Barking While Intoxicated
Sumter County, Fla., sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to The Villages on Nov. 19 where resident Lori Jo Matthews, 60, reportedly “barked” at her neighbor’s dogs, then entered her neighbor’s yard, yelling at the neighbor and finally slapping her neighbor after being told to leave. Deputies caught up with Matthews as she attempted to enter her own home, where she was handcuffed and arrested on charges of battery and resisting arrest. Alcohol, reported Villages-News.com, may have been involved.
Self-Absorbent
The Tea Terrace in London is offering a new way for customers to enjoy themselves, literally. On Dec. 16, the shop began selling the “Selfieccino,” an image of the customer’s face in the frothy topping of either a cappuccino or a hot chocolate. Patrons send a photo to the shop via an online messaging app, and the “Cino” machine takes it from there, reproducing the picture with flavorless food coloring in about four minutes. “Due to social media,” shop owner Ehab Salem Shouly told Reuters, “the dining experience has completely shifted. It’s not enough anymore to just deliver great food and great service; it’s got to be Instagram-worthy.”
Did You Notice All the Cops?
Melissa Allen, 32, was arrested on Dec. 19 after attempting to shoplift more than $1,000 in merchandise from a Framingham, Mass., Target store, reported the Boston Globe. On hand to help in the arrest were more than 50 police officers who were at the store to participate in the annual “Shop with a Cop” holiday charity event.
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Unintended Consequences
Stephen Allen of Tukwila, Wash., moved in with his grandmother years ago to help care for her. When she died last year, he invited his brother, a convicted drug dealer, to move in, but along with him came drug activity, squatters, stolen property and debris. Allen eventually asked police to raid the home, but when they did on Dec. 15, they evicted Allen as well, leaving him homeless. “It’s all legal, but it’s wrong,” Allen told KIRO-7 News. “I can’t do anything about it.”
Nature’s Untimely Call
Tracy Hollingsworth Stephens, 50, of Alachua, Fla., answered Nature’s call on Nov. 25 by stopping her car in the middle of County Road 232 and stepping outside. An officer of the Florida Highway Patrol soon took notice as he had been searching for Stephens following her involvement in a two-car collision in the parking lot of a nearby T.J. Maxx store earlier that day. Stephens subsequently underperformed on a field sobriety test, according to The Independent Florida Alligator and was arrested for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.
I’m Not Even Here!
Workers at Captain Hiram’s Sandbar in Sebastian, Fla., resorted to calling police on Nov. 17 when customer William Olivieri, 63, refused to leave the bar after a night of drinking. Olivieri told Sebastian police he had arrived by boat, but when a quick walk down a nearby dock failed to uncover the boat, he said perhaps he had driven himself to the bar in a black Hyundai, reported the Sebastian Daily. Throughout his interview with police in outside the bar in Sebastian, Olivieri steadfastly refused to admit he was even in Sebastian—claiming he was, right then and there, in his home town of Melbourne, Fla. Wherever he was, Olivieri was arrested on a charge of disorderly intoxication and taken to the Indian River County Jail.
Porcine Perp
North Fort Myers, Fla. (yes, again Florida), homeowner Joanie Mathews was terrorized for hours on Nov. 14 by a large pig that wandered into her yard overnight and spent the day destroying the lawn and biting Mathews three times before trapping her in the cab of her truck. “She would circle the truck, and I would jump in the back seat, and I was like, ‘Go away, pig!” Mathews told NBC-2 TV. Mathews finally called law enforcement, and it took three Lee County sheriff’s officers to wrangle the testy porker. “It was just hilarious because the pig fought them every which way,” Mathews said. No one, at press time, had stepped forward to claim the pig.
