PAINT GUN TOTING ROBBER COMES OUT WITH SLEDGE HAMMER
A fake gun proved no match for a sledgehammer in an Ohio attempted robbery, reports WEWS-TV of Cleveland.
Customers were eating in Stoney's Pizza (search) in Columbus Saturday night when a man came in wearing a ski mask and waving a gun around.
The shop's staffers locked themselves in a walk-in refrigerator. Customers lay on the floor while the gunman searched an office for money and tried to open a cash register, both in vain.
Finally the robber gave up and started walking out. He hadn't noticed that a customer had slipped out the back door and was waiting outside for him.
"He already had tape on his license plate," J.R. Croy told the TV station. "The door was open and the van was running. He was on his way out."
Croy bashed the robber in the head with a 2-pound sledgehammer. Four times.
Police and paramedics soon arrived to take the gunman to the hospital in handcuffs. His weapon turned out to be a paintball gun.
COP EATS SPIT BURGER
Marcus Calderon, 19, of Rio Rancho, was arrested and charged Saturday with assaulting a police officer and altering food, both misdemeanors.
He remained jailed Monday on a $2,000 bond.
The officer noticed there was something wrong Saturday after he took two or three bites of his hamburger, said Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety spokesman John Francis. After inspecting his food, the officer found someone had spit in his burger.
Francis said Calderon told police he was sick and may have accidentally coughed or spit on the burger.
Calderon was fired from the restaurant.
Officials with the restaurant said they had never before experienced this kind of incident, and all other employees are outstanding, clean and courteous.
Calderon provided police with blood and saliva samples to be tested for HIV and hepatitis.
