Kevin Gyles and Andrew Williams showed up at a Cleveland, Ohio, home with a delivery. They were undeterred by the two squad cars parked outside and by the police officers within, who were going through the home as part of a drugs investigation. The officers were interested in the marijuana that Gyles and Williams were carrying - all 5.5 kilos of it - and the two men were arrested.
Ricky Marshall, 27, entered a convenience store in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and lunged at the clerk when the cash drawer was open. Surveillance video footage shows that the clerk promptly produced a hammer and put him in a head lock. Marshall managed to flee the scene after a customer took a few swipes at him with the hammer; however, Marshall's dog remained at the crime scene. It led officers to his front door, and he was arrested.
Police in Shelby County, Ohio, report on 14-year-old Jay Luthman, who decided to perform a 'stunt'. His older brother, Nathan, wasn't sure what sort of stunt this was to be, but the beginning of it involved the younger Luthman tying a 34-kilo rock to his ankle and dragging it into the pond. When Luthman went underwater and didn't surface, Nathan looked for him in the pond and then contacted emergency services, who found the corpse. Authorities believe the stone fell over a three-metre drop in the pond and dragged Jay to his death.
Reuters reports that a woman in Caltagirone, Sicily, took her 61-year-old son to
the police station after confiscating his keys to her house. She explained to
the cops that he had stayed out too late and that he needed to be convinced to
behave properly and not complain so much. The son countered that his mother
doesn't give him enough money each week and that she doesn't cook well enough.
The police mediated in the dispute, and the son's allowance and house keys
were restored.
Sandra Hickey of Pittsfield, Maine, had a slightly different sort of problem to
report to the authorities. She couldn't find her house key and was convinced
that someone had taken it. The 58-year-old woman rang emergency number 911 more
than a dozen times in the space of five days to report the problem, according to
Sergeant Timothy Roussin of the town's police force. Hickey sometimes admitted
that there wasn't an emergency or claimed that she had information on a murder,
but the topic always returned to the key. Hickey, who allegedly was intoxicated
at the time of the calls, is being charged with abuse of the emergency number.
She had been warned several times about this possibility.
The missing house key had been returned without Hickey's knowledge, according
to Roussin.
Jose A. Mojica of Madison, Wisconsin, was annoyed because Brenda A. Freilinger left with his money before finishing her assignment as a prostitute. After starting to have sex with Mojica's brother, Oscar Maldonado, the 42-year-old Freilinger hopped out of Mojica's truck and hopped into an approaching Lincoln Town Car. The 33-year-old Mojica therefore rammed the car a few times with his truck. Police officer Andre Lewis, who had watched the action unfold, pulled over Mojica's truck and received the explanation that 'that bitch' had his $100. Charges are being brought against everyone but Lewis.
Al Morris, owner of Tennessee's Christian radio station WZAP-AM, stated that employee Tommy Tester's duties have been suspended following his recent arrest. The local media provide more details: Tester, apparently wearing a skirt, got out of his car at a car wash and urinated in a washing bay in front of some children. When officers showed up to investigate reports of the incident, Tester - who is also pastor of Gospel Baptist Church in Bristol - allegedly offered to give them oral sex. A search of Tester's car revealed a half-empty bottle of vodka and an empty bottle from painkillers. Tester, who maintains that he is innocent, failed all field sobriety tests.
Three years after his arrest, Idaho inmate Jennifer Spencer approached prison officials concerning his gender identity issues. Doctors suggested testosterone therapy. Spencer, who wanted to be given female hormones, made the request again and received the same response - a total of 74 times. Frustrated, he addressed part of the issue by castrating himself with a disposable razor blade. Later, after investigating the law, Spencer sued the state, claiming that doctors' failure to diagnose gender identity disorder, as opposed to other disorders, and to provide the requested hormones constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The case is still being heard, but a federal judge has ruled that Spencer must be provided with oestrogen and psychotherapy in the meantime.
Japan's Mainichi Shimbun reports that Mika Shindo, 32, and her partner were enjoying a passionate interlude in their car when Shindo's four-year-old son awoke and started to scream and cry. Shindo slapped the child, and her partner, 44-year-old Hiroshi Hatakeyama, hit him in the head with an aluminium bottle and choked him. The child blacked out, and the couple left him in a ditch to die, according to a court ruling that sees Shindo sentenced to 14 years in prison for murder. Hatakeyama faces similar charges.
The US Army Corps of Engineers replenished the sand on the beach in Surf City,
New Jersey, prompting the city to close the beach once it became clear that the
sand came from a site where the military had dumped World War II munitions.
After more than 1,000 explosives were removed, the beach reopened, but a dozen
more munitions have been found since then. Accordingly, the Army has stationed
an ordnance specialist at the beach and visitors are asked not to dig more than
a foot into the sand.
Concerning any future clean-up efforts, Corps of Engineers spokesman Khaalid
Walls said that the corps's projects are all performed on a cost-sharing basis.
Mayor Leonard T. Connors responded: 'If they're talking about getting any money
out of Surf City to pay for their mistakes, they can forget about it.'
Reuters reports that police in Tartu, Estonia, stopped a car that was moving erratically and assumed that the driver had been drinking. According to Tartu Police spokeswoman Marge Kohtla, 'the man kept missing the tube for the breath test, then they realised he was blind'. The 20-year-old driver, who had been following driving instructions from his 16-year-old passenger, was arrested.
A would-be bank robber made sure his identity wouldn't be revealed. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses, and gloves, he entered an Oakland County, Michigan, bank and presented the teller with a small piece of cardboard reading 'Give me your money.' According to police detective Tom Bisio, he told her to hurry, 'but when she asked him if he had a bag to put the money into, it must have flustered him. He ran off without any cash.' The suspect remains at large.
A would-be convenience store robber in upstate New York fared worse. Justin Walker, wearing sunglasses and a hooded sweatshirt, brandished a gun and demanded money from the till. Surveillance camera footage shows him filling his pockets with cash. In order to do this, he set the shotgun down on the counter. Clerk Hafiz Alam picked it up and pointed it at the 22-year-old Walker, who beat a hasty retreat. However, Walker then changed his mind, returning seconds later and leaping over the counter in an attempt to reclaim his weapon. The gun went off in the ensuing struggle, but neither man was injured. Walker escaped again, but this time a truck driver recorded the licence plate number. Officers arrested him in an Albany apartment.
Leroy Greer is suing 1-800-Flowers for a million dollars. He explains that the company's privacy policy states that customers can ask that their details be kept from 'third parties'. He chose that option. However, when the company sent a note to thank Greer for an order, his wife wanted details and rang the company, which faxed the order receipt to her. Thus, she found out that he had sent 12 long-stemmed red roses to another woman, with a note reading 'Just wanted to say that I love you and you mean the world to me!' While the Greers were going through an amicable divorce at the time anyway, this prompted her to ask for a $300,000 divorce settlement in addition to child support.
A fashion model known as Dora posed for a high-profile advertising campaign for Deutsche Telekom high-speed connections. The model, 27, now has announced that, after waiting three months for the company to install a new line for her Berlin flat, 'I'll give them another week but that's it. After that, I'm going to switch to another provider.' Bild quoted a Deutsche Telekom official as saying that the company would investigate the matter promptly.
Charged with possession of illegal drugs, Indiana's 23-year-old Joseph Klinkman was ordered to participate in a 'life management' programme. Participants in the programme must submit urine samples for testing. After doing so, 'He saw they were testing for a drug he didn't think they were testing for', according to Valparaiso Police Detective Sergeant Jeff Balon. Klinkman therefore broke into the office and stole his urine sample and that of a friend from atop a filing cabinet. Both men were ordered to submit new urine samples, and Klinkman faces various charges.
En route to the airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, Evonne D. Maurice decided to stop at the bank. She ordered the driver of her hired limousine to stop, she walked up to the drive-through window, and she handed the teller a 'gimme all your money' note mentioning bombs in the bank. The teller triggered an alarm, and Maurice returned to the limo and left the scene without any additional money. The 22-year-old Maurice was arrested later in Florida and now has been sentenced to a little over three years in prison.
Police were called to a Manteca, California, home when neighbours heard a boy screaming from within. Looking through the windows, officers saw a 10-year-old boy apparently standing still near a stairway handrail. They motioned to the child, but he didn't move, whereupon they entered the flat and discovered that the boy had been tied tightly to the railing by his roughly-50-centimetre-long hair. Police spokesman Rex Osborn said that the boy was freed without any damage to his locks. His mother, 27-year-old Balbir Kaur, was arrested, even though she insisted that the boy was 'just playing' and later that he was merely being disciplined for 'acting up'.
Elko County, Nevada, Sheriff's Deputy Mike Moore pulled over a motorist for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. The driver was jail deputy Charlotte Moore, his wife. Instead of taking a breath test, the 36-year-old woman drove off. Her husband pulled her over a second time and summoned backup. Mrs Moore, who is now on paid administrative leave, reportedly had been drinking during a business group's 'wine walk'.
Juanita Marie Jones rang the police in Rochelle, Georgia, to complain that the rock of crack cocaine she had purchased earlier in the evening was fake. She wanted help getting her $20 back from the dealer. The 53-year-old Jones invited the officers into her kitchen, where she showed them the remaining pieces of the rock. She is being charged with possession of cocaine.
According to AP reports, a man entered Shamrock Liquors in Ashland, Kentucky, while wearing a cunning disguise. His head was wrapped in duct tape. After the tape-adorned man robbed the off-licence of two rolls of coins, manager Bill Steele produced a duct-tape-wrapped wooden club and chased him to the car park. The robber - Kasey G. Kazee - was unable to remove his duct tape before the police arrived, but he still denied that he was the man who robbed the store.
Neal Mello decided to go for a swim in Long Beach, New York, at about 9:30pm. Half an hour later, he hadn't returned, so a friend contacted rescue services. The 37-year-old Mello's clothes, wallet, and mobile telephone were found on the shore, but Mello was nowhere to be found. A helicopter and boats were dispatched, and at about 5:30am Mello was found hiding under a pier near where he had entered the water. As he was naked, he had hoped to wait until no-one was around before leaving the water.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that a man was arrested on suspicion of voyeurism after a video camera was found in the ladies' loo at the cinema where he worked. The manager of the cinema was able to determine the identity of the culprit because, in addition to taping four women using the loo, the camera had recorded the suspect setting it up. The man's identity has not yet been released.
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© 2007 Anna Shefl