National Roundup

Louisiana
Stranded fugitive arrested after flagging down deputy sheriff
RACELAND, La. (AP) — A fugitive who authorities say evaded capture since 2013 has been arrested after he flagged down a deputy in Louisiana.

The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that 30-year-old Jansen Simon was walking down Louisiana Highway 182 on Sunday when he flagged down a deputy. Simon told the deputy he was traveling with his friends, but they had left him on the side of the road.

News outlets report the officer verified Simon’s identity and took him into custody. In 2013, authorities say Simon struck another man with a hammer during an argument outside a bar. The man suffered a fractured skull.

Simon was charged with aggravated second-degree battery and two counts of contempt of court.

It’s unclear if Simon has a lawyer.

New Mexico
Police: Man threatens to pull gun over wrong taco order
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man is facing charges after police say he threatened to pull a gun on a taco shop employee for giving him the wrong order.

The Los Alamos Monitor reports that Lex Norman Deines was arrested Sunday following a heated exchange with an employee at Rigoberto’s Taco Shop near one of the nation’s premiere weapons labs.

Los Alamos Police Department Cpl. Jemuel Montoya says an employee said Deines promised to retrieve a gun out of his car over the allegedly botched tacos. Witnesses said they heard the threat.

The 48-year-old Deines was booked at the Los Alamos County Detention Center and is facing disorderly conduct and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges.

Wisconsin
Officer with stun gun sets naked man on fire
MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) — Police say an officer using a stun gun to restrain a naked man accidentally set the man’s chest hair and beard on fire.

Officers found the 32-year-old naked man standing in the street in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on Sunday evening. They say the man yelled that he wanted to harm people living nearby.

Officers suspected he was impaired by drugs and placed him in handcuffs, but the man struggled and refused to enter a squad car.

That’s when one officer deployed a stun gun, striking a lighter in the man’s hand. The lighter fluid and electricity combined to spark the fire in his beard and chest hair.

As officers extinguished the blaze, the man punched one of them in the face.

West Virginia
Sheriff: 5-year-old, 2-year-old crash family car
RED HOUSE, W.Va. (AP) — Authorities in West Virginia say a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old took their mother’s car for a 3-mile (5 kilometers) ride on a curvy, winding road before crashing it and escaping unharmed.

The boys took the car from their mother’s house Monday. Putnam County Sheriff Steve Deweese said Wednesday officials think the brothers worked together to steer the vehicle, but aren’t sure because they haven’t confessed details. The car crashed into a ditch.

Deweese told news outlets deputies didn’t find the mother until nearly an hour later. He says she thought the boys were playing in the front yard.

The children were checked out at a hospital but had no injuries.

Deweese says authorities are working with the prosecutor’s office and Child Protective Services to determine whether charges are warranted.

Florida
Self-described drug dealer calls 911, reports stolen cocaine
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Calling 911 to report a stolen bag of cocaine probably wasn’t the best idea for a self-described Florida drug dealer.

But Okaloosa Sheriff’s officials wrote on Facebook that 32-year-old David Blackmon did just that on Sunday morning.

The post says Blackmon called 911 to report a robbery in Fort Walton Beach. Blackmon told the responding deputy that someone entered his car and took $50 and about a quarter ounce of cocaine from the center console.

The report says the deputy spotted some cocaine and a crack rock on the console and a crack pipe on the floorboard by the driver’s side door.

Blackmon is charged with possession of cocaine and resisting arrest without violence. He was released from jail on Tuesday.

Florida
Sheriff’s office asks family to pay $314k for crash records
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s office is asking the family of a pedestrian killed by a police cruiser to pay $314,000 for access to public records related to the officer who was driving the vehicle.

The Florida Times-Union reports that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office returned the huge bill for the records search after an attorney for the family of Blane Land requested records related to the officer’s personnel history.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Lauri-Ellen Smith says the office is reviewing the matter. Sheriff’s officer Tim James fatally hit Land in May and was arrested in June.

Barbara Peterson of the Florida First Amendment Foundation told the newspaper the high estimate is likely a violation of Florida’s public records law because it denies the constitutional right to access records.


Ohio
Man overboard uses prosthetic leg to stay afloat
DOYLESTOWN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man says his prosthetic leg helped save his life after he went overboard during a fishing trip.

Adam Shannon, of Doyles­town, says he was fishing on Dohner Lake near his home Monday evening when a seat on his boat broke, sending him into the water.

Shannon’s prosthetic leg came off as he went into the lake. The 45-year-old was able to use his prosthetic as a floatation device when it got trapped in his pants and filled with air.

Shannon called 911 for help, and his yelling attracted the attention of a family who lives nearby. Jeffrey and Matthew Krause grabbed their boat, paddled out to Shannon and tugged the man to shore.

Shannon tells the Akron Beacon Journal he doesn’t know what would’ve happened without his leg.