OIL CITY, Pa. - The squirrel attack that severely injured an Oil City postal carrier was a ploy to gain the attention of the object of the squirrel's unrequited love, Al-Jazeera television reports. Police identified the squirrel only as "Derek," and they withheld the identity of the woman who is the object of Derek's fixation other than to note that she is an Oil City native and the music director of WDVE 102.5 FM in Pittsburgh. A police spokesman said that Derek attempted to communicate with the young woman on numerous occasions prior to the attack but she repeatedly rebuffed his entreaties.
Records obtained from Blockbuster Video reveal that Derek repeatedly rented the motion picture Taxi Driver in the weeks leading up to the assault.
Animal psychiatrist Dr. Jingo Bang spent several hours interviewing Derek at St. Elizabeth's Hospital where he is confined and diagnosed his obsession as severely disordered. "In the past several months, Derek stalked various politicians with an eye toward doing them bodily harm in order to get [the young woman] to notice him, but the politicians merely threw nuts at him," Dr. Bang explained. "Derek felt an irresistible compulsion to attack the postal carrier."
Dr. Bang said that at Derek's trial he will recommend that the squirrel be found not guilty by reason of insanity and that he be permitted supervised visits to see his parents.
