Quick Takes

Caught by cowboy

Police got the help of a talented cattle rancher on June 10 after an attempted bicycle theft. According to authorities, a man stole the bicycle of a woman from a Walmart parking lot in Eagle Point, Ore. Bystanders were unable to catch the suspect, but a 28-year-old rancher also at the scene had an idea. Robert Borba retrieved his horse from his trailer, grabbed a rope, and took off after the thief. “I wasn’t going to catch him on foot,” Borba told the Medford Mail Tribune. “I don’t run very fast.” After Borba and white steed Long John caught up with suspect Victorino Arellano-Sanchez, the alleged thief attempted to flee on foot. Thinking quickly, Borba lassoed the suspect’s feet and kept him tied until police arrived 15 minutes later.

Driving in disguise

Authorities in Smiths Falls, Ontario, became suspicious of a woman taking a drivers test when they noticed her wig, glasses, and questionable clothing. According to the Smiths Falls Police Service, the unnamed woman entered the testing center on June 9 claiming to be 73 years old. Her clothes looked the part, but the testing instructor noticed the woman was wearing a wig. After further questioning, police discovered the driver was actually a 39-year-old woman posing as her 73-year-old mother in order to take the driving test on her behalf. Police arrested the woman and charged her with a single count of impersonating an adult.

That’s gratitude

Own a business and wish to thank your customers? Better consult a lawyer. American financial conglomerate Citigroup launched a lawsuit against AT&T in a New York federal court over the telecommunications giant thanking its customers. According to the June 10 lawsuit, Citigroup claims the phone company’s use of the words “AT&T Thanks” in its customer loyalty program violates a trademark Citigroup filed in 2004 for the phrase “Citi ThankYou.” An AT&T spokesman said the Dallas-based company will fight the allegation in court, saying Citigroup can’t “own the word ‘thanks.’”

Caught by cow

A manhunt in Texas ended when the hiding suspect was outed by a herd of staring cows. Police in Bryan, Texas, say that when they attempted to pull over Samuel White on a routine traffic stop in early June, the local man fled, leading to a high-speed car chase. After crashing into another vehicle, the fugitive fled on foot into pasturelands surrounding the Texas city. Police eventually found him hiding in the grass after they observed nearby cattle staring intently at him.

Candy corner

M&M’s, the world-famous chocolate candies that melt in your mouth and not in your hand, may soon be banned from Sweden. That’s because another candymaker, Marabou, already sells chocolate-covered peanuts in the Scandinavian country using an “m” logo. A Swedish court ruled on June 8 that the lowercase “m” stamped on M&M candies infringes on Marabou’s trademark. Mars, the maker of M&M’s, could appeal the ruling. But if not, it has a second option, already approved by the court: It can sell its colorful, candy-coated chocolates in Sweden using a capital “M” instead.

Bird on board

A man from France has set out on a sailing adventure with an unusual sidekick: a pet chicken. When Guirec Soudée started out from the Canary Islands on a one-man journey around the world in 2014, he considered taking a cat along for a companion. But after deciding a feline would be too much work, he instead recruited a red hen named Monique. “She was only about 4 or 5 months old then, and had never left the Canary Islands,” Soudée, 24, told the BBC. “I didn’t speak any Spanish and she didn’t speak any French, but we got along.” Since then, the sailor and the hen have visited the Caribbean and Greenland, documenting their travels on Facebook. Monique contributes to the team by laying about six eggs per week. “Compared with people, she doesn’t complain at all,” said Soudée.

Sleepyhead shepherd

The practice of counting sheep seems to have overpowered a drowsy shepherd in Spain. Citizens of the village of Huesca awoke to a flock of over 1,000 sheep roaming the town streets on June 7. According to local officials, the flock was being herded to summer pastures in the Pyrenees Mountains, but the flock’s shepherd fell asleep and allowed the sheep to wander off. Police rounded up the stray herd before the shepherd noticed his flock was gone.

Phantom face-off

Police outside of Detroit ended an 11-hour standoff not with a bang but a whimper. After receiving reports about a domestic dispute involving a possible weapon just after 12 a.m. on June 11, police blockaded the neighborhood and settled in for a siege of the home. After waiting 11 hours, police decided to storm the house using robots and tear gas. But upon entering, they quickly discovered no one was home.

Clutch moment

A would-be car thief in San Antonio was stymied on June 10 by a basic car feature: the manual transmission. Alan Robles says a carjacker high on narcotics approached him holding a knife and demanded the keys to his car. Robles complied and looked on tentatively as the thief attempted to start and drive Robles’ Ford Mustang. “I kept trying to explain to him, ‘You have to engage the clutch,’” Robles told KENS. “I pretty much had to teach him how to steal my car.” Following more failed attempts at the stick shift, the frustrated thief demanded that Robles himself drive the car. After 10 minutes of Robles making a getaway in his own stolen vehicle, the carjacker demanded to drive again, whereupon he promptly crashed the vehicle. Police later arrested the unidentified suspect and Robles escaped unharmed—more than can be said for his Mustang.