Brickbats
British prosecutors have charged 11 individuals with impersonating police officers during a G-20 protest earlier this year. But the 11 weren't exactly dressed in police uniforms. Leah Borromeo, for instance, was dressed in overalls rolled down to her waist, exposing her bra. "If I'm guilty of anything," she told the press, "it's impersonating a stripper."
A Maryland state trooper gave Erik Bonstrom an $80 ticket for driving too slowly. Bonstrom was doing 58 in a 65 mph zone.
Travis Peterson knew he was too drunk to drive home after a concert by the Dave Matthews Band, so he decided to sleep it off in his car. When a Wisconsin state trooper woke him up, Peterson explained he was too drunk to drive, but the officer ordered him to leave. As soon as his car exited the parking lot, Peterson was arrested for DUI.
In California, postal worker Dean Hudson has been found guilty of stealing money from children's birthday cards.
USA Today reports that a Dallas ban on soliciting money in the street has hurt more than just panhandlers. Collections by the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which raises funds by approaching people in their cars, dropped from $260,000 to less than $50,000 after the ban took effect.
Matthew Whalen is an Eagle Scout who takes the "Be Prepared" motto seriously. He keeps a sleeping bag, water, and food in his car in case he ever breaks down. He also had a two-inch pocket knife he got from his grandfather. When officials at his high school in Lansingburgh, New York, found out about the knife, they suspended the honors student for 20 days for violating the school's zero tolerance policy on weapons.
The Michigan Department of Human Services threatened Irving Township mother Lisa Snyder with legal sanctions if she continued to watch a neighbor's children for a few minutes each day as they wait for their school bus. The agency accused Snyder of running an illegal day care center.
The federal Bureau of Prisons twice rejected inmate Ali Omar Abu Ali's request to read Barack Obama's books Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope. Officials said the books contain material "potentially detrimental to national security."
In England, organizers of an interschool sports day banned parents from the event because of concerns about kidnappers and pedophiles. More than 270 students from four schools competed in various athletic events as parents didn't watch. Paul Blunt, a spokesman for the organizers, explained: "All unsupervised adults must be kept away from children. An unsavory character could have come in, and we just can't put the children in the event or the students at the host school at risk like that."
Two Gwinnett County police sergeants have resigned and Cpl. Gary Miles has been arrested after Miles allegedly used a Taser on a Georgia Waffle House waiter as a joke. The sergeants reportedly saw the incident and did not report it. The department is investigating claims that in a separate incident a fourth officer pointed a Taser at a waiter's groin.