BAD TRIP

[Dave_Schuldt]

Stoned Del. student gets lost in Conn.

 

Associated Press

07/11/2004

 

A Delaware college student ate a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms and drove

around in a pair of stolen cars before arriving, confused, on a mountain in

northwest Connecticut police said.

 

Paul Cunningham, 21, hiked to a nearby home Thursday night and asked to call

911, police said.

 

"I think I stole a car," Cunningham told a dispatcher. "I'm not sure."

 

Police said Cunningham, of Dover, Del., confessed that eating an entire bag

of mushrooms, "probably wasn't a good idea." He allegedly told investigators

that he had no idea how many laws he broke during a three-day excursion that

took him 300 miles from home.

 

A student at Wilmington College, he told a state trooper that he bought the

drugs in Dover on Monday, according to the Republican-American of Waterbury.

The next day, he went for a drive and twice got lost in Connecticut.

 

He told police he remembers taking a train to LaGuardia Airport in New York,

where he found a car with its keys in it. He's unsure where he went from

there.

 

"I once again found myself lost in Connecticut," Cunningham reportedly told

police.

 

After locking the keys in the stolen car, Cunningham allegedly stole a van

from a Southbury rest stop.

 

In Canaan, he decided to climb Music Mountain to see what was on the other

side, police said. Investigators believe the exercise cleared Cunningham's

head.

 

"I want to correct my mistakes," Cunningham reportedly told Trooper Andre

Roy. "In retrospect, this was a bad idea."

 

He volunteered a written confession, police said. He was arraigned Friday

and was held on $2,500 bail. Both stolen vehicles were recovered.

[Greg_W]