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Half naked man hijacks school bus www.privateofficer.com
Quick thinking by a dozen teenagers may have avoided an apparent school bus hijacking from turning tragic, said witnesses.
At about 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, an Atlanta Public Schools bus ran off of Boulevard Road after Arris Pitmon, 23, forced his way onto the bus transporting Forrest Hills Academy students and began attacking the driver and a student.
Pitmon boarded the bus as it stopped at Boulevard and Burroughs Road, school district and Atlanta police officials said.
He briefly fought with the driver, forcing her out of the seat and taking control of the bus. He attempted to drive the bus, but then went after the driver who had gone to the back of the bus with the students.
As other students escaped through the back emergency exit, one-by-one, along with the bus driver, a 16 year old male tried to take control of the steering wheel and fought with Pitmon.
Eventually, the bus jumped a sidewalk, slid down a hill and crashed into a fence.
While all of this was going on, gardeners Billy Rainey and Lamar Frazier were working nearby on the grounds of Abundant Life Church of God in Christ.
“We just saw a bunch of kids running and screaming about someone trying to take the bus,” said Rainey.
Traffic halted on Boulevard.
“The lady bus driver was asking someone in a vehicle for a phone,” said Frazier.
Rainey, Frazier and their boss, Corey Turner, surrounded the bus, trapping Pitmon inside.
“He was just sitting inside, butt naked and trying to drive the bus,” said Rainey, adding that Pitmon was without a shirt and his sweat pants were down to his knees.
Eventually Pitmon got off the bus through the back door. He fell into the arms of a group of people, including parents and bystanders, who by then had also surrounded the bus, said Rainey.
“They started attacking him,” he said.
Turner managed to calm the people down, stopping them from attacking Pitmon, and pinned him to the ground until the police arrived.
One injured student and the bus driver were transported to Grady Hospital and Atlanta Medical Center, said police and school officials.
There were no serious injuries, said Keith Bromley, school district media relations director.
“They were transported as a precaution,” he said.
If the kids had not gotten out when they did, said Frazier, the bus could have flipped over.
“That was the smartest thing those kids could have done,” he said. “It saved those kids.”
Nashville jury unable to reach verdict in security officer trial www.privateofficer.com
The jury could not reach a verdict in the second-degree murder case against former security guard Jeremy Holmes.
Judge Randall Wyatt individually polled the jury on the fifth day of trial after nearly six hours of deliberation. All of the 12 members agreed the jury was definitely divided, and no more discussion could help them reach a consensus on whether the man who shot Adam Villegas committed second-degree murder.
Prosecutor Amy Eisenbeck said they scheduled the case for discussion next month, and they will decide whether the case can be resolved or if it will go to a second trial.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed the jury didn’t reach a verdict,” Eisenbeck said. “Mainly we’re disappointed for the Villegas family, because they don’t have any closure.”
Villegas was fatally shot in the neck in May 2008 in the parking lot of the Marathon Sports Bar. Holmes’ attorney argued that he fired in self-defense because he feared he would be run over by Villegas’ car. Prosecutors said Villegas challenged his authority, and he was several feet away from the car when he fired in anger.
Jeremy Holmes says he drew his semi-automatic weapon on Adam Villegas fearing he was about to be run over by Villegas’ car as he left a South Nashville bar.
Prosecutors say the 6-foot-7-inch Holmes was just angry his authority as a security guard was being questioned when he decided to put a bullet in Villegas’ neck.
A jury deliberated for four hours Thursday on whether the death of 34-year-old Villegas was self-defense or murder. They did not reach verdict and will continue to deliberate today.
Holmes, 29, is charged with second-degree murder in the May 2008 shooting death, although the jury could decide to convict Holmes of a lesser charge.
Villegas had been drinking at the Marathon Sports Bar at Nippers Corner, and was sitting in his car talking with a friend when Holmes approached. Holmes was working as a guard for SecurityWise in the parking lot.
Defense attorney Rich McGee painted Holmes as a diligent security guard who first got behind Villegas’ car to prevent him from driving drunk. He said Villegas used his Saturn Ion as “a battering ram,” pushing Holmes out of his way by backing the car up and striking him. Holmes believed he was about to be run over as Villegas finished backing out of his parking spot, according to McGee.
There’s a car turning on him, and you have to react,” McGee said. “He did. But it’s not a crime. It’s a tragedy.”
Prosecutors said there was no proof that Holmes, with a laser-equipped sidearm in his holster, was in fear for his life. Holmes did not testify.
Heated words reported
Witnesses said Holmes told Villegas to leave the parking lot, but got behind his car after heated words were exchanged and Villegas attempted to go.
“He had a person challenging his authority as a security guard,” prosecutor Amy Eisenbeck said. “That made him mad.”
Friends of Holmes and Villegas testified that Villegas put the car in reverse and started to back it up in a “herky-jerky” way, and he struck Holmes. Holmes continued to stand behind the car as Villegas continued to back into him, but Holmes was not hurt and did not fall down. Villegas put the car in drive and started to pull forward.
According to testimony from witnesses at the scene, Holmes had to walk to catch up to the car as it shifted gears and pulled forward. He drew his gun and pointed it, according to testimony, and told Villegas to get out of the car.
“(Expletive) you. Shoot me,” witnesses heard Villegas say.
Holmes fired, and the car rolled forward and struck a pole. On the 911 call, Holmes said a guy who tried to run him over had gotten in a car accident. A witness called in to report shots fired. Eisenbeck wondered during her closing argument if the response would’ve been quicker if emergency responders knew a man had been shot, and then crashed his car.
“When Adam Villegas challenged (Holmes), that’s when he got shot,” she said. “The defendant did not have the right to choose when Adam Villegas died.”
Police said Villegas had a blood alcohol content of 0.24 and cocaine in his system.
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Seven people slain, 2 others injured in GA.
BRUNSWICK, Ga. Aug 29 2009 – Seven people were killed and two critically injured at a mobile home located on a historic plantation in southeastern Georgia, officials said Saturday.
Glynn County spokeswoman Candice Temple wouldn’t say how they were killed. The county’s police chief, Matt Doering, said authorities discovered the victims when responding to a 911 call shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday.
Doering said the injured were taken to an area hospital.
Police said the probe was a homicide investigation. A department news release said some of the victims had been tentatively identified, but it didn’t provide any names or ages. It also didn’t say whether police were looking for any suspect.
The mobile home park consists of about 100 spaces and is nestled among centuries-old live oak trees near the center of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation’s Web site.
The 1,100 acre tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress in 1777.
Laurens obtained control of the South Altamaha river lands and named it New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation’s Web site.
Security officer captures 2 burglars www.privateofficer.com
A security officer patrolling the school heard some noise and went to investigate.
The security officer found Joseph Cox, 24, and a juvenile and police said they were trying to steal copper pipes from under a bathroom sink at the East End Community School on Nassau Street.
According to a police report, the security officer was able to detain both suspects while police were called.
Cox is facing a breaking and entering charge. The teenager was taken to the Juvenile Justice Center.
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Security interrupts car thefts, police chase leads to crash www.privateofficer.com
Two of three vehicles stolen from an auto auction in Daytona Beach early this morning escaped pursuit while a third crashed on Interstate 4 near Deltona as it was tailed by a Volusia County sheriff’s helicopter, authorities said.
No one was injured in the crash, and a juvenile suspect is in custody, sheriff’s spokesman Brandon Haught said.
The Sheriff’s Office was called by a security guard at 4:45 a.m. reporting that three call at 4:45 a.m. that three vehicles had just been stolen from Daytona Auto Dealers Exchange at 1305 Indian Lake Road, Haught said.
A sergeant at the dispatch center on Indian Lake Road jumped into his patrol car and saw the vehicles about to make a turn at Indian Lake Road and International Speedway Boulevard. The sergeant tried to pull over one of the vehicles but they all fled, running the red light at the intersection, Haught said.
One car split from the group and the sergeant eventually lost sight of them, Haught said. Shortly after, two of the stolen vehicles were seen on I-4. Deputies did not see the third vehicle and do not know if it got onto I-4 or sped into Daytona Beach, Haught said.
“VCSO units did not engage in a high-speed chase and Air One (sheriff’s helicopter) then spotted them and followed them,” Haught said. “We immediately started notifying other agencies like Florida Highway Patrol and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.”
Haught said deputies were authorized to use stop sticks, but he did not immediately know this morning whether any were used.
As the vehicles sped west on I-4, one of the vehicles, a sport utility vehicle, crashed near Saxon Boulevard, Haught said. The driver of the second vehicle, an Infiniti, slowed down as if intending to pick up the driver of the crashed SUV, but then sped off, said FHP spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes.
The apparent driver bailed out of the crashed vehicle and ran into the woods but was tracked by a police dog and apprehended near a house in Deltona. The suspect, 15-year-old Jeremiah Pinkerd of Orlando, faces charges of burglary, four counts of grand theft auto and one count of fleeing and eluding. He was taken to the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center, Haught said.
The suspect appears to be uninjured from both the crash and the pursuit that followed, Haught said.
Two other troopers pursued the second vehicle through Seminole County and into Orlando. The troopers stopped the chase after the vehicle, which was traveling erratically, exited I-4 onto Fairbanks Avenue, Montes said. “We shut down the pursuit because of the traffic on Fairbanks,” Montes said. “There were no other crashes related with this incident.”
Deputies later found a vehicle reported stolen out of Orlando parked outside the dealership and believe the three suspects used that car to get there.
The only description authorities have of the other two suspects who got away were that they were young black males. The missing cars include a dark colored Infiniti G35 and dark passenger car of an unknown model, Haught said. Neither vehicle had a license plate.
Anyone with information about the two suspects at large is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (386) 323-0151 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida, toll-free, at (888) 277-TIPS. Tipsters can also provide information by texting “TIP231 plus the message” to CRIMES. Anyone who provides information to Crime Stoppers will remain anonymous and can qualify for a reward of up to $1,000.
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