Watercooler Stories

State trooper pulls woman from burning car

CHICAGO, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Illinois State Trooper Zach Peters rescued a woman from a burning car wreck Saturday morning, the second time he's saved a life in three years, police said.

While on patrol in Chicago around 2:15 a.m., Peters noticed a silver Nissan smashed into the median near a toll plaza with smoke seeping out from under the hood. After notifying dispatchers, he looked into the car to find an unconscious woman pinned under the seat. Acting quickly, he broke the passenger window and pulled her out.

The car's battery had exploded. Had Peters waited any longer, the car would have burst into flames.

"It was kind of hard to see once you got inside the car, and because of how much I was having to pull [to get her out], I was breathing kind of heavier," Peters told the Chicago Tribune.

In 2009, Peters was awarded a life-saving medal after arriving to the scene of a hit and run and applying a tourniquet to the victim's leg before paramedics arrived, effectively stopping him from bleeding to death.

Fla. bandit busted trying to buy own gun

BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- An alleged robber who dropped his gun while escaping was arrested after he returned to the scene offering to buy the weapon back for $40, Florida police said.

Cedrick Mitchell, 39, was instead pepper-sprayed by the alleged victims and then lodged in the Manatee County jail without bond.

Bradenton police said Mitchell allegedly barged into a motel room shortly after midnight Thursday and demanded drugs. When informed there were no drugs, Mitchell switched to Plan B and demanded "everything you got."

Things really went south for Mitchell at that point, The Bradenton Herald said. Instead of handing over their valuables, the two guests jumped Mitchell and pepper sprayed him in the face.

Mitchell took off, losing his pistol in the process. He then allegedly came back a short time later to retrieve the gun, offering the alleged victims $40 for it.

The guests instead gave Mitchell a second blast of the stinging spray at no charge. He was nabbed by police while fleeing the scene.

Housekeeper's son swipes AK-47

SPRING HILL, Fla., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- A Florida teenager said he stole an AK-47 assault rifle because he was pretty sure his mom would never buy him one, sheriff's detectives said.

The 13-year-old was charged with grand theft of a firearm this week after the weapon and several rounds of ammunition were discovered under his bed.

"The suspect confessed to stealing the rifle, because he really liked it and knew that his mother would never buy him one," the Hernando County Sheriff's Office said in a written statement. "He advised that he had no other intentions for the rifle and denied committing any other crimes."

The South Florida Sun Sentinel said the boy apparently lifted the rifle from a home in Spring Hill where his mother worked as a housekeeper. She searched his room after the owner reported it missing.

"I would like to take this opportunity to remind homeowners, whether you have children or not, to please make sure your firearms are properly secured, especially when others will be entering your home," Sheriff Al Nienhuis said in the statement.

$5 million suit filed over 1/2 tank of gas

DETROIT, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- A woman is suing a Detroit financial services company for more than $5 million for keeping a half tank of gas from her car when it was repossessed.

Victoria Jean Church-Dellinger of White Lake, Mich., filed the class-action suit Friday in federal court against Ally Financial Inc. for keeping the gas in her 2008 Pontiac G6 when it was repossessed, The Detroit News reported.

"It's the same as if you left your jacket in there and they didn't return it to you," said Brian Parker, her attorney. "You can't take someone's coat or fuzzy dice, and you have to return the gas."

Church-Dellinger, 43, said in the suit the amount she's seeking is three times the fair-market value of all gas taken from Michigan residents by Ally in the past six years.

She also seeks to force the auto lender, which is majority-owned by the U.S. government, to return all gas seized during that time or pay fair-market value for it and to give owners whose vehicles are repossessed credit for gas left in the tank.

An Ally spokeswoman declined comment.

Parker said he believes it's the first such lawsuit and he plans similar suits.