This is a list of weird, wacky, and other unusual stories that we found around the web. This is for June, 2021.
We are continuing with the old tradition of posting oddities in the news. Let’s take a look at what we were able to find this month:
Gutsy: Stealing the Sheriff’s SUV. Stupid: Getting Caught
We all know there is a fine line between gutsy and stupidity. This story certainly demonstrates that quite nicely. One person is accused of stealing the police sheriff’s SUV right outside of the sheriff’s office. Naturally, the suspect seemingly crossed that line into stupidity after getting caught:
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers’ vehicle was stolen on Thursday afternoon, according to Sheriff’s Communications Specialist Lori Poag
The vehicle is an unmarked black Chevrolet Tahoe.
Poag said the vehicle was stolen from outside the station at 400 W. Washington St. in Greensboro.
The SUV was recovered at an Exxon station in the 3200 block of East Gate City Boulevard.
A female suspect has been taken into custody.
Never Hide from Police in a Building if That Building is the Police Station
When suspects try to evade police capture, they can do a number of different things in an effort to thwart their police pursuers. One method is to ditch the vehicle and hide inside a building. Well, in this case, the police chasing the suspect had no problem with the building of choice. As it turns out, the suspect decided to try and hide in a police station:
Thames Valley Police saw the funny side of the incident, tweeting: “We were worried when a driver stopped his car and ran to a building to hide…
“Luckily that building was Aylesbury Police Station!”
Using the thumbs-up emoji, it said the station’s front counter had since reopened to the public “and anyone looking to hide from police”.
It added a “number of small items” were thrown inside the station and it had closed briefly so they could be recovered.
The items would be sent off for testing.
A 25-year-old man from London was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs.
A Bad Way to Celebrate Pride Month
In the United States, June is Pride Month. Of course, there are a number of ways to celebrate. This includes showing off the pride flag, attending a pride parade to show support for the movement, or even just wishing LGBT friends a happy Pride Month to name a couple of possible ways. Then there are ways that are not just off the mark, but scream, “what were they thinking?” DC Comics found a way to do the latter. For the game Injustice 2, they celebrated by offering prizes to beat up a bi-sexual character. It really makes you wonder if anyone even came close to thinking that one through:
The mobile version of DC Comics’ fighting game Injustice 2 found itself in hot water earlier today after announcing an in-game challenge meant to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month. The problem was that the event tasked players with beating the shit out of Poison Ivy, a canonically bisexual character, hundreds of thousands of times. A strange way to celebrate!
“That’s fucking hilariously tone deaf,” wrote one ResetEra user in response to a promotional tweet, which has since been removed.
“At least they got the rainbow profile pic,” wrote another, pointing out the hypocrisy that corporations employ every June to appear progressive on LGBTQ+ issues by simply adding rainbows to their logos.
“High Anxiety” Water Slide Lives Up to It’s Name
A water slide in New Jersey wound up living to its name. The slide, named “High Anxiety”, went up in flames:
VERNON, New Jersey (WABC) — A giant waterslide at a New Jersey waterpark lived up to its name Tuesday when it went up in flames.
The ride, called ‘High Anxiety,’ caught fire at Mountain Creek Water Park in Vernon.
A spokesperson for the waterpark says the fire broke out when the park was closed, and there were no reported injuries.
“We can confirm that there was a fire at our water park today that affected our High Anxiety attraction,” spokesperson Brian Lowe said. “First and foremost, we are thankful that the park was closed and there were no reported injuries. We are grateful to the Vernon and other local responding volunteer fire and EMS departments as well as the Vernon Police, who responded within minutes to help extinguish the fire.”
To be fair, if I was in a water slide that caught fire, I’d be pretty anxious too.
Never Hand an Officer Who Pulled You Over an Open Beer
If the police pull you over, there are things you probably should do. This includes finding a safe place to pull over, putting your hands on the steering wheel to show the officer that you are unarmed, and open the window a crack to communicate. Then there is this guy that decided that the brilliant thing to do is hand the officer his beer. The headline pretty much writes itself: “Don’t hand your beer to a cop during a traffic stop“:
There are things to do during a traffic stop, and things not to do. Handing your open beer to a cop is one of them.
That’s what happened to a man in McLennan County earlier this month when approached by game wardens. The game wardens were patrolling near Lake Waco when they were cut off by the driver of a pickup.
The man then drove on the wrong side of the road before the wardens pulled him over, police said.
When wardens approached the truck, the man was having trouble turning down his music, they said. As he fumbled with the radio, he apparently handed one of the wardens an open beer so he could concentrate.
Wardens had other suspicions that the man was intoxicated after he stumbled out of the car and failed a field sobriety test. But passing the drink probably didn’t help his case.
Naturally, he was arrested. At that point, it might be a tad redundant for the officer to ask if he’d been drinking.
Don’t You Hate it When You Withdraw $20 from Your Bank Account only to Find it Has $999,985,855.94 in There?
It was probably meant to be a simple trip to the bank, but for one woman, she discovered she’d magically become an (almost) billionaire. The weird thing? Even the TV News Station couldn’t get in contact with Chase to figure out what happened:
LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) – Julia Yonkowski went to her local Chase Bank in Largo on Saturday to withdraw some money, but she wanted to check her balance first.
According to the bank receipt she received, Yonkowski had $999,985,855.94 in her account.
As you can imagine, being shocked was an understatement.
“Oh my God, I was horrified. I know most people would think they won the lottery but I was horrified,” she said.
8 On Your Side also reached out to Chase Bank, but no one was available to speak on Sunday.
Yonkowski said she’s heading to the bank first thing Monday morning in hopes of clearing everything up.
That had to have been a computer glitch, right?
Another Reason to Not Watch TV of Any Kind
Over the years, television has been seemingly doing everything it can to ward off audiences of all kinds. Whether it is the non-nonsensical show “The Proposal”, the decidedly unfunny show, “Meet the Family”, or the IQ destroying show, “Out There with Melissa DiMarco”, television has been warding off potential audiences for years in increasingly elaborate ways – yet some people keep watching despite these impressive attempts. So, it seems only fitting that Netflix is joining in on this contest to see who can produce the worst television show ever. This comes in the form of a show called “Sexy Beasts”. Not surprisingly, the writer for the Cut was left asking, “What Fresh Hell Is This, Netflix?”
Netflix has given us what no one asked for but we all deserve: a dating competition where all the contestants wear costumes best described as “unhinged.” Sexy Beasts, in Netflix’s words, “is a new dating show where real-life singles sport elaborate makeup and prosthetics to put true blind-date chemistry to the test.” It’s like The Bachelor meets The Masked Singer. It’s like a love contest for furries. It’s like Netflix said, “Oh, you want reality dating shows? Well, here you go, you little freaks.”
I don’t know what I was expecting when I read they were in costume, but … it wasn’t that. Everyone looks like the middle Animorph or what a sketch artist would draw if you described a dream you had. (I was on a date with this guy, but he was also a scarecrow? And I was, like, a dolphin or something??)
The trailer is a 79-second fever dream. We see a panda asking a long-haired bull, “Do you have health insurance?” A beaver, alone, says, “Ass first, personality second.” We also see the beaver saying “Damn!” upon seeing another contestant who has been painted blue and given hair like a Troll doll’s. Imagine having a body so good that it overshadows the fact that your body is blue and your ears, nose, and chin have all been elongated via prosthetics.
Anyone want to take a guess at what substance the writers were on when they came up with this?
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
