Fleeing shoplifters crash into teens-killing 1 www.privateofficer.com

 

Baytown TX Oct 29 2012 Police in Baytown, Texas have released dash-cam video from a high-speed chase that ended in a fiery crash that claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy.

Investigators say Jennifer Rene Jenkins stole a comforter and pillows from a Sears store on Friday and got into a pickup truck driven by Shannon Joe Chauncey.

Police said when they spotted the couple shoplifting at a nearby Academy Store, they tried to make an arrest.

Investigators said Chauncey backed up his pickup truck, hit the police car and took off down Garth Road, hitting a car traveling on Garth and Rollingbrook.

The 17-year-old driver of the car, Shay Hollinghead, was hospitalized in critical condition.

The passenger, 16-year-old Shawn Williams, was killed.

Dash-cam video showed Chancey’s truck weaving in and out of cars as it sped down the street.

Officers in pursuit said they slowed down to not endanger the public.

The crash was not caught on video by the dash-cam.

Williams was getting a ride home from work with his friend when the crashed happened and was less than five minutes from his house.

Chauncey was charged with evading arrest resulting in death and denied bail.

Charges of evading arrest, theft and possession of a controlled substance are pending against Jenkins.

Yale student driving keg-filled U-Haul to tailgate party charged in death of woman www.privateofficer.com

 

NEW HAVEN CT May 7 2012 – A judge has signed an arrest warrant for a Yale student who police say killed one woman and injured two others while driving a keg-filled U-Haul to a Yale football tailgate.

Sources confirmed that a warrant was signed by a judge charging Brendan Ross with misdemeanor motor vehicle counts in connection with the 2011 fatality before the Yale-Harvard game in New Haven.

Ross, who was accompanied by his father, and New Haven attorney William Dow, turned himself in Friday evening at New Haven headquarters.

He is charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and reckless driving.

Dow, the defense attorney for Ross, described the case as a “tragedy.”

He had been in contact with the State’s Attorney’s office and came to an agreement that Ross would surrender on the warrant Friday afternoon after he finished his last final exam at Yale. Ross finished his last final about 30 minutes before he came to police headquarters with his father and attorney. There was no bond required so he was released on a written promise to appear in court.

“If there is any good that comes out of this, Brendan has expressed his condolences from the beginning to the family and those condolences were well received,” Dow said.

David Ross said his family had been in contact with the family of the woman who died.

“We did go to the wake and we did go to the funeral. It was a very emotional opportunity to express our condolences,” he said.

Ross came into police headquarters at about 5:50 p.m., was patted down, placed in handcuffs and brought to the booking room.

Ross was driving to a tailgating area before “The Game” when the U-Haul he was driving accelerated and ran down three women who were walking in the grassy area.

Nancy Barry, 30, of Salem, Mass., was killed. Two other women were injured, including Sarah Short, who has sued Ross and U-Haul in Superior Court.

She claimed the truck was being driven too fast, was not under proper control and was unsafe.

Short, a Yale student from New Haven, said her injuries were caused by negligence of Ross and the U-Haul Company of Connecticut.

Ross passed a field sobriety test at the scene so no blood alcohol test was administered.

Elizabeth Dernbach, 23, also was injured.

After the fatality, Yale tightened tailgating rules. It bans kegs at university athletic events and other functions, and oversized vehicles, such as box trucks or large commercial vehicles, from university lots at athletic events unless driven by a pre-approved authorized vendor.

The university in January had announced that Yale’s president and officers reviewed Yale tailgating policies and those of other universities, and after visiting other stadiums, decided to put the new policy in place.

The new rules also require students and guests to leave the tailgating area after kickoff.

The policy, effective immediately, also said a new vehicle-free area for tailgating will be created, and students who drive can park in another area at the Bowl. Continued…

The release went on to say that Yale is reviewing logistics of Yale Bowl events, including parking, traffic and parking control, security, shuttles and signs, and will implement any changes before next football season.

Goshen College professor murdered during robbery www.privateofficer.com

 

GOSHEN IN Oct 10 2011 – Police say James Miller, a 58-year-old Goshen College professor, was killed Sunday morning at his home during a robbery attempt. The crime scene is located just off the college campus.

WSBT talked with Miller’s neighbors just hours after the attacks occurred.

“I heard these cries for help – ‘Help me! Help me!’” said Sandford Lehman.

Around 1 a.m. Lehman heard those cries coming from the area of the nearby home of Jim and Linda Miller in the 1700 block of Wildwood Court. Police say a man broke into the residence and attacked the couple.

“I was trying to determine whether it was a man or woman,” said Lehman about the cries for help. “It was just simply ‘Help me!’ numerous times and at the same time a dog was barking loudly.”

Linda was able to get away from the intruder and call 911. Two minutes later, police arrived at the home and pronounced Jim dead at the scene.

Linda had been injured. Police say she was taken to Goshen General Hospital and then transferred to Memorial Hospital. Her condition is currently unknown.

The suspect had left the scene before police arrived.

Neighbors, community caught off guard

“Usually, you know, in small town like this, things like this don’t happen,” said Kevin Yoder, who lives nearby. “So it’s usually South Bend, Chicago, places like that”

“It has just been very quiet, very nice, and then to have something like this happen…just, it’s very frightening,” said neighbor Brenda Houser.

It’s not only the neighbors who are left in shock and disbelief – the entire Goshen College campus is in mourning. Professor Miller was a very popular and well-known teacher in the biology department.

“We are a very close-knit community, so people not only knew Professor Miller…most of our students have a first name relationship with all of our professors,” said Richard Aguirre, Goshen College director of public relations. “And so Jim was known and respected and loved by students, and Jim touched the lives of countless students and faculty members here. He was responsible for primary instruction to our upper-level classes in the sciences having to do with biology, so all of our nursing students, all of the pre-med students, pre-veterinary, a lot of our health specialties would have taken classes from Jim Miller or are taking them now…so he is well known by many nurses in our area, as well as physicians, who came through Goshen College.

Statement from Goshen College’s president

“It is with profound sadness that I inform you of the death this morning of Professor James S. Miller, 58, a professor of biology at Goshen College since 1980.

“The Goshen Police Department has issued a press release to the news media reporting that as the result of a home invasion robbery, Professor Miller and his wife, Linda, were attacked early on Oct. 9. Jim died at the scene and Linda was wounded, and was being treated at a regional hospital.

“Police are conducting an investigation into the death, so we encourage all members of the campus community to cooperate fully. Police have asked anyone with information in connection with the case to please contact the Goshen Police Department at (574) 533-8661 or the Michiana Crime Stoppers at (800) 342-STOP.

“Words cannot adequately convey our grief over the enormity of this tragedy. We offer our prayers and support to the Miller and Jeschke families and we ask that you please keep them in your prayers. We also will be holding in our prayers Professor Miller’s students, colleagues, friends and alumni.

“In the coming hours we will pass along any information we receive about arrangements. We also will be contacting Professor Miller’s students about arrangements being made for his classes.

“At 8 p.m. tonight, there will be a brief time of prayer and reflection for the campus community outside the south entrance to the Science Building to give all an opportunity to grieve and to pray for our brother and friend.

“May God grant us peace.

Source:wsbt

SC beach jogger killed by plane www.privateofficer.com

HILTON HEAD, S.C. March 16 2010 — A 38-year-old father of two was jogging and listening to his iPod when he was hit from behind and killed by a small plane making an emergency landing on the beach, officials said Tuesday.

Robert Gary Jones, of Woodstock, Ga., was killed instantly on Hilton Head Island on Monday evening, said Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen.

The single-engine plane had lost its propeller and the pilot’s vision was blocked by oil on the windshield, Allen said.

Jones was married and had two children, the coroner said.

“Apparently he did not see nor hear the plane,” Allen said.

“The plane was basically gliding.”

Hilton Head fire and rescue spokeswoman Joheida Fister said the identities of the pilot and a passenger on the Experimental Lancair IV-P plane were not released. The two were not injured.

The plane started leaking oil at about 13,000 feet and tried originally to make it to Hilton Head Airport, Fister said.

The oil on the windshield blocked the pilot’s vision and he told authorities the propeller came off the plane. When he tried to land on the beach near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa, the plane hit the jogger and came to rest a little farther down the beach, she said.

“I would have to say it’s pretty unusual,” Fister said.

FAA records show the aircraft was registered to Edward I. Smith of Chesapeake, Va., with a certificate issued in 2004. Nobody answered early Tuesday at a phone number listed for Smith and a message was not immediately answered.

The plane left Orlando at 4:45 p.m. and was headed for Virginia, Fister said. The four-seater plane has a turbine engine, can be built from a kit and can fly up to 370 mph, according to the Lancair Web site. The IV-P model has a pressurized cabin.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating, Fister said.

An FAA spokeswoman referred inquiries to the NTSB.