Odds and Ends – Friday September 14, 2018 – September 20, 2018

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(Shawni McLaughlin/Eugene Police Department via AP)
(Shawni McLaughlin/Eugene Police Department via AP)

Oregon officer rescues baby deer stuck in fence

Eugene, Ore. (AP) – An animal welfare officer in Oregon is getting attention after her body-worn camera captured her rescuing a baby deer. The Eugene Police Department on Thursday made public a video and photo of Officer Shawni McLaughlin freeing a terrified fawn that got stuck in a backyard fence. In the video, McLaughlin wraps the fawn’s head in a towel and lifts it from between two narrow fence posts as she gently talks to the deer. The fawn lies on the ground for a few seconds after being freed, apparently not aware it can walk. McLaughlin pets it before it springs up and runs away. An open sore can be seen on the fawn’s left hip.

Low-number Delaware license plate auctioned for $410K

Rehoboth, Del. (AP) – Low-numbered Delaware license plates are in demand. Someone paid $410,000 for the plate bearing the number 20 when it went up for auction Sunday at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. John Wakefield, of Delaware Tag Traders, tells the Delaware News Journal the price exceeded expectations. He says it surpassed $325,000 spent on a number 14 license plate three years ago. Wakefield says a number like 20 “generates quite a stir and a buzz.” Wakefield likens the license plate auction to baseball cards. He says “it’s a Delaware thing.”

Large European hornets’ nest removed from car in Ohio

Alliance, Ohio (AP) – European Hornets have been removed after building a large nest in a car in Ohio, in a scene that looked like a horror movie. Travis Watson, who owns The Bee Man, was called into action after the nest was found inside the El Camino on Sunday. Watson tells WJW-TV the queens emerge from hibernation in April and it takes a long time to get workers in the nest. Once the queen starts to only lay eggs the nest starts growing quite rapidly in July. Watson says the hornets aggressively defend the nest and can sting repeatedly. He wore a triple-layer suit and sting-proof gloves while blowing a powder into the nest. He removed the nest and disposed of it because, he says, the hornets do not pollinate like honey bees.

Sprinting naked man leads
LA police on lengthy pursuit

Los Angeles (AP) – A naked man who sprinted with Los Angeles police officers running after him and a police helicopter overhead is in custody after a lengthy chase. The pursuit at dawn Friday captured live by TV news helicopters began after the man abandoned a suspected stolen truck on a freeway east of downtown. Illuminated by a police helicopter spotlight, the man sprinted along dirt footpaths, through a homeless encampment and scaled a fence. Officers closed in as he hid under trees, but the man then ran down an embankment and across several busy freeway connector roads, dodging cars. The man disappeared into a hilly wooded area behind residences but officers caught up with him. He was not immediately identified.

Thief in Mexico tries to steal hearse,
with body inside

Mexico City (AP) – Police in central Mexico said they’ve caught a man who made off with a hearse – complete with a corpse inside. The Tlaquepaque police department says on its Facebook page that the hearse had been readied to take the body of an 80-year-old man from a hospital in neighboring Guadalajara to a funeral home. Police say a 40-year-old man has admitted seeing the keys left in the vehicle and deciding to take it late Friday night. Officers were alerted and they soon spotted the hearse along a highway and detained the suspect, whose name was given only as Annibal Saul N. Police said Saturday he’s been turned over to prosecutors. Both the hearse and the body were recovered.