By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Brawkkk, Polly wants to kick some prowler butt!
"Sunshine," a Pennsylvania man's pet macaw, took a dislike to a burglar breaking into its owner's apartment last month, according to The Williamsport Sun-Gazette.
"Sunshine had other ideas," Capt. Keith E. Bowers said.
The macaw is an exotic bird with gold and blue feathers that looks like a big parrot.
According to a police affidavit, Sunshine not only drew blood but left a mark that led to a Williamsport man confessing to the bird-brained theft.
Patrolman Brian C. Womer told The Sun-Gazette he arrested Michael L. Deeter, 44, who was sitting at the Lycoming County Prison on unrelated charges. Burglary and other offenses for allegedly entering resident James Erb's apartment were added to the charges against him.
The police affidavit said Deeter's confession included an explanation of how, when drunk, he broke glass on the back door, entered Erb's apartment and tried to pet Sunshine, who bit down on his hand.
The bird-plagued burglar ran about trying to shake Sunshine off, police said, but the macaw had latched on and wasn't about to let go.
The Sun-Gazette said a nearby witness heard "slamming" and Sunshine screeching at 3 p.m. — and a neighbor saw glass on the porch floor and called cops at around 6:30 p.m.
— Thanks to Out There reader Carl S.
I'm an Idiot, Here's My Card
An armed robber in Michigan left his driver's license at the scene of the crime, and even returned to plead his innocence, police told The Saginaw News.
And that wasn't all -- the suspect was run out of the gas station he was robbing by a seven-months-pregnant woman!
"I didn't think it was a real gun," Clerk Kristi M. Moore, 25, niece of store owners Douglas L. and Debra A. Shindorf, told The Saginaw News.
Two 19-year-old suspects were arrested in the attempted robbery of D's Party Store/Marathon gasoline station by police at the scene.
Moore told the paper she actually tripped up one of the suspects twice: The first happening two weeks prior when the teen tried to purchase beer with his brother's ID.
Later, in the attempted burglary, two teens entered D's around 8 p.m., one brandished a 9mm handgun and wearing a handkerchief "Jesse James-style" over his face, Oakley/Brady Township Police Chief Larry L. Briggs said.
"I wasn't scared. I thought it was a BB gun," Moore told The Saginaw News. "He just laid it on the counter, with it pointed at me."
Another teen in a black ski mask claimed he was armed but didn't display any weapon, Briggs said, adding that both demanded money but Moore simply refused them.
— Thanks to Out There reader Stacy B.
Who's Laughing Now?
LAFAYETTE, Colo. (AP) — Hours after laughing about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting mishap, Josh Kayser was himself shot by a friend during a hunting expedition.
The 21-year-old Lafayette man was taken to the hospital Monday night after his girlfriend accidentally shot him while they were trailing a raccoon that had been preying on chickens on his family's property.
"I read that thing about the vice president and said to myself 'how can you shoot your friend with your gun?' And look what happened," he said Tuesday.
Kayser was crouched down to look under a shed where he thought a wounded raccoon was hiding, and his 17-year-old girlfriend accidentally shot him with a .22-caliber rifle.
— Thanks to Out There readers Joseph J. and Mike Y.
Sparks Sure Are Flying in This Courtroom
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — An arson trial was interrupted when sparks from an electrical fire showered the judge and his clerk while a fire chief was testifying.
Despite the problem, the trial continued in Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Daniel O'Brien's courtroom, and a jury on Tuesday found a teenager responsible for setting fire to a home in Brandon Township.
"Sparks were falling all over the judge and the clerk," the teen's attorney, Larry Kaluzny, told The Oakland Press. "It was crazy."
No one was hurt from the sparks, which apparently came from a light fixture while the Brandon Township fire chief was on the witness stand.
"It was ironic," said Jeff Franklin, the clerk, who added that there was a popping noise, then the sparks flew from the ceiling. "We had to proceed with fewer lights."
Maintenance crews fixed the problem overnight.
The 15-year-old boy was accused of setting fire to a house in September 2004, causing $80,000 in damage.
Hey, Check It Out, a Drunk Tree!
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Stanford University, sometimes referred to as "The Farm," has lost a very prominent tree, for being drunk.
Actually, the tree was Erin Lashnits, who dresses as a tree for her role as mascot to the school's irreverent band.
But university officials say Erin-the-tree was a bit over-watered during a recent basketball game.
Officials say the fifth-year senior's blood-alcohol level was measured at .157 during the game at the University of California, Berkeley. That's about twice the legal limit for driving, if trees drove cars.
Band spokesman Sam Urmy says Lashnits was fired to avoid disciplinary penalties from the athletic department.
Said Urmy: "We don't want to risk our core mission of rocking out and bringing funk to the funkless."
Talk About Dumb as a Doorknob
PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. (AP) — A man who claims he is obsessed with doorknobs faces three years in prison for a burglary spree in which dozens of them were taken from construction sites.
A criminal complaint said Thor Jeffrey Steven Laufer told police he took a variety of items from the construction sites in the Milwaukee suburb of Mequon to disguise his obsession, "so that it would look like a typical burglary rather than someone just stealing doorknobs."
Laufer, 43, of Racine, was sentenced this week by Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Joseph McCormack to the three-year prison term, plus five years of extended supervision, and ordered to pay restitution. He had pleaded no contest to felony counts of burglary.
The thefts occurred in December 2004. Laufer also faces charges in Milwaukee County for similar incidents in suburban Franklin.
Is That the Best You Can Do?
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A golf course in Malaysia has a bigger problem than players cheating on their handicaps — someone stole the aluminum liners from 12 of its holes.
The cylindrical liners, imported from the United States, were apparently stolen to be sold as scrap metal, the Royal Johor Country Club acting manager Majid Manjit Abdullah was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper Tuesday.
"The thief or thieves must really be desperate," Majid said, adding this was the first time he had heard of such a theft.
Majid said the theft of the liners, which cost $34 each, was discovered Monday when the staff went on their rounds.
"We have since replaced the stolen items with a plastic version," he said.
The golf course, in the southern city of Johor, covers 123 acres and has no proper fencing to keep out intruders.
Majid could not be immediately reached for comment.
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/pet-bird-beats-up-burglar