Weird Tech: Drink-driving lawnmower man in police chase

Crime
State Alaskan state troopers pursued an inebriated man on a lawn mower

There's no such thing as a quiet week for Weird Tech. Here's a round-up of our favourite bizarre stories of the week…

A 20-year-old man on a lawnmower was hit with drink-driving charges on Wednesday after being involved in a low-speed chase with police across several people's gardens, the Metro reported.

Alaska State Troopers used lights and sirens to hunt down the man during the pursuit, which lasted for around 61 metres and reached speeds of up to 5mph.

Lawnmowers are considered vehicles under US law, and driving one while intoxicated is an offence.

Aleep at the wheels

The news follows on from a similar incident earlier in the week involving a motorised wheelchair. A man in Australia was charged with driving over the influence after being found to be six times over the legal alcohol limit.

According to Reuters, the man was so drunk "he was asleep at the controls of his motorised wheelchair in the turning lane of a major highway".

Other drivers on the four-lane motorway in Cairns were forced to swerve to avoid the man, police said.

Pigeon post

In other news, an innovative scheme by inmates of a Brazilian prison to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into the grounds using carrier pigeons was uncovered this week.

Baffled officials only discovered the ruse after a number of distressed pigeons were spotted struggling to stay airborne around the prison walls, local media reported on Wednesday.
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Prisoners had been training the pigeons, which had been born and bred on the jail's roof, to bring in the goods using mobile phone-sized pouches on their backs, bypassing the prison's high-tech security systems.

And finally…


An American woman is set to become the first person on her block to live in a house built from parts recycled from a Boeing 747.

After almost a year of delays, construction work started on Thursday with a helicopter lifting in half of one of Francie Rehwald's future home's wings.

Approval was need from 17 government agencies, and five motorways were closed just to transport the pieces for the several million-pound project, architect David Hertz told reporters.

Mind you, Rehwald's won't be the only unconventional home in the Malibu neighbourhood.

Nearby houses include one that resembles a giant atom smasher, and another perched on a cylindrical tower.

Although Rehwald has no current plans to move from the area, she has already decided what her next house will be made out of. "I'd like to use a ship," she said.

Julia Sagar
Content director, special projects

Julia specialises in ecommerce at Future. For the last four years, she’s split her time between leading TechRadar’s crack team of deal editors - covering all the biggest sales of the year including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day - and helping the audiences of Future’s consumer tech and lifestyle brands (TechRadar, Tom's Guide, T3, Marie Claire, Woman & Home and more) find the best products and services for their needs and budget.

A former editor of global design website Creative Bloq, she has over 15 years’ experience in online and print journalism, and was part of the team that launched TechRadar way back in the day. When she isn't reviewing mattresses (she’s tested more than she cares to remember), or sharing tips on how to save money in the latest sales, she can usually be found writing about anything from green energy to graphic design.