Dead Snake's Head Bites Man
Aug 9, 10:06 PM (ET) PROSSER, Wash. (AP) - Turns out, even beheaded rattlesnakes can be dangerous. That's what 53-year-old Danny Anderson learned as he was feeding his horses Monday night, when a 5-foot rattler slithered onto his central Washington property, about 50 miles southeast of Yakima.
Anderson and his 27-year-old son, Benjamin, pinned the snake with an irrigation pipe and cut off its head with a shovel. A few more strikes to the head left it sitting under a pickup truck. "When I reached down to pick up the head, it raised around and did a backflip almost, and bit my finger," Anderson said. "I had to shake my hand real hard to get it to let loose."
His wife insisted they go to the hospital, and by the time they arrived at Prosser Memorial Hospital 10 minutes later, Anderson's tongue was swollen and the venom was spreading. He then was taken by ambulance 30 miles to a Richland hospital to get the full series of six shots he needed.
The snake head ended up in the bed of his pickup, and Anderson landed in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon. Mike Livingston, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, said the area where the Anderson's live is near prime snake habitat. But he said he had never heard of anyone being bit by a decapitated snake before. "That's really surprising but that's an important thing to tell people," he said. "It may have been just a reflex on the part of the snake."
If another rattlesnake comes along, Anderson said he'll likely try to kill it again, but said he'll grab a shovel and bury it right there. "It still gives me the creeps to think that son-of-a-gun could do that," he said.
Woman Kills Raccoon With bare Hands
Aug 9, 11:14 PM (ET) CHESHIRE, Conn. (AP) - A woman killed a raccoon with her bare hands Thursday when the animal attacked a young boy. Officials with Cheshire animal control say the woman was walking in the woods around 11 a.m. with a group of children when the animal bit the 5-year-old son of a friend.
She pulled the raccoon off the child, told the children to run home and strangled the animal, authorities said. "She had the presence of mind to choke it," animal control officer April Leiler told the Record-Journal of Meriden. "She is one tough lady."
The carcass was taken to a state laboratory in Hartford where it tested positive for rabies. The woman and the boy are undergoing rabies treatment. Their names have not been released.
Bat Causes Tunnel Closing
Aug 10, 10:17 AM (ET) BERLIN (AP) - A bat set off a fire alarm in a German highway tunnel early Friday, forcing an hour-long closure and causing long delays, police said. Police in Goettingen said the animal apparently landed on a smoke detector or a pipe in the Heidkopf tunnel - triggering a fire alarm, which automatically led to the tunnel being closed in both directions at about 4:45 a.m.
Police and fire officers searched the tunnel and surveillance camera footage for signs of a blaze, but to no avail. After about an hour, the tunnel - and the A38 highway, a busy east-west route - was reopened. A tailback of about 800 yards built up in one direction, while cars queued for more than a mile at the tunnel's other entrance.
Wienermobile Gets Parking Ticket
Aug 10, 8:37 AM (ET) CHICAGO (AP) - A parking ticket topped the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile after it was left parked illegally on a downtown Chicago thoroughfare.
The 27-foot fiberglass sausage was ticketed Thursday morning after its driver parked it on Michigan Avenue and left it on the side of the six-lane road with the hazard lights blinking. A police officer ticketed the vehicle and radioed for a tow truck, but the car's driver and passenger returned before the truck arrived.
"The situation was resolved without the use of ketchup, which in Chicago is a big thing," said Matt Smith of the city's Streets and Sanitation Department. Smith said a city tow truck could have done the job, if necessary. "We have access to tow trucks that could have handled a Polish sausage, not just a hot dog," Smith said. Parking on a street marked "Parking / Standing Prohibited Anytime" is a $50 violation, said Ed Walsh, a spokesman for the city's Department of Revenue.
Kraft spokeswoman Sydney Lindner said the Wienermobile is on a nationwide tour promoting a contest to sing the Oscar Mayer jingle in a commercial. She said illegal parking is against company policy, "even if you're driving a company vehicle that's shaped like a giant hot dog."
Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/496/police_drug_corruption
In El Paso, a Customs and Border Patrol agent was arrested July 27 for allegedly letting more than a ton of marijuana into the country. CBP Officer Margarita Crispin is charged with one count of conspiracy to import a controlled substance. According to the indictment, she conspired with others from 2003 to this year to let truck loads get by border checkpoints.She was jailed awaiting a bond hearing at last report.
In Miami Beach, a city parking enforcement officer was arrested last weekend on drug sales charges. Enforcement Officer Elio Espinosa allegedly sold three bags of drugs to an informant. He is charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a school.
In Tucson, three former National Guardsmen were sentenced to prison last week for conspiring to run drugs for traffickers. They are only the latest of the more than three dozen current and former police and military personnel ensnared in Operation Lively Green, an FBI sting where agents posed as traffickers and enlisted the help of law enforcement and military personnel to move drug shipments.
Demian Castillo, a former recruiter for the Tucson Army National Guard, got two years for accepting $14,000 to run two drug loads in 2002. Former Guard member Sheldon Anderson got 10 months for helping out on a single drug run. Former Guardsman Mario Quintana got two years for helping out on two loads. All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.
In Hollywood, Florida, a fifth Hollywood police officer has now pleaded guilty in an FBI sting operation. Former Hollywood Police Lt. Charles Roberts pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement when he told investigators he knew nothing about an undercover FBI sting.
The sting, known as Operation Tarnished Badge, targeted Hollywood police officers who were agreeable to transporting heroin for people they believed to be drug dealers but who were actually FBI agents. It was shut down early after word of its existence leaked out. Three officers have been sentenced to prison for their roles in drug transportation conspiracies, and a fourth awaits sentencing this month. Roberts faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in October.
In Houston, more than 200 drug cases are in jeopardy after a lab technician is accused of "failing to properly secure drug evidence." It's only the latest scandal for the city's troubled crime lab, which has been under scrutiny for the past five years over faulty DNA testing that sent people to prison, the drug and alcohol testing division being shut down after its director failed a proficiency test, and evidence from thousands of cases being improperly stored in the evidence rooms. In the latest blow, the Houston Police Department announced Tuesday that lab tech
James Carpenter had been relieved of duty with pay. Carpenter, who worked in the drug lab since 2002, had been recently warned about missing work, and investigators sought him out last week after receiving reports that he "was not handling evidence in compliance with lab protocols." When Carpenter refused to give a formal statement or submit to a drug test, he was suspended. Now, all his work for the past six months -- some 200 drug cases -- is under review.
In Richmond, Virginia, two former Southwest Virginia police chiefs already facing charges were arrested again last week on new drug charges. Former Damascus Police Chief Anthony Steven Richardson was charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs, obstruction of justice, possession of drugs and possession of firearms. Richardson, 40, already faced seven felony counts from June, including distributing methamphetamine.
Former Chilhowie Police chief Dwayne Sheffield was charged with distribution of drugs, child abuse/neglect and conspiracy to distribute drugs. Sheffield, 37, already faced charges from May of committing sex crimes against a 17-year-old girl during a Halloween haunted house that raised money for sexual assault victims.
The new charges resulted from an investigation by state, local, and federal law enforcement officials, and officials said the drugs involved were mainly methamphetamine and marijuana. Sheffield's wife, Nancy, was also charged with drug distribution, conspiracy, and child abuse/neglect.
In Cleveland, a DEA agent is under scrutiny after one of his informants admitted sending dozens of people to prison with false testimony. Informant Jerrell Bray told authorities in May he had made up testimony and lied on the witness stand in numerous cases, resulting in the dropping of charges in two cases and the release of one prisoner so far. Many more could come. DEA Agent Lee Lucas, who has a reputation as gung-ho drug fighter, is Bray's handler. The testimony of both Bray and Lucas in numerous drug cases is being challenged. Look for more to come out in coming weeks and months on this one.
