** Ohio ambulance crew finds fresh human heart in field?
** Illinois man arrested for impersonating a paramedic at local fair
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A paramedic crew in Ohio got a start Monday after apparently discovering a human heart in a field some 100 km southwest of Cleveland. The Times of Malta (September 12) said the heart, which was not decomposed, was transported to the coroner’s office for possible identification. According to the newspaper, police are baffled as they have received no reports on organ thefts or grave disturbances. Although the coroner determined with 95 per cent certainty that the heart was human, a veterinarian is also examining the organ.
** Illinois police in DeKalb County arrested a man Saturday for allegedly impersonating a paramedic. The Times (September 12) said Yorkville resident Andrew R. Pepperdine, 28, was taken into custody around 4:30 at the Sandwich Fair. According to the newspaper, Pepperdine was wearing a fire department t-shirt and had both a scanner and a pager on his person. He was also apparently telling passers-by that he was a medic. The incident is not Pepperdine’s first brush with the law. In 2009, he was convicted of impersonating a police officer at DeKalb’s Northern Illinois University. In 2006, police investigated him after a complaint was received about him having emergency lights on his personal car. There is no word on whether he was charged in the latter instance.
