As nightlife returns, crime rates in Glenwood South have already set records this year
Criminal activity and disorderly conduct in the lively bar and nightlife district of downtown Raleigh is worse this year than before the pandemic.
Offenses that involve such things as driving while intoxicated, assault, drugs, weapons, larceny, theft, noise and vandalism aren’t new to the area around the half-mile corridor on Glenwood Avenue.
But the cumulative number of offenses from Jan. 1 to March 20, 2022, is higher than the same three-month periods of the last three years, according to Raleigh Police Department data requested by The News & Observer.
In 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, 257 offenses were reported from January to March, which dropped the following year to 167 and to 95 in 2021.
The data through March 20 this year includes reported offenses after rowdy St. Patrick’s Day weekend crowds — 295 offenses were reported in Glenwood South. That’s 200 more than in the same time period last year.
Increase of Glenwood South crime
In the first three months of 2022 compared to the same time frame in 2019, there were more assaults, more DWIs, more damage to property, more larcenies, more thefts from cars and thefts of car parts and the same number of drug felonies and misdemeanors.
There was one report of forcible rape this year, a crime that wasn’t reported at all in the same time frame of the last three years.
This year, larcenies more than doubled, weapons violations quadrupled and two vehicles instead of zero were stolen, compared to 2019 data.
Police presence in the neighborhood was already increased last October “due to an increase in pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the Glenwood South area in an effort to ensure the safety of local businesses and visitors to the area,” Raleigh police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan told the N&O.
Police presence won’t be increased further this spring, Hourigan said, even as larger weekend crowds gather on the block with warmer weather approaching and virus cases trending lower.
A shooting, viral drunk driver crash
The increased rates of crime have included a few violent instances in March alone: a graphic video tweeted on March 18 of Glenwood Avenue chaos went viral, showing the aftermath of an allegedly drunk driver crashing into two parked cars, with the caption “Last night was strange.”
A driver traveling northbound crashed into an unoccupied vehicle, causing it to crash into a second parked vehicle, according to a preliminary police investigation.
In the video of the scene after the crash, a man who appears to be intoxicated is shown standing atop the awning of the entrance of La Santa, a restaurant at 222 Glenwood Ave. An apartment balcony is seen behind him.
Suddenly, another man a few feet away falls to the ground from the awning. A loud crack is heard in the video as he hits the ground.
The video has nearly 50,000 retweets and over 325,000 likes, and has been watched 8.3 million times.
People surrounded the fallen man in the video, who received EMS care on the scene and is not suspected of any criminal activity, according to Hourigan, the Raleigh police spokeswoman.
The same weekend, police responded to a shooting around 2:30 a.m. near Carolina Ale House at the intersection of Glenwood and Tucker Street. One man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to WRAL.
Police arrested 19-year-old Jahbare Jahid Holmes in connection with the shooting and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm and going armed to the terror of the people.
News & Observer reporter Julian Shen-Berro contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 8:39 AM.
