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8-Year-Old Arkansas Boy Killed in Tragic Tombstone Collapse

December 12, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

LYNN, Arkansas –An 8-year-old boy died in a freak accident when a tombstone toppled over and crushed him in an Arkansas church graveyard.

The tragic mishap occurred during a birthday party Saturday afternoon at the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Lynn, when the boy wandered into the graveyard out back.

Officials believe the boy had been playing on a large tombstone when it broke and fell on him, KAIT-TV reported.

The boy was rushed to a local hospital where he was declared dead. Authorities have deemed the death an accident.

Members of the church said they were devastated by the accident.

“Just an eight-year-old rambunctious young man, just like many eight-year-old young men and full of life,” the church’s Pastor Jeff Neely told the station. “There is definitely a lot of prayer being sent up on behalf of their family.”

The boy’s name has not been released.

TRAGIC SELFIE: All Smiles Seconds Before Sudden Death

December 12, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Kelsea Webster, Essa Ricker and Savannah Webster (l-r) were killed moments after shooting this selfie by the train right behind them

Kelsea Webster, Essa Ricker and Savannah Webster (l-r) were killed by the train right behind them moments after shooting this selfie

SPANISH FORK, Utah — Death was right behind them and they didn’t see it coming.

This tragic selfie captures the final moments before three Utah pals were fatally struck by a passing freight train.

The train is so close its headlight can be seen in the background of the photo bearing down on the smiling girls.

The photo was published last week by railroad company Union Pacific, as part of a public service campaign warning people of the dangers of taking selfies too close to the tracks.

Kelsea Webster and Essa Ricker, both 15, were killed instantly in the tragic October 2011 accident. Kelsea’s 13-year-old sister, Savannah Webster, died four days later after her parents took her off life support.

The girls had wandered down by the tracks in Spanish Fork Canyon to take picture of the passing trains. Moments before the tragedy, Savannah posted “Standing right by a train ahaha this is awesome!!!!” on her Facebook page.

But as the girls watched a westbound Utah Railway train pass by, they didn’t hear a second Union Pacific train coming towards them from the other direction until it was too late.

“We watched in horror as we got closer,” said conductor John Anderson. “We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward.”

Investigators believe the girls were struck by the one train and knocked into the other.

Union Pacific Engineer Michael Anderson said the episode haunts him to this day.

“What happened was very intense and I have to carry it the rest of my life,” he said.

Kelsea and Savannah Webster’s mother said she hoped that people would learn from her family’s tragedy that trains are dangerous.

“The accident that took my daughters’ lives was preventable and a good illustration of how close a train can be without hearing it,” she said. “No one should have to go through this and I hope people will seriously think about the campaign’s rail safety message and share it with their loved ones.”

Grinch Stabs Frosty in Not So Merry Christmas Attack

December 11, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cameras caught the assault on Frosty by a vandal

ST. LOUIS — The war on Christmas is real!

A late-night grinch ran into a Missouri man’s yard and maliciously stabbed an inflatable Frosty the Snowman yard ornament and the whole brutal assault was caught on tape.

Jeff Diggs says he was horrified to find Frosty severally wounded in what he said looked like a “mob hit style assault” just weeks before Christmas. Diggs’ security camera footage shows Frosty sink slowly to the ground as the air escapes out through the wound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxKzNwEPEB0

The footage shows a white male, possibly in his 20s, with a bandana covering his face, hop out of the passenger side of an older model dark colored two-door small size pickup truck,” before shanking the lawn ornament on its right side.

“Frosty received a total of 9 stitches from the stabbing. He is doing well and recovering from his injury,” Diggs wrote on a Go Fund Me page he set up to raise cash to a local children’s charity in Frosty’s honor.

“He insisted on going back to work immediately because he believes in the magic of the holiday season and hopes that all people will come together and learn to love and respect each other regardless of our differences!” Diggs wrote.

Thief Hiding in Florida Pond Claims He’s ‘Just Fishing’

December 9, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cops Could See Where Torres Was All Along

DELTONA, Florida — Stupid is as stupid does.

A Florida man on the run from cops hopped into a pond and then told officers who found him that he was “just fishing” and the guy they were looking for had “gone that way.”

Sean Torres, 29, of Daytona Beach had tried to rob a nearby Family Dollar store on Nov. 27, walking in with his shirt on his head leaving the “loyalty” tattoo on his stomach in plain view and demanding cash, police said.

Sean Torres Thought He Could Talk His Way Out of Trouble

When the clerk said no, Torres allegedly threatened to shoot him and reached into the waistband of his shorts as if he had a gun, but then running out of the store into the night.

Cops were called and quickly responded with K-9 units and a helicopter as Torres fled into a swampy area near the store.

In an effort to hide from cops, Torres jumped into the pond and submerged his body, leaving only his face sticking out of the water. Little did he know, but the helicopter was equipped with a heat-imaging camera which detected where he was lying all along.

https://youtu.be/nUs2vWXwx3U

When officers approached and asked what he was doing there, Torres allegedly told them he was “just fishing” and that his pole was in the water. He then claimed that “the guy who did it went that way.”

He soon surrendered, saying he didn’t want to be bitten by the police dog. When he crawled out of the water, cops immediately noticed the “loyalty” tattoo on his stomach.

After being placed in the back of a Volusia County Sheriff’s office patrol car, Torres allegedly threw himself repeatedly against the interior of the vehicle, kicking doors and causing damage to the car.

Torres was charged with robbery and criminal mischief and was held on $30,500 bail.

Creepy Florida Shopper Busted Peeping up Women’s Skirts

December 8, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

SARASOTA, Florida — A Florida shopper gave whole new meaning to the notion of a creepy old man after being caught repeatedly getting down on his hands and knees to stare up women’s skirts at a Florida Wal-Mart.

Alan Ralph has an odd way of getting his jollies

Alan Ralph, 62, was charged with three counts of voyeurism after police watched surveillance footage showing him lurking around the Sarasota superstore in late October, biding his time before kneeling down to the ground and stare up multiple women’s skirts.

Ralph’s boorish behavior was brought to authorities attention by one of the women who caught him twice trying to get a glimpse up her skirt.

Detectives caught up with Ralph by using his credit card information obtained through transactions at the store. He was busted on Monday without incident and held without bond.

Investigators believe there may be more victims out there and asked anyone with information to contact the Sarasota County Sheriff’s office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLC68FC23684B2B319&v=weazzqyLOhM

Firefighter Busted For Setting Home on Fire to Frame “Black Lives Matter”

December 8, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Jason Stokes is accused of setting his own home on frie

ENDICOTT, New York — An upstate New York firefighter has been charged with setting his own home on fire in a blaze his family blamed on politically-driven vandals targeting the “Blue Lives Matters” flag they had hung outside.

Jason Stokes, 41, was charged with arson for the August 10 blaze that attracted national attention because his family discovered the message, “Lie with pigs, fry like bacon,” scrawled on the siding outside their Endicott home.

Stokes had been an Endicott firefighter since 2005

One family member told a local television station that they believed the home had been targeted because they had a pro-cop “Blue Lives Matters” flag outside next to an American flag. The pro-law enforcement symbol is a response to the “Black Lives Matter” movement which seeks to end police brutality against black people.

But after a lengthy investigation, the New York State police determined that Stokes was responsible for setting the fire. No one was hurt in the fire.

Stokes has been an Endicott firefighter since 2005.

“We knew fairly soon into the investigation that he was a suspect, but that’s not uncommon in any fire,” Endicott Fire Chief Joseph Griswold told Time Warner Cable News. “You always have to look at the people who live there.”

Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell said he believes Stokes wrote the anti-police message himself as part of a plan to cover-up his crime.

“That statement to me is absolutely despicable,” Cornwell told WBNG-TV. “It fuels a false narrative when it comes to the work that police officers do.”

‘Truther’ Wingnut Charged with Threatening Sandy Hook Dad

December 7, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Lucy Richards has struggled with mental illness

MIAMI — An unhinged Florida conspiracy theorist who believes the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax has been indicted on charges that she threatened the parent of a child killed in the tragedy.

Lucy Richards, 57, who lives in Tampa, allegedly phoned the grieving father of one of the 20 small children and six adults killed in a Newtown, Connecticut school in 2012 and told him, “you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon.”

Federal prosecutors described Richards as a so-called “truther” who believes the school shooting was staged as part of an elaborate plot to impose draconian gun control laws in the United States.

The bunk conspiracy theory has taken firm root in the darker corners of the internet among people who frequent conspiracy driven websites that peddle the theories as news. Most troubling is that some believers of such sham theories have taken to harassing relatives of children slain that day and accusing them of being “crisis actors” pretending to be grieving parents.

While prosecutors did not name the parent who had Richards had targeted, the Tampa Bay Times identified him as Lenny Pozner whose 6-year-old son Noah was killed that day. Pozner has since moved to Florida.

“It was hard knowing this darkness is out there,” he told the paper. “I get so much hate on a weekly basis.”

Richards was charged with our counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce and faces up to five years in prison for each count. She was released on $25,000 bond. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo called the alleged conduct “particularly disturbing,” but determined that Richards is unlikely to be a flight risk, given that she claims to have agoraphobia and uses a walker, the paper reported.

Her sister told the paper that Richards has struggled with mental illness.

Va. School Guard who Enlisted Teen Gang Recruits Convicted of Murder

December 7, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Michael Hopson recruited gang members from the high school were he worked

Michael Hopson recruited Black P-Stone gang members from the high school were he worked

NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia — A Virginia gang leader who used his job as a high school security guard to recruit teenagers to sell drugs to classmates was convicted of racketeering and murder.

Michael Hopson, 39, who was also known as “Hop” and “Big Homie,” was the founder and leader of the Black P-Stones Gang in Newport News.

According to federal prosecutors, Hopson helped plan and direct the nefarious activities of the gang, which was also known as the P-Stone Bloods or Cobra Stones. The gang is alleged to have engaged in widespread drug trafficking, robberies and the murder of its enemies.

Hopson also worked as a guard at Denbigh High School where he recruited minors to sell drugs to other students.

Hopson faces a mandatory term of life in prison when he is sentenced in March.

Hopson was convicted of murder and racketeering

Evidence at trial showed that Hopson personally ordered multiple shootings and murders between October 2007 and June 2009.

Among the killings included the November 2007, slaying a 17-year-old member of the gang who had been friendly with a rival gang called Thug Relations. The trigger man in that killing was given a promotion, the evidence showed.

In December of the following year, Hopson authorized the murder of a member of the Crips gang who had been disrespectful to members of the Black P-Stones. As a result, two Black P-Stones members went to the man’s home and and fired multiple rounds into the dwelling wounding his father.

In March 2009, Hopson ordered the murder of two members of the rival 10-1 Mafia Crips, in response to the beating of a Black P-Stones member. Two gang members fired multiple shops into their intended victims’ homes.

The next month Hopson ordered two Black P-Stones members to fire into a home occupied by people he felt had been disrespectful to him. And in June, he ordered the murder of a Thug Relations member responsible for the murder of a Black P-Stones member. The intended target was shot and wounded.

Mannequin Challenge Video Leads Cops to Weapons and Drug Stash

December 6, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

This gang made it a bit too easy for cops

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A mannequin challenge clip featuring a gang of gun-wielding dopes ended with two men getting arrested and Alabama cops seizing a cache of drugs and guns after the video went viral.

The video, which was shot on Nov.9, features several armed men standing still in poses as if they were engaged in a pitched gun battle in front of a home in Huntsville. When the video spread like wildfire on Facebook, it drew the attention of police.

A raid of the house uncovered two handguns, an assault rifle and a shotgun as well as a bullet-proof vest and a cache of bullets and magazines, the Madison County sheriff said. Cops also found several bags of marijuana packaged up to be sold as well as scales and other drug equipment.

Two men, Kenneth Fennell White, 49, and Terry Brown, 23, were arrested. White was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of a firearm by a violent felon and was held on $30,000 bail. Brown was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and loitering and held on $3,800 bail.

Terry Brown (L) and Kenneth White

The mannequin challenge is a viral video trend in which a group of people stand frozen like statues in a pose while someone walks through the scene filming with a camera. Numerous athletes and celebrities have taken part, but this is the first arrest believed to have stemmed from such a video.

Ex-NFL Back Joe McKnight’s Killer Charged with Manslaughter

December 6, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Ronald Gasser was charged with manslaughter in McKnight’s killing

HARVEY, Louisiana — The man who gunned down former NFL running back Joe McKnight in a road rage incident last week has been charged with manslaughter.

The arrest late Monday of Ronald Gasser came four days after the shooting, and after he had initially been released. The delay had touched off allegations online of racial bias and that the Jefferson Parish Sheriff was dragging his feet. Gasser is white and McKnight is black.

But Sheriff Newell Normand insisted the delay was driven by the need to allow investigators to speak to as many witnesses as possible and gather enough evidence to deliver the strongest case to prosecutors.

“This isn’t about race,” he said. “Not a single witness to this day said there was one racial slur uttered during the course of these events. Unfortunately, a life was lost. But you want you know something, folks? Two people engaged in bad behavior that day. Why? I don’t know.”

Gasser, 54, was held on $500,000 bond.

Normand said the deadly encounter began when McKnight — who appeared to have been driving erratically — cut Gasser off as they drove over a bridge. That enraged Gasser who told police he “set out after Mr. McKnight,” with the two engaging in a running game of cat and mouse over several blocks, weaving around cars and screaming at each other from their cars.

When the two stopped at a red light, McKnight got out of his Audi Q7 SUV and approached Gasser’s Infiniti G37 from the passenger side.The two exchanged more words, and Gasser pulled out a gun and shot McKnight three times, killing him, Normand said.

He said Gasser’ told police he acted out of fear of McKnight’s “threatening statements.”

“That’s why on Thursday evening, only faced with, and only having Mr. Gasser’s statement, that we thought it best that an arrest not be made for strategic reasons, until we could get other witnesses,” Normand said.

McKnight played 4 seasons in the NFL

He said the delay in making the arrest was part of an effort to make sure that investigators could interviews witnesses who hadn’t been tainted.

“The Stand Your Ground law gives us an obligation to get it right,” Normand said. “For those who have criticized us – tough, I don’t care. I can put my head on my pillow at night knowing I did the right thing.”

He leveled particular criticism at a witness who falsely told a local newspaper that Gasser had gotten out of his car and opened fire at McKnight as he tried to apologize and then stood over his body and screamed,“I told you don’t you f— with me,” and then fired again.

“Shame on that individual,” he said.

Normand revealed for the first time that McKnight had a gun in the car he was driving, but that it belonged to his stepfather and he never displayed and that Gasser was not aware it was there.

In 2006, Gasser was involved in a road rage incident at the same intersection in which he struck another motorist several times. He was charged with battery but the charges were later dropped.

McKnight was selected in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft by the New York Jets. He played for the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, both as a running back and kick returner. McKnight, 28, most recently played for the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2016/12/06/joe-mcknight-manslaughter-arrest-ronald-gasser/95033986/

Texas Deputy Killed in Freak Sinkhole Accident

December 5, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Deputy Dora Linda Nishihara died when her car plunged into this sinkhole in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A deputy sheriff in Texas was killed in a freak accident when a water-filled sinkhole opened up on a road on San Antonio, swallowing her car and another vehicle.

Deputy Dora Linda Nishihara, 69, died after her car plunged into the sinkhole late Sunday and landed on its roof in the pool of water below. The vehicle was quickly submerged as water rushed over it from a broken sewer pipe nearby, authorities said.

A second vehicle also tumbled into the sinkhole but landed facing upwards and two passersby managed to pull the 60-year-old driver out to safety. He and one of his rescuers were hospitalized.

It took rescue crews until the following afternoon to recover Nishihara’s body.

“This was a challenging recovery for us,” San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood told WOAI-TV. “We suffered a few collapses that widened the sinkhole, and our technical rescue team firefighters were exposed to raw sewage at a fast, flowing rate, as well as very cold water.”

Nishihara had worked as a reserve deputy for Bexar County Sheriff’s Department from August 2009 until October 2016, the department said. Since then, she worked as a part-time deputy at the Bexar County Courthouse.

Nishihara had been a Bexar County deputy since 2009

“We are assisting her family as they deal with this tragedy,” the department said. “We are heartbroken.”

Sham U.S. Embassy in Africa Issued Bogus Visas for Decade

December 3, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

This building operated as phony U.S. embassy in Ghana for 10 years

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A sham U.S. embassy run by an organized crime ring in Ghana that had been issuing phony visas for a decade, has finally been shut down, U.S. officials said.

Authorities say the bogus building in the capital of Accra flew a U.S. flag overhead, had a photo of President Obama on the wall and maintained consular working hours. But the operation was run by members of Ghanaian and Turkish criminal gangs who posed as U.S. diplomatic officials.

The outfit charged up to $6,000 to issue fraudulently obtained, legitimate U.S. visas, counterfeit visas and false identification documents, the U.S. State Department said.

This is the real U.S. embassy in Ghana

The sham embassy advertised through flyers and billboards in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and Togo. The criminal operation did not accept walk-in appointments. Instead the gang drove to remote parts of West Africa to find customers, who they would shuttle to Accra, and rent them a room at a hotel nearby.

Officials recovered 150 phony passports and bogus documents

It was not clear how many bogus documents the ring had issued, but U.S. officials said it had managed to operate for a decade because the criminals running it were able to pay off corrupt officials to look the other way.

Investigators were led to a dress shop where phony passports were stitched together using industrial sewing machines. Officials also recovered 150 passports from 10 countries as well as legitimate and counterfeit visas from the U.S., the Schengen zone, India, and South Africa.

Several suspects managed to get away and remain at large, U.S. officials said.

Dead Man Lay Unnoticed in Car as Parking Tickets Piled Up

December 2, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Five tickets had piled up on Jacob Morpeau’s car while he lay dead inside

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Parking officials continually slapped tickets on an illegally parked SUV, but failed to notice the dead driver sitting beneath the pile of citations.

It took four days before a passerby noticed 62-year-old Jacob Morpeau’s body slumped over the center console of his Isuzu Axiom near the Broward County Courthouse, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

“Oh my God, please tell me this man is not dead,” Carolyn White told the paper.

Jacob Morpeau raised six children

Fort Lauderdale officials declined to comment as to how Morpeau’s body lay unnoticed for so long while parking enforcement agents had piled five tickets on his windshield in mid-November. The city has since voided the tickets.

The county coroner’s office said Morpeau had died of natural causes and had been suffering from heart disease.

Kevin McGoey, owner of Kevin’s Bail Bonds nearby, sad he heard White screaming when she discovered the body. He noted the vehicle had tinted windows which may explain why no one saw Morpeau.

“It was sad,” McGoey told the paper. “The guy was probably sitting there all weekend.”

Morpeau’s son, Alain Danier, told the Sun-Sentinel that his father hailed from Haiti and had been the owner of a car sales lot in Miami, but was retired.

“He was a good man,” he said.. “He raised all of us, and gave us everything we needed.”

Joe McKnight’s Killer Released, But Not Cleared as Investigation Continues

December 2, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Ronald Gasser admits shooting McKnight but was initially released after questioning

HARVEY, Louisiana — The gunman who admitted shooting ex-NFL player Joe McKnight in a road rage incident was released after questioning pending further investigation, police said.

Ronald Gasser, 54, was allowed to go free hours after shooting McKnight three times during an altercation on a road just outside of New Orleans. But he has not been cleared, police said.

Police say the two men got into “a heated verbal exchange” at the intersection which led Gasser to pull a gun and shoot three times through the passenger window of his Infinity G37, striking McKnight in the hand, shoulder and chest as he stood in the street outside the car.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said the fight began when someone “recklessly” cut off the other while driving on a bridge nearby which was followed by a chase through the streets, ending in the shooting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcdInUu2aFs&feature=youtu.be

Normand said initial accounts in local media that cited an unnamed witness describing McKnight trying to apologize to Gasser who opening fire and then stood over McKnight and said “I told you don’t you f— with me,” before firing again were untrue.

“None of that is true,” Normand said. “We have no witness account of an apology being made by Mr. McKnight to Mr. Gasser.”

Normand said three shell casings were recovered inside Gasser’s car, suggesting he was inside the vehicle when he fired. And Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich said McKnight’s wounds were not consistent with someone being hit by shots fired from above.

Still, the decision to release Gasser, who is white, as the investigation into the shooting of McKnight, who is black, sparked outrage from the former NFL running back’s teammates and family members.

McKnight played four seasons in the NFL

“We think a black man was lynched yesterday,” said Morris Reed, the president of the New Orleans branch of the N.A.A.C.P. “We are demanding some answers.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” former teammate Damon Harrison, wrote on Twitter. “Shoot in the air and you’re in jail for at least a week. Lord help us all.”

Normand said investigators simply hadn’t gathered enough evidence yet to make a decision on whether to charge Gasser.

“The easiest thing for me would have been to say, ‘Book him Dano,’ but the fact of the matter in trying to flush out all these details and not have rush to judgement, we chose not to do that,” he said. “Everybody wants to make this about race. This isn’t about race.”

He noted that the man that raised McKnight, who was a local high school football star, had once worked as a deputy in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s office. McKnight played as a running back and return specialist in the NFL for four seasons — three with the New York Jets and one with the Kansas City Chiefs. He then played in the Canadian Football League.

Normand warned that any protesters who strayed outside a designated area outside the sheriff’s office would be arrested.

Gasser, who owns a telecommunications and real estate business, had remained at the scene after the shooting and had handed his .40 caliber handgun over to police when they arrived. Normand said he had cooperated with investigators.

Later in the day, police released details of an earlier road rage incident involving Gasser dating back to 2006, where he was charged with punching another motorist several times after an argument about Gasser driving recklessly. A charge of simple battery was later dismissed and police said they are investigating why that happened.

Ex-NFL Back Joe McKnight Killed in Road Rage Shooting

December 1, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Former NY Jet Joe McKnight was shot three times in a road rage incident

TERRYTOWN, Louisiana — Joe McKnight, a former New York Jets football player and a USC standout was shot and killed in a road rage incident near New Orleans, police said.

McKnight, 28, was shot multiple times after getting into an argument with another motorist and was declared dead at the scene.

McKnight played four seasons in the NFL

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s office said it had taken 54-year-old suspect Ronald Gasser into custody for questioning.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune quoted an unnamed witness saying she saw McKnight apologizing to a man who was yelling back at him. The man then pulled out a gun and fired multiple times.

She said the shooter then stood over McKnight and said “I told you don’t you f— with me,” and then fired again.

Police say McKnight was unarmed and that Gasser remained on the scene until officers arrived and handed over his weapon to them.

McKnight played as a running back and return specialist in the NFL for four seasons — three with the Jets and one with the Kansas City Chiefs. He then played in the Canadian Football League.

A native of Louisiana, McKnight played at John Curtis Christian High School in suburban New Orleans. His family lost their home in Hurricane Katrina. He then attended the University of Southern California where he was sometimes referred to as the “next Reggie Bush.”

In 2010, he was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Jets. He played in a limited capacity as a backup running back, kick returner and cornerback before leaving the team in 2013.

Death by Turtle Ruled Cause in Florida Man’s Demise

November 30, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

A box turtle was deemed the culprit in David Kervin’s death

INDIAN HARBOR BEACH, Florida — Slow and steady wins the rest, and to think otherwise proved deadly for one Florida man.

Police in Brevard County say 51-year-old David Kervin appears to have met his fate when he accidentally struck a box turtle and was thrown off his bike while cycling in Indian Harbor Beach early Wednesday.

David Kervin was thrown from his bike and suffered a head injury

Cops received a report of a man lying in the road with an apparent injury. Officers discovered Kervin laying next to a motorized bike and declared him dead at the scene in what they called an isolated mishap. The presence of a turtle with a cracked shell nearby led them to believe the animal played role in Kervin’s death.

“There was no evidence that any vehicles were involved. A small turtle was observed in the area where Mr. Kervin had been traveling. The turtle had a small crack in the bottom of the shell, which could suggest Mr. Kervin possibly had contact with the turtle causing him to lose control of his bicycle,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Police say the turtle’s injuries were not life threatening and it was returned to its natural habitat.

An autopsy determined Kervin, who had worked as a server in the restaurant of the nearby Eau Gallie Yacht Club, died of injuries consistent with a fall from a bike, police said.

Man Pleads Guilty in Terrorist Plot to Create Separatist State in India

November 29, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Balwinder Singh, aka Happy, had some sinister plans for India

RENO, Nevada — A man named Happy has pleaded guilty to helping organize an assassination attempt on an Indian official and supporting terrorist attacks aimed at creating an independent Sikh state there.

Federal prosecutors in Nevada say Balwinder Singh — who is also known as Jhaji, Happy, Possi and Baljit Singh — had been in contact with a group of Sikh nationalists in India to arrange sending a supporter from the United States to kill a government official.

Singh, 42, is an Indian citizen and a permanent U.S. resident living in Reno. Prosecutors say that in October 2013, Singh had plotted with the others to send the man to India to carry out the attack and acquired two sets of night vision goggles for him to use. In December of that year, the co-conspirator was arrested trying to board a flight from San Francisco to Bangkok, foiling the plot.

Following the bust, Singh and the others continued to discuss and plan a terror attack in India until Singh’s arrest later that December. He has been in custody since.

“National security is a top priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to locate, identify, and prosecute those who conspire and attempt to provide material support to terrorists and terrorist activities,” said U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden.

Singh pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists with the intending of it being used to commit terrorist attacks overseas. He faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.

The cause Singh admitted supporting aims to create a separate Sikh nation called Khalistan — or the land of the pure — in the Indian state of Punjab.

Son of Executed Prisoner Pleads to Paralyzing Prostitute

November 23, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Ronnie Paul Threadgill’s designer glasses were a dead giveaway to cops

SANTA ROSA, California — The college student son of a death row inmate executed in 2013 in Texas, was sent to prison for 22 years for shooting a prostitute in a robbery and leaving her paralyzed from the neck down.

Ronnie Paul Threadgill, 24, a student at Santa Rosa Junior College in Northern California, admitted setting up the rendezvous online with 24-year-old Kenisha Jackson in July 2015 and trying to rob her.

After meeting her at a Motel 6 , about 50 miles north of San Francisco in Rohnert Park, prosecutors say Threadgill shot Jackson twice, in the leg and in the back of her neck, leaving her paralyzed. He then pistol-whipped her pimp as he fled the motel room.

Ronnie Paul Threadgill, Sr. was executed in 2013

“This is a just outcome to a senseless shooting with tragic consequences,” said Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch. “He shot an unarmed female who posed no threat to him, nearly killing her. As a result of his actions he will be spending a substantial part of his life in state prison.”

Authorities were led to Threadgill about a week later through a pair of prescription designer Bulgari glasses he left at the scene. A bloody pair of boots found at his apartment also connected him to the crime.

A pal, Koa James Sibley, was charged as an accessory to the crime for allegedly driving Threadgill to and from the motel.

Threadgill pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and first-degree attempted robbery charges and will be sent to prison for 22 years when he is sentenced on Dec. 20.

Threadgill’s father, also named Ronnie Paul Threadgill, was executed by lethal injection at the age of 40 in Texas in 2013 for fatally shooting of a teenager during a carjacking outside a nightclub in 2001.

Threadgill was put to death after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal arguing that he had had deficient legal counsel at trial.

Dennis Rodman Facing 2 Years in Jail for Wrong Way Crash

November 21, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman’s wild life may land him in jail

SANTA ANA, California — Former NBA wild man Dennis Rodman has been charged in a bizarre road accident in which he allegedly drove the wrong way down a California expressway, causing another car to crash and then fleeing the scene.

Rodman, 55, a rebounding machine nicknamed the “Worm,” who won several championships with Michael Jordan’s Bulls and was elected to the NBA Hall of Fame in 2011, could face up to two years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said/

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Rodman was driving the wrong way on Interstate 5 in Santa Ana on July 20, forcing another driver to crash his sedan into a concrete divider to avoid slamming into Rodman’s SUV.

Rodman stopped briefly, but is charged with failing to exchange information with the other driver and then leaving the scene before the California Highway Patrol arrived. He is also accused of later giving false accounts of the incident to investigators.

The hoops legend’s attorney said the accident occurred on a poorly marked exit-ramp.

“Mr. Rodman turned and corrected the driving error, stopped and spoke with the people in the other car,” Paul S. Meyer said in a statement. “Their cars never touched. We look forward to a discussion of all of the facts.”

Rodman faces charges of hit and run with property damage, driving a motor vehicle across a dividing section, giving false information to a police officer, and driving a motor vehicle without a valid license. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 20, 2017.

Cops Turn Fire Hoses on Pipeline Protesters in Escalating Clash

November 20, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Hundreds clashed with cops

CANNON BALL, North Dakota — Protesters opposed to an oil pipeline project were sprayed with water from fire hoses in frigid temperatures after police say officers were pelted by flaming logs, rocks and other projectiles in a furious clash on a bridge.

The violent confrontation was the latest in a months-long protest over the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has pitted hundreds of Native American and environmental activists who say the $3.7 billion project threatens water resources against police guarding construction of the pipeline.

The standoff came to a head late Sunday, when police say hundreds of protesters forced their way onto the Backwater Bridge, which had been closed after numerous cars were burned on it in a protest in October that rendered it possibly unsafe.

As protesters moved to remove the burned out cars, police say numerous fires were set and debris hurled at cops manning a barricade on one edge of the bridge. Cops responded by firing tear gas and using hoses intended to put out the fires to repel protesters despite below-freezing temperatures..

“We are just not going to let people and protesters in large groups come in and threaten officers,” said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. “In this circumstance it was the best option we had at that point.”

Protesters said police also fired rubber bullets at them. One activist was airlifted to Minneapolis after an explosion severely mangled her arm. Protesters said they believe the woman was wounded by a police concussion grenade, but cops denied being responsible and said it was possible the explosion was caused by an incendiary device intended to be thrown at police.

One protester was arrested while trying to push through the police barricade, Kirchmeier said, and 16 others were arrested the following morning. One officer was hospitalized after being struck in the head by a projectile, Kirchmeier said.

Protest leaders have said the closure of the bridge has been a point of frustration for weeks as many believed it is intended solely to keep demonstrators away from the pipeline construction zone.

“Folks have a right to be on a public road,” Dallas Goldtooth, of the Indigenous Environmental Network told the Bismarck Tribune. “It’s absurd that people who’ve been trying to take down the barricade now have their lives at risk.”

Kirchmeier said the bridge would not reopened until engineers had deemed it safe, which could not happen while the protests were ongoing nearby.

Completion of the pipeline, set to run approximately 1,200 miles from North Dakota to Illinois, was delayed in September so federal authorities could re-examine permits required by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Plans called for the pipeline to pass under Lake Oahe, a federally owned water source, and to skirt the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation by about half a mile. Most of the construction has otherwise been finished.

The Standing Rock tribe and environmental activists say the project would threaten water supplies and sacred Native American sites and ultimately contribute to climate change.

Minnesota Cop Charged in Slaying of Black Motorist, Philando Castile

November 16, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Philando Castile was gunned down behind the wheel of his car during a traffic stop

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — A Minnesota cop whose fatal shooting of a black motorist triggered off protests across the country amid a national debate on racial profiling and the use of force by police, has been charged with manslaughter.

Prosecutors said they could find “no justification for the use of deadly force” by St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez in the July traffic stop shooting of school cafeteria worker Philando Castile.

“No reasonable officer who knew, saw, and heard what Officer Yanez did at the time would have used deadly force under these circumstances,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.

Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Officer Jeronimo Yanez faces 2nd degree manslaughter carges

Officer Jeronimo Yanez faces 2nd degree manslaughter charges

Court documents showed that Yanez had pulled the 32-year-old Castile, over at 9:05 p.m. on July 9 because he believed he resembled a suspect from a gas station robbery a few days earlier because of his “wide-set nose” and was driving with a broken tail light.

Within a minute of the traffic stop, Yanez fired seven shots into Castile’s car, killing him as his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter watched. The girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, then broadcast a Facebook Live video showing Castile bleeding to death in the car which was viewed millions of times around the world.

“I was worried that charges were not going to be brought against him just because of the simple fact that he is a police officer,” Reynolds told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “This is only the first step. We are looking for conviction.”

According to the criminal complaint, the traffic stop began taking an ominous turn when Castile informed the officer that he was carrying a gun, which he had a license for. Yanez then put his hand and his holstered weapon and told Castile not to pull his weapon out.

“I’m not pulling it out,” Castile said, the complaint read, citing an audio recording captured by Yanez’s dashboard camera.

“He’s not pulling it out,” Reynolds said.

“Yanez screamed, ‘Don’t pull it out’ and quickly pulled his own gun with his right hand while he reached inside the driver’s side window with his left hand,” and then fired seven shots into the car, the complaint read.

Castile’s last words were: “I wasn’t reaching for it.”

Officer Joseph Kauser, who had also responded to the scene and was standing on the other side of the vehicle, said he didn’t see Castile making any sudden or threatening gesture and was surprised that Yanez had opened fire.

Yanez told investigators he became nervous when Castile began reaching between the car’s center console after stating he had a weapon, and opened fire because he thought he was in danger.

Choi said prosecutors had determined that Yanez’s use of force was not reasonable and also endangered Reynolds and her daughter, who was strapped into a car seat on the rear passenger side of the vehicle. One of the shots went through Castile’s seat and into the rear driver’s side seat and another into the car’s center console, the complaint said.

“There was absolutely no criminal intent exhibited by [Castile] throughout this encounter,” Choi said. “He was respectful and compliant based upon the instructions and orders he was given.”

Abduction Feared in Case of Missing California Mom

November 3, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sherri Papini disappeared while going for a run

REDDING, California — A California mother of two disappeared while out for a jog and her family fear she has been abducted.

The Shasta County Sheriff’s office are hunting for 34-year-old Sherri Papini who didn’t return home after heading out for a run in Northern California on Nov. 2.

Papini’s husband, Keith, contacted police after he returned home late that afternoon and found that his wife was not home and that their two children had not been picked up from daycare.

Using the Find my iPhone app, the husband located her phone and headphones and intersection in a rural area nearby. Some strands of Papini’s blond hair were also found at the scene.

Papini’s husband says there is no way she would leave her kids

Police searched the area and found no sign of Papini, but witnesses reported seeing her jogging there in the hours before she was reported missing. Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko says investigators have contacted several sex offenders who are registered in the area, but have not identified a suspect. They also interviewed several of Papini’s family members.

Papini’s family said it was normal for her to go jogging in the area at that time of day. She would then pick up her two children from daycare in the afternoon and spend the rest of the day with them around the house.

“Knowing that she didn’t pick up our kids — there is no way that ever happens,” her husband, Keith, told ABC News. “Everybody who knows my wife knows that there’s no reason for her to leave.”

“She was definitely taken against her will,” he said.

Papini is described as 5-foot-4, and weighing around 100 pounds. The family is offering a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to locating her.

Long Island Top Cop Sentenced for Dildo Beating

November 2, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

James Burke was busted for beating a suspect who stole his didlo

CENTRAL ISLIP, New York — The former chief of the Suffolk County police was sentenced to 46 months in a federal prison for beating a handcuffed junkie suspected of stealing a bag containing porn and sex toys from his car.

James Burke pleaded guilty in February to civil rights violations in the brutal jailhouse beating and to conspiring with other officers to cover it up.

The 52-year-old Burke had recently taken the job as the top cop of the department in 2012 when probation officers arrested heroin addict Christopher Loeb on a probation violation and found a cache of stolen goods stolen from over a dozen vehicles in his home.

Beating victim Christopher Loeb

Among the stolen items was a duffel bag that had been stolen from Burke’s police-issued SUV that was filled with his gun belt, several magazines of ammunition, a box of cigars, a humidor, a porn stash and some sex toys.

After recovering the bag, Burke drove to the stationhouse where Loeb was being interrogated, barged into the interview room and began punching and kicking the handcuffed suspect who he called a “pervert.”

When federal prosecutors opened a probe the following year, Burke pressured detectives under his command to lie about his role in the assault. But at the same time, prosecutors say Burke bragged about the beating to other cops.

“Burke regaled a group of officers with his account of the assault, saying it reminded him of his ‘old days’ as a young police officer and referred to the detectives who were present at the assault of a defenseless prisoner as his ‘palace guards,’” prosecutors wrote in a filing earlier in the case.

For three years the cover-up worked, but in 2015, the FBI managed to get a handful of officers to testify about what had really happened and Burke’s defense unraveled.

He has been jailed since his arrest in December 2015.

Nude Man with Electrode on Junk Roams Florida

October 31, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Kurt Allen Jenkins had a pretty weird way of getting his jollies

BOYNTON BEACH, Florida — This creep was hot to trot.

A strange Florida fetishist was busted for driving nude through a community filled with kids with a contraption with wires sticking out of it attached to his genitals.

Boynton Beach police say 56-year-old Kurt Allen Jenkins drove his Toyota four door slowly through the neighborhood on the afternoon of Halloween when he approached a man and pointed to his penis.

“He gestured at the victim to look down towards his groin area where the victim observed an electronic device with wires attached to Jenkins penis,” the police report read.

The man “turned down Jenkin’s advances” and called cops.

When police arrived, they say Jenkins ignored their commands to so he “was taken to the ground and placed into custody.

Jenkins was charged with lascivious exhibition, exposure of sexual organs and resisting arrest.

Florida Man Attacks Hospital Staff with Glass Eye

October 31, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff

Edward Michael Dorsey has a strange way of looking at things

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Florida — That’s one way of looking at things.

A one-eyed Florida man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a doctor and a nurse by violently hurling his glass eye at them and screaming, “I can do whatever I feel like doing!”

Police had picked up 54-year-old Edward Michael Dorsey while responding to a domestic battery call at his home in Largo.

As they were taking him to the Pinellas County jail, they decided to take him to the Largo Medical Center to be evaluated. While Dorsey, was being checked, he allegedly yanked his glass eye out of its socket and fired at a doctor and nurse, WTSP-TV reported.

When the hospital staff asked him not to take his eye out, he allegedly yelled back, “I can do whatever I feel like doing!”

Dorsey is being held on $25,000 bond for the domestic battery charge and $5,000 for tossing his eye.