LOS ANGELES, July 4 (UPI) -- A 71-year-old Los Angeles woman said she was able to stop an attacker in her home from assaulting her daughter by offering him beer.

Linda Dodson, 45, said a large man entered her room and attacked her at 3:37 a.m. Monday while her mother was sleeping in the next room, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, reported.

He had his big hands ... on my throat, my mouth and my nose and I'm flopping ... when he released his hand for a second, I just let out this blood-scorching scream, Dodson said.

Dodson's mother said she came into her daughter's room to investigate the scream and jumped onto the attacker's back. However, she said she decided to switch tactics after the attacker threw her against a wall and grabbed her face so hard the lenses popped out of her glasses.

I just looked at him because I could tell he had been drinking and I said, 'I don't know about you, but I could use a beer, how about you?' she said. And he said yes.

The mother and daughter took the suspect into their living room and gave him a beer, which seemed to calm him. Linda Dodson said she phoned 911 after excusing herself to go to the bathroom and police arrived soon after.

Louie Herrera, a convicted child molester, was arrested on suspicion of residential burglary, false imprisonment, and resisting arrest.

DILLON, S.C., July 4 (UPI) -- Police in Dillon, S.C., said a 13-year-old boy and his mother have been arrested after the teen took a police patrol car for a joyride.

Dillon police Sgt. Jason Turner said police were unaware that the car was missing Sunday until a resident called to report a young boy driving the vehicle, The (Pee Dee, S.C.) Morning News reported.

The boy had learned the code to the door of the department by watching someone enter, and used the entrance to get the keys to the car, Dillon said. He said the boy had taken the car for a joyride the previous Sunday and had returned it to the police station before it was noticed missing.

The boy's mother, Patricia Gillespie, was arrested and charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after she told police she had seen the boy driving the car on both occasions but did not notify police because she did not see anything wrong with the situation, Turner said.

The 13-year-old, who was charged with two counts of grand larceny, apparently took the car to patrol the city because he was interested in law enforcement, Dillon said.

HAMILTON, Ohio, July 4 (UPI) -- A Hamilton, Ohio, judge has ruled the city's rationale for firing an assistant city prosecutor who was caught walking around naked was incorrect.

Scott Blauvelt, 36, was videotaped by security cameras walking around the Government Services Center naked on two occasions and was charged with two counts of public indecency in September 2006, the Hamilton (Ohio) Journal-News reported.

Even though the charges were dismissed on a technicality, Blauvelt was fired by the city, which cited his status as an unclassified employee.

However, Judge Thomas Nurre ruled that the city's charter classifies Blauvelt's former job as a classified civil service position.

Michael Gmoser, a lawyer for Blauvelt, said the ruling allows his client to have a Hamilton Civil Service Commission hearing into whether his firing was appropriate. The city has 30 days to appeal Nurre's decision.

SAN ANTONIO, July 4 (UPI) -- Police in San Antonio said people were stopping their cars on Loop 410 to pick up cash after a box containing about $100,000 was thrown from a vehicle.

San Antonio police Sgt. Gabe Trevino said officers were engaged in a car chase related to an attempted drug dealer sting when an occupant of the car threw the box of cash out the window, KSAT-TV, San Antonio, reported.

Trevino said the car eventually collided with two other vehicles at an intersection and undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested the driver.

The spokesman said motorists who stopped to recover the cash were being urged to return it to the DEA, as the bills are marked for identification and are considered evidence in a federal drug case.