Some stories make you laugh, others make you cry.
And there are still others that make you scratch your head and say, “what the…”
B.C. was no stranger to some seriously oddball stories this year.
There were stories showing police officers’ bizarre encounters on the roads, the strange things people steal around Halloween, and the even more bizarre means by which they carry out their thievery.
Here are some of the most oddball stories that B.C. saw in 2017:
Feb. 7: The Zamboni guy: Saanich man deals with snow in most Canadian way possible
He’s a Zamboni man, smoothing out the ice out here alone.
Central Saanich resident Marko Kardum just wanted to help clean the snow off a street in his neighbourhood last winter, when the police warned him for using a Zamboni to do the job.
Police were worried that the machine would leave flattened layers of snow that could turn to ice. But Kardum insisted he was only using the vehicle to pick the snow up off the ground and drop it in a bucket.
June 26: Alleged toddler birthday crashers attend Richmond boy’s party: mom
All right, who invited them?
Mother Stephanie Wong was left unnerved after two women came to her three-year-old’s birthday party at Richmond’s City Centre Community Centre in June.
She said the pair came, snapped pictures in a photo booth, took a huge plate of food and then left.
Wong took to social media and found that others had complained about a pair who, they said, were the very same people.
Sept. 21: Vancouver cops catch distracted driver twice in 8 minutes, issue $736 in fines
The Vancouver police are serious about cracking down on distracted driving.
But that was lost on one driver who was issued not one, but two tickets in eight minutes for using an electronic device behind the wheel near Granville and Broadway Streets.
The driver, who was in a rented Hyundai Accent, received a total of $736 in fines.
Oct. 19: Carjack-o-lantern: luxury car owners poach Richmond, B.C. pumpkins farmer’s crop
The Richmond News had one heck of a scoop when it reported on thieves who were driving luxury cars out to a city farm and stealing pumpkins right off a field.
Reporter Graeme Wood told CKNW that the thievery had grown in the past four years, and that they were showing up in vehicles such as Range Rovers, BMWs and Mercedes Benzes.
Things became so serious for one farmer that he installed a security fence and cameras to prevent the poaching.
Nov. 13: Vancouver police issue $368 ticket to driver playing Pokemon Go
Brace yourself: this isn’t the last, or even the craziest story of distracted driving you’ll see on this list.
One Vancouver driver received a $368 ticket for playing Pokemon Go.
Said driver was caught just as he pulled up next to two police officers.
Capping off a trifecta of distracted driving stories was this one, about the time police found a driver who had attached his phone to a steering wheel and then wedged a tablet between the device and the wheel.
“Can’t make it up,” said the VPD’s traffic unit on Twitter.
The driver was issued an $81 ticket for failing to produce a driver’s licence, but police opted not to fine him for distracted driving. They felt education was a better approach this time.
Nov. 17: ‘Absolutely unbelievable’: Surrey RCMP seek driver who used dolly to prop up a trailer
If RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann had seen a dolly serving as a rear wheel on a trailer in a third world country, then he wouldn’t have been surprised.
But to see it in Surrey left him baffled.
In one photo that showed a work trailer apparently being propped along by a four-wheeled dolly you might use for moving light equipment, Schumann saw at least three offences under the Motor Vehicle Act, including “driving with undue care and attention.”
- B.C. Conservative leader pledges not to ‘reopen the abortion debate’
- A look inside the now-sidelined ‘floatel’ meant to house LNG workers near Squamish
- South Surrey restaurant forced to close after suspicious fire, more criminal acts reported
- Canfor to shutter B.C. sawmill, curtail Prince George pulp mill
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