AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- A man preparing a race course through a park in the Netherlands was slightly injured when he fell into a pit lined with sharpened spikes -- the third such trap found in the area this year, police said Monday.
The pit -- lined with 15-30-centimeter (6-12-inch) metal spikes embedded in a concrete block -- had been carefully hidden under leaves and branches in a park near Venlo, a town near the German border, police said.
"A person could fall into this, but also a dog, a child, people walking, bikers, motorcyclists -- anybody," police spokeswoman Nicole Theuns. She said the pit was about 1.5 meters (5 feet) deep and 80 centimeters (2 1/2 feet) wide.
The man who fell in Sunday while setting up the athletics race course managed to avoid the spikes, but suffered a bruised thigh, Theuns said.
In a previous incident, a man wounded his foot falling into a similar pit.
Police have no clues about who might be digging the booby-trapped pits or why, but suspect they are the work of one person.
"This is a rather sick individual," Theuns said.
