Dateline: CanadaPolice in Vancouver were forced to chase down a thieving crow who stole a knife from a crime scene. According to the Vancouver Courier, police shot a 28-year-old man in a McDonald’s parking lot on the afternoon of May 24 after he allegedly confronted them with a knife. He was later taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening wounds. Halfway through its article dealing with various police statements and the testimony of witnesses to the shooting, the Vancouver Courier notes, “More than 20 officers were at the scene, including one who was forced to chase down a crow that picked up a knife with its claws and flew a short distance before dropping back in the parking lot. The crow, which had a red band attached to its left leg, also tried to make off with a pair of eyeglasses in the lot and steal gear belonging to a television camera operator.” A spokesperson for the Vancouver Police told the CBC, “The crow was persistent, but the knife was eventually gathered as evidence.” Local residents identified the feathered kleptomaniac, who is known in the neighborhood and has become something of an internet sensation since the incident, as “Canuck.” Canuck has his own Facebook page with more than 13,000 followers. The criminally minded crow made headlines previously for attacking bicyclists and for being spotted riding the city’s SkyTrain rapid rail system (probably without paying). Canuck has not been charged with tampering with evidence in this latest brush with the law.Dateline: South KoreaA South Korean company has come up with a grapefruit-flavored “hangover ice cream.” The Gyeondyo-Bar, whose name translates as “Hang In There,” contains oriental raisin tree (hovenia dulcis) juice, a common hangover cure in the country. The convenience store chain that makes the frozen treat says the name “expresses the hardships of employees who have to suffer a working day after heavy drinking, as well as to provide comfort to those who have to come to work early after frequent nights of drinking.” South Koreans, long considered the heaviest drinkers in Asia, spend some $126 million a year on hangover cures. Pills, beverages, cosmetics and the popular “hangover soup” are commonly used as morning-after curatives. So far the Gyeondyo-Bar is only available in South Korea.Dateline: ArizonaA television news reporter in Phoenix was arrested after he confessed to pooping on the front lawn of a man he was filming a story about. Police in Goodyear arrested Jonathan Lowe on the afternoon of Monday, May 23, after he “chose to use the front yard of a residence to relieve himself,” Goodyear Police Department spokesperson Lisa Kurtis told the Phoenix New Times. “An onlooker from across the street called it in to officers. They approached him, he said he’d had to relieve himself, and they arrested him.” Lowe, who works as a newsman for KPHO in Phoenix was in Goodyear—a suburb of Phoenix—doing a story on Patrick Zane Thompson. The 42-year-old Thompson was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of animal cruelty after he allegedly killed his family’s dog and placed it in a meat smoker. At the time Thompson told police he had been smoking marijuana and believed God was going to kill him unless he sacrificed a male member of the family. Rather than murder his 6-year-old son, Thompson broke the neck of his dog. Lowe actually managed to file his story for KPHO, but was booked on charges of “public urination or defecation,” a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 or six month in jail. A spokesperson for KPHO TV told reporters Lowe was no longer employed at the station.Dateline: ArizonaUS Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a woman who tried to sneak more than a pound of methamphetamine into the United Sates from Mexico. According to a press release, officers referred the 23-year-old Nogales woman for further inspection after she crossed through the Morley Pedestrian Gate on May 20. A positive alert by a narcotics-detection canine led officers to two large burritos the woman was carrying. Removing the plastic wrap and unrolling the tortillas, officers found “slightly more than a pound of meth, worth more than $3,000.” The case was turned over to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. Email your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
