Cops puzzled after stopping driverless car
SAN Francisco police faced an unprecedented problem recently when an officer stopped a car that was driving at night with no headlights on, only to discover there was no one inside.
The vehicle, it turned out, was a self-driving car, and the police officer’s encounter was captured on film by a passerby, who posted the footage on social media.
The clip, showing bemused officers circling the vehicle and peering through its window for several minutes, has been shared so widely that Cruise, the company that owns the vehicle, reacted on Twitter to explain what had happened.
It said the self-driving car “yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued.”
In the footage, as the police are inspecting the parked vehicle, someone can be heard exclaiming,
“There’s no one in it, it’s crazy!”
A police spokesperson said that after the police had stopped the car, a maintenance team had taken control of it.
Cruise explained that the headlights were turned off due to human error.
Founded in 2013, Cruise has developed software that allows cars to drive themselves completely autonomously.
General Motors owns the majority of shares in the company, valued at more than US$30 billion thanks to investments by giants such as Microsoft, Honda and Walmart.
Since February, Cruise has passed a key threshold in offering individuals the chance to book free trips in the streets of San Francisco in its driverless cars.
Residents of the Californian city also regularly come across robo-taxis from Waymo, Google’s self-driving subsidiary.
These camera-clad vehicles take passengers wherever they want, with a driver who is present but does not touch the steering wheel or the pedals.
Transport fare costs lover’s ear
A Kenyan woman was arrested and charged after she bit off her lover’s ear for giving her insufficient transport fare.
It is alleged that Joseph Karanja handed Zainab Ochero KSh100 (US$0,86) as transportation fare back home, from a bar where they were having drinks.
Ochero felt the money was too little and an insult.
She immediately responded by biting off Karanja’s ear.
Ochero was arrested and appeared in court accused of unlawfully causing serious injuries.
According to court reports, the two had previously clashed in relationship troubles involving adultery.
It is then that Karanja allegedly summoned Ochero to a pub in Kangemi to discuss their affair and she agreed to meet him there.
However, the two disagreed, and she left.
Karanja called her back hours later and she joined him again at the bar and they continued arguing over the “infidelity issue” while downing drinks.
He accused her of having affairs with other men and an argument ensued.
After failing to reach a consensus, Ochero asked Karanja to hire a bodaboda rider to take her home in Kawangware and she got KSh100. Ochero told the police that Karanja started insulting her after she insisted that he hires a bodaboda for her.
She also added that she was totally drunk and only remembers waking up at Kangemi police station later the same day.
Karanja carried his ear to a hospital but his attempts to have it sewn back were in vain after doctors indicated that a reconstruction surgery was impossible.
Ochero denied the charges in court. She was released on bail.
Bride arrested for adding cannabis to
wedding food
A newly wedded bride and her caterer have been arrested for allegedly mixing cannabis inside the wedding food.
The arrests came some two months after officials were called to the wedding to assist guests who said they felt as though they had been drugged.
Danya Svoboda and caterer Joycelyn Bryan face charges of tampering, negligence and delivery of marijuana.
Officials made the arrests after testing food and drinks from the party.
The wedding occurred on February 19, in the city of Longwood, in central Florida.
Responding deputies wrote in their incident report that several of the 50 guests present reported “feeling weird,” after eating meatballs, Caesar salad, tortellini, and “bread with an olive oil and herb dip”.
Guests were complaining of stomach pains and vomiting.
Several were transported to hospital for treatment.
One guest told officers he “felt tingly, his heart started to race, and (he) was having crazy thoughts,” according to a police affidavit.
Another guest thought her son-inlaw had died and that her family was keeping information from her.
She was taken to hospital where she became “loud and unruly and had to be given something to calm down,” police say.
According to officials, Mrs Svoboda was asked by police at the scene whether she had allowed for drugs to be put into guests’ food, and denied it.
One guest, Miranda Cady, said she witnessed a member of the catering staff adding “a green substance” to a dish that would later contain olive oil.
Woman rescued after falling in
toilet
A woman had to be rescued by firefighters after falling into a toilet while trying to find her mobile phone that had accidentally been dropped into it.
The woman, who was not named, was at the top of Mount Walker in the Olympic National Forest, northwest of Seattle, Washington State, when the incident occurred near a car park.
She had been using her phone when it suddenly fell into a vault toilet, according to The Kitsap Sun.
A vault toilet is a non-flush toilet which is constructed with a vault or sealed container that is buried deep down in the ground.
Brinnon Fire Department chief Tim Manly said the woman, aged in her 40s, managed to take the toilet seat off and used dog leads to try and get the phone.
When this did not work, she used the leads to tie herself to the toilet as she reached for it, but this resulted in her falling headfirst.
Mr Manly said:
“They didn’t work very well and in she went.”
He added the woman tried to get out for 10 to 15 minutes as she was on her own. She then called 911 after being reunited with her phone down the toilet.
Firefighters passed her blocks to stand on to reach a harness when they arrived and pulled her out of the vault.
The Brinnon Fire Department added she said she was uninjured in the incident.
After being washed down, the department said she was “strongly encouraged to seek medical attention after being exposed to human waste, but she only wanted to leave”.
Mr Manly said: “I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and that was a first.”