SIDELINES...

WEIRD WALKIES

Herefordshire police have appealed for information after a man was twice seen in the village of Weston-under-Penyard taking a black Labrador for a walk while wearing nothing from the waist down. Described by police as being white, in his late 50s, with grey hair, a beard and wearing darkrimmed glasses, several people saw the man and his dog in the village on two separate occasions at around 8am, but so far it has not proved possible to identify him. gloucestershirelive.co.uk, 16 Dec 2021.

TRAPPED BY LADDER

While decorating his bathroom, a man in his 60s, from Mattaincourt near Épinal, eastern France, slipped and got his head stuck between rungs in his stepladder. Medics were called when he was discovered by his sister five days later. His head swelled during his ordeal and he was unable to reach his phone. He was severely dehydrated. BBC News, 26 Aug 2019.

DOH!

McRoberts Williams, 44, was arrested for robbing the Wells Fargo bank in Wilmington, Delaware, because, after, successfully getting the cashier to hand over an undisclosed amount of money, he paused to try and deposit his swag into his bank account using the cash machine outside. This gave police time to arrive, and they arrested him after a brief pursuit. abcwashington.com, 14 Dec 2021.

TREASURE HUNT FAIL

When Mark Lantis headed out into the wilderness in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming without supplies or survival kit, he was hoping to cash in by finding the $2 million treasure hidden by eccentric millionaire Forrest Fenn (see FT395:10, 398:23, 399:28). Within hours he was cold, wet, and lost in the dark, so instead of cashing in he earned a conviction for reckless disorderly conduct and had to pay $2,880 to the Parks Service for the cost of his rescue. Impressively, he said: “I don’t believe at any point I made a bad decision.” , 12 Nov 2021.