An incident report from the Alabama Highway Patrol states that a loose tooth caused a truck driver to veer off the road near Tuscaloosa and end up in a ditch, with ensuing traffic jams lasting into the next morning. The report says that the driver 'stated he lost control when he was pulling a tooth with his hands'. As evidence, the 57-year-old man produced the tooth from his shirt pocket.
Adam Swider is a Florida art teacher who got caught using Pine View
School's laptop computers inappropriately. On six occasions between
June and November of last year, he pawned three HP laptops for about
1/16 their stated value. Sheriff's office spokeswoman Wendy Rose said: 'He
was trying not to get detected, so when he had money he'd go get them
out of pawn and put them back.'
Swider, 36, has been arrested and charged with six counts of dealing
in stolen property and of providing false ownership information to a
pawn broker. The school district's HR department plans to discuss
Swider's employment status.
Also in Florida, officers noticed that Lee Barbour's car didn't have appropriate lights. When the deputy turned on his siren, Barbour, 37, pulled over and fled on foot. The police officer giving chase lost sight of him; however, officers soon needed only follow their ears. They heard what sounded like a 'snorting wild boar' under a nearby trailer and found Barbour catching a nap. He is now in jail on charges of driving under a suspended licence, vehicle theft, and resisting an officer.
In Torpoint, Cornwall, Derek Nash found an invoice for the equivalent of 20 euros in his five-year-old son Alex's school bag. The boy had chosen to visit his grandparents instead of attending a schoolmate's birthday party at a ski centre, and the invoice, passed on by a teacher from the other child's mother, was for the 'no-show'. Nash, who explains that he didn't know how to contact the birthday boy's mother to report his son's cancellation, has refused to pay the amount, and action is pending in small-claims court. The birthday boy no longer plays with Alex at school.
In the last month or so, several items have been added to the Gun Fun
file:
A woman in Elmo, Missouri, rang the emergency services to report
that her five-year-old son had shot her nine-month-old son in the head
with a paintball gun. Sheriff Darren White said that it soon became
clear that the fatal shooting had actually involved a .22-calibre
revolver. The latter had been kept loaded on a shelf built into the
headboard of the bed next to the baby's cot.
Shortly after her husband gave her a handbag with a special pocket
for carrying a handgun, 29-year-old nuclear research scientist
Veronica Rutledge was fatally shot by her two-year-old son. Both the
boy and the handbag had been placed in the front of a shopping trolley
at an Idaho Walmart.
Finally, a three-year-old boy in Albuquerque apparently had
been rummaging for an iPad in his heavily pregnant mother's handbag when he
pulled out a loaded handgun instead. He managed to wound both of his
parents with a single shot, which hit the mother's shoulder after
father Justin Reynolds was hit in the hip and buttock. Reynolds, who
didn't notice that he'd been shot until he sat down, may be in for
more bad news, since being near a gun is a breach of his probation
conditions. The mother had apparently bought the 9 mm handgun only
hours earlier. Both the shooter and his younger sister have been
taken into care.
In Colorado, a man in a hoodie and bandana walked into a convenience store near Denver, took a look at the clerk, and announced: 'I was going to rob this place, but I know you.' He paused, then asked 'Do you know me?' and, when the clerk replied in the negative, gave a thumbs-up sign and left. A short while later, a man in a hoodie and bandana robbed a 7-Eleven a few blocks away, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
An executive engineer has been fired from India's Central Public Works
Department for skipping work. Since 1990. According to a government statement,
A.K. Verma 'went on seeking extension of leave, which was not
sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work'. Though he was
found guilty of 'wilful absence from duty' in a 1992 enquiry,
complexities of labour law meant that he was only recently removed,
once a cabinet minister intervened.
Absenteeism in India's public sector is rife. In efforts aimed
partially at greater public accountability, the Prime Minister is now
requiring civil servants in New Delhi to scan their fingerprints when
arriving at work. The results are available at www.attendance.gov.in .
In court on drugs charges, Jason Duval, 39, said that he didn't have enough money to post bail. In response, Judge Douglas Stoddart said: 'If you can come up with a creative idea to convince me that you'll come back, I'll work with you.' After a brief recess, Duval offered to hand over a pair of Nike trainers, valued at about 80 euros, as collateral. Judge Stoddart says that Duval will get his Christmas present back after he has completed his community service obligation or paid the equivalent of 95 euros.
Eyewitness Jamie Shankland, 25, describes an incident he saw in Dundee: a man was
riding a space hopper down the dual carriageway toward on tunnel on
the city centre ring road when police officers spotted him. Shankland
said that officers blocked off the left lane and that the man on the
inflatable toy, who 'looked very drunk', then tried to run off.
Officers caught him with ease.
A spokesman for Police Scotland's Tayside Division has stated that a
man on a space hopper had been stopped on the road but no formal
action had been taken.
In an examination room with a patient and a colleague, Florida
gynaecologist Dr Sebastian Kent thought 'I am really getting old because these
young doctors look younger every year'; however, he said, he soon realised that
he was dealing with an imposter and reported the young man in question
to the police. Security guards at St. Mary's Medical Center, in West Palm
Beach, confirmed that a teenager wearing a lab coat and stethoscope
had been seen in various parts of the hospital for about a month.
The youth told the police that he has been a physician for
'years'. His mother told the police that he has been refusing to take
his medicine. No charges are to be filed.
The hospital claimed in a statement that the teenager 'never had
contact with any hospital patients and did not gain access to any
patient care areas of the hospital at any time', thereby contradicting
Kent's account of events.
According to UPI reports, Michigan bakery worker Ruben Giovanni Gramajo is charged with putting the wrong kind of nuts in granola-bar mix. The deed was caught by security cameras and the Hearthside Foods quality-control system. Gramajo, 22, later told the police that he'd put nuts and bolts in the mix in order to 'get a break from work'. He has his wish: at least for now, he isn't to set foot near his employer's facilities. He is being charged with placing harmful objects in food, a felony in this case.
Irish citizen Hugh McMahon was ejected from a nightclub in Surfers
Paradise, Australia, after he was found sleeping on one of the sofas.
The 18-year-old McMahon somehow got back into the club and was
jettisoned again. His third entry attempt, which involved climbing
onto the roof from a neighbouring block of flats, was less successful.
At about 1am, clubgoers near an air vent were able to hear cries for
help. The police were summoned, and in court Magistrate Ron Kilner
pronounced: 'Drunk or sober, it is a remarkably stupid thing you've
done.'
McMahon has been fined the equivalent of 1400 euros and ordered to
pay about half that sum for the rescue, along with roof-repair costs.
A 32-year-old unemployed man had been gaming at an Internet café in
Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, with the occasional break for a nap, when he died
of a heart attack. According to Hunei district police spokesperson
Jennifer Wu, CCTV footage showed a small struggle before the man,
identified as Hsieh, collapsed. Gamers around him continued to play,
and several hours passed before his death was noticed. Workers
explained that Hsieh was a regular customer who often took naps in his
chair or face-down on the desk.
The incident comes less than a month after a 38-year-old man was
found dead in a north Taiwan Internet café. In that case, a police
spokesperson said, after the fatal five-day gaming stint, 'we went
inside to cordon off the tables [and] only then did the other patrons
realise that someone had died, but they still showed no concern and
kept playing their games'.
A report from the US National Transportation Safety Board on last year's crash
of a light aircraft near Watkins, Colorado, states: 'Contributing to the
accident was the pilot's distraction due to his cellphone use while
maneuvering at low altitude.' The pilot, Amritpal Singh, 29, had been sending
text messages, but also selfies were involved. Both he and his
passenger, Jatinder Singh, died in their brief night flight.
The goings-on during the pilot's jaunts earlier in the day, with various
passengers, were captured by a GoPro camera pointed into the Cessna
150K's cockpit. It captured images of the pilot and passengers
taking numerous photos of themselves, sometimes even flash photos, and
at least once the pilot was talking on his mobile phone while flying.
According to Albania's News 24, three Chinese contractors travelling on a northern mountain road were accosted by three local highwaymen. One of the Chinese men later said: 'They were masked and armed and stopped us, putting the gun below the chin of our friend. They wanted our mobile phones, money, and the sacks with our goods.' The Chinese nationals decided to resist, using their martial arts training. A few kicks and hand blows later, the gunmen were subdued and the contractors were on the phone to the police. Officers later reported taking two men into custody and seizing Model 54 submachine guns, a mask, and a bag from them.
Chamille McElroy is one telemarketer who can be praised for her
persistence. She placed a call that was answered by the pocket of a young
woman in Oregon. When the call connected, McElroy heard a 'horrible
whimper' instead of greetings and promptly summoned her supervisor,
explaining: 'I don't think this is a joke. Something's happening. I
think this lady is getting hit.' Workers alerted the authorities and
stayed on the line, recording the woman begging 'please don't kill me'
while officers rushed to the scene. A man's voice could be heard
saying 'Quiet!' shortly before police forced their way into the
relevant home. They found Walter Ruck, 33, still assaulting the
woman, who had been unaware that she'd picked up a call.
Ruck was booked into the county jail on charges of fourth-degree
assault, menacing, and strangulation.
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© 2015 Anna Shefl