A Londoner apparently in the grip of Olympic mania had to be rescued by lifeguards in the south of France after he set off from a beach - to swim to the U.S.
The unnamed 34 year old holidaymaker told his friends on the beach at Biarritz that he was off to New York to carry the Olympic spirit across the Atlantic.
They thought he was joking but knowing that he was a strong swimmer decided to let him go telling him that a boat would come to rescue him if he got into difficulty.
Then, watched by lifeguards on the shore, he continued swimming until he was out of sight on his 3,594-mile journey.
The lifeguards called out a helicopter and a diver dropped into the sea and explained to the man that it was not a good idea to swim across the Atlantic and advised him to head back towards France.
He replied that he was a strong swimmer and felt up to it. At the same time lifeguards arrived in a rescue dinghy and threw the eccentric a line before towing him back to the beach.
Laurent Saintespes, senior officer at Biarritz airbase told Agence France Presse, ‘He was a bit naive.But at a time when the Olympics are taking place in London you have to see the funny side of things’.
Butler County sheriff’s deputies Sunday granted a would-be trespasser the rare wish of gaining access to off-limits property -- and she might be there for the foreseeable future.
Deputies responded to the rear of the Butler County Jail in southwest Ohio at about 7:30 a.m. and found Tiffany R. Hurd, 36, trying to climb over the barbed-wire fence.
The catch? The woman wanted to get into the facility, not out of it.
Jail staff advised the woman to leave the premises -- to which she responded, “I want to be arrested,” according to the Butler County Sheriff's Office.
A jail staff member leaving the premises at the end of his shift spotted Hurd lying near the back fence and asked her to leave. When she allegedly refused, the staff member asked sheriff’s deputies to respond.
Deputies say the woman was intoxicated and had a backpack with her.
Hurd allegedly refused multiple orders to leave the property and attempted to climb the fence in front of the deputies, who then arrested her on charges of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.
On-duty jail staff members could not remember anyone attempting to climb the fence into the jail, but deputies set a precedent Sunday that anyone who tries to trespass into the jail might succeed -- with some help.
A Canadian man trying to smash a mouse with his gun accidentally shot himself in the forehead instead.
Police said Dale Whitmell tried to kill the mouse with the butt of his rifle when the weapon went off accidentally Wednesday at a camp on Anjigami Lake in Ontario, according to the Canadian news agency QMI.
He didn’t know the weapon was loaded when the bullet grazed his forehead. “He was very lucky,” Constable Amanda Huff said.
Whitmell was admitted to and released from the hospital, then charged with careless use of a firearm.
The Merrylands father-of-two, who did not want to be identified out of embarrassment, sold his beloved Toyota Supra sports car for $15,000 on Saturday afternoon and stashed the wads of notes in his kitchen oven.
He said he believed the cash would be safe in the oven because his wife never used it.
It was a decision he regretted yesterday after his wife struggled to tell him the money had literally gone up in smoke.
She had turned on the oven to pre-heat some chicken nuggets for their two girls and inadvertently cooked the cash.
"It was everything I had," he told ninemsn.
"I've got nothing to my name. That money was supposed to go towards my mortgage. I had a call from Westpac on Tuesday asking me when I would pay because I missed a payment on Monday."
"I told them 'I'll pay tomorrow' but then the money was burnt'."
His distraught wife said she "couldn't stop crying" when she told her husband what had happened.
"I struggled to breathe, I said 'I burnt the money, I burnt the money'. I felt like I was going to faint," she said.
He said he was forced to sell his sports car to pay bills because the slow-down in the building industry had affected his metal roofing business.
"After a while it started to sink in, you've got kids, a mortgage, a family car to run and I'm thinking what am I going to do," he said.
To make matters worse, the family's water was cut off today after failing to pay their bill.
After discovering his cash had been burnt he immediately set off to his bank in an attempt to deposit the money but the teller at Merrylands' Westpac branch refused to accept the cash.
"I was quite insulted. I asked her to send it to the RBA, I told her 'please it's all I got' but she didn't want to," he said.
After being contacted by ninemsn today, a spokesman for Westpac Merrylands offered an apology and said "we will do whatever we can do within the guidelines" to help him.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has a clear policy on damaged and incomplete banknotes and advises people to take their damaged notes to banks.
"If several pieces of the same banknote are presented, the Reserve Bank's policy is for each piece to be worth a share of the value in proportion to its size," the RBA policy reads.
"The combined value paid should be the face value of the original banknote."
If less than 20 percent of the note is missing full face value is paid but if between 20-80 percent of the note is missing value is paid in proportion with the percentage remaining.
If more than 80 percent of the banknote is missing no payment is made.
A Las Vegas man is recovering after he was beaten with a toilet lid and a guitar during a bizarre home invasion over the weekend.
The ordeal began Saturday morning when police received a call that a man was throwing things inside a home in a southwest Las Vegas neighborhood.
When officers arrived, they found a man later identified as Ronald Hetzel sitting on a curb in front of the house.
Police said Hertzel was shirtless and screaming. When officers were unable to calm him down, they set up a perimeter to contain the man. At that time, Hetzel jumped a back fence into a neighbors yard, where police say he broke through a window and entered the home.
A male resident inside that home said Hetzel started fighting with him, bashing him in the head with a wood guitar and a toilet lid and trying to strangle him.
After about 20 minutes, police caught up with Hetzel and took him down with the help of a K9 dog.
The resident of the home suffered bruises and cuts during the confrontation. He was taken to Sienna Rose Hospital for treatment.
Hetzel now faces several charges including home invasion and attempted murder.
A Thomson man was in critical condition after Richmond County Investigators say he purposefully had his head set on fire.
The incident was originally reported that the man got into a fight with several others at Allie Katz Bar off Washington Road, and then those men set him on fire to retalliate...but investigators say that wasn't the case.
William Bonner, 36, is getting himself ready...to prove his friends wrong. It takes two attempts...and then...success? After being doused with rum, Bacardi 151 to be exact...his head goes up in flames.
"I've seen people do a lot of crazy things when they are under the influence of alcohol, I've never seen them set their head on fire before."
Lt. Blaise Dresser says the Richmond County Sheriff's office was originally called to investigate this case because Bonner's friend filed a report saying he had gotten into a fight at Allie Katz bar Thursday night...and that's when the perpertrators set his head on fire, trying to hurt him.
"That wasn't the case at all," says Dresser.
"I actually thought that this man has gone wild." Allie Katz manager Keith Bussey says he's never seen anything like it. He knew to have some rules posted outside his business...he never thought "do not set self on fire" needed to be one of them.
"They call him 'Ghost Rider' in here from the movie and it's exactly what it looked like."
If you go on Youtube, you can pull up hundreds of videos where people deliberately light themselves up but Lt. Dresser doesn't think Bonner was trying to get his 15 seconds of fame.
"The man who was set on fire, bet his friends that he was drinking with that he could set his face on fire. Obviously no one believed him and he proved them wrong."
As an investigator and a bar manager...they both say they've seen crazy things over the years...but this now tops their lists.
"Do not have your friend poor alcohol on your head and have your other friend light it and think that it's cool in front of women," warned Bussey.
Lt. Dresser says there will be no charges in this case. He says Bonner has suffered enough.
Bonner was originally taken to GHS Medical Center, then transported to Doctors Hospital where he was listed in Critical Condition until Sunday.
Amid inspirational talk, chanted mantras and shouts of victory at a late-night firewalking event attended by thousands Thursday came agonized shrieks from followers whose soles were scorched by the superheated coals, witnesses said.
At least 21 people were treated for burn injuries after taking part in the crowning event of the first day of a Tony Robbins function downtown, including at least three who went to the hospital, a San Jose fire captain said.
The people who suffered various second- and third-degree burn injuries were among more than 6,000 who attended the motivational speaker's event at the San Jose Convention Center called "Unleash the Power Within."
After the event, which ended about 11 p.m., the crowd walked across the street to the park, where 12 lanes of hot coals measuring 10 feet long and 2½-feet wide rested on the grass.
Jonathan Correll, 25, decided to check out what was going on when "I heard wails of pain, screams of agony." He said one young woman appeared to be in so much pain "it was horrific."
"It was people seriously hurting, like they were being tortured," he said. "First one person, then a couple minutes later another one, and there was just a line of people walking on that fire. It was just bizarre, man."
Correll, a San Jose City College student, said he saw between 10 and 15 people being treated. He said he videotaped the scene for about 5 minutes before an event staffer told him to put the camera away.
But on a break from day two of the four-day event Friday night, others who walked on the coals said it was nothing short of life-changing.
Henry Guasch, 19, of Mountain View, said that after crossing the coals while chanting his mantra of "Cool moss," he felt powerful.
"Overcoming something like that, it's a breakthrough," he said, adding that he did slow his pace in the middle of the field and got a minor burn.
Guasch and Andrew Brenner, another fire walker, both said that the keys to not getting singed are faith and concentration.
"I did it before, didn't get into the right state and got burned," Brenner said. "I knew I wasn't at my peak state. I didn't take it as serious."
He said his feet blistered after the walk about eight months ago at another Robbins event, but he didn't need medical attention.
Kim, a 22-year-old who didn't want her last name used because she is still attending the event, said her two friends who did the walk seemed fine at first, but their feet started to blister about 10 minutes later. She said other people had similar problems, and a number of them were soaking their feet in a fountain at the park.
"It seemed abnormal that so many got hurt," she said, adding that many attendees Friday complained about blisters, and a woman sitting near her had both feet completely bandaged.
David Willey, a physics instructor at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in Pennsylvania, has published a text and video on the physics of firewalking and stated that it "does not need a particular state of mind."
"Rather, it is the short time of contact and the low thermal capacity and conductivity of the coals that is important," he wrote. He added that ash that builds up on coals can provide further insulation.
It took about 90 minutes for everyone to walk across the coals, fire officials said. It is not known how many of the people who attended the conference took part in the firewalk.
San Jose Fire Department Capt. Reggie Williams said event organizers had emergency personnel on standby and had obtained an open fire permit from the San Jose Fire Department, Williams said. A fire inspector from the department was at the event to make sure there was no accidental fire.
A statement released Friday from Robbins Research International, said, "We have been safely providing this experience for more than three decades, and always under the supervision of medical personnel ... We continue to work with local fire and emergency personnel to ensure this event is always done in the safest way possible."
On the Tony Robbins website, he promotes "The Firewalk Experience," a process where people walk across coals between 1,200 and 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
But that's not something the San Jose Fire Department recommends, Williams said.
"We discourage people from walking over hot coals," Williams said.
In the battle of man versus mailbox, score this one a draw.
Port Moody police had their hands full over the weekend dealing with a teenager who decided to pick a fight with a mailbox, apparently while high on LSD.
The incident started around 5 a.m. Sunday at the corner of Moray Street and Portview Place.
Police were called to the area after a passerby saw someone dancing, talking then fighting a mailbox.
"Our members attended and saw this 15-year-old kid literally talking to this mailbox and full-out fighting it," said Port Moody police spokesman Const. Luke van Winkel.
He said the officers tried to calm him down, but it was clear the teen, described as being six feet tall, was under the influence of some type of substance.
The incident turned serious when police tried to take him into custody.
The teen turned his rage toward the officers.
It ultimately took three officers to subdue the youth.
He was taken to hospital where he was treated for cuts and bruises and released with no charges.
"It's just a kid who made some bad choices. Criminal charges aren't in the best interest for that kid, " Van Winkel said, adding police don't believe the teen made a conscious decision to fight with the officers.
A pair of tweets was sent out by the police department that morning regarding the incident: "A call of a male fighting with a mailbox. Mailbox fighter arrested after violently fighting with police."
The department said such incidents highlight the difficulties officers face when dealing with people on illegal substances.
"When people are on drugs - on these types of stimulants - it's amazing what they can do, these are three big police officers," Van Winkel said. "That's part of the drug use."
He also noted it's quite rare nowadays for teens to be using LSD, which is a hallucinogenic, because it can lead to a bad trip.
He added designer drugs like ecstasy are more common.
A wife says a fight with her husband started over his drug use.
He says it was after something she read on his Facebook account.
The 33-year-old Bryan woman was arrested on a felony charge after police said she stabbed her husband with a knife Thursday.
Bryan police said officers responded to the 800 block of E. 26th Street about 4:45 a.m. for a call about a disturbance with a weapon.
Police said a man was outside a residence when they arrived and his hand was bleeding from a small puncture wound. The man said he was trying to sleep when he heard his wife, Rhonda Roshell Washington, getting upset in the living room, according to a police report.
He went to check on her and saw Washington was looking through his Facebook account, the report says. According to the husband, she began chasing him with a knife and stabbed him in the hand. The husband said he shut himself in a room and called police and Washington left the house.
Details about the knife were not available.
Police said officers pulled over Washington, and she said her husband was high on PCP and acting crazy. Washington said she was arguing with her husband about his drug use, they began to wrestle and she struck his hand with her keys. Police reported that they hadn’t asked her about the wound at that point.
Washington was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
She remained Thursday in the Brazos County Jail in lieu of $999 bail.
A heavily armed gunman attacked an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater early Friday, tossing tear gas before opening fire on the terrified audience and killing 12 and wounding 38, authorities said. The theater was showing the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."
One of the injured was just 3 months old, hospital workers said.
The shooting unfolded inside a darkened theater packed with Batman fans, some in costume for the movie's premiere. Screaming, panicked moviegoers scrambled to escape from the black-clad gunman, who wore a gas mask and randomly shot as he walked up the theater's steps, witnesses said.
Police officers swarming to the theater encountered bloody, groaning victims streaming out of the theater. Others remained inside, many with gruesome injuries, according to recordings of emergency calls with dispatchers.
Victims flooded overwhelmed hospitals.
"I don't know how else to explain it, it's horrific," said Tracy Lauzon, director of EMS and trauma services at Aurora Medical Center.
The shooter was identified by two federal law enforcement officers as James Holmes, 24, of Aurora. He had at least four guns -- an "AK type" rifle, a shotgun and two handguns, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. The official also said the shooter used tear gas.
After the suspect told police there was a bomb at his apartment, officers went there and found a "very sophisticated" booby trap inside, Aurora police Chief Dan Oates told reporters.
Police arrested the man shortly after the shooting ended in a rear parking lot of the theater, Frank Fania, a police spokesman, told CNN.
"He did not resist. He did not put up a fight," Fania said. Police seized a rifle and a handgun from the suspect, and another gun was found in the theater, he said. It was unclear where law enforcement found a second handgun.
The suspect was tentatively scheduled to appear in a Colorado courtroom on Monday, although no formal charges have been filed, according to the Colorado Office of the State Court Administrator.
Oates said there was no evidence of a second gunman, and FBI spokesman Jason Pack said it did not appear the incident was related to terrorism.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper issued a statement saying the shooting was "not only an act of extreme violence, it is also an act of depravity."
"It is beyond the power of words to fully express our sorrow this morning," he said.
President Barack Obama canceled campaign events Friday, telling supporters at what had been scheduled as a rally in Forty Myers, Florida, that "there will be other days for politics."
"This will be a day for prayer and reflection," he said, calling for the country to unite as one and support the victims.
"Such violence, such evil is senseless. It is beyond reason," he said before ending the event to return to Washington.
Chaos broke out during the showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at the Century Aurora 16 theater when the shooting began, police and witnesses said.
The gunman went to the rear door of the theater and propped it open, then tossed a canister before starting to shoot, according to a federal law enforcement source involved in the investigation.
A federal law enforcement official told CNN the man used tear gas.
One moviegoer, who was not identified, told KUSA the gunman was wearing a gas mask.
Some people in the audience thought the thick smoke and gunfire were a special effect accompanying the movie, police and witnesses said.
The smoke smelled like a Fourth of July firework, said CNN iReporter Adam Witt. It took a few gunshots before he figured out what was going on.
"I hit the floor and hid behind the seats in front of me, pulling my wife down to hide with me," Witt said. "It was the longest minute of my life. The gunshots just kept coming. I knew it could be over any second. I knew my wife could be gone any second. It was absolutely surreal. I felt something hit my left arm, and my first thought was, 'At least it's just my arm.'"
"There were so many people running," he said. "I didn't look back. I just remember getting up from the floor and shouting, 'We have to run.'"
Witt said he held his wife's hand as they rushed out of the theater.
"There was a moment where I lost her hand, but I grabbed her shirt," he said. "We didn't let go of each other."
Quentin Caldwell, who was attending a screening in the adjacent theater, said he wasn't sure at first what was going on, despite hearing a "pop, pop, pop, pop" sound.
"We really didn't know something was happening until someone came from the left entrance and said we should not go outside because somebody with a gun was out there," he said.
Armed guards appeared at the theater exit and demanded audience members raise their arms to ensure they were not carrying weapons, then told them to run, Caldwell said.
"Outside was chaos. There was wounded everywhere," he said.
A Cell phone video taken by someone at the theater showed scores of people screaming and fleeing the building. Some had blood on their clothes.
A police officer carried a girl believed to be about 9 with gunshot wounds to her back out of the theater, a witness said. "She wasn't moving."
Officers rushed many of the wounded to hospitals in their patrol cars.
Authorities also evacuated the suspect's Aurora apartment building after he made a statement about explosives in his unit, Oates said.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents went to his home to search for explosives, agency spokesman Tom Mangan said.
Law enforcement officers who searched the suspect's apartment found "items of interest," a federal law enforcement source involved in the investigation told HLN. He did not elaborate.
A woman who lives across the street from where the suspect is believed to live said police evacuated her building around 4 a.m.
"They told us there was a bomb or bomb material located in the house across the street from us." Rebecca Bradshaw said.
In addition to looking into the possibility of explosives, ATF agents also are conducting emergency traces on the weapons to see how they were obtained, Mangan said.
Authorities also searched the suspect's car in the parking lot of the movie theater.
Police initially said 14 people had died -- 10 in the theater and four at area hospitals -- but revised the death toll to 12 later Friday morning, according to Aurora Police Lt. Jad Lanigan.
Several people remained in critical condition at area hospitals.
Of the wounded, at least 20 were being treated at the University of Colorado Hospital, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery. All of the wounded suffered from gunshot wounds, which ranged from minor to critical, she said.
"They're arriving by police, by ambulance. Some are walking in," she said.
The victims being treated there ranged in age from 3 months to 45, the hospital said.
Denver Health Center had six patients from the shooting, one in critical condition and five in fair condition, said Shelly Davis, house supervisor.
Swedish Health Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams said her hospital was treating three people, two of them in critical condition and one in fair condition. A fourth patient with minor injuries was treated and released, she said.
Parker Adventist Hospital was treating two people for minor injuries, according to a spokeswoman.
Hundreds of police officers descended on the theater, and the FBI has joined the investigation.
"We were calling for help from every police and fire agency," Fania said.
Warner Bros., the studio behind the movie, said the company and filmmakers were "deeply saddened" to learn of the incident. The studio canceled the movie's Paris premiere, while New York police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said his officers would watch over screenings of "The Dark Knight" to prevent copycat shootings.
In addition to canceling his Florida campaign appearances, Obama pulled some advertising in Colorado.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney also pulled advertising and issued a statement, saying he and his wife Anne were "deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence."
The movie theater where the shooting took place has not been the site of any security incidents, said Timothy Warner, CEO of Cinemark Theaters, which owns the complex.
"You know, obviously you know, the person made a well-organized ... and had an assault weapon that would probably overpower any security that we would've had," he said. "I mean, this is obviously a very deranged gunman that had access to very high powerful weapons."
Aurora, a Denver suburb, is about 13 miles from Littleton, Colorado -- site of the April 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
In that incident, two teenage students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, armed themselves with guns and bombs and opened fire inside the high school. They killed 13 people and wounded 23 others before killing themselves.
A Mississippi man recently captured a heart-stopping head-on collision on his cellphone. The wreck was so incredible that it is amazing anyone survived.
"It was scary seeing something like that happen and knowing you can’t stop it," Alan Fanning, the man who filmed the collision, told The Huffington Post.
The spectacular crash occurred on July 8 along Highway 49 in Collins, a small city located about 60 miles southeast of Jackson. According to Fanning, he was traveling north along the 65 MPH highway when he noticed the driver in front of him, a man later identified by police as Edward Fairley of Mount Olive, swerving.
"He was all over the road," Fanning said. "He ran some cars off the road and I was blowing the horn and everything and my wife called 911. He didn't respond. He was out of it and then he cut across a turning lane, ran a red light and began going north in the southbound lanes."
Fanning said he was traveling about 70 MPH in the opposite lane and Fairley was quickly pulling away from him. On the video, cars can be seen swerving to avoid crashing with Fairley. However, the inevitable eventually happened: roughly a quarter mile down the road, he collided with a Ford SUV containing Amy Fox and her 7-year-old daughter.
"I cringed when it happened. I couldn't stand it," Fanning said.
The video ended as the vehicles come to a rest on opposite sides of the road. Fanning, who was parked closest to Fox, jumped out to assist her and her daughter.
"The lady was hollering, 'Get us out of here,'" Fanning said. "So I got her door pulled open and she jumped out. She was shaking. Her little daughter was in the back seat but when I went to the passenger side to get her out, she had already climbed over the driver seat and got out. She was really scared. I sat there in the grass with them and, about two minutes later, the ambulance and police were there."
According to Collins, Police Chief Ronnie Dickinson, Fox and her daughter were treated at a local hospital and released. Fairley was transported to another hospital for non-life threatening injuries, including a broken shoulder.
Fairley has been charged with reckless driving and having no proof of insurance. Additional charges may be forthcoming.
"We're still waiting on toxicology. He said he doesn't remember what happened," Dickinson told HuffPost.
The veteran law enforcement officer added, "We're just very fortunate that no one was killed."
Fanning said he too is shocked no one was killed in the crash.
"It's amazing," he said of the accident. "I expected major injuries, and they were all pretty much able to walk away."
Tavares Donnell Colbert, a 36-year-old convicted felon was jailed Saturday after he allegedly shot himself in the genitals with an illegal handgun.
According to the Oklahoma City Police Department, officers were called to the emergency room at Southwest Medical Center around 9:00 a.m. in response to a reported gunshot injury.
When officers arrived at the hospital, they questioned Colbert, who was suffering from a gunshot injury to his genitals.
Colbert claimed that he had found the gun on the street somewhere in Kansas and planned on selling it at a nearby convenience store. When he pulled over to make sure the gun was working properly, the weapon fired one round into his groin. Colbert stated that he panicked and drove himself to the nearest hospital.
Upon hearing Colbert's explanation and knowing that he was a convicted felon who isn't allowed to possess a firearm, officers made an arrest after he was treated for his injuries.
Colbert was booked into jail and charged with possession of a firearm. According to court records, he has had several prior convictions, including felony possession of a controlled and dangerous substance with intent to distribute in 2003.
The guys behind the YouTube sensation "Miami Zombie Attack Prank!" found themselves getting attacked after an ill-advised attempt to punk a Boca Raton man went awry and the victim went ballistic on the two filmmakers.
And if getting chased and nearly beaten wasn't enough for their troubles, one of the pranksters was jailed Friday for 20 hours and now faces a felony bomb hoax charge. On Monday night, Boca Raton Police caught up to his colleague, who now faces the same charges.
Jonathan Vanegas, 20, of Delray Beach, spent Friday night in the Palm Beach County Jail. He spoke of the incident Monday, saying that he and his filmmaking partner, Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, also of Delray Beach, did not intend for their antics to incite a violent reaction or result in getting arrested.
Vanegas said he could still barely believe what happened.
"We go to the Boca jail, I'm shirtless for about four hours until I go to the county jail," Vanegas said, saying his shirt came off in the melee. "It wasn't that bad, but the worst part about it was that I was detained on the first floor with 16 other cellmates and we don't have beds or anything."
While Vanegas was willing to meet with a reporter to talk about the incident, Zdorovetskiy was wary of showing his face in public because of fears that he would be arrested. An arrest report outlining Friday's incident says that probable cause exists for his arrest on bomb hoax charges.
But Zdorovetskiy said Monday he doesn't regret the prank.
"I'm just sad the person got that upset," said Zdorovetskiy, who landed in jail Monday night.
The video, "Russian Hitman Prank Gone Wrong!" had 120,000 views by Monday night. It shows Zdorovetskiy approaching a man outside the Publix at 1001 S. Federal Highway in Boca Raton.
Dressed in a suit and clutching a briefcase, Zdorovetskiy implies an emergency situation when he approaches the victim, telling him they both have 60 seconds to get away from the briefcase. The victim, appearing panicked, runs along with Zdorovetskiy. Their encounter goes south when the filmmaker tells the prank victim it was only a joke, that the entire episode was being filmed.
At this point, the victim starts chasing Zdorovetskiy and Vanegas, shouting angrily at the two. At one point, he appears to pull Vanegas, who was holding the camera, down to the ground.
The victim was identified in the police report as Andre Brown, 51, but there was no other contact information and he could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Zdorovetskiy seemed surprised that the video prank had resulted in law enforcement intervention.
"The bomb squad came. Can you believe that?" Zdorovetskiy said. "The bomb squad came for this prank. It's unbelievable how law is these days."
Brown, however, didn't want to hear it, Zdorovetskiy said.
"He attacked me, my camera guy, he threw me on the floor, he threw my camera guy on the floor," said Zdorovetskiy, 20. "I was just screaming back 'Sorry, I apologize.' "
In Delray Beach Monday, Vanegas was asked if the man was somehow in on the stunt.
A man posing as a representative of the “America’s Funniest Home Videos” TV show tricked an 18-year-old Georgia woman into allowing him to suck her toe inside a Walmart in Georgia, police report.
According to a Columbia County Sheriff’s Office report, the teen was shopping Tuesday evening when approached by the middle-aged suspect, who cops have identified as Joey Leaphart, a 43-year-old registered sex offender whose rap sheet is littered with foot-related crimes.
Most recently, Leaphart was arrested in February after approaching a female shopper at a Walmart in South Carolina and asking if he could kiss and smell her feet. Leaphart is pictured in the mug shot at right.
After asking the teen if her toenails were painted, Leaphart said, ‘I know this sounds crazy, but have you ever heard of America’s Funniest Home Videos?’ When the unemployed woman said she had heard of the show, the man relied that he would pay for her purchases (up to $100) if she agreed to cooperate with a “prank.”
The teen then reluctantly agreed to Leaphart’s request to take a picture of her foot. “I know this is crazy,” Leaphart then said, “but can I kiss your foot?” Cops reported that the victim agreed “under the impression it was a TV prank.”
Leaphart then guided the woman behind a clothing rack, saying, “Let’s move over here so people don’t think I’m crazy.” After dropping to the floor and grabbing the woman’s ankle, Leaphart noted, “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”
At that point, Leaphart put the woman’s big toe in his mouth and began sucking on it. The woman, investigators reported, “immediately screams at him to stop, and to leave.” Leaphart then stood up and, before running from the store, said, “Oh, it tasted so good though.”
Cops have classified the July 10 incident as a misdemeanor simple battery involving “hands/feet/teeth.”
A Hawaii attorney was convicted of harassment and fined $250 for licking his 21-year-old female client’s ear in his office, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
A judge told 64-year-old Lawrence McCreery his were “the actions of a dirty old man.” McCreery’s former client testified that while discussing her child custody case with him last year, he licked the back of her right ear.
The Kauai prosecutor’s office said McCreery told the woman, “You look so good,“ and ”Too bad you’re married.“ She said McCreery made a ”weird sound” and hugged her tightly right before the licking took place, according to the Associated Press.
McCreery denied licking his client, and testified that she initiated the hug.
Per Diem Fifth Circuit District Court Judge Frank Rothschild said there’s nothing to suggest the woman made up the story.
“Quite frankly,” Rothschild said, “these are the actions of a dirty old man.”
Defense attorney Michael Soong said he plans to appeal.
Dallas police identified Arthur Walker, 35, as the nude man who drove a pickup truck through Southwest Center Mall Friday morning.
Police said he drove through the double doors, straight into several kiosks and then took a right and drove straight through the pulled down gates of a Champs Sports store.
“He hit the door, backed up, and came back with full force again, and that’s when he came on in here,” said Delcina Avery, who watched from the parking lot as the man sped into the glass doors.
“I guess he was just crazy -- it never dawned on me that it was Friday, the 13th,” she said.
The man then got out of the truck and started dressing himself in clothes from the store, including putting on socks and a brand new pair of Nike Jordan sneakers.
Arriving Dallas police officers arrested him inside the store. Paramedics wheeled him to a waiting ambulance to deliver him to Methodist Central Hospital for evaluation.
Even officers allowed themselves a chuckle to the odd timing of the bizarre crime.
“My assessment is he wasn’t in his right mind,” Sgt. Elliott Forge said with a deadpan face.
Police aren’t sure what motivated Walker to drive through the mall on Camp Wisdom Road at 7:30 a.m. The shopping center had not yet opened its doors for the day. No one was hurt.
Earlier police say Walker was involved in a domestic disturbance on the 2600 block of Bainbridge Road, about a mile from the mall. Officers say for some reason he left the home naked in a red Dodge truck and drove to the mall.
And, just before the mall incident, police said they received a call from a woman in the area saying a man in a red pickup truck approached her car. She told police he was wearing only a blanket, knocked on her window and told her to get out, but she drove off.
Minutes later, police got a call that the red pickup truck smashed through the Southwest Center Mall.
Before he left, however, Sgt. Elliott Forge decided to reclaim the suspect’s new Nike shoes.
“I only took off the sneakers, because nobody wants to see him nude,” he said. “We can at least return the sneakers.”
The mall quickly dispatched repair crews Friday morning and opened most of the mall on time. As customers arrived, workers were sweeping up glass and taking great care to scrub tire marks off the mall’s tile floors.
“Today we are operating, so come out and spend your money,” the mall’s general manager, Lisa Long, declared to a news crew.
The damage is estimated to be in the thousands. Walker is currently facing burglary charges. Officially police aren’t saying what sparked the rampage, although Sgt. Forge offered an idea.
“Normally, when we deal with people that are… naked,” he said carefully, “they are usually under the influence of some kind of narcotic.”
“It doesn’t help that it’s Friday, the 13th,” he said smiling, “but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it.”
A 27-year-old police officer in Louisiana has resigned after authorities say he stole an iPhone from the scene of a drunken-driving crash.
Cpl. Tommy Stubbs, a police spokesman in Baton Rouge, says the phone wasn’t in the car when the driver got out of jail. Stubbs says a tracking feature showed that its name had been changed to “Jake Chustz’s iPhone,” and the driver recognized the name as that of an officer who had worked at the wreck June 2. He filed a complaint.
Stubbs says Chustz (SHOOTS) was booked late Wednesday with felony theft and malfeasance in office, and resigned early Thursday. He had worked for the department for five years.
An online jail listing shows he’s free on $10,000 bond. A message left at a listing for Jake Chustz wasn’t immediately returned.
She is ashamed of it and figures she will likely go to prison for keeping her friend's dead body inside a Jackson house for months, cashing his benefit checks.
"It's not that I'm heartless. It's just that after so many bad things happen to you, I don't know," Chase said Tuesday afternoon, wiping away tears while she recalled a life of turmoil, pain, tragedy and the deaths of loved ones.
"I didn't want to be alone. He was the only guy who was ever nice to me."
Chase, 72, said Charles Williams Zigler died last December around Christmas time. Jackson police officers, who found Zigler's mummified body Friday, believe he died around Christmas 2010. Chase said that is not true.
He was 67 or 68 when he died.
Zigler, known as Charlie, died naturally, Chase said. "He just fell asleep." She kept him in his chair after he died, keeping him dressed and cleaned. His body did not stink, she said. She would talk to him and watch NASCAR races on television with him.
Sitting on her porch Tuesday, Chase teared up remembering times she and Zigler went fishing. The two were close friends who lived together for more than 10 years. There were not boyfriend and girlfriend, as the police and neighbors thought, she said.
Zigler could make her laugh, even on her worst days.
"If you had to know Charlie, he had the best sense of humor in this whole world," Chase said.
After not hearing from Zigler for some time, family members became concerned and called police, Lt. Chris Simpson said. Officers went Friday to the house, 365 N. Cooper St. Chase let them inside where they found Zigler sitting in a living room chair. A medical examiner determined Zigler died of natural causes. Police believe he died around Christmas 2010.
Chase went with detectives to the Jackson Police Station and answered questions. She admitted to keeping his body and cashing Social Security checks. Even before Zigler died, Chase would sign his name and cash his checks, she said Tuesday. She knows the police are investigating her and she is worried.
"I'm probably going to prison," she said, adding she asked police if there was a way to pay back the cashed checks.
"I told them the truth. I didn't lie about that."
Investigators are working with the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office to determine possible charges against Chase, Simpson said.
Chase and Zigler worked together and moved in with each other about 10 years ago. He had a contentious relationship with most of his family and was not close with them, Chase said. Zigler divorced his wife, Nancy Baxter, who died in 2001. He adopted two children and had two daughters, Chase said. One of Zigler's brothers died, another is in prison, and his sister was or is in the hospital, Chase said.
Zigler served with the Army in Germany. Chase did not remember when Zigler was in the Army but has a photograph of him smiling in his uniform. Before he enlisted, Zigler, who grew up in Cement City, never rode a train or plane, Chase said, recalling one of the Army stories she heard over and over again.
"We just used to have so much fun together," Chase said.
Zigler worked the night shift at Jackson Drop Forge for 30 years, Chase said. He later did maintenance for a landlord. Chase would make him birthday cakes and buy him western-style shirts.
Chase knows people will not understand why she kept Zigler's body. She does not fully understand herself. She said she regrets her actions and does not know how to express her sorrow.
Several people in her life have died, some while she held their hands.
"I know this is horrible, but after awhile, you get," Chase paused and started to tear up. "I don't know what you call it, I don't know."
Monday morning, Erica Masters was sleeping in her bed when Columbia County Code Compliance Officer Jimmy Vowell came to serve a violation notice for her grass being too long. Erica caught the whole incident on tape.
"He let himself in and actually came through the house and into my bedroom. And yelled at me to wake me up, to let me know that I needed to come back outside and sign the violation notice."
Erica says she was freaked out seeing a stranger in her doorway.
"I woke up, I didn't have my glasses on or my contacts in and all I see is this big burly figure standing in my doorway. A big huge guy with a grey shirt. It scared the mess out of me."
After the incident, Erica called the Sheriff's Office to file a complaint against Jimmy Vowell. The Columbia County Environmental Compliance Manager, Mike Anderson, says he is aware of the complaint and that his office is investigating it. He also went on to say that his Code Compliance Officers cannot enter someone's home without their permission, and that even if they had probable cause to enter, they would still need to be escorted by a Law Enforcement Officer. Erica feels as though her privacy was invaded by the county.
"I could have been coming fresh out of the shower. I mean, if I'm not answering the door, maybe it's because I can't hear you because I'm in the shower."
She also worries about the safety of the man who served the violation.
"He didn't even have a concern for his own safety, walking into someone's house, and just trying to get their attention when they could very well be an armed and dangerous person."
Erica says she isn't sure if she's going to press charges against Jimmy Vowell. For now, she's going to work on getting her lawnmower fixed.
"I do understand that my yard needs to be cut. I understand that. I have no problem with that. I understand them having to serve a violation notice, but the way they handled it was completely unacceptable."
Strapping four kids to the hood of a car may have sounded like a fun idea to 29-year-old Aaron Stefanski when he did it earlier this year.
But it will end with four felony convictions after he pleaded guilty Monday in Allen Superior Court to charges related to the incident.
Stefanski, of the 200 block of East DeWald Street, was charged, along with Jessica A. Clark, of a different address in the same block of DeWald, after they were spotted driving a car through Fort Wayne with four children tied to the hood of a white sedan.
The manager of the Belmont Beverage, 2116 Fairfield Ave., called police after he saw Stefanski secure the children to the hood with yellow tow straps. A deputy U.S. marshal in the area heard the call over his police radio and saw the car, with the children strapped to the hood, headed south on Fairfield Avenue.
Responding officers smelled alcohol on Stefanski’s breath and saw his two sons, ages 4 and 5, his 6-year-old daughter and Clark’s 7-year-old daughter strapped to the hood, according to court documents.
Officers asked Stefanski why the children were strapped to the hood of a moving car. “I was only going to drive around the corner,” Stefanski replied, according to court documents. “I thought they would like it.”
The mother of Stefanski’s children showed up at the scene and the children were released to her custody, police said at the time.
A Breathalyzer revealed Stefanski’s blood-alcohol content was 0.17 percent, more than twice the legal limit, according to court documents.
On Monday, Stefanski pleaded guilty to three Class D felony counts of neglect of a dependent, as well as a Class D felony charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
Four misdemeanor charges of criminal recklessness, four child restraint infractions and an infraction for driving without insurance will be dismissed when he is sentenced.
According to the terms of his plea agreement, Stefanski’s sentence will be determined by Allen Superior Court Judge Wendy Davis, and the charges cannot be reduced to misdemeanors at sentencing if she accepts the plea agreement.
All the charges carry potential sentences of six months to three years in prison.
Stefanski will also have only supervised visitation with his children at Stop Child Abuse and Neglect, continue to pay his child support, and must successfully complete parenting classes, according to court documents.
As part of his probation, he must also submit to alcohol and psychological evaluations.
His driver’s license will be suspended for six months, according to court documents.
The case against Clark, 30, who is charged with Class D felony neglect of a dependent, is still pending, set for trial next month.
Stefanski will be sentenced Aug. 3, according to court documents.
We all dread opening an electric bill, especially when air-conditioning drives up costs and maxes out a family budget.
But Kristin Harriger's recent electric bill was beyond shocking. Rather than a bill for $100 or so that the single mom from Abilene, Texas, was expecting, she was billed for $1,381,783.92, according to the Business Insider.
"I opened it. I read it. Then just went, 'Oh, my gosh. That's a lot of money," Harriger told the Abilene Reporter News.
She thought it was a joke at first, and even shared photos of the bill with her friends.
After contacting her utility company, Potentia Energy, she discovered it wasn't a joke, but a computing error. Rather than charging her the normal 9 cents per-kilowatt-hour rate, the utility charged her $1,000 per kilowatt hour.
The $1,000 per-kilowatt-hour rate is far above the best offer available to her. The Public Utility Commission of Texas website PowerToChoose.org shows that Abilene residents can get 8.2 to 12.1 cents per kilowatt hour, notes the Abilene newspaper.
"I'm glad I didn't have autopayments," Harriger told the Business Insider.
The utility company acknowledged the mistake and has told Harriger that a corrected bill would be sent to her.
In the meantime, she has set aside $150 to pay the bill when it comes.
"I work on a budget," she told the Business Insider. "I'm a single mom with an autistic child who tries to make ends meet. … I get my bills and I pay them."
Officials in southern Montana say a Canadian truck driver found that out the hard way when he tried to stop a fuel tank leak with the all-purpose tape before going to sleep at a truck stop near Livingston.
The Livingston Enterprise reports a truck stop employee called Park County firefighters at about 3 a.m. Thursday to report the leak. Fire Chief Dann Babcox estimates about 100 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the tractor-trailer onto the ground.
The truck driver works for a company based in Saskatchewan. He says he thought he might have hit something on Interstate 90, but when he stopped at the time, he didn't notice any damage.
An Albuquerque woman has something for sale on eBay that most of wouldn't even consider selling at any price. It's her soul.
You can find just about anything for sale on eBay, from an ashtray for a 1959 DeSoto to a plaster bust of President Chester A. Arthur - but a human soul? We believe it to be a first.
Bids start at $2,000 for the soul of Lori N., and so far nobody has made one. But there have been a lot of hits and that's encouraging to Lori.
She was a passenger in a car struck by a drunk driver in 2007. Lori was in a coma for three weeks, and woke up suffering from a stroke, a broken hip, broken pelvis, leg, collarbone, sternum, ribs, a collapsed lung. On top of all that she lost a breast.
Lori was a freelance writer who cannot write much any more. She gets by on part-time inventory work and makes jewelry. Lori figured since her body is pretty much shot, why not market her soul?
"What I'm gonna deliver is the opportunity for someone to save my soul," Lori told KOB Eyewitness News 4. "They can save it through prayer, they can save it through conversion. They're also gonna get a certificate detailing the white and black marks on my soul."
Sort of a spiritual Carfax - the good along with the bad. Lori admitted that her eBay ad is a cry for help.
"I guess you could say that. I'm at the point now, I'm tired. I don't feel good. I'm near the end of my rope. I really am."
Lori said she realizes her ad may offend some people's religious beliefs, but she said she is really hoping just to make contact - maybe with somebody else's soul.\
Mum Chantal and four of her daughters are all swelling with pride after a series of ops — and now they want youngest sister Britney, 14, to go under the knife.
Chantal, 53, is a size 32GG after four boob jobs. Emma, 30, is also 32GG after three ops, Ripley, 21, is 32DD after one, Terri, 27, is 34HH after three and Tara, 26, has had two ops to become 34F.
In total, the busty fivesome had nearly three litres of silicone put in their breasts in 13 ops.
The only female in the family with natural boobs is schoolgirl Britney — but Chantal is already encouraging her to go for an enlargement operation when she is old enough at 18.
Professional psychic Chantal, of Kirkby in Ashfield, Notts, said: “Britney is 14 going on 30. She idolises her older sisters so we’ve already starting talking about her getting a boob job. At the moment she doesn’t really have what I would say are boobs — but I’d like her to follow in her sisters’ footsteps.”
She went on: “I really love the fake look of my girls and I know Britney will go that way when she’s a bit older.
“I love the idea of us all looking similar and glamorous.
“Britney’s the brainy one and does quite well at school.
“But she already dyes her hair blonde and wears lots of make-up and tan. It’s only a matter of time before she starts saving for new boobs.
“When I hit the town with the other girls I’m often mistaken for their sister. It’s a real laugh.
“Obviously at 14, Britney’s too young to go out drinking. But we know it won’t be long before she’s coming out on the town with us. I can’t wait.”
Chantal, who also has four sons, had her first surgery in 1996 after pregnancies took their toll on her figure.
She said: “It’s made my life better. I really like the look of celebrities like Katie Price. My boobs make me feel amazing and have transformed my life.
“I’ve got the boobs of a glamour girl and I think I look amazing. It’s like being young again.”
As soon as they were old enough, Chantal’s daughters began copying her look.
The five women have now spent £50,000 on boob jobs and have been dubbed The Kardashians of the East Midlands after the US TV family who are obsessed with their looks.
Chantal, who is separated from her children’s father, said: “There’s no competition in our breast size — Terri’s got the biggest. They are enormous.”
Britney admitted she is considering joining the bra-busting bunch. She said: “I’ve talked to my mum and sisters about it and they really love their boobs and the attention they get.
“Maybe I’ll decide to get them too and start saving in a few years. But for now I want to focus on my school work.”
Lynn Police Officer Raymond Therrien once got in a knife fight -- the knife lost.
Therrien, a hero cop in Massachusetts with a fighting style similar to that of Chuck Norris, saved a woman's life Thursday by stopping a knife-wielding assailant with a few swift kicks to the stomach.
A Lynn man remains in Middleton Jail without the option of bail after he allegedly chased a woman into the Police Department’s main lobby while wielding a large kitchen knife, according to an arrest report.
Officer Raymond Therrien reported seeing the 42-year-old woman being “chased frantically” toward the department entrance by a man later identified as Constantine Greven, 40, of 26 Washington St. The woman entered the lobby and “quickly began to cower.” Therrien quickly noticed Greven had a large kitchen knife in his hand and was raising it toward her while striking her with a closed fist, according to the report.
Therrien radioed for help, then grabbed Greven’s right arm and “delivered several knee strikes to his midsection” until he dropped the knife, the report said.
The woman told police she had been riding her bike down Washington Street when she noticed Greven, with whom she had an “on and off” two-year relationship, the report said. Greven went inside and retrieved the knife, and then “swung it wildly, nearly missing her and her bike.”
Greven also allegedly threatened the alleged victim and others on the street, saying, “Today is a good day to die. I’m not going back to jail, someone is going to die,” according to the report.
Greven was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, violating the knife ordinance, violating a restraining order, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer.
A Lafayette County woman faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine after her two pet chihuahuas allegedly killed one of her neighbor’s pet chickens.
According to George Gamblin and his wife, Nittaya, the incident wasn’t the first time that they’ve had to chase the dogs from their chicken coup.
“We’ve run them out of here before,” said Gamblin, who says that his wife injured her knee chasing the dogs out of the coup.
The dogs’ owner, Joy McDonald, told the Kansas City Star that her dogs were barking, which led to the chicken having a heart attack. But Gamblin says that wasn’t how it happened, and further more the attack has caused them to be the butt of jokes.
“It’s kind of gone to this country hick chicken have a heart attack, ‘Hee-Haw’ kind of thing,” said Gamblin. “My wife is from Thailand, and she just likes to have them around because when she was young, she had chickens and it kind of reminds her of home.”
McDonald declined to comment on the story, citing advice from her attorney who also declined to comment. Gamblin says that he doesn’t want to see his neighbor go to jail – all he wants is for her to keep her pets away from his.
“I don’t want to be paid for the chicken. I just want the dogs off my place and destroying our property,” said Gamblin. “To me, the idea of respecting people’s property is lost in all this.”
But Gamblin says that being the butt of chicken heart attack jokes isn’t as painful as the thought of seeing his wife upset again over losing a comforting pet that reminds her of childhood.
“We had another incident where a dog from her house, which is a black medium sized dog, also killed chickens over here,” said Gamblin.
On June 14, Waco police responded to a disturbance call of a man "going crazy" at 4610 Athens.
They arrested 22-year-old Michael Terron Daniel on June 25 for Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animal.
Daniel is accused of assaulting several people at the home, telling them he was on a bad trip from taking K-2 and that the substance was killing him.
He then went into the yard and started chasing a neighbor on his hands and knees while barking and growling like a dog.
That is when witnesses saw Daniel grab a live, medium-sized black dog and bring it to the front porch where he started beating and strangling the animal. He continued abusing the dog, biting into it and ripping pieces of its flesh away.
When officers arrived, Daniel was sitting, unresponsive and incoherent, on the front porch of the home with the dog dead in his lap.
Daniel had blood and fur on his hands, clothes and face.
While waiting for the ETMC to respond, Daniel awoke and asked officers to tase or fight him to help him off his K-2 trip. Officers did not do either.
He was taken to Providence Hospital and left in their care because of his medical condition. Daniel was arrested at his job today.
