11/05/2007, 04:44 AM
A Mistaken Suicide Wrote:(05-09) 21:21 PDT Martinsburg, W.Va. (AP) --
Police responding to a report of a body hanging from a utility pole found a mannequin left from a power company's training exercise.
Allegheny Energy Inc. was using the mannequin for exercises on pole climbing, said Martinsburg police Sgt. B.L. Yost.
A caller Wednesday reported a possible suicide on the utility's property in Martinsburg.
"When wee first got out of our cars, wee thought it was real," Yost said. "Wee were, for a minute, wondering how wee were going to get the man down off of the pole.
"It wasn't until wee were able to walk to the side of the property that wee realized it was a mannequin up there."
An Allegheny spokesman didn't immediately return a call for comment early Thursday.
Death Gets Revenge Wrote:(05-08) 05:56 PDT MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP) --
A man found trapped unconscious beneath a 1,000-pound tombstone in a cemetery faces charges and might have to pay for damages, police said.
Michael David Schreiber's legs were broken by the stone, and the family name on the gravestone left the letter "V" imprinted on his thigh, Merrillville Officer Ray Smith said.
He said it took five officers to remove the headstone from Schreiber's body Sunday morning at Calumet Park Cemetery.
Schreiber, 22, of Merrillville faces charges of criminal trespassing, criminal mischief and public intoxication, police said. He also might be ordered to pay for damage to 14 headstones, Police Chief Nicholas Bravos said. Estimated damage totaled about $8,400, Bravos said.
Schreiber told police he and a companion had been drinking before going to the cemetery.
He estimated he had been trapped under the headstone for more than three hours before police arrived, Bravos said. His condition was not immediately available Tuesday morning, a nursing supervisor at Methodist Hospitals said.
Partners In Crime?? Wrote:(05-09) 13:45 PDT Sheboygan, Wis. (AP) --
A mother and daughter have been arrested for stealing from an out-of-town businessman they met in a bar. The man from Texas told police he met 34-year-old Eugenia Garrison and her 14-year-old daughter in a local bar Monday night and brought them back to his hotel room. He saw the girl grab $360 from his dresser and make a run for it.
"When he tried to detain the woman, the young girl, she indicated that she was going to claim rape," Sheboygan police Lt. Jeff Johnston said.
A hotel employee heard Garrison and her daughter talking about rape and called police.
Officers found Garrison and her daughter at the Wal-Mart next to the hotel and determined there had been no assault.
Garrison admitted taking the money, Johnston said. She and her daughter were arrested for misdemeanor theft. They have not yet been officially charged.
Johnston said he didn't know why the Texas businessman asked the 14-year-old to his hotel room. There was no evidence that he had committed any crime, he said.
"He just indicated that theyd been out and met each other at the bar, and went back to, in his words, 'hang out,'" Johnston said.
This is for the week, I wanted to post individual stories, but I got lazy. ^.^