Walgreens Evacuated After Man Attempts to Burn His Soiled Underwear Off

In a story that is bizarre even for California, a Walgreens drug store was evacuated after a moron’s brilliant idea to take his soiled underpants off.

45-year-old Andrew Cheadle was in the store when he accidentally struck mud, filling his shorts and leaving him with a dilemma on how to best shuck the dirty laundry.

The genius headed for the store restroom and out of frustration over a failure to remove his bloomers, he whipped out a lighter and tried to burn them off. Setting off smoke alarms and prompting the evacuation of the store.

The Modesto Bee reports “Man sets underwear on fire, prompts evacuation at Modesto Walgreens”:

A Modesto Walgreens was briefly evacuated Saturday morning after a man set his underwear on fire in the bathroom.

The man, 45-year-old Andrew Cheadle, was caught and arrested on two felony warrants out of Sacramento but not charged with arson due to the reason he lit his pants on fire. Modesto Police Sgt. Steve Hinkley said he’d had an accident and was trying to get his underwear off but couldn’t, so he used a lighter to burn them off.

The incident occurred at the Walgreens at Standiford Avenue and Carver Road at about 9:20 a.m.

Cheadle threw the burning underwear in the toilet which quickly extinguished the fire, but smoke filled the bathroom, prompting an evacuation of the store.

Cheadle left the store, admitting to several employees that he started the fire, then headed south on Carver, said Modesto Fire Department Battalion Chief Randy Anderson.

Cheadle was found in a nearby neighborhood on Otis Avenue and Sheldon Drive.

Mr. Cheadle managed to get out of the store but was eventually corralled by police who arrested him on two outstanding felony warrants.

You just can’t make stuff like this up!