Sneezing is not a crime, so why would anyone get in trouble for one of the body’s most natural responses to the environment? We asked ourselves that same question before writing this article. But it turns out there are very valid answers to this question. Answers that might make you laugh, cry and even cover your eyes. Here are the insane times people (mostly) deserved to get in trouble for sneezing. 

1. Secret Spot Reveal

An Oklahoma man, who was led the police on a high-speed chase after committing a crime paid the price for sneezing after it gave away his hiding spot. The young man used his car to try to evade the police, but with no luck. So he did the next best thing: he ditched his car and looked for somewhere to hide. But with the police hot on his heels, he had to find somewhere, and fast. Luckily, he chose a dark area, and the police were walking right past him when his allergies decided to act up, revealing where he was hiding. Moral of the story: take your Benadryl. 

2. A Grave Insult

There are world leaders who seem down to earth, then there are those you just do not want to mess with. Vladimir Putin is one such person. Insulting him, in even the slightest of ways come with harsh consequences, something that Dimitry Karuyev learned the hard way, after sneezing on a picture of his president (police say he spat). He went to jail for 15 days for the offense of clearing out his nose. 

3. The Allure of the Sneeze

Everyone is different, so it makes sense that people like different things. While one man may enjoy massages, another might enjoy home-cooked meals. One elderly man in Texas, however, enjoyed seeing women sneeze. So much so that he did not wait for it to happen naturally, but he used the help of white pepper to help the action come about faster. When police apprehended him, they found out that the act of sneezing aroused the man, which is why he purposely blew the pepper into the cashier’s nose as she rang him up at the grocery store. He was charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury since the poor woman had to go to the hospital with an irritated throat. 

4. Sneezing and Slapping

It must’ve been a very bad day for Stephen Jackson in 2015 because just the sound of a person sneezing did him in. It was winter that year, a time when sniffles and sneezing are rampant, but that didn’t stop Jackson from going around and slapping any and every elderly person who sneezed in public. By the time he was caught, he had assaulted five different people, all of whom where between the ages of 65 and 82. By the time he appeared in court, the count had increased to 14 different individuals, all of which Jackson denied. 

5. Sneezing At the Bailiff 

Sneezing in people’s faces is a big no-no, although sometimes it can’t be helped as those things tend to come on without much notice. But Mellissa Estelle was fully aware of her action while in court to settle some traffic offenses. Tired of constantly being told to respect the courtroom by its employees, she walked up to the bailiff and sneezed right in her face, leaving gooey remnants of said sneeze all over the victim. Mellissa was detained for six hours and a battery charge was added to her already existing DUI.