By ,
Published January 13, 2015
"What's up?"
Your time on the lam, you angry, angry man.
A man in Des Moines, Iowa, approached Officer Patrick Hickey and asked him "What's up?" as the policeman was in an alley looking over license plates as part of a drug probe, according to The Associated Press.
Hickey asked the man "What's up?" right back, the man responded by asking Hickey "What's up?" again — to which Hickey again replied "What's up?"
After that bizarre exchange, the man said "I'll show you what's up" and allegedly stormed into a nearby home, emerging with a .38-caliber handgun.
"The guy got a gun because I said 'What's up?' Unbelievable," Hickey told the AP. "I had no idea he would want to shoot me for saying 'What's up?'"
The man, Stewart Jenkins, 33, dropped his weapon after Hickey leveled his gun at him and showed his badge, police said.
A quick background check showed that Jenkins was on parole for assault and wanted by Michigan authorities.
Police said Hickey searched Jenkins and turned up $700 and a small amount of suspected crack cocaine — and cops searching his house found $8,000 and 15 grams of suspected crack.
Jenkins' arraignment on drug and weapons charges is set for Friday; until then, he's being held on more than $130,000 bond in the Polk County jail.
— Thanks to Out There reader Derek H.
Be Careful What You Wish for ...
Asking to be thrown in jail while chugging a beer in a police station is a pretty good way to get what you want.
Green Cove Springs Police say Matthew John Kenkel, 43, stormed into their headquarters at 3:30 p.m. Monday with an open can of beer and demanded to be tossed in jail, according to The Florida Times-Union.
The cops didn't oblige him right away, even telling Kenkel to go away several times — who began to get belligerent, Sgt. LW Whiddon told The Times-Union.
The boys in blue were then happy to help out, charging Kenkel with drinking in public and throwing him into the Clay County jail.
Police found that Kenkel had an active warrant out for his arrest — but since it's the holidays they gave him an extra petty theft charge as a little gift, so he could spend a little bit more time right where he wanted to be.
— Thanks to Out There reader Shannon O.
Police say a man engaged in a high-speed chase in Kokomo, Ind., called his mommy Sunday to ask her what to do.
Cops started chasing Destry R. Weaver, 19, around 9 p.m. after a traffic stop — reaching speeds exceeding 60 mph on city streets in a pursuit that lasted about five minutes, according to The Indy Channel.
In the middle of the chase, Weaver's mommy urged him to pull over, but he wouldn't stop until cruisers surrounded his car, police said.
Cops arrested Weaver and his passenger and charged Weaver with driving with a suspended license, resisting law enforcement and reckless driving.
— Thanks to Out There reader Steve S.
Um, What Are You Going to Do With All Those Legos, Buddy?
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Agents had to use a 20-foot truck to cart away the evidence from a suspect's house, mountains of Lego bricks.
William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of the colorful plastic building blocks.
Swanberg was indicted by a grand jury in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb, which charged him with stealing Lego sets from Target stores.
Target estimates Swanberg stole up to $200,000 worth of the brick sets pilfered from their stores in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Legos were resold on the Internet, officials said.
Attempts to reach Swanberg at a county jail, where he was being held on $250,000 bail, were unsuccessful. It was not known if he had retained an attorney.
Swanberg is accused of switching the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk, a member of the Washington County fraud and identity theft enforcement team.
Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area store Nov. 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon set.
In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars sets, valued at $99 each, as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their locations carefully plotted on a mapping software.
Records of the Lego collector's Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, Dolyniuk said.
— Thanks to Out There reader Matt H.
'I'm So Sorry That I Urinated'
FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) — Public urinators are being ordered to give a very public apology in one Wisconsin town.
A judge has ordered those caught in the act to write signed letters of apology to local officials that are published for all to see in the local newspaper.
"I am so terribly sorry for urinating outside of a public place in your city," a Madison man wrote in one letter. "It was not a very intelligent thing to do. ... I know whoever reads this loves Fond du Lac and I dishonored your town and myself in the process."
Judge Jerry Jaye first ordered the letters a year ago. The signed letters are posted in court, and there's also a fine for disorderly conduct.
Police Lt. Steve Klein said the policy has been effective in making people take responsibility for their actions, and it's also been a deterrent.
13-Year-Old Car Thief Gives Cops a Ring
PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities in Mesa didn't have to look far for a missing cruiser. They say its 13-year-old driver called first.
Police said an officer walked out of the Mesa police station Monday night and discovered his patrol car was missing.
While other officers searched, the boy who took it dialed 911 on a cell phone he found in the car, police said.
He told the operator that he had sneaked out of a detention center and taken the vehicle.
The operator persuaded the teen to go to a nearby restaurant and wait for officers, who arrived and took him into custody.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Andrew Hard.
Got a good "Out There" story in your hometown? We'd like to know about it. Send an e-mail, with a Web link (we need to authenticate these things) to outthere@foxnews.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/whats-up-youre-under-arrest