Aidan Orion White, 25, of Auburn, Neb., went to jail on April 28 on charges of felony assault after he struck Saundra Lunzmann, 37, and her daughter, 7, with his “Star Wars” light saber. The girl was playing with other children when White allegedly hit her, The Smoking Gun reported. When the mother yelled at him, he charged her and struck her in the arm. Although ostensibly a toy, police said the saber was a “higher quality device ... constructed of metal and thick plastic.” White admitted hitting the victims, whom he blamed for a rise in his rent. A judge has ordered a competency evaluation.
Saw that coming
An 83-year-old driver from Pomona, N.Y., has crashed into the same bank, with the same car, on the same day of the week twice within six weeks. The Briarcliff Daily Voice reported that on May 2, an unnamed driver ran into the Webster Bank in Nanuet and sustained minor injuries. The same driver also hit the bank on March 21, crashing through a plate-glass window in the front of the building. In the latest incident, the car crashed through the plywood covering the damage from the first hit. After the March crash, the driver said he thought his car had been in park when he stepped on the gas. He mistook the brake for the accelerator in the second incident.
Rug rat
Veteran New York City denizens are familiar with a character called Kevin Carpet, a performance artist who likes to wrap himself in a piece of carpet and lie on the ground where people will step on or over him. “This is not a fetish for me,” he told the New York Post. “It’s a Zen-type state. I’m feeling the people, hearing what they’re talking about.” He’s been doing this for nearly 20 years. “It’s amazing he’s still around,” said one commenter on a May 4 TikTok post. But others call him “perverted” and “sick.”
Treat time
A kindergartener in the Greater Johnstown (Pennsylvania) School District brought treats to school on May 14, WJAC-TV reported. Unfortunately, the tasty items were Jell-O shots, with alcohol, that three fellow students enjoyed. When school officials learned about the shots, “immediate action was taken,” with the kids going to the nurse’s office and then to a hospital for evaluation “out of an abundance of caution.” The district said it is working with authorities to find out how the student came into possession of the shots.
Family values
Ashley Pardo, 33, of San Antonio, Texas, was arrested on May 12 and charged with aiding in the commission of terrorism, CNN reported. The charges were related to Pardo allegedly supplying her middle-school son with ammunition and tactical gear in exchange for him babysitting his younger siblings. Police were called to their home on May 12 after the grandmother saw rifle and pistol magazines “loaded with live ammunition” in his room, along with a homemade explosive device. Jeremiah Rhodes Middle School had noticed his interest in violence, but Pardo “expressed to the school her support of his violent expressions and drawings and does not feel concerned with his behavior,” school record show.
A giant spud
Folks in Richmond, Va., were treated to a starchy sight on May 13 when a 4-ton potato made a stop as part of its 13th year of cross-country touring, WRIC-TV reported. The tour, sponsored by the Idaho Potato Commission, started in 2012 as a one-year campaign, but it was so popular the tater has been on the road ever since, now also promoting the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association.
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