This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: The “Special Delivery” Edition
Welcome to another instalment of Weird and Wacky Wednesdays. In the legal world, we often talk about the “chain of custody” for evidence. Usually, that involves police carefully bagging items at a crime scene. This week, however, we have one defendant who skipped the middleman, bringing the evidence directly to the station. Then we have the weird corn hole guy case and a case where the officer hitched a ride on the hood of a stranger’s car.
The “Gift-Wrapped” Evidence
Usually, when a suspect is trying to hide illicit material, they don’t hand-deliver it to the police station. But William Raymond Catron of Parker County, Texas, isn’t your usual suspect.
Catron, a registered sex offender, was at the Sheriff’s Office for a routine, mandatory check-in. As he reached for his keys in the parking lot, a thumb drive slipped out of his pocket. A visitor found it and turned it in, thinking they were doing a good deed. When investigators checked the drive to find its owner, they found a lot more than just a name: they discovered over 2,000 illicit images and videos, along with “selfie” photos of Catron himself.
Catron was lured back to the station under the guise of “claiming his lost property.” He walked right into a first-degree felony arrest. It’s a rare day when the evidence literally follows the police home.
The Cornhole Killer?
In one of the most bizarre headlines of the year, Dayton Webber, a 27-year-old professional cornhole player and quadruple amputee—has been charged with first-degree murder in Maryland.
Webber, who gained national fame as the first quadruple amputee in the American Cornhole League, allegedly shot a man twice in the head during an argument inside a car. According to witnesses, Webber then asked the other passengers to help him remove the body. When they refused and fled, Webber allegedly drove off with the victim still in the passenger seat.
The logistics of the case have left the public baffled. Police are investigating how a man with no arms or legs was able to operate a vehicle and discharge a firearm simultaneously. He was eventually tracked 150 miles away to a hospital in Virginia, where he was arrested as a fugitive.
The Human Hood Ornament
If you’re a bystander minding your own business in Oklahoma City, the last thing you expect is a police officer to jump onto your hood and shout, “Drive!”
Last week, an OKC officer was in foot pursuit of a suspect on a minibike. Realizing he couldn’t keep up on foot, the officer flagged down a passing motorist, hopped onto the hood of their car, and hitched a ride for two minutes while directing the driver toward the fleeing suspect.
Thanks to the “assisted” pursuit, the officer was able to jump off the car and successfully nab the rider. While we don’t recommend using your sedan as a tactical police vehicle, it certainly gives a new meaning to the term “community policing.”
