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Odd Planet

March 6th, 2009 at 11:33 pm

Pepper sprayed for asking border guard to be polite

» by Chris in: Dumb Luck,Strange Happenings,Strange Laws,Thats gotta hurt

Canadians are known worldwide for being fairly polite and peaceful. Unfortunately being polite backfired for one British Colombian man.

Desiderio Fortunato of Coquitlam BC was asked by a U.S. border guard to turn off his vehicles engine, but when he asked the guard to be polite and say please he got a face full of pepper spray!

“I just said please,” Fortunato explained Thursday. “He said ‘get out of the car or I spray you’ and … I thought he was just trying to scare me off or something and I was pepper sprayed from a foot or two away.”

After being sprayed, Fortunato says that five or six border guards jumped on him, handcuffed him and questioned him for three hours. This all happened last Monday.

“I felt like I was attacked by a bunch of wolves. They jumped on me, they threw me to the ground and they kneeled on me.”

Fortunato, 54, was born in Portugal, but became a Canadian citizen almost 30 years ago.

During questioning from U.S. officials, he said, the first thing they wanted to know was where he was born. Once they knew he was of Portuguese origin their whole demeanor changed.

“Their shields dropped slightly down. It was like you know: OK he’s a Westerner, OK he’s not a Muslim, OK he’s a Christian, he’s one of us. That’s what I read (from them).”

Fortunato noted that the motto of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is to “serve the American public with vigilance, integrity and professionalism.”

“What is that, that’s what they pledge. I’m just asking for a please, and I get pepper spray in the face, and of course their argument is you must comply with anything an officer says.”

U.S. Customs spokesman Mike Milne said the officer made a lawful order that travelers must obey but the use of force is under review.

Fortunato said he spoke with the same guard later and the man seemed contrite.

He crosses the border two or three times a week to visit his second home in Blaine, Wash., and said he plans to go back.

But first he’ll need to send U.S. Customs an RCMP criminal record check and proof that he lives where he said he did.

He has no criminal record and said he isn’t worried about going back.

Fortunato, who travels the world competing in and teaching jazz dance, said he often deals with customs agents. “I just become more cynical,” he said.

Man likes being kicked in groin

» by Chris in: Dumb people,Strange Happenings,Thats gotta hurt,What an idiot

COMMENTS (3)

People have strange fetishes but this is weird …

A man was recently sentenced in England to four years in jail for encouraging two underage girls to kick him repeatedly in the groin until he could no longer handle the pain. This took place near Bicester, England and is similar to a case in Ontario Canada.

Now that’s strange. I hope this guy gets some help while he’s in jail!

Home brewing experiment causes huge explosion!

» by Chris in: Dumb Luck,Dumb people,Humor,Strange Happenings,What an idiot

COMMENTS (3)

In June an explosion rocked a Calgary Canada neighborhood. The explosion was so big that it sent a garage door flying into a neighbors yard.

Police investigating the scene are blaming the explosion on an experiment gone wrong. It seems that the family was making a little home brew in their garage.

“Initial investigations revealed that the occupant of the home may have been experimenting with a home-made moonshine set up when it exploded,” said a fire department news release.

There were no reports of injuries.

Now wouldn’t that be a surprise if you were sitting in your home and saw a big garage door fly past while at the same time hearing the sound of a huge explosion?

I know that would get me out of my seat fast!