A N N A R B O R, Mich. — One woman got closely acquainted with a "Great Pumpkin" after one father thought that she tricked his son out of some Halloween treats.
A 43-year-old man faces charges after he smashed a bird-feeder and threw a pumpkin through the window of a house where his young son said he didn't get any Halloween candy. Police reports show the man was taking his son trick-or-treating Friday when the child went to a house where a woman was passing out candy.
The boy returned to his father crying, saying he didn't get any candy
The man confronted the woman, who said she had given the boy candy. The father and son left, but returned a few minutes later.
The man approached the woman, handed her a piece of paper that had his address written on it and told her to call the police, according to the report.
Police said he then threw a small pumpkin through the front window, tossed a second pumpkin at the front door, and uprooted and smashed a bird feeder from the front yard. A neighbor yelled at the man to stop as he was heading toward a large potted plant. The man took his son home and was there when police arrived.
The man was arrested on a charge of malicious destruction of property and released on his own recognizance.
M E M P H I S, Tenn. — For want of a mum his freedom was lost.
All David Alan Waters had to do to stay out of jail was plant 10 chrysanthemums in the yard of Minnie Becton, the 99-year-old woman whose home he had vandalized in January.
Waters, 20, pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to vandalism of property of over $1,000, a felony, for throwing large rocks through the windows and doors of Becton's home, smashing her car windshield and gouging her yard with tire tracks.
Waters was given a two-year suspended sentence and two years of probation, provided he spiff up the yard by planting the flowers, among other provisions.
Somebody planted the flowers. Waters says he did it. In fact, he says, he planted 12 of them. But Becton claims it was somebody else.
"There is no reason for a 99-year-old woman in a wheelchair to lie about who she saw on her property," Criminal Court Judge Carolyn Wade Blackett said in revoking Waters' probation. "This is an issue of credibility. Who has reason to lie? Mrs. Becton doesn't."
Waters stuck to his story.
"I planted these mums," he said. "She may not have remembered it. She's wrong. I was there. She was really nice when we were over there."
His attorney, John Dolan Jr., said Becton was "a sweet lady who was possibly confused because of her advanced age." In court she spoke softly and had some difficulty hearing questions.
Waters, who has been in jail since Oct. 10, must serve about seven months of his two-year sentence. He also has time to serve for an unrelated harassment conviction
B R A D E N T O N, Fla. — The parents of an 8-year-old boy ticketed by police for violating traffic rules on his bike say they won't pay the $34 citation for a child who is just half the legal driving age.
Second-grader Scott Montgomery has 30 days to pay Manatee County for the ticket written by a Bradenton police officer Oct. 22. "I'm going to not pay this ticket, and Scott's definitely not going to pay it," said Danielle McIntosh, the boy's mother. She added the only money her son has is the allowance he has been saving for a battery-operated miniature truck.
"He's an 8-year-old child. He does not understand what the right of way is," she said.
Scott was riding a bicycle in his neighborhood when he jumped a dirt mound with five of his friends, Bradenton Police Lt. Sam Campbell said. He crossed paths with a 2001 Nissan and the car clipped the rear tire of Scott's 5-pound, 16-inch BMX bicycle.
Scott wasn't injured, but was cited by Officer Jeff Beckley for violating the right of way.
"I'm doing OK," said Scott, who was not wearing a helmet during the accident. "I hit a little bit of his car, but then I just got off my bike and ran away."
McIntosh said the two people in the Nissan claimed Scott flew up onto the hood of their car, causing $1,000 worth of damage. Campbell said that police estimated $500 and could not confirm whether Scott hit the hood.
"His mother was apparently pretty upset with us," Campbell said. "But in this case, the child caused the accident by pulling out in front of the car. The driver didn't have time to react."
Campbell said officers issue citations to many children throughout the year for not wearing helmets or for committing traffic violations on their bicycles. Officers draft the tickets in the child's name but usually expect the parents to pay them.
If no one is cited during an accident, insurance companies will demand that vehicle owners pay for their damages even if they are not at fault. It is a liability as well as a safety issue, Campbell said.
S A L E M, Ore. — A gun-toting man traveling on a tricycle allegedly tried to hijack a car in Salem, in what police there termed a "bizarre" incident.
Oswaldo Valenciano, 24, was arrested and booked at the Marion County Jail on numerous felony charges, Lt. Dan Cary said.
Police were called to the scene after receiving reports that a man on a tricycle had been firing gunshots and had slammed into a car, Cary said. "The tricycle pilot picked himself up and demanded to be taken to the hospital," Cary said. But the driver of the car, Marion Rodriguez, tried to persuade Valenciano to call 911, Cary said.
"At this point, Valenciano opens the rear car door and hops into the back seat of Mr. Rodriguez's car, demanding to be taken to the hospital," Cary said. "Mr. Rodriguez gets out of his car and starts asking people to call 911. Valenciano then gets out, mounts his trike, and promptly falls over."
That's when a police car arrived on the scene, prompting Valenciano to abandon his tricycle and get into the front seat of Rodriguez's car, armed with a handgun, according to police reports.
"Officers saw the weapon and ordered Valenciano out of the car," Cary said. "Instead he puts the car in gear and tosses a handgun out. He fails to notice that the emergency brake is still set."
Valenciano eventually hit a street sign, lost control of the car and tried to hide in a nearby sports utility vehicle, police said. He was treated at Salem Hospital for a leg injury and a gunshot wound to his left foot.
G R A F T O N, Wis. — When you're in the town of Grafton, be extra careful with your trash.
Ozaukee County sheriff's deputies say a woman called them last Thursday evening to complain about trucks littering outside her home. She also mentioned she'd fired a warning shot from her .22-caliber handgun when the offenders drove by.
The deputies came and arrested the 45-year-old woman, whose name was not released because she had not yet been charged.
"Our officers arrived and spoke with her; she reiterated what she told the dispatcher," said Chief James Knowles, "That there were several vehicles littering, and that she retrieved several items including her cell phone, flashlight and weapon."
She admitted again she'd fired her handgun, Knowles said.
"We have no idea what the intent was; she claimed at one point the incident was a warning shot."
The woman was apparently surprised that authorities had a problem with her actions. "I thought I was going there [the Sheriff's Department] to tell my story, and then they started saying I had committed a [crime]," she told the Journal Sentinel.
Authorities were unable to locate the vehicles involved in the alleged littering. They didn't find much reason for the woman's complaint, however.
"There was not a lot of litter," Knowles said.
"The one officer found a destroyed beer bottle approximately 40 feet from the woman's driveway and that was the only litter they could find."
H I L L S B O R O, Mo. — Those weren't guard dogs growling at Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies when they search the apartment of a suspected drug dealer last week. They were alligators.
Police found two alligators loose in the residence, one in the bathtub and another under a bed. They were 4 feet and 5 feet long, authorities said. The officers weren't fazed, however, even when the animals grunted at them.
"It was like encountering a poodle," said Lt. Norb Scharnhorst, chief detective for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.
"They weren't guard alligators or anything like that," he said. "The pit bulls, the Rottweilers, and the larger dogs are a lot more dangerous."
Police also found two poisonous Prairie and Red Diamond rattlesnakes in an aquarium inside the apartment. They called a reptile expert in to help corral the animals.
The deputies arrested a man and woman at the residence as part of an ongoing heroin dealing investigation. They declined to release the suspects' names.
Scharnhorst may not have been fazed by the incident, but one officer at the scene was surprised.
"They were growling like dogs," Sgt. John Dolan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"In the two years that I've been in the narcotics unit, this is the first time that I've encountered animals like this," Dolan said. "I've had vicious dogs … , but this is the first time I've had alligators."
E N G L E W O O D, Ohio — The suspect was on foot. Not feet, but foot. An early morning car chase with suspected tractor thieves ended when a man lost his prosthetic leg as he was fleeing officers, Englewood police said.
Officers patrolling the city noticed a large van outside the Tractor Supply Company around 3:30 a.m. last Thursday. The vehicle sped towards the patrol car and swerved around it as the officers followed, said Sgt. Mike Swisher.
"The van they were chasing crashed [and] the driver jumped out and tried to run," Swisher said. "And I think it was at that point the prosthesis fell off."
The driver, identified as Michael Ford, 41, was charged with felony theft and felony eluding. Police said the other two men in the car, James Griffie Jr., 31, and David Jones, 38, were charged with felony theft
