Stone Mountain, Georgia, resident, Roger Stephens, allegedly slapped a stranger's two-year-old daughter Monday in a local Walmart for crying too much.
Stephens had been shopping at the Rockbridge Road Walmart in Stone Mountain, which is a suburb of Atlanta, when he apparently grew increasingly annoyed at the continual crying of a two-year-old girl in the store.
The child's mother, Sonya Mathews, told police that her daughter was crying as they walked down one of the aisles.
Just moments later, slightly before noon, Stephens approached the child and Mathews, both of whom he did not know, and allegedly said, "If you don't shut the baby up, I will shut her up for you."
Shortly afterward, Mathews and her daughter were in another aisle, and the girl was still crying. Stephens allegedly grabbed the girl and slapped her on the face. According to Police he hit the child four or five times.
Afterward he allegedly told Mathews, "See, I told you I would shut her up."
Another shopper stepped forward and held Stephens until store security arrived. The police report stated that, before police arrived on the scene, Stephens did apologize to Mathews for hitting her child.
The toddler suffered redness to her face but, otherwise, was uninjured. She was treated at the scene and left with her mother, who later told CBS Atlanta that she forgives Stephens, but she feels he may have mental issues.
Stephens was arrested and is being charged with felony first degree cruelty to children. He is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County Detention Center.
The following video is a report of the incident by CNN:
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The Grim Sleeper, as he is called, has taken 11 lives thus far over a period of more than two decades in the South Central area of Los Angeles. Yet this psychopath is a serial killer who has the LA homicide detectives baffled so far. They have been unable to stop him or discover his identity.
Plus he is also involved in one other case of attempted murder where he shot the victim at point blank range inside his car and then tossed her out of the car to die on the streets of South Central LA.
The victim of that attempted murder was Enietra Margette (not her real name), who did not die on that fateful day 21 years ago and who is the Sleeper's sole surviving victim. Enietra describes the killer as an African American in his early 30's (which would make him in his early 50's now).
On the day she met him on Saturday, November 19, 1988, he looked neat, tidy and kind of geeky. He was a thin preppy type and wore a black polo shirt which was tucked into khaki trousers.
The killer offered her a ride multiple times, but she declined continuously until, finally, she relented.
His vehicle of choice that fateful day was an orange Ford Pinto with a white racing stripe on its hood. To Margette “it looked like a Hot Wheels car,” but the interior impressed her.
The car's standard gear shift knob had been replaced with a marble ball the size of a ping-pong ball. The car's interior was white with a white diamond-patterned upholstery.
Enietra and the killer exchanged banter for a while, then he suddenly pulled a pistol from a compartment in the Pinto and shot her in the chest while they were driving.
A surprised Margette remembers being totally baffled about what had just occurred. Why did he shoot her, she thought, and who would take care of her kids if she died?
The following podcast is a 911 call perhaps made by someone who witnessed the killer dump the body of the fourth victim:
Read the transcript of the 911 call.
Blood began trickling down her face onto her blouse, which quickly became soaked with blood. Enietra fell unconscious but was awakened by a flash bulb. The killer had taken her photo and had raped her.
She begged him to take her to a hospital, but he refused because he said he did not want to get caught. They sped through the night with her in the passenger seat beside him, bleeding.
Finally the killer pulled the car over to the side of the road, and there he beat her repeatedly over and over with his gun. After that he pushed her out of the car onto the street and into the darkness of the night to die.
But Enietra refused to die. Somehow she managed to walk several blocks to a friends house leaving a circuitous trail of blood in the street and on parked cars along the way.
When she finally arrived at her friend, Lynda Lewis', house, Lynda wasn't home. Instead Lynda and her husband had gone ahead to a party that Enietra had also planned to attend. Enietra collapsed on the front porch.
Lewis and her husband returned home about 1 AM, finding Enietra lying on their porch, nearly incoherent.
Once in the hospital, doctors were unsure if she would survive the night. Somehow she did survive, and Enietra began the long, hard journey back to a normal life fighting through physical therapy sessions and the like.
Enietra is the only known survivor of an attack by the Grim Sleeper. But at least 11 other victims were not as fortunate as she. The Sleeper's tally of victims thus far is 11-1, or at least that is the running total of the victims that we know of.
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Caught on Video: An Orlando, Florida, police officer allegedly appears to deliberately push a woman down a flight of stairs, after which he then files a criminal complaint of battery against her.
Officer Fernando Trinidad said in his police report regarding the incident which occurred at the now defunct Club Paris in April of 2007 that 27-year-old Jessica Asprilla twice spat in his face, pulled away from his grasp and then lost her balance and fell. The video clearly proves that is not how the incident went down.
Trinidad had charged Asprilla with battery, but Orlando police dismissed that charge after the video of the incident surfaced.
Asprilla, who is suing and reportedly wants Officer Trinidad fired, said "This officer wanted everyone to exit the club, and I told him I'm going down the stairs, and I'm leaving, and before I knew it, he pushed me, and I was on the ground."
"He never grabbed me. I never turned around and stood and faced him aggressively, and I did not spit in his face," Asprilla said. "Then he says I lost my balance and fell, that's exactly what's in the affidavit."
The nightclub's surveillance video showed Asprilla falling six steps and injuring her ankle. When Trinidad and another police officer reached the bottom of the stairs, neither officer checked to see if Asprilla was OK. Instead Asprilla said the officers walked right past her.
"I'm very, very, very lucky that there was a video to prove my innocence," Asprilla said.
The Internal Affairs Department of the Orlando Police investigated the incident, and the department took away eight hours of officer Trinidad's vacation time, claiming his actions are unbecoming of an officer.
Asprilla is not satisfied with that, however. "I don't think he should be on the force," Asprilla said.
Asprilla is also suing for medical bills and damage to her reputation and career as a social worker.
Orlando police Chief Val Demings said that Trinidad could now face criminal charges for his role in the incident.
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A Melbourne, Australia, father was arrested and charged with murder after allegedly dropping his four year old daughter off of Melbourne's 190-foot high West Gate Bridge during the morning rush hour. 36-year-old Arthur Phillip Freeman allegedly threw his four-year-old daughter off the bridge in front of the girl's two young brothers, ages 6 and 8, and dozens of motorists.
Witnesses said Freeman allegedly stopped his car suddenly just after 9 AM and, with his daughter Darcey Iris in his arms, walked to the side of the bridge. There he allegedly dropped his young daughter over the side of the bridge into the waters of the Yarra River, 190 feet below.
Freeman then reportedly got back into the large white family Land Cruiser, and simply drove away. Shocked drivers who witnessed the alleged murder immediately called emergency hotlines. Police stated the entire incident occurred in merely seconds.
Young Darcey initially survived her fall, and she was pulled from the water by police within 10 minutes. Paramedics spent the next 50 minutes resuscitating her on the banks of the Yarra River.
Then Darcey, in a critical condition, was lifted by helicopter to the nearby Royal Children’s Hospital where she was treated for four hours. However, a Royal Children's Hospital spokeswoman said the young girl soon died at 1.35pm on Thursday, January 29th.
Regarding the bridge incident, Victoria homicide squad Detective Inspector Steve Clark said, "It all happened fairly quickly…no one had the opportunity to intervene".
"He's got straight out of the car and taken the young girl and walked to the edge of the bridge, so that would have happened in a matter of seconds.”
"Fortunately, the water police were here within 10 minutes so she was given medical attention fairly quickly.”
"It's a dreadful set of circumstances and, often you think you've seen it all and you haven't."
Freeman and his wife had been in the middle of a custody battle. He was spotted, accompanied by his two sons, Benjamin, 7, and Jack, 23 months (ages of Freeman‘s children have varied in different reports), outside the Commonwealth Law Courts across town in central Melbourne only an hour after the bridge incident.
He was reportedly in a “visibly distressed” state and was then arrested by police. A member of the court's staff said the man was crying and looked like "he'd had enough".
The first video is a report of the incident by "The Australian" Newspaper:
Fox news reported that the security staff at the courts building said Freeman “was shaking like a leaf, and staring with wild eyes” when they initially spotted him and alerted police. Police took him into custody peacefully, but said they were initially unaware he was involved in the bridge incident.
One witness reported that Freeman approached court security guards and ask them "Can you take my kids for me?" while he was led away by police
The next video is an Associated Press report of the murder:
Another witness saw four police officers, two of them holding evidence bags, lead the handcuffed Freeman to a waiting Police van.
The man, whom she described as balding, was "shaking violently".
“He was pretty down and he had the two other children with him and he tried to enter the court. He couldn't talk to anyone, he wouldn't talk to anyone, he was just a mess,'' said another eye witness Vince Mascia.
One of the witnesses said the man was shaking uncontrollably and looked like he was "about to have a nervous breakdown".
The third video is a report by the Telegraph in Great Britain:
About half-an-hour later, a couple at the courthouse saw the arrival of a woman they believed to be the mother of the two boys, who subsequently took them away.
Freeman was charged with murder and set to appear before a criminal court. He was deemed "suicidal" by court psychiatrists and the court remanded him into custody.
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Victoria Lindsay, the Lakeland, Florida, high school student and cheerleader who was allegedly ambushed and gang beaten by her fellow cheerleaders and classmates last March 30th, recently gave her first video interview since the beating.
ABC's Good Morning America interviewed Lindsay at length, and we have embedded the interview for you here. The alleged teen age perpetrators video taped the beating, which lasted for a half hour, so they could post the film on YouTube and MySpace.
Lindsay was allegedly beaten in two sequences by her so-called friends, and the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's department released the film of the beating in two parts. The first film that was released by the Sheriff actually contains the latter part of the beating but has the highest quality of the two films, which may be why the Sheriff released that film first.
After Lindsay was ambushed, she was beaten until she received a concussion and lost consciousness. That early part of the beating is the second film released by the Sheriff.
News reports after the beating stated that Lindsay had suffered vision and hearing loss; however, she discloses in the interview that the hearing problem has healed, but she still suffers from vision impairment, which may be corrected with glasses.
Lindsay's alleged attackers have been charged with assault and a more serious charge of kidnapping. The trial of her alleged attackers has not yet been held.
Following is the video interview with Victoria Lindsay:
The callous attitude of Lindsay's alleged attackers shocked the world when news of the beating first hit the media. Cara Murphy was initially charged along with the other defendants in the case, but charges against her were later dropped, at which time she sort of apologized in an interview by saying, "I guess I'm sorry for all that happened. I'm glad the charges got dropped though."
Oh yes! That certainly sounds remorseful.
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The following blogger posted a transcript of the second Lindsay film because much of the conversation is garbled and difficult to understand:
Transcript of 2nd Victoria Lindsay Video
The Associated Press is reporting that the Hollywood, Florida, police department announced in a news conference that police have closed the case on Adam Walsh, the son of America's Most Wanted TV show host John Walsh. On July 27, 1981, 6-year-old Adam went missing from a Hollywood mall which is directly across the street from Hollywood police headquarters. It was later determined that the boy had been kidnapped and murdered.
Two weeks later local fishermen came upon his severed head in a canal in Vero Beach, which is 120 miles north of the mall; however, the rest of Adam’s body never was found.
A clearly choked up John Walsh appeared with the police at the news conference, and he appeared to be holding back tears as he asked, "Who could take a 6 year old and murder and decapitate him? Who?"
At the news conference Hollywood police Chief Chadwick Wagner declared that young Walsh’s killer was Ottis Toole, a drifter and serial killer who died in prison on September 15, 1996, while serving five life sentences. Toole had twice confessed to killing young Walsh, but afterward he later recanted his confessions.
In October 1983, Toole claimed that he had abducted Adam from the mall and then drove for about an hour to an isolated dirt road. That is where Toole claimed he decapitated young Walsh.
But he had also claimed responsibility for hundreds of other murders, and the police eventually determined that most of his confessions were fabrications.
Toole's niece told John Walsh that Toole admitted to Adam’s murder while on his prison deathbed, but even a deathbed confession was suspect because of Toole’s previous confessions.
Police investigators removed bloodstained carpet from Toole’s white Cadillac. But DNA testing in the early 1980’s could not determine if the blood belonged to Walsh.
Because of advancements in DNA testing, however, in 1994 a detective tried to order further DNA testing on the bloodstained carpeting, but both the carpeting and the car were then missing.
Police claimed that Toole was always their prime suspect in the Walsh case, and they had conclusively linked Toole to Adam‘s murder. However, the police refused to be more specific about their evidence.
The police stated they had no DNA evidence proving Toole was the killer, but they said that an extensive review of the Walsh case pointed only in the direction of Toole, who is the one that John Walsh, himself, has always suspected too.
"Our agency has devoted an inordinate amount of time seeking leads to other potential perpetrators rather than emphasizing Ottis Toole as our primary suspect," Chief Wagner said. "Ottis Toole has continued to be our only real suspect."
The New York Times reported that Chief Wagner stated that the police conclusion was not the result of any new evidence, but rather the result of an accumulation of circumstantial evidence over the years. “What was there was everything that was in front of our face for years,” said Wagner.
The Video is courtesy of CBS news:
The publicity surrounding the Walsh murder and John Walsh’s subsequent hosting of his TV show America's Most Wanted changed the way America viewed strangers.
Mount Holyoke College sociologist and criminologist Richard Moran told the Associated Press that John Walsh "ended up really producing a generation of cautious and afraid kids who view all adults and strangers as a threat to them and it made parents extremely paranoid about the safety of their children."
John Walsh said at the news conference that although he and his family would never fully get over young Adam’s death, they could finally move on.
But, Walsh added, “it’s not about closure; it’s about justice.”
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Did a Nevada, Iowa, police officer deliberately need to run down a knife-wielding man? Eric Peterson's family is claiming that their son had not threatened police and the deliberate attack on Peterson by a police vehicle was unwarranted.
Eric Peterson is the knife-wielding man you will see in the following video behaving strangely running on top of a police cruiser and then running after the cruiser.
The Nevada police department claims that Peterson was a threat to the officers involved in the incident, which is why they ran him down. The video is from the dashboard video cameras of the two squad cars.
Peterson's family claims that the video clearly shows that the police cruiser deliberately had to veer to the left in order to hit Peterson. It does appear in the video that is precisely what happened.
The family said that "Eric did not attack either officer," and did not threaten them. Officers said when they arrived at the scene that the man began to run toward their squad cars.
"Ultimately, the suspect was hit by one of the police vehicles as the suspect was running towards the officers with the knife," said Police Chief Mike Tupper.
Witness to the incident Teresa Phillips said, "the cop floored it into the parking lot and hit him." It does appear in the video that the squad car sped up as it approached the man.
Peterson's family released a statement to the media saying in part, "Eric did not attack either officer. Eric did not try to get into either police car. He was holding a knife but not brandishing it."
"He did jump on the hood of the first police car and ran onto the roof and over the vehicle but his actions were not an attempt to gain entry to the vehicle."
"As that car drove away, Eric was chasing it on foot, and not likely to be able to catch it. The second police car arrived, and appears to purposefully strike Eric."
The second squad car did have a cracked windshield from its impact with Peterson.
The family's statement continued, "Eric is mentally ill and his actions are not always within his voluntary control."
"Nevada police officers, including the two involved in this incident, are well aware of Eric's mental illness."
"We do not want to place blame at this time, but we want to ensure that all of the facts of the case be distributed on Eric's behalf."
The following video depicts graphic violence. Do not watch if you think you may be offended:
An air ambulance flew Peterson to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, and he remains there in critical condition.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the incident.
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New York City police have arrested a 21-year-old suspected mugger who had a fist fight with an 83-year-old deaf grandmother. Elsie Barretto used only her fists to fight off a young mugger who was 62 years younger than she when he tried to rob her in her New York City apartment building.
Granny Elsie refused to give up her money even after the mugger repeatedly punched her in the face. Elsie said that the mugger followed her into her apartment building as she returned from grocery shopping, but she could not hear him behind her because she is deaf.
They both went onto the elevator and Elsie said hello to him and said "have a nice day." The mugger got off on her floor and then grabbed Elsie in a choke hold throwing her to the floor.
But Elsie Fought back. "When I pushed him, he didn't like it, and he came and beat me more," said Elsie. "I'm tough. I hit him back."
Elsie continued to fight back while the man punched her, and she prevented him from taking the cash in her pockets even though he ripped at her pants.
"I fought. Yes I fought him. I punch him. I don't remember if I scratched him. I don't remember. But I know I beat him and beat him and beat him and kicked him first. That's why he got mad at me because I threw him down. When I threw him he hit himself on the wall and he got mad and started beating me more, beating me more," she said.
The mugger finally gave up when he heard someone coming.
Elsie received a black eye, some broken dentures and cuts and stitches inside her mouth after being treated in a local hospital.
"I told the cops, if you find him, bring him back to me." Elsie said. "I want them to bring him so I can punch him and ask why he did that to me, and I want to break his nose or break his teeth."
21-year-old Anthony Jackson, of East Harlem, turned himself in to police after pictures of him from the apartment building's security camera were broadcast on the local news.
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A Philadelphia man is attacked on the subway by a hammer wielding man and it is all caught on tape. The attack was unprovoked and appeared completely random.
Thomas Scantling, 26, who was arrested by the Philadelphia police, has been charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder and is allegedly the attacker in the video.
Scantling is riding the subway with his six-year-old son after midnight, when he instructs his son to sit down.
Scantling then removes a hammer from a carry-on bag and allegedly begins to strike a sleeping passenger again and again with the hammer. The blows appear to be brutal, vicious and unrelenting. The attacker clearly means to harm the victim.
As the train rolls to a stop and the exit doors open, the attack moves from the train to the platform with the victim attempting to defend himself.
The first video is a short report on the incident by a Philadelphia TV station and includes raw footage of the attack:
Although several other passengers are aboard the train, none of them make any effort to help the victim. In fact, some of them quickly leave the area.
Police identified the victim as 20-year-old Dewayne Taylor, who was on his way home after work. Taylor made his own way to a local hospital after the attack, was treated for head and neck wounds and released.
Taylor said he did not know his assailant and knew of no reason for the attack.
Scantling’s family had him committed to a mental institution after the attack, and then called authorities identifying him as the attacker.
Scantling has a long criminal history including rape, robbery, assault, and narcotics violations.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey criticized the reaction by the passengers on the train to the assault.
"They better pray they're never a victim, because if someone was attacking them that way they would certainly hope someone would step forward and help, and it starts with stepping forward and doing something yourself," Ramsey said.
The second video is a more in-depth report of the assault by NBC:
See video of the hit-and-run incident referred to in the second video.
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Rapper/producer Kanye West and his bodyguard were arrested at the Los Angeles airport for felony vandalism after they allegedly destroyed the cameras of two paparazzi who were trying to photograph him.
The man in the hooded grey sweats in the video is allegedly Kanye. The man in red is his bodyguard and road manager, Don Crowley. West and Crowley were changing planes at LAX while en route to Hawaii, when the altercation took place prior to 8 AM on Thursday, September 11, 2008
So far, the only people talking to the press are the paparazzi who filed charges against West and Crowley. It is said that the cameras destroyed during the incident each cost as much as $10,000.
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West never showed his face in the video, however, the paparazzi, who reportedly worked for TMZ.com, claim that the hooded man is West.
The Associated Press is reporting that a witness, Charles Davis who works at the airport soliciting charity donations, saw the entire incident.
Davis claims that the 31-year-old West was "attacked" by the paparazzi and that West was merely "defending himself."
Davis said, "I talk to him all the time. He's a very nice gentleman. Very nice. He gives good donations to help children. He's got a good, kind heart. I've gotten his autograph several times. I just don't see why he was arrested. The man just put the camera too close to his face. I don't blame him."
Davis also said that he didn't think the camera was totally destroyed. "It was just knocked out of the man's hand," said Davis.
West and Crowley were booked at a nearby Los Angeles police station and West was released on $20,000 bond.
Kanye West has won numerous Grammies and other awards during his career which hit the big time in 2004 with his album The College Dropout, which won Best Rap Album Grammy that year.
He also won Best Rap Album Grammy in 2005 for his album, Late Registration, and in 2007 for Graduation.
Despite his commercial success, West is also known for having a quick temper and speaking his mind on controversial topics. In 2005 during a telethon raising funds for hurricane Katrina victims, West said on the air that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Thursday's arrest is the first time, however, that West has let his temper escalate above the verbal level.
The first video shows the actual altercation at the airport:
The second video is a CNN news report of the incident:
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An armed robber tries to hold up a gun store and runs into the unexpected. If more store owners took measures like this, there would be far fewer robberies.
Did you notice that robber looked directly into the camera before he pulled his gun? While don't you smile for the camera, putz?
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In what promises to be at best a most bizarre story, Ozark, Missouri, police tased 16-year-old Mace Hutchinson 19 times while he lay on the pavement with a broken back and a broken heel in his foot.
Ozark police defended their actions because the officers felt that the injured boy was a threat to the officers.
"There's no way that they had to tase me that many times," said Mace Hutchinson.
Capt. Thomas Rousset said, "He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he's also making statements such as, 'Shoot cops, kill cops,' things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers."
Because they were attempting to rescue the 16-year-old Hutchinson and secure his safety, police said that their use of a taser should not be questioned. "It's a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt," said Rousset.
The Hutchinson boy had been walking along a freeway overpass above US Highway 65, when a concerned citizen called 9-1-1 because he feared for the boy's safety.
When police arrived they found Hutchinson incoherent and lying on the pavement of Highway 65. It appears that Hutchinson had fallen from the overpass onto the shoulder of Highway 65 below and had suffered severe injuries in the fall--injuries that included a broken back.
When Hutchinson would not make a coherent response to police questions other than "shoot cops, kill cops," they tased him repeatedly. They tased him again, and again, and again, and again. They tased him a total of 19 times.
Police did not explain how repeated tasing of an incoherent subject would make the subject coherent. Nor did police explain how someone with a broken back lying on the highway is a threat to police officers. And police did not explain how tasing someone 19 times will prevent him from sustaining further injury.
Police did say that their use of a taser 19 times should not be questioned.
Mace Hutchinson's family does not understand how the police can justify tasing Mace once, let alone 19 times. His aunt Samantha said, "I'm not an officer, but I don't see the reason for tasing somebody lying there with a broken back. I don't consider that a threat."
Samantha also said that doctors felt that "all injuries are consistent with a fall."
Mace's father, Don, insists that Mace fell onto the pavement and did not jump; however, no one knows why he fell.
Said Don Hutchinson, "They tested his system. He was clean of drugs and alcohol. We don't know why unless just being in shock and the whole thing in itself caused him to forget everything."
The family is still questioning police actions. Don Hutchinson claims that surgery, which Mace critically needed, had to be delayed for two days because of the tasing.
"The Tasing increased his white blood cell count and caused him to have a temperature so they could not go into the operation," Mr. Hutchinson said.
After surgery Mace was eventually released and is now at home still lying in bed and barely able to move. "It should be a couple months before I'm able to walk on my own," said Mace.
Mace cannot remember how he ended up on the pavement under the bridge. He knows he didn't willingly jump.
"I know I'm lucky to survive that far of a fall."
Police say Hutchinson was aggressive with them and tried to get up and get into traffic. However, Mace counters that he weighs little and wonders why police simply did not restrain him.
Police also claim Mace made threatening remarks about harming officers. The combination of Mace’s aggression and remarks were why they used the stun gun.
Mace does not remember trying to get up and doesn't know how it would have been possible considering his injuries.
"There's no way I could stand up. I had a broken back and a broken foot," Mace said.
The Ozark police have begun an internal probe of the incident.
"I definitely want them to get punished, I don't want them to get away with it," Mace said.
Esmin Green, the 49-year-old Jamaican immigrant who died on the floor of the ER waiting room in the Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, officially died from a blood clot in her lungs according to recent reports released by the New York City medical examiner.
A security video shown around the world (see original video) showed both hospital personnel and patients ignoring Green’s plight as she writhed on the floor unattended. No one bothered to help her in any way--not even to call for help--until it was too late.
The following video is a report about how Green's death has affected her family:
Green’s family stated that they intend to file a $25 million lawsuit over Green’s treatment in the hospital, and the family also called for criminal charges against hospital personnel who ignored Green while she died on the hospital floor.
Although a blood clot was the medical cause of death, our society’s sick value system is the real culprit here. When did we become so egocentric that we stopped caring about absolutely no one but ourselves?
Many of us were raised to live by the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I know I would have summoned help for Esmin because I have been involved in somewhat similar circumstances and I did exactly that--I called for help. But how many of the rest of us would not have done so?
If Esmin Green had collapsed in the street instead of the ER, would we all merely walk around her and continue on our way, doing nothing to help her? Apparently so because that is essentially what all of those in the ER did when they ignored Esmin dying on the floor.
The following video is a report on Esmin Green's cause of death:
A similar incident recently occurred when a hit and run driver ran down 78-year-old Angel Torres in the streets of Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Torres lay in the street bleeding and severely injured yet no one came to his aide.
At least ten vehicles drove past or around his wounded body, but none stopped. Countless pedestrians walked by, stopped, stared or pointed, but, again, none came to his aide.
This video shows graphic content that may be offensive to some. It depicts Angel Torres while he is struck by a hit-and-run driver:
No one blockaded traffic to prevent other vehicles from injuring him further as he lay in the roadway. Contrary to the report on the video, there were some calls to 911 to report the accident however.
Hartford, Connecticut, police chief, Daryl Roberts, is quoted in the video as saying, “Our moral values have now changed. We have no regard for each other.”
Hopefully, he is wrong. Hopefully, it has not truly come to that.
Remember Wesley Autrey? He is the New York City construction worker who risked his own life when he lept onto the train tracks of the New York City subway to save the life of Cameron Hollopeter, who had fallen onto the tracks because of a seizure.
Autrey pinned Hollopeter down on the tracks while a train ran above traveling a mere two inches from Autrey’s back and head. Without those two inches to spare, Autrey would surely have lost his life that day.
Instead, he became a world acclaimed hero. Said Autrey, "It ain't about being a hero, it was just being there and helping the next person. That's all I did."
Wesley Autrey risks his life to save Cameron Hollopeter, but dozens of others cannot be bothered to comfort or to summon help for Esmin Green and Angel Torres.
50-year-old Wesley Autrey said, "I just tried to do the right thing." Yes, there still are heroes out there, but we sure could use a few more of them
At Esmin Green’s funeral ceremony the Jamaican counsul general characterized the manner in which she died when he said, “She was disregarded, disrespected and discarded.”
We can do better than that if each of us vows to make a difference just once in our life - just once. Let’s make a vow not to discard any more Esmin Greens.
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A 48-year-old bus driver has been charged with reckless endangerment after leaving his two elderly parents locked in his sweltering car with the windows closed for hours while he drove his bus route. The 85-year-old disabled father died while in the vehicle, apparently from heat stroke.
Theodore Pressman, of Beacon, New York, left his father, Joseph Pressman, and his mother, Joyce, inside a black Suzuki in an office complex parking lot in Peekskill, New York, for about three hours on Monday, June 7th.
The outdoor temperature was in the mid-80s, but WCBS-TV reported that the temperature inside the car rapidly rose past 110 degrees. 75-year-old Joyce left the car and entered a nearby restaurant because the car became too hot. Since both of the elderly Pressmans suffer from dementia, Joyce was unable to find her way back to the car to help her husband.
Detective Sgt. Eric Johansen of the Peekskill police department said, "it appears they did not have the physical or mental capacity to deal with the situation." Aside from the dementia, the police would not discuss any of the couple’s other infirmities, although Joyce weighs only 80 pounds.
Johansen did say that there was no indication that the younger Pressman intended to harm his parents in any way.
Johansen also said that Theodore Pressman often left his parents "at restaurants, delis, McDonald's" while driving a bus. "This was a frequent practice, but as far as we know he had not left them in a car before."
Peekskill police Chief Eugene Tumolo said an autopsy indicated that Joseph Pressman’s death was a homicide and more charges may be added at a later date.
When Theodore Pressman returned to his car after his route his mother was outside the vehicle but the elder Pressman, who was still inside the car, was not responsive. The younger Pressman called 911 but it was too late, and Joseph Pressman was pronounced dead. Joyce Pressman was taken to a hospital, treated for heat exposure and released.
Rick Tocco, the owner of the nearby Atrium restaurant said that the younger Pressman often left his parents in the restaurant for hours at a time and that he often appeared overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for his parents.
At an appearance in Peekskill City Court when the judge ordered Theodore Pressman to stay away from his mother, Pressman argued with the judge saying "I know what she needs. ... I have to make sure she has food."
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It is 5:32 AM on Thursday, June 19, 2008, in the ER psychiatric waiting room of Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. 49-year-old Esmin Green is sitting and waiting. The hospital staff have made her wait here since she was admitted to the hospital early Wednesday morning, nearly 24 hours earlier.
Esmin is not here of her own choosing. Just the previous day her pastor had called 911 because she thought that Esmin needed professional help. After evaluation the hospital staff involuntarily committed Esmin for “agitation and psychosis.” But it is an emergency phone call that the pastor will soon regret.
As Esmin sits in the institutional type waiting room chair, her body slowly begins to lean to her left. Then the tilt of her body quickly accelerates and she tumbles off the rigid waiting room chair toward the floor below. In only an instant she is lying face down on the cold, hard tile floor.
She is dying.
Esmin lies on the unforgiving tile floor for 63 more minutes. In that time she will struggle to rise, but she will be frustrated in the attempt because when she toppled off of the waiting room chair, she slid underneath the metal frame that connects the waiting room chairs together. When she tries to rise, she bumps into the chair’s frame and can go no further.
Because she cannot rise she is forced to endure the hardness of the cold tile floor that is sucking the warmth from her dying body. Many times during her last 63 minutes of life her body will twist and shake as if in convulsions.
Anyone can plainly see that she is in trouble, and there are people nearby. Several other patients mill about the waiting room, but they are ignoring Esmin’s plight. Six to eight feet across from where she had been sitting sits another individual who is facing Esmin and is also waiting. That person too ignores Esmin as she thrashes about on the cold, hard floor.
She is lying only three to four feet from a large window behind which supposedly sits a hospital security guard. Surely the guard will see Esmin and summon help for the dying woman.
But no help arrives.
At 5:53 AM a security guard enters the waiting room to watch the television set that hangs from the wall directly above where Esmin is dying on the cold, hard tile floor. The guard clearly watches the TV set above Esmin, and he must notice Esmin lying face down on the floor. He cannot help but notice her.
But he eventually leaves, and, again, no help arrives for Esmin.
The first video is a CNN report of the incident:
Her official hospital records state that at 6:00 AM Esmin rose and went to the bathroom. They also state that at 6:20 AM she was "awake and sitting quietly in the waiting room."
However, the hospital’s security cameras tell a different story. According to the cameras at 6:00 AM Esmin is still lying face down on the cold, hard tile floor where she had fallen at 5:32 AM. And when hospital records state that she was in the bathroom, Esmin was clearly convulsing face down in that same fateful spot on the floor.
At 6:07 AM Esmin endures what appear to be her final moments of life. She struggles, she convulses and she tries to get up. Finally, she lies motionless on the unforgiving cold, hard tile floor where her life ebbed away. She was so very near to medical help that might have prevented her death.
Yet no help ever came.
At 6:10 AM a security guard again checks the waiting room, wheeling in momentarily on an office chair on wheels. He looks in Esmin’s direction and then leaves. Again no one comes to help, although it is not clear if anything can be done for her at that point for she appeared lifeless on the tape.
At 6:35 AM a patient finally notifies staff members of her situation. But it is too late because Esmin is gone.
This video is footage of Esmin Green's last minutes of life. It was released by the the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Esmin’s 31-year-old daughter, Tecia Harrison, cannot bring herself to watch the tape of her mother’s last minutes of life. "I haven't seen it, and I don't think I have the heart or mind to watch it because that's my mother there. That's the woman who gave birth to me 31 years ago. I cannot watch that."
See A Psychiatrist Examines the Esmine Green Tragedy in the Chicago Tribune
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In a dramatic turn of events in the notorious Victoria Lindsay teen gang beating case, three of the eight teen age defendants in the case had all charges against them dropped and the prosecutor has no additional plans to charge them further.
Victoria Lindsay is a 16-year-old Lakeland, Florida, cheerleader that was ambushed by a gang of her classmates and severely beaten until she lost consciousness. Once she regained consciousness, she was beaten again.
Lindsay suffered a concussion, eye and ear damage along with bruises and lacerations and recurring nightmares about the beating. The startling part about the entire incident was that the defendants had filmed the beating so they could post it on YouTube and MySpace.
Polk County prosecutors dropped charges against the three defendants because of insufficient evidence against them. The three were Cara Murphy, 16, Zachary Ashley, 17, and Stephen Schumaker, 18.
When the eight defendants were initially arrested, the Polk County Sheriff’s office had stated that Ashley and Schumaker had stood guard outside the site of the attack, which was the home of Mary Nichols, the grandmother of defendant Mercades Nichols, who lived with her grandmother. Lindsay was living with Nichols and her grandmother at the time of the attack.
The Sheriff’s office had also initially stated that Murphy, the single female defendant whose charges were dropped, was the teen filming the beating. A female voice can be heard on the video from behind the scenes saying, “Ooh, yeah, baby. Ooh, yeah!” The Sheriff’s office had stated that voice was none other than defendant Cara Murphy. Watch the original video released by the Sheriff’s office.
The Sheriff had also stated early on that it was Murphy’s voice on the video letting the other girls know that the video was running out of film. “Seventeen seconds left,” the voice said while the beating continued. “Make it good.” Watch the second video released by the Sheriff’s office.
Neither the Sheriff’s office nor the prosecutor gave any indication why charges against the three were dropped other than lack of evidence. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd had even said early on in the case that one of the boys stuck his head in from outside and told the girls to quiet down because neighbors were able to hear the fight.
Why the evidence against Murphy and the two male defendants had evaporated remains a mystery, although Murphy's attorney has said that she has agreed to testify against the other defendants.
Usually prosecuting attorneys strike deals with a single defendant to testify against other defendants in exchange for a lesser charge or perhaps charges being dropped altogether.
It is unknown whether any deal was struck in this case although it certainly seems like one was.
Said Cara Murphy after the charges against her were dropped, "I guess I'm sorry for all that happened. I'm glad the charges got dropped though."
Murphy said that she never realized that the incident would turn into a national controversy. After she apologized to Victoria Lindsay, the victim, on the air but not in person, Murphy admitted she could have done more to stop the beating.
"During the time I definitely can say I felt scared for her. Once I saw the video, I realized this was a bad thing that happened."
Her attorney, Melodie Lopez, said, "My client and I are happy this is over. She should not have been charged. We feel vindicated that the charges have been dropped. I think it's wrong that all the kids there were charged as a group. Their involvement was not the same."
Let's see...Victoria suffers a concussion, permanent vision and hearing loss plus numerous bumps, scrapes and bruises, and Cara realized "this was a bad thing that happened?"
And what about remorse...was there any on Cara's part?
"I guess I'm sorry for all that happened," said Cara.
Oh yeah. That sounds like remorse alright. She guesses she's sorry. What she really meant to say was "My attorney made me say I'm sorry." What she's really sorry about is getting caught in the first place.
But she's "glad the charges got dropped though."
I'll bet she is! Cara goes from facing 15 years to life in prison one day to getting off scot free the next. Who wouldn't be glad?
Does it sound to you like she has learned anything from this ordeal? I'll bet next time she will cover her tracks better.
She must really like prison orange because she's not just wearing it in the slammer. She's even wearing it on the outside.
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Is the fix in at the NBA? Are some title games rigged?
Ex-NBA official, Tim Donaghy says they are. The question is, do we believe him? Or is he merely making noise in hopes of getting a lighter prison sentence on July 14th, when he is scheduled to be sentenced?
Donaghy is the NBA referee that was arrested last summer by the FBI for gambling and conspiring with gamblers on NBA games. He was fired by the NBA, he subsequently pleaded guilty to lesser charges and he has been cooperating with the government in order to obtain a lighter sentence.
According to a just released letter from his attorney to the court, Donaghy said NBA executives instructed certain referees “to manipulate games” to “boost ticket sales and television ratings.”
Donaghy gave specific examples but withheld team names. Donaghy mentioned Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals as one example. That game was between the LA Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. One flagrant foul that was never called stands out from the rest.
Laker Kobe Bryant clearly elbowed Sacramento's Mike Bibby, sending Bibby to the floor bleeding. Yet no foul was called, which caused King fans to claim the fix was in. Now Donaghy is saying the fans were right.
In that game, the Lakers shot a total of 40 free throws, but 27 were in the final quarter. The Lakers won that game 106-102 and went on to win game 7 and, eventually, the NBA championship title.
If a referee wants to favor one team over another, all he has to do is call a few extra fouls against the unfavored team and fewer fouls against the favored team. That gives his favored team extra free throws and extra points and the exact opposite for the unfavored team.
The following is a Sacramento area newscast regarding Donaghy's allegations.
That is what Donaghy claims happened in game six between the Lakers and the Kings in 2002, and the media and fans wanted the referees' heads after that game. Many Kings fans claimed then that the fix was in, and even today, six years later, some still cite that game as the smoking gun proving that officials manipulate key NBA games.
Donaghy also stated that it has happened in other games too. During the 2005 playoff series between the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets, Jeff Van Gundy, who was then the Rockets' coach, stated publicly that an NBA official had privately told him that his star 7' 6" center, Yao Ming, would be singled out by referees for illegal screens during the series. The NBA fined Van Gundy $100,000 for that remark.
But Donaghy's letter states “the referees followed the league instructions and Team 3 came back from behind to win the series. The N.B.A. benefited from this, because it prolonged the series, resulting in more tickets sold and more televised games.”
What is the NBA's reply to these accusations?
NBA Commissioner David Stern has refused to give any credibility to Donaghy's charges.
Stern dismissed Donaghy's allegations as baseless and said that the accusations come from the mouth of an admitted felon.
“He turned on basically all of his colleagues in an attempt to demonstrate that he is not the only one who engaged in criminal activity,” Stern said. “The US attorney’s office, the FBI have fully investigated it, and Mr. Donaghy is the only one who is guilty of a crime. And he’s going to be sentenced for that crime, regardless of these desperate attempts to implicate as many people as he can.”
And so far, he is correct. No other charges have yet been filed by the FBI, despite their investigations.
But when officiating decides the outcome of games instead of plays, you cannot fault the public for holding their noses from the stink. Claims of NBA game rigging have been floating around for years.
Donaghy's latest statements will certainly do nothing but stir up the pot on this controversy.
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