Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Suspected serial toilet flusher thief arrested
Ten days after toilet flushers began disappearing from businesses' restrooms in Jacksonville, Florida, a 24-year-old man was arrested on charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen property after the mechanisms were reported stolen from at least 17 sites in Jacksonville and Clay County.
James That Ton remains behind bars on $40,000 bail after his arrest, which also includes a charge of false verification of ownership. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office began investigating reports of flushing mechanism thefts from public restrooms at numerous businesses on Oct. 27, valued each at between $300 and $800.
On Tuesday, another one was reported stolen from a McDonald’s, video surveillance showing a man walking in and out of the restroom when the theft occurred, police said. A police officer identified the man from an unrelated theft arrest. Ton was arrested on Thursday at Future Metal Recycler. as he was selling scrap metal - a flushing mechanism, police said.
The Sheriff’s Office is investigating 17 cases that could involve the suspect, and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating similar thefts. Other victims of flushing mechanism thefts are asked to report the crime to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
James That Ton remains behind bars on $40,000 bail after his arrest, which also includes a charge of false verification of ownership. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office began investigating reports of flushing mechanism thefts from public restrooms at numerous businesses on Oct. 27, valued each at between $300 and $800.
On Tuesday, another one was reported stolen from a McDonald’s, video surveillance showing a man walking in and out of the restroom when the theft occurred, police said. A police officer identified the man from an unrelated theft arrest. Ton was arrested on Thursday at Future Metal Recycler. as he was selling scrap metal - a flushing mechanism, police said.
The Sheriff’s Office is investigating 17 cases that could involve the suspect, and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating similar thefts. Other victims of flushing mechanism thefts are asked to report the crime to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Deer freed from plastic pumpkin - Update
After at least six days with its head stuck in a plastic pumpkin and presumably unable to eat or drink, a deer in Mentor, Ohio, has been freed from his predicament.
The straps of the plastic pumpkin had appeared to be embedded in the deer's head, near its ears. The entire mouth was enclosed in the plastic contraption.
YouTube link.
Officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources were in town on Monday to try to help the deer, but ultimately it was a teenager from a local animal sanctuary who was successful.
Cameron Merritt said he hid in a hunting blind and jumped out and attempted to tackle the deer, and the pumpkin fell off. "It's just like a football tackle," he said. "When I grabbed it we went to the ground and this thing snapped off." The deer, which was okay, simply ran away.
With news video.
The straps of the plastic pumpkin had appeared to be embedded in the deer's head, near its ears. The entire mouth was enclosed in the plastic contraption.
YouTube link.
Officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources were in town on Monday to try to help the deer, but ultimately it was a teenager from a local animal sanctuary who was successful.
Cameron Merritt said he hid in a hunting blind and jumped out and attempted to tackle the deer, and the pumpkin fell off. "It's just like a football tackle," he said. "When I grabbed it we went to the ground and this thing snapped off." The deer, which was okay, simply ran away.
With news video.
Two-metre-long Cape cobra spotted taking a dip on South African beach
An almost two-metre-long Cape cobra spent Monday afternoon at Hout Bay Beach near Cape Town.
Snake and reptile education expert, Shaun Macleod, said that it is not unusual for these cobras - which usually grow up to 1.5m - to go into water.
"They soak themselves in the water when they are about to shed their skin, so their skin gets irritated," he said.
Snakes in the Pacific Islands region are known to travel from island to island.
There's a radio interview with Mr Macleod discussing the incident here.
Snake and reptile education expert, Shaun Macleod, said that it is not unusual for these cobras - which usually grow up to 1.5m - to go into water.
"They soak themselves in the water when they are about to shed their skin, so their skin gets irritated," he said.
Snakes in the Pacific Islands region are known to travel from island to island.
There's a radio interview with Mr Macleod discussing the incident here.
Unfortunate mishap with oxygen cylinder led to 2 hospital employees getting stuck in MRI scanner
In an unusual accident, two employees of the Tata Memorial Hospital's treatment and research centre in Khargar in Navi Mumbai, India, suffered injuries on Saturday evening when one of them walked into the centre's MRI room holding an oxygen cylinder, activating the machine's monstrous magnetic field.
The two employees - one a technician and the other a ward boy - were pulled to the machine like a toy magnet pulls a pin and remained stuck to it for nearly four hours before an engineer arrived and deactivated the magnetic field.
While the ward boy, Sunil Jadhav, 28, who took the oxygen cylinder into the MRI room, fractured his elbow, the technician Swami Ramaiah, 35, who was sandwiched between Jadhav and the cylinder on the one side and the MRI machine on the other, suffered serious injuries to the lower part of his body, including a punctured urinary bladder and severe internal bleeding.
Sunil and Swamy, who were rushed to Bombay Hospital, where thay are being attended to by a panel of six doctors - neurologist Dr Vibhor Pardasani, neuro-surgeon Dr Suneel Shah, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Pravin Munshi, nephrologist Dr Shrirang Bichhu, plastic surgeon Dr Vinay Jacob, and an intensivist. With blood flow to Swamy's lower body interrupted for four hours, leading to overload of toxins in the system, his kidneys too have suffered damage. Doctors said the sensation in his legs has been compromised because of damaged nerves. The mishap took place at around 7pm at the Tata Memorial-run Advance Centre or Treatment Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) when a male patient was wheeled in for a routine MRI. During the process of carrying out the scan, the attending doctor asked Jadhav to fetch an oxygen mask.
Jadhav, who had never worked in the MRI room and had no idea that no metal is allowed anywhere near the machine, thought he was asked to bring in an oxygen cylinder. As soon as he entered the room with the cylinder, the machine pulled him with such brute force that he flew towards the machine with the cylinder still in his left arm and carried Ramaiah with him. Before anybody in the room knew what was happening, Jadhav and Ramiah were stuck to the machine. And they remained glued to it four hours. While the machine can be switched off, deactivating its magnetic field is a complex process. Both Jadhav and Ramiah lost consciousness after a couple of hours of fruitless attempts to wrench them out. It was only after an engineer from General Electric, the machine's manufacturer, arrived and deactivated the magnetic field that the two could be disengaged and taken to Bombay Hospital.
Plastic surgeon Dr Vinay Jacob said Swamy's condition was critical when he was brought to the hospital. "His lower abdomen and upper thigh had got crushed. The blood circulation to the lower part of his body was severely compromised and the muscles and nerves in the thigh region were crushed," he said. MRI rooms in hospitals have notices outside asking employees and patients to leave all metal articles, including jewellery, outside. While such a note is pasted outside the ACTREC MRI room too, Jadhav obviously did not pay attention. One of the doctors, an eyewitness to the mishap, said hospital staff tried every trick to pull the two out. "ACTREC engineers to did everything they could to demagnetize the machine, but all in vain. It was only after a GE engineer detached the magnet from the machine that Jadhav and Ramaiah could be pulled out," he said. Deputy director, ACTREC, Dr Sudeep Gupta, said: "This is really an unfortunate incident. Thankfully, we were able to successfully rescue both our staff members and provide them timely treatment. We have already launched an internal inquiry to ascertain what went wrong."
Sunil and Swamy, who were rushed to Bombay Hospital, where thay are being attended to by a panel of six doctors - neurologist Dr Vibhor Pardasani, neuro-surgeon Dr Suneel Shah, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Pravin Munshi, nephrologist Dr Shrirang Bichhu, plastic surgeon Dr Vinay Jacob, and an intensivist. With blood flow to Swamy's lower body interrupted for four hours, leading to overload of toxins in the system, his kidneys too have suffered damage. Doctors said the sensation in his legs has been compromised because of damaged nerves. The mishap took place at around 7pm at the Tata Memorial-run Advance Centre or Treatment Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) when a male patient was wheeled in for a routine MRI. During the process of carrying out the scan, the attending doctor asked Jadhav to fetch an oxygen mask.
Jadhav, who had never worked in the MRI room and had no idea that no metal is allowed anywhere near the machine, thought he was asked to bring in an oxygen cylinder. As soon as he entered the room with the cylinder, the machine pulled him with such brute force that he flew towards the machine with the cylinder still in his left arm and carried Ramaiah with him. Before anybody in the room knew what was happening, Jadhav and Ramiah were stuck to the machine. And they remained glued to it four hours. While the machine can be switched off, deactivating its magnetic field is a complex process. Both Jadhav and Ramiah lost consciousness after a couple of hours of fruitless attempts to wrench them out. It was only after an engineer from General Electric, the machine's manufacturer, arrived and deactivated the magnetic field that the two could be disengaged and taken to Bombay Hospital.
Plastic surgeon Dr Vinay Jacob said Swamy's condition was critical when he was brought to the hospital. "His lower abdomen and upper thigh had got crushed. The blood circulation to the lower part of his body was severely compromised and the muscles and nerves in the thigh region were crushed," he said. MRI rooms in hospitals have notices outside asking employees and patients to leave all metal articles, including jewellery, outside. While such a note is pasted outside the ACTREC MRI room too, Jadhav obviously did not pay attention. One of the doctors, an eyewitness to the mishap, said hospital staff tried every trick to pull the two out. "ACTREC engineers to did everything they could to demagnetize the machine, but all in vain. It was only after a GE engineer detached the magnet from the machine that Jadhav and Ramaiah could be pulled out," he said. Deputy director, ACTREC, Dr Sudeep Gupta, said: "This is really an unfortunate incident. Thankfully, we were able to successfully rescue both our staff members and provide them timely treatment. We have already launched an internal inquiry to ascertain what went wrong."
Man attacked ex-girlfriend with car headrest bomb
Spanish police have arrested the 36-year-old ex-partner of a woman who was hospitalised on Monday when a homemade bomb detonated in the headrest of her car seat.
The man was picked up by police in Elche on Tuesday in the car repair workshop where he works and remains in custody. His former partner, a 41-year old woman known by the initials R.P.M., received a number of superficial scalp injuries when the device detonated.
She was taken to Vinapoló hospital in the autonomous Valencia region but the relatively low amount of shrapnel involved meant that she could be treated and quickly discharged.
Emergency services were originally told that the woman's car airbag had exploded, causing burns but experts from the police's TEDAX bomb squad discovered evidence of what they described as a "homemade" but "low intensity" bomb. The car has been impounded as evidence and will be studied for further details of the device's construction.
The man was picked up by police in Elche on Tuesday in the car repair workshop where he works and remains in custody. His former partner, a 41-year old woman known by the initials R.P.M., received a number of superficial scalp injuries when the device detonated.
She was taken to Vinapoló hospital in the autonomous Valencia region but the relatively low amount of shrapnel involved meant that she could be treated and quickly discharged.
Emergency services were originally told that the woman's car airbag had exploded, causing burns but experts from the police's TEDAX bomb squad discovered evidence of what they described as a "homemade" but "low intensity" bomb. The car has been impounded as evidence and will be studied for further details of the device's construction.
Police responding to screams coming from apartment found frustrated lone chess player
Norwegian police responding to emergency calls about screams from an apartment were shocked to find the howls belonged to a lone chess player displeased with his performance.
The police received several calls on Monday evening after people heard screams coming from the apartment in Oslo.
When a police patrol arrived to investigate, they found the screams had come from a male chess enthusiast who was playing against a computer and had been repeatedly out-moved.
“We found a chess player frustrated by constantly losing against his own PC,” a police spokesperson said
The police received several calls on Monday evening after people heard screams coming from the apartment in Oslo.
When a police patrol arrived to investigate, they found the screams had come from a male chess enthusiast who was playing against a computer and had been repeatedly out-moved.
“We found a chess player frustrated by constantly losing against his own PC,” a police spokesperson said
German police capture rogue kangaroo
Police in North Rhine-Westphalia are used to corralling the odd loose sheep, cow or horse, but this weekend's kangaroo was "definitely a first", a spokesperson said on Monday.
The kangaroo has been taken to safety at a local animal park after it was found on Sunday hopping across the road, yet no one in the area around Kalkar in North Rhine-Westphalia has come forward to claim the animal.
Photo by Andreas Wegener.
"We have received many tips as to where kangaroos are kept in the area, though none of them have reported any of their animals missing," Kleve police spokesperson Schmickler said. "All of their kangaroos are home and accounted for." Police got a call on Sunday regarding an exotic animal seen on Römerstrasse, just outside of the town of Kalkar, 60 kilometres north west of Duisburg. Upon arrival, police found a lone kangaroo.
Photo by Andreas Wegener.
"We didn't believe the call ourselves," a police commissioner said. "But there really was a kangaroo, crouched four metres from the street in the bushes. We secured the road, and then it suddenly hopped quickly away." The kangaroo managed a 100 metre sprint before the police hit it with a tranquilizer dart. "You really can't believe how fast a kangaroo on the run is – it ran as fast as a racing dog." Schmickler said a local veterinarian was also on hand to help take the animal into custody.
YouTube link.
It was obviously well cared for and well fed, "even a little fat," she said. "We're a very rural area here, and so we're often called to help with sheep, cows or horses who have run off, but this was definitely a first for our officers," Schmickler said. Kangaroos can legally be held as pets in Germany, Schmickler said, providing the home has plenty of space for them to hop around in. As it waits for the owners to come forward, the kangaroo is being well taken care of. Anyone missing a kangaroo is encouraged to claim their pet by calling the Kleve police.
Photo by Andreas Wegener.
"We have received many tips as to where kangaroos are kept in the area, though none of them have reported any of their animals missing," Kleve police spokesperson Schmickler said. "All of their kangaroos are home and accounted for." Police got a call on Sunday regarding an exotic animal seen on Römerstrasse, just outside of the town of Kalkar, 60 kilometres north west of Duisburg. Upon arrival, police found a lone kangaroo.
Photo by Andreas Wegener.
"We didn't believe the call ourselves," a police commissioner said. "But there really was a kangaroo, crouched four metres from the street in the bushes. We secured the road, and then it suddenly hopped quickly away." The kangaroo managed a 100 metre sprint before the police hit it with a tranquilizer dart. "You really can't believe how fast a kangaroo on the run is – it ran as fast as a racing dog." Schmickler said a local veterinarian was also on hand to help take the animal into custody.
YouTube link.
It was obviously well cared for and well fed, "even a little fat," she said. "We're a very rural area here, and so we're often called to help with sheep, cows or horses who have run off, but this was definitely a first for our officers," Schmickler said. Kangaroos can legally be held as pets in Germany, Schmickler said, providing the home has plenty of space for them to hop around in. As it waits for the owners to come forward, the kangaroo is being well taken care of. Anyone missing a kangaroo is encouraged to claim their pet by calling the Kleve police.
Desperate search for lock-picking parrot that escaped from car
A parrot picked two locks on his cage and made his escape while being transported in a car in Essex.
Magic, a Senegal parrot, was being moved temporarily while his owners from Leigh-on-Sea were on holiday.
Their daughter Michelle Russell said Magic had been known to escape so a second lock had been put on the cage.
Magic flew away when the car door was opened and has not been seen since Thursday. She said the green bird would be hard to spot if he was in a tree. Mrs Russell and her husband Lester were taking the bird from the home of her parents' Roy and Grace Jarvis to their own when he made his getaway. "Magic's escaped before, but he just flies around the room," she said.
"He's picked the ordinary lock before so my parents put an extra one on, a bit like a caribiner like climbers use for their ropes." When the cage was lifted out of the car, the door came open and the parrot flew off. "My father is devastated. Magic is very attached to him - in fact, he's the only person the bird likes," Mrs Russell said. "They've had the parrot for about 20 years so we're desperate."
Magic had been seen in a tree but although the family have searched, he has still not been found. "The camouflage means that he really just blends into trees. He's mainly green with a bit of yellow and some grey," she said. "He's going to be getting really hungry by now so we're hoping he'll fly down and someone will see him." Mrs Russell said they had taken advice from "experts on parrots" and have recordings of parrot calls which they plan to play out in the street.
Magic flew away when the car door was opened and has not been seen since Thursday. She said the green bird would be hard to spot if he was in a tree. Mrs Russell and her husband Lester were taking the bird from the home of her parents' Roy and Grace Jarvis to their own when he made his getaway. "Magic's escaped before, but he just flies around the room," she said.
"He's picked the ordinary lock before so my parents put an extra one on, a bit like a caribiner like climbers use for their ropes." When the cage was lifted out of the car, the door came open and the parrot flew off. "My father is devastated. Magic is very attached to him - in fact, he's the only person the bird likes," Mrs Russell said. "They've had the parrot for about 20 years so we're desperate."
Magic had been seen in a tree but although the family have searched, he has still not been found. "The camouflage means that he really just blends into trees. He's mainly green with a bit of yellow and some grey," she said. "He's going to be getting really hungry by now so we're hoping he'll fly down and someone will see him." Mrs Russell said they had taken advice from "experts on parrots" and have recordings of parrot calls which they plan to play out in the street.
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