Patrol car hit by flying outhouse

Officer out of car aiding motorist; nobody hurt

By LARRY SANDLER
Last Updated: Oct. 3, 2003

A state trooper has survived The Attack of the Flying Toilet.

It sounds like a really bad science-fiction movie from the 1950s, but an airborne outhouse wreaked havoc on a State Patrol car on I-90 near La Crosse on Sunday night, the patrol reported Friday.

Trooper Rich Vanko wasn't hurt, said his supervisor, Sgt. Bruce Holsclaw. His co-workers, however, have dumped a load of off-color jokes on him.

Vanko had stopped to help a stranded motorist change a flat tire and was standing at the side of the road when a truck passed by and "all of a sudden, something hit his car," Holsclaw said.

At first, Vanko thought the truck had struck the patrol car, Holsclaw said. But it soon became apparent that the truck was carrying a shipment of portable toilets, and that one had fallen off.

The toilet shattered the flashing lights atop Vanko's patrol car and dented a fender, causing more than $1,000 in damage, Holsclaw said. Then the toilet bounced back into the highway, where it was hit by another truck and smashed to pieces.

Had the flying toilet hit Vanko at 65 mph, "it quite probably would have injured or killed him," Holsclaw said. "It would have been an interesting eulogy."

Vanko was also lucky that the toilet was empty at the time, Holsclaw noted.

Fellow troopers at the patrol's southwestern district headquarters in Tomah have given Vanko a case of toilet paper and a lot of remarks unprintable in a family newspaper, Holsclaw said.

"The jokes will probably be running for a couple weeks," Holsclaw said.

And even though Vanko is just 28 now, "he knows this sort of thing will probably surface at his retirement dinner," the sergeant added.


From the Oct. 4, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

classic!

too funny lol

gives an whole new meaning to the term crapper sleigh

Now thats what i call S**T luck.Sorry,i just could not resist it.Great story schadeaux