Tag: police

NTSB says police had 90 seconds to stop traffic, get people off Key Bridge before it collapsed


NTSB: DALI had 764 tons of hazardous material before Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse


NTSB: DALI had 764 tons of hazardous material before Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse

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BALTIMORE – The National Transportation Safety Board provided a broader look Wednesday night into its investigation of the cargo ship hitting Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse.

Officials said police had just 90 seconds early Tuesday from when they received distress calls to cut the bridge off to traffic and to try to get people off.

A police officer who was already in the area patrolling because of the work on the bridge tried to get construction workers off before it was too late, according to officials.

Twenty-one members and two pilots were onboard DALI, a 948-foot vessel managed by Synergy Marine Group, a Singapore-based company with over 660 ships under management around the world, according to its website.

The vessel had 56 containers — 764 tons – of corrosive, flammable material and batteries, according to NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, adding that some of the containers were breached. One of the hazardous materials was sheen, which is used in paint, that has leaked into the Patapsco River.

“That’s 764 tons of hazardous materials, mostly corrosive, flammables, Class 8 hazardous materials, which includes lithium-ion batteries,” Homendy said. “Some of those containers were breached.” 

NTSB says DALI left the terminal at the Port of Baltimore  around 12:39 a.m. and by 1:24 a.m., alarms started going off that something was wrong.

At 1:27 a.m., the pilot ordered crews to drop the anchor and called for tugs, telling officials the boat lost power and was headed toward the bridge.

And just two minutes later, the massive cargo ship crashed into the bridge at 8 mph, sending eight construction workers who were filling potholes plunging into the cold water along with Baltimore’s iconic bridge. Officials said they were from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Two people were rescued soon after the collapse — one was uninjured and other was hospitalized and later released.

Divers recovered two bodies from a pickup truck Wednesday morning.

Officials said the search for the remaining four has moved from a recovery mission to a salvage effort because they believe vehicles are encased in the bridge debris and divers can’t operate around the debris.

The bridge itself “is fractural critical,” Homendy said. “What that means is if a member fails that would likely cause a portion of or the entire bridge to collapse; there’s no redundancy.” 

The collapse has halted the flow of ships in and out of Baltimore’s port and cut off nearly every dock in Baltimore from the global shipping industry. 

“The national economy and the global economy depends on the Port of Baltimore,” Gov. Wes Moore said at a news conference early Wednesday evening.

Moore said the state has submitted a request asking for federal funds to assist in rebuilding the bridge, but the cost and timeline is still unknown.

“The task in front of us, it will be real, it will be daunting, but our resolve is unshaken,” Moore said.

Kelsey Kushner

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Kelsey Kushner joined the WJZ team in January 2019.





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Police robot dog shot during standoff in Massachusetts



BARNSTABLE, Mass. — A robotic dog is being thanked by state police in Massachusetts for helping avert a tragedy involving a person barricaded in a home.

The robotic dog named Roscoe was part of the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad and deployed on March 6 in a Barnstable house after police were fired upon. Police sent in two other robots often used for bomb disposal into the house to find the suspect along with the robotic dog.

Controlled remotely by state troopers, it first checked the two main floors before finding someone in the basement. The person, armed with a rifle, twice knocked over the robotic dog before shooting it three times and disabling its communication.

The person then shot at one of the other robots and an outdoor swimming pool before police deployed tear gas and arrested them.

“The incident provided a stark example of the benefits of mobile platforms capable of opening doors and ascending stairs in tactical missions involving armed suspects,” state police said in a statement. “In addition to providing critically important room clearance and situational awareness capabilities, the insertion of Roscoe into the suspect residence prevented the need, at that stage of response, from inserting human operators, and may have prevented a police officer from being involved in an exchange of gunfire.”

Boston Dynamics, the company that made the robotic dog known as a SPOT robot, said in a statement that it was the first time one of them had been shot.

“We are relieved that the only casualty that day was our robot,” the company said. “It’s a great example of how mobile robots like Spot can be used to save lives.”

Authorities have not identified the shooter or said what charges they face.

The robotic dog was sent to Boston Dynamics to remove the bullets. It will remain with the company and a new unit will be sent to state police.



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Idaho police are investigating racist harassment against Utah women’s basketball team



The FBI and police in Coeur d’Alene, a northern Idaho town that a local public advocacy organization has described as a “safe haven” for white supremacist groups, are investigating after the University of Utah’s women’s basketball coach said her team was targeted in a series of “racial hate crimes” while in town for the NCAA Tournament last week.

Mayor Jim Hammond apologized to the University of Utah women’s basketball team during a news conference on Tuesday. The apology came after Utah athletics officials said a driver revved their engine and yelled the N-word at the team, band members and cheerleaders as they went out to dinner Thursday evening. Later, as the group left the restaurant, two trucks came near them and the drivers revved their engines and yelled the N-word in another instance. 

“We condemn, in the strongest terms, those horrendous acts of hatred,” Tony Stewart, of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, said at the news conference. “If the perpetrators can be found, we call upon them to be prosecuted. There is no place in our communities or in the United states of America for such horrific acts.”

Police Chief Lee White said local law enforcement received a report about the incident the night it happened and are working with the FBI to speak with the victims and witnesses to determine which state or federal laws apply to the situation. He cited federal law, a state law against malicious harassment and a statute against disorderly conduct.

The team was in the area to take part in the NCAA tournament in Spokane, Washington, hosted by Gonzaga University, but had to stay in Idaho due to a lack of hotel space. Utah coach Lynne Roberts revealed the incident to reporters on Monday.

“Racism is real and it happens and it’s awful,” Roberts said. “For our players, whether they are white, Black, green, whatever — no one knew how to handle it. And it was really upsetting. And for our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up.”

Roberts added that the NCAA and Gonzaga helped move the team to a different hotel. Neither Roberts nor the women’s athletics department immediately responded to a request for comment. Gonzaga and NCAA officials along with Idaho Gov. Brad Little swiftly issued statements apologizing to the team and condemning the harassment. 

Coeur d’Alene and northern Idaho have become known for its extremism and proliferation of racist groups. The Aryan Nations and other white supremacist groups have terrorized the region since at least the 1970s, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2022, members of a racist hate group called Patriot Front marched through downtown Coeur d’Alene. Thirty-one of them were arrested on suspicion of conspiring a riot, according to The Spokesman Review. 

A local far-right activist showed up to Tuesday’s news conference, yelling about the Patriot Front incident. He claimed to be a member of the media but would not say which news outlet he was part of. Attendants at the event booed him. 

The Idaho 97 Project, which opposes far-right extremism in the state, has called the region a “safe haven” for white supremacist hate groups. 

“We’ve always had extremism in Idaho on some level, going back to Richard Butler and some of those groups in Coeur d’Alene,” Mike Satz, then its executive director, said in 2022. He added to KMTV, “We also have a lot of people who are just moving into the state who are coming here because they see Idaho as a conservative bastion.”

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Mass. State Police robot dog shot during Cape Cod standoff



A Massachusetts State Police robot dog was shot during a standoff on Cape Cod this month, officials said, calling it an example of how the technology can make police work safer in dangerous situations.

It’s both the first time a Massachusetts State Police robot dog was shot while working and the first time that one of Boston Dynamics’ well-known Spot robots was shot while working, representatives told NBC10 Boston Wednesday.

The dog, known as Roscoe, was shot as a SWAT team dealt with a man barricaded in a home in the Hyannis section of Barnstable on March 6, police said. That standoff prompted local schools to be evacuated and took hours to resolve; it led to the arrest of 30-year-old Justin Moreira.

Moreira was barricaded inside a home on St. Francis Circle after a 911 call about a person holding someone else at knifepoint, police said at the time. The person escaped, but when officers arrived, at the home, Moreira allegedly opened fire on a SWAT vehicle and periodically shot near the officers who’d circled the home.

State police eventually decided to send in three robots, including Roscoe, to find where in the building Moreira was holed up. Roscoe cleared the top two floors of the building, then discovered him, holding a rifle, in the basement, police said.

He knocked the robot dog down, then started to walk up the stairs, but, when Roscoe righted itself and started following him up the stairs, he knocked the dog over again, then shot it three times. Its pilot lost communication with the dog.

Images shared by police showed the dog shot in its side and “neck.”

Moreira went on to take aim at another of the robots outside, though he missed, officials said. Police eventually took him into custody after they sent tear gas through the house.

“The incident provided a stark example of the benefits of mobile platforms capable of opening doors and ascending stairs in tactical missions involving armed suspects,” state police said in a statement. “In addition to providing critically important room clearance and situational awareness capabilities, the insertion of Roscoe into the suspect residence prevented the need, at that stage of response, from inserting human operators, and may have prevented a police officer from being involved in an exchange of gunfire.”

Moreira later appeared in court, where authorities said he fired more than 30 rounds during the course of the standoff. His attorney spoke briefly outside of court, calling this “a very serious case.”

The day after Roscoe was shot, police brought it to its manufacturer, Waltham-based Boston Dynamics, to have the bullets removed and assess the damage, police said. The company is hoping to keep the dog for research, and state police are getting a replacement.

A Boston Dynamics representative confirmed in an email that the state police dog “was the first Spot robot to be shot while ‘on duty.’

“More than that though, Spot keeps people out of harm’s way and aids first responders in assessing dangerous situations. We are proud that Spot safely supported the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad during the recent Barnstable incident involving an armed and barricaded suspect, and we are relieved that the only casualty that day was our robot. It’s a great example of how mobile robots like Spot can be used to save lives,” the email continued.

The company notes that its robots are not allowed to be weaponized.

The company also noted the incident in a blog post released this week about its Spot robots, noting that they have “proven extremely valuable in hostage situations, which are, of course, inherently volatile and present a real risk of imminent danger.”

The company said it’s a way to get officials a close look at such situations without putting humans at risk. Referring to Roscoe, they said simply that the “suspect fired at both responding officers and at Spot, partially disabling the robot. Officers were ultimately able to safely arrest the suspect.”



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Lego requests California police department stop using their toy heads to cover suspect mugshots


The toy company Lego requested a Southern California police department refrain from using the company’s toy heads to hide the identities of suspects in photos shared on social media.

The Murrieta Police Department began using Lego heads to cover people’s faces in November 2022. The edited photos garnered attention last week after the department posted a statement titled “Why the covered faces?” on Facebook.

The police department's "Why the covered faces?" post.
The police department’s “Why the covered faces?” post.Marietta Police Dept. / via Facebook

The online images prompted the toy company to contact the police department on March 19.

Lego “respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content, which, of course, we understand and will comply with,” Lt. Jeremy Durrant said in a statement to the Associated Press.

“We are currently exploring other methods to continue publishing our content in a way that is engaging and interesting to our followers,” Durrant added.

Lego did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lego faces cover the suspects' faces.
A post from February 26 about suspects in a traffic collision involving a parked vehicle the previous night.Marietta Police Dept. / via Facebook

The Murrieta Police Department protects the suspect’s identity in accordance with the law but uploads photos of their faces covered to openly share what is happening in the city. 

“The Murrieta Police Department prides itself in its transparency with the community, but also honors everyone’s rights & protections as afforded by law; even suspects,” the department wrote on Facebook.

The California legislature amended Penal Code 13665 in July 2021 to prohibit law enforcement from sharing photos of suspects arrested for nonviolent crimes. 

Additionally, the state passed Assembly Bill 994 in September 2023, requiring agencies to remove suspect mugshots from social media after 14 days unless special circumstances exist.

The law went into effect in January, according to the department.



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Illinois parole official quits after police say a freed felon attacked a woman and killed her son



SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A state parole board member resigned Monday after recommending the release of a man who a day later attacked a pregnant Chicago woman with a knife and fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son while he tried to protect her, according to authorities.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board’s handling of the case prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker to order that procedures for dealing with situations involving domestic violence be revamped.

Pritzker announced that LeAnn Miller, 63, of Junction submitted her resignation. Miller had prepared a report recommending Crosetti Brand’s release from prison.

The 37-year-old felon had repeatedly violated orders of protection and threatened Laterria Smith of Chicago, police said. On March 13, investigators said that Brand went to Smith’s apartment armed with a knife and assaulted her. When her son, Jayden Perkins, intervened, Brand stabbed him to death, police said.

Smith, 33, remains hospitalized in critical condition but doctors expect her and her unborn child to live. Her 6-year-old son was present during the attack but was uninjured.

A message seeking comment was left at a number associated with Miller’s home and with the Prisoner Review Board. Pritzker said in a news release that she made “the correct decision in stepping down.” The Democratic governor’s spokesperson, Alex Gough, said he was unaware of Pritzker requesting her resignation.

“It is clear that evidence in this case was not given the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve and I am committed to ensuring additional safeguards and training are in place to prevent tragedies like this from happening again,” Pritzker said in a statement.

Following board procedure, two other board members, Ken Tupy and Krystal Tison, concurred with Miller’s draft order, according to a copy of the order provided by the Prisoner Review Board in response to a public records request from The Associated Press. A phone message was left for Tupy. A number for Tison could not immediately be located.

Pritzker ordered the Prisoner Review Board to “engage experts and advocates to design and implement expanded training” in domestic violence cases for the 15-member board. The board and the Department of Corrections will also review procedures for sharing information on cases involving domestic violence. Pritzker said the case might also raise issues which require legislation to broaden officials’ legal authority in such instances.

Brand, who police say had a relationship with Smith 15 years ago, is charged in Cook County with first-degree murder and a half-dozen other violent felonies related to the attack. He had served half of a 16-year sentence for attacking another ex-partner in 2015 when he was paroled in October.

Brand was shipped back to prison in February after being accused of repeatedly contacting Smith, who has an order of protection against him. He turned himself in after Smith reported he was at the door to her apartment on Feb. 1, repeatedly ringing the bell and pulling on the handle.

But when Brand appeared before the Prisoner Review Board on Feb. 26, he denied going to her apartment and his lawyer provided evidence that his electronic monitoring bracelet did not indicate violations of his movement restrictions, according to a copy of the board’s order. He answered other reported parole violations by saying he sometimes worked late hours at a Red Lobster restaurant.

The board determined there wasn’t enough evidence to verify Smith’s claims, although she was not called to testify.



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Police investigating the death of an 8-year-old swimmer found in a pipe of a lazy river at a Houston hotel


HOUSTON — Police in Houston are investigating the death of an 8-year-old girl whose body was found inside a large pipe for a lazy river at a Houston hotel where she’d been swimming with her family.

Aliyah Jaico’s death on Saturday was ruled an accidental drowning by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. It said she died from drowning and mechanical asphyxia, when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing. Her autopsy report is pending.

Police said the girl was found “inside a large pipe in the pool area” and was pronounced dead by paramedics.

A lawsuit filed Monday against the hotel by her mother, Jose Daniela Jaico Ahumada, alleges that the child was sucked into an unsecured opening in the pool’s flow system that was 12 inches to 16 inches wide.

“They had to break up concrete in order to extract her, cut pipe, it was absolutely horrific,” Richard Nava, her mother’s attorney, said Tuesday at a news conference.

The family was staying at the Doubletree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow, which is named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with Hilton Worldwide Holdings. A Hilton spokesperson said they were deeply saddened by the girl’s death and noted that the property is independently owned and operated by a third party. The spokesperson said that Hilton had not been served with a lawsuit and doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

A law office that the Hilton spokesperson said represented the hotel ownership did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Ahumada said in the lawsuit that she’d rented the room so her family could enjoy a day of swimming, an activity Aliyah loved.



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Austrian police given small gifts after protecting Russian Embassy, told to reject them in future


BERLIN (AP) — Austrian police officers who provided security around the Russian Embassy on the day of that country’s presidential election were given small presents as they left, Vienna police said Tuesday. Police were told to reject such gifts in the future.

Receiving the gifts from the Russians — paper bags containing low-value items such as calendars and boxes of chocolates — didn’t constitute misconduct under the service law for Austrian civil servants, the Vienna police department said in an email responding to questions about local media’s reporting on the issue.

But it “leaves an unwanted impression that does not do justice to the professional approach of the officers at the scene,” the department added. This, it said, was pointed out to officers and they were instructed to “reject in a friendly but firm way such courtesies, even if only of a low value, in the future.”

Russians living abroad stood in line to vote at Russian embassies and consulates in several European cities on March 17, the last day of the highly orchestrated presidential election that gave Vladimir Putin another six-year term.

A few days earlier, the Austrian government had announced that it was ordering two diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Vienna to leave the country, and an official said the expulsions were related to spying activities.

Vienna police were posted to protect the embassy on March 17. The police department said that officers were in contact with embassy employees and occasionally entered the building.

The Austria Press Agency reported that, after the last voters left the embassy that evening, at least six officers from the police and another department followed, at least three of them carrying gift bags with a Russian emblem. According to the report, one officer said police went in and out of the building to use the toilets.



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Pakistani police say 5 Chinese nationals and their local driver were killed in a suicide attack


PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan rammed his explosive-laden car into a vehicle Tuesday, killing five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver, police and government officials said.

The attack happened in Shangla, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police chief Bakhat Zahir said. He added that the five killed were construction workers and engineers heading to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan, where they worked.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province borders Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks there in recent years.

Authorities said the bodies were transported to a nearby hospital, and that security forces started a massive search in the area to look for accomplices. Police also launched an investigation into the attack.

Tuesday’s attack came less than a week after Pakistani security forces killed eight Baluchistan Liberation Army militants who opened fire on a convoy carrying Chinese citizens outside the Chinese-funded Gwadar port in the volatile southwestern Baluchistan province.

The BLA wants independence from the central government in Islamabad.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack in a statement on Tuesday and offered condolences to the families of the deceased. He wrote: “The enemy has targeted Chinese citizens who are the friends of Pakistan,” without elaborating who he was referring to. He also vowed to ”deal with an iron hand” those responsible, and expressed hope the attack wouldn’t negatively impact Pakistani-Chinese relations.

Naqvi also visited China’s embassy in the capital, Islamabad, where he briefed the Chinese ambassador, Jiang Zaidong, about the attack, promising a full investigation, according to the ministry of interior.

Thousands of Chinese nationals work in Shangla on projects relating to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which includes a multitude of mega projects such as road construction, power plants and agriculture.

The CPEC, also known as the One Road Project, is a lifeline for Pakistan’s cash-strapped government, currently facing one of the worst economic crises. It is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global endeavor aimed at reconstituting the Silk Road and linking China to all corners of Asia.

Chinese laborers working on CPEC-related projects in Pakistan have come under attack in recent years.

In July 2021, at least 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a bus carrying several Chinese and Pakistani engineers and laborers, prompting the Chinese companies to suspend work at the time.

Since then, Pakistan has beefed up security on CPEC-related projects.

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Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this report from Islamabad.



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Brazilian police launch investigation into Bolsonaro’s 2-night sleepover at Hungarian embassy



Brazil’s Federal Police on Monday launched an investigation into former President Jair Bolsonaro’s two-night stay last month at the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia, amid widespread speculation from his opponents that he may have been attempting to evade arrest.

A Federal Police source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to The Associated Press that it was undertaken in response to a report from The New York Times, which featured security camera video of the Hungarian ambassador welcoming Bolsonaro on Feb. 12 and footage of Bolsonaro from the rest of his stay. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, one of the leaders of a global far-right movement, is a key international ally of his.

The visit took place just days after Federal Police seized Bolsonaro’s Brazilian and Italian passports and raided the homes of his top aides as part of a probe into whether they plotted to ignore 2022 election results and stage an uprising to keep the defeated leader in power.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing regarding this investigation, and multiple others targeting him.

Were the Federal Police to obtain an arrest warrant for the former president, officers would not have jurisdiction to enter the Hungarian embassy due to diplomatic conventions restricting access.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a statement on Monday that there was nothing amiss about his embassy stay.

“In the days he was at the Hungarian embassy, by invitation, the former Brazilian president spoke to countless authorities from the friendly country for updates on the political scenarios of both nations,” his lawyers said in the statement. “Any other interpretations … constitute an evidently fictional work, with no connection to the reality of the facts.”

Speaking at his party’s headquarters in Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro told supporters he gets many calls from Orbán to discuss politics.

“To this day I have a relationship with some heads of state around the world,” Bolsonaro said. “If I had my passport, I would have traveled to Israel.”

Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a short statement that it had summoned Hungary’s ambassador Miklos Halmai to explain why Bolsonaro was his guest at the embassy.

Bolsonaro flew to the U.S. in the final days of his term, in December 2022, just days before his supporters stormed the capital in a failed bid to oust President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from power. He remained in South Florida for three months.

Some of Bolsonaro’s political rivals seized on the news Monday to call for his arrest, alleging that he once again is signaling plans to escape.

“These images just reinforce that Bolsonaro is a confessed fugitive,” Alexandre Padilha, Lula’s minister of institutional relations, told reporters in Brasilia, citing Bolsonaro’s stint in the U.S. last year. “But what the courts and the Federal Police will do with these images (published by The New York Times) isn’t for me to say.”

Augusto de Arruda Botelho, a criminal lawyer who has been an outspoken critic of the former president, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “Bolsonaro’s act of hiding in the embassy is a classic motive for decreeing preventive detention.”

“It is one of those situations used as an example in books and classrooms,” he added.



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