Posted on 08/10/2004 6:21:29 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Police are seeking an 18-year-old Howell man believed to have been injured when a mortar exploded in a pickup truck as he and a friend allegedly blew up mailboxes early Monday morning in Howell Township.
The friend, Matthew Robert Gow, 18, of Howell, who is believed to be the driver, was arraigned Monday afternoon before Livingston County District Judge A. John Pikkarainen on a charge of using an explosive device to destroy property. Gow remains in the Livingston County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash or surety bond.
(snip) Upon arrival, deputies located what they believed to be a detonated device, which they described as a 2- to 2.5-inches in diameter commercial-type firework mortar.
(snip)
Police said they learned that the two men had exploded two mailboxes, which were selected at random. When the pair tried to blow up a third mailbox, police said, the mortar exploded inside the pickup truck's cab, blowing out the back window and destroying the front windows as well. The explosion also blew a hole in the pickup's floor board, Murphy said.
An alert neighbor was able to get the suspect vehicle's license plate and description, and a call later that morning to 911 reporting an accident about seven miles from the original explosion led deputies to Gow.
"The caller apparently believed the vehicle was in a crash due to the severe damage done by the mortar," Murphy said.
Police said Gow confessed that he and the second suspect, who is not being identified pending arrest and arraignment, had downed about 10 beers late Sunday night and decided to drive around. Murphy said Gow's preliminary breath test revealed his blood-alcohol level at 0.17 percent. It's illegal for minors in Michigan to have any alcohol in their systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at hometownlife.net ...
Eh? Say what? I'd imagine he didn't hear too well after that.
Darwin Award winners in the making.
I was sitting at a friends house when we heard an explosion of glass. We went out to investigate. We found glass and a hammer beside the guy's mailbox. Pretty soon, a van pulls up with a busted out window and the passenger sheepishly asks for the hammer. They had decided to play mailbox baseball with a hammer. Of course, the hammer richoceted off the mailbox and smashed the window behind it.
Idiots.
You mean something like this...
http://www.stonepartners.com/misc/humantarget.wmv
hehehehehehehe
Hold mah beer and watch ... BOOM!
Idiots.
We got tired of it about 15 years ago. I made up a "special" mailbox...Looks like a regular round-topped one. The mailman loves it. It is welded from 1/4" thick 18-nickel maraging steel.
We have found one crowbar and two broken aluminum baseball bats over the years. I never knew aluminum bats were filled with a plastic resin. We heard yelling when they dropped the crowbar....Must have stung.
Don't drink and drive...you might suffer from premature mortar-fication!
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