Man tries to rob store using palm tree as weapon

[galaxy21]

Robber uses part of a palm tree to hold up a store

June 19, 2008 Police said it ranks near the top as one of the oddest things they've ever seen. But the palm frond wasn't the robber's only weapon. He was also brandishing a pair of flip-flops. Gelando Olivieri burst through the door of V and F Discount Beverage threatening the clerk with the sharp end of a palm frond.
He waved it like a spear, tapped on the counter and demanded money from Guruda Sarkar who admitted the surprise factor worked.

He just remembers the man wanting money.

"He just kept saying 'give me 50 dollar, give me 50 dollar,'" Sarkar said of the incident. Olivieri, with his shirt pulled up over his head, made the most of his homemade weapon.
He started jabbing it toward the clerk, shaking the branch, slapping the man's hand away and demanding he open the register.
What he didn't count on, apparently, was a customer inside who grabbed a bar stool from behind the counter and corralled the tree-wielding robber back out the door.

"He ran him out of the store with a bar stool. He was asked if he could identify the guy and he said 'yeah, that's George.'
He knew him right away," said Sgt. John Anderson of the DeLand Police Department. George Olivieri, who saw a judge for the first time on the armed robbery charge on Thursday, was caught only a block or two away from the store.
The store's owner says he's been robbed with knives and guns, but after watching the robbery back on tape he didn't know what to think.

Video Included in the link

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2c9_1213955587


Now...I know this may cause some anti palm tree resentment amongst DUers...but every American's right to bear palm trees is in the constitution!

[TK421]

1. This reminds me of the great Tulip hold-up of 1997.....

or was it 98? I can't really remember..

[Carnea]

2. Maybe he had High hopes????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlsitMRQAdA

[FloridaJudy]

3. With fronds like these...

Who needs anemones?









Remember: when palm trees out outlawed...

[Kutjara]

4. Can you imagine this schmuck in prison?

It'll be like something out of "Alice's Restaurant."

"What you in for?"
"Armed robbery."
"Me too. Held up a bank with an AK-47. What you do?"
"Held up a Kwik-e-Mart with a palm frond."
"A palm what?"
"A palm frond."
"What the fucks a palm frond?"
"Sorta like one of the branches off a palm tree."
"A palm tree?! What the fuck kinda weapon is a fucking branch off a fucking palm tree?"
"Well it's pretty sharp. OK, sorta sharp. OK, it has its sharp moments."
"Get the fuck away from me, man."

[Elidor]

5. That kind of stupidity doesn't wash off

Reminds me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCfsCQybek0

[jobycom]

6. Oh. I thought you said Palm Treo.

I thought maybe Russel Crowe was in town.