News of the Weird: Feb. 14, 2019

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Quang Tri Triage

In a whole new twist on stomach pumping, doctors in Quang Tri, Vietnam, saved 48-year-old Nguyen Van Nhat’s life in January by transfusing 15 cans of beer into his stomach. As Dr. Le Van Lam explained to the Daily Mail, alcohol contains both methanol and ethanol, and the liver breaks down ethanol first. But after a person stops drinking, the stomach and intestines continue to release alcohol into the bloodstream—even if the drinker has lost consciousness—and alcohol levels continue to rise. In Nhat’s case, upon arrival at the hospital, his blood methanol level was 1,119 times higher than the appropriate limit. Doctors administered one can of beer every hour to slow down his metabolizing of methanol, which gave them time to perform dialysis. Nhat spent three weeks in the hospital before returning home.

A Job for Anger-Management Man!

Officers in Madison, Wis., were called to a home on Jan. 20 by an unnamed 34-year-old male resident who went on a spree of destruction when he thought his wife had destroyed his prized collection of action figures. Madison Police Chief Mike Koval wrote in his blog that officers arrived to find an ax buried in the windshield of a car. The man explained to them he had overreacted and used the log-splitting ax to chop up a TV, TV stand, laptop computer and other items in the house before going outside to attack his own car, chopping off both side mirrors and breaking out the windshield, reported WMTV. He was charged with disorderly conduct and felony damage to property.

Not So Nice

A 19-year-old man from Nice, France, has received a four-month (suspended) sentence for a clever plot he hatched in September. The man, known only as Adel, removed a PlayStation 4 from a supermarket shelf on Sept. 17 and took it to the produce aisle, where he weighed it and printed out a price sticker for fruit. Then, he used the self-checkout line to pay for the “fruit” and left the store with a $389 piece of electronics for about $10. Adel sold the PlayStation for $114 to buy a train ticket. The next day, he tried the same scheme, but police caught him in the act. He will only have to serve his sentence if he re-offends, reported Kotaku.com.

Just a Tad Bit Creepy

For UNC-Greensboro student Maddie (no last name provided), there really was a ghost in her closet… or at least a guy named Drew. After returning to her apartment on Feb. 2, Maddie heard strange noises coming from her closet. She put her hand on the door and said, “Who’s in there?” “My name’s Drew,” came a voice from behind the door, according to WFMY TV. She continued talking with him, and when she opened the door, Drew (that is, Andrew Clyde Swofford, 30) was sitting on the floor of the closet, dressed in her clothing. He also had a bag full of her clothes, shoes and socks. He begged her not to call police, and she chatted with him for another 10 minutes, “everything about his life and basically how he got in my closet,” as she later reported. Swofford left when Maddie’s boyfriend arrived, and police caught up with him at a nearby gas station, where he was arrested for misdemeanor breaking and entering. Maddie told reporters she thinks Swofford has been in her apartment before: “We always joked that there’s a ghost in here, because I’ve been missing clothes since I’ve been living here.” She signed a lease for a new apartment a few days later.

Wax On, Wax Off, Purse Gone

A BP gas station in Swansea, S.C., was the setting for a reprise of at least one iconic moment from 1984’s hit movie, The Karate Kid, according to Fox News. On Jan. 26, as surveillance cameras looked on, an unidentified man struck Mr. Miyagi’s signature “crane technique” pose ( twice) just before stealing purses from parked cars nearby. The Swansea Police Department posted the video on its Facebook page and, with the public’s help, officers were able to identify the man and issue a warrant for his arrest.

© 2019 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION