Two women arrested after baby reportedly found on floor of car covered in ants and wearing soiled diaper
LONDON, Ky. — Two women are behind bars after deputies said they found a 16-day-old baby on the floorboard of their car, covered in ants and wearing a soiled diaper.
According to a press release, deputies attempted to pull over the infant’s mother, Rebecca Jean Fultz, 32, and her grandmother, Charolette Simpson, 69, during a traffic stop Thursday. The pair kept driving and finally stopped about a quarter mile up the road.
Deputies then learned that both women had bench warrants and were immediately arrested.
The baby was taken to the hospital for dehydration and has since been released into the care of social services.
Fultz and Simpson are facing multiple charges including criminal abuse.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Social media rivalry between two Dallas rappers escalated into a shooting that left a 9-year-old girl dead days before school started
East Dallas resident Brandoniya Bennet was struck by a bullet in the head Wednesday as she sat on a couch after getting her nails done for the first day of school, CNN affiliate KTVT reported.
The suspect, Tyrese Simmons, 19, turned himself in Thursday and faces a capital murder charge, Dallas Police said in a statement.
Simmons allegedly went to an apartment complex to confront a rival rapper after the two exchanged disparaging comments about one another on social media, according to authorities. The other person did not come out of his apartment, so Simmons circled around to the back, police said.
Then Simmons opened fire, shooting at the wrong apartment and fatally wounding Brandoniya, police said.
“As adults, as parents as police officers, we’re supposed to make them safe, as community leaders, we’re supposed to make them safe,” Dallas Police Department Maj. Danny Williams told the affiliate. “She was sitting in her house, she felt safe … she was only 9-years-old.”
Simmons’ bail was set at $500,000. Information on his attorney was not immediately available.
Photo Credit: AP
Dad charged after 12-year-old girl drives SUV with 2 year old in the backseat, hits man and dog, killing them
(CNN/Meredith) — A 12-year-old girl hit a man and his dog with an SUV in Houston, killing them instantly, police said. Her father has been arrested and charged with criminal negligent homicide and endangering a child.
Tomas Mejia Tol’s daughter was driving the Ford Explorer around an apartment complex Thursday evening, police said in a statement. At the time, a 2-year-old was in the backseat of the vehicle, according to CNN affiliate KTRK-TV.
“The child (driver) began to pull forward from a parking space as a man was walking with his dogs through the parking lot,” police said. “When the child pressed the accelerator pedal, the Ford moved forward at a high rate of speed, struck the man, one of his dogs and then a tree.”
The man and one dog were pronounced dead at the scene and the girl’s father was detained.
Prosecutors said he told investigators he was the one driving, but they later found out it was the girl. Police did not release additional information on the victim, but said he was 46. Information on the suspect’s attorney was not immediately available.
Photo Credit: Houston Police Department
2 in custody after entering KC Walmart with guns
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV/KMOV) – Two men have been taken into custody after walking into a Kansas City Walmart with guns on Sunday, police said.
No shots were fired and there is no current threat. According to police, someone called around 12:15 p.m. and said two men were in the store carrying a rifle and a handgun.
They were both taken into custody with no incident less than 10 minutes later.
Officers are still investigating why the suspects went inside the store with guns.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Florida man arrested for dumping dirt on girlfriend with tractor
This fight got dirty.
A Florida man was busted for using a tractor to dump a mound of dirt on a car with his girlfriend inside, authorities there said.
Hunter Mills, 20, was charged Thursday with criminal mischief for his alleged actions behind the wheel of the tractor, according to Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said Mills asked his girlfriend to visit him at work Wednesday in Crestview to have a talk.
But the conversation turned ugly when the woman arrived in a white 2010 Cadillac owned by someone else, authorities said.
The sheriff’s office said Mills got behind the wheel of a front-end loader and dumped dirt on the sedan while its window was down.
Mills was booked into jail and released Thursday on $1,000 bond.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/18/florida-man-arrested-for-dumping-dirt-on-girlfriend-with-tractor/
Photo Credit: Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office
Texas mom put healthy son through 13 unnecessary surgeries
A Texas mom has admitted to subjecting her healthy son to unneeded medical procedures — including 13 major surgeries.
Kaylene Bowen, 35, began bringing her son, Christopher, to unnecessary doctors’ appointments when he was 11 days old, officials said. His care eventually included more than 320 hospital and doctors’ visits.
By the time he was 8 years old, the boy had undergone the more than a dozen major surgeries and was confined to a wheelchair, according to prosecutors.
Authorities allege that Bowen committed crimes that appeared to fit the description of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a disorder in which a caregiver lies or exaggerates a child’s medical symptoms to get attention.
Bowen pleaded guilty Thursday in a Dallas County court to recklessly causing injury to her son, who is now 10 years old, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. He is no longer in a wheelchair.
Over the years, Bowen had launched fundraisers for the Christopher, claiming that he was dying from a rare genetic disorder and had cancer, the newspaper reported.
A Texas mom has admitted to subjecting her healthy son to unneeded medical procedures — including 13 major surgeries.
Kaylene Bowen, 35, began bringing her son, Christopher, to unnecessary doctors’ appointments when he was 11 days old, officials said. His care eventually included more than 320 hospital and doctors’ visits.
By the time he was 8 years old, the boy had undergone the more than a dozen major surgeries and was confined to a wheelchair, according to prosecutors.
Authorities allege that Bowen committed crimes that appeared to fit the description of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a disorder in which a caregiver lies or exaggerates a child’s medical symptoms to get attention.
Bowen pleaded guilty Thursday in a Dallas County court to recklessly causing injury to her son, who is now 10 years old, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. He is no longer in a wheelchair.
Over the years, Bowen had launched fundraisers for the Christopher, claiming that he was dying from a rare genetic disorder and had cancer, the newspaper reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/18/texas-mom-put-healthy-son-through-13-unnecessary-surgeries/
Photo Credit: Dallas County Sheriff’s Office
Man tied 6-year-old to garage door with dog leash, beat him with hammer
SAN ANGELO, Texas — A Texas man was arrested Thursday after allegedly tying a child to a garage door with a dog leash and beating him with a hammer.
According to the San Angelo Standard-Times, a sheriff’s deputy was called to a home in San Angelo, Texas for a complaint of child abuse.
A woman told authorities her 6-year-old son had bruises on his body but wouldn’t tell her how he got his injuries.
The bruising was consistent with blunt force trauma, the deputy wrote in a report obtained by the newspaper.
The child reportedly told the deputy a relative had “tied him to a door with a dog leash” before walking away to go to the store. The boy added that he “could not breathe because the leash was tight.”
A witness told investigators that she had previously seen the child’s father hit him on the leg with a hammer.
On Thursday, deputies arrested Ronnie Shane Winans, 25, on suspicion of injuring a child with intent to commit bodily injury.
Authorities say they found a hammer that’s rubber handle was “consistent with the size and shape” of the bruises on the child’s legs while searching his home.
Winans reportedly told deputies during an interview that he tied the child to the door using a dog leash “in an attempt to keep him from leaving the corner.”
He denied causing the bruising on the child’s legs, but reportedly admitted to having thrown hangers at the boy in the past as “an attempt to get his attention, and not as punishment.”
He was released on $15,000 bond Friday.
If found guilty on third-degree felony charges of charges of injury to a child, elderly, or disabled person with intent to cause injury, Winans could spend up to 10 years in prison and face a possible fine of up to $10,000.
Photo Credit: San Angelo Sheriff’s Office
6 Teens Tried To Rob A House, Police Say. After The Homeowner Shot And Killed 1, The Others Were Charged With Murder
Police near Chicago say six teenagers were trying to break into a house when the elderly homeowner told them to leave and fired a gun after they refused.
The youngest of the group, 14, was shot and killed.
Now the other five, including four under 18, have been charged with first-degree murder as adults, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said in a statementon Facebook.
One is legally an adult, 18-year-old Diamond C. Davis, the sheriff’s statement says. Three are 17. One is 16. Authorities did not name the minors.
“Illinois law has long held felons accountable for any foreseeable deaths that occur during the commission or attempted commission of a ‘forcible felony.’ This includes the death of innocent bystanders in addition to the deaths of co-felons,” State Attorney Michael G. Nerheim said in his statement obtained by CNN on Thursday.
And the homeowner? “We are waiting for the completion of the investigation before making a final decision on charges surrounding the homeowner,” said Nerheim.
A Lake County Judge set bail at $1 million for each of the defendants, who are due back in court on September 5. The four juveniles will be housed at the Hulse Juvenile Detention Facility in Vernon Township, while Davis is held in the Lake County Jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office statement.
Moira Mercure, an attorney at Lake County Public Defender Office, represented the teens during their bond hearing. It is unknown whether she will continue to act as their lawyer, the State Attorney’s office said.
She could not be reached for comment.
How it happened
Nerheim said that on Tuesday at 1:15 am, the six teens awakened a 75-year-old resident of Lake County. The resident saw the headlights of the stolen Lexus they were driving in the area of his driveway. Grabbing his firearm, he left the house and went to the outside of his property, according to Nerheim.
Facing “multiple strangers,” he ordered them off his property, but they “continued to advance on him,” Nerheim said.
One stranger had something in his hand, the resident later explained, and believing himself in danger, the resident fired his gun several times, striking one of the defendants with a single bullet, the prosecutor said.
The teens all ran back to the stolen Lexus and drove away, Nerheim said.
The prosecutors said the teens stopped the car in Gurnee, a township within Lake County, and told a police officer they’d spotted that their friend had been shot. As the officer examined the injured teen, four of the suspects drove off in the stolen Lexus, while the fifth was taken into custody, according to Nerheim.
Reaching Chicago, they stopped only when they ran out of gas and then ran from the police officers who were chasing them, Nerheim said.
Taken into custody, some of the defendants, “most of whom have significant criminal histories,” stated they’d run because they “did not want to go back to jail,” according to Nerheim.
“When Lake County authorities responded to the scene of the shooting, they located the offenders’ hunting knife on the driveway,” noted Nerheim.
Rationale behind the law
Having planned to arm themselves and ignore the resident’s demand to leave his property, the defendants are responsible for placing their accomplice in danger, Nerheim said.
Police did not say additional weapons were found on the teens, though Nerheim stated the decision to bring a knife was “collective.”
“Had they not made the decisions they did make early Tuesday morning, this 14-year-old would still be alive today,” he said.
Nerheim explained the rationale behind the law that holds felons accountable for deaths that occur during their crime. When felons are armed, “the possibility of death or great harm increases dramatically,” Nerheim stated.
This greater risk of danger is what the law is attempting to deter, he said.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office is scheduling an autopsy for the boy who was killed, the sheriff’s office said.
Photo Credit: cnn.com
A Black Teen Ran Out With A $2 Beer. Then A Tennessee Store Clerk Followed Him And Shot Him Dead
A jury found a grocery clerk guilty of killing a 17-year-old boy who ran out of the store with a beer he didn’t pay for in Memphis, Tennessee, in a case that had sparked protests, authorities said.
Anwar Ghazali was convicted of second-degree murder after a four-day trial, Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich said Friday.
“This defendant took it upon himself to be the judge and jury and the executioner over a $2 beer,” prosecutor Lora Fowler said, according to CNN affiliate WMC.
The shooting happened in March 2018, after Dorian Harris walked out of the Top Stop Shop with a beer without paying, Weirich said.
Security video of the incident played in court shows that Ghazali, while behind the counter dealing with another customer, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Harris. He then ran outside to follow the teen and fired several times.
Afterward, he returned to the store and told a witness, “I think I shot him.” He did not call the police, and neither did any other customer inside the store, WMC reported.
Harris was shot at least three times and was left to bleed out, Fowler said. His body was found two days later in a yard near the store with gunshots in the back of his thigh, Weirich said.
Ghazali’s defense attorney, Blake Ballin, told CNN in an email that Ghazali maintains he acted recklessly that night but his intention was never to harm Harris.
He said they were pleased that the jury rejected the prosecution’s argument that this was a calculated and premeditated murder motivated by the theft of a beer. That would have come with a potential life sentence.
Ghazali is expected to be sentenced on September 23.
“At his sentencing hearing I expect him to express his heartfelt remorse and his hope that Mr. Harris’ family can forgive him and continue healing,” Ballin said.
Family mourns: ‘Why did this happen to my son?’
The shooting, which sparked protests outside the store, has similarities to other instances of black men shot and killed over otherwise minor incidents. Bernice King, daugher of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., linked his death to the broader issue of the value of African American lives known as the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Dear Memphis: I’m here in your city. #DorianHarris should be here, too,” she said on Twitter. “If we don’t value black lives and believe that Dorian’s life is worth far more than an allegedly stolen beer, then we’re not authentically honoring my father.”
Ballin said his defense team focused on the facts and not the emotion of the case.
“I understand why this case has caused public frustration because another African American kid has been needlessly killed. But decisions of guilt and innocence and questions of intent should not be based on emotion,” he said. “The defense team did our best to make sure that the jury rendered a verdict based on the facts of the case and not on the color of someone’s skin. That would just be another injustice.”
Harris’ family members mourned the young man after the killing and ahead of the trial.
“It shouldn’t have happened like that,” his grandmother Effie Fitch told WMC in April 2018. “He was a child and that was an adult. He ought to have more responsibility than that and he’s running a business.”
“Why did this happen to my son?” Harris’ father, Peete Hanson, said earlier this week. “Why was it that he was left there like that? Like he was nothing. Like he was a nobody.”
Photo Credit: cnn.com
She Wanted A Late-Night Hookup, But He Fell Asleep. So She Burned His House Down
WOODBURY, N.J. – A New Jersey woman is accused of torching a man’s house after he invited her over for late-night sex, then fell asleep and did not hear her at his door.
Taija Russell, 29, was arrested Tuesday in connection with a fire that destroyed a home earlier this month, said Woodbury police.
Police accuse Russell of sending a series of angry texts to the slumbering resident, then buying lighter fluid, matches and a lighter at a nearby gas station around 4 a.m. on Aug. 4.
She’s accused of setting a fire outside the sole doorway to the man’s home, then fleeing as the flames spread, according to a probable cause statement for her arrest.
The victim, whose name has not been released, awoke around 4:30 a.m. to find flames blocking the exit from his smoke-filled residence. He escaped by physically removing a window frame and climbing through the opening, police said.
The man, described as “covered head to toe in soot and ash” and wearing only a T-shirt, then ran around two-tenths of a mile to Woodbury’s police station.
He “frantically” announced that his residence was burning, then ran back to his home, says the probable cause statement.
The victim was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and first- and second-degree burns, according to police.
Firefighters from Woodbury and surrounding towns responded to the blaze, saving the man’s dog.
“The residence and its contents were completely destroyed,” says the probable cause statement, which notes the fire was determined to be an arson.
Police then learned of texts sent by Russell to the victim, which included “I see you wanna die” and “You wasted my money to come out here.”
The victim’s phone also showed eight missed calls, according to the probable cause statement.
The man told police he’d invited Russell to his home “and stated that she was a ‘side chick’ whom he had been having a sexual relationship with,” it adds.
Video surveillance showed the woman outside the man’s house “just prior to the fire” and making a purchase at a Conoco station on Mantua Pike, police said.
Russell is being held on charges of attempted murder, aggravated arson, endangering and criminal mischief.
The incident marked the second time this year a woman was accused of setting fire to a man’s home in Woodbury.
A city woman, 33-year-old Tasia Young, was charged with aggravated arson and other crimes in April.
According to police, Young confessed she engaged in a threesome at her boyfriend’s duplex, then became angry when he sent her home and the other woman stayed.
Police said Young also bought lighter fluid and matches at the same gas station.
Photo Credit: usatoday.com