A 2-year-old boy was shot in the head and left fighting for his life during an apparent road rage incident on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive on Tuesday.

The boy was in a car driven by his grandmother just north of Grant Park, when shots from another vehicle rang out around 11 a.m., WGN reported.

The toddler was hit in the head by a bullet, and was in grave condition, the station reported.

“At this time, it appears that they are completely unknown to each other and there was a dispute possibly over somebody not letting somebody into a lane of traffic,” said Commander Jake Alderden, according to the station.

The road rage incident escalated over a period of several blocks in one of the Windy City’s most scenic and busy areas, police reportedly said.

A driver, who was rear-ended as the mayhem unfolded, saw the aftermath of the attack.

“A lady appeared and I didn’t see where she came from but she had a baby and she was trying to get into the car next to me,” the unidentified witness told WGN. “She was saying that her baby had been shot.”

A gun was found in the grandmother’s car, but it is unclear if it was fired, the station said.

“Unbelievable,” the witness told the outlet. “These innocent people. Innocent people are just going about their day and something like this happens.”

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/06/toddler-shot-in-head-after-chicago-road-rage-attack/

Photo Credit: Chicago Tribune via AP

An elderly Nevada woman threatened to shoot her hubby — because he got the COVID-19 vaccine, according to authorities.

The 74-year-old Carson City woman was nabbed by cops around 5:50 p.m. Saturday after allegedly pointing a handgun at her husband, news outlet Carson Now reported, citing the local sheriff’s office.

The husband told officers his wife said she wanted to kill him for getting vaccinated, the site reported.

The woman told deputies she was opposed to the vaccine because of reported side affects.

When a deputy recited Miranda Rights to the woman, she allegedly told him “to shove it up his a–,’’ the outlet said.

Bail was set at $20,000.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/woman-threatens-to-shoot-husband-because-he-got-covid-vaccine/

Photo Credit: nypost.com

An Illinois high school teacher has been placed on leave for allegedly sharing a homemade sex video on Snapchat that several students viewed.

Moline High School principal Trista Sanders contacted police in November after she was tipped off that the teacher posted a video of herself having sex, according to the Quad-City Times.

Multiple students saw the video, which could be viewed by anyone who was friends with the teacher on the site, the news outlet reported.

A police report obtained by the Quad-City Times does not identify the teacher or the children involved in the case, which the State Attorney’s Office has closed with no charges filed.

But the teacher has been placed on leave as the district follows all administrative policies laid out by state law, school board president Sangeetha Rayapati said.

Screenshots of a group chat included with the police report show students discussing the video and debating whether to inform the teacher about the matter.

The teacher told investigators that a friend called, frantically urging her to delete the post.

She claimed not to have known what the friend was referring to, but checked her Snapchat account and took down the post without watching it, adding that she believed she might have been hacked.

Assistant State’s Attorney Heidi Weller wrote that investigators could not meet the burden of proof that the teacher knowingly or intentionally distributed the pornographic material.

She added that “there does not appear to be any intent to groom individual students.”

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/illinois-teacher-placed-on-leave-over-homemade-sex-video/

Photo Credit: Google Maps

Four California police officers “viciously beat” a black teen they pulled over for speeding, leaving him with a boot imprint on his face and a broken nose, a federal lawsuit claims.

Devin Carter was pulled over for speeding on Dec. 30 in Stockton, where footage released Saturday shows an unidentified officer forcibly pulling him out of his car, according to the lawsuit filed Friday.

“As Devin Carter laid on the [ground] in a fetal position, one officer viciously struck [him] in the face with his knee,” the complaint reads. “Officers’ body camera footage shows that multiple officers began to repeatedly punch, knee and kick Devin Carter in his face, neck and back as he laid in a fetal position screaming in agony.”

The footage shows Carter, 17, yelling that he was “not resisting” as Officers Michael Stiles, Daniel Valarde, Vincent Magana and Omar Villapudua pulled him from the car. The teen repeatedly screams in pain as one officer demanded that he “give him your hands,” the dramatic clip shows.

The lawsuit claims the teen had his hands “visibly raised” above the steering wheel while waiting to surrender before “things quickly turned violent,” leaving him with bruised eyes, scuff marks and a shoe or boot impression on the left side of his face.

“It was unnecessary for multiple officers to repeatedly punch, knee and kick Carter in the face, neck and back when Carter demonstrated no signs of resistance,” the filing claims.

Two of the officers involved in the incident, Stiles and Villapudua, have since been fired, according to an attorney for Carter’s family, John Burris.

Burris compared the teen’s December encounter with police to that of Rodney King, a black man who was beaten by Los Angeles police in March 1991, leading to riots when a jury acquitted four white officers who were caught on video footage.

“The officers’ conduct was so atrocious that they should be criminally prosecuted,” Burris said in a statement. “These vicious cops acted like a pack of wolves, and Devin was their evening meal.”

The teen’s mother, Jessica Carter, said seeing her helpless son on the footage has been her “worst nightmare.”

“No mother should see or hear her son beaten by police and helplessly crying from the pain,” Jessica Carter said in a statement.

All four officers remain under investigation by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, Burris said.

Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones has said two of the officers, Villapudua and Stiles, were “well outside” the bounds of department policy and training during the encounter. They were fired last week, CBS Sacramento reported.

“Our department has policies that state we should make attempts to avoid striking an arrestee around the head and neck are when possible,” Jones said in a statement. “Given this set of circumstances, I cannot and will not condone excessive force.”

Jones also noted the use of profanity by officers on the clip, saying it was “unwarranted” and unprofessional.

“Don’t f–king move,” one officer told Carter as he approached the teen’s car following a brief chase. “Don’t f–king move. Take your seatbelt off. Take your f–king seatbelt off!”

The other officers, Valarde and Magana, have been disciplined for their roles in the incident, Jones said.

In addition to his injuries, Carter, who booked on charges of evading and resisting arrest, “continues to suffer” from emotional distress following the incident, the lawsuit claims.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/cops-viciously-beat-black-teen-pulled-over-for-speeding-lawsuit/

Photo Credit Courtesy Law Offices of John Bur

(CNN)For the first few months of her life, Ayah Lundt was the picture of health.

Born in January last year at a whopping 8.3 pounds, the bubbly baby girl with dark curls and bright brown eyes hit all her developmental milestones.

By six months, she was crawling and trying new foods. Bananas and mushy broccoli were her favorites. Avocados, not so much.

Then at nine months, her progress suddenly reversed. She could not lift her head while lying down, sit on her own or clap — all things she’d excitedly done before. Her legs caved when she tried to crawl or stand. The key red flag came when she was unable to eat oatmeal with a spoon — something she’d done numerous times.

For a baby who loves her food, that was especially worrisome, her mother, Mary Mithika, told CNN by phone from their home in Bornholm, Denmark.Ayah was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disease foundin one in 10,000 children born worldwide. She’s now 14 months old and her parents are in a race against time to raise $2 million for a one-time, potentially life-saving treatment before she turns 2.

The treatment is called Zolgensma. At $2.1 million a dose, it’s referred to as the world’s most expensive drug.”I think about the cost every day, and it weighs me down,” Mithika said through tears before taking a break to compose herself. “And then I look at Ayah and see her getting worse. As a parent, what would you do if you knew there’s something out there that can save your child?”

The drug could keep Ayah breathing

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a progressive disease caused by a defective gene.

The disease kills nerve cells and causes infants’ muscles to waste away, which can lead to difficulty swallowing or breathing.

As their muscles deteriorate, infants suffering from SMA develop finger tremors and a curved spine. They cannot stand or walk unaided, and most don’t survive past early childhood due to respiratory failure.

Zolgensma, the gene therapy treatment, is not a guaranteed cure. Ayah’s mother says she will never walk again. But a one-time intravenous dose delivers a fully functional copy of the gene into the target nerve cells, altering the child’s biology and improving muscle movement and function.

The drug is not approved under universal health care in Denmark, the small Scandinavian nation of about 6 million people. So Ayah’s parents are raising money to get her treated in the United States, where Zolgensma was approved in 2019 for use on children under age 2.

They’ve started talks with Boston Children’s Hospital to get her treated there once they’ve raised enough money for the drug and the additional costs of tests and doctor visits in the US.

The race to get the funds has spanned continents. Mithika, Ayah’s mom, is from Kenya while her husband, Frank Lundt, is Danish. Friends and others from their respective homelands have helped by organizing fundraisers. But in a year marked by a pandemic and economic hardships, the family is struggling to meet their goal before Ayah turns 2.

As of late March they had only raised about $60,000.”We just want what every parent wants — the best for their child,” Lundt said. Ayah has one other sibling, Amira, who’s 2.”We were so excited about having another princess. She is perfect,” he added. “She has always been such a happy child, even now with all this going on.”

At first, her parents didn’t know much about the disease

Ayah’s parents recalled the day they found out she was suffering from a disease considered a leading genetic cause of death in infants and children.

After they noticed her growing struggle to accomplish everyday tasks she’d done before, they mentioned it to a nurse making monthly visits to their home to check on the newborn’s progress, a common practice in Denmark. She referred them to a doctor.

On November 27, Ayah was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 2, which develops in infants between 6 and 12 months. Her mother and father sat motionless as the doctor listed the symptoms and long-term effects of a disease they did not fully understand.

As soon as they got home, Mithika started crying while her husband turned to Google.”All we heard from the doctor was SMA, SMA,” she said. “We had so many questions. We went on the internet to find out how bad it was. We called doctors we knew. We just wanted to find out as much as we could.”A week later, Ayah’s doctor started her on medication approved in Denmark. But her parents said it hasn’t helped much.

The drug’s maker says its high cost is based on its value

Therehave been numerous cases of children showing immediate improvement after getting Zolgensma.”The potential for gene therapy products to change the lives of those patients who may have faced a terminal condition, or worse, death, provides hope for the future,” the FDA wrote in its approval letter. “

Children with SMA experience difficulty performing essential functions of life. Most children with this disease do not survive past early childhood.”But why is the drug so expensive?

Dave Lennon, president of Novartis Gene Therapies, the Illinois company which developed Zolgensma, says the treatment’s price is relative to the value it brings to the health care system — and the cost of long-term care for children with SMA.”Treating and caring for patients with SMA can cost up to …. $6 million in the first 10 years of a patient’s life,” he told CNN.

A family that raised $2 million for their baby’s life-saving medical treatment has received it for free

The therapy is approved for use in at least 35 countries. But in Denmark, the Danish Medicines Council is assessing whether its cost should be reimbursed under the country’s universal health care system.”

Zolgensma received conditional approval in the EU in May 2020 for specific patients with SMA,” Lennon said. “We are working closely with the Danish authorities as they assess whether Zolgensma should be reimbursed as a treatment for SMA.”Last year, Novartis launched a lottery-style program to provide the treatment for free to SMA patients under age 2. It has since allocated 100 free doses, and plans to provide a similar number worldwide this year. To prioritize those with the greatest need, the company says it excludes patients from countries — including those in the EU — where the drug is approved.

Because Ayah’s parents are not eligible for the lottery program, they are pinning their hopes on Denmark agreeing to cover the cost of Zolgensma — or raising the $2.1 million themselves.

Ayah’s family is trying everything they can

In the family home, a normal day starts with Ayah getting breathing treatments twice a day. Her parents use continuous positive airway pressure, known informally as a CPAP machine, as a preventative form of therapy on her lungs, her father said.

Ayah’s not a fan of the treatment. To calm her down, her mother softly sings “You Are My Sunshine” as she puts the breathing apparatus over her daughter’s nose and mouth.

To calm Ayah down during breathing treatments, her mother softly sings “You Are My Sunshine.”In the months since her diagnosis, Ayah’s symptoms have worsened, leaving her unable to sit on her own, lift her head while lying down or bear weight on her legs. She uses a small green wheelchair with straps to keep her safe.”

She gets frustrated she cannot move. When her older sister dances around her, she tries to join her from the wheelchair but she can’t,” Mithika said. “Every patient is different. But in just the last few weeks, she’s deteriorated so much.”

The setbacks haven’t sapped Lundt’s and Mithika’s determination to save their child. They’ve launched a social media campaign dubbed “Friends of Little Ayah,” where they share videos of her progress and urge their followers to tag anyone who can help donate via various platforms, such as this GoFundMe.

In the videos Ayah sits in her wheelchair, blows kisses and says “tak.” It’s Danish for “thanks.”

via: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/31/health/toddler-expensive-drug-zolgensma-wellness/index.html

Photo Credit: Charles Billie Njuguna