best of the blotter: Tiki Torches, Trashed Teletubbies, and Vicious Chihuahuas

ARSON, SHELDON ROAD: Someone at 2:30 a.m. Oct. 22 set off a tiki torch fuel can inside a traffic cone and put it on top of a trunk lid of a Chevrolet parked in the lot by Arcadian Lake Apartments at 2:30 a.m.

There are no suspects.

OVI, COLUMBIA ROAD: Police stopped a car on Columbia Road near Lake Road Oct. 23 at 1:52 a.m. after the driver nearly caused an accident, according to police. An officer suspected the 27-year-old man — who was dressed like Tinky Winky, a character on the children’s TV show “Teletubbies” — had been drinking. The driver said he was coming from a Halloween costume party in North Olmsted and admitted to drinking beer, police said. After an officer administered field sobriety tests, the driver was arrested for operating a vehicle while impaired. He will face charges in Rocky River Municipal Court.

WELFARE CHECK, PROSPECT ROAD: Police received word of an elderly man slumped over in his vehicle at 10 p.m. Oct. 23.

Accordion music was playing inside the vehicle and when a passerby called out to him, the man did not react.

When an officer arrived, it was learned that the man had simply fallen asleep after an exhausting day. The officer followed him home, ensuring his safety.

STRONGSVILLE

A 40-year-old Bluffside Street man called police at 3 a.m. Friday to say he'd been assaulted in a bar, but then thought the officer who arrived was a taxi to take him to get some food.

The man told police an officer had already given him a ride home.

Police determined the man had been drinking at the Islander in Middleburg Heights and that police in that city had driven him home.

BEACHWOOD

Week-long Chihuahua chase ends in groundhog trap

Sunday, Oct. 9, 10:20 a.m. — A puppy got stuck in a cage that was set to catch a groundhog in Baywood Estates. The police report noted that it was a mean Chihuahua they have been trying to catch for a week. The animal warden responded and took the animal.