Pasty Patsies
The guards in a security van in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, made a very big mistake when they decided that they would stop for a spot of breakfast while hauling a vanload of cash.
They exited the van at a local café to get some pasties, when they were attacked by six armed men. During the raid one guard was killed and another injured. The gang got away with 1.7 million bolívares (around 350,000 euros) according to a police spokesperson.
“This was a case of negligence on the part of the crew, as there are strictly no stops when in transit and because of this the six offenders have got away with 1.7 million,” said a police official from the investigation. Of course, the police are also looking at the likelihood that the gang had inside information… let’s face it, if they didn’t, it was bloody unlucky for the crew of the security van to stop for breakfast right next to an armed gang. Inside job for sure!
Dead Wrong
A woman in her sixties, who was hospitalised with a pulmonary infection, was later declared dead by one of the doctors and popped into a plastic body bag and despatched to the hospital morgue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to the daily newspaper there called O Globo.
The deceased then received a visit from her daughter, “I went to see my mother in the morgue and give her one last kiss. I shouted for help because I could see she was still alive and the staff looked at me as though I was mad,” she explained.
Hospital management stated that the patient, Rosa Celestrino de Assis had had two brain haemorrhages and had been breathing only with the assistance of a machine.
On a Friday evening a nurse called the on-call doctor as Rosa Celestrino had no vital signs. The doctor conducted tests, then certified death and sent the ‘corpse’ to the morgue.
The director of the hospital, Manoel Moreira Filho, told O Globo that on discovering the error, ‘she was immediately treated and transferred to the intensive care ward.’
The doctor who certified death has submitted his resignation and the nurse involved has been sacked, but their identities have not, as yet, been revealed to the press.
If the investigation into the incident finds that staff was negligent, there could be charges of assault or even manslaughter if the patient dies.
Don’t bag me up unless my head has dropped off! (Somebody bring that headless man a body bag! – Mylo)
Dwarf Tossing
Have you ever tossed a dwarf? Have you ever had the urge to toss a dwarf? Probably not. However, this practice has been around for quite a few years, with cases of dwarf tossing competitions making headlines back in the 80’s and 90’s in the UK and US.
Strangely, whilst living in London, I briefly knew a dwarf in the 90’s who had been regularly tossed and loved the sport, which gained him fame and a reasonable living for a while, until the practice was outlawed.
Well, in 1989, there was a bill passed to ban dwarf tossing in Florida, and now this law is in the news again because a Republican called Ritch Workman wants the law repealed.
“I’m on a quest to seek and destroy unnecessary burdens on the freedom and liberties of people. This is an example of Big Brother government. All that it does is prevent some dwarfs from getting jobs they would be happy to get,” explained Mr. Workman.
He went on to admit that he found the practice “repulsive and stupid,” however, continued with, “It’s none of the State’s business if somebody wants to do this.”
From another point of view came comments made by David Lodge, a Florida representative of Little People of America, “The possibility of getting paralyzed is high, and then to be used as an object for people’s amusement is very degrading.”
A former president of Little People of America, Robert Van Etten, has spent several years working with his wife to make people aware of the dangers of dwarf tossing, “It’s something that brings out the worst element in some people, and it’s focused on people who are the most vulnerable,” said Mr. Van Etten, pulling himself up to his full 1.20 metres.
Right or wrong, I can only say the chap I knew (sorry can’t remember his name for the life of me) really enjoyed his time as a tossed dwarf. He likened it to wrestling… there’s always one guy paid to be thrown around throughout the bout. (Should clowns be banned because it is demeaning? – Mylo)
Busting Bus
The Chinese police were a little shocked when they stopped a school bus designed to carry eight people and found it to contain 64 small children, the driver and a teacher, according to the official Chinese press.
The said vehicle, struggling under the weight of the 66 people crammed inside was stopped by police in the province of Hebei on 9th September, according to the daily Yangcheng Wanbao, on their Internet site.
The driver was given the appropriate ticket relating to driving an overloaded vehicle, added the Yangcheng web site.
The roads of China are considered some of the most dangerous in the world, with some 200 to 300 deaths every day.