Protester featured in iconic Ferguson photo found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound
ST. LOUIS • Edward Crawford, the man featured in a Ferguson protest photograph throwing a tear gas canister back toward police, was found dead late Thursday, his father said. Police say it appears the death was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Crawford’s father, Edward Sr., confirmed his son’s death to the Post-Dispatch. He said his son’s mother called him and they went together to the morgue early Friday to identify their son’s body. Crawford Sr. was in tears Friday as he spoke with a reporter.
The medical examiner’s office says the death of Edward S. Crawford Jr. was reported as a suicide at 11:46 p.m. Thursday. However, the official cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy. The shooting was in the 1400 block of Salisbury Street, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of St. Louis.
Crawford lived in the 7000 block of Dover Court in University City.
According to a police summary, Crawford was in the back seat of a car heading east on Salisbury, approaching Blair Avenue near Hyde Park. Two women were in the car with him.
The women told police that Crawford had started talking about how distraught he was over “personal matters.” They heard him rummaging for something in the backseat, and the next thing they knew he shot himself in the head.
Crawford’s father, 52, said he believed it was an accidental shooting, not intentional. “I don’t believe it was a suicide,” he said. He said investigators weren’t saying much to him yet. “They’re being hush-hush,” the father said.
The case is being handled by district detectives, not homicide investigators Edward Crawford found instant fame after coming forward as the man in the photograph of a protester lobbing a tear gas canister. Photo by Robert Cohen, [email protected]
Edward Crawford Sr. said he last saw his son two days ago; he was in good spirits, certainly not suicidal.
“He was wonderful, great, always in a good mood,” the father said. “He just got a new apartment and was training for a new job” at a Schnucks warehouse.
The younger Crawford, 27, was the father of four children. “He loved them to death,” Crawford Sr. said.
The incident was part of protests on Aug. 12-13, 2014, near Chambers Road. The photograph was part of the Post-Dispatch’s coverage that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography in 2015.
For many, the act summed up the anger directed at police after the shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown. It represented defiance against police aggression. Crawford told the Post-Dispatch that throwing the canister wasn’t an act of rebellion, but an instinct.
“I didn’t throw a burning can back at police,” Crawford told the newspaper in August 2015, after the county counselor’s office cited Crawford under two county ordinances for interfering with a police officer and assault. “I threw it out of the way of children.”
Crawford’s attorney, Jerryl Christmas, said he had a meeting with Crawford set for 4 p.m. Thursday to discuss plea negotiations on the pending charges of interfering with a police officer and assault stemming from August 2014 protests in Ferguson. But Crawford didn’t show.
The plea deal would have dropped Crawford’s charges in exchange for community service, Christmas said, but he said Crawford “was adamant that he was not guilty” and wanted a trial. Christmas said he had no indication that Crawford was suicidal and was “suspicious” about his death. “Edward was a very bright, energetic, young man and I think he had a wonderful future ahead of him,” Christmas said.
After learning of his death Friday morning, Missouri Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, reflected on social media:
“He is #Ferguson’s hero,” the senator wrote on her Twitter account. “For those of us tear-gassed, he was our local champion.” Chappelle-Nadal said she never met Crawford. But he became a symbol. “For him to throw it back, it was a rebellion … to say this is not right. We are gonna stand here and not be invisible.”
She said some people, locally and nationally, were living in desperate times with a feeling of hopelessness. She said the death was equally sad regardless of whether it was a suicide or an accident.
Christine Byers and Joel Currier of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.
Weatherman killed himself after he was reported for sex assault
A meteorologist in Maine who committed suicide last month was named Thursday in a sexual assault investigation — and would be charged if he were still alive, authorities announced.
Tom Johnston, who had been a meteorologist for WCSH since 2014, would face a felony charge of gross sexual assault in connection to a sexual assault that police say occurred on April 1 at a home in Newry and was reported the following morning from a hospital in Bridgton, the Morning Sentinel reported.
Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant told reporters during a press conference Thursday that Johnston, 46, was the only suspect in the assault and was identified by both a witness and the alleged victim, the newspaper reports.
Johnston, whose nickname was “TJ Thunder,” was reported missing April 3 by his girlfriend after he didn’t return home following an event at the Sunday River Ski Resort. Police found his body three days later in a wooded area in Auburn. The state medical examiner determined Johnston died of hypothermia from environmental exposure after cutting himself on both arms and losing consciousness.
Gallant told reporters he believes Johnston knew he was a suspect in the assault, adding that investigators had previously left messages for him were not unable to reach him.
The investigation is now closed since Johnston is dead. He is not believed to have been connected to any other crimes, Gallant said.
Local new reports speculated about Johnston’s involvement in an alleged assault days after his death, but Thursday’s news conference was the first time authorities confirmed that he was a suspect, the Bangor Daily News reports.
13-Year-Old Boy Accused of Fatally Stabbing His Mother in Garden Grove
A mother was found fatally stabbed outside her Garden Grove home, and her 13-year-old son has been taken into custody in connection with the deadly incident, police said Thursday.
Officers responded to the 11000 block of Gilbert Street around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a report that a woman had been stabbed, according to a Garden Grove Police Department news release.
The victim, identified as 48-year-old Barbara Scheuer-Souzer, was found outside the home with multiple stab wounds to the stomach, the release stated.
Neighbor Lauren Gonzalez told KTLA she found the victim on the sidewalk and attempted to stop her bleeding before authorities arrived at the scene.
“Blood from, her waist down to her legs — blood,” she said. “I was kind of shocked like, ‘Oh my God, what happened,’ because I didn’t hear no noise.”
Scheuer-Souzer was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. She later died of her injuries.
The teen fled the home and was later found at a shopping center about a half-mile away from the home. He was taken into custody and booked at juvenile hall, according to the release.
Police identified the suspect as the victim’s son, but declined to release his name because of his age.
Officers had been called to the residence multiple times prior to the fatal stabbing, according to police Lt. William Allison, adding the teen had a record.
A motive for the stabbing was not immediately known.
No additional information has been released.
Female Science Teacher, 26, Arrested For ‘Showing Her Genitals’ to a 13 Year Old Boy
A 26-year-old middle-school teacher in Arizona has been arrested for sexual exploitation of a 13-year-old male student after admitting to sending sexually explicit videos to the boy and performing sexual acts in person.
Her LinkedIn account also claims she is currently a driver for ride-sharing taxi company Uber and has worked extensively in other schools in Arizona.
The local police department said she was arrested on suspicion of furnishing “harmful items” to a minor, indecent exposure and luring a minor for sexual exploitation.
It’s unclear what these “harmful items” are. Police say the teacher confessed to the police that she showed her genitalia to the 13-year-old boy while they were video chatting. She also allowed the child to touch and kiss her breasts when they met in person. Loofboroug reportedly admitted to police she was aware that the boy was only 13 years old.
“She admitted to showing her genitalia to a child while video chatting,” police said.
The police was alerted about a possible crime after the father of the boy called the police, concerned about the conversations his son had with the teacher.
The Tempe Elementary School District sent out a letter to parents on Friday, April 21, a local NBC station reported.
In the letter, the district claims Loofborough had been a seventh-grade teacher since August of 2016, but hasn’t been on the school’s campus since March 15. The district said the teacher submitted her resignation for “personal reasons” on March 30 – effective for May 1.
“At the time she was hired, she had no criminal history reported based on the District’s fingerprint and record check with the Arizona Department of Public Safety and her background check by the District revealed no adverse findings,” the letter reads.
Woman dies after man fondles, punches her
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Authorities say a man fatally punched a woman who tried to prevent him from re-entering a bar where he had fondled her against her will.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports 35-year-old Michael Lamothe was arrested on aggravated battery charges after the incident at Oyster Bay pub in Daytona Beach early Sunday. The charge was upgraded to manslaughter after 54-year-old Debra Jost died.
The newspaper says police found Jost on the floor with a cut to the back of her head and blood coming from her nose and mouth.
Witnesses told investigators Lamothe walked up behind her, hugged her and grabbed her breasts. He left the bar and Jost tried to close the door when he attempted to return.
Lamothe remains in jail without bond. Jail records don’t list an attorney.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/02/woman-dies-after-man-fondles-punches-her-cops/
Jail staffers could face charges in dehydration death of inmate
Seven staffers from a Milwaukee County jail run by outspoken sheriff David Clarke could face criminal charges in the dehydration death of an inmate who was left without water for seven days.
A jury on Monday determined that they had found probable cause for “abuse of a resident of a penal facility” in the death of the 38-year-old inmate and recommended criminal charges.
Clarke, who is one of President Trump’s most vocal supporters, regularly appears on cable news where he advocates for strict law enforcement policies.
The jury’s recommendation came after a six-day inquest that included testimony from jail staff and evidence from county prosecutors.
The inmate, Terrill Thomas, suffered from bipolar disorder and was denied water as a form of punishment. He died in his cell last year.
The Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel reported that an inmate in the cell across from Thomas pleaded with guards to turn the water back on.
“I could tell he was getting weaker,” Marcus Berry told the paper. “One day he just lay down, dehydrated and hungry.”
On Monday, the six-person jury returned its recommendation just a few hours after morning testimony that the sheriff’s office continued using water deprivation as a form of punishment even after Thomas’ death.
“This isn’t the first time this happened. This is a pattern,” Assistant District Attorney Kurt Bentley said.
Sheriff Clarke was not targeted and has declined to comment on Thomas’ death but has alluded to the man’s criminal record in the past.
“Is this the guy who was in custody for shooting up the Potawatomi Casino causing one man to be hit by gunfire while in possession of a firearm by a career convicted felon?” Clarke said in a statement last month.
“The media never reports that in stories about him. If that is him, then at least I know who you are talking about.”
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said he had no timeline to decide, and that he could charge more people — or fewer.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/01/jail-staffers-could-face-charges-in-dehydration-death-of-inmate/
Students arrested for catfishing teacher to get nude photos
Two North Carolina teens are facing charges after they catfished their French teacher and then shared nude photos of him, officials said.
Brian Joshua Anderson and Brittney Rennee Luckenbaugh, both 16, were charged with misdemeanor disclosure of private images, according to the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers said the teens used a fake social media account to contact David Laughinghouse, a French teacher at Swansboro High School in North Carolina.
The teens obtained X-rated photos of the 51-year-old teacher, which they shared with other students at school, according to news station WNCN.
They were taken into custody last week and each released on $5,000 bail.
“This investigation remains an active one and we are potentially looking for other incidents of catfishing,” Sheriff Hans Miller told the Jacksonville Daily News. Anderson and Luckenbaugh are both scheduled to appear June 15 in Onslow County District Court.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/01/students-arrested-for-catfishing-teacher-to-get-nude-photos/
MONTANA WOMAN USED METH AS TODDLER LAY DYING, PROSECUTORS SAY
A Montana woman abused a 13-month-old girl in her care, used methamphetamine while the child was unconscious and when the girl stopped breathing, put her body in a duffel bag and threw it in a trash can before going home to sleep, federal prosecutors said.
Janelle Red Dog, 43, of Poplar, has reached an agreement to plead guilty to second-degree murder in the April 2016 death of Kenzley Olson on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, home to about 10,000 members of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes in northeastern Montana.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris has set a change-of-plea hearing for May 1 in Great Falls.
Prosecutors were prepared to show that Kenzley was ill and Red Dog was frustrated because she could not get the girl to stop crying, according to an offer of proof filed Thursday. She hit the girl on the head four times, causing her to have a seizure and lose consciousness, court records said.
Red Dog did not seek medical help for Kenzley and instead used meth with a friend. Sometime early the next morning, she decided to take the girl to the hospital. Red Dog said the girl stopped breathing on the way.
“Red Dog, believing (Kenzley) to be dead, disposed of her body by placing her into a duffel bag and throwing the duffel bag in an alley trash can,” prosecutors said.
Kenzley died of multiple blunt force injuries, but an exam also noted numerous bruises from head to toe in various stages of healing, suggesting a pattern of continued physical abuse and neglect, an autopsy found.
“It could also not be determined if (Kenzley) was deceased at the time she was placed in the duffel bag, so asphyxia or cold exposure could not be ruled out as contributed to her death,” court records said. Kenzley had the flu and was in the beginning stages of pneumonia, the autopsy found.
Red Dog initially reported Kenzley missing on April 19, 2016, and suggested she may have been kidnapped.
Kenzley’s death came just weeks after John Lieba II abducted a 4-year-old girl from a park in the reservation town of Wolf Point and sexually assaulted her before trying to kill her. The girl was found several days later. Lieba was convicted earlier this month of kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 3.
The day after making the report, Red Dog confessed and led investigators to the girl’s body.
Red Dog had been caring for Kenzley for three to four weeks prior to her death, court records said. Tribal Chairman Floyd Azure has said Kenzley’s mother was being held in the tribal jail at the time.
Red Dog’s mother, Rhea Starr, said her daughter was caring for Kenzley when no one else would.
“That baby was passed along like yesterday’s gossip,” Starr told The Associated Press last year.
Azure has said both cases show the impact of meth on the reservation. On Friday, Azure said drug use is still an issue on the reservation, but his department does not have the money and personnel to adequately address it.
via: http://abc7chicago.com/news/prosecutors-woman-used-meth-as-toddler-lay-dying/1938129/
Louisiana Teacher Bullied 11-Year-Old Girl, Allegedly Told Her to Kill Herself
The 11-year-old girl was relentlessly bullied. And the culprit, police say, were her teachers.
One of them told the girl to “go kill herself” and threatened to fail other students if they didn’t fight the girl, police said. And when that teacher was removed from the classroom, a second teacher allegedly kept up the abuse.
The two Louisiana teachers, Ann Marie Shelvin and Tracy Gallow, now face criminal charges.
Forced fights
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said he learned of the accusations back in February after the girl’s mother filed a complaint. The mother returned to the sheriff’s office in April to say the abuse was continuing.
Deputies said Shelvin, a teacher at Washington Elementary, threatened to fail three of her students if they didn’t fight the girl. She also allegedly told the bullied girl to “go and kill herself.”
In a police report obtained by CNN, a student involved in the incident told deputies that Shelvin forced her to start a fight that resulted in several students sent to the principal’s office.
The student said she was told if she didn’t fight the girl, Shelvin would refuse to help her with her class work just like she refuses to help the 11-year-old, the report said.
The student told deputies she was scared she’d be treated like the bullied girl if she didn’t comply.
Caught on camera
Shelvin was eventually removed from the school and Gallow, a former teacher’s aide, took over her class.
The girl’s mother told police that Gallow retaliated against the girl for reporting Shelvin to the principal.
School surveillance cameras caught Gallow pushing the girl onto the school bleachers on two occasions, the sheriff’s office said. When questioned by police, Gallow admitted pushing the student because she felt the girl was too upset to go start her testing.
A school board official, Anthony Stanberry told CNN affiliate KLFY is disturbed by the news and is promising swift action.
“As a St. Landry Parish school board member, St. Landry Parish is not going to tolerate it,” Anthony Stanberry, an official, told KLFY.
Whatever actions needs to be taken care of to handle the situation is what we plan to do.”
The school district said it is investigating the allegations.
“We want to assure the school community that we take these allegations very seriously and we are doing everything to protect the health, safety and welfare of our students,” St. Landry Parish School Board supervisor of personnel Matthew Scroggins said.
Sheriff Guidroz says the mother did the right thing by reporting the bullying to the school board.
“Students should not have to attend school and be bullied especially by teachers that are there for their education, guidance and safety,” he said.
The teachers are charged with malfeasance in office, intimidation and interference in school operations.
On his birthday, his 13-year-old sister hugged him. Then he shot her in the head
On Martaevious Santiago’s 17th birthday, he shot his 13-year-old sister in the back of the head.
She had just hugged him in the kitchen of the family’s Florida City home, police said. As they separated and Tedra King walked away, Martaevious pointed a loaded semiautomatic handgun at her. Then he pulled the trigger and killed her.
Martaevious told police it was an accident.
The shooting happened Tuesday night inside a modest Florida City subdivision called Washington Park. Outside the home on Wednesday, shocked family members — some on the way to identify the young girl’s body at the morgue — demanded privacy.
Martaevious, whose life has been marred by gun violence and who was featured as part of a series of stories earlier this year on youth surviving gun violence by Miami Herald news partner WLRN, called police after the shooting and said he had accidentally shot his sister.
Police charged him with aggravated manslaughter of a child and possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony. The charge does not assume intent, police said.
Martaevious said he got the gun, a semiautomatic handgun, from a 14-year-old friend whom police did not name, but who was also arrested for an unrelated outstanding warrant. It was unclear Wednesday exactly who was in the home just after 8 p.m. when Tedra was shot other than Martaevious and his friend.
His stepfather, Vernon Williams, said he was at home during the shooting and so was Tedra’s mother, Lakesha Bess, who held her daughter after she was shot. Williams told WPLG-Channel 10 that Martaevious said he had made a terrible mistake.
“ ‘I’m sorry, it was an accident,’ ” Williams said Martaevious told him. “ ‘I’m sorry, Dad.’ ”
The WLRN story, which ran in February, explained how a week before last Christmas, Martaevious was in a car in front of his home when gunfire broke out. He was shot in the leg. His friend was shot in the head and survived. Earlier last year, Martaevious’ younger brother Martwan Santiago, 15, was shot four times while playing outside his apartment.
The bullet that hit Martwan’s spine left him paralyzed from the waist down.
“I never knew how he was feeling until I got shot. Now, I feel the pain,” Martaevious told WLRN in February. “Hang around the wrong crowd of people, this is what happens.”
Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez, whose department has dealt with a series of juvenile shooting deaths over the past few years, said he was saddened that another child was lost to gunfire.
“This is what happens when guns get into the hands of youth,” he said.
Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Albert Carvalho, who has been outspoken about the pace of youth violence in South Florida, took to Twitter yet again to voice his outrage.
“Criminally or accidentally, the carnage continues. A 13-year old middle schooler is latest victim of heartbreaking, reckless gun violence,” the superintendent said.
Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace said he visited with the family Tuesday night. He said police believe the gun that ended Tedra’s life was obtained in an earlier burglary. The mayor said he understands people get guns for protection, but at least in Florida City, far too often the weapons only cause unintended tragedy.
“I find this to be far more prevalent than people protecting their castles,” the mayor said.
The shooting rekindled memories of a tragic incident a dozen years ago that took the life of a 3-year-old girl in nearby Homestead nicknamed Shae Shae. The 5-year-old brother of Shae Shae, whose real name was Literica Dyshae Treniece Davis, found a loaded gun in a toy box and fired it at his sister.
She died instantly. After the shooting, Shae Shae’s brother asked his mother: “Can she be fixed?”
With family keeping tight-lipped Tuesday, little information about Tedra was available. The little girl known as Rosie to many family members and friends attended Homestead Middle School, and was part of an extended family of nine brothers and sisters.
A woman who shares Tedra’s last name, Tamera King Cameron, posted a couple of pictures of Tedra on Facebook. In one picture she’s wearing a blue shirt while being hugged from behind.
“RIP Tedra King memories is all we have,” she wrote on the post. In another picture Tedra is seen seated at a restaurant holding a wad of money close to her face.
Florida City neighbor Abbie Young said she heard gunfire Tuesday night, then “running, crying and hollering.” She said Tedra, who lived in the home next door, was always unfailingly polite to her and addressed her formally.
“She was always Miss this, Miss that,” Young said. “She never disrespected me.”
The day she was killed, Tedra and a group of her seventh-grade friends were discussing what they would wear for the middle school prom — still more than a year away. Her 12-year-old friend Josie Joseph said Tedra knew she wanted a purple dress.
Josie, a boy who lives down the street, said he heard the gunshot. The preteen said he has known Tedra since elementary school and they loved rapper Kodak Black and telling jokes.
“Her brother was just playing. He wasn’t supposed to be playing like that,” Josie said. “I was supposed to have class with her today. Now I can’t talk to her anymore.”
via: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article147068834.html