Bits and Bites from Around the World > Ohio cop surprised by raccoon with meth pipe

 

Pet raccoon holding a meth pipe in driver’s seat

surprises Ohio police

Police officers respond to a lot of strange calls, but a recent incident involving a pet raccoon and a methamphetamine pipe in Ohio may take the cake for most unusual interaction.

An officer in central Ohio encountered Chewy, a pet raccoon, during a traffic stop Monday evening. While the car was initially pulled over for an active warrant on the driver, who also had a suspended licence, it was Chewy who alerted the cops to additional potential crimes.

Springfield Township police officer Austin Branham first approached the vehicle and detained a cooperative 55-year-old woman by the name of Victoria Vidal.

When Branham turned his attention back to the car, however, “things took an unusual turn,” the Springfield Township Police Department wrote in a press release shared to Facebook.

“As Officer Branham returned to the vehicle, he observed a raccoon named ‘Chewy’ sitting in the driver’s seat with a meth pipe in its mouth. Chewy had somehow gotten hold of a glass methamphetamine pipe, leading officers to further inspect the vehicle.”

Body camera video released by police showed the calm raccoon playing with the meth pipe, and at one point putting it in his mouth, while the officers laughed, incredulous at the sight.

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A zoomed-in video still shows Chewy with the meth pipe in his mouth. Handout / Facebook / Springfield Township Police Department

Chewy’s adventures in drug paraphernalia led the officers to further search the car, where they found a bulk amount of methamphetamine, crack cocaine and three used meth pipes, police said.

Vidal was charged with possession of drugs and three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and was cited for driving under suspension, authorities said. She was also subsequently turned over to Cuyahoga Falls Police on her active warrant, where additional charges related to crack cocaine possession will be presented at a grand jury pending lab results.

“Thankfully, Chewy the raccoon was unharmed, and notification was made to the proper authorities to determine that she has the proper paperwork and documentation to own the raccoon,” police said, adding that Vidal did have all the right papers. “While our officers are trained to expect the unexpected, finding a raccoon holding a meth pipe is a first!”

“No raccoons were hurt or injured in this incident,” authorities confirmed. “As always, we remain committed to keeping our community safe — no matter what surprises may come our way.”

Springfield Township

‘Surgical Strikes Hitting Surgical Wards’: UN Passes Resolution to Protect War Zone Hospitals

But will it actually make a difference?

Syrian army soldiers gather in front of the al-Dabit maternity clinic after it was hit by rockets fired by insurgents in government-held parts of Aleppo city, Syria, in this handout picture provided by SANA on May 3, 2016. © SANA 

The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution condemning attacks on medical facilities in conflict zones, following a spate of deadly hospital bombings in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan in recent months.

"Such attacks must end," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said prior to the vote. "When so-called surgical strikes end up hitting surgical wards, something is deeply wrong."

The pledge, which has no clearly-defined legal power, but can serve as a recommendation, was co-authored by New Zealand, Spain, Egypt, Japan and Uruguay, the non-permanent members of the UN’s executive body, and upheld by the permanent members, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The 14-point resolution, not only demanded a stop to attacks on hospitals, but also said all warring must provide immunity and safe passage to medical personnel in the conflict zone. UN bodies will now compile reports on violations in individual countries, while peacekeepers have been given a mandate to help keep medical areas secure.

The resolution was passed following an impassioned speech from Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) President Dr. Joanne Liu, who said that in Syria alone its affiliated hospitals had been attacked 94 times since the breakout of the conflict in 2011, as part of a deliberate strategy “where healthcare is systematically targeted, and besieged areas are cynically denied medical care.”

“Four of the five permanent members of this council have, to varying degrees, been associated with coalitions responsible for attacks on health structures over the last year,” Liu chided the Council. “These include the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the Russia-backed Syrian-led coalition.”

The resolution was being discussed just as news came out of Aleppo that three people had been killed and at least 15 injured by an Islamist rebel attack in the city of Aleppo, the sixth such incident since fighting intensified around what was once Syria’s biggest city two weeks ago.


Burnt vehicles are pictured in front of the damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria April 28, 2016. © Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters

The most deadly of these attacks came last week, when what rebels said was a government strike, killed 55 people in an MSF facility. Damascus has denied responsibility.

Other notable attacks included one on a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz last October, which was ostensibly targeted at Taliban fighters hiding in the facility, but resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people.

MSF has called the incident a “war crime,” and said that there had been no armed combatants at the facility.

These are, indeed, war crimes, and should not be tolerated whatsoever. A condemnation with no teeth is not going to change anything. They need to state quite emphatically that hits on hospitals or clinics will be treated as war crimes and those responsible as criminals to be prosecuted in the Hague.


The damaged hospital in which the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) medical charity operated is seen on October 13, 2015 following an air strike in the northern city of Kunduz. © AFP

The NGO says that Saudi Arabia has destroyed three of its hospitals in Yemen over a period of several months, starting from last October, and that similar tactics were being applied in Sudan, the Central African Republic, and eastern Ukraine.


Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick (C), inspects damage at a hospital in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz January 21, 2016. © Anees Mahyoub / Reuters

France and the UK welcomed the resolution, while admitting that it did not propose anything that wasn’t already covered by other existing international legislation.

Russia also supported its text, but insisted that all reports of hospital strikes “must be verifiable” and cautioned against alleged hospital attacks being used for “media smear campaigns, for the purpose exerting political pressure in the interests of involved parties.”

I Got Hit by a Car

 I should have known that dropping an open can of cornmeal on the laptop last night was just the beginning. But I woke up this morning, got dressed and took the pit-bulls (long-haired Chihuahua and three legged toy poodle – King Charles Cavalier spaniel cross) out for a walk. 

The very second we stepped out the door of my trailer it started to rain. Bailey (the tripod), being a refugee from Edmonton, understands weather and was done her business before leaving the yard.

Belle needs a longer walk. She finally stopped right behind a parked Camry. As I was preparing to pick up Queen Isabella's treasure, a car came along, rolled down his window and asked me to recite Bailey's life story while standing there in the rain.

After a brief tri-pedal biography, I turned and bent down to recover the Queen’s jewels and got wacked in the head. What was that? It was the Camry! I was hit by the Camry, and it was still coming at me. I yelled and hit the trunk with my fist and, fortunately, the car stopped. Fortunately, also, that it hit my head where there is very little likelihood of it doing any damage.

Neither the elderly woman driver nor the male passenger bothered to get out of the car. Amazing! And, of course, being a good Canadian I apologized for getting hit by her car.

Oswald Chambers: If we worship God in the trying circumstances, He will alter them in 2 seconds when He chooses. 

I decided I had better go to church.