Possibly drunk pelican hits windshield

Possibly drunk pelican hits windshield

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- The driver was sober. The bird he hit may have been under the influence. A California brown pelican flew through the windshield of a motorist on the Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County Thursday, and wildlife officials said the bird was probably intoxicated by domoic acid, which has been found in the ocean in the area, said Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach. Birds can be poisoned through eating algae tainted by the acid. The driver was not hurt. The pelican needed surgery for a broken foot, and also had a gash on its pouch.

Man with faulty penile implant gets $400K

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A former handyman has won more than $400,000 in a lawsuit over a penile implant that gave him a 10-year erection. Charles "Chick" Lennon, 68, received the steel and plastic implant in 1996. The Dura-II is designed to allow the penis to be positioned upward for sex, then lowered. But Lennon could not position his penis downward. He said he could no longer hug people, ride a bike, swim or wear bathing trunks because of the pain and embarrassment. He has become a recluse and is uncomfortable being around his grandchildren, his lawyer said. In 2004, a jury awarded him $750,000. A judge called that excessive and reduced it to $400,000. On Friday, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed that award in a ruling that turned on a procedural matter.

Wash. sheriff's deputy mistakes pistol for Taser

BREMERTON, Wash. -- A sheriff's deputy who was trying to get a man down from a tree shot and wounded him after mistakenly pulling a gun instead of a Taser, authorities say. Deputies carry both a Taser and a gun on their utility belts. The Taser, or stun gun, is similar in shape to the compact .40-caliber gun the deputy carried, sheriff's spokesman Scott Wilson said. The victim was listed in satisfactory condition. The man had climbed a fig tree and stayed there for hours, talking to himself. Deputies were unsure whether he was intoxicated or psychotic, and they wanted to get him down before he hurt himself or others, Wilson said. Deputies and rescue workers tried to coax him down for almost two hours, during which he became increasingly hostile, said David Blakeslee, an employee at an auto repair shop nearby. Blakeslee said the man climbed down on his own after getting shot. "He said, 'Ow, that hurt. I'm coming down, I'm coming down,'" Blakeslee said.

-- From wire reports

Louisiana couple allegedly steal patrol car

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. -- A Louisiana couple is charged with stealing a Lincoln County Sheriff's Department patrol car and crashing the vehicle into a pole as the deputy gave chase in the couple's Toyota. David Andrew Beck, 35, and his girlfriend Linda Gaudet, 46, both of Pearl River, La., were waiting in the back of the police cruiser while the deputy searched the couple's vehicle, authorities said. Beck is accused of climbing out of the back window of the patrol car, jumping in the driver's seat and speeding off. A sheriff's department's narcotics agent followed in the Toyota, authorities said. Beck fled at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour down Interstate 55 and several Brookhaven city streets before crashing into a utility pole, Calcote said.

Clerk gets 6 months for soda urination

DELAND, Fla. -- A former convenience store clerk who urinated in a bottle of soda that was later drunk by a customer was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail.

Anthony Mesa, 22, has already served half his sentence since pleading no contest to tampering with a consumer product, and will remain on a form of house arrest for two years after release. He had faced up to 30 years in jail.

Circuit Judge James R. Clayton withheld adjudication on the case, which means Mesa will not be considered a convicted felon if he abides by the sentence.

Mesa was working at a Pix store in Deltona in August when he and a co-worker decided to play practical jokes. They put eggs in beer cartons, and Mesa thought it would be funny to urinate into a drink, according to arrest reports.

He admitted urinating into a Mountain Dew and placing it back into the refrigerator, authorities said.

The victim, a foreman with a Daytona Beach construction company, became suspicious of the drink after he chugged it and vomited three or four times. He settled a civil complaint with the store for an undisclosed amount of money before a lawsuit was filed.

$5 lottery ticket may cost Ind. big bucks INDIANAPOLIS -- A lawsuit over a winning $5 scratch-off lottery ticket may end up costing the state more than $1 million.

Indianapolis resident Tom H. Smith bought a $2 "instant win" ticket in 1996 and won $5. But he didn't try to collect the prize until months later and was told it was too late for the payout.

Smith appealed to lottery headquarters, saying he had no way of knowing the game had ended, and eventually filed a lawsuit against the Hoosier Lottery.

Others joined the lawsuit, saying they also tried to redeem winning tickets but missed a deadline they didn't know about. The suit went to the Indiana Court of Appeals and to the Indiana Supreme Court.

But Esther Schneider, who was appointed to be the Hoosier Lottery's executive director in 2005, said she wanted to settle the suit, which has already cost the lottery more than $450,000 in attorney fees.

"I thought, 'OK, how do we make this thing go away?'" she said.

A proposed settlement filed in Marion Superior Court this month would give Smith $15,000, and the lottery would set up a $600,000 fund to pay others entitled to back payments. If a judge approves the settlement, hundreds of other people could also collect on tickets purchased between 1989 and early 1997.

The lottery has since changed the way it ends payouts for scratch-off tickets. Each ticket sold now includes a precise date by which players must redeem their prizes.