Mother knows best — and apparently that includes how to throw down with the boys in blue.
Police say Karolein L. Walsh screamed at the driver of a van her 16-year-old son slammed his motorcycle into, and then challenged an officer that intervened to a street brawl, according to the Hartford Courant.
Never mind that her son was driving down the Farmington (search), Conn., road without a helmet, insurance or even a license — and that cops say the van's driver did nothing to cause the accident.
Police told the Courant that Walsh began shouting at the driver of the van, Dennis Dubois of Manassas, Va., after her son summoned her to the scene of the wreck.
Officer Joe Capodiferro repeatedly told the irate mom to leave Dubois alone, but she wouldn't back down, Sgt. Daniel L. Devine told the Courant.
Walsh told Capodiferro that the cops couldn't tell her what to do after he tried to intervene, Devine said.
After Capodiferro tried to interrupt again, Walsh threw her coat and pocketbook on the ground, tossed her camera to a nearby youngster and challenged him to a fight, police told the Courant.
"Let's go," she told Capodiferro, police said.
Declining the offer of a street fight with mad mommy, Capodiferro and a second cop arrested her — and she kicked at them the whole way to the police cruiser, Devine said.
— Thanks to Out There reader Belize C.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) — Say what you want about police officers, but they are no dummies.
The California Highway Patrol gave Kevin Morgan, 28, of Petaluma, a $351 citation for driving in a high occupancy vehicle or "HOV" lane (search) with a kickboxing dummy propped in the passenger seat.
The dummy was wearing a Miami Dolphins windbreaker and a baseball cap but Officer Will Thompson noticed that the "passenger" had no legs.
"When I looked inside his window, I thought, 'Oh, that's cute,'"
Thompson said. "I didn't even ask him where he got it. I think he was pretty embarrassed because all the people driving by were laughing."
Thompson often parks next to a car pool lane and stands on his car door rail to look down into passing vehicles. His point of view allowed him to see the legless dummy.
"I think about the only thing he said was, 'Well, that didn't help me very much today, did it?'" Thompson said. "I said, 'No, it didn't.'
Thompson then placed the dummy on a freeway shoulder to deter other commuters from similar schemes.
— Thanks to Out There readers Beth M. and Don W.
For Sale: House and Hand in Marriage
DENVER (AP) — For $600,000, a 40- to 60-year-old man can buy a house in a trendy Denver neighborhood that comes complete with a bride.
Deborah Hale, 48, has placed an ad on eBay offering to sell her home in the Washington Park area to a compatible man who wants to spend his life with her. She also has her own Web site outlining the deal.
"I'm looking for my soul mate," Hale told the Rocky Mountain News Tuesday. She did not immediately return a telephone message left at her home Wednesday.
Hale lives part-time in the 1910 bungalow-style house. She also has a jewelry business in Albuquerque, N.M.
She has received about 60 responses.
"I have to say that the e-mails that I have got have been very kind and very nice," Hale said.
The deadline for bidding is Valentine's Day 2006.
— Thanks to Out There reader Jack H.
Stealing Garden Gnomes Is Bad!
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — A woman will spend three days in jail for stealing flowers and lawn ornaments from area homes and gardens.
Lan Chicas pleaded no contest to three counts of theft and one charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
"I've learned my lesson," Chicas told the court.
She also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, complete 100 hours of community service and write apology letters to victims.
The charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor stems from a case where witnesses on Woody Way Loop Road said they saw a young girl exit Chicas' van and "tear some flowers from a retaining wall," the police report said.
Unlike some crimes where the thief needs food or money, Chicas did not need the flowers, Magistrate Steve Cole said during Monday's sentencing.
"It probably looked good in your yard, but still, this isn't food, this wasn't something you needed," Cole said.
"People really feel bad that this sort of thing has gone on," Assistant District Attorney Joe Slusser said. "People like to think that their yard angel or concrete bunny isn't going to be taken."
"This situation was quite out of character for Mrs. Chicas. She is a hardworking, conscientious person," said her attorney, Moshe Zorea.
Zoila Aguilar faces eight charges in the case, and is still awaiting trial.
— Thanks to Out There reader Aimee H.
Deer Almost Takes Out the Governor
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — He was antlered and dangerous — and he almost took out Gov. Tim Pawlenty. As Pawlenty arrived for work at the Capitol Thursday, he and his entourage heard shattering glass and then saw a big buck charge past about five feet from them. The deer broke two windows at the Capitol before bounding off.
The state's deer hunting season officially opens Saturday, and Pawlenty is headed to the northwestern Minnesota city of Perham for his annual kickoff event.
Pawlenty said the parking lot incident was a good omen.
"We could have had the governor's deer opener right here at the Capitol," Pawlenty said. "If that's any indication, the deer hunting is going to go well this year."
State natural resources officials say the urban deer herd is much larger than usual this year. Ramsey County, which includes St. Paul, is considering hiring sharp shooters to thin the deer population along freeways and other well-traveled areas.
It's mating season for deer, when rutting bucks sometimes charge their own reflections in windows.
PERRY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Things got out of hand for the second time in two years at a wedding reception in Shiawassee County: a guest lost part of a finger during a fight.
Philip L. Michalek, was accused of biting off the tip of another man's thumb during a scuffle Saturday night outside the Perry Township Hall, police said.
Michalek, 26, was arraigned Monday on an assault charge and jailed with bond set at $10,000. If convicted, he could face 10 years in prison.
Police said Michalek was scuffling with Ryan Dickey, 23, when the incident occurred. Dickey was taken to a Lansing hospital, but doctors could not reattach the severed part of his thumb, authorities said. He has since been released from the hospital.
State police Detective Sgt. Mark Pendergraff said Michalek and Dickey had a dispute and went to the parking lot. "They got into a scuffle, and the victim's thumb ended up in the suspect's mouth," he told The Flint Journal.
In 2003, a wedding guest was arrested after biting off part of a man's finger, biting the thumb of the bridegroom and knocking down the bridegroom's mother during a fracas involving several people outside a wedding hall in Corunna.
In that case, the guest pleaded no contest to assault and battery and felonious assault charges.
— Thanks to Out There reader Greg M.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Andrew Hard.
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