The truck suddenly started down the road, where the pursuing police saw Holden being dragged. Holden was found to have two felony warrants on charges of DUI and leaving the scene of a hit-and-run.

He was also found to be seriously injured from his truck stunt.

Stage fright

Tragedy nearly struck a group of Florida senior citizen actors when, authorities said, a loaded gun was accidentally used during dress rehearsal.

It was the final practice for a Bradenton senior theater production of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” One actor picked up a pistol he borrowed from another cast member and fired it at the head of fellow actor, 81-year-old Fred Kellerman.

The bullet grazed Kellerman’s ear. The play went on two hours later with another actor performing Kellerman’s part. Kellerman plans to be back at rehearsal for a musical the group is putting on. No charges have been filed, but the incident  remains under investigation.

Ball-and-chain letters

Through rain, sleet or snow, the post office will always deliver, the saying pretty much goes. But through the gloom of night? Not so much. An overwhelmed postal carrier in Michigan pleaded guilty to deserting the mail after authorities discovered that she had rented a storage unit to hide thousands of letters.

The pile of undelivered mail was discovered after 34-year-old postal carrier Jill Hull, of Howell, Mich., failed to pay her bill for her storage unit. Self-storage unit managers opened Hull’s unit and discovered thousands of pieces of unopened mail, including 988 first-class letters. Some had postmarks from 2005. Hull said she had planned to keep the pieces under lock and key until she died.

“Looking back at her time sheets, she was leaving early every day,” her boss said. “It’s like it got dark and she didn’t know what to do with the mail.”

Gainesville sluggers

Authorities said two 8-year-olds used baseball bats to stop an armed man who had threatened to kill a woman near Gainesville, Fla.

Charles Arby Bradley, 29, is facing several charges, including battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities said he was trying to resume a relationship with the woman and threatened violence.

Bradley then pulled out a handgun and attacked her. That’s when her son and his friend showed up with bats and started beating the man until he ran away.

Now that’s a knife

A convenience store clerk in Florida gave an armed robber a dose of his own medicine.

The clerk at the Lil’ Champ Food Store near Ormond Beach was restocking cigarettes when he saw a man outside the store putting a mask over his face, Volusia County sheriff’s deputies said. The clerk pulled out his own pocketknife and got ready.

The masked man entered the store, jumped onto the counter and pulled out a knife, demanding money. The clerk lunged with his pocketknife and struck the robber’s chest. It was unknown whether the knife penetrated the robber’s jacket. The startled robber stumbled toward the door, stopping long enough to grab a bottle of suntan lotion and hurl it at the clerk.