Truck driver releases video: dancing in his cab as he speeds along motorway

A Romanian truck driver is being hunted by police after releasing a video of himself dancing in his cab as he thunders along a motorway.

Last Updated: 4:19PM GMT 06 Mar 2009 


The driver - who apparently works all over Europe and the UK - handed the recording to a TV station and You Tube after filming his antics for friends.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1911416382/bctid14971569001

As he cranks up the volume on a folk song, the trucker starts thrashing around the cab, waving both hands with barely a glance at the road ahead.

Then he unfastens his seat belt so he can gyrate around the driver's seat, before moving over to the passenger footwell to dance away from the control pedals and steering wheel.

At one point, he even steers with his feet, showing off for the camera as he drives terrifying close to other trucks and cars.

He says: "I was just bored, this wasn't anything special. We all do this - we sing, while we're driving."

Copies of the tape are now being viewed by traffic poilce officers throughout Europe as they try to track down the driver.

He claims the performance was shot by his brother as they drove from Holland to Belgium. Others believe the dance might have been recorded in France.

Romanian police want to interview the trucker after he appeared on a local You've Been Framed-style television show.

"He doesn't seem to be driving in Romania so what we can do is limited but we certainly want to talk to him," said a senior officer.

Man caught entering Spain with cocaine leg

In this photo released by Spanish Police, shows a 66-year-old Chilean man who tried to smuggle drugs into Barcelona airport with a cast made of cocaine is seen after his arrest in Barcelona Spain on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Spanish

Cops: Thief stuck to swiping gum

  March 5, 2009

Police: Heroin found in pregnant woman's waistband

The News Journal

A traffic stop south of Wilmington led to drug and other charges against a driver and his passenger, a pregnant woman who was allegedly found with 73 bags of heroin concealed in her waistband, police said.

Shawnett Backus, 31, of the 2500 block of Claymont Street in Wilmington, and Jeron Johnson, 27, of the 100 block of E. 30th St. in Wilmington, were each charged with possession with intent to deliver heroin, maintaining a vehicle for keeping a controlled substance, tampering with evidence and conspiracy.

Johnson was also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, possession of an electronic stun gun and traffic offenses.

Backus was committed to the Baylor Women's Correctional Institute after failing to post $15,000 secured bail, and Johnson was committed to the Young Correctional Institution in lieu of $54,003 secured bail.

Their car was pulled over for a window tint violation on Rogers Road near Del. 9 at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, said New Castle County police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro.

Johnson was unable to provide an insurance card for the vehicle, and a search of the vehicle found six bags of heroin between the seats and a loaded .22 caliber handgun and a stun gun in the trunk, he said.

Both were taken to police headquarters, and a subsequent search of Backus, who is four months pregnant, found an additional 73 bags of heroin hidden in her waistband, he said.

Woman stabs husband in eye over refusal to peel potatoes

Russia News.Net
Thursday 5th March, 2009 (IANS)

Moscow, March 4 (RIA Novosti) A woman in Russia's Penza region has been sentenced to 15 months behind bars after stabbing her husband in the eye when he refused to peel potatoes, the pnz.ru news website said Wednesday.

The woman, from the outskirts of the city of Penza, stabbed her husband in the left eye with a kitchen knife.

She had earlier served time for murder, and had met her future partner immediately after her release from jail, according to assistant to the regional prosecutor Irina Alekseyenko.

The victim waited three days before going to see a doctor. He initially claimed he had injured himself, but then admitted the truth. The man is now almost completely blind in the left eye.

'The victim begged the court to be lenient with his wife,' Alekseyenko said

Dancing woman charged after disrupting funeral, deputies say

Paul Alongi 

The Greenville News

STAFF WRITER

March 5, 2009

Tammy Fausel said Wednesday that she and her family were shocked at what happened during her uncle’s funeral in Gray Court.

A Candler, N.C., woman danced in front of the service, waved a wand around the casket, opened the lid, laid her hands on the deceased’s head and struck the body with a wand, according to an incident report from the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office.

Nicole Marie Loretta Leonard, 25, has been charged with disturbing a funeral and public disorderly conduct in Tuesday’s incident, according to tickets.

Fausel said she had never before seen the woman and had no idea why she would’ve been at funeral at Church of God on State 14.

"Everybody was just kind of flabbergasted," she said. "They didn’t know what was going on."

The woman took flowers from the top of the casket and threw them at the family before leaving in a burgundy Toyota, according to the report.

Fausel said she called the Sheriff’s Office.

A lieutenant intercepted a burgundy Toyota Corolla heading south on Interstate 385, according to the incident report.

When deputies asked the woman why she acted the way she did, the woman said "she felt that it was the right thing to do at the time," according to the report. The woman told deputies she knew no one at the church, according to the report.

Fausel said the deceased’s immediate family were in another room at the time of the incident and didn’t witness it.

Leonard, of 117 Davis Creek, was released from the Johnson Detention Center on Wednesday, according to jail officials and tickets.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Would-be robbers take note: Don't use your debit card during a holdup. A West Virginia man who police say attempted to rob a convenience store instead ended up buying a soft drink with his debit card - ultimately leading to his arrest.

Shawn Thomas Lester, 33, told the store clerk Monday he had a gun and wanted all the money in the register, police said. But the suspect got flustered when a customer walked in and the clerk told him to pay for the soft drink.

Lester handed over his debit card, then signed the receipt "John Doe" and left without any cash.

Police traced the debit card and found Lester, of Charleston. He told police he was only joking when he said he had a gun and demanded money.

He was charged with armed robbery in Kanawha County, according to a criminal complaint.

It was not clear whether Lester had an attorney. His phone number was unlisted.

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Information from: WCHS-TV, http://www.wchstv.com

'Guard' gets away with $145K church deposit

LORI PILGER and COLLEEN KENNEY

Lincoln Journal Star

Police are looking for a brazen thief who went to Lincoln's Berean Church Tuesday morning dressed as an armored service guard and walked away with nearly $145,000 in cash and checks.

Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood said a man who appeared to be a guard with the armored car service went to the church’s financial office Tuesday morning and told a woman he was there to pick up the deposit.

When the woman said he was a little early, he came back with a reason that sounded plausible enough, Flood said.

"'Carl' was handed the weekend offering of around $145,000, initialed the receipt and waltzed out," said Police Chief Tom Casady.

All but about $4,000 of the money was in checks.

The plot became clear 15 minutes later — when the real guard showed up to the church at 6400 S. 70th St.

The woman at the church told police the man who left with the deposit was white, in his late 20s, 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, around 150 pounds with short light brown hair, glasses and a couple of days growth of facial hair. He was wearing a dark baseball cap, dark pants and a shirt with an emblem that looked just like a security uniform.

She never saw his car.

"It sounds like he knew exactly what he was doing," Flood said.

Casady said the heist likely will go down as one of the most interesting of the year in Lincoln.

And, he said, he wouldn't be surprised if the same scheme doesn't show up elsewhere.

"Large congregations, beware," Casady said.

 Berean Church member Christina Peterson, an adjunct college instructor, hopes people don’t blame the church.

“I think it’s sad,” she said Wednesday morning by phone. “Berean is a wonderful church. They do a great job. I don’t feel like this is their fault at all. This man, he even had to know the routine. The people there (at the church) had no reason to believe he was anything other than what he presented himself to be.”

She wrote a $200 check on Sunday, so she’s pretty sure it was part of money stolen. Peterson said the church informed her by e-mail to call her bank.

“They’ve done everything within their power. It’s just sad that somebody decided to target a church that’s doing really well.”

While she’s being interviewed, another call comes in.

“Oh. That’s Wells Fargo.”

She calls back in a few minutes, says the bank told her they’re stopping payment on the check and are not going to charge her.

Neb. man says he put cat in bong 3 times

A man who stuffed his girlfriend's cat into a makeshift bong and smoked marijuana through it said Tuesday that he had done it on other occasions and that it calmed the cat down.

Acea Schomaker of Lincoln said he never intended to hurt the 6-month-old cat, Shadow.

Lancaster County sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic disturbance at the residence ticketed the 20-year-old Schomaker on suspicion of misdemeanor animal cruelty Sunday after catching him smoking marijuana from a boxlike contraption that had the cat stuffed inside its 12-inch by 6-inch base.

Schomaker's girlfriend, Marissa Vieux, also was ticketed for animal cruelty because she didn't try to stop Schomaker, Sgt. Andy Stebbing said.

Vieux, 22, said she took in the cat about two months ago from friends who abused it.

Schomaker said the cat would bite and scratch them but he didn't want to discipline it by swatting or squirting water at it. He said they didn't bring it to an animal shelter because they feared it would be put down.

So Schomaker said he decided to use the makeshift bong because he had heard about people calming their pets by blowing marijuana smoke in their faces.

"I know for sure this isn't the first time someone has done this," he said. "I'm just the first one to get caught."

He said he put the cat in the bong a total of three times and it seemed to calm the cat.

"Every time we took her out she would pretty much just lay down and proceed to clean herself and act like a stoned person," Schomaker said.

The bong had a foot-long piece of garden hose coming out of a Plexiglas box, with the top secured with duct tape. Schomaker said it was constructed in such a way that the cat did not get immersed in smoke to the extent some might believe.

Schomaker said law enforcement and animal specialists lectured him about why what he did was cruel, and that he learned from his mistake.

This March 1, 2009, booking photo provided by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Dept., shows Acea Schomaker of Lincoln, Neb. He was booked Sunday on suspicion of animal cruelty, after deputies caught him smoking marijuana from a bong contraption that had a cat stuffed inside its 12-inch by 6-inch base. Schomaker told Lancaster County sheriff's deputies the 6-month-old female cat named Shadow had been hyper and that he was trying to calm her. Shadow was taken to the Capital Humane Society, where she appeared to be in good condition. (AP Photo/Lancaster County Sheriff Dept.)

A homemade bong, consisting of a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped plexiglas box, is seen in this March 1, 2009, handout photo provided by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Dept. Deputies responding Sunday, March 1, 2009, to a domestic disturbance call at a Lincoln, Neb., area residence, cited a 20-year-old man on suspicion of animal cruelty after catching him smoking marijuana from the contraption that had Shadow, a six-month-old female cat, stuffed inside its 12-inch by 6-inch base. The man told deputies the cat had been acting hyper and that he was trying to calm her down. (AP Photo/Lancaster County Sheriff Dept.)

Shadow, a 6-month-old female cat, is seen in this March 1, 2009, photo provided by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Dept. Shadow was rescued by deputies, who discovered the cat trapped in a "bong" after responding to a domestic disturbance call at a residency that a 20-year old suspect shares with his grandfather in the Lincoln, Neb., area. (AP Photo/Lancaster County Sheriff Dept.)

A strange looking cat has been causing a stir at a veterinary hospital in America.

The cat's name is Ugly Bat Boy and he is bald apart from a furry chest.

Dr. Stephen Bassett was given the cat by a client and says Ugly is happy with the attention he attracts at his surgery in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the USA.

Hospital staff say the curious cat can scare and mesmerise people.

French Boy Stabs Sister Over Nintendo DS

Police: Rental company empties wrong apartment

Royston Sim
February 27, 2009

It was a shock when Edward Peterson returned to his downturn apartment last week to discover that it was stripped of everything, including shelves and drawers.

An hour or so later, police discovered that his landlord had cleaned out the apartment by mistake.

According to a Madison police report, Peterson, 36, returned to his apartment at 121 S. Han St. on Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. and found it emptied of all his furniture and belongings. He had left just five hours earlier, and everything was fine.

Peterson flagged down Madison Police Officer Nicholas Ellis in his squad car at 3:40 and he followed Peterson to his apartment to investigate what he assumed was a burglary.

The supposed burglar turned out to be Peterson's landlord at Hart Rentals, who had instructed a maintenance worker to clean out Peterson's apartment by mistake. Shirley Eckes, business manager of Hart Rentals, told Officer Ellis that the company wanted to clean out an apartment with the same number as Peterson's in a different building the company owns.

Maintenance man Dustin Sobacki told Ellis that he was already working in 121 S. Han on Feb. 20 when Eckes told him to clean out the apartment, the report said. Sobacki put all of Peterson's belongings into black garbage bags which he put into a trash bin on the east side of 121 S. Han.

Peterson recovered most of his property from the trash bin, the report said, and Hart Rentals returned Peterson's TV and TV remote, which Sobacki had kept in Hart Rental's maintenance office. Some items were still missing, however, including about 150 CDs with an estimated value of $1,500, a CD boom box, about $300 cash, approximately 100 astrology-related books; 10 DVDs, a cell phone and credit cards. Sobacki told Ellis that several people were outside the parking lot when he was moving items into the garbage and they may have taken some of Peterson's things.

According to the police report, Eckes told Officer Ellis that "whatever is missing from Peterson's apartment we will make him whole again." The report made no mention of criminal charges.

Peterson could not be reached for comment, and Eckes declined to comment on the incident when reached by The Capital Times.