Good fortune quickly turned to horror for a man in Allyn, Wash., who scored some raccoon roadkill to use as crab-trap bait on June 25.
As the unidentified man walked toward home dragging the carcass behind him on a 15-foot rope (so he couldn't smell it), two different vehicles stopped, and their occupants, mistakenly thinking he was dragging a dead dog, began berating the would-be fisherman.
As the dispute heated up, someone produced a gun, shooting the man twice in the leg before he was struck by one of the vehicles as the assailants fled.
Come and listen to my story ...
In New Hampshire on June 29, a state police officer stopped the 57-year-old driver of a Honda Odyssey minivan who had piled a Beverly Hillbillies-esque stack of belongings on top of his car. The collection, which was about as tall as the minivan, included a wooden chest, a bike, a floor lamp, a rake, a snow shovel, a moving dolly and a folding ladder, along with blankets and towels and a shopping cart full of items hanging off the back. Police cited the driver for negligent driving, and the car was towed away.
Least competent criminals
• Six suspects in a June 25 Denver mugging counted among their spoils the victim's brand-new iPhone. After using Ryan Coupens' credit cards at a nearby Walgreens, the thieves used the phone to post a Snapchat story about their shenanigans to Coupens' account, where his friends — and police — could clearly see some of their faces.
• A repeat offender came to the end of his career when he and an accomplice tried to burglarize a home in East Macon, Ga., on June 19. As James Robert Young, 41, a 35-time resident in the Bibb County jail, and another man zeroed in on her television, the homeowner woke up and heard them. "When she yelled, the men ran out," said Sheriff David Davis, and that was when the other suspect turned around and fired his weapon, striking Young in the head, killing him. The accomplice is still at large.
Oops!
• What seemed like the best hide-and-seek idea ever took a frightening turn on July 6 in Colonial Heights, Va., when a 12-year-old girl became stuck in a sleeper sofa. Another child called 911 when she couldn't free her friend. "I've never seen anything like it," said Fire Chief A.G. Moore. "When she got out, she was fine."
• In Green Bay, Wis., a driver crossing the Walnut Street Bridge on June 22 disregarded the traffic arm and drove around it onto the drawbridge as it was opening. His van ascended the opening span, but then rolled back down into the gap between the stationary bridge and the movable span. Green Bay Metro firefighters, concerned that the van might slip through the gap, cut a hole in its roof to rescue the driver.
Pre-existing conditions
Police in Dearborn, Mich., are hoping a thief's unusual loot may draw him back to the scene of the crime. Surveillance video at a Walgreens store captured a bald man making off with seven boxes of Rogaine, a hair-growth product, on June 22. "While this is not the most hair-raising crime ... it is suspected he will continue committing this type of crime, as 12 to 14 months of consistent use is needed to see results," Police Chief Ronald Haddad said in a news release.
News of the Weird is compiled by the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication. Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
