Articles Posted in Odd Cases

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Sure, neighbors have their disagreements. But check this out, as reported by nj.com:

An elderly man was arrested Monday night after a neighbor’s fart allegedly drove him to threaten him with a gun, police said.

Daniel Collins, 72, had been involved in an ongoing dispute with the unidentified neighbor for some time, Det. Lt. Andrew McGurr told NJ.com.

The neighbor told officers that Collins pointed a revolver at him in the vestibule of their apartment building at 694 Cedar Lane at around 9:25 p.m.

Collins said he confronted the man after hearing him pass gas in front of his apartment door, but denied threatening him with a gun. He consented to a search, and officers recovered a .32 caliber revolver from his vehicle.

Wait, you could hear it in your apartment? Yikes.

He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a firearm and making terroristic threats.

Here’s the source, including a mug shot of Mr. Collins.

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If you have glasses, chances are you’ve misplaced them at some point. Let’s say you are a deputy, chances are, at some point … No! Chances are, this virtually NEVER happens, although it did to a New Mexico deputy, as reported by krqe.com:

An off-duty Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy left a gun behind at a local hospital …

Um. Er. My bad.

While patients shuffled in and out of Presbyterian Hospital Saturday, the search for the missing gun had hospital security and Albuquerque Police on high alert. “Anytime a weapon is involved, we’re very concerned, but we have highly trained security staff on site that make routine patrols,” explained Paul Sandoval, Director of Security for Presbyterian.

The Sheriff’s Department confirmed an off-duty deputy carrying his personal weapon left it in a restroom by accident. Worried who might find it and pick it up, APD sent officers to the security room of the hospital where detectives reviewed surveillance video.

Roughly 160 cameras are scanning the hospital everyday and one camera shows the hallway leading in and out of the bathroom where the gun was left. “It took a little while to determine who the person was and to make sure that we knew who exactly it was,” Sandoval explained.

Drum roll please …

Video showed just one person entering the restroom after the deputy from the time the gun was reported missing – Dr. Robert Gordon, a non-Presbyterian physician with privileges to practice there.

Gun? What gun?

Hours after the gun went missing, APD found and questioned Gordon. Sources said at first he hesitated to give the gun back but finally handed over the weapon.

Doh! Here’s the source.

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The term “road rage” is used a lot, probably too much. But this case right here, this is definitely road rage. As reported by The Tampa Bay Times:

The onslaught began when Bonnie N. Coleman, 31, was driving west on Tampa Road in Oldsmar and Therese O’Neill, 29, cut in front of her 2012 Saturn station wagon.

Oh no you didn’t just cut in front of her.

Coleman didn’t like that, deputies said, so she ran into the rear bumper of O’Neill’s 1992 Dodge station wagon. “They didn’t know each other,” said Pinellas County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda. “It just appears the victim had switched lanes and the suspect became very angry.”

So she bumped her. Not cool, but … oh wait, there’s more.

Coleman trailed O’Neill and bumped her car several times, officials said, before they reached East Lake Road and were stopped by a red light.

Coleman then tried to push O’Neill’s station wagon into the intersection, deputies said.

Holy crap! Sure seems like she trying to get Ms. O’Neill either killed or seriously injured.

That’s when O’Neill retaliated. She backed up into Coleman’s car, then ran the light to try to escape the enraged driver, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

“I think she was trying her best to do what she could to get away from this woman,” Barreda said. “But (Coleman) continued and continued and was so persistent. It didn’t end.

Deputies said Coleman followed O’Neill from Tampa Road onto Mayfair Place in Palm Harbor, where the two women got out of their cars and began to fight. Coleman pulled O’Neill’s hair, kicked and punched her, officials said.

A 45-year-old witness to the road rage incident, Jill Ann Atwood, stopped nearby, called 911, then got out of her car, ran up to the brawling women and attempted to help O’Neill.

That’s got to be it. No?

Coleman struck Atwood in the eye with her fist, deputies said.

That, actually was the end of it, pretty much.

Coleman was charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and simple battery. Deputies said she was uncooperative to the last and acted “agitated” as she was taken into custody.

As for the victims …

Both O’Neill and Atwood were taken to Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor with non-life-threatening injuries following the attack.

Whew! The Juice is exhausted. Here’s the source.

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If this were to become a trend, perhaps golf would become a lot more popular? As reported by kmov.com (St. Louis):

On Monday afternoon, police arrested two women after they allegedly exposed themselves while on an Alton, Illinois golf course.

And people say golf is boring …

Officers with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office responded to Woodlands Golf Course at 2839 Harris Lane around 2 p.m. in reference to a citizen complaint. The caller stated that two women were exposing their “sexual organs” while on the course.

When officers arrived, they saw Alicia Binford, 43, and Shelly Lewis, 45, lewdly exposing their breasts.

Binford and Lewis, both from O’Fallon, Missouri, were arrested and charged with public indecency. They were taken to the Madison County Jail and held on $100 bond.

Here’s the source, including mug shots of the ladies.

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Sure, it’s illegal. But can it possibly be that this is a judicious use of police manpower? Unlikely. As reported by The Morning Call (Lehigh Valley, PA):

A detective from the Monroe County district attorney’s office made arrangements to meet Brian K. Ryder Friday after reading his ad on Craigslist from a male seeking a female to “smoke with.” The ad read, “Any females into 420? It’s nice out. Let’s go smoke. Email if interested.”

Investigators made arrangements to meet Ryder at the Stroud Mall on Route 611, but Detective Joseph Coddington pulled him over in his pickup truck prior to arriving at the mall. Ryder was charged with possession with intent to delivery marijuana, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He also was cited for having an expired inspection on his truck.

Yes, that’s him. [The photo is from the Monroe County District Attorney’s office.] Dude looks like he’s thinking “Really? You did all that for this?” Here’s the source.

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The cops have you red-handed, with the evidence right there in front of you. So what do you do?
Here’s an option you might not have considered. As reported by the Hunterdon County Democrat (New Jersey):

On Thursday, June 1, at about 1:55 a.m., Patrolman Joseph SanGiovanni saw a 2012 Nissan Maxima driven by LaQuan Mayes, 38, of Newark, allegedly fail to stop at a red light on Route 22.

Upon stopping the car, Patrolman SanGiovanni smelled raw marijuana inside the vehicle and saw a dime bag of marijuana in plain view inside of the cup-holder in the center console, police said. When the patrolman requested that Mayes hand over the bag, Mayes picked it up and ate it.

Gulp. “Bag? What bag?”

A consensual search of Mayes’ car did not turn up any additional contraband.

Free to go? Not exactly.

Mayes was charged with possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana, obstruction of justice, failure to make lawful disposition of a controlled dangerous substance, driving while in possession of a CDS and failure to observe a traffic signal. He was released on his own recognizance.

What? You released him? And the evidence? Here’s the source.

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If you went to law school, you probably read the title of the post and thought, hmm, that sounds like a question on a law school exam. If you’re a normal person, you probably thought “finders, keepers.” So, who gets the money? As reported by azcentral.com:

An Arizona court says a man’s heirs are entitled to $500,000 cash that was found in the walls of his former home years after he died.

The Court of Appeals ruling Thursday upholds a judge’s decision that the money, stashed in ammunition cans inside the walls, belongs to Robert Spann’s estate.

Spann died in 2001. According to the ruling, his daughters found stocks, bonds, cash and gold hidden in his suburban Phoenix home before they sold it seven years later.

The couple who bought the home in Paradise Valley claimed the cash after a worker found it in the walls during kitchen and bathroom remodeling.

We’re rich! We’re rich! No? Exactly how is that money not the property of the current homeowner?

The Court of Appeals said that legally, the money was only mislaid, not abandoned, so it still belonged to Spann’s estate.

Lawyers: Yes, of course. Normal folks: WTF are you talking about? Here’s the source.

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Yes, it’s important to follow the law. And yes, sometimes the state must pursue cases based on principle. But this case? Really? As reported by The Juneau Empire, here’s what happened:

Prosecutors said 19-year-old Tyler John Leatham angrily pushed over and damaged a trash can receptacle in the lobby of the fast food restaurant after he didn’t receive the correct amount of change back for his meal.

Hang him! Here’s how Mr. Leatham described it:

Outside the courtroom, Leatham told the Empire it wasn’t even his money that was in question. Leatham said he and his friend were going through the drive-thru for breakfast around 7 a.m. that morning, and his friend accidently handed the cashier an extra $10 that he thought was a $1 bill.

His friend went inside the restaurant to talk to management, but to no avail. After waiting inside the car for 15 minutes, Leatham said he went inside to see what was going on.

One of the managers told Leatham she was going to call the police, which Leatham said made him frustrated. He pushed the trash can over on the way out of the door, a fact which Higgins told the judge he conceded.

He admitted it! Guilty! Not so fast. Check out the charge:

Leatham was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief for intentionally causing damage to property in an amount of $50 or more, but less than $500.

Assistant Attorney General Chris Peloso said the receptacle cost about $940 to replace.

Even though The Juice is a personal injury lawyer, the defense is relatively obvious (at least it is after reading the story …)

An invoice for the $940 replacement cost was submitted to the court.

Wait for it …

But defense attorney Kevin Higgins argued the critical element for valuation under criminal mischief statutes is the amount of damage caused by the defendant, not simply the value of the damaged property.

The amount of damage has to be established through evidence showing either diminution in value or cost of repair, Higgins said.

“Diminution in value is measured by determining the difference between the pre-damage value of the property and the post-damage value of the property,” Higgins wrote in his motion to acquit which he submitted to the court after the state rested its case. “The cost of repair is also an acceptable method of valuing property damage…. Replacement cost is an unacceptable measure of the amount of damage.”

Bam!

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If you want to vote for Eddie Gonzalez for Congress, you can’t. But you can vote for VoteForEddie.com. As reported in The Miami Herald:

Unknown independent Eddie Gonzalez probably knew he’d get little money, no attention and have almost no shot against popular Republican incumbent Rep. Mario Diaz Balart.

So Gonzalez did the logical thing. He legally changed his name to “VoteForEddie.com.”

Wait. You can do that?

Gonzalez…..er… VoteForEddie.com petitioned a Miami-Dade judge to have his new name on the ballot and, viola …

Here’s the source.

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Some folks just don’t know when to give up. Some do, though, even when they’re hammered. As reported by The Bee News (Western New York):

Police responded to an accident on Northwood Avenue, where a car had run over a metal sign. The suspect was located on a nearby street and admitted he had been drinking. After failing his third field sobriety test, the suspect said, “Let’s just call it a day.”

Uncle!