NIAGARA FALLS — NIAGARA FALLS

 Caught in the act

A Falls bike patrol officer said about 2 p.m. Wednesday he saw a man drinking a can of beer in a park at Third and Niagara streets.

As the officer was making his way over to the man, later identified as Scott D. McCarthy, 41, 123 Sixth St., upper, he got up, walked over to a nearby bank building and began urinating on the building.

McCarthy was taken into custody without incident and charged with exposure of a person and restricted use of alcohol.



A “man-sized” message

A 36-year-old Grand Avenue resident told police about 2 a.m. Wednesday he heard a crash in his home and found a can of Manwich that had been thrown through a window. A can of beans was thrown through another window.

The man told police shortly after the cans were thrown through the windows he received a text message from an ex-roommate that read, “Wanna play? Let’s play.”



WRIGHTS CORNERS

Men in fair condition after motor explosion

Two men who suffered burns after a boat motor exploded on them Tuesday are in fair condition Wednesday in the Burn Unit of Erie County Medical Center.

Adam Kumm, 23, of North Tonawanda, and Jonathan A. Ludwig, 18, of Ridge Road, Wrights Corners, were both sent by Mercy Flight to ECMC, while Joseph C. Woodring, 27, of Mead Street, North Tonawanda, was taken by ambulance and later released.

Ludwig’s girlfriend still had her hopes up Ludwig will be OK.

“He’s doing all right. Just has some pretty serious burns, but I know he’ll be all right,” Lainie Reid, 19, said.

The three men all sustained second-degree burns to their arms. Kumm additionally had second-degree burns to his face.

Ludwig was showing his 16-foot fishing boat to Kumm and Woodring who were potentially going to buy it when the motor malfunctioned.

Kumm told Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies that he, Woodring and Ludwig were working on the engine of the boat when gasoline ignited and a fireball resulted.



Niagara Falls

• CHARGED: A man who ran out of a Cleveland Avenue store with $16.58 worth of groceries while employees attempted to put through a fraudulent benefit card late Tuesday night was caught Wednesday morning after an officer spotted him on Main Street. The man refused to identify himself to police. Staff at a Main Street store later said he tried the same trick Wednesday morning but was stopped before he could leave with $57.93 in groceries.

• THEFT: An Illinois resident staying at a downtown hotel told police sometime Tuesday night someone smashed a window of their ’10 Chrysler Town and Country and took a GPS, DSI video game system and $20. About $300 damage was caused to the vehicle.

• THEFT: A 19-year-old Ransomville woman told police she was driving with a man she only knew as “Robby” or “Bobby” Tuesday night and asked him to grab her purse from the back seat. After she dropped the man off, the woman discovered that her wallet was gone.

• INCIDENT: Falls police were called to a Pine Avenue sub shop Wednesday afternoon where an employee reported that a credit card used in a phone order registered as stolen. The employee said the card in question had been used several times in the past week and the payments had gone through. When the employee called a cell number left with the order, the person on the other end hung up when he said the card had been reported stolen.

• DRUGS: Chester G. Haugabook, 40, 1961 Welch Ave., was charged Tuesday morning with criminal possession of a controlled substance, and second-degree assault and obstruction of governmental administration. A report said Haugabook punched a U.S. Marshal in the face after authorities captured Haugabook on a federal warrant. Upon searching the Haugabook, deputies seven different types of pills in his possession.