Brickbats: November 2022

A Rochester, New York, police officer was parked in an ambulance bay, and an EMT reportedly hit his car with an ambulance door while unloading a patient. The officer tried to stop her to get her information, but she continued to take the patient into the emergency room. The officer then followed her in, grabbed her arm, handcuffed her, and took her to his car.

One June evening, Parrish Chambers began banging on the door of Nahal Connie Dadkhah's San Diego home and screaming loudly. According to local news, two neighbors called 911 at least five times to report him. After Chambers broke through the glass door on the balcony of Dadkhah's home, neighbors again called, with at least one telling a dispatcher that Chambers appeared to have a weapon. The cops arrived about 45 minutes later, knocked on the door, called Dadkhah's phone, and left when she didn't answer. The next morning, Chambers came outside and told a neighbor to call 911 because Dadkhah was dead. This time, police arrived in just a few minutes and arrested Chambers.

An Israeli law took effect in August banning cash transactions of more than 6,000 shekels (about $1,800). Officials said the goals of the law are to increase tax compliance and to reduce money laundering. Israel's Finance Ministry said it plans to seek a law banning residents from holding more than 50,000 shekels (about $15,250) in cash.

For 20 years, Susan McKee has cultivated a pollinator garden for monarch butterflies at her London, Ontario, home. She recently returned from vacation to find that the city had cut down all of the plants after a neighbor complained. Officials also gave her a C$125 ($100) ticket. Some of her more tolerant neighbors managed to collect some of the monarch caterpillar eggs to take care of them.

Police in Hampshire, England, arrested Darren Brady for retweeting a meme image of a swastika made out of pride flags. Officers told Brady the tweet had "caused anxiety." Brady spent several hours in jail, but after a public backlash he was freed without charges.

Three cops in Winnfield, Louisiana, approached Casey LaCaze-Lachney at a street music festival, and one of them cited her for indecent exposure. LaCaze-Lachney was wearing a crop top and cut-off denim shorts at the time. After LaCaze-Lachney posted a TikTok video of herself in the clothes she was wearing when she was cited, the department dropped the charges and the police chief apologized.

Officials in the Swiss canton of Geneva have banned evangelical churches that aren't affiliated with the government from baptizing people in Lake Geneva. "Only organizations permitted to have relations with the state can request authorization for a public religious event," officials said. Religious organizations that don't have government approval may conduct events only in private.