Alleged arsonist lit sleeping homeless man on fire, took pictures
GLENDALE, CA — A 32-year-old man allegedly intentionally lit the cardboard covering a sleeping homeless man on fire, police said Tuesday.
The homeless man woke up to the smell of smoke on Sept. 12 around 1:20 a.m., Glendale police said. He tried to douse the flames with a water bottle, but he was unsuccessful.
Later that day, detectives found video surveillance that shows a man starting the fire and taking pictures.
Police identified the man in the video as Richard Smallets. They arrested him on a charge of attempted murder.
Smallets remains in custody. His bail was set at $1,000,000.
Photo Credit: Glendale Police Department
Transgender man who gave birth loses court battle to be registered as child’s father
A transgender man who gave birth with the help of fertility treatment lost his legal fight to be registered as the child’s father, rather than the child’s mother, in the UK High Court on Wednesday.
Born female, Freddy McConnell transitioned to become a man and was legally recognized as male when he became pregnant in 2017, giving birth in 2018.
The 32-year-old took legal action after a registrar told him that UK law required people who give birth to be registered as mothers on birth certificates.
This establishes the first legal definition of the term “mother” in English common law.
In ruling with the government, Andrew McFarlane, the president of the High Court’s family division, deemed that being a “mother” referred to being pregnant and giving birth, regardless of whether that person, in law, was a man or a woman.
“There is a material difference between a person’s gender and their status as a parent,” McFarlane ruled.
“Being a ‘mother,’ whilst hitherto always associated with being female, is the status afforded to a person who undergoes the physical and biological process of carrying a pregnancy and giving birth.
“It is now medically and legally possible for an individual, whose gender is recognized in law as male, to become pregnant and give birth to their child. Whilst that person’s gender is ‘male,’ their parental status, which derives from their biological role in giving birth, is that of ‘mother.’”
McConnell, a multimedia journalist for UK newspaper The Guardian, started taking testosterone aged 25 and a year later had surgery to remove breast tissue. In 2016, he stopped taking testosterone and subsequently his menstrual cycle restarted before he became pregnant using sperm from a donor.
A feature-length film called “Seahorse,” documented McConnell’s journey.
On Twitter, McConnell said he would appeal. “I’m saddened by the court’s decision not to allow trans men to be recorded as father or parent on their children’s birth certificates,” he wrote.
“I fear this decision has distressing implications for many kinds of families. I will seek to appeal and give no more interviews at this stage.”
In praising McConnell, the judge said the case was an “important matter of public interest” and that there was a “pressing need” for the UK’s legislators to address “square-on” the status of a trans male who has become pregnant and given birth to a child.
Existing legislation and UK and European human rights case law, McFarlane said, did not directly engage with the central question.
McFarlane ruled: “The issue which has most properly and bravely been raised by the claimant in this claim is, at its core, a matter of public policy rather than law. It is an important matter of public interest and a proper cause for public debate.”
In July 2019, McFarlane had removed McConnell’s right to anonymity after UK media organizations successfully argued that the publicity surrounding McConnell’s film and the public interest in the question of how the state recognized parenthood meant his identity should be known.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
No charges against off-duty officer in deadly Costco shooting of mentally disabled, non-verbal man
California prosecutors won’t file charges against an off-duty officer who fatally shot a man inside a Costco store in Corona three months ago.
Following a grand jury decision that charges are not warranted, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said he will not file criminal charges against Salvador Sanchez, an off-duty Los Angeles police officer.
Kenneth French, described by a cousin as non-verbal, is believed to have struck Sanchez, who then fired 10 shots. Sanchez was shopping with his family on June 14 and holding his young child when the brief incident began.
French, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was unarmed.
French was hit three times in the back, and once in the shoulder, said Joe DelGiudice, chief of investigations for the district attorney’s office.
French’s parents, Russell and Paola French, were also wounded. Four seconds passed between the assault and the beginning of the shooting, DelGiudice added.
Hestrin showed surveillance video of the deadly encounter, which is somewhat difficult to discern, as the perspective is from across the warehouse store. At least two people can be seen in a scuffle and both drop to the ground.
Hestrin notes that French’s parents were uncooperative during the investigation and were heard from for the first time during the grand jury hearing.
“I am not condoning this shooting,” Hestrin said, but indicated that he would abide by the grand jury’s decision.
Salvador’s attorney said it appears the family will file a civil suit but they were happy there would be no criminal charges.
“Today is quite a victory for Sal,” Ira Salzman said. “This was a terrible tragedy. (Sanchez) was protecting his son, he thought he had been shot and felt like he had no other option.”
Salzman said Salvador is gratified the grand jury felt the same way when it rendered its decision Tuesday. When Salzman told his client about the grand jury decision, both men cried
CNN has reached out to attorneys for the French family but hasn’t received a response.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
A mother says a teacher cut off a chunk of a girl’s hair because she wouldn’t stop playing with it
A middle school teacher in New Hampshire cut off about three inches of a student’s hair after the student wouldn’t stop playing with it, the mother of the middle schooler says.
Jillian Miglionico’s daughter attends Somersworth Middle School. Miglionico says the teacher told her daughter to stop playing with her hair or he would cut her hair off, according to CNN affiliate WMUR.
CNN has called Miglionico but has not heard back.
“If you’re going to act like that with a middle school student, I don’t think that you should be able to be around and teach middle school students,” the mother told WMUR. “I don’t want this man around my child.”
CNN called the middle school, but the school was not making comments on the situation and could not confirm whether the teacher was back in the classroom.
Robert Gadomski, superintendent of the Somersworth/Rollinsford School Districts, said the district is aware of the situation and monitoring it.
“When it was reported to us we moved swiftly to address the situation,” he said in a statement. “We moved forward in two ways:
“First we made sure that supports were in place to ensure the safety and success of our students in the classroom and throughout the building.
“Secondly we handled the situation as a personnel issue using our district policies and procedures.”
CNN asked Gadomski whether the teacher was disciplined and whether the student is still in his class, and he did not respond.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Long Island teacher under investigation for asking students to joke about slavery
FREEPORT, Long Island — Poorly conceived and executed is what Freeport’s Superintendent of Schools had to say about a lesson plan from a J.W. Dodd Middle School social studies teacher.
Parents, on Tuesday, reacted to the news. The district confirming in a statement, that one of its own educators appeared to make light of a painful time in our country’s history. In a lesson surrounding the Reconstruction Era, the teacher told three separate classes to develop captions for these photos of African American slaves and to quote “make it funny” and quote “don’t bore me.”
“It’s unbelievable and a teacher like that should be fired,” said Michael Bailey, a parent at the school.
The superintendent said the teacher was removed from the classroom and issued an apology. That was not enough for some, but others came to the teacher’s defense.
“She’s a good teacher,” said Savana, one of Scully’s students. Both she and her mother feel this has been taken out of context.
“She didn’t mean it like that. Some people took offense and I knew how she meant it.”
Local pastor and community advocate Pastor Arthur Mackey is pushing further and said these types of lessons are becoming all too common. Earlier this year his focus on teachers in the Roosevelt school district posting images of nooses led to their ouster.
“We’re calling for this teacher’s license to be revoked by New York State. A strong message has to be sent because this is happening all across the nation,” said Mackey.
Photo Credit: yahoo.com
Boy, 13, dies over a week after being sucker-punched at California middle school
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. – A 13-year-old boy has died nearly 10 days after he was assaulted at a Southern California middle school, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Wednesday.
The boy, identified by officials only as Diego, was sucker punched during a caught-on-video attack Sept. 16 at Landmark Middle School in Moreno Valley, according to KTLA.
He was hospitalized in critical but stable condition, but “was pronounced clinically dead last night as a result of injuries sustained in the attack,” officials said in a Facebook post.
Two boys, also 13, have been arrested in connection with the assault, which was caught on video and created an uproar in the community. The boys remain in custody in juvenile hall and are facing prosecution, officials said.
“Rigorous medical intervention and treatment efforts at an area hospital were unsuccessful,” sheriff’s officials said in the Facebook page announcing the victim’s death. “The Sheriff’s Department joins the community in mourning the loss of this young man.”
Deputies were called to a fight involving students on the campus about 1:10 p.m. the afternoon of the incident.
Cellphone video that circulated on social media showed Diego being hit in the face by one boy, then sucker-punched on the side of his head by another. The second punch caused him to fall and hit his head against a pillar.
The boy who hit Diego first then hurries over to punch him again while he’s on the ground, the video shows. That boy then runs off and the video ends.
Diego was then rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Classmates told KTLA that Diego had been previously bullied, including on social media. They also indicated violence has been an ongoing problem at the school.
Two days after the attack, hundreds of parents turned out to a meeting with the Moreno Valley Unified School District and expressed anger and uneasiness over how officials handled bullying cases.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Mother allegedly left baby boy in stranger’s arms, said he ‘would be better off’
SCRANTON, Pa. – A woman accused of giving her baby away to a stranger on the street is cooperating with authorities in Scranton.
Police say the mother handed the child to a woman outside Royal Laundromat along the 1400 block of Mulberry Street on Tuesday, telling her the boy “would be better off” with someone else, then walked away.
Scranton police distributed a photo of the baby, believed to be between 12 and 15 months old, and managed to track down the mother.
Authorities say what the mother did does not constitute a crime.
WNEP reports that the mother told detectives she is homeless and struggling with mental illness. When she saw the other woman with three children at the laundromat, she told investigators she thought her boy would be safe with them.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean the mother’s a bad person,” said Royal customer Desean Walls. ” I mean it takes a lot to admit you need help, I just think she did it the wrong way.”
Police say the child, who appeared to be in good health, is now under the care of the Lackawanna County Office of Youth and Family Services.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Boy, 11, drives 3 hours to live with man he met on Snapchat, gets lost
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Police in South Carolina say an 11-year-old boy took his brother’s car and drove alone for three hours to meet someone he met on Snapchat.
Charleston Police spokesman Charles Francis says the boy pulled up to an officer around 12:30 a.m. Monday and said he was lost.
Francis says the boy told the officer he was heading to Charleston from 200 miles (320 kilometers) away in Simpsonville to live with a man he met on Snapchat. But the tablet computer lost the GPS signal and the man’s address and he couldn’t get it back because the Snapchat message had disappeared.
Francis said in a statement the officer called the boy’s father, who was in the process of reporting him missing.
Francis says the tablet computer is being analyzed as the investigation continues.
Photo Credit: Richard Drew
Mattel just launched a gender-inclusive doll line
(CNN) — Mattel is probably most known for its hyper-feminine Barbie dolls — but now, they’re making something a little bit different.
Mattel launched a line of gender-inclusive dolls Wednesday, called “Creatable World.” The line’s premise is all about customization — of hair, clothes and accessories — creating a toy that isn’t dictated by gender norms.
Some options are more feminine-presenting, while others are more masculine-presenting, which allows kids to combine the elements any way they want to, said Kim Culmone, senior vice president of Mattel Fashion Doll Design.
“We see this line as an opportunity for us to open up that dialogue around what dolls are for and who dolls are for,” Culmone said. “And also as the world begins the celebrate the positive impact of inclusivity, we absolutely fundamentally believed it was time to launch a doll line free of labels and free of rules for kids.”
The idea for the line comes from concern from both parents and children about the gender of toys, Mattel said in a statement. The line consists of six different doll kits, retailing for about $44 and available in a variety of skin tones. Each kit has one doll, two hairstyle options (one longer, one shorter) and varying clothes.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Woman allegedly drives off with NYPD officer’s arm stuck in window after Staten Island traffic stop
ARLINGTON, Staten Island — A 24-year-old woman allegedly closed her car window during a Staten Island traffic stop with an officer’s arm still inside and then drove off with the cop’s arm stuck in the window, police said Tuesday.
Alexandra Goode was stopped on Sept. 18 near Wemple Street and South Avenue just after midnight, officials said. She allegedly became combative, closed the driver’s side window on one of the officers’ arms and drove off.
The officer’s arm came free and he fell to the pavement, suffering contusions to his left wrist and left shoulder.
Police have asked for help finding Goode. She’s about 4 feet, 11 inches tall. Goode was last seen inside of a gray Jeep Patriot
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting http://www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Photo Credit: NYPD