News of the weird

[WSUCougar]

Good thing they recently renewed this guy's license...

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia fatally struck a pedestrian and drove for three miles with the man's body through his windshield, police said.

Ralph Parker was stopped after he drove through a tollbooth on the Sunshine Skyway, Traffic Homicide Investigator Michael Jockers said. The toll taker called police, he said.

Parker was not likely to face charges because he did not appear to know what happened or where he was, said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant in the Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney's Office.

"He may have somewhere in his mind have realized it was a crash, but immediately forgot about it," Jockers said.

The victim's leg was severed in the Wednesday night crash, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was 52.

Parker had renewed his license in 2003.

"That was the one thing he had, to get in his car and just drive for the sheer enjoyment of driving," Jockers said. Parker lived alone after his wife died in 1998, authorities said.

[Ksyrup]

As long as you've got decent eyesight, you're renewed in this state. That's all you do - walk in, wait a while, look into the little telescope-looking device, read the 6 letters, pay $10, provide a new signature, get a new picture taken, and 10 minutes later, you've got a license for another 6 years. They don't really ask if you suffer from dementia.

[gstelmack]

I still remember the video they had from a decade or so ago (60 Minutes or something like that) of the old guy in Florida having trouble getting into the parking lot, parking partially on the grass, walking in, getting his license, and walking back out again...

[Ksyrup]

Police: Rapist arrested after he has victim write him a check

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Associated Press
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DAVIE, Fla. - A rapist who attacked a woman at gunpoint was captured when he forced his victim to write him a check in his own name and then tried to cash it, police said.

Officers said they arrested Anthony R. Roberts, 25, of Hialeah, on Wednesday night, minutes after he left the woman's apartment as he tried to cash the $1,400 check. He had told the victim to write in the memo line that the check was for electrical work.

"I don't know what the guy was thinking," said Davie police spokesman Lt. Bill Bamford. "I don't know if he thought that he put her in that much fear, ... (but) to walk into a check-cashing store like nothing happened, like she paid him for a job. That's one of the lowest forms of life."

Police said Roberts had stolen a BMW earlier in the evening in North Miami and driven to Davie, where he followed the victim to her third-floor apartment, pointed a gun at her head and forced her inside.

He pushed the victim to her knees, bound her with tape and asked if she had a checkbook or credit cards, police said. He then ordered her to write him a check, retaped her, covered her head with a pillowcase and raped her, police said.

He told the victim not to call police or he would come back and rape her again, police said.

When the victim freed herself, she called 911. Officers rushed to her apartment and as they talked to her, a suspicious clerk at a nearby check cashing store called the woman to ask about the check.

Police surrounded the store and arrested Roberts after a short foot chase.

Roberts confessed to robbing the woman, but denied raping her, police said.

He was being held without bail Friday on numerous charges, including sexual battery with a weapon, kidnapping, home invasion and aggravated assault.

A Broward County Public Defender's Office spokesman said Friday it's computers do not yet show the office representing Roberts and it could not be determined if he has a private attorney.

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[flere-imsaho]

I'm just glad that my Grandfather, at age 85, decided on his own that he was no longer competent to drive.

[Draft Dodger]

As long as you've got decent eyesight, you're renewed in this state. That's all you do - walk in, wait a while, look into the little telescope-looking device, read the 6 letters, pay $10, provide a new signature, get a new picture taken, and 10 minutes later, you've got a license for another 6 years. They don't really ask if you suffer from dementia.

while Florida does suck, I don't think they are different in this area than most other states.
I know my grandfather in Nebraska had decided he wasn't going to renew his license because he knew he shouldn't be driving, even though they would have renewed him with no problem.

EDIT: or, I could just read Flere's post...

[wishbone]

What about the "Man requests longer prison term to honor Larry Bird" story from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/basketball/nba/10/20/prison.bird.ap/

Hard time
Man requests longer prison term to honor Larry Bird


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A man got a prison term longer than prosecutors and defense attorneys had agreed to -- all because of Larry Bird.

The lawyers reached a plea agreement Tuesday for a 30-year term for a man accused of shooting with an intent to kill and robbery. But Eric James Torpy wanted his prison term to match Bird's jersey number 33.

"He said if he was going to go down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird's jersey," Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott said Wednesday. "We accommodated his request and he was just as happy as he could be.

"I've never seen anything like this in 26 years in the courthouse. But, I know the DA is happy about it."

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[wade moore]

What about the "Man requests longer prison term to honor Larry Bird" story from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/basketball/nba/10/20/prison.bird.ap/
Huh, never heard of this story before.

[Draft Dodger]

Huh, never heard of this story before.

should I go start a thread?

[Ksyrup]

Hey, I apologized in advance for mine. And, I did a search but it didn't turn up any other threads.

[Eaglesfan27]

Hey, I apologized in advance for mine. And, I did a search but it didn't turn up any other threads.
Your post wasn't the one that gave a sense of deja vu.

[Ksyrup]

I know, but my thread probably did.