Brickbats: April 2026

The city council of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, banned pickleball at Forest Hill Park, the only public park in town with pickleball courts, making it a criminal offense punishable by a $1,000 fine to play there. The ban followed repeated noise complaints from a few nearby residents. City officials considered quieter equipment and other compromises but ultimately rejected them, saying the park’s location was incompatible with pickleball.

In Louisville, Kentucky, Cuqita Boyd was charged with DUI after a minor crash in January 2022, despite repeatedly asking for a breathalyzer, which the arresting officer did not provide. In a deposition, the officer explained that using breathalyzers “wasn’t my thing.” Boyd later got a breathalyzer test at the jail, which read 0.0, and a blood draw found no detectable alcohol in her system. Boyd spent 14 months fighting the charges before they were dismissed, and her family claims the prolonged legal ordeal contributed to her death in May 2025 from high blood pressure complications.

Mayor Brandon Johnson says the city of Chicago must borrow $283.3 million to resolve a growing backlog of police misconduct lawsuits, which could cost taxpayers about $52 million in interest over the next five years. The city already spent at least $285.3 million on settlements and judgments in 2025, more than triple its annual budget for such payouts. Critics note the city is settling suits against officers while still spending money to defend some of them in ongoing lawsuits.

People with learning disabilities in the United Kingdom are receiving “do not resuscitate” (DNR) orders in their medical records without the knowledge or consent of their families, despite National Health Service guidance requiring case-by-case decisions. Families say hospitals routinely place DNRs on their disabled relatives’ records simply because of their disability, with no conversation about what the patient or their loved ones would actually want.

Hawaii’s Department of the Attorney General declined to file criminal charges against a police officer whose K-9 partner died after being left in a patrol car outside a police station, citing insufficient evidence of a crime. In response to the incident, the police department pledged to add heat sensors to K-9 patrol cars and special collars that monitor dogs’ health and send alerts to handlers’ phones. The officer was not placed on leave but was reassigned.

Lawton Chiles Middle School in Oviedo, Florida, briefly went on lockdown after an AI-powered weapon detection system flagged what it believed was a man carrying a gun. Human reviewers confirmed the potential threat and alerted the police, sending officers rushing to the school. Authorities quickly determined the “gun” was a band student’s clarinet.

A man in London returned from vacation to find four parking tickets on his car after Croydon Council painted a disabled parking bay around his legally parked vehicle. The bay was created with no prior notice to residents, and contractors painted around the car to avoid delays. Even though the contractor left a note asking that no fines be issued, a parking attendant ticketed the vehicle on multiple days. The council later apologized and said it would cancel the tickets.

A Texas grand jury indicted Uvalde County Judge William Ross Mitchell on a charge of official oppression after he ordered the detention of a UPS driver delivering packages to the courthouse. Mitchell became angry when the driver left packages on the first floor rather than carrying them to the third floor because the elevator wasn’t working. Mitchell instructed a deputy to detain him and had him handcuffed briefly before releasing him.

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