Brickbats

Sgt. Steve Brody, an officer with the Morrisville State College University Police in upstate New York, used to stop each morning at a store that offers free coffee to cops. He would also stuff a pastry in his coat and not pay for it. He has been charged with petty larceny for allegedly stealing about $30 worth of pastries.

Adolph J. Moreno was sentenced to two days in an Overland Park, Kansas, jail. Because of a paperwork error, he spent 25 days there instead—and was charged $875 for his stay.

Paula Anderson asked students in her communication course at Central Connecticut State University to make an oral presentation on a "relevant issue in the media." John Wahlberg talked about campus violence and how allowing students to carry weapons might have stopped some campus shootings earlier. That night, campus police asked Wahlberg to come in. They had a list of weapons registered to him and began grilling him about where he kept them. It turns out that his teacher had filed a complaint claiming Wahlberg's talk had "scared" other students.

Katina Mitchell, a Loudon County, Virginia, school bus driver, got upset with two boys who were arguing on the bus, so she offered the other students $20 to throw snowballs at one of the boys and put snow down his shirt. Seven riders accepted her offer and pelted him with snowballs when he got off the bus.

An Iranian court has found a man identified as Majid guilty of blinding Ameneh Bahrami by throwing acid in her face after she spurned his advances. Under the nation's Islamic laws, Majid will himself be blinded, but because the law says a woman is not worth as much as a man, he will be blinded only in one eye. If Bahrami pays $25,110, however, the court will allow her victim to be blinded in both eyes.

Chris and Mike Thompson weren't happy when they found that someone had stolen the wheels and tires from their Audi, which they had parked on the street in Washington, D.C. After they found the car on cinder blocks, they filed a police report and ordered replacement tires. But before the tires arrived, the city's Department of Public Works had the car towed—on the cinder blocks. According to the Thompsons, the car suffered about $20,000 in damage while being dragged to the impound lot.

Roy and Val Worthington decided to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary with a cowboy-themed party at their Leicestershire, England, home. In the middle of the party, police raided the place, thinking the partygoers' toy guns were real.

When a police helicopter's infrared cameras picked up a heat image from Colin Rowe's workshop in West Yorkshire, England, the cops were convinced he was growing marijuana there. After they knocked down the door, they found no drugs, only a woodburning stove Rowe uses for heat.