Lawnmower man.

A February 7 Associated Press dispatch (datelined Oxford, Alabama) reported that "a convicted burglar sentenced in Calhoun County to 20 years in prison this week as a repeat offender had an unusual run-in with his victim."

The intended victim, Richard Bussey, had driven to his father's rural residence last summer, where he found Roy Gendron loading furniture and other items into a pickup truck. According to AP, "Bussey held a gun on the would-be thief and ordered him to return the furniture." Then, since Bussey didn't have ready access to a telephone with which to call police, "he made ... Gendron mow the lawn with a push mower until he could think of a plan to alert authorities." Eventually, he "took Gendron's driver's license and turned it in to police."

Gendron had been arrested 19 times and was on parole when he was apprehended by Bussey. At his sentencing, Circuit Judge Samuel Monk noted the comic twist of the case, calling it "one of the better ones." Assistant District Attorney Brian McVeigh later joked that, should he ever find himself in a similar situation, he, too, will "try to get some yard work out of the guy."