Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Quick-Thinking Good Samaritan Lays Gunman Flat for Cops to Pick Up

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The brave bystander was happy to lend a leg to trip up a gunman cops were pursuing

COLUMBUS, Ohio — That’s some fancy footwork.

A Good Samaritan is being credited by cops with helping take an armed gunman off the streets when he stuck his leg out and tripped up the crook as he fled from police.

The brave bystander, identified only as Bill, was standing outside a public library in Columbus, Ohio when the suspect darted by with cops giving hot pursuit.

“I figured OK, this is a chase,” Bill said of watching officers chasing the man and yelling, “Gun, gun, gun!”

“I saw who you guys were chasing and I could see he was holding something in his waistband but he had a pretty good lead,” Bill said. “So I got in his way to slow him down.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXK4Re7VS2Q

As the man passed, Bill craftily stuck out his leg, which sent the teenage suspect flying and allowed cops time to catch up.

Police said the teen was armed with a Glock 9mm pistol with an extended clip, which he dropped as he fell to the ground. The department thanked Bill “for sticking your leg out for us” and added that the move may have saved the 18-year-old’s life in the process.

“Community involvement, be it by courage, bravery and/or fancy footwork, helped take a criminal off the streets of Columbus,” said the Columbus police, according to WCMH-TV.

 

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Slain Baltimore Cop Died Just Before Testifying in Corruption Case Against Other Cops

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Sean Suiter was shot with his own gun last week

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore homicide detective who was gunned down last week, died just before he was set to give grand jury testimony in a corruption case against eight other officers, authorities said.

Sean Suiter was shot once in the head with his own gun on Nov. 15 after stopping a man acting suspiciously while he and his partner were conducting a follow-up investigation of an earlier triple homicide, police said. The shooter has not yet been identified.

Baltimore Police Chief Kevin Davis said there was no evidence to suggest that the killing was anything but random and that nothing had surfaced to connect Suiter’s death to the corruption case.

“The [Baltimore Police] and FBI do not possess any information that this incident is part of any conspiracy,” he said.

Davis also said that Suiter was no under investigation in the corruption probe and there was no evidence that he “was anything other than a stellar detective, great friend, loving husband and dedicated father.”

Eight officers of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force, which aims to get illegal guns off the streets, were indicted earlier this year on federal racketeering charges, alleging that they shook down ordinary citizens and conspired with drug dealers. Four have pleaded guilty and the others are scheduled to go on trial in January.

Davis said Suiter was scheduled to testify in the case related to an incident that occurred several years earlier, but would not elaborate.

 

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Mexican Cartel Hit Men Convicted in ‘Fast & Furious’ U.S. Agent Slay

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WASHINGTON — Two drug cartel hit men have been convicted of gunning down a U.S. immigration agent and wounding his partner in a roadside ambush in Mexico in 2011.

Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota, 35, known as “Safado,” and Jesus Ivan Quezada Piña, 29, known as “Loco,” were members of Los Zetas cartel hit squads and had been on a mission to steal cars the day of the shooting, prosecutors said.

On Feb. 15, 2011, the two men were among a group that spotted an armored Chevrolet Suburban bearing diplomatic plates driven by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila.

The agents were on their way to Mexico City on official business, when the cartel members opened fire with AK-47s and AR-15s on a busy highway south  of San Luis Potosi. Zapata, 32, was fatally shot, and Avila was wounded. Investigators later found approximately 90 shell casings at the scene, according to the trial evidence.

Five other cartel members have already pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy charges in the shooting. All are awaiting sentencing and face up to life in prison.

Slain ICE agent Jaime Zapata

A jury found Sota and Piña guilty on counts of murder, attempted murder and firearms charges. The judge scheduled a hearing for Aug. 29 to select a sentencing date in order to accommodate for when Avila and Zapata’s family would be able to attend. The hit men also face up to life in prison.

The gang members have said they believed the vehicle was being driven by members of a rival cartel, apparently not noticing the diplomatic plates. The shooting has proven to be exceedingly damaging to the Los Zetas cartel, leading to the arrest of over 100 of its top bosses.

Zapata’s family has filed a wrongful death suit against the U.S., alleging that ICE sent the men into Mexico with inadequate security, and that some of the weapons used in the shooting were trafficked by suspects under ATF surveillance, but who had not been arrested as part of the controversial “Operation Fast & Furious.”

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Hero Teddy Bear Saves 2-Year-Old Boy From Fall Out of Window

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This teddy was just cuddly enough to save the boy

CHELSEA, Massachusetts — Here’s a good reason to let a kid cling on to a favorite stuffed animal for just a bit longer.

A 2-year-old Massachusetts boy was miraculously saved from serious injury after tumbling out a second-storey window when his beloved stuffed cow broke his fall.

“God saved him,” the boy’s great uncle Luis Estrada told the Boston Globe. “The cow helped.”

Authorities say the boy, Luis Eduardo Gomez, was jumping up and down on a bed in a room on the second floor of the family house in Chelsea when an energetic bounce sent him flying out an open window.

But fortunately, the boy was clinging to his favorite stuffed animal, a 2 ½ foot long cow, which went tumbling with him and broke his fall.

All the boy suffered were a few bruises and scrapes from the 16-foot drop.

Estrada says he believes “God was watching over us.”

 

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Hero Driver Leaps into Action to Save Motorist Having Seizure

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DIXON, Illinois — A hero driver was caught on tape leaping into action to save a fellow motorist having a seizure behind the wheel from a nasty accident at a busy Illinois intersection.

Police say the terrifying episode unfolded late in the afternoon last Friday when the stricken driver ran a red light and began drifting into oncoming traffic in downtown Dixon.

That’s when Randy Tompkins, who was sitting behind the wheel of his pickup truck with his wife beside him in the opposite lane, sprang into action, with the whole thing being captured on the dashboard camera of a nearby police car.

 

At approximately 4:06 p.m. yesterday afternoon, one of our squad cars was on routine patrol approaching the intersection of 4th Avenue and North Galena Avenue.

Officers observed a blue passenger car traveling north on North Galena Avenue and had disobeyed the red traffic signal at that intersection. The car proceeded through the intersection, almost striking several vehicles. Our squad car activated its emergency lights in an attempt to conduct a traffic stop on the car. The car proceeded north at a low rate of speed and began traveling into the oncoming lanes of travel.

A truck, that was southbound in the 1300 block of North Galena Avenue, had to back up to avoid being struck by the car. The driver of the truck could see the driver of the car and observed that something looked medically wrong. The driver of the truck (later identified as Dixon resident Randy Tompkins) exited his vehicle, ran up to the car and without hesitation jumped into the car through the passenger side window in an attempt to stop it. Tompkins was able to get the car in park just as officers approached the vehicle as well. The driver of the vehicle was found to be having a seizure.

Tompkins and the two officers stood by until Dixon City Fire arrived and transported the driver to KSB Hospital. We want to thank Tompkins for his heroism and for coming to a complete stranger’s aid!
#DixonProud

Posted by Dixon, Illinois Police Department on Saturday, June 3, 2017

First, Tompkins backed his vehicle up and out of the way of the oncoming motorist and then raced out of his car and dove headlong through the passenger window of the sick driver’s car and pulled the parking brake.

“I saw him come out from behind the traffic, and he almost hit me in my lane,” the 39-year-old Tompkins told the Northwest Herald. “I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t realize he was having a seizure until he got to the intersection.”

The quick-thinking Tompkins said it all happened in a blur, but that he “just did what had to be done”.

“He was in danger himself, and he was a danger to others,” Tompkins said. “My adrenaline was pumping, and I just reacted.”

Police say the driver, who was described as a man in his 20s or 30s, had indeed had a seizure and was taken to a local hospital and later released.

“We want to thank Tompkins for his heroism and for coming to a complete stranger’s aid!” the Dixon Police wrote on Facebook.

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Girl Shot in Head and Left to Die Says: ‘I Am Tougher Than a Bullet’

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Deserae Turner miraculously survived being shot in the head

SALT LAKE CITY — A 14-year-old girl said “I am tougher than a bullet,” as she walked out of a Utah hospital nine weeks after being shot in the head and left in a ditch to die.

Deserae Turner was shot in February after being lured to canal in the town of Smithfield in northern Utah by two 16-year classmates with the promise of selling her a pocket knife. But instead, the boys shot her in the back of the head, stole her belongings and left her for dead.

She was found hours later by friend who had gone looking for her. She eventually identified her attackers after awaking following weeks in a medically-induced coma.

The two boys have been charged with attempted murder. Prosecutors are seeking to have them tried as adults and a decision on whether to move the case out of juvenile court is expected next month.

Wearing a white T-shirt with the word “Happy” scrawled on the front, the teen said Thursday that her clothing reflected how she felt: Happy to go home. Happy to soon see the horses that she loves. Happy to be alive.

“I am so thankful to be here today — to be alive,” Turner said at a news conference Thursday, ahead of her released from Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Wearing a T-shirt that read “Happy,” Turner said she still has a long way to go with her recovery from the shooting which left a piece of the bullet permanently lodged in her head.

“I told my dad that I am tougher than a bullet,” she said. “[The bullet] is still with me today. But I am here, and I get to go home today.”

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Hero K-9 Cop Scores Hat Trick, Nabbing Three Suspects in 90 Minutes

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Spencer made quick work of these three suspects

CLACKAMAS, Oregon — Give that dog a treat!

An extremely busy police dog is being credited with a high-speed hat trick — nabbing three separate suspects in the span of just 90 minutes, cops in Oregon say.

Spencer, a 9-year-old Dutch shepherd who works for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office began his eventful day around 10:20 a.m. Sunday morning when he tracked and captured stolen vehicle suspect Austin Kollas as he tried to get away from cops.

Just over an hour later, Spencer sprang into action again, tracking down parole violation suspect Timothy Elmore as he tried to hide from police inside a trailer.

And less than 10 minutes after that, Spencer played hero once again, chasing down Lonette Denison, who had warrants for her arrest on theft and drug charges and tried to get away from police by hiding in a thick holly bush.

“It’s a rare feat for a Sheriff’s Office K9 to get that number of captures in such a short time frame,” said Spencer’s veteran handler, Sgt. Don Boone. “For Spencer and I, that was a new record — three in 90 minutes.”

Spencer has been on the force for six years.

 

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Motorist Survives Miracle 210-Foot Leap Over Minnesota Lake

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This is where James Sundby’s car came to rest

ALEXANDRIA, Minnesota — A man miraculously survived when his car vaulted off an embankment over 210 feet of open water and landed safely on an ice floe on a lake in northern Minnesota.

Alexandria police say they aren’t sure exactly how James Sundby, 38, of Wadena, managed the spectacular crash early Saturday morning, but say they don’t believe drugs or alcohol were involved.

“That fact that guy is even alive is a miracle,” Police Chief Rick Wyffels told the Echo Press.

After landing safely, Sundby waded through the frigid water back to land and proceeded to knock on the doors of several lake houses trying to find someplace to warm up, cops said.

At one point, Sundby made his way into one home, where he took off his shoes and started watching TV.

“I was awoken by the bedroom light being turned on,” homeowner Andy Armstrong told the newspaper. “He was in my house and had been there some time. My TV was on and he’d flipped through the channels because it wasn’t on the same channel as when I went to bed. The living room lights were on, kitchen lights, bathroom lights, he even took his shoes off when he came in the house.”

Sundby was apologetic and then left, Armstrong.

Meanwhile, police had been called and told a man covered in blood had been pounding on people’s doors near Lake Lake L’Homme Dieu. They soon found Sundby back near the lake.

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Tourists Narrowly Avoid Being Crushed By Cruise Ship in Florida Harbor Mishap

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Police yanked the women to safety just moments before a giant cruise ship swept past

PORT CANAVERAL, Florida — A quick-thinking sheriff’s deputy swooped in and saved two jet-skiers from being crushed under a 130,000-ton cruise ship after they had capsized in its path.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s office said the two tourists on Spring Break from West Virginia, Skylar Penpasuglia, 19, and Allison Garrett, 20, were riding in Port Canaveral on Saturday when one of them fell into the water.

As she tried to climb back aboard the Jet Ski, it flipped over and as the two women frantically tried to right the water craft, the wind blew them out into the channel and into the path of an outgoing cruise ship, the Carnival Magic.

As the towering ship bore down on them, SeaPort Security Marine Deputy Taner Primmer, who was escorting the cruise ship, leapt into action, and steered his patrol boat into the ship’s path and pulled the women to safety.

Garrett (far left) and Penpasuglia (far right) were on Spring Break from W. Virginia.

Harbor Pilot Capt. Doug Brown, who was steering the Magic out to sea, also spotted what was going on and managed to turn the giant ship just enough to not strike the women.

Chilling video shot by tourists on the cruise ship’s deck, showed how close the cruise ship came to passing right over the women.

“Were it not for the quick actions of both Deputy Primmer and Port Canaveral Harbor Pilot Capt. Doug Brown , the girls could have been pulled under the ship causing potentially serious if not fatal injuries,” said Sheriff Wayne Ivey.

 

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Cop Killed at Georgia Sperm Bank After Being Overcome by Fumes

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Greg Meagher was a 33-year veteran of the Richmond County Sheriff’s office

AUGUSTA, Georgia — A veteran Georgia cop was killed after inhaling liquid nitrogen fumes while trying to save the life of an employee of a sperm bank, authorities said.

Richmond County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg Meagher, 57, responded to Xytex Corp. in Augusta on Sunday afternoon to help the employee who had been sickened by the fumes, when he became overwhelmed, police said.

Three other officers were also stricken by the fumes but were able to get out of the laboratory facility and later recovered, officials said. Liquid nitrogen is used to freeze sperm at the bank.

Meagher and the female employee were later pulled out by firefighters, but Meagher had  succumbed to the gas and was pronounced dead. The woman was hospitalized and is expected to live.

Xytex Corp. said the incident appeared to have been triggered by a surge in pressure in the liquid nitrogen supply to the facility, but that none of the storage containers had been affected. The firm offered condolences to the deputy’s family and said they were cooperating with authorities.

Meagher had been a sheriff’s deputy for 33 years and had a distinguished career marked by stints as a drug investigator. In 2004, he was shot in the face during a drug sting, but survived and later returned to work, the Augusta Chronicle reported.

 

 

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