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Woman charged with shooting at litter bugs

GRAFTON, Wisconsin (Court TV) -- Do not litter in the town of Grafton. You might just get shot at!

Police responded late evening on July 25 to a phone call from a woman complaining about broken glass on her property. The woman claimed several trucks had littered outside her home over the course of the evening. She also mentioned that she'd fired a warning shot from her .22-caliber handgun when the offenders drove by.

Bad mistake.

Police immediately arrested the 45-year-old woman, saying nothing justifies firing a gunshot. The woman's name has yet to be released, but Ozaukee County authorities are seeking to charge her with endangering safety with a reckless use of a weapon.

The woman claims her neighborhood is plagued by "rowdies," young kids who drive up and down every Thursday night and throw garbage. Pickup is usually on Fridays. Authorities have been unable to locate the vehicles in the alleged littering and say there wasn't much garbage anyway, except for a destroyed beer bottle approximately 40 feet from the woman's driveway.

Oops! Forgot the evidence

SILVER SPRING, Maryland --Police thought it would not take long to capture the suspect in the robbery of a camera store. After all, the thief left behind a picture of himself.

At about 5:50 p.m. on July 27, authorities said the man entered Snap Shots and posed for a passport picture. As the employee took the picture and readied the print, the man pulled a gun and demanded a handful of cash from the register, said Lucille Baur, public information officer for Montgomery County Sheriff's Department.

The man then fled from the store. But he forgot to take his picture with him.

Authorities released the photo to several local news outlets and have checked numerous leads but have yet to apprehend the suspect. He is described as a black man in his late 20s or early 30s, about 6 feet tall and weighing about 225 pounds.

Where's the beef?

SAN ANDREAS, California -- Memo to all outdoor chefs: watch your meat!

Calaveras County authorities were called to a residence at about 6:15 p.m. on July 31 by a woman who claimed that her tastily-scented hunk of tri-tip steak was snatched from her barbecue grill while she had momentarily turned away.

Police arrived and noticed a trail of meat juice and followed it up to the next door apartment. Inside, authorities found the partially-cooked meat on a bathroom counter. The apartment resident, Lindsey Blackledge, 19, was arrested and charged with suspicion of receiving stolen property.

The steak never made it back to the grill.

Suspect tries to escape through storm drain

MESA, Arizona -- A burglary suspect tried to slide away from police by stripping naked and ducking into an 18-inch storm drain.

On July 27, authorities said Johnny Valenzuela was among three men caught loading items from a storage unit into a vehicle. Upon seeing police, the three men ran.

One of the suspects was apprehended immediately while another got away. Meanwhile, Valenzuela got undressed so he could better wriggle through the pipe. Officers in pursuit found the naked 27-year-old in the storm drain gutter and chased him from manhole to manhole, eventually placing a police dog at one end.

Valenzuela, seeing no way out, ultimately decided to come out. Covered in mud from head to toe, firefighters had to wash him with a hose before police took him away.

Valenzuela was booked in the Mesa city jail on outstanding warrants of driving without a license and was later charged with criminal damage, according to a Maricopa County clerk.

One-legged suspect can't elude police

DAYTON, Ohio -- Police caught a man when his leg fell off.

Authorities say Michael Ford, 41, apparently thought he could outrun police after he tried to ram his van into a squad car. He fled on foot after he was cornered in a cul-de-sac but didn't get far. His prosthetic leg fell off during the escape attempt and he was arrested moments later.

Ford and two accomplices were in a van parked outside a local lawn mower business at around 3:30 a.m. on August 1, authorities said. Police suspected the men were trying to steal lawn mowers so they pulled up behind the van. Ford immediately stepped on the gas and allegedly tried to ram the squad car. During a brief pursuit, Ford ultimately lost control of his van and crashed into a tree. At that time, he tried to jump out of the vehicle, only to get his foot caught in the door causing him to lose his leg.

Ford was charged with felony theft and felony eluding, according to a Montgomery County clerk. The other men in the car, James Griffe Jr., 31, and David Jones, 38, were charged with felony theft.