47-year-old female bicyclist was struck by a car at the intersection of River and Yale streets when she allegedly jumped a stop sign and tried to enter bumper-to-bumper traffic. Though not obviously injured, she was shaken, stunned and, according to bystanders, appeared to have briefly lost consciousness after being knocked off her bike from the impact. Police arrived to the scene, attended to her and drove her to a local hospital.
1:03 p.m. – Disturbance. Police received a call from a store manager at Starbucks on Broadway stating that a man had walked into the store and out again despite having previously been issued a no-trespass order. Police arrived and determined that it was a case of mistaken identity --that the man pointed out by the store manager had, in fact, never been issued any such order.
2:14 p.m. – Outdoor Fire. Police were summoned to a Rhinecliff Street residence, where they found a man throwing clumps of leaves into a blazing trash can. The man received a verbal warning. Capt. Flynn commented that incidents of tended fires on people's lawns tend to involve either newcomers to the Town of Arlington who are unaware of the local law or those trying to use fire pits for social events; he noted that if an outdoor fire is used primarily to cook food, that's legal and perfectly acceptable.

Thursday, Nov. 9
3:04 p.m. – Crash with Injury. An 11-year-old boy rode his bicycle into traffic on Gibbs Street and was struck by a motor vehicle, police reported. Officers on the scene determined that the boy had not looked where he was going before entering cross-traffic. Fortunately, the boy suffered only very minor superficial injuries. After receiving words of advice for the future, the boy was allowed to go.

Friday, Nov. 10
12:58 p.m. – Malicious Damage to Motor Vehicle. A Watermill Place resident called police to report that the right front door of her car had been deliberately keyed. According to the report, officers found “a tremendous amount of damage to the door” and stated that it was hard for them to tell which parts of the damage may have been deliberate. A police report was filed for the woman's insurance purposes.

Saturday, Nov. 11
5:19 p.m. – Bicycle Crash. A 28-year-old female cyclist crashed into a car at Mill and Summer streets. Police were alerted, and emergency medical help was summoned with the message, “bicyclist down.” According to Capt. Flynn, Mill and Summer is known as a bad intersection, with a traffic light at Summer that bicyclists are known frequently to ignore; fortunately, the person in this particular incident suddenly riding into cross-traffic suffered only lacerations, the captain said, but when a cyclist is knocked off a bike by a car, the result can often be much worse. Capt. Flynn noted that some cyclists seem to want to have it both ways, demanding deference from both cars and pedestrians. The crucial thing to remember, Flynn said, is that cars are not expected simply to yield to cyclists riding in their path. To be safe crossing a street, a cyclist should dismount and walk the bike, as doing so immediately turns the cyclist into a pedestrian with an acknowledged right of way with respect to approaching cars. On the other hand, riding a bike trying to merge into cross-traffic makes the bike and its rider simply another vehicle among vehicles -- and, if there is a crash, it may be the cyclist who stands to bear the blame, he said. The police periodically issue information about heavily bike-traveled intersections, with the goal being to raise awareness, but accidents still seem to keep happening, he said.

Monday, Nov. 13
10:04 a.m. – Animal Bite. An Oakland Avenue woman was treated at Lahey Hospital after suffering a bite from her grandson's bully breed dog. Police contacted the woman after the hospital reported the bite to police as is required by law. The grandmother told the animal-control officer that the incident had not been the dog's first unwelcome bite or nip. The dog was taken for 10 days' quarantine for possible rabies. Per police procedures, an animal control officer will work together with both dog and family to find ways to alleviate the dog's behavioral problems.
7:56 p.m. – Breaking and Entering Nighttime for Felony. A woman called police to report that interior first-floor lights were on in a vacant office building currently under construction on Mass. Ave. in East Arlington. When police arrived and conducted a walk-through of the building, they found what looked like recent damage to the side-door lock -- but no sign of squatters or vandalism inside. The APD has ordered extra surveillance patrols for the building and site.

Nov. 9, 2023: Police blotter Oct. 31-Nov. 6: Masked/armed holdup, three ID thefts reported

This column by YourArlington volunteer writer Chris Wilbur was published Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, based on information from Arlington Police Department daily logs and explanations from APD spokesman Capt. Richard Flynn.