Playing (with) Possum

Short Hills, New Jersey, April 27, 2010:

Police say they initially charged a New Jersey man with public drunkenness after he was seen trying to resuscitate a long-dead opossum along a highway. State police Trooper Jamie Levier says several witnesses saw local politico Ron, of Jersey City, near the animal Monday along John F. Kennedy Parkway in Short Hills.

The trooper says one person saw Ron kneeling before the animal and gesturing as though he were conducting a seance. He says another saw Ron attempting to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Levier says the animal already had been dead a while.

The charges were dropped after police took Ron to the station for an education about interacting with dead animals...and several cups of black coffee.

Ron was released after sobering up. He refused to comment for this story -- one he called "absurdly [expletive] ridiculous!"

Posted by Bittle at April 27, 2010 06:14 AM