Stupid People are on a Press run today!:
MSNBC.com
A case for the lawn ranger
Thief steals California homeowner’s front yard — sod, shrubs and sprinklers
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:24 p.m. CT May 18, 2006
ADELANTO, Calif. - It was a sod story for a Mojave Desert homeowner whose entire front yard — grass, bushes and sprinklers — was hauled away by a thief.
The homeowner telephoned law officials to report the yard in front of his under-construction home was gone, sheriff's spokeswoman Staci Johnson said Tuesday.
Witnesses told the homeowner they saw the thief taking the sod, plants and irrigation system to a nearby residence, Johnson said.
David Roger Bowers, 34, was arrested at the home and booked for investigation of grand theft and possession of stolen property, the sheriff's spokeswoman said.
The landscaping materials were returned to the victim.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
And in this one it is hard to say who the most stupid ones are. At first glance it would be the cop but if couple is not telling the whole story it could maybe be them too:
Couple arrested for trespassing hire attorney, plan to sue the city
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Stephen Janis, The Examiner
May 18, 2006 7:00 AM (2 days ago)
BALTIMORE - The Virginia couple arrested Saturday for trespassing after getting lost trying to find Interstate 95 have retained an attorney and plan to sue the city.
“In view of what’s happened, it’s a given,” said Dale Anstine, an attorney in York, Pa., who is representing the family. “I personally know these people; they are good kids. I think the conduct of this police officer is beyond outrageous.”
Llara Brook, 20, and her boyfriend, Josh Kelly, 22, traveled from Chantilly, Va., to Baltimore to see an Orioles game Saturday. The couple stopped in the 800 block of Bridgeview Drive in Cherry Hill to ask a Baltimore Housing Police Officer, Natalie Preston, for directions. Brook said the officer was blunt: “You found your way in. You can find your way out.”
After writing a citation for failure to obey a stop sign — a ticket Kelly disputes — the officer told them to leave. Confused, the couple drove about “40 feet” and stopped.
“We still didn’t know how to get out,” Kelly said.
But Preston pulled up behind them and arrested Kelly and Brook for “trespassing,” according to the ticket.
Anstine said he was currently “gathering information about the incident” and expected to file a lawsuit in “two or three months.”
Matt Jablow, a spokesman for the police department, said the incident is “under investigation.”
The police report contradicts the couple’s story, stating that Kelly was “argumentative” and refused to give the officer’s pen back after signing the citation for failure to stop.
Margaret Burns, spokeswoman for the State’s Attorney’s Office, said her office declined to prosecute the couple based on the arresting documents. “There are thousand of cases like this being thrown out every month,” Burns said. “In the month of February, we threw out 902 cases; in March, we threw out over 1,200 cases — that means 70 cases a day.”
Burns said “nuisance arrests” waste city resources that could be better used to fight violent crime. “Somewhere within the Police Department there is a policy or directive to increase the number of arrests, or crime has gone up,” she said. “The officer spent hours on this case; it’s a waste of her time.”
Jablow said there is no policy to increase arrests. “Crime is down significantly this month,” he said.
Meredith Curtis, spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the case is part of a larger trend. “This is the latest, most egregious example of what has been demonstrated to be a pattern of illegal arrests,” she said.
Curtis said that even though the charges were dropped, the couple will have a permanent record that can be expunged only if they agree not to sue. “It’s ridiculous and also unconstitutional.”
sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com
Examiner
