14 DUI arrests at KC sobriety checkpoint

From KCPD: The Kansas City Missouri Police Department conducted a Sobriety Checkpoint on June 29, 2007, from 2300 hours to 0400 hours at 4040 Main Street. Southbound traffic was checked with total of 687 vehicles stopped. A total number of 14 DUI arrests were made, along with 2 Kansas City Warrants and 3 other traffic violations.

California police ruin somebody's Fourth of July

CA police say they found 2,500 pounds of illegal fireworks stored in one man's house -- and not wussy stuff like snakes and sparklers. We're talking M-80s, brother. It reportedly took two flatbed trucks to haul all that ordnance away.

(On Friday morning, I shot a video of Olathe firefighters demonstrating how NOT to set off fireworks. I'm here to tell you -- don't screw around with M-80s. They can kill a watermelon dead in seconds.)

(On a more serious note, I also interviewed a man who lost his house a year ago because some kids were playing with bottlerockets and one landed on the roof. His family escaped, but it took them nine months to get into their new house.)

This never happened on "Dennis The Menace"

A Florida boy, age 11, has been convicted of misdemeanor battery for hitting another student with a pellet from his slingshot. (Could be worse. When he was arrested, they booked him on a "second-degree felony charge of shooting or throwing a deadly missile," the Orlando Sentinel reports.)

No word how badly the other kid was hurt. The little con could get a year in juvie and a $1K fine, max.

Shawnee police look for con artists who stole $14K

Shawnee police are trying to find the two women who allegedly scammed a 75-year-old lady out of $14K. The method: pigeon drop. I'm surprised that stuff still works, but I guess it wouldn't be a classic con if people didn't fall for it. Benita's got a report here; KMBC's got photos of one suspect.

Open Thread ... Weekend Edition

Welcome to the blog's Open Thread, a good spot to socialize and post links to interesting stories. Please remember to sign your comments, and please avoid profanity and sexually or racially abusive speech. Also, don't be a troll. We hate trolls.

BTW, I'm shorting you guys a Morgue File this week. I apologize; we've been a little busier than normal. Will try to make it up when I get back.

Thanks for spending time with us, though, and have a great weekend!

Police: Senior citizen chases down flasher

Bad: Man allegedly flashes passerbys and pees on flowers outside California restaurant.
Good: Until he's chased away by a 66-year-old man.
Awesome: Who is also a former track star and NFL player. Police say the 66-year-old chased a suspect right into their arms. (Suspect hasn't been charged, and we don't have his side of the story.)

KCPD plans sobriety checkpoint for July 6

This one is scheduled for somewhere in midtown.

MO won't sanction bar in Josh Hancock case

Missouri's Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control says it's done investigating the bar where Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was drinking before he got into a fatal car wreck, the Post-Dispatch reports. The bar won't be punished. There was some question whether employees had continued serving Hancock even after he was drunk. The late baseball player's dad has sued the restaurant.

St. Louis dad injected sons with heroin, coke

He's getting 10 years. Court records say he did it so the boys would "understand how he felt" when he got high. One of the boys will also get to understand what it's like to have Hep C, which is something else Dad gave him by sharing needles.

Odessa police say they caught con artists from CA

KMBC has a nice story about a California couple accused of con artistry getting caught in Lafayette County.

Crimefighting sisters give ID thieves what-for

I want so badly for this to be turned into a TV show ... Two sisters tracked down the identity thieves who stole the younger one's purse from a Michigan swimming pool, the Macomb Daily reports.

While she was canceling her cards, she learned the thieves had charged about $800 at a local CVS, most of it on makeup. (Sidebar: What the hell, CVS?) The sisters got there too late, but they convinced the manager to show them the security tape.

Meanwhile, one of the sister's friends works at a bank and phoned them a tip about someone trying to access little sister's accounts. The friend was forbidden from saying which branch, but the women quickly deduced there was only one open: the bank at the local Kroger.

They got there just in time to capture the thieves, who tried to run off, only the sisters held them down until police arrived. Did I mention the suspects were still wearing their bikinis?

In the right hands, anything is a weapon

Nice little story from last night about a guy in Old Northeast who stops a thief from taking his license plate. Thief jabs at the guy with the screwdriver -- not to be outdone, the guy was able to draw blood with the license plate. A suspect is in custody.

Lisa Nowak didn't wear diapers?

The attorney for Lisa Nowak, the former astronaut accused of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault, says that she did NOT wear diapers. From counsel's mouth:

"The biggest lie in this preposterous tale that has been told is that my client drove from Houston, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, nonstop, wearing a diaper," Donald Lykkebak said after filing motions to suppress evidence in Nowak's criminal case. "That is an absolute fabrication."

 

Who changed Chris Benoit's Wikipedia page?

Odd footnote in the Chris Benoit case: Somebody changed his Wikipedia page to show his wife was dead -- but the change happened hours before her body was discovered. The IP address for whoever made the change was from Stamford, Conn. -- which, coincidentally, is where World Wrestling Entertainment is headquartered.

Policing the courts

The Columbia Missourian has a nice feature about the court marshals who work at the Boone County courthouse. My favorite part:

Baer, 59, has seen his share of hairy situations— like the time a man came into the courthouse five minutes before it closed saying he needed to talk to a judge about recalling four or five felony warrants for his arrest. The man wouldn’t leave when Baer refused to let him speak to the judge.

“This guy was in a wheelchair and we literally had to fight him all the way down to the holding cell,” Baer said. “We finally got him down there, but he was one of the strongest guys we ever had to fight. It took four of us to get him down there.”

How to buy a plasma TV for $4.88

Man, the prices at Wal-Mart are ridiculous. (A Louisiana man allegedly abused the privilege of using the self-checkout lane.)

Hat Tip: Many thanks to vamp85!

"To Catch A Predator" doesn't

Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" is really good TV, but some Texas authorities say it's not very good law-enforcement. The TV show worked with a group called Perverted Justice to catch Internet predators through online stings. Perverted Justice did a couple of project here with KCTV.

The local DA in Texas is declining to pursue any charges because the chat logs can't be guaranteed as authentic and complete, The AP reports. And one of the accused men committed suicide when police and a camera crew showed up at his house. (The city manager lost his job because he OK'd the project without telling the mayor or the city council.)

Oddly, the story doesn't quote Perverted Justice at all, but I know in past cases, they've always defended their work. The NBC reporter is quoted, saying this is the first place they've had any problem with a DA.

Hat Tip: Thanks to The_Golfer

Guilty verdict in 2005 KCMO slaying

Aldo Martinez, 21, was convicted Thursday of murdering Raul Garcia Jr., 19, back in 2005, Joe Lambe reports.

Martinez had been roughed up by a rival gang and went looking for revenge, prosecutors said. He didn't see the other gang, but he did go after Garcia, who had nothing to do with the original attackers. Martinez' attorney says he was only defending himself because Garcia took a swing at him.

From the story:  Witnesses said he (Martinez) then wiped the knife clean, kissed it and screamed the name of his gang.

Public Enemy No. 1: The Weinermobile

Arizona police spotted the world-famous Weinermobile traveling down the road and, for reasons known only to them, decided to run a license-plate check. The report that came back seemed to show the vehicle was stolen, so officers pulled it over.

Turns out the officers misread the report. Police in Wisconsin, the Weinermobile's natural habitat, wrote that the plates, which say YUMMY, should be considered stolen if they appear on any vehicle but the Weinermobile.

Hat Tip: Thanks, eephus!

File photo of the Weinermobile on its continuing mission to promote peace, understanding and sodium nitrates.

At wife's request, mayor gets police guard

Mayor Funkhouser has stuck by his decision to not have police bodyguards on a daily basis, but he does have them for special occasions, apparently.

DeAnn Smith has a story about the mayor's wife asking KCPD to assign officers to him during a community forum on the West Side. Tony, who's not a big fan of the mayor, says Funkhouser should've accepted the protection from the start.

VonZall Temple Jr.'s family isn't giving up

We report about reward money and how it can help solve cases, but sometimes it's easy to forget what goes into raising that money. Case in point: VonZall Temple Jr.

VonZall was killed in late May near 25th and Kensington, just a few days after he graduated from high school. Officers found his body lying in his car, which he had gone to show a prospective buyer. He was 17 years old, and everybody I've interviewed has said he was a good kid. So far, nobody has been charged with his murder.

Earlier this week, the reward for his case climbed to $8,000. His family has raised the bulk of the money themselves. Last weekend, they held a bike ride and picnic. On Saturday, they're going to have a garage sale from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 6600 Broadmoor in Kansas City. They're even talking about selling garbage bags as a way to raise money for a reward.

I talked to VonZall's aunt, Teemon Henderson, on Thursday afternoon. She said the bulk of what's been done so far has been done by the family. The police are investigating, of course, but as far as publicizing the teen's murder and asking for tips, it's largely fallen to the people who loved VonZall. Henderson has seen other cases get more attention, and while she doesn't begrudge those families, prays they get justice, it's also been frustrating for her. "Nobody's trying to help us."

If anyone has information about this case, they're asked to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS (474-8477). All calls are confidential.

Local man gets life for brutal 1998 murder

John "Phil" Street, 45, got life without parole Thursday for the 1998 murder of Douglas C. Weil, an Independence man who was "brutally beaten, stabbed multiple times, shot in the back of the head and in the back, then stuffed in the trunk of a car," U.S. Attorney John Wood's office reports.

Street was already in prison when he bragged about engineering Weil's death -- which apparently got the case started again.

Dear Criminals: For the love of God, stop @#$%ing with old Marines

A former Marine, age 71, reportedly shot one robber in the head, killing him, and hit another one in the chest during the holdup Wednesday of a Subway in Florida. He had a concealed-carry permit.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, You're A Mean Drunk, R2D2!

Who thought this was a good idea?

The company that makes Tasers is teaming up with a company that makes robots, so they can produce -- Ta-Da! -- robots with Tasers.

Yes, because there's never been any warning this might be a bad idea. Way to go, you frigging morons. What's your encore? Skynet?

KCPD plans sobriety checkpoint

Starts late tonight somewhere in the south part of the city. Get a designated.