NEWSQUIRKS
Curses, foiled again
Luis Lora-Martinez, 29, was charged with using counterfeit money to tip dancers and pay for drinks at a go-go bar in Secaucus, N.J. U.S. Secret Service agent Cindy Wofford said workers at the club quickly realized the five $20 bills that Lora-Martinez passed were bogus because they were produced on a computer printer using regular quality paper and were of poor quality.
Wild rides
A sheriff’s deputy on his way to the St. Louis jail spotted a stolen vehicle, but when he tried to pull it over, the driver rammed the patrol car and fired several shots. The deputy wasn’t hit but suffered minor injuries and radioed for help. KSDK News reported the two suspects tried to escape by driving the wrong way on Interstate 70. They collided head-on with another car, which also turned out to be stolen. Its four occupants, ages 15 to 18, suffered serious to critical injuries, and the two men in the first stolen car, brothers Anthony Thomas, 23, and Darrell Thomas, 22, died at the scene.
Mensa reject of the week
Police arrested two men in Chipley, Fla., after one tossed a Molotov cocktail at the other, and when it failed to explode, the second man threw it back at the first man’s house. A police officer explained the device didn’t work properly because Hayes Terrell Robinson III made it out of a plastic bottle instead of glass, so it didn’t break when it was thrown.
Cold feet
Tatsuhiko Kawata, 39, set fire to the hotel where he was scheduled to get married later the same day. “I thought if I set a fire, I wouldn’t have to go through with the wedding,” the Yomirui newspaper quoted him as telling police in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Hideouts
U.S. customs officials in Hidalgo, Texas, discovered a 21-year-old woman trying to smuggle nearly 5.5 pounds of chorizo sausage concealed in diapers she said her baby had soiled.
It’s a dog’s life
Police in Manitowoc, Wis., arrested Torey L. Devaux, 36, after his roommate reported that he urinated on her dog because she refused to have sex with him.
Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Submit items, citing date and source, to P.O. Box 8130, Alexandria VA 22306.
