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N.Y. man attacks inflatable ghosts, pumpkin

Unclear what caused drunken suspect's fit of rage toward neighbor

Video: Strange news
Great tennis balls of fire!
Dec. 2: By dousing an ordinary tennis ball in lighter fluid and setting it alight, an Internet video shows children turning one of the world’s most genteel sports into one of the most dangerous.

updated 2:55 a.m. ET Oct. 13, 2007

LLOYD, N.Y. - A woman says a neighbor attacked her inflatable Halloween lawn display of three ghosts and a giant pumpkin, then apparently smashed his head through her window in a fit of rage.

State Police said officers found a drunken John Odee, 43, inside Dawn Garcia's house in the Hudson Valley town of Lloyd on Thursday night, arrested him after a brief struggle and charged him with burglary.

Garcia told the Middletown Times Herald-Record she heard hollering and swearing and looked outside to see Odee struggling with the giant pumpkin. "He was enraged. I could see that," she said.

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When she yelled at him to go away, Odee charged the house. She fled through the back door with three of her children and heard window glass breaking. She called 911 from another neighbor's house. Police said Odee used his head to smash a window to get in.

No problems with last year's decoaration
"What made him do that, I don't know," Garcia said. "We had the same decoration up last year and it didn't bother him."

Odee was being held at Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail Friday night. A corrections officer said inmates could not come to the phone. The officer did not know if Odee had an attorney.

Lloyd is about 90 miles north of New York City.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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