Trucker suspended for watching TV, driving
LONDON — A court has suspended the license of a truck driver who careened down a highway while watching episodes of “Battlestar Galactica” on a laptop computer atop his dashboard.
Police say Benjamin Trotman drove for 25 miles in northern England last December with one eye on the road and the other on the show. A traffic officer who pulled him over found the show still playing on his computer.
Trotman’s lawyer claimed he had been looking at Google Maps while listening to the sound from the show. But Trotman pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
On Friday a justice of the peace banned him from driving for 15 months. He also was sentenced to 225 hours of community service and ordered to pay 546 pounds (U.S. $970) in costs.
Good grief! Gigantic gourd goes missing
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A massive pumpkin has gone missing from a front yard of a home in suburban Flint, Mich. — and its owner suspects some mighty strong thieves.
The Flint Journal reports Thursday the 450-pound pumpkin had been on display for only a day at the Grand Blanc Township home of Bill Teer. He spent five months growing the Atlantic Giant.
Teer is offering $200 for the pumpkin’s return. He figures someone must have seen it — or at least the small team required to steal the colossal squash.
What a show: Cigarette sets off fireworks in car
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — A Rhode Island man faces charges after the cigarette he was smoking inside a car apparently ignited fireworks.
Police arrested the 28-year-old Sunday after an officer found a sedan smoking in the middle of the street. Firefighters were called to extinguish the blaze. No one was injured.
The man told police he was smoking a cigarette in the car when fireworks near his feet ignited. Witnesses told police they saw a passenger tossing fireworks out shortly before police arrived.
The man is charged with the use or possession of fireworks under $500.
Associated Press
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