Bedford Bear is Back & Man Passed Out with a Sex Toy: Best of the Blotter
Here are some of the weirdest police reports and incidents from departments across the region
Here are this week's most bizarre police calls, reports and charges. All information was provided by police reports from departments in Patch communities. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction.
Guess who's back — A Solon resident returned from a camping trip to find a large intruder — the Bedford Bear.
She saw the region's most famous bear wandering around her small farm a week ago and sent a few photos to her local Patch site. After taking the pictures, she saw it cross Brainard Road.
People in Solon, Bedford and Warrensville Heights have reported bear sightings for the past month. The six-foot-tall bear climbed up a tree Sept. 4 near a Solon apartment complex.
What's in his lap? — A Stoney Ridge Road resident contacted Avon Police Sept. 9 after seeing a passed out man in white BMW that was partially parked in her garage.
When officers arrived, they found a concealed gun and a "sexual device" in his lap. His engine was still running.
The homeowner did not know the man. Police said he had fresh scuff marks on the passenger-side window and a knocked-off mirror.
The man was transported to EMH's Avon Emergency Care Center. He was eventually charged with a carrying a concealed weapon violation.
Arrested for huffing — Solon Police arrested a woman last week shortly after she passed out on a frozen yogurt shop's patio.
Melissa Primer, 33, of Solon, is accused of abusing a harmful intoxicant, a first-degree misdemeanor. Police said she huffed a can of pressurized air before passing out at the Aurora Road business.
Primer woke up by the time officers arrived on the scene.
No-contest plea in Cold Stone case — A Painesville man pleaded no contest to aggravated menacing Monday in Mentor Municipal Court after police say he threatened to shoot a man who caught him with his pants down.
A man saw 21-year-old Michael Spalsbury urinating outside Cold Stone Creamery in Mentor and decided to honk his horn. Angered by the honk, Spalsbury reached behind his back to signal that he was reaching for a gun.
Then he approached the passenger window of the man's car and threatened to shoot him in front of his 12-year-old son, who was seated in the passenger seat, police said. Spalsbury the left. Police later arrested him at his home.
He faces up to six months in jail.
Happy slugger — A woman is accused of punching a man outside Walmart in Fairlawn after he tried to prevent her from hurting an older woman.
"I'm happy I did it," the suspect said, according to a police report.
Another shopper saw the woman, in her 20s," yelling loudly at her child. The older woman suggested that she should not speak to the child that way. The young mother responded that she would be waiting outside for the older woman and continued yelling.
At that point, a man tried to intervene but ended up getting punched in the face. The woman drove away, but also hit her child, another witness said.
The victim got her license plate number. When police headed to the woman's Akron home, a man said the she was not there and that he lent his car to his son. An officer called the son's phone. He said was at Walmart with a woman, but knew nothing about the punch.
Police are still looking for the suspect.
Jeff H
7:56 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
I think you need to change the headline. It reads as if a bear was found passed out with a sex toy in its possession.
Darci Kracht
8:33 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
I think they did that on purpose.
Kathi
7:44 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
I thought the same thing.
44RoN
9:13 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Got me curious too. Effective in bringing in traffic but DECEPTIVE. I get useful news out of Patch but this one was outright DISTASTEFUL.
Gale s
9:18 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Bedford bear is back and passed out with a sex toy???? Who is writing the captions of these stories?? The big question is - huh???
Ric Flair
9:35 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
That's as good as the headline in the Plain Dealer today: "Previous Experience Necessary for Ballet Instructors." I guess even professional journalists can make mistake.
Earl Elevant
12:29 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
I'm not sure there are any professional journalists left anymore.
Noreen
9:46 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Not only is the headline distasteful, the entire story is. This isn't news. I'm beginning to think the Patch is run by 15 year olds.
lori brautigam
9:53 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Sounds like a headline from Star magazine. : (
Dale Ferrell
9:59 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Yes, I agree. I think they blew it with this one. They should atleast admit it with a simple apology. Nothing more. TASTELESS
chuck d
10:26 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
This newspaper has a reputation for misleading storylines. Maybe someone there will now listen.
babs
10:33 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
The headline was a bit off. But really people there is no need to be so offended by it. They didn't go into detail as to what kind of toy was in his lap. I think they were going for a little humor. Maybe even testing the waters to see how their readers would react.
babs
10:44 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
But what bugs me about reading your comments is that your more upset about the sex toy than you are about the gun.
Nunov Yorbisnis
11:39 am on Sunday, September 16, 2012
You people are a bunch of whiners. If it was that distasteful, why click on the story at all? The Patch is awesome. Its totally free, you dont get newsprint on your hands and you dont have to leave the couch. Don't like? DONT READ IT!
AMH
10:01 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
THANK YOU. What cracks me up is all the people that found it distasteful, yet clicked on it! Caught ya! LOL! News is news, folks. Sometimes it's life-altering, most times it's just 'interesting.' And what may be interesting to one person may not be for the other. You don't like it - then DONT READ IT.
Priscilla Smith
4:39 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Eve, the headline was inaccurate. This is not about complaining, it is about making an observation of inaccuracy. It is healthy and helpful to request accuracy in journalism. Folks clicked on the story because of the fantastically sounding inaccurate headline. Sounds more like you are complaining about the others' comments - perhaps you need to skip them if they offend you. The headline states a bear is passed out with a sex toy, and that was not the case.
Randy McFarland
5:20 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Come on ppl its a play on the words... notice the & (then capital leter) Passed out...... nothing to get all bent about. I thought it was entertaining.
lyn
7:47 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Ha-Ha!
So, if the bear had passed out with the sex toy, all of you would not have been offended - as I see you all managed to find your way to this story and read it.
But you are all offended because you are disappointed it was just some guy, and as someone else has said - no problem with him having the gun?
Hypocrites!!
You call it distasteful, yet you read it!
OK if its a bear, not a man!
OK if the man has a gun!
Barbara
8:24 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
It is not hypocritical to expect accuracy.
lyn
8:38 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Barbara-
Yes, you are correct. But some of the people are being hypocritical in saying they are soooo offended.
Barbara
8:20 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Someone should send this along to The David Letterman Show. The ampersand should have been a semi-colon. If you regularly read The Patch, you would know that each story is separated by the semi-colon. However, that does not bother me. What does bother me is the poor grammer used under the headlines "Happy slugger." I found 6 grammatical errors. I would expect more from our writers and editors of our local newspaper.
Teresa K.
10:24 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
I am very disappointed with the headline.
karen Bellian
7:43 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
Obviously those who were upset with the heaadlines were upset cause they really did want the bear to be found with a sex toy in his lap otherwise why did you read the story I thought it was a great way for you to read the whole article cause I did no real harm done except I was forced to get informed. ABout my surroungs way to go
Teresa K.
2:24 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
@karen: i will speak for myself. i am upset that the headline totally disrespects the bear. we have all been following the bear- in- the- area stories all summer. for anyone to use that headline ( whether intended or not ) in connection to the bear is upsetting.
Phospholipid
7:54 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
Interestingly, since I've been readin headlines my whole life and I understand they have a unique syntactical convention, and since I've been reading police blotters my whole life and I know they are variety pieces, I wasn't confused at all. I knew it was a headline about two separate things. I suspect the same is true of the complainers; that they really knew. Or they're actually that simple. But, folks just love I get their panties in a bunch, especially over sex toys.
Brandon Baker
8:49 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
Thanks for all of your comments. Though it would have made for a more interesting story, the Bedford Bear did NOT have a sex toy in his lap. Your suggestions were heard and the headline has been changed. Thanks again.
Lightnapper
11:34 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
@ Brandon. Strange Brew wouldn't you say? As a writer, I thank the good Lord for geographic relocation and conjunctions. Well, score one for the Ohio Prudes. And to think my East West Virginia mother, bless her dearly departed soul, used to handle snakes in an act of faith-- bears being too unpredictable. Personally, I preferred the relative safety of the Mogadore Methodists, the Fundamental Baptists of Tallmadge being too touchy-feely and a bit Apocalyptic scary. Alas, Patch never ceases to amaze me, or at least the pedantic commenters. Our L.A. bears just get tranquilized and relocated-- not edited and/or censored. West Hollywood bears are another story altogether. But then that's what TMZ is for-- and the numerous DUI celebrities. Enjoy your day. It's a scorcher here, almost as hot as that headline.
Teresa K.
2:25 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
the bear said "thanks". he didnt want anyone to get the wrong idea about him and he really didnt need that kind of publicity.