UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Ballgirl interferes with fair ball

CLEARWATER, Fla., March 12 (UPI) -- A Hooters girl serving as a ballgirl at a Philadelphia Phillies-Tampa Bay Rays game in Florida said she was "anxious" when she caught a fair ball.

Priscilla Daughtry, one of the Hooters calendar girls serving as ballgirls in foul territory for the spring training game in Clearwater, caught the grounder and tossed it to a young fan, before the boos of the crowd showed her she had just interfered with the play, Philly.com reported Tuesday.

"That was a fair ball, right over the bag . . . and the ballgirl, she knocked it down ... She has no idea that she has interfered with the play," said Scott Franzke, the Phillies play-by-play announcer.

Daughtry said she didn't realize the ball was fair until she had already tossed it to the fan.

"It was kind of hard to tell and it was coming right at me and I just got really anxious," she said.

Rays manager Joe Maddon told the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times he thought Daughtry had good form.

"She moved her feet well," he said. "I thought she presented her hands to the ball very well also. The overall package was very, um, efficient."

Police: Woman flashed security cameras

BARNEGAT, N.J., March 12 (UPI) -- Police in New Jersey said they arrested a woman accused of flashing her breasts to security cameras being monitored by dispatchers.

Barnegat police said dispatchers saw Wendy Tucker, 56, "get out of a car in the middle of Lexington Boulevard, pull up her shirt and bra, exposing her breasts while facing several security cameras" around 2 a.m. Wednesday, the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press reported Tuesday.

Lt. Keith Germain said the video footage also depicts Tucker "looking up at the cameras while extending her middle fingers to the cameras."

Patrolman Michael Diblasi located Tucker's car and took her into custody. Police said she was wanted on an outstanding warrant from Atlantic County and was charged with an additional count of lewdness.

Truck spills pizzas onto roadway

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 12 (UPI) -- Authorities in North Carolina said several lanes of interstate were closed early Tuesday when an overturned truck spilled frozen pizzas onto the roadway.

Police said the truck driver apparently lost control of the vehicle on southbound Interstate 77 around 2 a.m. Tuesday in Charlotte and overturned, spilling its load of pizzas onto the roadway, The Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday.

Only one lane was able to be opened by police for several hours and police were able to expand it to two lanes for a portion of the morning commute. The closings caused traffic to back up for several miles.

The remaining lanes were opened around 8:30 a.m.

It was unclear whether the driver was injured in the crash.

Homeless man cited for digging in trash

HOUSTON, March 12 (UPI) -- An attorney for a homeless man ticketed for rummaging through a Houston trash can for food said the law supporting the citation is "crazy."

James Kelly, 44, said he was looking through a trash bin Thursday near Houston City Hall when an officer issued him a citation for "disturbing the contents of a garbage can in [the] downtown business district," the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.

"I was just basically looking for something to eat," Kelly said. "I wasn't in a real good mood."

Randall Kallinen, the attorney representing Kelly, said the citation was the result of the city's moves last year to regulate feeding the homeless.

"Now, when they try to feed themselves anyway possible, they make that a crime as well," the lawyer said.

"It's crazy to have a law where you can't look through things that are being discarded," Kallinen said. "People are always looking for cans and so forth -- that's part of recycling."

The police department issued a statement in response to questions about the citation.

"The ordinance is specific to the Central Business District. It is a violation for anyone to remove any contents of any bin, bag or other container that has been placed for collection of garbage, trash or recyclable materials. An officer has probable cause to issue such a citation when a person is seen opening a lid and rummaging through contents of a dumpster or trash can," the statement said.