Bluetooth headset helps foil Wendy's robbery

An armed robbery at a Columbus, Ohio Wendy's restaurant on Wednesday morning was thwarted mid-progress, partly due to an employee's Bluetooth headset automatically answering a call because of the robber screaming at her to do just the opposite. We've all learned to live with the wonky voice command features in our headsets and handsets, but on this occasion it actually turned out to be a benefit, as 35-year-old Keith Allen Sturgill's screams to NOT pick up an incoming call actually opened the connection, while the parolee and his three hostages waited for the safe to unlock before customers arrived . The caller, a friend of the employee who worked at a nearby bank, heard the screaming and called police, who were eventually able to talk Sturgill into surrendering -- but not before he had "rammed the gun to his own forehead until he bled," as you can see from his mugshot. Luckily for the habitual offender, he'll soon be back in a familiar place where neither cellphones nor their many accessories will bother him for a very long time.

[Via UPI]

[Richard Lai @ Dec 28th 2007 10:09AM]

I'll have that Bluetooth headset for next Christmas.

[Technex @ Dec 28th 2007 10:15AM]

But it has wonky voice command features.

[Richard Lai @ Dec 28th 2007 10:27AM]

Technex: not a problem, apparently you'll just have to make your foe scream.

[Wwhat @ Dec 28th 2007 3:27PM]

Hmm, a headset that picks up on its own and then allows people to listen in, and you WANT that?

[Rob @ Dec 28th 2007 10:11AM]

hahahaha, dumbass redneck. I live in Columbus and I can tell you there's morons like that all over the place here...

[Tachikomatic @ Dec 28th 2007 12:27PM]

There are morons, not there is. :P

[Arthur Nonamiss @ Dec 29th 2007 9:52PM]

That's funny. I live in Columbus, too, and I didn't even catch that gaffe. ;)

[jail meat @ Dec 28th 2007 10:13AM]

Clearly you haven't been to jail, there are plenty o' cell phones in there..

[mmh @ Dec 28th 2007 12:35PM]

So that must mean.....

Wait, let me guess. They have internet access as well? :p

[Andrew @ Dec 28th 2007 10:15AM]

Dave Thomas FTW!

[Anthony @ Dec 28th 2007 10:17AM]

Single use cell phones (* others I imagine) are are some of the most sought after "contraband" in prisons these days (I've heard). Keith Allen Sturgill may have one sooner than you think.

[Rainier @ Dec 28th 2007 10:30AM]

L O S E R !!!!!

[OneLove @ Dec 28th 2007 10:38AM]

I can see his third eye

[NovaLand @ Dec 28th 2007 11:57AM]

U mean the brown and pearly white, soon to be polised by a rod?

[Julius @ Dec 28th 2007 10:49AM]

Speaking of crooks and cell phones
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/policebeat.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-12-27-0140.html

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 28th 2007 11:21AM]

bluetooth saved the day!

[Nemo Throng @ Dec 28th 2007 11:35AM]

Uh, duh, folks, bluetooth headsets don't answer the phone. It was the phone itself that was responding to voice commands. Duh. Could've been a wired headset or earpiece for that matter.

[B @ Dec 28th 2007 12:07PM]

Um... I think the headset responds to the voice commands and the phone does what the headset tells it to do. I smell troll.

[MegaHurtz @ Dec 28th 2007 11:50AM]

Why was the employee wearing a Bluetooth headset anyways?

[Joshua Walters @ Dec 28th 2007 12:09PM]

To answer her phone?

I do that all the time at work. No one really cares, and if you are at a slow point in the day, you can discreetly answer a call without anyone knowing.

Also, you can stream music through it during the day. It makes the day go alot faster.

[E-Rock @ Dec 28th 2007 12:11PM]

The store wasn't open yet, so probably still had it on from the drive in to work.

[Jeebus @ Dec 28th 2007 12:21PM]

Other things will bother him in prison though. You know what they are.

[Juan @ Dec 28th 2007 1:26PM]

Can you hear ne now...

[Wwhat @ Dec 28th 2007 3:30PM]

Clearly this guy needs counselling, and won't get it, great, see the next incident in a few years.

[Roberta @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:08PM]

Oh yes he will complements of the taxpayers

[thatdidnthurt @ Dec 28th 2007 4:12PM]

They should have let him shoot himself - one more dirt bag off the street and not wasting more of our tax dollars.

[Smartypants @ Dec 28th 2007 4:58PM]

>>police, who were eventually able to talk Sturgill into surrendering -- but not before he had "rammed the gun to his own forehead until he bled," as you can see from his mugshot.

Yeah! Right! LMAO!

He... hmmmm... beat himself up (and probably tasered himself too) for a good reason though - Wendy's chain of restaurants originally started in Columbus, Ohio. So it's like trying to rob a sacred place. LOL

[Ed @ Dec 28th 2007 5:47PM]

LOL. The speech recognition on my phone frustrates the hell out of me too. Never does what it is supposed to do when it is supposed to do it.

@Smartypants - Your sacred remarks do remind of a true story here in Las Vegas. Some perp ran into a shop and put a sawed off shotgun into the face of the owner behind the register.

The owner starts laughing. He asks the perp who put him up to this. The perp gets upset and screams at him to get all the money in a bag. The owner shocked justs points to the left of the shop where nothing less then 10 on duty police officers are as well as some off duty ones. The dumbass ran into the shop from the left side. If he had come the opposite direction he may seen the parking lot behind it with a bunch of police cruisers.

[Roberta @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:08PM]

talking about speech recognition on phones.. it reminds me of the movie I am Sam remember??

[Zorque @ Dec 28th 2007 6:27PM]

That's a hell of a mugshot.

[EUboy @ Dec 28th 2007 10:50PM]

test

[Luis @ Dec 29th 2007 3:11AM]

He looks so kind!

[Richard @ Dec 29th 2007 12:05PM]

Who gives a rat's arse why the employee had her headset on...the story was about the idiot that's going to get his arse ram in jail. And the Darwin award goes to...Dumb ass in Columbus Ohio!

[w @ Jan 3rd 2008 2:28PM]

The part that should be the issue is how a HABITUAL OFFENDER was free to obtain a gun and hold up a restaurant in the 1st place.

[saltnpeppa @ Jan 3rd 2008 4:09PM]

gawd that is one ugly mother fu*&er!

[Darwin McDonald @ Jan 3rd 2008 4:40PM]

The two words I read here was "habitual offender." If he is an habitual offender, why wasn't he already in jail???

[Roberta @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:07PM]

Speaking of what they are allowed, it is stupid. They get whatever they wnant, televison, weight room you name it. All complements of taxpayers. I say unless you are an endangerment to others they should all be put in the "special" facility that an police officer started (I forget where), where the prisoners wear pink clothing (including socks and underwear) and live outside in tents, and have to pay for their food (just enough food too, bologna sandwiches and such, nothing special). they don't have heat or air conditioning, some people may say that that is creul and unusual, so what at my house we don't have air or heat!

[Yeah... @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:41PM]

Too bad you have an internet connection, though.

[Debb @ Jan 4th 2008 9:24AM]

Are you guys for real? The phone itself was on auto answer...duh.