A Georgia man's experience only goes to prove what most people take as common sense: Don't try to mix dangerous chemicals in your pants.
According to newspaper reports, three Walker County social workers were visiting Daniel Gabriel Doyle, 39, of LaFayette, last Tuesday. As he sat in their car filling out paperwork, his pants exploded.
"He kept fiddling with his front right pants pocket," Patrick Stanfield, commander of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force, told the Walker County Messenger. "All of a sudden, a loud bang happened, and fire shot from his pocket. It damaged the inside of the state vehicle and burned clothing on the case workers."
Apparently, Doyle had combined red phosphorus (search) and iodine (search), two chemicals used to make methamphetamine, in a film canister. He then stuck the canister in his pocket when the social workers showed up.
"He didn't know what he was doing, and it started boiling on his leg," Stanfield said.
The reaction of the two chemicals heats up to about 278 degrees Fahrenheit before exploding, according to the Messenger.
"The state might have to destroy the vehicle," Stanfield said. "The car is contaminated now."
Sheriff's deputies found a meth lab on the premises and arrested Tammy Conley, 29, as well as Doyle, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The case workers were treated for minor injuries in LaFayette. Doyle was taken to Erlanger Medical Center (search) in nearby Chattanooga, Tenn., with second- and third-degree burns to his testicles and leg.
By Friday he was in the Walker County Jail, charged with manufacture and possession of methamphetamine.
"That was one for the books," Walker County sheriff's Maj. Hill Morrison told the Journal-Constitution. "I've been in this business for more than 35 years, and that's a first."
— Thanks to Out There reader Brian R. and two anonymous Out There readers.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Prosecutors have charged an Idaho Falls man with trying to hold up a coffee stand — with a banana.
Police say Lewis Leon Bryson didn't try to conceal the banana or make it look like a gun. Instead, they claim, the 38-year-old man brandished the fruit like a weapon and told the barista it was a stickup.
At first, Bailey Winn says she thought it was a joke. Finally, the man pointing the banana at her head split without taking anything.
Bryson has been charged with disturbing the peace and possession of a controlled substance.
Police say they've gotten other reports of attempted robbery with a nutritious fruit, and believe Bryson may have tried the stunt elsewhere.
Bryson has allegedly told police it was all just a joke.
— Thanks to an anonymous Out There reader.
Dried-Out Fruit Becomes Family Treasure
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Some families have heirloom quilts or clocks. Margie Clark plans to pass a shriveled orange on to her children.
The shrunken, rock-hard, nearly petrified piece of fruit — it's no longer orange — has been in her family 83 years.
She played with the fruit as a young girl and has heard the story of its origins dozens of times. The orange is older than she is and was a Christmas gift to her father from her aunt in 1921.
"It's almost unbelievable," she said. "That must have been a perfect orange to last this long."
Wanting to save the orange for later, her father took it into his room and placed it in a dresser drawer, Clark said. He must have forgotten about it, because when he remembered it, it was no longer edible.
"The next time he saw it, the orange had started to get really hard, like a rock," Clark said.
He decided to keep it and put it in his trunk, Clark said. That's where Clark first found it as a child.
"When I got big enough to get in the trunk, I would get the orange and play with it," she recalled. "I'd roll it around and talk about how old it was."
Clark, who said she's nearly 80 now, had no idea then just how long the hardened piece of fruit would endure.
When her father died, the orange came to her. She plans to pass it along to her children.
"I've never heard of a piece of fruit lasting this long," Clark said.
Chicken Wrangler Quits in Frustration
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — The man hired to rid this resort city of its prolific and unabashed chickens quit his post, saying city leaders were not committed to the cause.
In January, Key West officials agreed to pay Armando Parra Sr. $20 for each nuisance chicken he caught until Sept. 30. His limit was 900 birds.
Parra, a barber and self-taught bird catcher, had rounded up 542 chickens, a quarter of the estimated population roaming about in the city. But, on July 23, Parra turned in his city-issued traps and said he was going freelance.
"I just thought it was a better idea if I went out on my own," he said.
Parra said the city issued "chicken lists" telling him which poultry to capture. He said the birds' wanderings made his job impossible.
"You either catch them or you don't," Parra said. "This thing about getting designated chickens in designated areas, that's impossible."
Many residents consider the birds a nuisance, but others stomped on Parra's traps and taunted him on his rounds. A chicken rotisserie was left in one cage.
Parra, 64, said his nerves were frayed. He left town for 11 days because he "couldn't take it anymore."
The fowl flap drew national attention, which may have backfired on those who wanted the birds off the streets.
"They have become like a mascot. They are a symbol of Key West now," said Katha Sheehan, owner of The Chicken Store (search), which sells fowl-related paraphernalia.
Two-Dimensional Breast Leaves Three-Dimensional Couple Stranded
MIAMI (AP) — A couple returning home from a Costa Rican vacation was ejected from an American Airlines flight because the man was wearing a T-shirt depicting a bare breast.
Oscar Arela and his girlfriend were removed from Flight 952 on Saturday after he refused to change the shirt or turn it inside out at Miami International Airport (search).
The couple, who were making a connecting flight, said nobody on their earlier flight objected to the shirt and claimed the airline violated their constitutional right to free speech.
"It's a picture of a man and woman, and the woman's breast is showing," said his girlfriend, Tala Tow. "The flight attendant basically walked up to us and yelled, 'You have to take off that shirt right now.'"
American spokesman Tim Wagner said Sunday that crew members acted properly, and said the shirt was more graphic than the couple described. The airline gave them a refund, he said.
Wagner noted on American's Web site the policy clearly states that someone who is "clothed in a manner that would cause discomfort or offense to other passengers" can be removed from a flight.
Dentist Guilty of Nude Association
NANTICOKE, Pa. (AP) — A helmet would be nice, but police here said clothes would be a good start when riding a motorcycle.
A local dentist pleaded guilty to a summary charge of disorderly conduct for driving a motorcycle with a naked woman on the back. The woman faces more serious charges.
Dr. Joseph P. Gronka, 39, of Scott Township, was pulled over June 12 when police noticed Lisa Drozdowski, 39, of Nanticoke, riding naked on the back of his motorcycle. Since then, Gronka has paid court costs and fines totaling $277.50.
Gronka declined comment.
Police said Drozdowski was belligerent when she was taken into custody and threw a small pipe into her cell toilet, then kicked an officer who tried to prevent her from flushing the toilet. She was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, tampering with evidence, resisting arrest and open lewdness.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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