Florida couple busted after child locked in feces-covered bedroom sets fire
A Florida couple was arrested for alleged child abuse after a kid in their home set a mattress on fire in an apparent desperate attempt to escape a locked, filthy bedroom, authorities said.
Parents Kelley Lynne Davis, 36, and Daniel Andrew Davis, 37, are facing aggravated child abuse charges after deputies responded Monday to a reported arson at their home in Spring Hill, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told reporters during a press conference Tuesday.
At the home they found a child under the age of 10 who had been living in a bedroom with two exterior locks, no electricity and feces and urine covering the floor, Nocco said.
“This is heartbreaking,” Nocco said. “This child was horribly treated out there. And so, you know, as a law enforcement officer, they say be tough, be strong, I’ll tell you, this is one of those cases that just hearing about it, it will keep me up.”
Nocco declined to release the victim’s age, gender or relationship to the couple, citing state privacy laws, the Tampa Bay Times reported. But deputies said the couple also has five daughters, none of whom were treated like the young victim.
The Davises allegedly admitted to investigators that they had kept the child locked away in the decrepit bedroom for up to 12 hours a day, as well as anytime the kid misbehaved, according to arrest reports cited by the newspaper.
Nocco said the youngster got a pack of matches from another child inside the home and started the blaze while living in a “room where no human being should live,” WFTS reported.
The room had just a blanket and a mattress inside, and the child didn’t have access to television and video games like the other children, Nocco said.
“We don’t treat the worst in our society like the way this child lived,” the sheriff said. “The pictures will never give them justice to the horrors and the blackening of the soul that this child had to live through.”
Nocco said investigators were looking into whether the child started the fire in order to get help from authorities, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“We don’t know that at this time, we’re still talking,” Nocco said. “But at the same, there was somebody in that home that cared. There was somebody that broke that Stockholm syndrome … and recognized they needed to do something.”
The couple’s daughters range in age from infancy to 10 years old and are now in the care of the state’s Department of Children and Families, a Pasco County sheriff’s spokeswoman told the Tampa Bay Times.
Deputies said all of children were homeschooled and rarely left the residence, WFTS reported.
Daniel Davis, allegedly admitted that the conditions the victim lived in were deplorable – not even suitable for the family’s pets, according to the station.
“He freely admitted that the dogs that in that home are in better living condition than the child victim,” Pasco County Det. Randall Jones told reporters.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/10/07/couple-busted-after-child-locked-in-feces-covered-bedroom-sets-fire/
Photo Credit: Pasco County Sheriff’s Office
Doctor, 28, who died from COVID-19 wore same mask for ‘weeks if not months’
A 28-year-old doctor who died fighting COVID-19 had been wearing the same mask at the Houston hospital where she worked for “weeks if not months” when she became infected with the illness, her family said.
Dr. Adeline Fagan, who was from Syracuse, started experiencing symptoms while doing a rotation in July treating coronavirus patients at HCA Houston Healthcare West, the Guardian reported.
It’s unclear how she became infected, but her family believes that her alleged lack of proper PPE likely played a role.
“Adeline had an N95 mask and had her name written on it,” her sister, Maureen Fagan, told the outlet.
“Adeline wore the same N95 for weeks and weeks, if not months and months.”
Adeline, who was a second-year OB-GYN resident, quarantined at home after testing positive for the virus, but her sister urged her to go to the hospital when she noticed her lips had turned blue.
For two weeks, the hospital attempted to treat her failing lungs with supplemental oxygen, the outlet reported.
But she was ultimately transferred to another hospital, where she was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, or ECMO.
Her family said she appeared to show improvement, but then they received the news last month that she had suffered a massive brain bleed and required emergency surgery.
“The doctor said they have seen this type of event in COVID patients that spend time on ECMO,” her family wrote on a GoFundMe page.
They said they were told there was a “1 in a million” chance of her making it through the procedure, which could result in severe cognitive and sensory problems if she survived.
“We spent the remaining minutes hugging, comforting, and talking to Adeline,” the family wrote. “And then the world stopped.”
A spokesperson for the hospital where she worked said colleagues were “heartbroken” by the doctor’s death.
But the facility’s chief medical officer, Dr. Emily Sedgwick, denied allegations that staffers are required to constantly reuse their PPE.
“Our protocol, based on CDC guidance, includes colleagues turning in their N95 masks at the conclusion of each shift, and receiving another mask at the beginning of their next shift,” she told the Guardian.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/10/07/doctor-who-died-from-covid-19-wore-same-mask-for-weeks-if-not-months/
Photo Credit: GoFundMe
Toddler dies in hot car after dad refused to let cops break window
A Las Vegas dad was arrested after he refused to break the window of his new car to save his dying toddler, authorities said.
Sidney Deal, 27, flagged down officers after he left his 1-year-old daughter, Sayah Deal, in a hot car Monday afternoon with the keys inside, the Las Vegas Sun reported.
The officers offered to break the window, call a tow truck or get a locksmith, but Deal declined and asked to call his brother, police said.
After several minutes, the officers smashed the window and pulled out the unresponsive girl, who died at the scene, police said.
The cause of death is pending, but authorities believe she had been trapped in the car for more than an hour.
Detectives interviewed Deal’s brother, who said he received a call from him saying he accidentally locked Sayah in the car, which he claimed had the air conditioning running, news station KVVU reported.
Deal’s brother told police he was confused by the call and quickly headed to his home.
When he got there, the brother immediately wrapped his shirt around his hand and offered to punch out the window, authorities said.
But Deal stopped him and claimed he didn’t have enough money to fix a broken window, the outlets reported. He instead dispatched his brother to call their mom to have her insurance company send a locksmith.
Deal’s girlfriend also told police she called the insurance company for him, but he told her to hang up when he didn’t agree with the price quoted for a tow truck, the Las Vegas Sun reported.
He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of child abuse or neglect causing substantial bodily harm, the outlet reported. He is being held on $20,000 bond.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/10/07/toddler-dies-in-hot-car-after-dad-refused-to-let-cops-break-window/
Photo Credit: facebook
Trump campaign invites 2Pac to VP debate in jab at Kamala Harris
The Trump campaign says it invited long-dead rapper Tupac Shakur to attend the Wednesday vice presidential debate — in a bid to troll Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris.
“I can confirm that we have left a ticket for Tupac Shakur, who as we know is Sen. Harris’ favorite rapper alive,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters on a conference call previewing the debate between Harris (D-Calif.) and Vice President Mike Pence.
“I don’t know if he shows up. I’m personally more of a Biggie fan if he’s still alive, but we will have a ticket waiting for Mr. Shakur,” Miller quipped, referring to Biggie Smalls, who, like Shakur was gunned down decades ago.
Shakur died at age 25 in 1996 days after a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. Some of his fans believe he secretly survived.
Harris was asked in a CNN interview last month who the “best rapper alive” is and replied “Tupac,” before adding, “Not alive, I know, I keep doing that.”
The invite for Shakur to attend the Salt Lake City debate also resurfaces an allegation that Harris, who graduated Howard University in 1986, lied in a radio interview about getting high in college while listening to Tupac and Snoop Dogg.
Critics claim she falsely said she smoked pot as an election ploy. Tupac released his first album in 1991. Snoop Dogg released his first album in 1993.
Harris defenders say she did not lie, but instead was saying which musicians she listened to while getting high, but not necessarily in college.
As district attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011, Harris oversaw 1,900 marijuana convictions, according to the Mercury News.
Miller told reporters Wednesday that Harris “was overly aggressive in prosecuting small minor offenses and it disproportionately impacted black men, in particular, but also then was soft when it came to more capital cases.”
The Trump-Pence campaign knocked Harris as “phony” in August in its initial ad attacking Biden’s running mate pick. Trump said in his first remarks on her candidacy, “Well, she lied. I mean, she said things that were untrue. She is a person that’s told many, many stories.”
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/10/07/trump-campaign-invites-tupac-to-vp-debate-in-jab-at-harris/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Trump says catching COVID-19 was a ‘blessing from God’
President Trump released a new video from the White House Wednesday in which he said that his contraction of COVID-19 was a “blessing from God,” and credited an experimental antibody treatment with his apparent recovery from the disease that has so far killed more then 211,000 Americans.
“I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it,” Trump said in a video filmed just outside the Oval Office on Wednesday, according to his chief of staff Mark Meadows, despite the president stating that he had returned form the hospital “a day ago,” rather than on Monday night.
Trump claimed credit for engineering his own cure by requesting the antibody therapy, which is still in trials and unavailable except on a very limited basis. “This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it. I heard about this drug. I said, ‘Let me take it.’ It was my suggestion, I said, ‘Let me take it,’ and it was incredible the way it worked, incredible.”
While hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center, Trump began a course of an experimental antibody cocktail manufactured by Regeneron last Saturday. The president had been admitted to the hospital after experiencing multiple drops in his blood oxygen level on Friday, the day after he said he first tested positive for COVID-19. Not approved by the FDA for use for COVID-19 patients, the drug costs over $100,000 per year for patients who take it to fight cancer and blood disorders.
“I spent four days there,” Trump said of Walter Reed, “and I went in, I wasn’t feeling so hot, and within a very short period of time they gave me Regeneron, it’s called Regeneron, and other things too, but I think this was the key but they gave me Regeneron and it was like unbelievable.”
Without specifying how he would go about it, Trump said he hoped to get the medication, as well as another made by pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly, approved by the FDA and provided free of charge to all hospitalized COVID-19 patients in America.
“We’re trying to get them on an emergency basis,” Trump said. “We’ve authorized it. I’ve authorized it and if you’re in the hospital and you’re feeling really bad, I think we’re going to work it so that you’re going to get them and you’re going to get them free.”
Echoing statements he has made since returning to the White House from Walter Reed, Trump assured the nation that the more than 7 million Americans infected with the virus could easily beat it.
“You’re going to get better. You’re going to get better really fast,” Trump said.
Trump likely remains infectious for COVID-19. The CDC states on its website that patients with mild to moderate cases of the disease remain contagious for at least 10 days, while those with more severe cases can still transmit it for up to 20 days.
Trump admitted that his goal of having a vaccine for COVID-19 in distribution by the Nov. 3 election was not achievable. He blamed “politics” for getting in the way.
“We’re going to have a great vaccine very, very shortly,” Trump said. “I think we should have it before the election but frankly the politics gets involved and that’s OK. They want to play their games. It’s going to be right after the election.”
The Food and Drug Administration informed drug manufacturers this week that they would need at least two months of follow-up data to show that their vaccines were safe for the general public. That timeline means that a vaccine will not be ready before Election Day.
Trump then took credit for the pace at which the vaccine has been developed, saying that his pressure on the FDA had made the difference.
“No president has ever pushed them like I pushed them,” Trump said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was asked by reporters in Wilmington, Del., to respond to Trump’s assertion that catching COVID-19 was a “blessing in disguise.” “I’m going to think before I speak. I think it’s a tragedy the president deals with COVID like it is something not to be worried about when already 210,000 people have died,” Biden responded.
Photo Credit: White House
Netflix indicted by Texas grand jury for ‘Cuties’ film
Netflix has been indicted on a criminal charge that alleges the streaming giant promotes “lewd visual material” of a child.
The lawsuit centers on the release of the French film “Cuties” that has been mired by controversy since its release last month.
A Tyler County, Texas grand jury moved to return an indictment against Netflix on Sept. 23, Fox News confirmed on Tuesday via court documents.
The complaint alleges Netflix “knowingly” promoted visual material which “depicts the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child who was younger than 18 years of age at the time the visual material was created, which appeals to the prurient interest in sex, and has no serious, literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
Netflix has previously defended the film in statements to Fox News, calling the project “a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up.”
The media giant doubled down on Tuesday. “Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children,” a spokesperson for Netflix told Fox News. “This charge is without merit and we stand by the film.”
Meanwhile, “Cuties” writer and director, French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré, also previously penned an op-ed for the Washington Post. In it, she wrote, “We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society.”
The film tells the coming-of-age story of an 11-year-old Senegalese girl as she discovers her maturing self, all while looking for acceptance in her religious family and group of young dancers she hopes to befriend.
The movie sparked backlash and even led to the hashtag #CancelNetflix trending on social media.
In a statement on Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin office’s Facebook page on Tuesday, Babin said that after watching the movie, he “knew there was probable cause to believe it was criminal.”
“The legislators of this state believe promoting certain lewd material of children has destructive consequences,” Babin continued. “If such material is distributed on a grand scale, isn’t the need to prosecute more, not less?”
He added: “A grand jury found probable cause for this felony, and my job is to uphold the laws of this State and see that justice is done.”
In a statement to Fox News last month, the Parents Television Council (PTC) called for President Trump and the Department of Justice to probe Netflix about “Cuties” and for its alleged “pattern of behavior.”
“We are ultimately asking the President to instruct the DOJ to investigate Netflix not just for this film, but for its pattern of behavior,” said Melissa Henson, program director of the Parents Television Council, a nonpartisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. “We hope to get Netflix to be more responsible and refrain from sexualizing kids for entertainment going forward.”
via: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/netflix-indicted-texas-grand-jury-cuties-film
Photo Credit: Netflix
Teen arrested at Florida school after refusing to wear mask
WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — The lawyer for the family of a 16-year-old boy who was arrested last month after refusing to wear a mask at a central Florida high school called the incident “government abuse” of a teen suffering from panic attacks.
The Winter Springs High School sophomore, whose name was redacted on the Sept. 17 report, was arrested after refusing to wear a mask and abide by other school rules, which violated a probation order that required him to maintain good behavior in school, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Jose Rivas, the family’s attorney, said the teenager’s prior record didn’t justify what he viewed as an uncalled-for action.
“Should they be arresting a 16-year-old child knowing he already has a medical condition?” he said.
In a statement, Rivas’ law firm called the arrest “government abuse” and added, “We will be seeking just and fair compensation for the illegal arrest … and the harm that this action caused him.”
The boy’s mother told the newspaper her son has an anxiety disorder. She said he was arrested after going to the school office to ask for water because he was feeling panicky and was having trouble breathing in the mask.
“I couldn’t grasp it at first. Because of a mask?” the newspaper quoted the mother as saying. “I was just in a disbelief.” The Associated Press isn’t identifying the mother to protect the student’s identity.
A report from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office states that the boy had been instructed to obey school rules as a condition of his probation. It did not say what he was on probation for. The report said that starting on Sept. 1 he refused to obey rules, including wearing a mask and social distancing, and that he received a warning. The report said he also was caught vaping in the cafeteria.
On Sept. 17, he was seen again not wearing a mask and refused to put one on. A deputy then arrested him and brought him to a juvenile detention center. The sheriff’s office told the newspaper the arrest was for probation violations, not violations of the school district’s mask rules.
By not wearing a mask, however, he was in violation of school rules. Masks are a requirement for students and staff on all Seminole County public school campuses during the coronavirus pandemic.
School Resource Deputy Adrian Richardson warned the teen that getting in trouble at school was a violation of his probation, the report said.
The student has not returned to the school. His mother said the family is moving and that he will complete an online education program.
“He just feels like they will target him again,” she said. “It’s really taken a toll on him.”
Photo Credit: kmov.com
White male New Hampshire professor allegedly posed as woman of color on Twitter
A white male professor from the University of New Hampshire has been booted from the classroom for posing as a “woman of color” — the latest in a growing trend of race fakers.
Craig Chapman allegedly secretly tweeted under the name The Science Femme and handle @piney_the to rail against the left, transgender and even people of color to his more than 13,000 followers.
In one post on June 30, The Science Femme, who purported to be a professor, tweeted, “I was successful in killing my dept’s woke statement on recent social unrest,” calling it “a toxic ideology that cannot be given an inch,” according to the student paper The New Hampshire.
The account boasted “removing all woke terminology from the statement including anti-racism, white supremacy, white privilege, and claims of systemic racism.”
The Science Femme’s account, as well as Chapman’s personal account, have since been deleted.
But screenshots show The Science Femme repeatedly responded “I’m a woman of color” in counter-arguments online — including in September, when one user accused The Science Femme of attacking people of color, the Daily Beast reported.
“You know I’m a woman of color, right? Racist,” the bogus account replied.
In other posts, The Science Femme claimed to be “an immigrant woman of color who grew up in poverty, sleeping on a dirt floor.”
The account also targeted real women working in science, users told the Daily Beast.
Chapman, who teaches chemistry at UNH, blew up his secret identity on Twitter — with a tweet about his brother’s brewery, Pinelands Brewing in New Jersey, which was posted on both The Science Femme and his own personal account.
He also posted the same photo of several coffeemakers on both accounts, with nearly the same caption, Twitter sleuths noticed.
UNH told the Daily Beast that it was probing the bizarre incident.
“UNH was recently made aware of allegations on social media about a member of its faculty,” a spokesperson told the outlet. “We are deeply troubled by what we’ve learned so far and immediately launched an investigation. The employee at the center of allegations on social media is on leave and not in the classroom. In order to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation the university is unable to comment further.”
Chapman did not return multiple requests for comment from the Daily Beast.
He is the latest in a series of white people — including academics — who have faked their race.
Last month, Black Lives Matter organizer Satchuel Cole, who is white, admitted she’d been pretending to be black for years and promised to seek help.
Jessica Krug, a George Washington University professor of African American studies, also recently confessed her whiteness — after posing as a black woman for years.
And CV Vitolo-Haddad, a grad student at the University of Wisconsin Madison, stepped down from her teaching position after it emerged that she falsely posed as black and Latino.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/10/06/white-male-new-hampshire-professor-allegedly-posed-as-woman-of-color/
Photo Credit: UNH
Playing ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat officially deemed a form of torture
Two former detention officers at an Oklahoma jail have been accused of subjecting inmates to “inhumane” punishment — by forcing them to listen to the song “Baby Shark” on repeat, authorities said.
An investigation found that at least four prisoners at the Oklahoma County jail were made to stand for hours with their hand cuffed behind their backs while the kids bop played on a loop at loud volume last November and December, The Oklahoman reported.
The ex-officers, Gregory Cornell Butler Jr., 21, and Christian Charles Miles, 21, were charged Monday with misdemeanor counts of cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy.
Miles allegedly confirmed that he and Butler “systematically worked together” and used an attorney visitation room at the jail “as a means to discipline inmates and teach them a lesson,” according to court documents obtained by the newspaper.
“Butler also confirmed that he used the booth as a means of punishment,” an investigator wrote in an affidavit filed in the case. “The playing of the music was said to be a joke between Miles and Butler.”
But the repetitive tune put “undue emotional stress on the inmates who were most likely already suffering from physical stressors,” the investigator wrote.
The pair resigned during an internal investigation, according to the report.
Their since-retired supervisor, 50-year-old Christopher Raymond Hendershott, was also charged for allegedly knowing about the rogue discipline and doing nothing to stop it.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said he would have filed felony charges if that had been an option.
“It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Prater said. “I would have preferred filing a felony on this behavior.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/10/06/playing-baby-shark-on-repeat-officially-deemed-a-form-of-torture/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Toddler Killed in His Mother’s Arms as Carjacker Steals Their Car in a Hospital Parking Lot
Zayden McLean would have been 2 years old next month
A Texas toddler was killed by a hit-and-run driver over the weekend.
Zayden McLean, who would have turned 2 next month, died when a man attempting to steal his mother’s car ran into both of them before driving off.
Bailey Bingham, Zayden’s mom, was reportedly meeting his dad Shea McLean in the parking lot of the Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, The Dallas Morning News reported, to exchange custody.
A man, later identified as alleged suspect Nico Lorenzo Dela-Fuente, interrupted the family and tried to steal Bingham’s vehicle, police told the outlet. McLean got into the car in an attempt to stop the car from being stolen and the pair struggled while the car was in reverse.
Fort Worth Police Officer Gezim Pollozani told Fox 4 News that Bingham was holding Zayden “in her arms as the vehicle was reversing and it struck the parent and the child, causing both the parent and the child to fall.”
“The suspect then put the vehicle in drive and ran over the child and crashed into a tree,” Pollozani said, according to the outlet.
Dela-Fuente was taken into custody, but needed hospitalization for his injuries.
Police told the Dallas Morning News that Dela-Fuente will be charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery. The murder charge is reportedly carrying a bail of $500,000 and the robbery charge is reportedly set with a $100,000 bail.
The Fort Worth Police Department could not immediately be reached by PEOPLE.
Zayden was reportedly taken to Cook Children’s Medical Center but did not survive his injuries.
Bingham suffered skull fractures, bleeding on the brain and road rash, according to Fox 4.
A GoFundMe campaign was created to raise money for funeral expenses and medical bills for Zayden’s family.
“Anyone who knew Zayden knew how much he was loved by his mother, Bailey Bingham, and father, Shea McLean,” the GoFundMe’s description states. “He was a child of love and spirit. Everyone who knew him loved him, and that love will continue to carry.”
As of Monday evening, the campaign had raised $15,585 of a $50,000 goal.
Vickie Bingham, Zayden’s grandmother, told Fox 4 News that the toddler was “an angel on Earth, and now he’s an angel in heaven.”
“It almost seems like Zayden was born, like he knew he didn’t have much time looking back. It’s almost like he was born knowing that he wasn’t going to have a long life,” she said. “There’s a song, ‘Live Like You’re Dying.’ And that’s what he did. He loved laughing. He played.”
“We just want prayers for our daughter and Zayden’s dad,” she added. “They saw a lot, and they need prayers. They need healing.”
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/toddler-killed-mothers-arms-carjacker-040626810.html
Photo Credit: GoFundMe