‘I don’t forgive this woman, and she needs help’: Black child wrongly accused of grabbing ‘Cornerstore Caroline’
‘I don’t forgive this woman, and she needs help’: Black child wrongly accused of grabbing ‘Cornerstore Caroline’ originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
With tears streaming down his cheeks, a 9-year-old black child spoke out at a community meeting in New York about being wrongly accused of grabbing a white woman’s backside in a corner store — an incident disproved by security-camera footage.
With his mother standing beside him, Jeremiah Harvey delivered a simple message at the community meeting: “Friendship is really the key.”
Jeremiah’s emotional response came six days after Teresa Klein called the police and claimed the boy had grabbed her butt in a Brooklyn corner store Wednesday.
Klein issued an apology after viewing surveillance video of Jeremiah’s backpack brushing her backside as he passed her in the store. The video clearly shows Jeremiah’s hands were in front of him as he passed her.
Jeremiah and his sister, dressed in school uniforms and carrying shopping bags, could be seen and heard crying and calling for their mother as she and other customers and residents tried to address Klein’s accusations.
“‘Cornerstore Caroline,’ that’s what that is,” one person could be heard saying on the video. “Don’t cry, little man.”
Bellille also spoke at Monday’s meeting, telling the crowd, “What happened to us respecting one another, having unity and being neighborly?”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams organized the community meeting after the video of Klein calling 911 on Jeremiah went viral on social media, sparking outrage.
PHOTO: Crying children are pictured in an image made from video shot in Brooklyn, New York depicting a woman calling police alleging that she had been sexually assaulted by a young boy. (Jason Littlejohn)
Following the meeting, Jeremiah told ABC New York station WABC that he does not accept Klein’s apology.
“I don’t forgive this woman, and she needs help,” he said.
On Friday, Klein returned to the store, as residents and local media stood by, to finally watch the surveillance video that exonerated Jeremiah. Footage from inside the store showed the boy’s book bag grazing Klein’s butt. His hands, which did not touch her, were in plain sight on surveillance video.
The episode is the latest in a string of incidents in which white people have called the police on black people for seemingly innocuous behavior.
PHOTO: Surveillance video captures the moment 9-year-old Jeremiah Harvey passing by Teresa Klein in a bodega in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Oct. 16, 2018. (Obtained by ABC)
Klein also claimed that she called the police because the child’s mother was aggressive.
“I felt someone grab my a–. I said, ‘Don’t touch my a–.’ The woman flew at me, claimed she was a police officer, threatened to arrest me and I called 911,” Klein told WABC.
Article via Yahoo News
Husband Leading ‘Double Life’ Murdered His Wife and Tossed Her Overboard to Be with His Mistress
A Pennsylvania man who notified the Coast Guard that his wife had fallen overboard into Lake Erie last summer — later claiming that she killed herself because she was so distraught over his cheating — has been convicted of murdering her, PEOPLE confirms.
On Friday, a jury found Christopher Leclair, 49, of Erie, guilty of first-degree murder in the 2017 shooting death of his wife, 51-year-old Karen Leclair, court records show.
Christopher was also found guilty of aggravated assault, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, possession of an instrument of crime, firearms not to be carried with a license and false reports.
He faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to the Associated Press. He remains in the Erie County Prison without bond until his sentencing on Dec. 11. (Calls to Christopher’s attorney were not immediately returned on Monday.)
The jury deliberated for just under an hour and a half before reaching a verdict, local TV station WICU reports.
Karen was last seen on June 10, 2017, leaving the marina with her husband aboard their commercial fishing boat, authorities have said. Her body was found three weeks later, on July 4, 2017, in Lake Erie, tied with rope and weighed down with an anchor.
During his trial, Christopher’s attorney, Bruce Sandmeyer, argued that Karen had killed herself because she was distraught over her husband’s affair and “had had enough,” the Erie Times-News reports.
In her closing argument Friday, however, prosecutor Elizabeth Hirz called the claim of Karen’s suicide “nonsense” and a “desperate lie” that was “completely inconsistent with any of the evidence,” according to the newspaper.
Hirz said that Christopher killed Karen because his “double life … came to a head” when his mistress demanded in June 2017 that he get a divorce.
Tracy Butler, who said she had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Christopher since 2013 — and that she lived with him for eight months — testified that she had been pressuring Christopher to choose between her and Karen, according to WICU.
Hirz presented jurors with statements that Christopher made in 2004 and 2011 about how he planned to kill Karen by throwing her overboard in one of the deepest parts of Lake Erie, according to the Times-News.
Jurors also heard a recording of a phone conversation in which Christopher asks his father to dispose of a gun, WICU reports.
In prison letters that were read in court, Christopher claimed that he disposed of Karen’s body because he was ashamed of what his behavior had driven her to do and that he “didn’t want anyone to know what she had done,” WICU reports.
He wrote: “I tied her to an anchor, and let her go.”
While a forensic pathology expert who testified for the defense said Karen’ss wounds were consistent with suicide, he conceded under cross-examination that he may have reached a different conclusion had he been the medical examiner in her case, the AP reports.
After the verdict, Dawn Leombruno, Karen Leclair’s niece, told the Times-News that it was upsetting to hear what Christopher had done to her aunt: “She would do anything for anybody, and then to find that he was treating her like this, it’s awful.”
“It doesn’t bring her back,” Leombruno said, “but at least we know she’s getting justice now.”
Ex-Football Star Allegedly Molested Girl, 12, but Said the Sex Was Her Idea
A former Georgia high school football standout turned temporary Atlanta Falcons player is accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, PEOPLE confirms.
Justin Crawford, 23, is charged with sodomy, aggravated child molestation, incest and enticing a child for indecent purposes — all felonies.
Crawford is being held without bond at the Muscogee County Jail. His public defender could not be reached for comment. He has not yet entered a plea.
At a probable cause hearing on Monday, Columbus police detective Mark Scruggs testified that Crawford’s wife, had gotten out of bed around 4 a.m. Saturday and discovered her husband with an erect penis standing over the child in their living room, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports.
Scruggs said in court that Crawford’s spouse went back to bed but felt uneasy about what she saw.
However, in a later interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, his wife disputed the detective’s account, telling the newspaper that her husband’s penis was allegedly exposed but not erect.
“I did not see anyone having sex, or I would have called police right away,” she said.
Crawford’s wife alleged to the paper that he rushed off to the kitchen to cover up and later told her he fled the living room because she scared him.
She said he denied having contact with the child.
Later that day, the girl told her mother that Crawford allegedly came into the living room while she was sleeping and had her perform oral sex and had intercourse with her, Scruggs said in court, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Scruggs said when pressed by police, Crawford admitted the acts, stating that it was the girl’s idea, the newspaper reports.
Prosecutor Matthew Brown says the judge found there was enough evidence to justify the arrest and the case has been bound over to the district attorney’s office.
“At the end of the day the district attorney will determine what charges may be brought to the grand jury,” he tells PEOPLE.
Crawford first earned wide notice as a player for Columbus’ Hardaway High School, according to the Ledger-Enquirer, and he was later a running back for West Virginia University for two seasons where rushed for 2,245 yards and had 11 touchdowns, the Associated Press reports.
The Falcons signed him in May as a free agent but he was cut from the team in September, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Girl handed out cookies made with her grandmother’s ashes at high school, classmate says
DAVIS, Calif. – A California family is shocked and upset after their son came home and told them another student brought cookies to school baked with her grandmother’s ashes and was passing them around.
“This girl is going around telling everyone, basically at this point, that she had brought in these cookies to school with human ashes in them,” the Da Vinci Charter Academy High School student told KTXL.
He claims the tainted cookies were made by another Da Vinci Charter Academy student two weeks ago and given to others.
The boy’s family agreed to speak on the condition that their identities be hidden for fear of repercussion from the Davis Joint Unified School District.
“It blew my mind. I was really repulsed and I was upset that I wasn’t even notified,” the boy’s mother said.
What the boy’s parents were most upset about, however, was the way they say the school handled the incident.
The student’s mother says school administrators questioned her son, fearing he may have eaten one of the cookies. Her son says after being questioned he was asked to submit a statement about what happened and sign it.
“After that he told me not to tell anyone,” the boy said.
That student’s mother says she met with Da Vinci Charter Academy Principal Tyler Millsap and demanded a copy of the statement her son was asked to sign.
“The district seems to be a little bit more concerned about protecting themselves than protecting their students,” his father said.
Since the incident, the family says nothing has been sent to parents about it.
Both Principal Millsap and DJUSD declined interview requests. DJUSD did send the following statement Monday:
“While we cannot comment on confidential student matters, I can tell you that the physical and social-emotional safety of our students is our first priority.
We take all allegations of wrongdoing seriously and we conduct thorough investigations and involve the police when appropriate. When wrongdoing is found to have occurred, disciplinary measures are applied and at the same time measures are taken to repair the harm within the community.
This case has been particularly challenging and we have responded appropriately and in the most respectful and dignified way possible.”
Davis Police Lt. Doroshov confirms that there is an investigation into the incident.
Baby girl found dead in oven had been ‘stabbed and burned’
SHAW, Miss. — Mississippi officials are investigating after a girl was found dead inside a heated oven Monday.
The girl’s grandmother has been taken into custody but not charged, Bolivar County Sheriff Kelvin Williams told local news outlets. He did not identify her, but said she would be facing some type of murder charge.
Police were called Monday night to a home on Martin Luther King Drive in the small city of Shaw, Williams said. There, officers found the body of the 20-month-old girl.
“The official cause (of death) is still under investigation, but authorities have reason to believe that the child was stabbed and burned,” Williams told The Bolivar Commercial. “The child was found inside of the oven in the residence.”
Investigators took the body and evidence from the scene to the Mississippi Crime Lab. A full autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of death.
Williams said a family member of the girl found her body and called police. He said the girl lived in the home.
Shaw, which is not far from the Arkansas border in northwest Mississippi, is home to about 2,000 people.
Mom accused of using 3-year-old daughter to make child porn
HARRISBURG, Pa. – An Ohio mother accused of sexually abusing her 3-year-old daughter faces multiple felony charges.
Kayla Parker, 26, has been charged with sexual abuse and exploitation of children, endangering the welfare of a child and indecent assault.
Parker, of Dayton, has been extradited to Pennsylvania, where she – along with her ex-boyfriend, David Carbonaro – allegedly made the recordings roughly four years ago, according to a new release from Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
“This is an egregious case – a mother who preyed upon and sexually abused her own 3-year-old daughter,” Shapiro said.
Investigators executed a search warrant of Carbonaro’s Upper Darby residence in July and found images and video files showing a 3-year-old girl in various stages of undress – including one file showing a woman’s hand reaching into the child’s underwear, according to the release.
Authorities arrested Carbonaro in July. He has been charged with possession, production and distribution of child pornography.
Investigators say Carbonaro identified Parker, who law enforcement recently arrested in Ohio.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Parker told investigators that, on multiple occasions, she took her daughter’s clothes off and left her in a bedroom alone with Carbonaro, but claimed not to have seen any abuse, according to WJAC. After about a year together, Parker said they separated and she lost all contact with Carbonaro.
“The crimes that this mother is accused of are absolutely appalling, and although she may have believed that she left her alleged crimes behind her when she moved to Ohio, we were pleased to assist Pennsylvania Attorney General Shapiro to find, interview, and arrest the defendant on these allegations,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. “My office’s Crimes Against Children Unit works every day to keep kids safe and hold predators accountable, and we are happy to have helped Pennsylvania authorities with their investigation.”
Parker’s trial is set for Oct. 26. She is being held on $1 million bail.
Hunter dies of rare disorder after possibly eating squirrel brains
A New York hunter died of a rare brain disorder he may have caught after eating squirrel brains, according to a new report.
The 61-year-old was brought to Rochester Regional Health hospital in 2015 saying he was having trouble thinking clearly, was losing touch with reality and could no longer walk on his own, researchers said in an Oct. 4 report on on the case, according to Live Science.
Based on an MRI, the unnamed man seemed to have a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a degenerative and fatal brain disorder that is commonly contracted by eating meat from cattle affected by “mad cow disease,” doctors found.
In this case, eating contaminated cow meat wasn’t the issue — another animal was to blame.
The man’s family said he’d been known to eat squirrel brains — though it’s unclear if he dined on the whole brain or squirrel meat that had come in contact with the contaminated brain.
Dr. Tara Chen came across the unusual case when she was tasked with doing a report on cases of CJD seen at the hospital over the last five years.
The incurable neurological disorder affects about one in a million people each year worldwide, according to the National Institutes of Health. There are about 350 cases in the US per year.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/10/15/hunter-dies-of-rare-disorder-after-possibly-eating-squirrel-brains/
White woman fired after blocking black man from entering his building
A white woman was fired after getting caught on video blocking a black man from entering his own apartment building and then calling the cops on him, according to reports.
D’Arreion Toles returned to his downtown St. Louis, Mo., apartment building Friday night and found Hilary Brooke Mueller standing in the doorway with her dog on a leash. She refused to let him in unless he gave her proof he lived there.
“Please move, ma’am,” Toles, 24, asks in a video of the incident he posted to Facebook.
“I can. Do you live here?” responds Mueller, who became known as “Apartment Patty” as the video went viral. “I’m uncomfortable.”
“You can be uncomfortable, that’s fine,” Toles replies, declining to give his unit number. “That’s at your discretion. You’re uncomfortable because you’re you.”
The footage, which had been viewed over 6 million times as of Monday, shows the woman getting into the elevator with Toles and following him all the way to his apartment door in the Elder Shirt Lofts, asking for his name.
Mueller then called the cops, St. Louis police confirmed to local outlet KSDK.
“To be a black man in America & come home,” Toles captioned the video. “Never really thought this would happen to me, but it did! Then 30 mins later police knock on my door, because she called! I was shocked this is America in 2018!”
By Monday, Mueller’s employer, Tribeca STL, a luxury apartment company, said it decided to fire her after seeing the video.
“The Tribeca-STL family is a minority-owned company that consists of employees and residents from many racial backgrounds. We are proud of this fact and do not and never will stand for racism or racial profiling at our company,” the company said in a statement.
The incident is the latest in a long series of videos posted to social media showing white women — “BBQ Betty,” “Permit Patty,” “Cornerstore Caroline” — calling the cops on black people over seemingly mundane acts.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/10/15/white-woman-fired-after-blocking-black-man-from-entering-his-building/
Man Found Guilty of Killing Teen in Road-Rage Stabbing, Then Filming His Dying Moments in Temecula Walmart Parking Lot
A jury on Monday convicted a Temecula man of fatally stabbing a teen after picking a fight with him last year in a Walmart parking lot, then going on to threaten the victim’s girlfriend and film his dying moments on a cellphone, prosecutors said.
James Beckham Fortney, 41, was found guilty of second-degree murder — with an enhancement of using a knife — and one count of making criminal threats in the Nov. 29, 2017, incident that was allegedly sparked by a road-rage confrontation, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Fortney started the fight outside the superstore’s location on Temecula Parkway that eventually ended in 19-year-old Kevin Rodriguez’s death, officials said.
Rodriguez, a freelance videographer from Murrieta, had headed to Walmart that day to pick things up for his father’s belated birthday dinner, his family told KTLA at the time.
The teen was with his girlfriend of three years and — according to Atticus Rodriguez, the victim’s father — she later told the family Fortney looked as if stalled traffic had been giving him anxiety when he nearly hit Kevin’s car. Kevin became upset, but Fortney even more so, Atticus said.
According to the DA’s office, “Fortney grabbed the much smaller Rodriguez by the throat,” and Rodriguez fought back in self defense.
As the two men paused in the struggle, standing a few feet away each other, Fortney allegedly produced a 6-inch folding knife and lunged at Rodriguez, stabbing him in the chest.
Rodriguez’s girlfriend then rushed toward the attacker, who allegedly told her, “You’re next.”
Kevin’s mother, Traci Rodriguez, told KTLA his girlfriend held him in her arms as he bled profusely.
“He really loved his girlfriend,” she said. “And I’m sorry, I’m really sorry for her to have to go through that — holding him, the way she did. And I’m going to be there for her.”
While other witnesses called 911 and began performing life-saving measures, Fortney took out his cellphone and recorded the victim’s dying moments, according to prosecutors.
The defendant later helped administer aid, officials added.
Rodriguez was taken to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The teen’s parents said he was a loving son and brother who had a large circle of friends and regularly attended church.
He was also adventurous and enjoyed recording stunts to share on social media. His Instagram account had more than 37,500 followers around the time of his death.
Fortney’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 19 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
He will face a maximum possible sentence of 16 years and eight months to life in prison, prosecutors said.
22-year-old brat arrested for attacking mom with sausages
This son is the würst!
Police in Florida arrested a hungry 22-year-old jerk who pelted his mom with sausages because she accidentally bumped into him while making his dinner.
Hermes Callijas-Gasperin attacked his mother on October 8 in their Bradenton home, the Smoking Gun reported.
The food fight erupted when Callijas-Gasperin demanded his mom make him dinner, and she said she was busy.
When she did begin to cook his meal — sausages — she accidentally knocked into her son.
The wiener threw the sausages at her, hitting her in the eye, and then put his hands on her neck and pushed her, the report said.
Grilled by Manatee County cops, Callijas-Gasperin claimed he only wanted his mom to apologize. He was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/10/13/22-year-old-brat-arrested-for-attacking-mom-with-sausages/