Candy caning

In the season of drunken Nativity scene antics, Baby Jesus thefts and Santa burglars, it all has to start somewhere, and this year that somewhere is Del Paso Heights, California, where a drunk man wielding a knife was given his holiday comeuppance by a Good Samaritan armed with a giant candy cane.

Police say the trouble began when 49-year-old Donald Kercell got a jump on the increasingly popular holiday activity of becoming “drunk and angry” during the American Thanksgiving weekend. In that state, Kercell went next door to say hello to his neighbours and their dinner guests—who were out enjoying each other’s company on the lawn—by brandishing a kitchen knife and threatening physical harm. As Kercell began waving his knife around, a bystander took action. Hoisting a two-foot-high decorative candy cane off its moorings, the bystander “smacked” Kercell, disarming him and leaving him sprawled on the lawn, where he remained until police arrived.

Several of the guests suffered minor injuries. Kercell faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

by SCOTT SAXON