Legal Juice

When you get some bad news, how do you react? Probably not like this young man in Fresno did. As reported by The Fresno Bee:

A Fresno Pacific University basketball player went on a naked rampage Monday night near campus after being told that he had been kicked off the team, Fresno police said Tuesday.

Leonard Tyrell Young, 21, ran naked through a convenience store parking lot, tried to steal a police car, beat a police officer and police dog and withstood three Taser strikes before finally being subdued, police said.

He was booked Tuesday into Fresno County Jail on suspicion of carjacking, resisting arrest, vandalism, harming a police dog and being under the influence of a controlled substance, according to jail records.

Yikes.

If you guessed that this bakery burglar was caught because he left a trail of crumbs, you'd be ... wrong! Per the The Hamilton Spectator (Ontario):

After breaking into a bakery in the area of Barton Street East and Sherman Avenue North Sunday night, a bumbling burglar left a trail of coins which allowed police to follow him to a nearby address and made a quick arrest.

Seriously? A trail of money? Brilliant!

Police say the man was caught red-handed and in possession of property from the bakery including an undisclosed amount of cash and unique coins, also stolen from the business.

Jason Healey, 38, of Hamilton has been charged with break and enter and possession of stolen property valued under $5,000.

You'll find the source here.

It's not hyberbole to say that this is almost certainly the strangest ticket ever issued. The offense? As reported by Al-Anba Daily:

In the first incident of its kind, a traffic policeman [in Kuwait City] issued a citation against an Arab motorist for having bad breath. 
A police source said it is a very strange incident and problematic too because the penalty is not known. “Will the motorist be fined; if so, how much will he have to pay and if his car is impounded, how long will it be in the police garage?” he asked. 
Incidentally, it is also mentioned on the citation that the motorist admitted that his mouth smells.

This is just gross - really, really gross. A guy broke into two separate cars and, well, you'll have to hear it from The Star-Ledger (via nj.com):

Twice in one night, a burglar entered cars in Carteret, ransacked the vehicles and then defecated inside, according to police.

How would you like to be the police officer who catches this case? "Yeah, we'll need some of that for DNA testing."

Continue reading "Car Burglar Must Not Have Liked What He Found, So He ..." »

We've all seen movies with the cops banging on the door, and someone running to the bathroom to flush drugs down the toilet. But what if you're in your car? There's always the option of ... eating them. That's apparently what Art Taylor of Framingham, Massachusetts did. (Yes, that's his mug shot.) As reported by The MetroWest Daily News:

Members of the street crimes unit patrolling Franklin Street saw a car turn onto Pearl Street without signaling. They stopped the car on nearby Union Avenue, but when they spoke to Taylor, he refused to give them his license or registration, Brandolini said.

"He made a quick movement to the center console, and there was small baggie with a white powder in it," Brandolini said. "He immediately made a movement to put it in his mouth."

An officer tried to stop him, but Taylor kept pushing his arm away. The officers dragged Taylor from the car, and he started fighting with them in the middle of the road.

Hmm. Fighting with the police. Not sure this was the right call.

By the time officers handcuffed him, Taylor had swallowed the bag, Brandolini said. Police used a dog to search the car for other drugs, but nothing was found.

Battle won, war lost?

Taylor, of 624 Hollis St., was arrested and charged with assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and refusing to give police his license and registration. He was also cited for not using a turn signal.

Here's the source.

Come crunch time, I guess we all occasionally make the wrong decision. This would appear to be just such an occasion. As reported by The Naples Daily News:

When caught red handed with a pair of stolen $16 earrings, Naples police say a Golden Gate teen turned to drastic measures to get rid of the evidence — he drank them.

How do you drink earrings?

Police say Colburn was caught shoplifting the glamorous $16 jewelry by JCPenney loss prevention officer Leonardo D. Gonzalez just after 1 p.m. on Saturday. Gonzalez watched as Colburn selected a pair of earrings from the jewelry department, took them out of the box and placed them into a bottle of vitamin water, police said.

Colburn then left the store without paying for the earrings, reports said.

Gonzalez confronted Colburn about the earrings, and began escorting him back to the JCPenney loss prevention office. It was then, police said, that Colburn gulped down the rest of the vitamin water, earrings and all.

It's not looking good for Mr. Colburn, but it's still word against word, right? Nope.

When police arrived, Colburn was arrested and transported to NCH Downtown Naples Hospital for an X-ray. On the X-ray image, the earrings were observed inside Colburn, police said.

Damn that contraption! To read more (a fair amount), and see the mug shot, click here.

Who knew chickens were so into baseball? Some Texas chickens paid the ultimate price just to try to help their team. As reported by The Houston Chronicle:

Fort Worth area police are investigating whether two prep baseball players sacrificed chickens in a bid to improve their games.

Apparently practicing more didn't occur to them?

Western Hills High School baseball coach Bobby McIntire says he has not had a chance to talk to the students about why they did it.

McIntire on Wednesday told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that "baseball is very superstitious" and the idea possibly came from movies.

Any repercussions for the players?

School officials say the boys have been kicked off the team.

Fort Worth Independent School District spokesman Clint Bond says an incident happened during spring break. Bond did not know how many chickens allegedly were killed. He declined to say how the two students were punished.

If you are wondering how Western Hills is doing this season ...

[they] beat Southwest High School 11-1. Western Hills is 7-15 overall.

Run chickens, run!

What kind of person would steal a little girl's Beanie Babies? And use a knife during the heist? Perhaps the kind of 18-year-old who would want 6 Beanie Babies... As reported by The Orlando Sentinel:

Two St. Cloud men accused of taking a little girl's Beanie Babies and other items during a home invasion are being held without bail today at the Osceola County Jail.

Scott Napolillo and Sean Knapp, both 18, face charges of home-invasion robbery, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

Napolillo is accused of pulling a knife from his waistband and forcing his way into a St. Cloud house to collect on a debt as Knapp waited outside with a souvenir baseball bat.

Must have been a large debt for all that.

The men rode their bicycles to the house.

Okay, maybe a medium-size debt?

The victim, who was not identified, told police Napolillo threatened to stab him if he didn't have $130 to pay off his debt, the report stated.

Told there was no money, Napolillo ransacked the home and told the victim if he tried to run a friend known as the "Marlboro Man" was waiting outside.

After packing the robbed items in a black bag, Napolillo left after saying he would come back and kill the victim if police were called, the report stated.

After the men left, a police officer on patrol in the area recognized Napolillo as a suspect in several burglaries and followed the men as they rode their bikes across St. Cloud, an arrest report stated.

The officer stopped them for riding against traffic after they cut off a car on 17th Street.

Napolillo had a dagger stuffed inside his waistband and he showed the officer that the black bag contained nine Nintendo video games, six Beanie Babies, the souvenir baseball bat, a cell phone and 13 AA batteries, the report stated.

$130! STFU! NFW did you do all that for $130. Here's the source.

Why would you grow your weed outside and risk discovery when you can grow it in your house ... er houses? As an added bonus, you can grow it year round. That's exactly what some folks in New Jersey figured. Per nj.com:

Police uprooted a multimillion-dollar network of homes used to grow marijuana in the largest bust of pot production in New Jersey history... Within three days last month, police seized a total of 3,370 growing plants, 115 pounds of harvested pot and $65,000 cash.

Authorities said the total operation was worth $10 million based on potential output per plant.

Shazam! That's a serious operation. But what about the juice? No, not me, the electricity required to grow all that weed. Isn't that how they catch these folks?

The suspects also bypassed electrical meters to conceal how much power the homes were concealing and steal electricity.

Clever. So what brought this thing down? A lucky break.

The investigation started accidentally on Feb. 17 when Monroe Township Police Officer Thomas Lucasiewicz smelled marijuana coming from the chimney of a home on Spotswood-Englishtown Road. When he knocked, Thu N. Nguyen opened the door, and Lucasiewicz smelled unusable pot plants being burned in the fireplace, authorities said.

Nguyen was arrested and police found 1,064 pot plants growing in the basement and master bedroom.

That was only the beginning, and the bust led to search warrants for five more rented houses in four other towns: Millstone, Old Bridge, Manalapan and Manahawkin.

Five of the homes were being used to grow marijuana. One of the suspects lived in a sixth home, on Hidden Court in Old Bridge, where police seized $60,000 cash and vacuum bags used to package the pot.

You can read more (a fair amount) here.

Most folks know there are cameras EVERYWHERE. The US is becoming more like the UK this way with each passing day. Apparently this Florida woman is not aware of the phenomenon. Per the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office:

A Charlotte County Sheriff's deputy arrested a Port Charlotte Target employee Tuesday after security went back through surveillance video that showed her steal cash from her register 14 times totaling $2,300. Arrested for Grand Theft was Melissa A. Sayre, 29, 11798 Van Loon Avenue, Englewood East.

14 times!

Target security began checking archived surveillance video after Sayre’s cash register came up short starting Feb. 7 and continuing until Mar. 15. Sayre was called to the Target Offices to discuss the shortages; she admitted that she stole the money and was immediately terminated. The deputy arrived and arrested Sayer who said she took the money out of need to pay her rent and fix her car.

Here's a link to the story, which includes a mug shot.

The prospect of an armed robber entering your home is terrifying. In this case, it was the robber who ought to have been terrified, precisely because he was armed. As reported by The Daily News (Galveston County, Texas):

Authorities arrested a man who they allege was shot with his own weapon in a home-invasion robbery.

Oops.

Authorities identified the man as Richard Charles Holcomb, 32, of Alvin. Holcomb remained jailed Monday on $250,000 bond on a charge of aggravated robbery, stemming from a 7:45 a.m. Sunday incident near Dickinson, the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Add a lot to that injury other than insult, including jail time and a boatload of pain. You'll find the source here.

(Legal Juice is brought you by, well, The Juice, who is a personal injury lawyer practicing in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. He will not be quitting his day job, which includes handling bicycle and automobile accidents, to bring you more Juice.)

Not only did this young woman visit her husband in the Penitentiary, but she also brought their infant son, and ... a gift! The folks at The Lincoln Journal Star reported it this way:

A state prison inmate's wife faces a charge herself after allegedly getting caught trying to deliver marijuana during a visit in January. Lakeisha Davis, 20, of Omaha is accused of delivery of marijuana, which carries a one- to 20-year sentence if she's convicted.

In an affidavit for Davis' arrest, Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Officer Benny Noordhoek said Penitentiary staff confiscated a small package of marijuana from Michael Benson during a visit Jan. 13 with his wife and infant son.

It would appear that they may have gotten away with it, but ...

About 20 minutes after the visit started, he said, staff became suspicious of how Benson and Davis were behaving.

A check of video surveillance showed Davis putting something in Benson's pants pocket, Noordhoek said. He said prison staff took Benson to a strip search room, where Benson threw a bag of marijuana to the floor.

Fortunately for their infant son ...

Davis was allowed to leave that day. Earlier this month, a warrant went out for her arrest.

Whatever you think about weed, it's still illegal in most states. This was just plain idiotic, even more so for a presently single mom. Here's the source.

The source for today's Juice? A Change.org petition that came The Juice's way. No doubt this law will end homosexuality in Alabama... Clearly a class adhering to the requirements of this law cannot be called sex "education." The law is Section 16-40A-2 of the Alabama Code:

MINIMUM CONTENTS TO BE INCLUDED IN SEX EDUCATION PROGRAM OR CURRICULUM

... (c) Course materials and instruction that relate to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include all of the following elements:

... (8) An emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.

This is just stupid and wrong on so many levels. Who is this "general public" referring to? Not the American public. And "homosexual conduct is a criminal offense"? Sure, some of it is (sodomy). But what about two men holding hands? You can read the full text of this small-minded, bigoted law here.

Where is the absolute best place for a fight to occur? Think about access to medical care. From The Arab Times:

KUWAIT CITY, March 16: Four citizens, including two youths, sustained serious injuries when two families of 30 Kuwaitis engaged in a bloody fight at Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital, reports Al-Qabas daily.


Sources said police rushed to the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital after the Operations Department of the Interior Ministry received information about the fight, and arrested several participants and referred them to Jabriya police station.


Apparently, the fight started due to a dispute between a man and his ex-wife, and sources said the man was in hospital for treatment due to injuries he sustained in a traffic accident. The man is said to have argued with his ex-wife who happened to be in the hospital at that period and he started beating her, so members of the two families rushed to the hospital and started fighting.

Yikes.

Actually, the Royal Mail said the week David Portman took off to mourn his dog's death was just the last straw. In his 5 years as a mailman, Portman missed 137 days. Claiming that his absences were either work-related or genuine injuries not of his doing, and that he shouldn't have been fired for mourning the loss of his dog, Portman filed a claim for unfair dismissal. (The injuries/illnesses included a broken foot, sprained ankle, whiplash, and asthma.)

Who do you think won? Wrong! (or "Right!"). Portman won - a sum in excess of £10,000 (over $15,000 US). Said the Sheffield tribunal:

The vast majoirty of the claimant's absence days were occasioned through injuries sustained in accidents at work' which should have been discounted by the Royal Mail... None of the claimant's absences were for other than wholly legitimate and genuine reasons.

Snap! To read more about David and Brandy, click here.

In the world of 911 operators, this probably wasn't even that wacky of a call. Still, it was really stupid. It's almost like you'd have to be drunk to do something this dumb. Per clickorlando.com:

A Brevard County mother was arrested after she called 911 and asked dispatchers to sends officers to scare her children, police said.

You know, it's not so easy raising teenagers. Wait, the kids are how old?

According to jail records, Melissa Townsend, 27, was arrested Tuesday after making the call to emergency officials about her kids, ages 1 and 3.

Doh.

"I need a police officer to come out and scare the (expletive) out of my kids," Townsend said on the 911 call. "They're not listening to me and they need to learn respect. They need to learn that lesson."

Yeah, if you start letting them disrespect you at age 1, who knows how they'll turn out?

The dispatcher told the upset mother that police would not do what she asked. "We don't come out and scare kids," the dispatcher said.

Police responded to Townsend's Indian Harbour Beach home and found the mother drunk, officials said.

And if this behavior wasn't troubling enough, check this out:

Police said when they tried to arrest Townsend she kicked an officer in the groin multiple times.

That there's about the worst kind of resisting arrest.

Townsend was booked into the Brevard County Jail on several charges, including child neglect and battery on a law enforcement officer.

Click here for the source, which includes a mug shot.

&@#$#@)+&!!!! Everyone has thought about cussing someone out. Lots of us have done it. Not so many have done it on another attorney's voicemail. A longtime prosecutor in Clark County, Washington sure wishes he hadn't. As reported in The Columbian ...

A 27-year veteran attorney of the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office — who has tried a number of high-profile criminals — has been demoted after leaving an explosive, profanity-laced two-minute voice-mail message on a defense attorney’s cellphone.

What made Mr. David so angry?

The situation started May 25, when [prosecutor Jim] David received an email from defense attorney John Terry notifying him that the defense attorney was prepared to go to trial the following week. Terry was representing Matthew L. Coonce, arrested on March 3 on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine and stealing a car.

David was under the impression that Terry wanted to postpone Coonce’s trial, so David said he had already scheduled several conflicting appointments. The next day, he called Terry, telling him a trial would force him to "cancel my weekend."

Here it comes (with expletives reinserted):

"You’ve been telling me you wanted a continuance on the [fucking] case, and now you are telling me you want to go to trial next week," David said in the voice mail. "I’m [fucking] laying you out. This is absolute [bullshit]."

David went on to say harsh words about [defendant] Coonce.

"It’s coming out of your client’s hide if I have to go to trial next week, and there ain’t going to be no stinking offers," David said in the message. "There ain’t going to be nothing coming other than go to prison for a very long time."

Although Mr. David has paid a price for losing his temper, he was right about that last bit.

Prior to trial, Terry filed a motion to dismiss the case because he felt David was guilty of telephone harassment and his actions unfairly prejudiced his client. Clark County Superior Court Judge Barbara Johnson denied the motion. The case went to trial and Coonce was convicted on June 3.

You can read a fair amount more here.

How young? Single digits young. While it wasn't a real car, the road was real enough. Per khou.com:

A Houston father has been charged with endangering a child after he let his 3-year-old son drive a toy car on a busy road.

Three!

Officials said on March 8, Jeremy Scott, 23, let his son drive a toy car on a road in the Northshore area as he drove alongside in his own vehicle.

Not to worry, though ...

Police said Scott was controlling the toy car with a remote control.

Remote control? Whew.

Scott is charged with endangering a child. He pleaded no contest to get deferred adjudication.

Clearly Mr. Scott is now making better decisions. That's not the kind of case you want to bring to trial. Here's the source, including a mug shot.

In this case, The Juice is willing to mete out some instant justice. Guilty!

Brought to you by the Colorado Springs Police Department Police Blotter:

CSPD received a report of a small SUV driving West in the 1700 Block of Woodman Rd that was weaving all over the roadway. The SUV crossed the median striking a Stop Sign and side swiping four other vehicles. The SUV turned South on Academy Blvd in the North bound lanes, continuing South to Dublin Blvd, where it turned West in the East bound lanes striking yet another vehicle. The vehicle continued traveling, pulling into the Sunflower Market at 1700 Dublin Blvd. Arriving Officers located and contacted the occupant, a 30 year old female, and began assessing her as a possible DUI driver.

With all that havoc, and the fact that she could have killed some folks, some time in the pokey is in order.

(The Juice is a personal injury lawyer practicing in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia.)

These gents only wish they had the opportunity to grill under the influence. Alas, their plan was foiled by Johnny Law. As reported by tcpalm.com:

Police officers were fairly certain they had recovered a stolen gas barbecue grill when they saw two intoxicated men pushing it up the road late one night this week.

You'd have to drunk to think that wouldn't look suspicious.

The officers couldn’t immediately connect to the grill to its home. However, police used a crime website called Uneighbors.com to send out an alert about the recovered grill and heard back from its owner within a day.

Drunk people often make bad choices, followed by more bad choices ...

The series of events started Monday when two North Carolina men on foot in the 3700 block of Mockingbird Lane stole the grill from a home, police said. About 10:50 p.m., a patrolman saw the men pushing the grill in the 500 block of Fiddlewood Road. Jacob Cecelski, 19, of Carolina Beach, N.C., and Riley Brenner, 20, of Wilmington, N.C., wouldn’t give the officer straight answers about where the grill came from and also gave him false names, police said.

Both were charged with misdemeanors for disorderly intoxication and giving false names while detained. They eventually admitted to stealing the grill, but couldn’t remember which house, police said.

Here's the source, with mug shots.

Seriously, what do you expect when you burglarize a haunted house? That the spirits are just going to let you waltz out the door with their otherworldly possessions? I don't think so. As reported by the AP, out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

A news report says a burglar who broke into a house claims he was held captive by a "supernatural figure" for three days without food and water. Police official Abdul Marlik Hakim Johar told The Star newspaper the house's owners found the 36-year-old man fatigued and dehydrated when they returned from vacation Thursday. He says they called an ambulance to take him to a hospital. The man told police that every time he tried to escape, a "supernatural figure" shoved him to the ground. Abdul Marlik could not immediately be reached and other police officials declined to comment.

People trying to sneak stuff into jail is not news. You can probably guess one of the techniques that is frequently attempted. Well here's a new one, at least new to The Juice. As reported by North Country Now (New York):

A Moira woman has been arrested for allegedly trying to enter St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility with seven Tylenol PM pills taped to the bottom of her foot, according to St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputies.

So it was unsuccessful. At least it was creative.

Brandy A. Carbino, 32, 64 Birch Lane, Moira, who was being booked into the jail, allegedly tried to smuggle in the pills, deputies report. She is currently sentenced to serve weekends at the jail on another charge.

Carbino was charged with second-degree promoting prison contraband, a class A misdemeanor and issued an appearance ticket for Canton Village Court on Dec. 20.

Looks like they'll be tacking a few more weekends on. Here's the source.

The word "shit" is just that - a word. Certainly some folks prefer not to say it, hear it or see it, but, well, tough ... Seriously, this is still America, right? Tell that to Brian Barnett, who was a Green Party candidate in Arkansas. I don't know anything about his politics, and I will stipulate that his sign was an incredibly stupid way to try to attract voters. (Attention yes, voters no.) But there's this thing called the First Amendment ...

Barnett was ticked off that the Republican (Reeves) and Democrat (Betts) contenders for a state House seat would not debate him. So he was walking around Searcy, Arkansas with a sign that read:

Debate Brian! Chicken shit; 1. Kyle Reeves; 2. Monte Betts.

Free speech, right? Wrong. Per The Daily Citizen:

“You can probably get away with saying he’s chicken, but since he’s an alderman and a member of the city council, you can’t,” [Patrolman] Johnson told Barnett. “That word is not acceptable.”

Dude, I heard Putin is looking for a few good men. What did Barnett have to say for himself?

Barnett explained the sign to Johnson, saying it was designed to call attention to the refusal of Reeves and Betts to debate him.

“When you call someone chicken s*** that means they’re scared,” Barnett said.

So we're cool, right? Nope.

When Sergeant Tom McGee arrived, the three went next door to a tire shop and Barnett could be heard offering to change the sign. Within minutes, however, Barnett was arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, apparently for refusing to obey an officer.

UFB. And they cuffed him, and put him in the patrol car! But wait! Someone must have pulled out a pocket Constitution!

Within minutes, Barnett was taken out of the car, given a citation and was allowed to go free. The sign was returned to Barnett and he was told he could stand where he chose with the sign. Barnett, confused as to why he was allowed to continue displaying the altered sign, now showing an “X” over the “i,” was told the matter would be explained to him further at his Nov. 20 court date in White County District Court, Searcy Division.

Confused? I'd say perplexed. Those cops really need to get their shit together!

If you are among those who can look at a piece of bologna and still eat it, that may change after you read this. As reported by The Columbus Dispatch:

[Ex-deputy] Joseph M. Cantwell, 38, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor health-code violations for giving Joseph Copeland a bologna sandwich that had been rubbed against another prisoner's penis.

What was the evidence that this grade-school prank actually happened?

Cantwell, of Park Point Lane in Lewis Center in Delaware County, and another deputy, Phillip Barnett, photographed the sandwich incident in the Downtown jail. Both were fired by Sheriff Jim Karnes in May.

Photos? Were these guys in a cave when the Abu Ghraib photos were EVERYWHERE? So what was the punishment?

Franklin County Municipal Judge Harland H. Hale fined Cantwell $500 but suspended a 90-day jail sentence, provided that he complete his [5 years of] probation.

What about the sandwich-eater?

Copeland and two other prisoners have sued the county.

Since the Juice has a soft spot for personal injury lawyers, he is really hoping that Mr. Copeland filed this action pro se. You can read more here.

As you'll soon see, this fella has an appetite for dollar stores, and ice cream sandwiches. As reported by tcpalm.com:

32-year-old Robert Silvia, was arrested Oct. 12 after an assistant manager at a Family Dollar saw a man take "an ice cream sandwich from the front of his pants" and start eating it, a recently released Fort Pierce police report states.

The assistant manager said the man came in the store in the 700 block of South U.S. 1 in Fort Pierce and went to the cooler. The man took something, and left without paying.

"She watched him as he walked across the street to the Dollar Tree store, as he walked he removed an ice cream sandwich from the front of his pants and began eating it," the report states. "He then entered the Dollar Tree and came out a few minutes later with a drink and then began to walk west on Georgia Ave."

From the Family Dollar to the Dollar Tree to ... the pokey? Yup. The man admitted to lifting the $1.00 ice cream sandwich, and apologized. To no avail. The assistant manager wanted to press charges. You can see the arrest report and the mug shot by clicking here.

If you didn't get in any trouble as a kid, either you're very clever, or your childhood was incomplete. But this kid? At only 12, he's had enough trouble to last him for a long, long time. As reported by www.ksat.com:

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a 12-year-old boy high on marijuana led police on a chase and eventually rolled his car -- and it's not his first run-in with the law.

He was wearing a monitoring bracelet! Ever heard of a 12-year-old wearing a monitoring bracelet? Here's how they got the ride:

A representative with the Sheriff's Office said the boys broke into a home and stole the car's keys.

Incredibly, after rolling the car, neither the boy nor his 15-year-old buddy were hurt badly. They were, however, arrested when they tried to take off.

Surgery is scary enough. I'd like to know that my doctor is certain that operating while on crack would be a bad thing. It's not that California ear, nose and throat specialist Li Quang Nguyen actually operated while on crack, but check this out, as reported by the OC Register:

In July 2007, Dr. Nguyen was staying at the Howard Johnson Express in Huntington Beach. Police responded to a call that maids could not enter the locked room for cleaning. Police found Nguyen in a deep sleep. Police removed rock cocaine, a clear vial of liquid cocaine, a glass pipe and a lighter, the documents say.

Hard to say "what crack" in those circumstances, right?

Nguyen admitted to police that he had freebased cocaine the day before but said he was not "hooked," according to the documents. In April, he pleaded no contest to drug charges and was ordered to enter an 18-month treatment program.

Okay. Looking good, until the disciplinary hearing for his medical license...

... during his hearing, Nguyen said he knew nothing about the drugs and "went so far as to testify that he did not know if it would be dangerous to perform surgery under the influence of cocaine."

The board's disciplinary documents say, "He claimed he could not know if this would be dangerous since he had never tried it, but such an assertion made by a trained physician is simply preposterous and rather frightening."

What, what, what? Dr. Nguyen, who had a previous disciplinary action, had his license revoked. To read more, click here.