Story Archive

Very Tighty Whities

A smoky fire in a restroom resulted in the evacuation of a Walgreens drug store in Modesto, Calif. A man came out of the restroom, admitted to employees he had set the fire, and left. Police caught up with him and got his story. Andrew Cheadle, 45, told police he had an “accident” and ran to the restroom, but couldn’t get his underwear off. His solution: he pulled out a lighter and set them on fire to burn them off. Amazingly, that worked, but then he had flaming underwear to dispose of, so he tossed them into the toilet. Not surprisingly, that worked, but there was so much smoke, it triggered the store’s evacuation. Sympathetic police didn’t charge Cheadle with arson, but they did arrest him anyway: they found two warrants for him for unrelated felony charges. (RC/Modesto Bee) ...You’d think “Improper disposal of hazardous waste” would be related, but the law can be subtle.