Shocking video shows school bus attendant assaulting special needs child on NYC school bus
BROOKLYN — The parents of a developmentally disabled girl say they were shocked by a video that appears to show a bus attendant assaulting their daughter.
India Knox is 13-years-old but her parents say she has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old. India rides the bus from her home in Brooklyn to a school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side everyday. Her parents say on Oct. 30, a paraprofessional on the school bus sent India’s parents a video.
India’s mom Alex Knox said her first reaction was “who is this monster attacking my child?”
“Since then she’s been traumatized,” India’s father Shaheen Knox said. “She has difficulty sleeping, she has been screaming out at night, she has been vomiting up her food.”
A bus attendant is seen on the video holding India by the hood of her jacket, shaking her and pressing her face into the seat. The other bus staffer who recorded the video alerted school officials and called India’s parents.
Police say the bus attendant is Beleck Valmont. He was arrested and charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
India’s parents retained attorney Sanford Rubenstein and have plans to sue Valmont, the bus company and the Department of Education
“We are seeking damages civilly,” Rubenstein explained. “But more importantly than that to this family is that by coming forward this does not happen to any other student.”
“The NYPD and SCI are investigating this deeply disturbing allegation, and the attendant was immediately suspended and the family was provided with a new bus route. Our students must be safe on our school buses, and anything less is unacceptable,” the DOE said in a statement.
Valmont was not home when PIX11 went to his home for a comment on the case. His attorney did not return PIX11’s email or phone call.
Father attempted to kill family by pouring hot oil on them, setting fire to Bronx home
WAKEFIELD, the Bronx — A man is in custody after police say he attempted to kill his entire family by pouring hot oil on them and setting their Bronx home on fire Friday morning.
The FDNY responded to the fast-moving fire at an apartment building near the intersection of East 236 Street and Furman Avenue just after 10:30 a.m.
When they arrived, they found several family members suffering from burns to their bodies, police said.
Police say the 41-year-old man got into a argument with his 19-year-old daughter and threw poured the hot oil on her. She was holding her 2-month-old son. Both sustained burns. The man also threw oil on his 18-year-old son.
The man then ran to another part of the fifth-floor apartment and threw hot oil on his mother, who is in her 60s, and his 87-year-old grandmother.
He set a couch to fire and used it to trap the family inside, police said.
His daughter, son and grandson were able to escape the fire and were rescued by neighbors who described their skin as burning off.
“[The baby] His back is burned from his neck, down,” one neighbor said through tears.
The man attempted to flee, but was taken down by neighbors and held until police arrive.
The mother and grandmother were rescued from the residence and all were transported to the hospital where they are in stable condition.
The man was taken into custody, police said.
The man’s son told PIX11’s Nicole Johnson that his father was down on his luck and could not find a job.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/09/mother-baby-burned-in-bronx-fire-suspect-in-custody/
Entire California Town Destroyed; Tens of Thousands Flee in Los Angeles, Ventura Counties
At a Glance
- Evacuations were ordered for Paradise, Pulga and Concow in Northern California due to the Camp Fire.
- Authorities confirmed several injuries and hundreds of structures destroyed in Butte County.
- In Southern California, several fires burned in Ventura and LA counties, prompting thousands of evacuations.
Fast-moving wildfires prompted tens of thousands of evacuations in both Northern and Southern California, including the entire beachside city of Malibu, sending residents fleeing for their lives on short notice.
The largest inferno, sparked Thursday morning in Northern California, prompted numerous evacuations, including several entire towns.
By late Thursday, it became apparent that Paradise, a town of 27,000 people north of Sacremento, had been devastated by the fire.
“Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed, it’s that kind of devastation,” said Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean late Thursday. “The wind that was predicted came and just wiped it out.”
At a Thursday evening news conference, Butte County Cal Fire Chief Darren Read said several hundred buildings, possibly as many as 1,000 or more, were destroyed in Paradise, though they won’t have a more exact number until they survey the damage. Another 15,000 remained threatened in the area, according to CalFire.
“The whole town’s on fire,” Paradise councilman Scott Lotter, who evacuated with his family, told the Sacramento Bee earlier Thursday. “It’s pretty grim.”
By Friday morning, the fire was encroaching on the nearby city of Chico, prompting new evacuations.
Capt. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said flames from the blaze had reached the eastern side of Chico, a city of more than 90,000 residents.
The small communities of Stirling City and Inskip, north of Paradise, were also evacuatedm Friday.
It’s unclear how many casualties there have been as a result of the fire, but CalFire confirmed that three firefighters have been injured.
Officials confirmed to the AP that some Paradise residents who attempted to escape the fire in their vehicles Thursday were forced to flee on foot – some holding pets and even babies in their grasp – as the flames drew closer. With few options out of Paradise, roads quickly became gridlocked, and abandoned cars left in the middle of the road only made problems worse.
“It is pure chaos up here,” CHP public information officer Ryan Lambert told the Los Angeles Times.
Fueled by dry, windy conditions, the Camp Fire quickly spread to more than 31 square miles within about 12 hours and forced the closure of several roads, according to Cal Fire. The fire is 0 percent contained and it’s not yet known what sparked it.
“Right now, Mother Nature is in charge,” Cal Fire spokesman Bryce Bennett told the Sacramento Bee.
Other towns being evacuated include Centerville and Butte Creek, northwest of Paradise. Evacuations were also ordered in the nearby hamlets of Pulga and Concow.
“It’s bad,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told the Chico Enterprise-Record. “We’re trying to get as many people out as quickly as possible and save as many lives as we can.”
In Concow, some residents, like Colton Percifield, were forced to drive through the flames and thick smoke just to survive.
“The hardest part was there was no visibility … it was pitch black,” he told The Weather Channel in a phone interview Thursday night. He also said many of the homes in his neighborhood were destroyed by the fire, but he was able to safely escape.
Read more via Weather.com
LaMelo Ball REACTS As Derrick Rose CUSSES OUT Lonzo Ball!
Video via The Fumble
Michelle Obama says she will ‘never forgive’ Trump for putting her ‘family’s safety at risk’
- In her coming book, “Becoming,” the former first lady Michelle Obama said she would “never forgive” Donald Trump for promoting the false birther conspiracy, according to excerpts published ahead of the book’s release.
- During the 2012 US presidential election, Trump advocated the racist conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not a US citizen and touted the demonstrably false claim that Obama’s birth certificate was not real.
- Michelle Obama reportedly called the conspiracy “crazy and mean-spirited” and said it endangered her family.
- “What if someone with an unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to Washington?” she wrote, according to The Washington Post. “What if that person went looking for our girls? Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family’s safety at risk.”
Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” lays out some of the former first lady’s most damning statements on record against President Donald Trump, according to excerpts published ahead of the book’s release next week.
In the book, Obama reportedly chastised Trump for promoting what she called the “dangerous” birther conspiracy that she said jeopardized her family’s safety.
“The whole [birther] thing was crazy and mean-spirited, of course, its underlying bigotry and xenophobia hardly concealed,” Obama wrote, according to a Washington Post review. “But it was also dangerous, deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks.”
For years, even prior to the 2012 US presidential election, Trump advocated the racist conspiracy theory that questioned the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and his citizenship.
Read more via BusinessInsider
13 dead including sheriff’s sergeant and suspect in shooting in Southern California bar
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Thirteen people including a sheriff’s deputy and the gunman were killed in a shooting in a crowded bar here late Wednesday night, reports CBS Los Angeles. The shooter was found dead inside, authorities said.
The station said one person was seen — apparently lifeless — on the ground outside the bar’s entrance.
Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters early Thursday his colleague died at a hospital. He was identified as Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, a 29-year veteran about a year from retiring.
His voice cracking, Dean described Helus as a friend. “I told his wife he died a hero — he went in to save lives,” Dean said. Helus is survived by a wife and son.
Dean said, “It’s a horrific scene in there. There’s blood everywhere.”
He said the gunman had apparently shot himself.
Dean added that the shooter’s motive wasn’t known and it wasn’t clear if it was a case of terrorism.
He said the only weapon found in an initial sweep was a handgun. Witnesses said the shots sounded like they were coming from a semi-automatic weapon.
In addition to those who died, injured or wounded patrons were brought to hospitals or went to them on their own.
Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Borderline Bar and Grill, some 40 miles west of L.A., at about 11:20 p.m.
Sheriff’s Capt. Garo Kuredjian said deputies could hear gunfire when they arrived.
Helus raced in and was shot numerous times, Dean said.
There were roughly 200 people in the bar for a popular weekly “College Country” night, authorities said.
The gunman threw smoke bombs when he entered, perhaps to cause confusion, CBS L.A. reported. But Dean said the bomb squad was called in and found no devices.
Witnesses told the station some people broke windows to get out or smashed windows so others could flee. Some terrified customers hid in bathrooms and attics, Dean said.
The father of one patron told CBS L.A. his daughter told him the gunman “knew what he was doing” and came in “with a purpose.”
A witness told the station, “There were people in the middle dancing and just hanging out and having a good time” when “very, very loud gunshots” rang out inside.
Numerous law enforcement agencies were on-scene, including the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Guard members were assisting, as well.
Patrons were seen being led out of the bar by deputies.
More on this developing story go to CBSN
Teacher commits suicide in classroom during school hours
A Texas middle school teacher committed suicide in his classroom Monday while school was in session, officials said.
A staff member at Wessendorff Middle School in Rosenberg found fine arts teacher Jordan Halane unconscious. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he later died, ABC reported.
The school district believes it was the teacher’s intent to harm himself, though they did not provide any details on his cause of death.
The district said students were not in danger and no weapons were found on the campus. They noted that Halane’s classroom was in a portion of the campus not directly accessible to students.
Following the tragic discovery, students were placed on hold in their classrooms. The school notified parents of the supposed suicide before notifying students.
“Our focus is always on the safety and well-being of our students. We felt that you should be aware of the situation in case your child comes home with questions or concerns,” the school’s principal, Sonya Sanzo, said in an email to parents.
The school said counselors would be available to speak with students or teachers throughout the week.
According to Halane’s Facebook page, he was married in 2016.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/07/teacher-commits-suicide-in-classroom-during-school-hours-officials/
Man crushed by trash compactor while trying to retrieve friend’s phone
DENVER, Colo. – A Denver man is lucky to be alive after a horrifying trash compactor accident over the weekend.
“It’s unimaginable what it must have been like for him,” said a friend of the victim.
Scott Walsh, 22 was trying to retrieve a friend’s cell phone that had fallen into a trash chute at the Griffis Union North Apartments near Union Station.
“And he was reaching down to get it for her and fell head first down the chute,” said Liz DiSalvo, Walsh’s friend.
Matt Johnson, one of Walsh’s friends who witnessed the accident, said they didn’t realize it was a garbage compactor at the bottom of the chute.
“When he fell down, it activated the compactor and he was in there, I would say, approximately five minutes,” DiSalvo said.
The weight-activated machine partially crushed Walsh’s head, torso and lower body, breaking both of his legs, fracturing his skull in two places and rupturing the arteries in his neck.
“I saw him come out of the trash compactor,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t a very good scene. He’s very lucky to be alive.”
Doctors say Walsh has no brain or spinal damage.
“It’s a miracle,” Johnson said.
Friends and colleagues at the pizza joint where Walsh works have now set-up this GoFundMe site.
“Because he would do the same for me,” DiSalvo said.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/07/man-crushed-by-trash-compactor-while-trying-to-retrieve-friends-phone/
Missing 15-year-old took $1K, left cellphone and note saying he didn’t want to be found
MOUNTAIN LAKES, N.J. – Authorities say a missing New Jersey boy took $1,000 out of his savings, a backpack and his bicycle before he disappeared the day before Halloween.
Thomas Kolding left his cellphone and wrote a note saying that he didn’t want anyone to try to find him, according to the Morristown Daily Record.
Kolding was last known to be at his family’s Mountain Lakes home Oct 30, according to a news release from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. Officials believe he took the train to New York City, but where he went after that is not known.
Investigators say Kolding had wanted to travel to California.
The boy’s father, Nicolai Kolding, told the paper he worries that a recent argument about grades might have pushed his son – a high school freshman taking honors courses in math and science – over the edge.
“He is a wonderful, resourceful, and far-too-adventurous young man who we are worried about beyond words,” his mother, Aleksandra Kolding wrote on Facebook. “Please keep spreading the word and tell all to look for a very LARGE BLACK BACKPACK he has on him – I think that’s the telltale sign for those that don’t recognize him.”
Now missing for a week, Nicolai Kolding told the Daily Record that his middle son hugs Thomas’ bed every morning and that they just want him home.
Kolding, who is 5-foot-3-inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds, was last seen wearing a camouflage jacket, gray winter skull cap and carrying a large black backpack.
Woman wakes up from back surgery to find her kidney had been removed
WELLINGTON, Fla. – Imagine going to the hospital to have back surgery, only to wake up and learn one of your major organs was mistakenly removed.
That nightmare was a reality for one West Palm Beach woman at Wellington Regional Medical Center, according to WPTV.
“It was an ordinary day,” described Maureen Pacheco, who was 51 when it happened back in April 2016.
Pacheco was suffering from back pains from a car accident and after a lengthy process and diagnosis from her doctors, she was checked into Wellington Regional to have back surgery to help with the pains.
“There was no red flags or anything,” she said of the day she went into the operating room.
But she ended up leaving the hospital without one of her healthy kidneys. One of the surgeons, Dr. Ramon Vazquez, mistook it for a cancerous tumor and removed it from her body without her consent.
“He just took my life and just dismissed it,” said Pacheco.
Pacheco recently settled in a lawsuit against her doctors — Dr. John Britt and Dr. Jeffrey Kugler — and Dr. Vazquez.
However, a complaint by the Florida Department of Health is still ongoing. Adding to the frustration, Pacheco says Dr. Vazquez wasn’t even her doctor — his job was just to cut her open so her physicians could perform the back surgery.
“If he would have looked at the MRIs that were given to him, he would’ve realized it,” she said.
According to the state’s health department website, Dr. Vazquez has an active medical license.
The site shows him practicing at with Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, and Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach.
“Physicians do get second chances,” said Pacheco’s attorney, Donald Ward III of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, PA in West Palm Beach.
“It’s unlikely that he would lose his license over something like this. What is most likely is that he would face a fine and possibly be required to do some continuing medical education so that he could learn not to make the same mistake in the future,” he added.
Ward said Dr. Vazquez would have to pay that fine out of pocket because he didn’t have malpractice insurance.
“What is not common is for you to meet that general surgeon the morning of and be told that if something were to happen to you, that general surgeon doesn’t carry any health insurance whatsoever,” he said.
Dr. Vazquez’s attorney, Mike Mittelmark, said his client settled the matter for a nominal amount due to the uncertainty of litigation. He added that in no way did Dr. Vazquez admit liability by agreeing to the settlement.
“I wish no ill will against him. Everyone is entitled to their livelihood but you should have consequences when gross mistakes and negligence are made,” said Pacheco. “I just wish that he learns a lesson from the consequences.”
Pacheco said no amount of money will fix the complications she faces for the rest of her life.
“It’s always in the back of my mind — lifelong kidney transplant or dialysis,” she said. “Now, I’m always fearful.”
Wellington Regional Medical Center issued this statement in response to WPTV’s request for comment:
Dr. Vazquez is not and has never been an employee of Wellington Regional Medical Center. Dr. Vazquez was an independent physician with medical staff privileges at Wellington Regional as well as other hospitals in Palm Beach County. Dr. Vazquez is no longer on the medical staff of Wellington Regional. Wellington Regional took all necessary and appropriate steps to review the circumstances of this most unfortunate incident. In the over 30 year history of Wellington Regional Medical Center, an incident of this nature has never occurred before or since.
Dr. Vazquez could not be reached for comment.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/07/woman-wakes-up-from-back-surgery-to-find-her-kidney-had-been-removed/