Charges dropped against woman who pulled faces at police dog
June 8, 2007 - 9:12AM
A US prosecutor dropped charges against a woman who was arrested for staring at and making faces at a police dog.
Jayna Hutchinson was about to go on trial this week on charges of cruelty to a police animal and resisting arrest, but the case was dropped on Tuesday.
"I think it was going to be difficult to prove her conduct changed the dog's behavior," Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter said. "Most of the time (in harassment cases) people would come tell the court what it felt like. Dogs can't do that."
Hutchinson, 33, of Lebanon, New Hampshire, was charged in July when police were called to a market to investigate a report of a brawl.
They were approached by Hutchinson, who said she had been assaulted the day before by one of the men involved and wanted to make a statement. Vermont State Police Sgt Todd Protzman told her she seemed drunk and he would take a statement from her later.
After a heated exchange, she approached Protzman's cruiser, where his dog, Max, was waiting. She put her face within centimetres of the window and stared at Max "in a taunting/harassing manner", Protzman wrote in an affidavit.
Officers arrested Hutchinson, adding a resisting arrest charge because she pulled away from them.
"Prosecuting a woman for 'staring' at a police dog is absurd," said her lawyer, public defender Kelly Green. "People are allowed to make faces at police dogs and officers to express their disapproval. It's constitutional expression."
Without the cruelty charge, jurors would be unlikely to convict her on the resisting arrest count, Porter said.
AP
SMH 8-6-7
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/charges-dropped-against-woman-who-pulled-faces-at-police-dog/2007/06/08/1181089278109.html
. . . . . .
" Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Truk photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Patient sheds green blood in emergency operation
June 8, 2007 - 10:18AM
Canadian doctors say an emergency operation in Vancouver has turned into a scene from the X-files when the patient started shedding green blood.
But tests show the 42-year-old man isn't a visiting alien, but was suffering from a rare blood condition.
Reporting in The Lancet medical journal doctors say the patient was being operated on for restricted blood flow in his lower legs after falling asleep in a sitting position.
But surgeons were startled by his dark greenish-black blood.
It's apparently been caused by sulphur in the patient's migraine medication being absorbed into his red blood cells.
AAP
SMH 8-6-7
http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/patient-sheds-green-blood-in-emergency-operation/2007/06/08/1181089281521.html
. . . . . .
" Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Truk photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Cop shoots colleague in safety demo
From correspondents in London
The 1st of June, 2007 12:00
Article from: Agence France-Presse
A POLICE marksman accidentally shot a colleague - during a firearms safety lecture, British media reported today.
The wounded man was in a serious but stable condition in a hospital in Oxford, southern England, The Times said.
New control room operators for Thames Valley Police were being given a training lecture on how the force's firearms team operates by one of its officers, the Daily Mail said.
"For some reason, the gun he was using to demonstrate the weapons they use was loaded and as the group was listening intently, a shot rang out and one of them was shot in the stomach from fairly close range,'' a police source told the tabloid.
"There was a lot of blood as a result of the shooting and pandemonium broke out.''
The officer, who said he did not know the gun was loaded, has been suspended from the firearms unit, The Sun said.
"The question uppermost in everyone's mind is why on earth the gun was loaded when it was being used during a demonstration in a classroom,'' a police source told The Times.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission will investigate the incident.
Daily Telegraph 1-6-7
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21831378-5001028,00.html?from=public_rss
. . . . . .
" Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. -Sigmund Freud "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Truk photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Wednesday, the 30th of May 2007. 4:43pm (AEST)
Indian motorists complain about 'elephant toll'
An elephant in eastern India has sparked complaints from motorists who accuse it of blocking traffic and refusing to allow vehicles to pass unless drivers give it food.
The Hindustan Times says the elephant was scouting for food on a highway in the eastern state of Orissa, forcing motorists to roll down their windows and get out of the car.
Local resident Prabodh Mohanty has come across the elephant twice.
"The tusker [an elephant with tusks] then inserts its trunk inside the vehicle and sniffs for food," he said.
"If you are carrying vegetables and bananas inside your vehicle, then it will gulp them and allow you to go."
If a commuter does not wind down his or her window, or resists opening the vehicle door, the elephant stands in front of the car until the driver allows the animal to carry out his routine inspection.
- Reuters
ABC 30-5-7
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1938091.htm
. . . . . .
" Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. -Sigmund Freud "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Truk photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Pit bull dog owner bites policeman
From correspondents in Lisbon
The 3rd of April 2007 12:00
Article from: Agence France-Presse
THE owner of a pit bull bit a policeman after his dog ran away during a confrontation with officers, daily Diario de Noticias reported today.
Two policemen stopped the dog owner for walking the animal without a leash and a muzzle on Sunday in Cova da Moura – a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lisbon.
The man threatened the officers with his dog, but the animal bolted leaving the 35-year-old to to grapple with both policemen.
The owner bit one of the policemen on the wrist while the other suffered a broken finger in the scuffles, the newspaper reported.
The owner is under house arrest while police are still looking for the pit bull, according to the daily.
Portuguese authorities are cracking down on what they call "dangerous" dogs after four rottweilers mauled a 60-year-old woman to death last month.
While not necessarily dangerous, pit bulls are sometimes used by gang members to intimidate and in dog fights.
. . . . . .
" Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists? -Kelvin Throop III "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Truk photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
German man chainsaws house in two in divorce split
Saturday, The 10th of March 2007. 8:29am (AEDT)
A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.
Police in the eastern town of Sonneberg say the trained mason measured the single-storey summer house, which was some eight metres long and six metres wide, before chainsawing through the wooden roof and walls.
"The man said he was just taking his due," said a police spokesman.
"But I don't think his wife was too pleased."
After finishing the job, the man picked up his half with the forklift truck and drove to his brother's house where he has since been staying.
- Reuters
ABC 10-3-7
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1868327.htm
. . . . . .
I think I think, therefore I might be.
http://www.ebearweb.net
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Truk photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Snorkeler mistaken for rodent gets shot in face
February 12, 2007 - 10:03AM
A snorkeler in the US who was shot in the face after he was apparently mistaken for a swimming rodent is in good condition after surgery, a hospital says.
John William Cheesman, 44, from Oregon, underwent eight hours of surgery on Thursday to remove bullet and bone fragments from his face, said his wife, Shelley Cheesman.
"He's doing really well," Shelley Cheesman said.
"The bullet hit in front of his right ear, where the bone is the most dense. It just fragmented and didn't go into his brain."
William Roderick, 60, has been charged with assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana. He was being held in the county jail.
Roderick told deputies he thought Cheesman was a nutria swimming in the Smith River near Reedsport, about 90 miles southwest of Eugene, and shot him with a .22-calibre rifle, police said.
A nutria is a water-dwelling South American rodent species that is larger than a muskrat but smaller than a beaver.
It was introduced to US waters in the 1940s, according the National Wildlife Federation.
Cheesman, an avid diver, was in the river looking at different species of fish, his wife said.
He swam to the river bank and yelled for help.
Roderick and another man came to Cheesman's aid in a boat, called 911 and drove him to an ambulance.
"I do give him credit for helping him," Shelley Cheesman said of Roderick.
AP
SMH 12-2-7
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/man-mistaken-for-rodent/2007/02/12/1171128848431.html?s_cid=rss_smh
. . . . . .
We put the "k" in "kwality"
http://www.ebearweb.net
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Truk photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
