Crime & Safety

Dear Husband Saves Wife from Deer, Man Pepper Sprayed in Sleep: Best of the Blotter

Here are some of the weirdest police reports and incidents from departments across the region.

Here are this week's most bizarre police calls, reports and charges. All information was provided by police reports from departments in Patch communities. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction. Editor Amanda Harnocz populated this post.

 Shaker Heights Patch: Oh Deer

Dominic Yen never imagined he would have to step between his wife and an attacking deer — but that's exactly what he did last week when a deer charged and attacked his wife and two daughters. But first, the deer attacked their dog. 

On June 5, when the family let their 8-pound dog outside. A deer charged out and attacked the dog, leaving a long gash in its back. Yen said his wife and daughters took the dog to the vet to have the wound cleaned and when they pulled into the driveway sometime around 11:30 p.m.that night, the deer returned and charged at them.

"I see my wife and two daughters in the backyard, and a deer is rearing up," Yen told Shaker Heights Patch. "My wife had already been attacked and had blood on her leg."

Yen said he kept a pistol in his bedroom, so he grabbed the gun and ran outside. He stepped between the deer, which reared up and lunged at him. He shot the deer once from about five feet away, and the animal ran off. 

"I sure wasn't armed to go hunting," Yen said.

He ran inside and called Shaker Heights Police. Officers later found the deer in a neighbor's yard, where they euthanized it. A wildlife officer who came to his home told him the deer, which was female, was perhaps protecting fawns or, if a nearby resident had been leaving food out for the deer, guarding its food supply.

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To read more about the incident read the full report on Shaker Heights Patch.

• Avon-Avon Lake Patch: Godfather-esque Crime?

A Wendell Street resident contacted Avon police on May 30 that there was a deer head in her backyard that was not there 20 minutes before. Police located what they believed were remnants of a small baby doe, partially decomposed in the back yard next to a dense wooded area. It appeared to be the result of a scavenger. The carcass was disposed of. 

• Strongsville Patch: Silence of the Pigs?

A Benbow Road resident heard suspicious noises from the house across the street June 8 — "terrible noises like someone butchering a pig," a report said. Police talked with the resident, who said they have four dogs and it's possible the neighbor heard his mother calling in the dogs from the yard.

He had no other explanation for the noises and police found nothing amiss at the home.

• Cuyahoga Falls Patch: A Rude Awakening

A Cuyahoga Falls man living in the 3100 block of Bailey Road called police June 7 after someone reportedly doused him with pepper spray as he slept. The man was treated by Falls EMS. There are no leads or suspects. 

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