Cellphone saves Florida store clerk from robber's bullet

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A convenience store clerk in Florida can thank his cellphone for stopping a bullet fired at his chest during an attempted robbery, police said on Tuesday.

"He was very lucky," said Lieutenant Scott Allen of the Winter Garden Police Department.

The middle-aged clerk, who police are not identifying for his safety, was shot at by a robber who ordered him and a female clerk to open the safe at a gas station and convenience store near Orlando, Florida, on Monday.

"He (the clerk) was not able to open the safe," Allen said. "The suspect went to leave, he pointed the revolver at one of the clerks and fired a single shot as he was leaving the store."

The clerk's cellphone was in the breast pocket of his baggy shirt.

"When it first happened, he checked himself to see if he was shot. He didn't see anything," Allen said. "Sometime later after the police were on the scene, he mentioned he had a little bit of chest pain. So they started looking into it and realized his cellphone had been shot."

The man did not suffer any injuries, Allen said.

The bullet remained lodged in the phone. Police suspect it came from a .22 or .25 caliber handgun, he said.

(Reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by Kevin Gray and Paul Simao)

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Guide dog saves man and woman from swerving vehicle (VIDEO)

An alert guide dog saved a California man and woman on Monday from an out-of-control vehicle swerving backward down a public sidewalk at high speed.

Todd Jurek and Danielle Alvarado are both employees of Guide Dogs for the Blind, a company that trains service dogs to assist visually impaired individuals. They were taking a O’Neil, an 18-month-old Labrador retriever, out for a training walk in San Rafael, Calif., on Monday morning when the near-death experience occurred.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that a 93-year-old woman was reportedly trying to parallel park her vehicle when she lost control and began driving the car in reverse, smashing a store window.

"It was just an unbelievable sight to see something going backwards, barreling down the sidewalk," Jurek told the paper.

Jurek and Alvarado, who was blindfolded as part of the exercise, did not see the car barreling down the sidewalk behind them. But O’Neil sensed something was going on and jerked his head backward. The motion caught Jurek’s attention who then also looked backward just in time to see the car.

The entire incident was captured on a security camera from a local business.

"He probably heard the commotion before the window popped," Jurek said of O’Neil’s timely response.

Amazingly, no one was hurt in the incident, including the driver, who reportedly hit a street bench and stop light before coming to a stop.

Despite everyone walking away unharmed, San Rafael Police Sgt. Raul Aguilar said his department is requesting that the Department of Motor Vehicles conduct a re-examination of the driver to make sure she is qualified to operate a vehicle.

Jurek said O’Neil underwent a series of tests on Tuesday to ensure he was not traumatized by the incident. Guide Dogs for the Blind says it hopes to have the courageous pup placed with an individual sometime in the coming weeks.

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NJ governor 'saves' children from spider

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasn't in a pardoning mood when an itsy, bitsy spider crawled on his desk while he spoke to a group of schoolchildren.

The students spotted the arachnid near the governor's phone on Friday. Speaking softly, Christie gave the spider a smack down.

The governor told the students that one fun part of being governor is you're allowed to kill any bugs on your desk without getting into trouble.

Christie tweeted that he had "saved a few school children from a spider."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals President Ingrid Newkirk issued a statement saying Christie probably killed it without thinking. Newkirk said "some people put the spider outside, but spiders are often scary" and that can prevent people from pondering their worth.

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