Dateline: New YorkSheriff’s deputies in western New York pulled over what they described as a “suspicious vehicle”—a car with no doors, no windows, no windshield, no license plate and, to top it all off, an ax embedded in the roof. According to the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded on the afternoon of Monday, July 24, to a report of a suspicious vehicle on Youngers Road. They located the car at a nearby intersection. Sgt. Colin Reagan told The Daily News the driver, 21-year-old Jared Price, “performed poorly” in a field sobriety test and was found to be “impaired by multiple different drug categories.” Price was arraigned in Gainesville Town Court on multiple charges and committed to Wyoming County Jail. Police posted a photograph of Price’s unregistered, ax-impaled car on Facebook, commenting that, “a picture says a thousand words!”Dateline: TexasA Houston woman who purchased a $300 vacuum from Target said she brought the box home only to discover it contained rocks, dirty towels and a can of bean-free Wolf Brand Chili. Annie Banerjee said she bought the Dyson vacuum from the Target at Houston’s The Galleria shopping center. When she returned it to the store an hour later, however, a store manager refused to refund her purchase and even called the police on her. Banerjee, an immigration lawyer originally from India, said she may have been the victim of racial profiling, as the store manager described her to police as “Hispanic.” The Target corporation later issued a statement to KTRK-TV saying that they “regret” Ms. Banerjee’s experience and will “be refunding Ms. Banerjee’s money and providing her a new Dyson vacuum at Target’s expense.” Target called the incident “a learning opportunity for our team.” No word on whether Banerjee got to keep the chili.Dateline: ConnecticutTwo men were arrested in Hartford after trying to buy cocaine from a police officer in the parking lot of a police station. Hartford Police Department Deputy Chief Brian J. Foley posted to Twitter a portion of an “Unusual Occurrence Report” detailing an incident that happened on Sunday, July 23, at a police station on—appropriately enough—High Street. According to the report an officer was walking to his personal vehicle after finishing his shift around 2am when he was approached by two men who said they wanted to “buy coke.” The men asked the officer, but indicated they needed to visit an ATM in order to get some cash. The officer kindly “pointed out that there was an ATM inside the front lobby of the Police Department,” the report states. “The suspects then went into the Police Department to retrieve $60 to pay the officer for cocaine.” As soon as they were inside, the off-duty officer “notified the Teleserve officer who assisted in arresting both suspects and tagged the $60 as evidence without incident.” Dateline: ColoradoA drug dealer was sentenced to 16 years in prison earlier this month for shooting two people after they complained that the $10,000 worth of marijuana he sold them was just a bag of broccoli. Sababu Colbert-Evans, 26, received the sentence after being convicted in May of attempted first-degree murder and several lesser charges. His partner in crime, Tercell Davis, already pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder and will be sentenced on Aug. 7. On March 14 of last year, Davis gave a bag of “recently purchased” broccoli to prospective buyers in exchange for $10,000. The buyers left, thinking they had scored a large amount of marijuana. It wasn’t until they got home that they realized they had been duped. Using fake names they called Davis again and arranged for a second purchase. Around 7:30pm, on March 17, the buyers showed up to the parking lot of the Town Center at Aurora to meet the drug dealer, who brought Colbert-Evans—and another bag of broccoli. The two parties got into a fight. Davis and Colbert-Evans ended up pulling out guns and shooting at the buyers 11 times. One of them was hit in the torso, but recovered. “This may be the first time that broccoli has been bad for someone’s health,” 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler said after Colbert-Evans’ sentencing.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. Email your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
