Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Policeman leaves prisoner when shift ends PROVIDENCE, R.I., April 7 (UPI) -- A handcuffed prisoner escaped police custody in Providence, R.I., after the patrolman supposed to be guarding him went home because his shift ended. Advertisement The incident, which occurred last month, came to light following an inquiry by the Providence Journal, the paper reported Thursday. Deputy Police Chief Paul Kennedy said the patrolman involved has been disciplined but would not disclose the punishment. A 2-year veteran of the force was guarding prisoner Willie Gray at Rhode Island Hospital when his shift came to an end at 7 a.m. Instead of waiting for his relief to arrive, Reed removed Gray's handcuffs and went home. Officers had to be sent out to find Gray and return him to custody. He was charged with simple assault and resisting arrest for an incident that occurred at his apartment building. Advertisement Taser used to subdue 92-year-old HUDSON, Fla., April 7 (UPI) -- A sheriff's deputy used a Taser to stop a 92-year-old man from allegedly beating his roommate with his aluminum cane at a Florida assisted living center. Both men suffer from Alzheimer's disease, the center at Hudson, Fla., said. When struck by the Taser, Olin Holcombe's lone comment was, "Wow! That smarts." A nurse reported hearing a "thud" shortly after midnight Thursday and she found Roland Casanova, 81, on the floor, defending himself from Holcombe's cane, the Tampa Tribune reported. The sheriff's deputy who answered the call said Holcombe swung the cane at him also before the officer drew his Taser. Ex-aides call state senator 'Wild Woman' ALBANY, N.Y., April 7 (UPI) -- A New York state senator accused of throwing a cup of coffee in an employee's face has a long record of alleged fits of temper, the New York Daily News reports. State Sen. Ada Smith, a Democrat in her seventh term and 17th year representing parts of the borough of Queen's in New York, was also stripped of her taxpayer-funded car by the Senate minority leader this week for her "derogatory and salacious remarks." The newspaper said many of Smith's former employees have tales of abuse as well. Advertisement Philip Mahlke, who is openly gay, said he was fired as her chief of staff after complaining about Smith's abusive, homophobic remarks. "She called me 'white trash,' she called me 'a fag,'" Mahlke told the Daily News. "When I called her on it, her response was, 'I'm a senator, I can do what I want.'" Over the years, Smith has been accused of throwing a trash can, a desk organizer, stacks of paper and a melted ice cream bar, the report said. Smith, who did not return calls from the newspaper for comment, has denied all allegations. Coin produces X-ray scare TROLLHATTAN, Sweden, April 7 (UPI) -- A number of patients at a hospital in Sweden didn't really have spots on their lungs -- the spots on the X-rays were actually a 1 krona coin. The Local reports the coin, worth about 13 cents, got stuck between a mattress and the bed frame in the X-ray department at Nal hospital in Trollhattan. Staff at the hospital near Gothenburg told reporters there is a new routine in which the mattress is examined regularly for anything that could interfere with X-rays, Swedish radio reported.
