back to article Man nicked trying to 'save' beer from burning building

A South Dakotan was cuffed after he repeatedly barged past police and firefighters that were trying to deal with a blaze in his apartment block so he could re-enter and rescue his most precious possession - beer. Michael Casteel was nicked on 27 March when he re-emerged from the property in Sioux Falls, clutching two cans of …

  1. oomwat
    Coat

    Minnehaha

    Cmon, now that's gotta be just a little funny!

    1. AbelSoul
      Headmaster

      Re: Minnehaha

      From the article:

      .. a resting place that sounds more pleasant than it probably is..

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. My other car is an IAV Stryker
        Angel

        Re: Minnehaha

        Plenty of nicer places named that... in Minnesota, not SoDak.

        I recommend a visit to Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis to everyone at every opportunity. Especially see the waterfall; the old stone stairs are a good workout. Just take the light rail line from the airport (in the opposite direction of the giant shopping mall).

  2. A K Stiles
    Pint

    incorrect air-quotes?

    I think that rather than having them around "save" they should perhaps have been around "beer" given the beverage in question!

  3. Roger Varley

    Is it allowed ....

    ... to use the phrase "Bud Ice Premium" in the same sentence as "beer"/

    1. Steve the Cynic

      Re: Is it allowed ....

      Sure, but you need to remember the words "is not"...

      1. TonyJ

        Re: Is it allowed ....

        Q: What do having sex in a canoe and American "beer" have in common?

        A: They're both f***ing close to water :)

        1. TheVogon

          Re: Is it allowed ....

          Q. How do you turn English beer into American beer?

          A. Drink It.

  4. drand
    Pint

    Give the chap the benefit of the doubt

    Maybe he hoped to quench the flames with the cans of liquid. Much better idea than drinking it.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Give the chap the benefit of the doubt

      Foster's was unknown in the UK until the film The Adventures of Barry Mackenzie, in which a fire in a BBC studio is doused by a chain of Australian men drinking Foster's and lining up to piss on the fire - whilst singing the One-Eyed Trouser Snake Song.

      Based upon Barrie Humphreys' cartoon in Private Eye, and featuring Peter Cook and Dame Edna. Produced by Philip Adams, whose brilliant radio show is available as a podcast - http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon

        Re: Give the chap the benefit of the doubt

        I think the Paul Hogan adverts helped a bit as well :)

        "Excuse me, can you tell me the way to Cock Fosters?"

        "Sure mate, drink it warm."

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Give the chap the benefit of the doubt

          ...or drink it in any fashion, really. Fosters comes pre-cocked.

  5. Redstone

    The poor judgement

    was in his original choice of beer. Now if it had been a true Bavarian weissbier...

  6. kain preacher

    Few things the guy is clearly an alcoholic that has had his brain pickled. First mistake bud ice . C'mon that is the the worst bud beer but not the worst as we have lines of high alcohol beer for drunks. Usually between 7-13 percent.) Then trying to save that cheap crap when he could of bought more.

    1. Steve the Cynic

      Hey, round where I live(1) they sell high alcohol beer, but it is small-brewery specialist stuff in little brown bottles, not cheap pickling fluid for alcoholics to punish their livers with.

      (1) For those members of the audience who are new here, that's northern France, just outside Lille, and consequently in easy reach of Belgian abbey beer shipments. I'd also point out that I'm not a beer drinker, so I have no idea whether they are any good.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @ Steve the Cynic: they are

        that's all.

    2. kain preacher

      Down vote ? look like we had bud wiser fan. nope the cheap high alcohol beer here is taste like mixing wine and beer.

      1. Sir Sham Cad

        Re: like mixing wine and beer

        Incorrect. Put down the Skol Super and get looking into good craft beer such as Imperial Stout (usually between 8-13pc ABV) good Double IPAs (between 8 and 11pc ABV occasionally higher) or just some good craft porters or pales that can get up among the 7-8pc ABV.

        Absolutely delicious and still strong enough to do the job.

        At least be a discerning functional alcoholic like moi!

        1. kain preacher

          Re: like mixing wine and beer

          It's hard to find a good tasting high alcohol beer in the US. The major beer makers have deiced only alcoholics drink it so they don't give shit about making tasted good.

          1. Grant Mitchell

            Re: like mixing wine and beer

            Really? After spending a few weeks in San Diego, home of Stone, Alesmith, Ballast Point, Mikkeller (USA home) and Mike Hess, to name but a few (there were a _lot_ more, but those are the ones fellow Brits would likely recognise) I can assure you finding good tasting, high volume beers was like falling off a log (which certainly became more likely as the nights progressed ;) ).

            1. kain preacher

              Re: like mixing wine and beer

              I'm stuck in Alabama. steel reserve is considered high quality here.

        2. kain preacher

          Re: like mixing wine and beer

          Can I mix bud with fosters ?

          1. Toni the terrible Bronze badge

            Re: like mixing wine and beer

            Sure but what would you do with it?

  7. handleoclast

    Then King's guitar left him

    So Kenny Rogers wrote a song about it.

    1. VanguardG

      Re: Then King's guitar left him

      I *suppose* one might argue that the overheated cans might have burst and sprayed any firefighters nearby with a flammable liquid, while they were in an area already on fire, therefore he was trying to keep firefighters from being harmed.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Then King's guitar left him

        "I *suppose* one might argue that the overheated cans might have burst and sprayed any firefighters nearby with a flammable liquid, while they were in an area already on fire, therefore he was trying to keep firefighters from being harmed."

        There *no* *where* *near* enough alcohol in that stuff.

        1. VanguardG

          Re: Then King's guitar left him

          Its nothing to do with the alcohol content, Sir John of Brown. its how readily the alcohol that is there can transition to vapor - which is the only form that will actually light ... 100 proof vodka chilled will not catch fire. In this scenario, the beer would be heated up already, and spraying in a near-mist form, so yes, it would burn. Not for very long, I grant you - there's not much fuel. But there could be a few flickers of more fire then there already was. One could carry an open shot glass of 90 proof through a house fire without it flaming up, unless you dawdled amongst the flames for an extended period. Still, in my opinion, should you need to transport hard liquor through a fire, I would recommend drinking it first, and carrying it through in your stomach.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Back in my days of drinking watery lager, if you drink enough of it you could have contributed to putting out the fire : it always seemed I pissed out more than I drunk. I just about remember trying to 'put out a fire' in a wardrobe once. Not a popular choice.

  9. chivo243 Silver badge
    WTF?

    If he had come to a demise in the fire

    It would have surely (I know) led to a Darwin Award. First of all, for running into a burning building for something other than your offspring, and second for THAT crap that barely qualifies as beer? It's yellow and has bubbles.... So does Mountain Dew.

    1. kain preacher

      Re: If he had come to a demise in the fire

      Unfortunate stupid people like that tend to be fast breeders Watch the movie Idiocracy.

    2. Robert Helpmann??
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: If he had come to a demise in the fire

      So does Mountain Dew.

      And that's what I was drinking until I read that line. Thanks!

      1. chivo243 Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: If he had come to a demise in the fire

        @Robert Helpmann??

        Sorry for that, new keyboard on the way, and a six pack of MD.

  10. Mongrel
    Pint

    "clutching two cans of Bud Ice Premium, all while emergency services treated other local residents.

    A police mouthpiece said Casteel had demonstrated “poor judgement”"

    His poor judgement started before the fire...

  11. Evil Auditor Silver badge
    Trollface

    Beer?

    For all I know he might have been worried that there wasn't enough water to deal with the fire. So he got some more.

  12. DNTP
    Flame

    The infamous chemist Max Gergel...

    ...according to his memoir, once ran into a completely burning organic chemical factory to try and rescue several gallons of valuable chemicals, only to escape with several bottles of relatively worthless alcohol.

    Amazingly this was not the most reckless story in his memoir.

    1. x 7

      Re: The infamous chemist Max Gergel...

      "Amazingly this was not the most reckless story in his memoir."

      Its the stories that aren't in Max's memoirs that are the most alarming. I knew the guy, and several of his staff. Columbia Organic Chemicals was a death trap and an environmental nightmare. The two sites - and the sites of several spinoff companies are still subject to federal superfund legislation 20-30 years after they closed. Gergel was a crook and should have been jailed - but he escaped any prosecution by selling the business to his son-in-law (another crook) and blaming him for all the problems

  13. Tikimon
    Devil

    Bah, he wasn't trying to SAVE anything..

    Faced with the loss of everything he owned, and clearly not being in the best of situations before the fire, he decided that life simply wasn't worth living anymore. He lurched in not to save the beers, but to use them to kill himself and escape this vale of tears and woe. Of course the police snatched it away and locked him up for his own protection. Always willing to take a bullet or a beer to protect a citizen, yanno.

    Seems kinda "cruel and unusual" to me, couldn't he find a less painful and more dignified method?

  14. Sleep deprived
    Facepalm

    Bud Ice Premium?

    Leaving it to boil in fire could only make it better. Can't get much worse. Poor judgment indeed.

  15. Triggerfish

    "Bad Experience" At Bookstore Prompts Man, 71, To Retaliate With Dildo Barrage

    Seems like an interesting site

    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/books-million/books-a-million-dildont-593871

  16. adam payne

    Michael Casteel was nicked on 27 March when he re-emerged from the property in Sioux Falls, clutching two cans of Bud Ice Premium, all while emergency services treated other local residents.

    Ran in to get two cans of Bud, Bud seriously? He should have left it in there and gotten some decent beer.

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