Man says he was bitten by bus passenger after asking him to wear mask
A disabled man claims he was bitten by an angry bus passenger in Belgium after asking him to properly wear his mask, reports said.
Robert Murphy, who lives in Merksem in Antwerp, said he was chomped on twice on the chest by the 38-year-old man who boarded the bus with his partner, LADbible reported, citing Dutch daily newspaper AD Media.
The couple had their masks tucked under their chins and sat directly across from Murphy, 56, prompting the Irishman to ask them to put the coverings on the right way.
“I just asked the man to wear the mask properly over his nose,” he said.
The man refused, Murphy said, and a fight ensued.
“I tried to pull myself free, but I am disabled so it was not easy,” Murphy said. “We tussled until the man threw himself at my chest and bit me. I couldn’t believe it. He was like a mad dog.
“I pushed him away, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. The whole time he tried to bite me again.”
Other passengers yanked the man off Murphy and the couple jumped off the bus and fled. They were later arrested by Belgium police.
“Strangely enough, the doctor doesn’t want to do a COVID-19 test because I cannot show that the other person, the biter, was infected with the virus. Fingers crossed,” he said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/28/man-says-he-was-bitten-by-bus-passenger-who-refused-to-wear-mask/
Photo Credit: CEN
14 members of Texas family test positive for COVID-19 after mask-free party, killing 1 and another on life support
Fourteen members of a Texas family have tested positive for the coronavirus following a party last month, with one dead and another on life support, according to a report.
Tony Green, the Dallas man who hosted the party and believed the global pandemic was a hoax, called the cluster of infections “a harsh lesson in the reality of COVID-19,” NBC News reported.
“In great haste, I began prognosticating the alphabet soup about this ‘scamdemic,’” Green said in a column in the Dallas Voice. “I believed the virus to be a hoax. I believed the mainstream media and the Democrats were using it to create panic, crash the economy and destroy Trump’s chances at re-election.”
“I am calling myself out first, but now this is personal, and I fell on my sword,” he wrote. “And I promise you, if we continue being more worried about the disruption to our lives than we are about stopping this virus, not one American will be spared.”
Green’s epiphany followed a June 13 party to celebrate the birth of a grandson in the family.
Green, 43, who says he is “a gay conservative,” hosted the party with his partner — where neither they nor their parents wore masks. The following day Green woke up feeling sick, and within two days so were his partner and his parents.
Within days, his mother-in-law and sister-in-law also got sick, as did the parents of the newborn who was the reason for the bash.
Green and his partner’s father, Rafael Ceja, were finally admitted to the hospital on June 24, and, later, so was Ceja’s mother — who died of the deadly bug on July 2 in the hospital room next to her son, NBC said.
Ceja, meanwhile, was put on life support, the outlet said.
“I cannot help but feel responsible for convincing our families it was safe to have a get-together,” Green said. “There’s a lot of things that I would have done differently.”
Green tried to make good by creating a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the family — but it wasn’t welcome.
“It is with heavy heart and deep regret but I must inform each contributor that I am compelled to end this fundraiser and refund each donor,” he wrote on the page. “I have tried to act honorably — serving in the best interests of Rafael & Marisa — nobody else.”
“Unfortunately, others — within the family — are displeased with my attempts to provide additional love, support, prayers, and financial contributions in their time of need,” he wrote. “Because of their continuous harassment and vindictive behavior (against my advice) Marisa now refuses to accept this money.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/28/coronavirus-strikes-14-family-members-kills-1-after-texas-party/
Photo Credit: GoFundMe
Brooklyn man had dinner with his wife in a romantic French chalet, then cut her up and buried her
A New York American with dual nationality has been arrested after his French wife was found stabbed, dismembered and buried in a drainage ditch, French police said.Billy Kruger, who lived with his wife Laure Bardina-Kruger in Indonesia, was arrested on Friday as he tried to board a flight to Toulouse, hours after his stepfather reported his daughter missing .
Bardina-Kruger was found partially buried in a storm sewer in the local village of Peyriac-de-Mer outside their vacation home in the south of France, according to Agence France-Presse.
Kruger told police he killed his wife in self-defense, prosecutor Marie-Agnès Jolie told AFP. The couple were spotted having dinner at a romantic restaurant in Peyriac-de-Mer on Thursday evening, according to reports.
The couple had planned to return to Jakarta and Bardina-Kruger’s father sounded the alarm after his daughter missed a farewell dinner before they left. Kruger apparently made a weak excuse as to why she wasn’t there.
“We don’t yet know what happened, but we never received an alarm signal from Laure regarding the acts of violence committed against her by her husband,” said Bardina-Kruger’s brother Pierre. Bardina, on Facebook. “You always think it can only happen to other people, but violence against women can happen all of a sudden.”
White flowers were placed in a makeshift memorial above the drainage ditch where her body was found.
Kruger will be brought before a French court this week.
Photo Credit: fr24news.com
Woman caught on video Macing couple for not wearing masks at dog park
A woman allegedly Maced a California couple for not wearing masks while eating at a dog park — a disturbing incident caught on videotape.
The injured pair, Ash O’Brien and hubby Jarrett Kelley, said the lady, who was wearing a black mask, ambushed them with a can of the burning substance after ripping them for not donning face coverings and eating at the Dusty Rhodes Dog Park in Ocean Beach outside San Diego on Thursday afternoon.
First she “automatically started saying stuff about us not wearing a mask when we were social distancing — there was no one near us,” O’Brien told the local ABC-TV affiliate.
O’Brien said the lady also took them to task for eating at a picnic table at the park while they were there with their 3-month-old puppy, claiming it was against the rules.
“If we knew there was a no-food policy, we wouldn’t have brought it into the park,” O’Brien told the TV station.
The angry woman soon stalked off — only to come back a few minutes later and attack them, O’Brien said.
“She just came up without saying anything and just stuck the Mace can right in front of my face,” O’Brien said. “My husband, being a good guy, walked in front of her and was like, ‘Hey, calm down please don’t do this’ — and then she grabbed him and just starting macing him. She used the entire can on him.
“We drove to the hospital. He got treated and everything,” O’Brien said — adding that her husband suffered injuries to his face while she was burned on her arms.
A woman filming the incident shouted at the attacker, “What are you doing? You cannot be serious! You just Maced them!” — as a female weeps in the background, according to footage posted by the Daily Mail.
“What’s wrong with you, lady?!” added the woman who caught some of the encounter on tape.
The injured couple filed a police report afterward.
“I want her to go to jail — she assaulted my husband, and I’m angry about it,” O’Brien told ABC.
San Diego cops confirmed they took a report alleging battery over the incident.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/26/woman-maces-couple-for-not-wearing-masks-at-california-dog-park-video/
Photo Credit: disrn.com
Couple wears swastika face masks at Walmart in Minnesota
There’s “mask Nazis” and then there’s these two jerks.
A man and woman in Minnesota marched through a Marshall Walmart donning red masks adorned with giant swastikas, video shows.
“If you vote for Biden, you’re going to be [living] in Nazi Germany. That’s what it’s going to be like,” the woman says in video shot and posted to Facebook by shopper Raphaela Mueller.
“You’re literally wearing a Nazi flag right now,” another shopper retorts.
“We literally had a f–king war over this. The Nazis lost. Please don’t wear those masks,” Mueller adds.
The woman responds by griping that her fellow patrons “aren’t getting it.”
“I’m trying to tell you: If you vote for Biden, you’re going to have socialism,” she says.
Police called to the scene warned the 56-year-old man and 64-year-old woman that they would face arrest if they return to the Walmart, the Star Tribune reported.
Both left without incident, the newspaper said.
I was born and raised in Germany, and I grew up hearing about my great-grandmother who fought in the underground against the first wave of Nazis in the 1930s and 40s,” Mueller said in a post accompanying the video.
“Let me make this abundantly clear once and for all – THE SWASTIKA IS A HATE SYMBOL AND YOU DO NOT FLY THE FLAG, YOU DO NOT WEAR THE SYMBOL ANYWHERE ON YOUR BODY, YOU DO NOT USE OR DEFEND THIS SYMBOL, EVER. END OF STORY.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/26/couple-wears-swastika-face-masks-at-walmart-in-minnesota/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Bus driver beaten by mini bat-wielding passenger who refused to wear mask
A San Francisco bus driver was attacked this week by a miniature souvenir baseball bat-wielding passenger who became irate when he was told he had to wear a mask, reports said.
The attacker was one of a group of three maskless men who boarded the Muni city bus Wednesday in the city’s SoMa district.
Passengers are required to wear face coverings on San Francisco’s public transit, and the driver instructed the trio multiple times to put on the required face coverings, but they refused, officials said.
The driver then pulled over to escort the riders off, when one of the three attacked him with the mini bat, according to reports.
The driver’s injuries were not life threatening and he is recovering, police said. A union rep told local TV station KTVU, that the victim had a fractured finger, and was also spat on.
No arrests have been made.
In the Big Apple, a passenger hit a driver Monday after being told he needed to wear a mask. The man punched the 62-year-old driver and then got off the bus on the Lower East Side.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/25/bus-driver-beaten-by-passenger-who-refused-to-wear-mask/
Photo Credit: Jeff Chiu/AP
Teen, 17, becomes fourth person to drown in Lake Lanier this month
A 17-year-old teenager has died in a drowning accident at a Georgia lake – marking the fourth person to drown in the lake this month.
Cristofer Acosta-Farias, of Gainesville, Ga., was swimming in Lake Lanier on Friday afternoon when he disappeared from view, The Gainesville Times reports.
Hall County Fire personnel found the boy’s body after being called to Balus Creek Park on the lake, according to the paper.
A spokesman for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources told the paper the searchers used sonar to find the boy.
He was found in a part of the lake that is 27 feet deep.
Cristofer was a member of the band at West Hall High School in Gainesville, the paper reported.
The organizer of a GoFundMe page for the boy’s family said, “Everyone knew him to be a kind and loving person. He always knew how to make us laugh and bring joy to our lives.”
There had been three drownings in Lake Lanier in July, according to the paper. The other victims were men aged 59, 45 and 28.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/26/teen-17-becomes-fourth-person-to-drown-in-lake-lanier-this-month/
Photo Credit: GoFundMe
NJ gym owners arrested after repeatedly ignoring COVID-19 lockdown orders
Two New Jersey gyms owners who have repeatedly reopened in defiance of the state’s coronavirus lockdown have been arrested, police said Monday.
Atilis Gym owners in Bellmawr— Ian Smith, 33, of Delanco Township, and Frank Trumbetti, 51, of Williamstown — were charged with contempt and violation of a disaster control act, according to the Camden Couty Prosecutor’s Office.
The two owners have continually railed against Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order amid the pandemic COVID-19 and even sued lawmakers claiming their constitutional rights were violated when they were forced to close their South Jersey gym.
Last Wednesday, Judge Robert Lougy ordered the owners to vacate the gym and stop reopening.
Yet since the ruling, the owners, as well as others, were spotted using the gym, law enforcement said.
Cops and county prosecutors asked the owners to leave but they refused, which led to the arrests, according to police.
Smith and Trumbetti were charged and released, police said.
In a post on the gym’s Facebook page Monday morning, Smith attacked the governor as “flexing his little tyrant muscles.”
“Officers from the county sheriffs entered the premises without a warrant or adhering to the signage posted on the door requesting they call first,” Smith claimed.
“This is gonna be fun in court.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/27/nj-gym-owners-arrested-after-repeatedly-ignoring-lockdown-orders/
Photo Credit: Stephen Yang
A 9-year-old who died of coronavirus had no known underlying health issues, family says
A 9-year-old girl with no known underlying health conditions is the youngest person to die from coronavirus complications in Florida, officials said.
Kimora “Kimmie” Lynum died on July 18 in Putnam County, according to Florida Department of Health records. It confirmed her identity and said she’s the state’s youngest coronavirus fatality.
She had no pre-existing health issues and her mother took her to the hospital due to a high fever, said family spokesman Dejeon Cain. The hospital sent her home and she collapsed a short time later, Cain said.
“She was always happy and made everybody happy. She was phenomenal,” said Cain, who’s also her cousin.
The family does not know how or where she was infected. She appeared healthy and spent the summer at home, and did not attend school or camp, Cain said.
Kimmie’s mother was tested for Covid-19, but had not received her results as of Saturday, Cain said.
State health department records show the child did not have close contact with anyone who recently had Covid-19. Putnam County Health Officer Mary Garcia confirmed the fatality to CNN and said she was unaware of any underlying medical conditions.
Kimmie is the fifth minor in Florida to die from Covid-19, according to the latest health records. The others were an 11-year-old boy in Miami-Dade County, an 11-year-old girl in Broward County, a 16-year-old girl in Lee County and a 17-year-old boy in Pasco County.
Putnam County is located between Gainesville and St. Augustine in the northeastern part of the state. Since April 1, the county has had 11 fatalities.
As of last Friday, 23,170 minors have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The positivity rate of the children tested is 13.4%. The state’s total number of confirmed cases now stands at 379,619.
Florida has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases, passing New York, once the country’s epicenter early in the pandemic. California, the most populous state, surpassed New York a few days ago. The states with the most recorded cases now align more closely with population rank. Florida is the country’s third-most populous, and New York is fourth.
Florida has reported 414,511 cases since the pandemic’s start, above New York’s 411,200, according to state health agencies. The number of hospitalizations has increased by 79% since the Fourth of July, according to data from the state’s health care administration.
At least 50 hospital intensive care units in Florida reached capacity Saturday. Eight of the hospitals are in Miami-Dade and six in Broward — among hardest-hit counties in the state.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Lynum Family
LeBron James Helping Florida Ex-Felons Pay Fees So They Can Vote
A voting rights group founded by NBA superstar LeBron James is raising funds to help people in Florida with felony records pay outstanding court debts that prevent them from voting, the group announced Friday.
More Than A Vote, a campaign the Los Angeles Lakers player started with other Black athletes and artists last month to fight Black voter suppression, is partnering with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), a group that helped end Florida’s lifetime voting ban for most people with felony convictions in 2018. They hope to raise $100,000.
Miami Heat Forward Udonis Haslem, who’s also a member of More Than A Vote, said in a statement that the thinking is simple: “We believe that your right to vote shouldn’t depend upon whether or not you can pay to exercise it.”
There are around 1.4 million Floridians with felony convictions, the FRRC said. And as of 2016, one in five Black citizens in Florida were disenfranchised. As Politico noted, as many as 775,000 people in Florida with felony convictions face financial penalties that render them ineligible to vote until they can pay them.
Those penalties come in the form of restitution, court fines or other fees associated with their past convictions. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Florida’s rule blocking people from voting if they have any of those outstanding fees, which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law last year. In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued the law disenfranchises people “simply because they are poor.”
The FRRC, which has already raised more than $1.5 million for its fines and fees program, hopes teaming up with James’ campaign will raise awareness around the issue.
“This partnership will improve lives and strengthen our democracy,” FRRC executive director Desmond Meade said, adding, “We look forward to the positive impact it will have on our communities and the lives of those who are hoping to vote and have their voices heard.”
While the deadline to register for Florida’s August primary has already passed, residents have until Oct. 5 to register for the presidential election on Nov. 3. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, currently holds a 13-point lead over President Donald Trump in the state, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.
via: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lebron-james-florida-ex-felons-vote_n_5f1b2a0bc5b6296fbf42703f
Photo Credit: newsvoice.com