News Quirks

Curses, foiled again• A funeral procession thwarted a man’s attempt to rob a 79-year-old woman in San Antonio, Texas. “We were going really, really slow, so as we passed this bus stop, there was this elderly lady, (and) a gentleman was knocking her around and was pulling on her purse,” witness Robert Garcia said. “Before […]

Curses, foiled againPolice responding to a drug complaint in Richmond, Va., spotted two men who began running away. One of the fleeing men, later identified as Darnell Elliotte, 20, fired several shots at the officers. He missed them but shot himself in the leg, allowing his pursuers to apprehend him. (Richmond Times-Dispatch) A subcontractor told […]

Curses, foiled again• Tyler Lankford, 21, entered a bakery with a loaded and cocked revolver, pointed it at the 58-year-old clerk and demanded money, according to police in McKeesport, Pa. The clerk emptied the register, but when the robber picked up the money, he put the gun on the counter. The clerk grabbed it and […]

Curses, foiled againCass Alder, 22, bought table napkins made with images of $100 bills on them, then cut out the images, glued them onto paper and tried passing one of the bogus bills at a convenience store. The clerk refused to accept it. Alder exited the store but left the bill behind. It was used […]

Curses, foiled again• Joey Patterson, 22, eluded Idaho authorities for several months, but then he posted his whereabouts on Facebook. He invited friends to play softball at Armory Softball Field in Caldwell. That’s where police found him. Monitoring social media has led officers to suspects before, Sgt. Joey Hoadley noted, explaining, “Surprisingly, even fugitives can’t […]

Curses, foiled againA burglar used the homeowner’s devices to log on to porn, YouTube and his Facebook account, but authorities in Monroe County, Fla., quickly identified him because he forgot to log off Facebook. Sheriff’s official Becky Herrin said the 16-year-old suspect also ate a Pop Tart and drank a soda. (Miami Herald) Burglary suspect […]

Curses, foiled again• Brian J. Byers crashed his car while driving drunk and then poured water on the road so it would look like black ice caused the crash, according to police in Sparta, N.J. Byers drove the car home and had a friend drive him back to the scene, where an officer spotted Byers […]

Curses, foiled againRocco Tumbarello, 41, stole stuff from a home in West Boynton, Fla., authorities there said, but he didn’t get far. He lives across the street. The victim came home to find his 42-inch TV and his mother’s laptop gone, the sheriff’s report said, and spotted his neighbor “running across the street with his […]

Curses, foiled againBritish police investigating the theft of tools and a shower stall from a home remodeling project in Crawley arrested Ryan Marsh, 18, after he returned to the job site and tried to sell the items back to the contractor. (Britain’s Crawley News) Police looking for the man who beat up a woman in […]

Curses, foiled againGregory Dike, 38, received 11 years in jail for robbing 10 banks across England. Police arrested him after he booked a taxi for his getaway, but the driver realized what was happening and refused to wait. “He was undoubtedly a beginner,” Detective Constable Darren Brown said. “We found robbery ‘self-help’ downloads on his […]

Curses, foiled again• Police thought Luis Moreno Jr., 26, was driving solo in a carpool lane in Fort Lee, N.J., but when they stopped him, he showed he was legal by pointing out two men in the back of the SUV. The men said they were kidnap victims. Moreno tried to flee, but rush-hour traffic […]

Curses, foiled againJeffrey Wood, 19, announced a robbery at a convenience store in Washington, D.C., where two police detectives were shopping. They were in plain clothes but one had her badge hanging from her neck. She told the suspect, “Stop playing, I got 17,” referring to the number of bullets in her gun. Wood reportedly […]