Customer dies in shootout at Kansas City Wendy’s
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City police say a customer at a Wendy’s was shot to death during an argument with an employee.
Police say 23-year-old Aaron Mason, of Kansas City, died after the shooting Wednesday night in midtown Kansas City.
Capt. Tim Hernandez says Mason walked behind the counter to confront the employee during an argument and the two exchanged gunfire.
Gunshots were fired inside and outside the restaurant before Mason collapsed in the parking lot. He died later at a hospital.
The employee fled before police arrived.
The cause of the argument has not been released.
About a dozen customers and employees were inside the restaurant when police arrived. No one else was hurt.
via: https://fox2now.com/2019/08/01/customer-dies-in-shootout-at-kansas-city-wendys/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Kids get probation after throwing bananas at teacher, sending her to hospital with severe allergic reaction
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio school district says students endangered a teacher by intentionally exposing her to bananas despite knowing she is severely allergic to the fruit.
WSYX-TV reports the teacher at the Starling K-8 school in Columbus went into anaphylactic shock and ended up at the hospital after three seventh-graders smeared bananas on her door and threw the fruit at her in class last November. A sign on the door had warned students that the room was supposed to be a “banana-free zone.”
The station reports the students were charged with assault in juvenile court and have since served probation.
Columbus City Schools spokesman Scott Wortman says the district hopes it was a “teachable moment” for the students involved and others about “the potentially life-threatening consequences of food allergies.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Disturbing video shows Dallas officers joking as they restrain man who died
(CNN) — The body camera footage tells the story: Tony Timpa was struggling, begging Dallas police officers who were holding him in a controversial position to let him go.
Within minutes he had stopped breathing, while officers joked that he had fallen asleep, according to the footage first obtained from the police department by The Dallas Morning News after a nearly three-year battle for its release — part of the newspaper’s investigation into the August 2016 death of the 32-year-old man.
The City of Dallas and its police department fought the release of the footage, first citing an ongoing investigation that saw three officers indicted, then the case’s dismissal.
‘The public has a compelling interest’
But a federal judge ruled this week in favor of the Timpa family, The Dallas Morning News and NBC5, saying “the public has a compelling interest in understanding what truly took place during a fatal exchange between a citizen and law enforcement.”
“…The Court holds that there is no longer good cause to shield the documents from public scrutiny,” US District Court Judge David C. Godbey wrote in his order.
The Dallas Police Department’s media relations office declined CNN’s request for comment.
“Because there is pending litigation surrounding this incident, we are unable to comment on the actions of the officers. You may request the investigation and any other material through our open records process,” Carlos Almeida, a public information officer for the Dallas Police Department, said.
CNN filed an open records request and was notified by email the request could take up to 20 days to process. The attorney for the Timpa family provided CNN with the footage from two police body cameras – one was 27 minutes, and the other, 18 minutes.
Timpa’s family has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and the officers, alleging the officers used excessive and deadly force that “no reasonable officer could believe that use of force was justified.”
The wrongful death lawsuit, which was first filed in December 2016, accuses the officers of false imprisonment, assault and battery and negligence. The family is seeking “actual and consequential damages,” according to the lawsuit filed by the family’s attorney, Geoff J. Henley.
Timpa’s family alleges in the lawsuit that the city and the police have withheld the details about what happened the night Timpa died. The police department and city have declined to comment on the civil lawsuit, citing ongoing litigation.
Timpa calls police for help
This much is known. At about 10:30 p.m. local time on the night of August 10, 2016, Timpa was taken into custody.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Timpa was in the parking lot of a Dallas porn store when he called police, telling a dispatcher he suffered from schizophrenia and depression. He told the dispatcher he was not taking his medication.
From there, the details diverge.
He was initially restrained and handcuffed by private security officers before police arrived on the scene, according to court documents.
A police press release more than a year later, dated December 7, 2017, said Timpa was arrested “due to his erratic behavior.”
“During the arrest, he was combative and aggressive. While taking Mr. Timpa into custody, he was subjected to physical restraint and was later pronounced deceased,” the release said.
The release said the Dallas County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide and determined Timpa “died of sudden cardiac arrest, secondarily caused by the toxic effects of cocaine and stress associated with physical restraint.”
‘He didn’t just die down there, did he?’
The officers said they used only enough force to restrain Timpa, according to police incident reports reviewed by The Dallas Morning News.
But the body camera footage released this week shows the officers holding Timpa in a prone position, face down in the grass while officers swap out his handcuffs and and zip-tie his legs. Timpa can be seen struggling, begging the officers to stop holding him down. He screams, “You’re gonna kill me.” One of the officers repeatedly tells him to relax, saying “You’re going to be all right.”
The footage shows Timpa, his face down in the grass, falling unconscious. The officers can be heard making jokes about Timpa falling asleep and about waking him up for school. One officer appears to mimic a teenager, saying: “I don’t want to go to school! Five more minutes, Mom!”
The footage shows officers and paramedics putting Timpa’s lifeless body onto a gurney, and one of the officers can be heard asking, “He didn’t just die down there, did he?”
Once in the ambulance, paramedics tell the officers he is not breathing.
A review of the footage by CNN appears to show Timpa stopped breathing within 20 minutes of police arriving. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to court documents.
Charges dismissed against officers
Three police officers were indicted on charges of misdemeanor deadly conduct, according to the 2017 police press release and court records.
The indictments were handed down more than a year after Timpa’s death and three months after The Dallas Morning News published its investigation into the death.
On March 18, the Dallas County District Attorney’s office dismissed the charges, saying the decision was made following a lengthy investigation into the official cause of death and a discussion with three medical examiners.
“They stated they do not believe the officers acted recklessly. Additionally, they cannot, and will not, testify to the elements of the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt,” according to a news release by the DA’s office.
CNN’s Jason Morris, Brad Parks and Sheena Jones contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: Dallas Police Department via CNN Wire
Man angry over spit up and crying allegedly killed girlfriend’s baby
Bloomington, IN (WRTV ) — A 19-year-old Bloomington man faces murder charges in the death of his girlfriend’s two-month-old child.
Dakota King was arrested Tuesday evening after the infant arrived at IU Health Bloomington Hospital and died a short time later.
According to Bloomington Police Captain Ryan Pedigo, an examination of the baby showed visible facial injuries.
Police interviewed the child’s father, 19-year-old Dakota King, along with other family members, and learned that King had allegedly yelled at and squeezed the baby because it was crying. Police also learned that King had placed the infant face-down in a bassinet and “used his hand to shove the infant’s face into bedding in an attempt to get the child to stop crying.”
After obtaining a search warrant, police went to the family’s apartment in the 1500 block of West Kirkwood Avenue and found what appeared to be blood stains in the bassinet.
Police say King admitted to investigators that he became angry when the baby spit up milk on his clothing and that he had placed the infant in the bassinet with his hand on the back of the child’s head to hold the baby down. Police say King admitted to pushing the infant’s head down into a pillow of the bassinet until the child stop crying. King then left the infant in the bassinet until the child’s mother came home from work and discovered the baby was not breathing.
King was arrested and taken to the Monroe County jail.
An autopsy is being performed in Terre Haute.
Photo Credit: Monroe County Correctional Center
Oscar Meyer releasing hot dog-infused ice cream sandwich
MADISON, Wis. – Oscar Meyer has released a new product in response to French’s mustard ice cream.
French’s announced Wednesday that the company was releasing the ice cream flavor for a limited-run in New York City and Los Angeles to celebrate National Mustard Day this upcoming Saturday.
Now, Oscar Meyer is responding with their own sweet-and-savory treat, the Ice Dog Sandwich.
This release comes just in time for National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, which is Friday, August 2nd.
The Ice Dog Sandwich includes hot dog sweet cream, spicy Dijon Gelato, is infused real bits of candied Oscar Mayer hot dogs and is served on a cookie bun.
The company partnered with NYC’s imaginative hand-made ice cream company, il laboratorio del gelato, to help translate the experience of eating your favorite Oscar Mayer hot dog in frozen form.
During the week of August 12th the iconic Wienermobile will be outfitted as an ice cream truck and passing out samples of the Ice Dog Sandwich in NYC’s Manhattan area.
Those who won’t be in Manhattan during the week of August 12th but are interested in getting their hands on the sandwich are encouraged to DM Oscar Meyer on Twitter to find out how they can get this special treat.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/02/oscar-meyer-releasing-hot-dog-infused-ice-cream-sandwich/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
After 15 years, Cyntoia Brown will be released from prison next week
After spending half of her life behind bars, Cyntoia Brown will walk out of prison next week a free woman. She will be released to parole supervision August 7, according to former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who granted her clemency eight months ago.
The 31-year-old was sentenced to life in prison in connection with the killing of a Nashville man who Brown said had solicited her for sex. According to Brown, she was raped and forced into prostitution by a pimp and ended up killing one of her clients out of self-defense. Though only 16 at the time, she was tried as an adult and given a life sentence.
Brown’s attorney declined to comment for this story.
Preparing for a second chance on life
In prison, Brown has focused on transforming herself.
“She is light years today, as a woman, different from the traumatized 16-year-old that she was,” Derri Smith, founder and CEO of non-profit End Slavery Tennessee, said last January. “She’s mentoring … troubled youth, working on her college degree, she is planning a nonprofit so she can help other young people.”
Brown received her associate degree from Lipscomb University in 2015 and, according to The Tennessean, obtained a bachelor’s degree in the Tennessee Prison for Women in May.
She’s also collaborating with Tennessee’s Juvenile Justice System to help counsel young people at risk, and her supporters say she’s been a model inmate during her incarceration.
“I learned that my life was — and is — not over,” Brown said in a documentary, “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story.” “I can create opportunities where I can actually help people.”
What happened
Brown testified that on August 7, 2004, she was solicited for sex by Johnny Mitchell Allen, 43, who picked her up and drove her back to his house. There, Brown saw a gun cabinet in Allen’s room, she said during her trial. She resisted him until he appeared to reach under the bed, at which point she believed he was going to kill her. Brown took a gun out of her purse and shot Allen, killing him.
During her trial, the prosecution argued that the motive for the killing was not self-defense, as Brown claimed, but rather robbery, since Brown took Allen’s wallet after she shot him. She was convicted of first-degree murder, first degree felony murder and aggravated robbery. The convictions carried concurrent life sentences and eight additional years.
A-List celebrities come to her defense
The harsh punishment for a teenage victim of sex trafficking sparked outrage across the country – particularly after celebrities Rihanna and Kim Kardashian West came to her defense on social media in 2017.
Rihanna posted on social media: “Imagine at the age of 16 being sex-trafficked by a pimp named “cut-throat.” After days of being repeatedly drugged and raped by different men you were purchased by a 43-year-old child predator who took you to his home to use you for sex. You end up finding enough courage to fight back and shoot and kill him.”
“Your (sic) arrested as (sic) result tried and convicted as an adult and sentenced to life in prison,” Rihanna’s post continues. “This is the story of Cyntoia Brown. She will be eligible for parole when she is 69 years old.”
“Something his horribly wrong when the system enables these rapists and the victim is thrown away for life,” Rihanna wrote in her Instagram caption.
The same post was later shared by Kardashian West, Cara Delevingne and other celebrities, journalists and activists.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/02/after-15-years-cyntoia-brown-will-be-released-from-prison-next-week/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
TN School District Tells Teachers ‘People Of Color Cannot Be Racist,’ Then Says It Was ‘Misinterpreted’
A school district in eastern Tennessee said its presentations slides on white privilege and racism were misinterpreted. One slide under racism stated “people of color cannot be racist” because they lack “institutional power to adversely affect white lives.”
Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga posted on Facebook Friday afternoon that the presentation to Opportunity Zone Community teachers was about “how adverse childhood experiences can impact behavior in the classroom and methods to have effective classroom management.”
The school district says the external presentation was given by former NFL player Robert Jackson.
One slide at the presentation had the headline: Racism
“People of color cannot be racist because they lack the institutional power to adversely affect white lives.”
It goes on to say: “Even if minorities sometimes complain about whites, such complaints serve as coping mechanisms to withstand racism rather than actual anti-white bias.” Furthermore, it reads: “Even when minorites express or practice prejudice against whites they are not racists.”
Other slides have the title “White Privilege’ and list things like:
- White privilege is both a legacy and cause of racism
- White privilege exists because of historic, enduring racism and biases
It goes on to show a slide to teachers that say those who fall under the “white privilege’ moniker:
- Are less likely to be followed, interrogated or searched by law enforcement
- Skin tone will not affect their credit or financial responsibility
- When accused of crime, they are portrayed as a good person
- They don’t lose opportunities when mistakes are made
The school district on Friday said the presentation given at the Urban Education Institute has been “taken out of context,” or misinterpreted.
“The slides are being misrepresented as a presentation on white privilege. For the slides in question, the speaker was reviewing terms that can impact perception and definitions attached to the terms when the slides were used. White Privilege was one of several terms on slides during the short part of the presentation,” the school district wrote.
John Lennon is a theater teacher at The Howard School who enjoyed the presentation.
“We had an AWESOME PD today! Mr. Jackson’s informative presentation promotes student accountability with compassion and empathy, utilizing data and sound methodology,” Lennon was quoted in the school district’s social media post. “Exactly the type of informative session I need to serve my students better this year.”
However, there were many on social media who said they did not misinterpret the message and vented their own frustrations. There were also some to defend the presentation, saying the white privilege slides were the only ones photographed and shown online.
“I’m curious what the correct interpretation of the slide that gave a “definition” of “racism” was supposed to be,” wrote Austin Roberts.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. Why am I paying for them to sit through these slides????,” wrote Nick Eaton.
“Excuse me, but the slides that have been shared seem accurate to me. People who are furious probably cannot recognize their white privilege and refuse to acknowledge the systemic racism that exists in our country, and our county,” wrote Melissa Incorvia.
“The people that need to understand these slides won’t bother to try and the ones that live it get to see the most ignorant among us lose their minds over things they don’t care to comprehend. … Thanks for trying HCDE. We need more efforts to be inclusive in Chattanooga,” Aaron Welch wrote.
Hamilton County Schools said in the future it will place safeguards on external presenters “to ensure there is less potential of misinterpretation of the content shared.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Wife Installs Hidden Cameras After Filing For Divorce, Discovers Husband Poisoning Her Coffee
A Michigan man pleaded guilty on Thursday to poisoning his former wife. This type of crime carries a maximum jail sentence of 15 years, and the minimum sentencing guidelines indicate time served should be at least 19 months, prosecutors said.
Macomb County Judge Anthony Viviano stunned the court by sentencing Brian Kozlowski, 46, to just five years probation and 60 weekend days in jail, ClickOnDetroit reported.
Brian Kozlowski and his then wife—Therese Kozlowski—had been together for 29 years, 22 of which they were married. But in May 2018, she filed for a divorce, although the couple continued to live together. According to divorce documents, the situation worsened to the point where he allegedly urinated in her shampoo and conditioner bottles.
Then, in July of that year, she noticed that she started feeling tired, nauseous and dizzy on days when her husband had made her coffee. One day, she even came close to crashing after falling asleep while driving on the I-375.
Suspicious, she installed hidden cameras in her kitchen—and the footage revealed that her husband had been deliberately mixing the sleep aid and antihistamine diphenhydramine into her coffee. She moved out of the home soon after.
“I felt a horrible coldness in the air as if I was being hunted by a dangerous predator, but in this nightmare, the predator was Brian,” she said reading a statement in court. “I fell to my knees and cried. I could barely move. Brian was trying to kill me to keep his comfortable life from slipping away.”
According to experts, the last coffee Brian Kozlowski made his wife contained 127 milliliters of the substance—which is about the same as eight sleeping pills.
Therese Kozlowski also revealed how their daughter had told her about one day when she also drank the poisoned coffee and drove to work.
“She was able to make it to her desk only to immediately fall asleep for two hours,” Therese Kozlowski said. “Brian had successfully poisoned his own daughter and set her on a path that could have killed her that morning.”
WDIV-TV reported that, after hearing his wife’s statement, Brian Kozlowski said: “I deeply would like to apologize.”
A day before the sentencing, Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said that criminal guidelines for poisoning indicate that the defendant should serve a minimum of 19 to 38 months in prison.
“This defendant’s actions were despicable,” Smith said in a statement. “We are all thankful this sneak attack didn’t cause the victim to fall asleep behind the wheel on her way to work, killing herself and/or innocent drivers.
“This defendant deserves nothing less than a prison cell for his actions and that is what we will be stressing to Judge Viviano Thursday morning or we will be appealing the sentence, plain and simple,” he said.
However, the judge decided to issue a sentence which was far below the sentencing guidelines, despite objections from an assistant prosecutor who described it as a “a slap in the face.”
“If he comes back in society as a hardened criminal, what have I done? Nothing,” Judge Viviano said, according to WDIV-TV.
After the sentencing Eric Smith said: “It’s almost as though the judge is more concerned with the defendants freedom than he is with the safety of the victim.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Bronx Woman Would Burglarize Homes While Families Attended Funerals
A Bronx woman is accused of burglarizing more than a dozen homes while the occupants were attending funerals
Latonia Stewart, 27, was indicted Wednesday on 22 counts of robbery and motor vehicle violations, stemming from a series of break-ins between the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018.
According to police, Stewart would scan recent newspapers’ obituary sections and target the homes of grieving families. When the mourners would return home, they’d discover jewelry and other valuable property gone, said District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino Jr.
“At some of the residences, the defendant broke windows and glass doors to enter,” Scarpino told the Journal News. A mallet was found under the front seat of Stewart’s car when she was arrested in May 2018, leaving the home of a deceased person.
Police also found jewelry in plain sight and an obituary saved on her phone.
She has been linked to six break-ins in Westchester County—in Rye Brook, Cortlandt, Scarsdale, Irvington, Ossining and Tarrytown, and Carmel in Putnam County. She also faces charges for similar burglaries in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Stewart is due back in court on August 13.
She might have some competition for the most heartless criminal, though: In December, a burglar broke into a Dallas house and stole Christmas presents and the family’s pit bull, Smokey.
“It looks like they took everything out through the window,” Diana Alvarado said. “We found Christmas bows in the backyard and alley.”
Smokey had been a birthday present for Alvarado’s daughter, Thalia, when she turned 9.
“He’s a part of our family, a very important part,” Alvarado said. “They just took a member of our family… I just hope that they can find it in their heart to return Smokey.”
The thieves walked away with a makeshift piggy bank the Alvarados had been stuffing with coins and dollar bills for quite some time.
“Presents can be replaced, material things can be replaced,” Alvarado said. “But we want our dog back. That’s the most important thing for us, is our dog.”
And in April, a Sacramento couple were horrified when they discovered a burglar had stolen the urn containing their baby daughter’s ashes while they were on vacation.
“I felt angry and I felt sad,” said Kelly Smith. “I felt anguish and I felt like I wanted to die. Losing a child was the worst experience ever. I went through a deep depression and I just got through that.”
A necklace containing the ashes of Smith’s grandmother was also stolen.
Photo Credit: newsweek.com