Brickbats

Police in Merseyside, England, have agreed to pay £5,000 to settle a false arrest claim by George Wilson. Wilson was arrested for giving a homeless man £1 by a police officer who thought it was a drug deal.

Albuquerque firefighter Matthew Sanchez has resigned after snapping at a 911 caller trying to keep a teenage shooting victim alive. Sanchez was working as an emergency dispatcher at the time. The caller got angry when he repeatedly asked if the boy was breathing. "He is barely breathing, how many times do I have to [expletive] tell you?" she said. "OK, you know what ma'am? You can deal with it yourself," Sanchez responded. Then he apparently hung up the phone. The victim later died.

The state of Georgia has sued Carl Malamud, owner of government-watchdog website, for publishing the annotated state code online. The state contends that its legal code is copyrighted.

Josh Goetz bought a 2006 Trailblazer from a used car dealer back in March. Two months later, New York state police seized it as part of a murder investigation and tore it apart. Goetz says when he asked the cops to reimburse him, they said he'd have to hire a lawyer.

The Law Society of Alberta is threatening to sanction journalist and attorney Ezra Levant for a newspaper column calling the Alberta Human Rights Commission "crazy." Levant could be fined, suspended, or disbarred.

The Christian owner of an Olympia pharmacy says that forcing him to sell the morning-after pill, which he considers an abortifacient, violates his religious freedom. But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a requirement that Washington pharmacies dispense all drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

During a recent cookout at his Florida home, Scotty Jordan got a visit from a Pinellas County code enforcement officer who warned him he'd have to keep the smell on his own property. The officer explained that a neighbor had complained and that the county code says cooking odors can be considered a nuisance.

A Virginia judge recently vacated Mark Weiner's conviction for kidnapping a woman, freeing him after two and a half years in prison. There was never any physical evidence against him, only the word of the woman who claimed he kidnapped her. Indeed, the only physical evidence supported his side of the story, which may explain why the prosecutor tried to keep the defense from introducing it at trial. But none of that made a difference until his accuser was charged with selling drugs earlier this year, which the prosecutor now says makes her testimony unreliable.

In England, police officers employed by the Gloucestershire constabulary aren't happy with a new dress code that requires officers who aren't clean-shaven to wear a beard net while on duty. A statement from the department says it's important for officers to have a professional appearance.