(News article from the Sedona Daily Reader)
Spider KOs area man
Tarantula attacks, knocks out Cottonwood resident
By KIP MOONEY
Sedona Daily Reader
COTTONWOOD, Ariz. – Cottonwood police arrested 46-year-old Luke Brown on Wednesday, Aug. 6, after his wife called 911 to report an odd attack in their one-bedroom 12th street apartment.
Brown, technically the victim of the assault, was later arrested on charges of domestic violence after police observed bruises on his wife’s face and arms. His wife, who wished not to be identified, later admitted she had been the victim of spousal abuse for years.
The 911 call, however, originally concerned an attack on her husband by an unidentified intruder. According to police, Brown and his wife told investigators a large tarantula holding a sign that read “Stop Hitting Your Wife” attacked them. Witnesses said the tarantula flashed the sign at Brown before launching into an attack that left the man unconscious on his living room floor. The tarantula, witnesses added, appeared in the company of a quail. Police speculated that, if true, a third, human party likely trained the unlikely duo.
Cottonwood Police Department Lt. Gwen Owens said she doubted the insect was large enough to hit the man hard enough to knock him out, but declined to comment on the truthfulness of the story pending further investigation.
“I imagine the shock of the assault itself was enough to make him pass out,” she said. “I know it would scare the Dickens out of me.”
Brown’s wife, meanwhile, said she appreciated the intruder’s appearance and told the Daily Reader she plans to file for a divorce from her abusive husband at her earliest convenience.
“I’m keeping the sign the big spider showed my husband to remind me that I can do better if I set my mind to it,” Brown’s wife said. “I wish I knew who trained that tarantula to do all that stuff, whoever it is who wrote the note, so I could thank them for that.”
Wednesday’s Incident is the third strange tarantula sighting reported in the Verde Valley in recent weeks. In July, the Sedona Eye, a drone operated by Flight Services, L.L.C. and owner Diana Sturgis, recorded what appeared to be a tarantula falling from the sky in the area of Coffee Pot Rock. That tarantula is not thought to be connected to Friday’s crash. Following that, drivers in a three-car collision in Cottonwood reported the crash occurred when a car swerved to avoid hitting a quail on the street. A tarantula rode atop the quail holding what appeared to be a $100 bill.
Patrick Whitehurst 