Watercooler Stories

Bank robber waits, leaves empty-handed

MIRAMAR, Fla., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A Miramar, Fla., bank was targeted Tuesday by an impatient suspect who left empty-handed before he could collect his loot, police said.

The would-be robber at the Chase Bank branch, inconspicuous except for a tie-dyed shirt, "waited in line and handed the teller the (demand) note when it was his turn," said Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues.

He apparently tired of waiting and walked out of the bank, where police took him into custody, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

He "didn't leave with a penny," Rues said.

Nearby Miramar Parkway was closed and Perry Elementary School was locked down for a short time, WSVN-TV, Miami, reported.

The unnamed man did not show a weapon during the robbery. Police and the FBI are investigating, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

Tasers don't stop sign-fighting man

ROSWELL, N.M., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Police say a New Mexico man fighting with a stop sign kept fighting officers even after he was shot with Taser darts and doused with pepper spray.

Roswell police said they responded to a report of a man engaging in an altercation with a stop sign early Friday and they arrived to find Raymond Garcia, 45, who appeared to be under the alleged influence of drugs, KRQE-TV, Albuquerque, reported Tuesday.

Police said Garcia was belligerent and attempted to flee from the officers. The arrest report said two officers shot Garcia with Taser darts, but he broke them off from his stomach and kicked at the officers.

"Usually when somebody is tased, their muscles contract and don't allow them to do anything, and that's why you normally see them fall to the ground," Sabrina Morales of the Roswell Police Department said. "So this person, Garcia, had to be on some sort of drug possibly that was not allowing his system to react normally."

Garcia was also doused with pepper spray, but he wiped it from his face and kept fighting, police said. They said he managed to grab an officer's baton and attempted to use it to fight police.

Officers said they were finally able to subdue Garcia and he was jailed on charged of aggravated assault against a peace officer, disarming, and resisting officers.

Author of 1972 note now a judge

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A California grandfather who found a note left on a 12,000-foot peak by a boy in 1972 discovered the teenager grew up to be a Superior Court judge.

Larry Wright, 69, of Oakland, found the note in a film canister on an unnamed peak while hiking with his 14-year-old grandson and others in Sequoia National Park and he soon discovered the the note from August 1972 was written by a 13-year-old who grew up to become San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor, U-T San Diego reported Tuesday.

"Tim Taylor climbed to this peak, Thursday, August 17, 1972. Age 13 yrs. Anyone finding this please write," the note reads.

Taylor said he remembers leaving the note during a backpacking trip with the Boy Scouts.

"It was a wonderful day. I remember it so clearly," he said.

Elderly couple tended huge pot plant

BEDFORD, England, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Police in Britain said an elderly couple unwittingly tended the "biggest cannabis plant we had seen" after buying the plant at a flea market.

Investigators said officers spotted the plant outside of a Bedford, England, home and the elderly couple told them they had purchased the plant at a flea market, not knowing it was a marijuana plant, the BBC reported Tuesday.

Police said the plant was seized and the couple will not face any legal action.

"Seized today. Elderly couple bought shrub at car boot sale, tended carefully -- biggest cannabis plant we had seen!!" Bedford Police posted on the department's Twitter account.