All in a day: West Reading, Wyomissing police stay busy on New Year's

Does crime ever take a holiday? Thankfully, the police don't. But on New Year's Day in West Reading, the calls they received were few. Here's what happened on Jan. 1, 2012:

• 2:02 a.m.: A resident called borough police after spotting a man taking a wheel off a car with a power tool in an alley behind the 300 block of Sunset Road. The man was changing a flat tire.
• 2:26 a.m.: A fight broke out at a restaurant in the 400 block of Penn Avenue. Wyomissing police assisted and took two people into custody.
• 4:23 p.m.: Police responded to a domestic dispute in the 700 block of Reading Avenue. When officers arrived it turned out to be just an argument. Both people agreed to end the discussion and return home to New Jersey.
• 10:21 p.m.: An assisted living patient wanted an ambulance to take him to Hershey Medical Center but local ambulance workers refused to drive him there. Police were called to check on his welfare.

Meanwhile, in Wyomissing:

• 2:35 a.m.: An elderly woman called 911 to request an ambulance to her home in the 1800 block of Squire Court. Wyomissing officers responded because no ambulances were available. But by the time they got to the home, one had arrived.
• 3:55 a.m.: Two people were injured in a one-vehicle crash at Penn Avenue and Park Road North. The vehicle hit a road sign, then a tree.
• 6:22 a.m.: A resident of the 800 block of Park Road North called police after hearing the couple next door banging on the wall and yelling. The fight was a drunken argument between a boyfriend and girlfriend, but the fight never got violent. Both people calmed down after officers arrived.
• 7:17 a.m.: A woman called police to report a man was knocking on the door of her apartment in the 700 block of Old Mill Road for hours. The man told police he and the woman had been talking and he was worried about her.
• 7:36 a.m.: A man was setting off fireworks at an apartment building in the 800 block of Park Road North. Police confiscated the fireworks and told the man, who appeared drunk, to go to sleep.
• 11:09 a.m.: A woman flagged down officers in the first block of Cardinal Road to report she had been beaten in a domestic dispute. Police arrested the man suspected of attacking her.
• 11:10 a.m.: A yellow Labrador retriever with no collar or tags entered a woman's yard in the first block of Cardinal Road. The dog ran by officers who had responded to the domestic dispute, but they were unable to catch it.
• 12:55 a.m.: Berkshire Mall security discovered a small fire in a trash container in a Chinese restaurant in the food court. The restaurant was shut down the rest of the day due to smoke damage.
• 3:36 p.m.: A woman found a suspicious vehicle parked behind her home in Spruce Lane. Officers found a young couple "having a romantic moment." Police told their parents.
• 4:35 p.m.: Someone stole a television and lamp from a hotel in the 400 block of Park Road North.
• 4:50 p.m.: A cab hit three vehicles on State Hill Road then fled. Police identified the driver and plan to charge the suspect.
• 5:33 p.m.: Housekeepers in a hotel in the 1700 block of Paper Mill Road found a handgun in a room. The owner, who is licensed to carry a gun, returned to the hotel for it.
• 7:01 p.m.: A gray Mercedes SUV was reported speeding and weaving through traffic at Wyomissing Boulevard and Museum Road.
• 8:09 p.m.: A driver was asleep in a vehicle parked on the shoulder of a highway off-ramp. Police suspected the driver was drunk.
• 9:23 p.m.: A burglar alarm went off at a law office in the 900 block of Penn Avenue. Police and the owner walked through the building but nothing appeared to be taken or disturbed.
• 11:10 p.m.: Neighbors called police about a loud party in an apartment in the 100 block of Park Road North. Officers told the tenant to keep the noise down.