This Week in Weird

Naked inebriated people take over campus

SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Scores of students screamed and streaked across the Tufts University campus in the freezing cold Monday night in celebration of a long-cherished annual tradition -- the Naked Quad Run.

Groups of drunken, semi-nude students, sporting thongs or large winter coats and boots, tottered up Professor's Row from College Avenue and surrounding streets, many slipping and sliding on the frozen sidewalks.

Tufts junior Loren Kalm was one of them, clutching her quilted coat and wondering if her butt showed as she trekked up to the quad. Asked why she was participating, she said, "It's one of the few events where the Tufts community comes together, and it encourages student cohesiveness - it really does."

Freshman Sydney Thiam wasn't sure if he was actually going to run naked, but he was on his way there " 'cause we get to see naked people."

And there were many to see - of all shapes and sizes, both males and females, sporting all kinds of props or costumes.

One of Tufts' more notorious traditions, the Naked Quad Run takes place on the first night of the fall semester reading period, at night, and is usually helped along by alcohol. Students run from the back door of West Hall, around the Residential Quad, and return to West.

Teen huffs compressed air, crashes car

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- A teen driver who told police he had been huffing compressed air blacked out and crashed into a parked car last weekend.

Craig Gamino, 18, told officers who responded to the accident that he had been inhaling Maxwell Blast Away a multipurpose duster often used to clean debris from computer keyboards. The duster is in an aerosol can.

He didn't recall the accident, only awaking to see officers looking over him, Elliott said.

Gamino was treated by Grand Island Fire Department paramedics at the scene, Elliott said.

He was charged with driving under the influence, willful reckless driving and driving with no operator's license.

TV triggers bomb scare

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Police shut down a street Wednesday morning as a bomb squad investigated an abandoned television attached to a light pole.

Cambridge bomb squad Lt. Steven Ahern said a crew was dispatched to investigate a 15- to 19-inch TV strapped to the base of a light pole.

The bomb squad used a robot to investigate and to take an X-ray of the device. Police discovered that the inside of the TV had been reinforced with plywood, and that the electric panel at the bottom of the light pole had been removed, which led police to believe the device was dangerous.

"That seemed suspicious," Ahern said. "Whenever you see something like reinforcement like that, it's cause for concern."

Ahern said the squad destroyed the TV with a high-pressure water jet.

Police blocked traffic in a 300-foot radius around the site.

Police are still investigating who left the device at the scene.

Tree limb falls on cop car

NEOSHO, Mo. -- Det. Andy Pike of the Newton County Sheriff's Department is able to joke about a tree limb falling on his moving patrol car, but at the time it happened, it was no laughing matter.

Late Monday afternoon, the detective was driving when a 7-foot limb crashed onto the roof and windshield of his 2002 Ford Taurus.

"I felt like Chicken Little and the sky was falling," Pike said.

The limb, which was about 1 1⁄2 to 2 feet in diameter, shattered the windshield inward and crumpled the roof. On Wednesday, pieces of wood could be seen embedded in the vents of the car, as well as in the front and back seats. Broken glass, some of which was pulverized into powder, was throughout the vehicle as well.

"When it happened, I turned my head - I guess out of reflex," Pike said. "I was lucky. All of that glass came on top of me, on my face, arms and legs. I saw wood flying around the car."

GateHouse News Service