The Nooz: Man robs station with cheese grater

HAMMOND, Ind. — An armed robber held up a Hammond gas station and tried holding up a bar Sunday with a unique tool.

Court records allege that James Plante, 39, used a cheese grater during his crimes. Police said one of the would-be victims realized it wasn’t a gun and threw him out of the bar.

Police said Plante ran away and dropped the cheese grater, but police caught up with him, court records show.

He reportedly confessed and was charged with robbery and attempted robbery.

— WMAQ, Chicago

Bulls on the loose!
KINSTON, N.C. — State troopers expected to be busy last weekend, but they probably didn’t expect what they encountered in Kinston, where traffic duties had one patrolman guiding two bulls down busy Highway 11 after the animals were spotted along the road.

The trooper first started pushing the bulls backward before they turned around and just started walking along the side of the road.

Motorists like Alfreda Bryant couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“I was like, ‘What is this?’ I saw the horns. I was like, ‘That was bulls!’”

Troopers followed the bulls for almost two hours before they got off the road and disappeared into a field.

— WNCN, Raleigh, N.C.

Man rescued from inside garbage truck
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A man trying to keep from getting wet almost didn’t keep his life in Anderson Township.

The Nooz Msnbc.com rounds up the strangest stories of the week as reported by NBC News and its network of affiliated stations nationwide. For more oddities, go to msnbc.com’s Weird News section.

Garbage truck workers were emptying a Dumpster behind a dairy farm just after 10 a.m. Friday when they heard a man yell for help.

Firefighters entered the truck from the top to pull the man out. He was sent to a hospital for treatment.

A fire department officer said the shoeless man told rescuers that he climbed in the Dumpster to stay out of the rain.

— WLWT, Cincinnati

Rocky the giraffe is stolen
STAMFORD, Conn. — Rocky, an 8-foot-tall, 30-pound Fiberglass giraffe statue in Stamford, has fallen victim to vandals.

Rocky was taken from his home at the William Raveis Real Estate office over the weekend. When Rocky was recovered a day later, his ears had been broken off.

This is the second time in two years Rocky has been vandalized. Rocky’s owners said they suspect a rival broker. Police said they have no suspects.

— WVIT, Hartford, Conn.

Police cracking down on ‘saggers’
FLINT, Mich. — Flint police will begin arresting people who wear sagging pants.

Police Chief David Dicks said in a memo that anyone wearing pants or shorts that exposed their buttocks could be arrested for indecent exposure.

Dicks said the immoral “self-expression” went beyond free speech, rising to the crime of indecent exposure. Those who wear sagging pants will be fined and could spend a year in jail.

The American Civil Liberties Union said it was reviewing whether the new law racially targeted certain people.

— WDIV, Detroit

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