After 6 Weeks, Cops Arrest Guy for Driving Neighbors Crazy

It may seem there's more fighting than rejoicing on Facebook lately, but for the residents of El Segundo, Calif., it's time to celebrate. "They found the air horn guy!" one local crowed online, per the Los Angeles Times, applauding a somewhat anticlimactic ending to the early-morning din that's been plaguing the city for six weeks. On its Facebook page, the El Segundo Police Department noted that at around 4am Sunday, officers heard an "extremely loud air-horn being actuated" and followed the sound to a 2006 Chevy Aveo driving around, which they pulled over. Inside: driver John Nuggent and air horn equipment, which Nuggent admitted to using to stir residents out of sleep. Several locals emerged from their homes and made a citizen's arrest against Nuggent—an important fact, the San Diego Union-Tribune notes, with police explaining that officers can't be victims of "disturbing the peace."

Had the residents not come out, the cops would only have been able to give Nuggent a slap on the wrist for a traffic infraction; now the charge gets prosecutable misdemeanor status, with a maximum of 90 days in jail, a $400 fine, or both if he's found guilty. Sgt. Vincent Martinez tells the Times the blare fest was apparently Nuggent's way of retaliating against someone in the area with whom he had a beef. "I've been an officer for over 27 years and I don't know if I've ever seen someone retaliate using an air horn," Martinez says. "But people find very creative ways at getting at other people." WCMH notes that the car, along with the horn, was impounded. (A Nebraska woman was charged with disturbing the peace—by sticking her hand in a tiger cage.)