Disorderly Conduct

Nicole Polizzi, aka Snooki, might have taken the lyrics to the theme song for MTV's "Jersey Shore" - "Get Crazy" - a little too seriously. Cops in Seaside Heights said that Polizzi, 22, was arrested yesterday afternoon for disorderly conduct after beachgoers reported that she was bothering them. Polizzi, of Marlboro, N.Y., was allegedly acting disorderly while on the beach at Fremont Avenue, Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd said in a statement. She was taken to police headquarters where she was processed and later released with a summons.

Guard Maurice Cheeks of the 76ers and a woman friend were arrested on South Street last night and charged with disorderly conduct after the friend became involved in a shouting match with a pedestrian who had walked in front of her car, police said. About 50 people crowded around after Cheeks got out of the car to calm his friend and was immediately recognized, witnesses said. Police handcuffed Cheeks, 32, and his friend, Diane Craven, 36, of West Philadelphia and took them into custody at about 9 p.m., after Craven refused to drive away, according to police and witnesses.

STATE COLLEGE - Curtis Drake is among four Penn State athletes who have been charged with disorderly conduct in connection with a scuffle at an off-campus apartment building last month. Drake, 20, is a sophomore wide receiver from West Catholic High. He fractured his left tibia in spring workouts last week after missing last season with the same injury. State College police Lt. Keith Robb said yesterday the athletes were among seven suspects charged with the summary offense following the Feb. 26 fight that left one person with minor injuries.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The somber mood in Syracuse turned into one of frustration and violence early today as thousands of Syracuse University fans went on a rampage following their team's heartbreaking, 74-73 loss to Indiana in the battle for the national basketball championship. Police said an estimated 4,000 youths stormed university streets, some of them taunting police, throwing beer cans and causing damage to businesses and each other. Police had charged about 15 people with disorderly conduct by 12:30 a.m. today, after moving into the huge crowd and ordering people to disperse.

A Broomall lawyer accused of threatening a receptionist in the Delaware County District Attorney's Office in October was acquitted of disorderly conduct yesterday and a mistrial was declared on an assault charge because the jury could not reach a verdict. Vatche Kaloustian, 44, turned around and smiled at his wife, who had started crying when the Delaware County Court jury announced they were hopelessly deadlocked on the charge of simple assault and found him not guilty of disorderly conduct.

Last week, Lloyd Mumford was dismissed from the Villanova basketball team. Yesterday, he was found guilty of disorderly conduct by District Court Judge Beverly Foster at a hearing in Radnor Township. He was fined the maximum $300 and ordered to pay $100 in court costs. Terms such as breaking and entering have been used to describe Mumford's actions. Yet, it turns out that he was guilty only of using poor judgment. Mumford had been charged with two counts of criminal trespass, one count of criminal mischief and one count of disorderly conduct as the result of an incident that took place at a Conestoga Road duplex at 3:30 a.m. July 11. According to testimony at yesterday's hearing and a statement Mumford gave to police, Mumford went to visit a friend that night.

A West Conshohocken Borough councilman has been charged with drunken driving and disorderly conduct after confrontations with police Tuesday night in which he allegedly shouted obscenities at officers and threatened to have them fired. Police also say the councilman, John T. Lawless, 51, of the 100 block of Moir Avenue, refused both a breath-alcohol test and a blood test, meaning that his driver's license could be suspended automatically. Lawless first came into contact with police when he stopped his car on the Matsonford Bridge and uttered obscenities at a Conshohocken officer who was assisting a disabled motorist on the West Conshohocken side of the bridge, according to police.

A Bucks County woman who had been robbed and left bleeding outside the Tweeter Center in Camden just didn't behave well as a crime victim, or so police thought. Camden Detective Maurice Gibson, who alleges that Kimberly Halpin made racial slurs in describing her assailants, decided that she should be handcuffed, arrested, and jailed. Their he-said, she-said trial landed before U.S. District Judge Renee Bumb this week. And a jury of five women and three men unanimously decided yesterday that the detective fabricated information to justify the June 19, 2004, arrest.

A 19-year-old Coatesville man known as "Datbull" was fatally shot Tuesday night, and the county district attorney hopes the death will dissuade city officials from reducing the police force to balance the budget. Tre L. Davis was shot about 11:30 p.m. at New and Charlotte Streets and was pronounced dead shortly after midnight at Brandywine Hospital, according to Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. "Violent crimes like this are a stark reminder of why Coatesville needs a strong and fully staffed police department," Hogan said in a statement.

BEING LED out of Rittenhouse Square in handcuffs wasn't on Coulter Loeb's list of things to do during his summer in Philadelphia, but that's what happened last month to the University of Cincinnati student. The reason? Police said he was interfering with a police investigation when he tried to photograph a cop escorting a transient woman out of the park on July 14. "He said I needed to stop taking pictures and walk away," Loeb recalled recently. With the advancement of digital technology, Loeb's story demonstrates a growing trend locally and nationally of clashes between civilians and the police officers they record or photograph.

YOU'LL BE relieved to know that disorderly conduct is still illegal in Center City. It is still illegal to start a fist- fight or scream obscenities or touch your naughty parts suggestively. You may not block the corridors of commerce to demand a tribute from passers-by or commit a public nuisance. (Private nuisances are not specifically prohibited.) Not that you were contemplating any of that. But, apparently, there was some question about whether the police had the authority to enforce those laws on those who are chronically homeless and/or mentally ill. Frank DiCicco's 1st Councilmanic District - which runs from South Philly through Center City to Port Richmond - is home to a disproportionate percentage of the homeless.

Missouri breach is flooding Iowa Six hundred residents in southwest Iowa were ordered Sunday to evacuate their homes after the Missouri River breached a levee across the border in Missouri. The evacuation covers nearly half of the town of Hamburg, said a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported a levee was breached Sunday morning south of Hamburg in Missouri's Atchison County. Iowa sent a Blackhawk helicopter Sunday to drop 1,000-pound sandbags on the levee, an official said, because it was too dangerous for ground crews.

Punching, kicking, and pulling out hair, the 10 girls attacked one another in a brutal battle that erupted seconds after an exchange of words outside Bridget Finnegan's third-period Spanish class at Martin Luther King High. Concerned that a pregnant girl was caught in the middle of the March 30 melee, Finnegan waded into the confused and noisy disturbance, pulling apart combatants who continued to yank on each other's hair. One girl had been kicked in the head and was bleeding from the cut, she said.

STATE COLLEGE - Curtis Drake is among four Penn State athletes who have been charged with disorderly conduct in connection with a scuffle at an off-campus apartment building last month. Drake, 20, is a sophomore wide receiver from West Catholic High. He fractured his left tibia in spring workouts last week after missing last season with the same injury. State College police Lt. Keith Robb said yesterday the athletes were among seven suspects charged with the summary offense following the Feb. 26 fight that left one person with minor injuries.

Jason Peters became the second Eagles offensive lineman arrested this offseason when he was charged with disturbing the peace and resisting arrest late Friday night in Shreveport, La., police said. Peters was in Shreveport as a celebrity guest at the Bay Bay Birthday Bash at the Kokopellis nightclub. According to the police report, Peters was asked to turn down the loud music blaring from his car. He refused and said he was going to park. He also declined to provide his identification when asked by police, leading to the resisting charge.

Nickolas Galiatsatos, a pizza shop guy in Upper Darby, had a simple plan, according to police. He allegedly tried to infest competing pizzerias with mice. The plan, however, quickly unraveled when Galiatsatos, 47, owner of Nina's Bella Pizzeria, tried to slip a bag of mice past two uniformed police officers eating lunch at Verona Pizza around 3 p.m. Monday, authorities said. "He asked to used the bathroom," said Fanis Facas, 24, co-owner of Verona at 8917 West Chester Pike, adding he had not known that Galiatsatos owned another pizza joint at 8445 West Chester Pike.

W HAT A RAT BASTARD! An Upper Darby pizzeria owner gone goofy tried to sabotage two of his competitors yesterday by dumping live mice in their pizza shops, police said. Nikolas Galiatsatos, 47, owner of Nina's Bella Pizzeria on West Chester Pike, walked into Verona's Pizza, less than a half a mile away, about 2 p.m. carrying a bag and asking to use the bathroom, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. He was allowed to do so, but employees thought it was strange when the man, whom they said they didn't know, left the bathroom without his bag and without buying food, said Nick Facas, who has owned Verona's with his brother Fanis for six years.