WhiteBoard News for Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Berlin, Germany (Reuters):

German police have arrested an escaped convict after discovering him posing as a traffic policeman in a stolen car. 

"He had a blue roof light and stop signs in the car and said he'd made 130 euros (90 pounds) carrying out routine traffic controls," a police spokeswoman in the eastern town of Bernau said on Monday. 

A quick check revealed the 33-year-old bogus policeman was already wanted by a prison in Hanover where he had failed to return from home leave the week earlier. Police said he now faces the prospect of another sentence for usurpation of office. 
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Sydney, Australia (Reuters):

Amateur Sydney stuntman goes up, in flames, comes down short, in bone-breaking fall. 

Sydney police patrolling near the Coral Sea Park in the seaside suburb of Maroubra on Friday night spied a man on the roof of a toilet block douse himself with petrol, set himself alight, climb onto a BMX bike and launch himself off the block. 

Missing a pile of mattresses designed to break his fall, the man's burning clothes were extinguished by police who threw a garbage bin full of water over him. 

The 39-year-old Sydney man suffered several fractures including a broken nose and broken wrist, as well as burns, and the loss of his BMX bike which police seized along with a jerry can of petrol and lighter. 

The amateur stuntman was being readied for surgery on Monday. 
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Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Reuters):

Bungling bank robbers smashed a hole in a Dutch bank on Saturday but lost their loot when it fell off the back of their truck during the getaway. 

The thieves rammed the front of the bank in the northern Dutch town of Sappemeer and hoisted a safe from a cash machine onto a pickup truck. But the safe slipped off the back of the truck as the gang sped away. 

Police said they were in pursuit of the clumsy criminals. 
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