Police to auction off nitrous-fueled, motorized La-Z-Boy
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Oct 26th 2009 1:07PM
posted Oct 26th 2009 1:07PM
We've seen plenty of strange motorized chairs in this space, including those controlled by Wii Nunchucks and even brainwaves, but rarely do they become available for sale. The handiwork of Minnesota resident Dennis Anderson, this La-Z-Boy mod features everything the manufacturer left out, including: stereo sound system, nitrous oxide booster, parachute, headlights, a steering wheel, and a sticker that reads: "Hell yeah, it's fast." The vehicle, which will reach speeds of 20 MPH, was seized by the state when the driver crashed into a parked car -- he was on the way home from the bar (of course) and 'fessed up to consuming "eight or nine" beers prior to the incident. Anderson may be roaming the streets with a two-year suspended sentence, but his chariot can be yours! Keep an eye out on eBay, where it's due to appear this week with no reserve price.
[Thanks, Scooterde]
[Thanks, Scooterde]
Hmm...would this get me more cool points than a Segway?
Willie Nelson.
Yes. Just look at that thing!
No.
Unless they fit a Toilet inside it, it's not worth it.
three words: Redneck Tron Lifecycle.
I...want...this
Now if only you didn't have to die to really win the Darwin Award.
You don't have to die. You just have to eliminate yourself from the gene pool (ie lose the ability to breed).
What?! Bob isn't going anywhere!
why?.
He found a way to take a beer with friends without left your chair. This guys is a genius.
That... is awesome.
Could they at least dust the damn thing off first?
Git 'er dun!
No seatbelt, but I guess it wouldn't make a difference if there were. You're on a death journey by getting onto that thing that no amount of strapping down well ever help you survive.
Death Journey??? More like a Fantastic Voyage!! The possibilities are endless once you start that baby up, cruising the local for some strange. Drink and Thrive!!!
Needs an ejection spring more than a seatbelt
I feel for this guy. Works so hard only to have his work stripped away and sold off by the man
I agree. I don't see where they get off seizing it. You crash your La-Z-Boy, you should get a ticket. That's it.
Probably because it's not a street-worthy vehicle and he was driving it illegally while drunk. Although I thought the fourth amendment protected you from not being "justly compensated" when something of yours is seized.
"Minnesota police can auction off vehicles seized in drink-drive cases or keep them for official use."
RTFA.
They should keep it for official use.
Engadget or Hack-a-Day should interview this guy, maybe check out his workshop and buy him a sandwich, and maybe an O'Doul's.
I'd assume that they seized the chair because he had no insurance to cover the damage to the car he hit -- which if it's a newer-than-1985-model vehicle, will cost $2500 and up to fix the teeniest dent.
@ Dave:
What do they get from doing that? The opportunity to do the same to the next person who buys it.
It's a friggin' trap for the next purchaser.
-1st off, the chair is illegal; street illegal.
- The police are selling something clearly street illegal
- The next person who buys it has to give all info to the police, who will then be watching and waiting for
the person to fuck up.
- Rinse, repeat.
1st thing that should have been done in any impound situation: Give the rightful owner a chance to get his property back.
make him pay the impound fees and give it back. Auctioning off something you seized that was not in a raid and with proper warrants is not police protocol. It's theft by police.
Does anyone know if Verizon will force consumers to get the data plan for these "droid" devices like they do with Blackberry, or will customers be able to just use the Wi-fi?
Oh hai there Mr. Off Topic. You'll know in less than three days.
NOS is not a fuel, mkay...
what is it then?
West Town, NO2 is an oxidizer, you idiot. It is used in CONJUNCTION with fuel to obtain more power from said fuel. It is a non-flammable gas at low temperatures.
Oh, and James. Stop calling N2O "NOS". NOS (Nitrous Oxide Systems) is a brand name packaging for N2O. I bet you say it like the typical Stunna wannabes "NAWS". Laughabe to say the least.
I bet you post assumptions that are based on absolutely no evidence on engadget.
despite Slappy's arrogant & elitist flames, nothing james explicitly said was incorrect...
& quit calling facial tissues 'Kleenex', cotton swabs 'q-tips', bandages 'band-aids', and hook and loop fasteners 'Velcro' while you're at it! You ignorant buffoons. You sound like consumer wannabees.
James, what did you Stunna boyz call the airline TWA? Something like "TWAH"? Ease up, Stunna. It is OK that you lack the education to figure this out. We get it.
@Slappy wag
If you are gonna be a douche about someone being uninformed about something, make sure all your facts are correct, as it was not Vin Diesel but Paul Walker that you are loosely quoting. I am not gonna argue your point as my knowledge involving NOS is very limited and I presume you speak the truth as I have no evidence to the contrary, except that you seem to have a superiority complex. If you get that upset about someone pronouncing NOS differently, I would hate to see how you would behave meeting someone from another culture with an accent.
Sloppy Wank, you still don't get it. Nobody cares what fast and the furious and wikipedia taught you about cars and frankly, my post had nothing to do with them. james said "NOS is not a fuel..." Is that a correct or incorrect statement? Whichever common meaning you attribute to his use of "NOS", it is NOT a fuel. So james is right, no matter what. You seem to think I have this inaccurate impression of the difference between NO2 and NOS, when I never stated anything about that. You know what they say about assumptions... My only point is that james was technically correct, and that brands often become the genericized name for their product, AKA Kleenex. This is what has happened to NOS, so get over it, douche. It's not my fault your logic, reasoning and reading comprehension skills are not up to snuff. Also, acronyms such as "NOS" tend to become read as a word for ease, "NAWS" as you so eloquently explain, so it really isn't going to stop. Do you hate on everyone who doesn't say "EN AY ESS AY" for NASA? Asenine. lol
Too bad you couldn't refute anything I said except who said "I NEED NAWS" in the movie; rather you knew exactly who said it, and I am betting it was without having to go look it up. Typical Stunna know-nothing. It is good that you realize that you know nothing, and admit to knowing nothing. Now get back in your lowered Honda with the wing on the trunk (LOL) and go do another Stunna fly-by on a Corvette who was not racing you to begin with.
Anyone else get the impression that Slappy is a recovering ex-"stunna"?
Boot to the ass, I was building and racing cars before you were a twinkle in your Brother's eye. Generic terms or not, NOS is a BRAND of control, containment, and release mechanisms for NO2 gas. There are quite a few other brands on the market. Edelbrock, Compucar, JWT, Zex, and the list goes on to the tune of about 20-30 manufacturers of NO2 control, containment, and release mechanisms. The GAS itself is unbranded. This is where you seem to be having trouble. What happens if I run down to get myself a refill of NO2 at the local gas supplier, and it is not NOS brand? Does it blow up my system? No. Why? To steal an Apple phrase "It just works", because it is the exact same stuff. See, the local shops aren't going to argue with the local Stunna when he asks for "NAWS" because they know it could cost them a sale. They do laugh quietly to themselves as they fill the tank up, however.
The best part? NOS, Zex, Edelbrock, etc, generally all sell you an EMPTY TANK because UPS/Fedex/US Postal does not handle the gas for shipment, and none of these companies wants to assume the liability since the stuff is available locally. So, you see, you seem have a serious issue with a case of stupidity. Do you really think that the local gas supplier or the local race shop buys NOS branded N2O gas? *GUFFAW* They buy whatever is the cheapest they can get their hands on, because it is the exact same same stuff everyone else has. Airgas or any of a thousand other suppliers get the stuff for the local shops.
Do people call all all sodas Cokes, and call all small, candy covered chocolates M&M's? Certainly. Does this does make it correct? Nope. If you decided to attempt to market a product using those "generic" terms, you would get your boot to the ass sued off. What it all comes down to is that you (and a lot of people) are too lazy to make a differentiation between brands even though they most assuredly exist.
Now, with all this said, he incorrectly referred to the N2O gas by the brand name NOS. Clearly this is wrong, since nearly none of the suppliers of the kits will sell you a pre-filled tank unless you live local to the retailer, but you continue to argue a point just for the sake of argument. I would be willing to bget that NOS (or any ot the other suppliers) uses their local gas supplier and cal it "their" brand.
I'm done with you. Be off and go buy yourself some NAWS.
Slappy, besides speculation, you've proved nothing other than your troll mentality. Go back to making cars and screwing in-laws, as social interaction isn't working for you or any of your future bastard sons anytime soon.
Wow, the gentleman named Slappy Wag made this thread absolutely riveting. The pretentious tone accompanied by the rampant use of the word "stunna" was beyond fabulous.
I was curious about this brand new word, but told myself not to give in and consult urban dictionary. Slappy Wag's sly charm won me over though and I couldn't resist.
Now I know that stunna is "A person who drives around town in nice cars, on dubz, showing off their ice and bling. Most of the time, this gets them many bitches and hoes which they then take back to their crib to bang up the ass."
If this is accurate then Slappy, I'll be your stunna and you can be my bitch+hoe for eternity.
You'd think if he was so knowledgeable, he would be able to remember if it's N2O or NO2...
Yeah, all the definitions of "stunna" I found were relatively positive in their outlook. Perhaps you have taken on a new connotation due to the over-use of this word which you seem over-use yourself quite a bit. I had actually never heard of this word used before, so I thank you for taking the time out of your day educating us with your vast vocabulary and superior knowledge of N2O (or NO2 as you called it previously) as used in cars.
I'm not sure I'm getting this alright. He was arrested for driving a (potentially) deadly machine around WHILE under the influence? I'll start building that Carmageddon shark car right now. I'll just have to avoid smashing other vehicles and runnin gover people.
Bah, no point. If there's no smashing and maiming involved, where's the fun...
How does the police have the power to take it and sell it? The guy made a mistake but that gives no right to the police to steal it from him and sell it for their benefit.
I was just about to ask the same thing.
common sense < law < lawyers.
In soviet russia, YOU steal the motorized police chairs.
in soviet russia, the police steal YOU!
In most states when convicted of DUI the vehicle gets taken away - see above. I just think it is an incredible abuse of power though to say that DUI applies to something that can't even go over 20 mph....
If I remember correctly, a guy got a DUI for sleeping in his truck in the middle of a snowstorm, while drunk, of course. He had it on so he wouldn't freeze to death while he was sleeping. You can apparently get a DUI doing anything at this point.
"danimaldan
How does the police have the power to take it and sell it?"
Maybe it was a safety inspection?
Like in "The Hunt for Red October"?
Except this was a chair...lol
Ever watch COPS? There have been a few times they were giving DUI's to people driving things like tractors, and lawnmowers. Yes, they can impound a lawnmower. And they do, if a driving related crime is serious, or occurs multiple times, they can seize your vehicle, whatever type of vehicle that may be. It's absolutely screwed up, but then again, you should know better than to drive drunk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPxIibhcKY - dude getting a DUI on a lawnmower.
I've heard of people getting DUIs for going out to their cars to get their coats before they called a taxi to get a ride home
DUI = Driving Under Influence, the operating word here is driving.
LMFAO @ getting this for my grandmother an watching her open a hole in the wall with a 200 shot of of nos! MOMMY, I WANT ONE!!!
that guy spent so much time making that, i cant believe they just took it, and are selling it.
poor guy
he probably doesnt even have enough life left to make one again.
BEST LA Z BOY EVaR
Is it just me or does this dude look like George Carlin? Specifically George Carlin if you were to dig him up now.
i bet you can catch some fine poonani with that.
"Real mennn of geniussss"...."Mr. Drunken Nitrous La-Z-Boy Maker!"
"Here's to you, sir"
Official transportation of the new Walmart Geek Squad.
I think he and the make of the motorized barstool should have a race to the death!
This brings back fond memories of Roundhouse on Nickelodeon--a sketch comedy show that was a mashup of In Living Color and high school theater. The generic "Dad" character tooled around on a motorized La-Z-Boy.
Holy crap. I miss Roundhouse... that show kicked ass! How could I have forgotten about it???
The chair was impounded after he smashed into a parked car as he returned from a bar in Proctor.
The chair comes with a stereo, nitrous oxide booster, parachute and a "hell yeah it's fast" sticker.
Local police chief Walter Wobig told Agence France-Presse news agency the chair would be posted on eBay next week with no reserve price.
"Minnesota police can auction off vehicles seized in drink-drive cases or keep them for official use."
that bullshit they can take your car and sell it for profit (yearly bonus probably) or keep it for there department that crap
i would win it and give it back to him, if i had the money
YAY Dennis Anderson.
Not as cool as Mike West's Cra-z-boy. His chair is jet powered. He's also got a jet powered golf cart named Tee'd Off and he owns Megasaurus which is a transforming car eating dinosaur.
More like Cra-Z-boy!
On a different note, Americans, PLEASE can you pronounce the letter Z correctly? It's pronounced 'zed', not 'zee'. Ask your neighbours up north, they'll confirm the same thing.
does that mean your name is pronounced "are-three-loaded"?
or is it reloaded because you reused "cra-z-boy" from the post above yours
Hey, I pronounced it "Cra-zed Boy" rather than "Cra-zee Boy!" :) Don't listen to Sesame Street, they are evil!!
I thought we won our independence from you guys and your cra-Z pronunciations some time ago
Yea, coming from someone who uses the number 3 in place of the letter e can really talk in matters of the English language.
There are different pronunciations of the letter Z. Sorry, "Americans" don't hold the patent on pronouncing Z as "zee" , that has been around for a while.
"Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead."
WOW! I'd hate to get caught walking while impaired... Auction off my legs????????
Besides it not being a street legal vehicle, they couldn't arrest him for DWI cuz its not a car! genius!
Actually, they can give him a DUI...You can get a DUI for driving anything with wheels.
Here's a fun fact!! You can get a DUI while riding a bicycle.
Wrong...
http://www.dui.com/dui-library/dui-shorts/lawn-mower-dui
As Steve Miller points out, you can be given a DUI for driving/riding almost anything (a riding lawn mower in this case but even walking while drunk can get you tagged in some localities).
...his 'chair-iot' awaits...
I'd assume that they seized the chair because he had no insurance to cover the damage to the car he hit -- which if it's a newer-than-1985-model vehicle, will cost $2500 and up to fix the teeniest dent.
The police are auctioning it off?? They stole the man's chair?? Disgusting Pigs. We all make mistakes, that doesn't give them the authority to steal a man's property.
they cant sell something like that when the cops have taken it...
that's messed up that they would take something that you put your hard work into making and just sell it online.
This is how we all roll in MN. I see he didn't opt for the hydraulics *head bounces*
:P
lol where do I have a misunderstanding of NOS and Nitrous? I simply said james was right no matter what he meant. Nitrous, N2O, NOS, N.O.S., Nitrous Oxide Systems, none of those are a fuel. I'm sure the diatribe on the details of nitrous is appreciated by all, but the point is people who aren't into that (99% of the population) are naturally going to call it "NAWS" and nobody seems to really care except an elitist troll on engadget.
Good looking man.
Inspires confidence.
Will the cops give you n02 to use with it? Only on engadget would no one mention the real way to use no2, huffing the shit out of a tank with ms. molly.
Is this going into production?
Me want one bad!