11-year-old boy dies after being pinned by 400-pound man
MOUNT ORAB, Ohio — A Brown County man faces charges of reckless homicide after prosecutors say he pinned down his 11-year-old step-grandson.
Donald Martin, Jr., 58, was arrested Friday after the boy’s grandmother called 911 to report the boy wasn’t breathing, the Brown County Sheriff’s Office said
“He came home and he threw a fit,” the grandmother of Dylan Davis told a 911 dispatcher. “Police came here all the time for him and he threw a fit. My husband was holding him down, he got sick and then he just passed out. I don’t know.”
Detectives say Martin stepped in after his wife and the boy got into an altercation. Investigators say Martin weighs between 360 and 400 pounds.
“It appears the 11-year-old was deceased as a result of positional asphyxiation or compression,” Sheriff Gordon Ellis told WLWT.
The victim’s father, Sam Davis, told WLWT that his son was showing stronger anger as he got older.
Davis said his son got along with his step-grandfather and no one expected this.
“Everything was good across the board, this has come as a compete surprise. It’s mind-blowing,” Davis said.
Prosecutors say the Martin kept the boy pinned down for several minutes.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/11/21/ohio-boy-dies-after-being-pinned-by-400-pound-man-police-say/
New model Phaedra Parks isn’t afraid to get naked on camera
As a staple on the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” for seven seasons, Wilhelmina Models’ new client Phaedra Parks has no problem stripping down for the cameras.
“I don’t mind baring it all — I have been wearing g-strings and baring it all really every season for seven years,” the former Bravo star told Us Weekly. “I had two children on national TV. I love nudity!”
Noting that she loves her body and curves, Parks said, “I’m a mother of two children, so I’m not perfect, but I have no problem getting naked.”
Adding model to her already lengthy resume — which includes lawyer and mortician — the 44-year-old is ready to channel her inner Naomi Campbell.
“I think I’m the face of ‘yes you can,’” Parks said. “I’m a small town girl who has followed her dreams. Yes you can be a mom, yes you can be a lawyer and yes you can be a model. When the opportunity presented itself some people asked me ‘Why?’ and I said ‘Why not?’”
Amid personal turmoil — particularly her highly publicized divorce from husband Apollo Nida, who is serving an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges in 2014 — Parks is rewriting her own story, with a revenge body to boot.
by Robert Ector
“I feel like I turned into Benjamin Button and started aging backwards, I started being happy,” she said.
With the holidays fast approaching, Parks is also preparing for an influx of business in funeral arrangements.
“Being a mortician is a passion of mine and everything I’m passionate about I just dive right in. This is our peak season actually, the peak season from deaths is from Halloween to around Valentine’s Day, so we’re very busy — people are going to glory pretty regularly. I’m directing a few funerals this weekend,” Parks said. “I know it’s morbid, but I love being the final party planner.”
Two 12-year-old boys planned to blow up Queens school with rocket launchers, grenades and land mines
ELMHURST, Queens — Two 12-year-old boys planned to use rocket launchers, grenades and land mines to blow up their Queens school, prompting their arrest, police said Friday.
The children attend Intermediate School 102, located in Elmhurst, according to police. The campus educates students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
A notebook detailing the boys’ plans to blow up the school was located in its gym, police said.
The notes allegedly claimed they intended to use rocket launchers, grenades and land mines.
Officials made no mention of the boys ability to access such weapons.
An unnamed person recognized the children’s handwriting, and police arrested them Thursday, police said.
Both are expected to appear in court Monday.
Mother sentenced to prison for failing to take dying son to doctor for strep throat in 2013
A Canadian mother has been sentenced to three years in prison after failing to take her 7-year-old son to the doctor for a treatable strep throat infection, officials say.
Tamara Lovett, 48, of Calgary, was found guilty in January of criminal negligence causing the death of her son, Ryan, who died in 2013.
“Our children are vulnerable,” said Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik, during Friday’s sentencing. “Lovett’s actions resulted in the senseless death of an innocent child who needed her protection.”
According to CBC News, Eidsvik noted the sentence was designed to deter other parents from failing their children in the same way.
“If your child is not getting better, you are legally and morally bound to take your child to an actual doctor for actual medical care.”
Lovett’s son, Ryan, died in March 2013, just 10 days after he came down with strep throat. Lovett testified that she believed the he had a cold or the flu but never took him to the doctor. Instead, Lovett said she treated him with holistic remedies such as dandelion tea and oil of oregano.
During the trial, evidence was presented that Ryan also had meningitis and pneumonia on top of strep. Doctors testified his infection would have been treatable had he been prescribed antibiotics.
CBC News reported that Eidsvik found Ryan “was completely dependent on his mother for using common sense in treatment choices” and died “an excruciating, unnecessary death.”
During the trial, Lovett spoke through tears about her agony, said she no longer holds the same beliefs and would take her son to a doctor if she could turn back time.
“I can’t begin to forgive myself,” said Lovett. “I hope others learn from my ignorance.”
Man accidentally shoots himself in church while advocating for right to have guns in church
A man accidentally shot himself and his wife inside a Tennessee church Thursday while advocating the right to bring guns to church.
The individual was displaying a Ruger handgun to other churchgoers in the sanctuary about 50 miles south of Knoxville when he apparently forgot it was loaded, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
“I carry my handgun everywhere,” he said while removing the ammunition magazine and showing the firearm to other members of the church.
The man began to re-holster his weapon — but first put the magazine back into the firearm and loaded a round into the chamber, the local police chief told the paper.
Someone then asked to see the weapon. The man pulled the gun out of his holster and claimed it wasn’t loaded before pulling the trigger.
“Evidently he just forgot that he re-chambered the weapon,” the police chief said.
The gun fired and the bullet sliced the man’s hand before piercing his wife’s abdomen.
Both he and his wife, who are in their 80s, were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where they were expected to survive.
Woman confesses to drowning four newborns in concrete
TOKYO — A Japanese woman was arrested Tuesday after police say she confessed to putting four newborns in concrete-filled buckets two decades ago and having been filled with guilt over not caring for her babies.
Human remains were identified in four buckets found in her condominium, an Osaka police official said, requesting anonymity due to department policy.
Mayumi Saito, 53, was arrested Tuesday on charges of abandoning bodies, a day after she turned herself in at the police station.
Saito was quoted by police as saying she put the bodies into concrete from 1992 through 1997 because she had been too poor to raise them, but she had been filled with guilt over the years.
Saito had a part-time job, but details of her work, family and comments were not available.
The causes of the babies’ deaths were unclear. It is fairly standard in Japan for criminal charges to be added later as an investigation progresses.
Although Japan is the world’s third-largest economy and has a reputation as being economically advanced, poverty remains a problem, especially among women.
Social support such as affordable daycare is lacking for women to work while child-rearing, as well as to get counseling and other help to cope with parenting duties and mental stress.
Japanese media reports quoted the woman as saying she had no one to talk to or turn to.
via: https://nypost.com/2017/11/21/woman-confesses-to-drowning-four-newborns-in-concrete/
‘Worst nightmare’: Parents sue hotel after 5-year-old boy’s skull gets crushed in rotating restaurant
The family of a 5-year-old boy whose skull was crushed in the rotating wall of a hotel restaurant has sued the Atlanta hotel, accusing it of negligence in his death.
Attorney Joseph Fried filed suit Wednesday for Rebecca and Michael Holt of Charlotte, North Carolina, whose son Charlie died April 14.
“What started out as the best family trip, turned into the worst nightmare,” Rebecca Holt said in a statement emailed by Fried.
They had chosen the Sun Dial restaurant “because it was recommended as a fun place for families with kids to see the Atlanta skyline and enjoy a meal,” Charlie’s father, Michael Holt, said in the statement.
Marriott International, the hotel’s owner, didn’t immediately respond to an email and phone call requesting comment.
Police had said the boy wandered away from his family’s window table at the restaurant atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel and got his head stuck between tables. They also said the rotating floor shut off automatically when he was struck.
The lawsuit disagrees with police statements.
It said the family left along a path that various members had used without problems to go to and from the bathroom. But this time, it said, a booth rotating near a stationary wall blocked their path.
Charlie, a few steps ahead of his parents, “was too short to see past the booth and did not appreciate the danger until it was too late,” and was trapped in the “pinch point” between booth and wall, according to the lawsuit.
“To Michael’s and Rebecca’s horror, the rotation did not automatically stop when Charlie got trapped,” the lawsuit states, and there was no emergency button to stop it.
Rebecca Holt tried to pull her son free and Michael Holt “threw his body against the booth,” but both actions were futile, it said.
It said Michael Holt heard his son’s skull crack before someone finally stopped the rotation.
“The family has filed this law suit to set the record straight about what happened and to make sure, to the best of their abilities, that no other family ever has to suffer the same fate,” Fried’s statement said.
Defendants include Marriott, as well as the chain that previously owned the Peachtree before Marriott bought the chain. Also named are other former owners and operators, and the architects, interior designer and contractor in charge of renovations to the restaurant in 2012 and 2013.
The hotel reopened the restaurant in June.
“After Charlie’s death, Marriott has said that it won’t allow the restaurant to revolve again until it has addressed the dangerous pinch points,” Fried’s statement said. “Marriott should not have waited for this tragedy before acting to correct this hazard, especially while it held itself out as a safe place for kids.”
Baby stuck behind bed dies, parents charged
ANKENY, Iowa — Authorities say a baby whose parents have been charged with child endangerment died after becoming wedged between her bed and a wall.
The Des Moines Register reports that the Polk County medical examiner says the 7-month-old from Ankeny likely died of “positional asphyxia” last August and that the infant tested positive for cocaine metabolite, a breakdown product of cocaine. Examiner Gregory Schmunk says cocaine can be transmitted between baby and mother via breast milk, but he could not confirm how the drug got into the child’s system or when.
Thirty-three-year-old Michelle Atwell has been charged with child endangerment causing substantial risk, and several drug counts. Forty-eight-year-old Matthew Cohara has been charged with child endangerment causing no injury, and drug counts.
Cohara has said their daughter’s death was an accident.
via: https://nypost.com/2017/11/20/baby-stuck-behind-bed-dies-parents-charged/
10-Year-Old Boy Dies After Getting Tangled in Florida Swing Set Chain – wrapped around his neck
A 10-year-old Florida boy died Friday night after he got tangled in swing set chains and they wrapped around his neck, according to WJXT.
Police went to Charles Clark Park in Jacksonville at about 6:15 p.m. and found NaShon Green unresponsive. NaShon was on the swing set while his mother was getting her other children ready to leave the park.
“When she turned around, she saw the child and he was hanging from the swing set and his feet were not touching the ground,” Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Sgt. S.C. Rudlaff told WFLA. “She immediately reacted, got the child off the swingset and called 911.”
NaShon was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.
Investigators believe the boy was standing on the swing set when he got tangled and the swing’s chains wrapped around his neck.
Foul play is not suspected and the death is being investigated as a “tragic accident.
via: http://ktla.com/2017/11/20/ten-year-old-boy-dies-after-getting-tangled-in-swing-set-chain/
NeNe Leakes Cries As Husband Gregg Is Hospitalized For Heart Problems: ‘I Can’t Do This’
NeNe Leakes ended Sunday’s Real Housewives of Atlanta in tears — and it had nothing to do with any drama among the women.
The 49-year-old reality star found herself in a rare vulnerable moment when her husband, Gregg Leakes, landed in the hospital for a “dangerously low” heart rate, his doctors taking him for a minor surgery test to see if he had a blockage.
“I heard his voice on the phone and I knew that he was afraid,” NeNe said as she raced to be by Gregg’s side. “Like, ‘If this is the last time that I’m going to see anybody, I need to see my wife.’ … Everything was just kind of going really left.”
“Oh my God, what if Gregg doesn’t come home?” she wondered, tearing up. “What will they find? Is this something that Gregg’s not telling me? I can’t even imaging Gregg not walking on this earth. I can’t do this. Gregg has to get better.”
Earlier in the episode, Gregg had complained about his health, saying he was experiencing chest pains, numbness and felt like he was “going to pass out.”
The feeling didn’t go away, and eventually, Gregg asked to be admitted to the hospital for monitoring. “For the last couple days he’s been like, ‘I just don’t feel good. I just don’t feel good.’ But this time he was crying in tears,” NeNe told fellow Housewife Cynthia Bailey. “I was like, ‘Okay, you want to go to the doctor or do you want to go to the hospital?’ And he was like, ‘I want to go to the hospital.’ ”
“His dad had heart issues, and Gregg’s always had it in his head that he’s going to have heart issues,” she added.
Though NeNe told Bailey, “I think he’ll be fine,” the former supermodel was convinced NeNe was failing to see the problem in front of her.
“I’ve known NeNe for like eight years now. I know she is very concerned, but I also can see that she’s in denial,” Bailey confessed. “I don’t think she’s fully grasped how serious any type of heart situation could potentially be. I think NeNe is dealing with the situation with Gregg the best way she knows how to. She’s not the girl that handles any kind of sickness situation well.”
NeNe did let her guard down when the two talked again later, a day after Gregg had entered the hospital.
“[He’s] elevating his feet and all this stuff, trying to keep his heart rate where it needs to be,” she said, explaining that Gregg was still suffering from dizziness from time to time. “Last night I didn’t sleep good because normally it’s me who’s gone. Normally Greg is here, so I didn’t sleep good knowing he is gone.”
It’s no wonder she feels that way. NeNe and Gregg have been married for 18 years and together even longer — though, as RHOA fans remember, they briefly divorced in 2011 and remarried 2 years later (as seen on NeNe’s spin-off series, I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding). The couple have one son together, Brentt, 18.
“I’ve been with Gregg since I was in my 20s,” NeNe said on the episode. “The only secret I can tell you a relationship is finding a way to still love each other and be attracted to one another. Without Gregg, what would I do. Who is going to cut the grass? Who is the poll person? Who do we pay our lights and gas to?”
While the episode ended in a cliffhanger, all appears to be well with Gregg now. He recently stood by his wife’s side on Halloween, dressing up as a cockroach to her pest control operator.