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Protective Mother Fights Polar Bear to Save Kids
Posted: 2/23/2006 1:31:38 PM
The Augusta Chronicle
Lydia Angyiou's kids sure won't be giving her much trouble any more now that they've seen her wrestle a 700-pound polar bear.
Ms. Angyiou lives in Ivujivik, a village of 300 people on the shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec. One Wednesday evening earlier this month, Ms. Angyiou was walking near the village community center with her two sons when a group of children playing street hockey nearby started shouting and pointing frantically. Ms. Angyiou, 41, turned around and saw a polar bear sizing up her 7- year-old son.
She told the children to run and raced around to get between the bear and her son. Then she started kicking and punching the animal, according to police reports. In a flash, the bear swatted her in the face and she fell on her back. With the bear on top of her, Ms. Angyiou began kicking her legs in a bicycle motion. She was swatted once more and rolled over, but the bear moved toward her again.
Siqualuk Ainalik heard the commotion and came rushing over. Seeing Ms. Angyiou wrestling with the bear, he ran to his brother's home, grabbed a rifle and headed back to the street. He fired a few warning shots. The sound diverted the bear's attention from Ms. Angyiou just long enough for him to aim and fire again. According to police, Mr. Ainalik fired four shots into the bear before it finally died.
With neighbors' help, Ms. Angyiou made it to the home of Nelson Conn, a constable with the Kativik Regional Police Force.
"She came in in a panic," Mr. Conn recalled. "She was obviously in shock. She was saying 'Bear. Bear.' I just took her over to our nursing station, and I asked where and if the bear was dead. She said, 'Yes.'"
Remarkably, Ms. Angyiou suffered only a couple of scratches and a black eye. She and the local police have been fielding calls from across Canada ever since the incident was first reported last week in the Nunatsiaq News.
Villagers are still marveling at her courage, and there is talk of nominating her for a bravery medal.
© YellowBrix, Inc. Copyright 1997-2006
Man set on fire as Taser hits lighter
Erin Ailworth and Ken Ma
Sentinel Staff Writers
February 23, 2006
DAYTONA BEACH -- Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the man who was shot and the police officer who used a Taser.
Dennis Crouch had already slashed himself. And when he refused to drop his knife, Daytona Beach police Officer Betsy Cassidy decided she had no choice.
"Taser! Taser!" Cassidy shouted as she sent a two-pronged wire, packing 50,000 volts, at Crouch's chest. What happened next stunned everyone.
A Taser probe pierced the pocket of his khaki shirt -- and ignited the butane lighter inside. Crouch's pocket exploded in flames.
"The subject," recounted Sgt. Al Tolley in a subsequent report, "immediately dropped the knife."
Officers grabbed Crouch, threw him to the ground and rolled him around until the flames went out, Tolley said. The 53-year-old Daytona Beach man was taken to Halifax Medical Center with minor burns and two self-inflicted stab wounds in his stomach and chest.
Speaking by cell phone from his hospital bed Tuesday, Crouch said he had been drinking at the time and didn't remember everything that happened the night before.
"Why did they get into my house?" he asked of police. "I didn't invite them into my house. They came into my bedroom and shot me with the Taser, and it [the lighter] exploded."
The bizarre burning ended an evening that records show began with Crouch drinking at a friend's house Monday, then apparently becoming depressed about his medical and financial problems. Suddenly, he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed himself in the chest and stomach, police records show.
The friend got scared and called police about 9:20 p.m. Crouch fled for home on nearby North Grandview Avenue.
"He stuck the knife in his belly, ma'am, so I thought that was the time to call you," the friend told a 911 dispatcher during a 14-minute call. "And he was bleeding, so I said, 'Well, I can't put up with this.' "
When he got home, Crouch began arguing with his 54-year-old wife, Cecilia, about going to Las Vegas, according to police reports.
Police say Cecilia Crouch ran from her home in fear when her husband again went for a knife. Officers had to kick the door down to get into the apartment, according to reports. Crouch stood near a back bedroom with an 8-inch knife to his stomach.
After repeated requests for Crouch to drop the knife, Cassidy went for her Taser. That's when the lighter ignited.
Officials with Taser International -- which manufactures the nonlethal weapon that uses a shock to incapacitate dangerous people -- said they've never heard of anything quite like this before.
"I would call this beyond a rare fluke," spokesman Steve Tuttle said.
Tolley said the department is investigating the Monday incident, but so far nothing seems to be amiss with the Taser.
Crouch didn't seem too concerned about his run-in with police and clearly had other priorities Tuesday night.
"You're burning my minutes," he said about his cell phone. "It's not 9 o'clock yet."
'Mosquito' Repels Youths
BARRY, Wales, Dec. 5, 2005
"The Mosquito" sits atop entrance to convenience story in Barry, Wales (CBS/The Early Show)
"Once it gets in your head, it's very difficult to shake off, and the only way to shake it off is to move away."
"Mosquito" inventor Howard Stapleton
(CBS) A machine that emits an annoying sound that only youths can hear is being tried as a way to keep loitering teens away.
CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth reports that a convenience store in Barry, Wales is among the device's early users. The store's owner wants to repel an after-school crowd he finds annoying.
Dubbed "The Mosquito" by inventor Howard Stapleton, the machine looks like a box with a small loudspeaker attached, and is mounted over the store's entrance.
Roth did a quick survey of some teens at the store.
One said he could hear the noise, then scampered away.
Another said is sounded like a repetitive "deep, deep, deep" and was indeed grating.
Yet another described it as resembling "a violin string (being rubbed), but really, really, really high pitched."
The sound, Roth explains, is supposed to work as a repellant for a simple reason: Most people over 30 can't hear it, most people under 20 can, and hate it.
Roth chatted with Stapleton, who modified the sound for him so older people, including Roth, could pick it up.
Normally, the device is tuned to emit a pulsing high-frequency tone, inaudible to most aging ears and deeply annoying to younger ones.
"It's relatively small; it's very annoying. That sounds like a mosquito to me," Stapleton told Roth, in explaining why he named it "The Mosquito."
He used his own kids as guinea pigs.
Roth says Stapleton is dreaming of a swarm of mosquitoes throughout Britain, wherever teen-age loiterers are perceived as a problem, to coax them to leave.
"Once it gets in your head," Stapleton says, "it's very difficult to shake off, and the only way to shake it off is to move away."
Over eight weeks of testing, that's exactly what's happened at the Welsh convenience store.
"They've gone straightaway, like, you know, so we don't have them hanging around like we used to," a woman behind the counter says.
Apparently, Roth adds, only the 'hanging-around' crowd finds the sound annoying: It doesn't seem to bother dogs, and customers who keep moving hardly notice it.
Posted: 2/23/2006 1:31:38 PM
The Augusta Chronicle
Lydia Angyiou's kids sure won't be giving her much trouble any more now that they've seen her wrestle a 700-pound polar bear.
Ms. Angyiou lives in Ivujivik, a village of 300 people on the shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec. One Wednesday evening earlier this month, Ms. Angyiou was walking near the village community center with her two sons when a group of children playing street hockey nearby started shouting and pointing frantically. Ms. Angyiou, 41, turned around and saw a polar bear sizing up her 7- year-old son.
She told the children to run and raced around to get between the bear and her son. Then she started kicking and punching the animal, according to police reports. In a flash, the bear swatted her in the face and she fell on her back. With the bear on top of her, Ms. Angyiou began kicking her legs in a bicycle motion. She was swatted once more and rolled over, but the bear moved toward her again.
Siqualuk Ainalik heard the commotion and came rushing over. Seeing Ms. Angyiou wrestling with the bear, he ran to his brother's home, grabbed a rifle and headed back to the street. He fired a few warning shots. The sound diverted the bear's attention from Ms. Angyiou just long enough for him to aim and fire again. According to police, Mr. Ainalik fired four shots into the bear before it finally died.
With neighbors' help, Ms. Angyiou made it to the home of Nelson Conn, a constable with the Kativik Regional Police Force.
"She came in in a panic," Mr. Conn recalled. "She was obviously in shock. She was saying 'Bear. Bear.' I just took her over to our nursing station, and I asked where and if the bear was dead. She said, 'Yes.'"
Remarkably, Ms. Angyiou suffered only a couple of scratches and a black eye. She and the local police have been fielding calls from across Canada ever since the incident was first reported last week in the Nunatsiaq News.
Villagers are still marveling at her courage, and there is talk of nominating her for a bravery medal.
© YellowBrix, Inc. Copyright 1997-2006
Man set on fire as Taser hits lighter
Erin Ailworth and Ken Ma
Sentinel Staff Writers
February 23, 2006
DAYTONA BEACH -- Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the man who was shot and the police officer who used a Taser.
Dennis Crouch had already slashed himself. And when he refused to drop his knife, Daytona Beach police Officer Betsy Cassidy decided she had no choice.
"Taser! Taser!" Cassidy shouted as she sent a two-pronged wire, packing 50,000 volts, at Crouch's chest. What happened next stunned everyone.
A Taser probe pierced the pocket of his khaki shirt -- and ignited the butane lighter inside. Crouch's pocket exploded in flames.
"The subject," recounted Sgt. Al Tolley in a subsequent report, "immediately dropped the knife."
Officers grabbed Crouch, threw him to the ground and rolled him around until the flames went out, Tolley said. The 53-year-old Daytona Beach man was taken to Halifax Medical Center with minor burns and two self-inflicted stab wounds in his stomach and chest.
Speaking by cell phone from his hospital bed Tuesday, Crouch said he had been drinking at the time and didn't remember everything that happened the night before.
"Why did they get into my house?" he asked of police. "I didn't invite them into my house. They came into my bedroom and shot me with the Taser, and it [the lighter] exploded."
The bizarre burning ended an evening that records show began with Crouch drinking at a friend's house Monday, then apparently becoming depressed about his medical and financial problems. Suddenly, he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed himself in the chest and stomach, police records show.
The friend got scared and called police about 9:20 p.m. Crouch fled for home on nearby North Grandview Avenue.
"He stuck the knife in his belly, ma'am, so I thought that was the time to call you," the friend told a 911 dispatcher during a 14-minute call. "And he was bleeding, so I said, 'Well, I can't put up with this.' "
When he got home, Crouch began arguing with his 54-year-old wife, Cecilia, about going to Las Vegas, according to police reports.
Police say Cecilia Crouch ran from her home in fear when her husband again went for a knife. Officers had to kick the door down to get into the apartment, according to reports. Crouch stood near a back bedroom with an 8-inch knife to his stomach.
After repeated requests for Crouch to drop the knife, Cassidy went for her Taser. That's when the lighter ignited.
Officials with Taser International -- which manufactures the nonlethal weapon that uses a shock to incapacitate dangerous people -- said they've never heard of anything quite like this before.
"I would call this beyond a rare fluke," spokesman Steve Tuttle said.
Tolley said the department is investigating the Monday incident, but so far nothing seems to be amiss with the Taser.
Crouch didn't seem too concerned about his run-in with police and clearly had other priorities Tuesday night.
"You're burning my minutes," he said about his cell phone. "It's not 9 o'clock yet."
'Mosquito' Repels Youths
BARRY, Wales, Dec. 5, 2005
"The Mosquito" sits atop entrance to convenience story in Barry, Wales (CBS/The Early Show)
"Once it gets in your head, it's very difficult to shake off, and the only way to shake it off is to move away."
"Mosquito" inventor Howard Stapleton
(CBS) A machine that emits an annoying sound that only youths can hear is being tried as a way to keep loitering teens away.
CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth reports that a convenience store in Barry, Wales is among the device's early users. The store's owner wants to repel an after-school crowd he finds annoying.
Dubbed "The Mosquito" by inventor Howard Stapleton, the machine looks like a box with a small loudspeaker attached, and is mounted over the store's entrance.
Roth did a quick survey of some teens at the store.
One said he could hear the noise, then scampered away.
Another said is sounded like a repetitive "deep, deep, deep" and was indeed grating.
Yet another described it as resembling "a violin string (being rubbed), but really, really, really high pitched."
The sound, Roth explains, is supposed to work as a repellant for a simple reason: Most people over 30 can't hear it, most people under 20 can, and hate it.
Roth chatted with Stapleton, who modified the sound for him so older people, including Roth, could pick it up.
Normally, the device is tuned to emit a pulsing high-frequency tone, inaudible to most aging ears and deeply annoying to younger ones.
"It's relatively small; it's very annoying. That sounds like a mosquito to me," Stapleton told Roth, in explaining why he named it "The Mosquito."
He used his own kids as guinea pigs.
Roth says Stapleton is dreaming of a swarm of mosquitoes throughout Britain, wherever teen-age loiterers are perceived as a problem, to coax them to leave.
"Once it gets in your head," Stapleton says, "it's very difficult to shake off, and the only way to shake it off is to move away."
Over eight weeks of testing, that's exactly what's happened at the Welsh convenience store.
"They've gone straightaway, like, you know, so we don't have them hanging around like we used to," a woman behind the counter says.
Apparently, Roth adds, only the 'hanging-around' crowd finds the sound annoying: It doesn't seem to bother dogs, and customers who keep moving hardly notice it.