Ridiculous 101

If I were a resident of Brooklyn, Ohio, I would be ticked off right now because my tax dollars went towards a man's 4 hour stay in jail.

Over a $4.00 case of soft drinks.

Here is the story, seen on WLWT's website:

Man Charged After Soda Forgotten In Cart
Man Charged With Petty Theft, Spends 4 Hours In Jail

BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Have you ever put a case of water or something heavy under your shopping cart and then forgotten about it?

A Cleveland man did, and it landed him in jail, television station WEWS reported.

Tom Sturgis has a long receipt showing the $157.20 worth of two grocery carts full of groceries that he bought at a Brooklyn supermarket Saturday night. After going through the self checkout, Sturgis said he forgot a $4 case of pop under the cart.

A police officer working security at the store asked to see his receipt.

"I went looking for the receipt, the pop wasn't on it and they decided to have me arrested," he said.

Sturgis was arrested on a petty theft charge.

Sturgis, who said he has never had so much as a parking ticket, found himself being led out of the store in handcuffs. He spent 11:30 p.m. until 3 a.m. in jail that night.

At home, his wife said she couldn't believe what was happening.

"It's over a case of pop," said Wendy Sturgis. "He turned around and offered to go back in and pay for it and the cop told him it's like robbing a bank, you just can't get caught robbing a bank and say, 'I'm sorry, I'll give you your money back.'"

Sturgis said he made a simple mistake -- one made by many shoppers at one time or another. Now his family worries how the arrest will impact them long term.

"You know, it could affect his job," Wendy said. "You know, what do we do next, get a lawyer? Well, that's easier said than done, you know, it costs money."

Have you ever read anything so ridiculous? Really, haven't we all forgotten something from time to time. It's not like he ran out of teh store with it screaming "I stole your soft drinks!" It was an accident...a mistake. One that could cost him his job.

I guess we'll all think twice before shopping in Brooklyn, Ohio...I would hate to think what they would have done if he had two cases...