Legal Juice

Yes, of course grandparents spoil their grandchildren. Maybe a little candy from grandma, or some new clothes. But how about this: 54-year-old Brenda Bouschet was arrested after driving around a Marathon, Florida supermarket parking lot with her 3-year-old granddaughter sitting on the roof! Not to worry, said Ms. Bouschet. Per the AP, "she was driving at "snail-speed" and holding the child's leg." And besides, she was just doing it to give the child some air and let her have some fun. Doesn't everyone do this sort of thing? Uh, no. Ms. Bouschet is looking at child abuse charges.

What was this young man thinking? I'm feeling depressed, so I'll throw a dog at a motorcycle gang? Here's the story, as reported by Reuters:

A German student created a major traffic jam in Bavaria after making a rude gesture at a group of Hell's Angels motorcycle gang members, hurling a puppy at them and then escaping on a stolen bulldozer.

German police said on Monday that after making his getaway from the Hell's Angels club, the 26-year-old dumped the bulldozer, causing a 5 km (3 miles) traffic jam near the southern town of Allershausen, local police said. He then fled to his home nearby where he was apprehended by the police.

"What motivated him to throw a puppy at the Hell's Angels is currently unclear," said a spokesman for local police, adding that the student had lately been suffering from depression.

The puppy was now in safe hands, the spokesman added.

A clever theft job in which nobody is hurt is much easier to swallow than, well, a crime like this one out of Australia. Per The Courier-Mail:

About 2am, the offenders kicked in the windows of the Coffee Club in the Home Centre on Springwood and dragged a hefty safe out of the store. Police believe they used ropes to hook the safe up to their vehicle and then drove off, dragging the safe behind them.

But the plans came unstuck when the car performed a u-turn and the safe ``flicked'' into a culvert.

Despite attempting to hide it with cardboard and some old tyre, a passer-by noticed the safe [essentially intact] before the baddies could return and reported it to police.

Detectives will examine CCTV footage today in the hope of identifying the culprits.

It was not a good night for employees at a Kalamazoo, Michigan Wendy's. Why? A drive-thru order turned into a melee - outside of, and inside, the restaurant. As reported by The Kalamazoo Gazette:

Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officers said they were called to the restaurant at 2814 Portage St. at about 12:17 a.m. Saturday to quell a large fight.

Upon arrival, officers encountered a loud disturbance between unsatisfied customers and frustrated employees inside the business, according to a police news release.

During their investigation, officers were told the incident started outside when four customers in a vehicle, voiced their displeasure with an employee at the drive-up window.

According to the news release, customers said there was a discrepancy between the food that was ordered and that what they received. Wendy’s workers said it was simply a communication breakdown that could have been easily fixed.

... officers said they were told that as tempers flared, fountain beverages, hamburgers and fries were all hurled through the drive-up window and the food struck an employee inside.

The employee allegedly then threw food items back out at the vehicle, striking it with carbonated soda, ketchup and fries.

Officers said two of the vehicle occupants went into the restaurant and began fighting with employees . Punches and chairs were thrown.

Two of the customers, Kalamazoo residents, were arrested on charges of assault and excessive noise. The employee received minor scrapes and abrasions during the melee.

All of this over a wire bra, and the jail's dress code. As reported by The Miami Herald:

Attorney Brittney Horstman was not packing heat. She was wearing an underwire bra.

And when the metal detector went off on a visit to the Miami Federal Detention Center, guards wouldn't let Horstman in to see her client.

The attorney reminded guards of a detention center ``memo'' allowing female attorneys wearing an underwire bra to enter. But the guards would not relent.

Horstman stepped into a bathroom and removed her bra. In blouse and jacket, she returned, and cleared the walk-through detector.

Again, guards refused to let her pass -- now, because she was braless, which is against prison dress code guidelines.

Yup, the kid was busted for farting in school, and otherwise "disrupting" his class. From TheLedger.com, here's the story:

A student at a Florida school has been arrested after authorities say he was "passing gas" and turned off his classmates' computers.

According to a report released Friday by the Martin County Sheriff's Office, the 13-year-old boy "continually disrupted his classroom environment" by intentionally breaking wind. He then shut off some computers other students were using.

The Spectrum Junior-Senior High School student was arrested Nov. 4. A school resource officer placed the boy under arrest after he confessed about his behavior, according to the report. He was charged with disruption of school function and released to his mother.

One can imagine the would-be abductors talking beforehand: "Hey, how about that kid?" "Sure, why not?" Here's why not: Not only was he on his way home boxing training, but the kid is "the two-time Australian junior champion and two-time Queensland champion." As reported in The Cairns Post:

It seemed innocent enough - three people in a mini-van asking for directions at a well-lit intersection at 8pm on Wednesday in the quiet rural community of Yungaburra.

"It seems so innocent," 15-year-old Jackson said yesterday. "They stopped and asked for directions and I walked up to the campervan to help. The sliding door opened fast and I spun around to see what was happening.

"Then this bloke grabbed me by the collar and tried to drag me into the van. He was really trying to drag me in but I pulled back with all my weight and then I hit him in the left ear."

It only took one punch from the two-time Australian junior champion and two-time Queensland champion to send the alleged abductors fleeing up Maple St from the scene.

Although countless acres of pot are growing throughout the world, it is unlikely many of them are in the garden of a convent. There is (or was) one such acre in the garden of a convent in Uganda, as reported by the BBC:

A regional police chief told the BBC that plants covering one acre had been found and uprooted in the southern Masaka district. Two nuns and two porters have been questioned.

One of the nuns has been quoted by local media as saying the marijuana was used to treat farm animals, such as pigs.

Southern regional commander Emmanuel Muhuirwe told the BBC News website that only the porters had been arrested - not the nuns.

He said the nuns had been questioned because the garden was part of the convent. But he said no-one had been charged yet and the porters have been released on bail.

How can you be guaranteed that you'll catch the thief who stole your car? Easy. Report it stolen, then get caught driving it. Really. Per The Rome (Georgia) News-Tribune:

Ryan Lance Roland, 24, of 2005 Dean Ave., Room 315, told police that someone came to his room while he was at the store and that his 2001 Acura Integra was stolen.

After placing a lookout for the car, police found Roland driving it three hours later on Maple Street. Roland took an alcohol sensor test and was found to be over the legal limit.

Roland is charged with false report of a crime and DUI. He was released on $2,700 bond Sunday.

How could a 55-year-old man get arrested for playing on a trampoline? Here's how, as reported by stv.tv.

As [his neighbor] looked out of her window, she saw James Burden stark naked with a cigarette in one hand and his genitals in the other. Falkirk Sheriff Court heard the gobsmacked victim told police that 55-year-old Burden was "as bold as brass ...and purposeful".

Mike McMahon, prosecuting, said that the woman, who lives in a block of four flats in Falkirk’s Westquarter, had got up to go to her bathroom as 5.14am on March 25 this year.

As she passed her kitchen window, she saw Burden - her upstairs neighbour - in the back garden. She then saw Burden approach the back door of the block of flats.

The woman rushed into her living room and called police. Mr McMahon said: "He told police he had gone out to the trampoline and had masturbated himself there."

... Burden told officers: "Just for the thrill of it." He added: "I did not intend anyone to see me."

Burden, of Yew Terrace, Westquarter, pled guilty to publicly exposing his person in a shameless and indecent manner, and approaching his neighbour's house and placing the occupant in a state of fear and alarm.

Sheriff Craig Caldwell deferred sentence until next month for reports.