Crime and Punishment

Bank Teller Fired For Catching Robber

Jim Nicholson, a bank teller in Seattle, heroically chased and subdued a man who tried to rob his bank last Tuesday.  On Thursday his employer, Key Bank, somewhat less heroically fired him. Nicholson was working when a man in sunglasses…




Muslim Clerics Issue Cell-Phone Fatwa

A panel of Muslim clerics in northern India have issued a fatwa prohibiting the use of cellphones, at least in certain un-Islamic ways. If they will extend this to the BlackBerry, I might be willing to convert. A fatwa, you may…


Rambo Cupid Fires Arrows Around Minnesota Neighborhood

Police in Burnsville, Minnesota, said that Kyle Fletcher went out onto his patio deck on April 3 with a powerful compound bow and fired several arrows into neighboring homes in an effort to impress a woman.  Police found arrows embedded in…


Police Stop of Ax-Wielding Bike Rider Found Justified

In a classic opinion of which I have just learned, the California Court of Appeal ruled in 1998 that police were in fact justified in detaining a man they saw on a bicycle at 3:00 in the morning, primarily because…



Rink Employees Fired For Late-Night Zamboni Run

Two employees of Idaho Ice World, a skating rink in Boise, were fired this week after they made a midnight fast-food run. That might not ordinarily have been a problem except that they were driving their Zambonis. As many of…