Watercooler Stories

Family sues over wrong body in casket

CHESAPEAKE, Va., March 25 (UPI) -- A Virginia funeral parlor faces a lawsuit for allegedly putting the body of the wrong man in the casket for a funeral.

The family of James "Jim" Wagner III is suing the Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home over the alleged mix up, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday.

The lawsuit alleges Wagner's widow, Candace, went to the funeral home April 12, 2012, the day after her husband died, and paid $6,592.25, to have her husband's body prepared for an open-casket funeral. Two days later, she dropped off clothing for him to wear the day of the funeral, the lawsuit said.

Then, when friends and family arrived for the funeral, they found the wrong man in the casket -- but the body was dressed in the clothes Candace Wagner dropped off.

It was discovered that the funeral home accidentally transported James Wagner to another one of its locations. The funeral service had to be postponed for 2 hours.

After the service, Nathan Wagner attended his father's cremation "simply to ensure that the correct body was properly serviced and cremated," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges Candace Wagner experiences "nightmares, panic attacks and flashbacks of seeing another man in her husband's casket and clothing."

Nathan and Candace Wagner have each filed a lawsuit against Hollomon-Brown, both seeking $850,000 in damages.

Woman drops off grenade at recycling center

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 25 (UPI) -- An elderly woman caused a scare at a Swedish recycling facility when she dropped off a grenade, officials said.

The woman brought the grenade to a recycling depot in Stockholm Saturday, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

When police arrived at the scene, they determined that the item the pensioner dropped off was a grenade meant for a grenade-launcher. They removed the grenade from the recycling depot for destruction.

The Swedish government enacted a law March 1 that allows citizens to turn in weapons to police without the fear of any potential prosecution.

Since then, police have received a number of grenades, including one that dated back to World War I.

Thief steals cop car, exposes cuff defect

SEVILLE, Spain, March 25 (UPI) -- A Spanish man arrested for stealing a police vehicle inadvertently helped officers realize a flaw with their standard issue handcuffs, officials said.

The man allegedly stole the police vehicle March 18 from the Bellavista neighborhood of Seville while two police officers were aiding a man who had suffered a heart attack, The Local.es reported.

Police were able to track the vehicle using their GPS and soon caught up with the suspect, identified only as a 34-year-old man with the initials A.R.B.

The suspect was arrested and put in the back of the police car, where he managed to slip out of his handcuffs and started banging on the protective screen between himself and the police up front.

Following the incident, Seville Police confirmed there was a factory defect in some of their standard issue handcuffs they were using to detain criminals.

Seville Police sent out a message other police precincts around the country, warning of the problem and have also contacted the manufacturer of the cuffs.

Man gets prison for faking wheelchair need

LINKOPING, Sweden, March 25 (UPI) -- An Iraqi-born Swedish man was sentenced to four years in prison for receiving disability benefits even though he spent a holiday climbing the pyramids in Egypt.

The man, whose name was not reported, claimed $806,000 in benefits from the Social Insurance Agency between 2006 and 2012, TheLocal.se reported Saturday. He told his doctors he could not walk, eat or get dressed by himself because he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain disorder after traumatizing experiences in Iraq.

The wheelchair-bound man received help from a publicly funded personal caregiver for three years even though police obtained photographs of him riding on camels and climbing the pyramids while on vacation in 2009 in Egypt.

The man, from the Ostergotland region, was sentenced to four years in prison and was ordered to pay damages of approximately $806,000. His ex-wife was sentenced to three years in prison for her involvement, and the couple's two sons received suspended sentences, TheLocal.se reported.