Making it easy for the police

You gotta love it when the criminals catch themselves. It makes thing so convenient for the authorities.

A routine traffic stop turned into a police chase after police ran the car's plates and realized it was stolen.

...

Officers tried to pull the suspects over when the registration came back as a stolen vehicle out of Corpus Christi. They didn't get too far. The passenger was arrested as soon as he jumped out of the car and tried to run. As for the driver, he ran right into a mailbox and knocked himself out.

(from WOAI-TV)

Cuffing him probably wasn't very hard. Thanks, clumsy crook!

Someone who should think a lot before doing drugs

This is a whole lot of WTF from just one man.

A wild string of events on the Southeast Side led to a man's arrest Wednesday evening.

Police said the incidents started just before sunset when a couple of kids riding their bikes were approached by the 20-year-old suspect.

"He told us if we wanted to go smoke with him in his clubhouse and we took off," Julian Salazar said.

Police said the suspect chased the kids and also asked them to "have sex," but then headed back to the road and started to throw punches at moving cars.

"Apparently our suspect was acting aggressively and irrationally towards vehicles driving by, swinging at them, trying to hit cars," Sgt. Trey Roussel with the San Antonio Police Department.

Police said the man even jumped into someone's vehicle. "As I was getting out he jumped in and asked me to take him somewhere and I was not going to. In self-defense, I punched him and he jumped out," said Raymond Gleason.

(from KSAT-12)

The police eventually caught him. And guess what? He had been doing drugs.

Surprised?

Someone who should be a little more suspicious

If your friend asks you to drive him to an apartment complex to pick up some things, and then he asks you to wait by a dumpster (you know, kind of hidden away in the parking lot), and then he returns with a couple of major electronic pieces, you might want to ask him -- perhaps -- what the hell he is doing.

Police say a burglary suspect conned his driver into giving him a ride to his next crime.

According to an arrest warrant, 21-year-old Michael Gonzalez asked a woman take him to the 10300 block of Sahara on Nov. 29 to pick up some belongings. The driver told police he had her wait near a dumpster at the apartment complex.

A short time later, Gonzalez came from the apartment carrying two large televisions. The driver told police she didn't think anything was suspicious, since it was in the middle of the day.

Unbeknownst to her, she was his get away ride from an apartment break-in.

(from KENS 5)

Next time, tell him to take a cab.

Turning off the lights

Maybe the tree rats hate the new, ugly, Seuss-like River Walk lights, too.

Pesky rodents are chewing through the city's Riverwalk lights display, leaving some visitors disappointed with the views.

According to Paula Stallcup, the city's director of downtown operations, a city contractor is replacing faulty or damaged lights twice a week, in an effort to maintain the popular display.

The city recently finished a $580,000 [*choke* --ed.] switch to LED lights on the Riverwalk, and has already had problems with light banks shorting out because of moisture.

"The people that come down here, the tourists, they come for the lights, and since they switched to the LEDs, a lot of them have been disappointed," said Carlos Delgado, a manager at Rio Rio Cantina on the Riverwalk.

Stallcup said the squirrels weren't a problem before the switch to LED lights because the traditional lights dangled from the ends of branches. The LED lights are wrapped around tree trunks, which makes them more accessible to wildlife, Stallcup said.

(from KSAT-12)

Or maybe the tree rats like the new lights better. Perhaps they are more tasty than the pretty ones that came before.

Calling B.S. on a fundraiser

I hate to be a wet blanket, especially when the charity seems so worthy, but I doubt that these beasts are truly artistes.

A rescue organization inundated with animals suffering because of the drought is getting creative for its upcoming fundraiser. The animals Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation has nursed back to health are creating works of art to raise money for the organization.

The first ever "Artistic Animals" fundraiser earlier this month was so popular, organization employees decided to have an encore show. The first show sold out in 20 minutes.

Domestic and wild animals have been playing with non-toxic paint to create 41 pieces of art. The animals are attracted to the smell and texture of the paint, explained supervisor Kimberly Stephens. She said it's an "enrichment" activity that the animals enjoy while they are in captivity.

(from WOAI-TV)

I notice "enrichment" is in sarcasm quotes. Or are they scare quotes?

You decide.

Not paying very much attention

Didn't something like this happen not too long ago?

Traffic in the downtown area came to a halt Monday morning after an 18-wheeler got stuck under a bridge at Roosevelt and South St. Mary's Street.

The rig's driver told police she was looking for her CPS unit [sic] and failed to see the warning signs, causing her to crash the top of the truck aginst [sic] the railway bridge around 4:30 a.m.

(from KSAT-12)

Why, yes. Something like this did happen not too long ago.



Lesson #1 for driving a truck on the South Side: Be careful on Roosevelt Street, and pay attention to the signs.

And trade in your CPS unit for a much more functional GPS unit.

Protesting ... what, again?

Somebody please remind me what the Occupy folks are supposed to be protesting. Or standing up for. Or whatever.

Because it sure seems to me like they just can't stand success. Anybody's. And they don't seem to want the Alamo City thrive.

The local [Occupy] group said Saturday that it will march to the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce for a peaceful demonstration at 3 p.m. Monday. Its purpose is to show solidarity with movements including Occupy Oakland, which shut down its local port in early November and called the latest blockade to support longshoremen in Longview, Wash., in their dispute against Export Grain Terminal.

In a general assembly meeting, Occupy San Antonio voted to take a local union's suggestion to protest where it can.

“Even though the Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, they spend a lot of time supporting the bigger corporations,” said Meghan Owen, 30, an Occupy San Antonio facilitator. “Large corporations are gaining footholds in our community, and that's not necessarily a good thing.”

(from the Express-News)

It's not necessarily a bad thing, either.

In fact, I'll say it is a good thing. It means that other companies find the San Antonio area a good place to invest their businesses in. Which brings jobs. And growth. And general prosperity for the city and the governmental entities that rely on growth for more revenues.

Don't get me wrong, the success of local businesses is a good thing, too. But we also need big businesses. Do you really think the city is going to keep growing if we just ask for more taco trucks and bike rental places and tell any potential Toyotas that we don't want their kind around? Really?

Tell me I'm wrong about this. Because it sure seems that the Occupiers just don't give a damn about anyone else, which makes it hard to argue that they represent the 99 percent of whatever.

“Even though the Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, they spend a lot of time supporting the bigger corporations.”

So, damn them. I guess.

Feuding with the neighbors

With dog poop.

And pepper spray.

Candice Singh says the feud started three years ago when she caught her neighbor tossing dog poop into her yard.

Ever since, Singh said there have been rocks thrown, more poop tossed, vandalism, spit and numerous calls to police. ...

On Tuesday, Singh said she was sweeping the poop out of her yard and into the street [Into the what? Where? --ed.] outside her Joseph Phelps home [Her what home? --ed.]. Video from a surveillance camera shows neighbor Leticia Rodriguez walk up to Singh with a broom in hand. But Rodriguez wasn't only carrying a broom. She was also holding onto a can of pepper spray.

Surveillance video shows Rodriguez spray her neighbor right in the face.

"It burned," Singh said. "I could not breath [sic]. I was immediately throwing up."

Then Rodriguez put her broom to work.

"I couldn't see, and she's still sweeping poop on me while I'm in pain from the mace," Singh said. "And she got it in my mouth, also."

(from KENS-5)

I hope she means pepper spray got in her mouth. That would be uncomfortable, for sure, but the alternative would be quite gross.

But possibly not surprising.

Getting fired

Isn't this a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't kind of situation?

Natalie Johnson is a 27-year-old student and, until last week, worked at the River Center Macy's.

On Nov. 30, a teenager shopping caught her attention.

"I made sure to keep an eye on him because he was shopping for women's clothing," remembered Johnson.

She said she was convinced the shopper was a man. So when she saw him in the women's dressing room, she told him he couldn't change there.

...

But the group of people he was with supported the shopper, arguing Macy's policy allows transgender people to change in the fitting room of the gender they associate with.

...

Johnson said she was let go.

...

A response from the retail giant said, "Macy's does not comment on personnel matters. At Macy's, we recognize and appreciate the diversity of our customers and associates."

(from KSAT-12)

All my life I grew up with the notion that if a man tried to enter a restroom, locker room, or any other space set aside exclusively for women, that man would be soundly mocked, ridiculed, and possibly arrested. But now, apparently, all a man needs do is identify himself as transgender and he can go anywhere. At least in Macy's.

I feel a bit sorry for the employee. If she had adhered to company policy (which she was well aware of) and allowed a man into a women-only area and something bad had happened, then she would have been vilified for that. And the company as well. Instead, she ignored the policy and acted according to her beliefs and convictions.

And she got fired for it.

But at the same time I'm not sure how sorry I feel for Ms. Johnson. Her actions were carried out with full knowledge of the possible consequences, and that's a choice she made. But one thing this incident does show is that Macy's doesn't seem to want her kind of diversity.

Car crashes into house

This just goes to show, you cannot -- I repeat, cannot -- rely on the vehicle to take over for you while you take a nap. They hate houses too much to care.

Police said the 30-year-old woman who was behind the wheel told them she fell asleep around 4:30 a.m., causing her vehicle to go out of control in the 600 block of North Colorado Street.

The SUV took out a chain link fence and cut a path through the front yard of one home, then came to rest against the front wall of the house next door.

A woman who lives there said her bed is located on the other side of the wall that was hit.

While the crash startled her, she said she was not hurt. Her front steps stopped the SUV from entering her home.

(from KSAT-12)

And they hate fences, too. Though apparently the front stoop proved too much for this particular SUV.

Milk!

Did someone order a shake on the South Side?

Rainfall wasn't the only thing making roads slick Monday morning. One major street was covered in milk, as well.

About 15 plastic crates full of milk cartons apparently fell from a delivery truck.

It happened on eastbound Southcross underneath I-35 at about 5 a.m. Monday.

Apparently no one was crying over the spilt milk. Police couldn't find the truck that lost the milk delivery.

(from KENS-5)

I think the driver of that truck just plum forgot about the mishap.

He was drinking Milk of Amnesia.

Someone who needs to know when to bail out of a plan

If you were a lone crook, and you were trying to steal someone's truck, how far would you go to get it once things started going wrong?

This guy probably should have quit sooner than he did.

SAN ANTONIO -- A man was shot in the leg while trying to steal a truck early Tuesday morning, police said. The homeowner told police he heard someone breaking into his truck outside his home near Rada and Renova on the city’s south side.

Police said it was around 2:30 a.m. when the would-be thief had trouble starting the engine, so, officers say, he tried to push the truck down the street.

(from WOAI-TV)

And he didn't get very far pushing that big ol' non-started truck before its rightful owner decided to slow him down a little more with a good dose of lead weight.

Jumping overboard -- or bridge

You know, I can think of better ways to try to escape from the police. Or, at least, less painful ones. Especially if I were handcuffed.

A man is in the hospital Monday afternoon after escaping from police, then jumping off an Interstate 35 overpass and falling 20 feet to the ground below.

According to San Antonio police Sgt. Jay Vinson, Johnathan Gomez, 20, was handcuffed and had escaped police custody after being arrested on a felony warrant charge of possession of a controlled substance.

Witness Robert Garcia said the man leaped over the bridge over Salado Creek.

...

The man was taken to SAMMC with a broken back and head injuries.

(from KSAT-12)

Ouch.

"Two people trapped inside their cars by down power lines"

Happy Thanksgiving!

And here's something to be grateful for: Not being trapped in your car by high voltage power lines.

The accident happened on Patricia near Vista Knoll early Thursday morning. According to police, the driver of a Nissan lost control and hit the pole. Then another driver coming in the opposite direction crashed into him and the pole. Both drivers were trapped inside their vehicles due to the fallen power lines outside.

Crews had to cut the power to several blocks in order to rescue them.

(from WOAI-TV)

Tigers?

Did you hear that some tigers got loose today? Somewhere near San Antonio?

Turns out it was nothing more than someone who was a bit confused. Apparently.

Bexar County Sheriff's deputies were sent to a home in the 27000 block of Okent Drive, near Blanco Road and Old Blanco Road around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday after receiving reports about large cats being loose on the property. Timberwood Park Elementary School was placed on lockdown after officials there were contacted by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. and told officers believed three white tigers could be loose in the area.

A Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told News 4 WOAI when their officers arrived, they found three tigers inside their cages. However, the owner kept insisting he could see at least one running loose. The San Antonio Zoo was called and a three-person team was dispatched to assist with the capture of the cats. The officers continued searching the property but found no other exotic animals. They were then told two panthers were contained inside the man's bedroom, so they went inside to check. When they opened the bedroom door, they found two stuffed panthers.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office says the owner apparently became confused and may have been hallucinating. They asked him to get a medical exam, but said he refused.

(from WOAI-TV)

Sounds like that guy needs some kind of examination, and I hope he gets the help he needs. But perhaps now would be the time to find new homes for the tigers. Or at least the stuffed panthers.

Talking about the weather, again

Back in October, I pointed out -- with mirth -- how a simple weather forecast on WOAI-TV regarding the approach of cold weather had prompted an astounding number of comments from readers and viewers. At that time, I said this:

I know it has been quite some time since we've had real cool weather here in San Antonio, but really? 822 freakin' comments about how cold it is?!

I don't think I have ever seen that many comments on any news story or blog post I've ever read. 400, 450 maybe. But never over 800, and never when the topic is as commonplace as the weather!

All I can say is: puro san antonio.

But now, almost a month later, WOAI is forecasting the weather for Thanksgiving, and here's what I see:



Yep, there it is, the same slate for "Storm Tracker 4" on the forecast, and there I see a whopping 860 comments!

Why, that's only 38 comments more than the last time I noticed. And, you know what? I think I was a bit wrong before. Those of us who live in San Antonio are not great big weirdos with nothing better to do than crash WOAI's servers with floods of weather-related comments. No, it seems the weather people at WOAI are the strange ones, because they seem to be updating the same entry over and over again with new weather and letting the comments from previous forecasts pile up on it with nary a care for how heavy that one entry gets.

But now, I'm hooked. Now, WOAI has me.

Because I can't wait to see it hit 1,ooo!

Tagging into the golden years

I guess you can never be too old to be a ne'er-do-well.

A police report shows officers arrested Richard Reta, 58, at N. Flores and Krempkau streets around 11 p.m. Saturday after seeing him spray painting an anti-corporate greed message on the ground.

He was charged with one count of graffiti, $1500-$20,000.

The report said Reta had a can of spray paint in his possession and paint on his clothing when he was arrested.

It also said he admitted to scrawling graffiti in several other locations, mostly along the route of the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon, which was slated to begin hours after his arrest. All together, the damage was said to be in excess of $2,000.

Police said Reta told officers he's part of Occupy San Antonio, a group of protestors who have been staging a sit-in in Hemisfair Park for weeks to show their displeasure with they call [sic] corporate greed.

(from KSAT-12)

To their credit, the Occupiers seem to be distancing themselves from this guy's actions. But KSAT also offers this:

[Occupier Joe] Ballard said Occupy does not condone any behavior that involves defacing city property.

If KSAT is accurately representing what this guy said, I find it noteworthy that the Occupiers do not condone defacing city property, but they make no mention of private property.

Noteworthy. But not surprising.

Dealing with animals

If you had an accident on the highway involving a big wild animal, you would think that your friends might help you out. Or you might think that they would not make the situation worse, at the very least.

But, if you were this guy, you would have another think coming.

SAN ANTONIO -- Police say a motorcyclist crashed into a deer and then had his bike stolen by his friends.

Investigators said the motorcyclist was riding with a group of people on motorcycles and a pickup truck when the man hit the deer and lost control of the motorcycle and fell onto the access road at Loop 410 and Ingram Road at around 2:30 a.m. Monday.

But instead of helping him, police said two women and a man picked up his motorcycle, put it in the back of the truck and left.

(from KSAT-12)

I think there's more to this story than is being reported by KSAT. A lot more.

Salad!

OK, maybe it's more properly called "coleslaw".

San Antonio--The scene is finally clear after an 18-wheeler overturned on I-10 downtown near the I-35 off ramp. The trailer was carrying produce including heads of cabbage and lettuce. The accident happened at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, but crews didn't finish getting all the debris until 7 p.m.

(from WOAI-TV)

Car crashes into house

The auto gets the house and the fence, too. And a couch.

A woman driving a Ford Mustang was traveling south on SW 34th Street when she attempted to turn on Motes Drive at a high rate of speed and lost control of her vehicle, traffic investigators said. The car went barreling through a fence and into a home at the 600 block of SW 34th Street.

A man who was sitting on a couch inside the home was apparently struck, and he was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

(from MySA.com)

That's one ambitious auto.