Dateline: Italy— An unhappy bride has demanded a separation from her brand-new husband after he brought his mother along for the honeymoon. The woman, identified as Marianna C. of Rome, filed the petition in late January stating that the troubles began when her mother-in-law showed up at the airport just as the newlywed couple was about to jet off to Paris. According to Italy’s ANSA news agency, the 36-year-old bride also complained that, after the honeymoon, the mother-in-law spent the Christmas holidays with the couple, making it “impossible to establish a healthy conjugal relationship.” Dateline: Illinois— A woman who was arrested for attacking a police officer with a sex toy now says she was only acting in self defense. The odd chain of events began in November when employees at a Joe’s Crab Shack in the Chicago metropolitan area of Gurnee called police to report 56-year-old Carolee Bildsten had left the restaurant without paying. According to the restaurant, Bildsten had done the same thing two weeks previous. Bildsten said she mistakenly left her credit card at home that night because she “wanted to travel light.” According to Bildsten, she told the bartender she would go home to get her money and then return to the restaurant to pay her bill. The officer who responded to the dine-and-dash call found Bildsten drunk and collapsed in the grass of a nearby park. Bildsten, who admits to being drunk that night, said the officer was “kind enough to take me home” so she could retrieve her wallet. According to the police report, once home, Bildsten reached into a dresser drawer, pulled out a “clear, rigid feminine pleasure device” and charged the officer. The officer deflected the attack with his hand and was not injured. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune , Bildsten said she was afraid that the officer was going to sexually assault her. “I got scared. And the only thing in my sock drawer besides my socks and cash was a dildo.” Bildsten was arrested again in December after failing to appear at a hearing regarding the incident. Bildsten pled not guilty to aggravated assault at a follow-up hearing on Jan. 27 at the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan. Dateline: California— Police in Hawthorne are investigating a “disturbing” traffic accident involving multiple hit-and-run suspects, a beating and a robbery. The bizarre events unfolded around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26. An unnamed pedestrian was crossing a busy stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard near the 105 Freeway when he was struck by a minivan. The driver of the minivan sped off without stopping. While the pedestrian was unconscious in the middle of the street, he was run over by a second vehicle. The driver of this vehicle also sped off without stopping. At that point, several witnesses rushed into the street to try and help the injured pedestrian. Amazingly, one of the rescuers was struck by a third car. Unlike the previous motorists, this one stopped immediately and got out to help. Unfortunately, the first two drivers seemed to have the right idea, as a crowd of people quickly swarmed the third driver and beat him up. According to a statement issued by the Hawthorne Police Department, “These criminal bystanders assaulted the victim and ultimately stole his cellphone.” The driver managed to free himself and sped away in his car, only to contact police a short time later. “This one had us scratching our heads,” Capt. Mike Ishii told the Los Angeles Times . “I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years in Hawthorne.” The original pedestrian struck by the first two motorists died at a hospital. The rescuer hit by the third motorist suffered moderate injuries. Police have arrested 32-year-old Tran Lewis of Long Beach in connection with the beating and robbery of the third motorist and are still investigating the identity of the first two motorists. Dateline: Arizona— A convicted killer who escaped from an Arizona prison told police he had intended to commit suicide by bear. After being captured and returned to Arizona in August, Tracy Province informed a sheriff’s detective of his plan to overdose on heroin at Yellowstone National Park and let bears eat him. According to a Mohave County sheriff’s report, Province didn’t follow through on his grand exit because of “divine intervention” and because Yellowstone was too cold. Province was captured in Wyoming, 10 days after he and two other prisoners broke out of a minimum security prison near Kingman, Ariz. Province was serving a double life sentence for a 1991 robbery and murder. The details of Province’s post-arrest interview at the sheriff’s office were detailed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Jan. 26, shortly after the 42-year-old convict pled guilty to charges stemming from his escape.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. E-mail your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
