http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20100505/NEWS01/5050323/1079/news01/Police-...

Police said a Swisher man punched an elderly man in the face for driving too slow last month.
According to a Johnson County Sheriff's Office criminal complaint, the victim, a 70-year-old man, and his wife were southbound on Greencastle Road in Swisher at 12:48 a.m. March 27 when a vehicle driven by Brandon J. Poulson, 22, cruised up behind the victim's car. Police said Poulson yelled and cussed at the victim for "driving like an old man."
Police said the victim pulled over to let Poulson pass, but when he did, Poulson pulled up along side of him and got out of his truck. The victim got out of his car and was immediately hit in the head and face several times by Poulson, police said.

Police said the 70-year-old man suffered a large cut on the top of his head, a cut above his eye and swelling and bruising on both eyes and ears. The cut on his head required numerous staples and the cut above his eye required stitches, police said.

Police said Poulson admitted to hitting the man in the face several times because he was upset with the way he was driving. He has been charged with willful injury causing bodily injury, a class D felony, and remains in the Johnson County Jail on a $10,000 cash-only bond.

Vandals mar new pedestrian bridge in Detroit
$5M pedestrian link in Mexicantown open for less than one day


Less than a day after it opened, the Mexicantown Bagley Avenue Pedestrian Bridge was vandalized, Michigan Department of Transportation officials said.

Numerous individuals have "tagged" the $5 million bridge with spray paint and used knives to carve into a wooden bench in the middle of the span. Others signed their names with pens and magic markers on the bench, officials said.

In fact, an MDOT employee's video camera caught one woman as she used a colored pen to scrawl on a bench in the middle of the 400-foot-long bridge.

"Yes, it was me," said Oneita Jackson, a copy editor at the Detroit Free Press and author of Sunday's "O Street" blog.

"I did it. If you see a person with a green pen ... dressed in black slacks and a red top, that's me. I was excited about the event and wanted to put my name on it."

Jackson eventually put away the marker and said "Oh, I guess I shouldn't be doing this," the tape showed. As a blogger, she has written about her efforts as a mom to raise her 16-year-old son and encourage citizens to be more patient and civil.

The Rev. Tom Sepulveda, pastor of southwest Detroit's historic St. Anne de Detroit Church, spoke about community pride at the ceremony Wednesday, which also marked the 200th anniversary of Mexican Independence.

Sepulveda said he was disappointed to hear of the vandalism to the span that reconnects the east and west sides of Mexicantown for the first time since Interstates 75 and 96 were constructed in 1968 when residents could drive Bagley, Lafayette and Porter straight across.

"The bridge is of the people and to do something like that is certainly a sign of disrespect toward the people," Sepulveda said.

"Residents of this area have waited for 42 years for this reconnection. They've been through hard, hard times and something like this just shows so much thoughtlessness."

Striking in its design, the single-stayed cable bridge, with its angled 150-foot-tall pylon and 15-high-tension cables, is part of the $230-million Gateway Project that provides direct access to the Ambassador Bridge for truck traffic on the freeways.

A bridge engineer also caught three young women in the act of vandalism early Thursday afternoon, said MDOT chief engineer Victor Judnic.

"They were carving up the wooden bench," Judnic said.

"The bridge is made of high density wood which discourages carving, but that didn't seem to make a difference. Others used magic markers on the concrete."

The three ran as the MDOT engineer approached them, he said.

Judnic said MDOT had no intention to take legal action against the vandals.

"We don't do that," Judnic said.

"We'll try and clean off as much of the graffiti as we can, but there's nothing we can do about the carvings. We're close to entering into a maintenance agreement with business leaders in Mexicantown who will assume responsibility for the bridge, including plowing, salting, cutting grass and cleaning off graffiti."

Judnic said most of the bridge and plaza has been coated with an anti-graffiti solution.

"But you can't cover every area and a protective coating won't stop someone who wants to do some carving," he said.

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