This Week in Weird
Illinois man on the run hides from cops in police station
COUNTRYSIDE, Ill. - A police station probably isn't the best place to hide if you're on the run from the cops. But one Countryside resident apparently wasn't aware that, as he was fleeing from police, he was heading straight for their headquarters.
Police said that on Oct. 3, after hitting a police car, a police officer's personal vehicle and a city-owned car in Countryside's municipal parking lot at City Hall, Marcos Santana Peralta, 28, ran into the police station -- where he was promptly arrested.
"I think alcohol may have had something to do with it," Countryside Deputy Chief Scott Novak said.
Would you like saliva with that?
LOVES PARK, Ill. - A 16-year-old employee of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits is facing a felony battery charge for allegedly spitting in a police officer's food.
Loves Park Officer Jeff Petty pulled through Popeyes' drive-thru about 7 p.m. Sept. 22, according to reports. He ate his spicy chicken sandwich on his dinner break and continued his shift. Two hours later, he was back at the restaurant investigating a report that a gun was brought out during a fight in the parking lot.
While interviewing two other employees about their possible involvement in the reported fight, they mentioned that the teen had spit in Petty's food. Though neither saw it happen, one said the teen bragged about it, and the other said she overheard the conversation, according to police reports.
Two days later, Loves Park Detective Brian Martin went to the teen's high school to question the teen, who denied the allegation but said he disliked police because he believes his family has been mistreated by Rockford police, according to reports. But based on the statements of the two employees, Martin arrested the teen, Police Chief Pat Carrigan said.
Guess he proved he wasn't lazy …
MORGAN COUNTY, Mo. - A work-related argument over who was lazier resulted in a man being shot and 11 felony charges filed against the shooter. Morgan County Sheriff Jim Petty said the two men were co-workers at the same construction company.
Twenty-one-year-old Thomas Lee Posey was hosting a party at his Gravois Mills residence where several people were consuming alcohol and marijuana, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the sheriff's department.
In the early hours of Oct. 7, Petty said Posey began arguing with 27-year-old William Leach about which man was lazier at work. The disagreement quickly turned physical.
After a few punches were thrown around, Leach went outside. Posey retrieved a SKS rifle, a semi-automatic weapon, from inside the house and followed Leach outside. Posey fired a few rounds into the air while threatening to kill Leach, Petty said.
Leach reportedly responded, "If you're going to threaten to shoot me, then shoot me."
He did, once in the left leg.
Senior citizen goes for a jaunt in the park -- and exposes himself
CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. - A 65-year-old Camdenton man has been charged with sexual misconduct after allegedly exposing himself while sitting on top of a picnic table at a city park. The man was arrested Sunday afternoon a short time after he left Camdenton Municipal Park.
A witness called police around 4 p.m. after she allegedly saw the man touch and expose his genitalia while he was sitting on a picnic table near the playground. He reportedly got into a car and left after she approached the man and told him to cover up.
The witness provided a description of the man and a license plate number. Authorities located the suspect in the parking lot of a Camdenton business.
Is Ashton Kutcher to blame for this?
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - A routine trip to the bank to make a withdrawal became anything but for a New Jersey man in Springfield on Monday morning. The man, who regularly banks with Chase, stopped by the branch at 200 S. Dirksen Parkway about 11:15 a.m., picked up a blank withdrawal slip from a kiosk, filled it out and went to the counter, where he handed the slip to the teller.
What he didn't realize was that someone - possibly a practical joker - had scribbled, "This is a stickup," on the back of the withdrawal slip he picked up. The teller, who has been the victim of two bank robberies, decided not to take any chances and activated the holdup alarm, then stalled the man.
Police apprehended the man, but they quickly realized what had happened and began sorting things out. They held the man for about 15 minutes, five minutes of which were spent in handcuffs, and then released him.
"He was very understanding," Dowis said.
Just gamble inside, geniuses
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Just because legislation allowing the construction of a casino in Wyandotte County has been approved, it doesn't mean people can gamble just anywhere in Kansas City. Three local residents found that out the hard way last week.
The Wyandotte County district attorney charged three men with gambling, a class B misdemeanor, for "conducting a dice game on the sidewalk" at The Woodlands racetrack. The men were arrested by agents of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission.
Maybe the three men didn't know gambling - at least in one form - was legal just a few steps away inside the track facility.
More bad luck for homeowners
WOODSTOCK, Conn. - A South Woodstock couple whose house has been hit by cars three times can now add their car to the list of damaged property.
A Putnam teenager lost control of his car shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday on a sharp curve of Route 171 in front of the home of Herbert and Marie Howe. His car careened into the Howes' yard, slamming into an unoccupied Mercury Marquis parked there.
The Howes' home is still undergoing repairs from a Sept. 11 accident in which a car rammed into the side of the two-story house, causing an estimated $30,000 in damage.
On two other occasions in the past 10 years, cars have slammed into the Howe's front porch.
The Howes' home sits at the low end of a blind curve a short distance from the intersection of routes 171 and 169. A sign on Route 171 warns northbound motorists of the curve.
GateHouse News Service