Justice may be blind – but thanks to a civic-minded critter in the state of Washington, at least she can smell one particular crook a mile off.
When Spokane County deputies were called to a burglary in progress at 3:10am on 4 August, they found a masked male suspect – later identified as 28-year-old Grant M. Simonson – walking around inside the Church of the Nazarene in Deer Park, where he had allegedly been looking at audio equipment.
The deputies were waiting for a K9 unit when Simonson began climbing out through an open window… but it turned out that the dogs weren’t needed, as another animal was already on the case.
“Deputies commanded Simonson to show his hands and get on the ground. He began to follow the commands when suddenly a skunk came running around the corner, approached Simonson, and released its well-known and malodorous spray before fleeing the area,” the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said.
Simonson was apprehended without further incident and taken, presumably with the car windows rolled all the way down, to Spokane County Jail and charged with second-degree burglary.
As for the skunk (whose whereabouts are unknown), the Sheriff’s Office has stressed that, far from being an official deputy, it was merely a good – if not a particularly good-smelling – Samaritan.
“The skunk is a wild animal and not affiliated with law enforcement or the church,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Perhaps Batman should consider a different animal…
