(NEW YORK) — Chef Mario Batali and his former partner Joe Bastianich violated state and city human rights laws with a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination at restaurants they owned, the New York attorney general said Friday announcing a settlement.
The company, formerly known as the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, agreed to pay $600,000 to at least 20 former employees who were sexually harassed while they worked at the famed restaurants Babbo, Lupa or Del Posto.
“Celebrity and fame does not absolve someone from following the law. Sexual harassment is unacceptable for anyone, anywhere — no matter how powerful the perpetrator,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement. “Batali and Bastianich permitted an intolerable work environment and allowed shameful behavior that is inappropriate in any setting.”
This agreement comes after a four-year investigation, the attorney general’s office said, looking at allegations between 2016 and 2019 that included unwanted sexual advances, inappropriate touching and sexually explicit comments from managers and coworkers, in addition to forcible groping, hugging and kissing by male colleagues.
The investigation also included accusations of sexual harassment by Batali of servers.
The investigation also looked into instances of discrimination, as female employees said chefs and managers supported male employees and made misogynistic comments, including commenting on women employees’ appearances.
The agreement includes $600,000 going to at least 20 former employees. It also includes revising training at B&B restaurants to be more comprehensive and encourage “a safe, healthy work environment,” the attorney general’s office said.
Batali has been accused of sexual misconduct by several women. In 2019, he “fully divested” from the restaurants that made him famous. Before that, he had apologized and stepped away from day-to-day business responsibilities.
In 2019, he pleaded not guilty to an indecent assault and battery charge stemming from an alleged 2017 incident with a woman in a Boston restaurant.
(NEW YORK) — Chef Mario Batali and his former partner Joe Bastianich violated state and city human rights laws with a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination at restaurants they owned, the New York attorney general said Friday announcing a settlement.
The company, formerly known as the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, agreed to pay $600,000 to at least 20 former employees who were sexually harassed while they worked at the famed restaurants Babbo, Lupa or Del Posto.
“Celebrity and fame does not absolve someone from following the law. Sexual harassment is unacceptable for anyone, anywhere — no matter how powerful the perpetrator,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement. “Batali and Bastianich permitted an intolerable work environment and allowed shameful behavior that is inappropriate in any setting.”
This agreement comes after a four-year investigation, the attorney general’s office said, looking at allegations between 2016 and 2019 that included unwanted sexual advances, inappropriate touching and sexually explicit comments from managers and coworkers, in addition to forcible groping, hugging and kissing by male colleagues.
The investigation also included accusations of sexual harassment by Batali of servers.
The investigation also looked into instances of discrimination, as female employees said chefs and managers supported male employees and made misogynistic comments, including commenting on women employees’ appearances.
The agreement includes $600,000 going to at least 20 former employees. It also includes revising training at B&B restaurants to be more comprehensive and encourage “a safe, healthy work environment,” the attorney general’s office said.
Batali has been accused of sexual misconduct by several women. In 2019, he “fully divested” from the restaurants that made him famous. Before that, he had apologized and stepped away from day-to-day business responsibilities.
In 2019, he pleaded not guilty to an indecent assault and battery charge stemming from an alleged 2017 incident with a woman in a Boston restaurant.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Some lessons on the civil rights movement, white supremacy, the women’s suffrage movement and Martin Luther King Jr. may soon be cut from Texas’ public education requirements, according to legislation being considered in the state — one of several bills targeting critical race theory around the country.
The Texas Senate has passed Senate Bill 3 in a continued effort to proscribe education on racial inequality in K-12 education. It removes several Texas Education Code lesson requirements that were proposed by Democrats in prior education legislation to be implemented in the upcoming school year. It also stipulates that lessons cannot teach that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex” or make students “feel discomfort, guilt, [or] anguish” about privilege or systemic racism.
The concept critical race theory, an academic discipline that analyzes how racism is perpetuated in U.S. laws and policies, has become a lightning rod for conservatives around the country amid the racial reckoning spurred by George Floyd’s death.
At least 26 other states have introduced or implemented similar legislation on race education by Republican lawmakers, echoing concerns about racial division.
Opponents say that children should not be made to feel responsible for past injustices based solely on the color of their skin or be forced to accept the idea that the United States and its institutions are not only structured racially but perpetuate that racism.
Some teachers interviewed by ABC News have said critical race theory isn’t being taught in grades K-12 and instead is reserved for academic institutions. Some Texas educators told ABC they believe the fight against “critical race theory” is a veiled attempt to turn back the clock on racial equality.
What’s in the bill
The new legislation, SB3, would remove several staples of U.S. history education from state requirements, according to Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association.
The state currently requires teaching “the history of white supremacy,” “the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong; the Chicano movement; women’s suffrage and equal rights; the civil rights movement” and more.
However, SB3 would cut those requirements — a move that some teachers say signals a growing effort to remove specific lessons from classrooms.
“Specifically editing out that you can’t teach that white supremacy is morally wrong — that is deeply concerning,” said Jennifer Lee, a teacher in Killeen, Texas. “I think the angle here is just … preserving the ideals behind white supremacy.”
Though the new legislation doesn’t necessarily ban these lessons from being taught, removing them from the list of requirements means they may come under scrutiny due to the vague, anti-critical race theory language of this bill.
Gov. Greg Abbott already signed anti-critical race theory into law in June with HB3979 — stating that teachers are banned from linking systemic racism to the “authentic founding principles of the United States.” But teachers and advocates say it is so vague that it could infringe on their ability to have truthful dialogue about history and racism with their students.
SB3 was added to the state legislature’s special session after Abbott signed HB3979 into law, saying “more must be done” on critical race theory in schools.
And SB3 has been called troubling by education groups including the National Education Association for its potential to censor teachers and students in the classroom.
‘Provide guardrails’ against ‘animosity’
Defenders of the bill, including Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes who sponsored the bill, say that some lessons on racial inequality blame white students for systemic racism and creates tension between students of different backgrounds.
“This bill is meant only to provide guardrails against imposing division and animosity on our students,” Hughes said before the July 16 Senate vote. “Since [critical race theory] is so prevalent in higher education and since we see it popping up in public schools, that’s why it needs to be addressed.”
Other proponents of anti-critical race theory bills, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have said that some lessons on race could lead to the “indoctrination” of public school students toward progressive political leanings.
Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said that students have so much to gain from education about America’s racial history, including those that would be erased by this new legislation.
“We want to keep honesty in education,” Molina said. “We want to make sure that we teach our students the truth, the whole truth, the good, the bad, the failures, the successes.”
Molina said teachers have spoken up at hearings and called their local legislators to denounce the new legislation — but said lawmakers are not listening.
“They don’t know what’s happening in our public schools,” Molina said. “We still want to celebrate women’s suffrage, we still want to celebrate the Chicano movement, we still want to celebrate people of color, so that our students see themselves in the history and so they see themselves in the future.”
The Texas Education Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Molina said that Texas districts have yet to announce what punishment for teaching these subjects might look like for teachers.
Concerning shift toward ‘patriotic’ education
Some teachers told ABC they are worried about retaliation, termination, or other forms of punishment. But others are more concerned about what this shift toward more “patriotic” education means for their students.
“One of the first things Hitler did was start to reform education and impact the way that history is taught. One of the first things Mussolini did was go through and incorporate patriotic education,” Lee said. “Education has always been that first line of defense in preserving a certain way of thinking.”
Former President Donald Trump, among several other conservatives, have become proponents of “patriotic” education in response to critical race theory and The New York Times’ 1619 project — which dissects the founding of the United States of America and its legacy of slavery. Trump’s proposed “1776 commission” aims to envision U.S. history in a positive light, instead of through a condemnatory, racial lens.
San Antonio teacher Christopher Green said he believes that lessons on race, inequality and oppression are vital to helping children navigate the world and understand our society.
“Rather than adding a more diverse perspective to the teaching of history, it’s eliminating things that really need to be in there to understand the full picture of the American story,” Green said.
The bill will now be headed to the state House, but it will likely be stalled due to protests from Texas Democratic representatives. They have fled the state in protest of new voting restrictions, meaning there won’t be enough members to conduct business according to House rules.
(WASHINGTON) — An Ohio man who is a self-proclaimed “incel” was charged by a grand jury for an alleged plot to conduct a mass shooting on a number of female university students, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Tres Genco, 21, is charged with one count of attempting to commit a hate crime, which is punishable by up to life in prison because it involved an alleged intent to kill. He is also charged with one count of illegally possessing a machine gun, which is punishable by up to 10 years, the DOJ said in a statement.
According to the indictment, on Jan. 15, 2020, Genco allegedly conducted surveillance at an Ohio university and searched online topics, including “how to plan a shooting crime” and “when does preparing for a crime become an attempt.”
Genco identified himself online as an “incel” or “involuntary celibate” and had active online profiles that supported the incel movement — a community predominantly of men who harbor anger toward women and “seek to commit violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention to which they believe they are entitled,” said the DOJ statement.
Genco also allegedly stated in a written manifesto that he would “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge.”
As part of their investigation into the alleged plot, law enforcement agents reportedly discovered a note that they say was written by Genco indicating his hope to “aim big” and kill up to 3,000 people, according to the DOJ statement. The note also allegedly indicated his intention to attend military training, which investigators found he completed in December 2019.
In March 2020, local police officers reported finding among other items, a firearm with a bump stock attached, several loaded magazines, body armor and boxes of ammunition in the trunk of Genco’s vehicle, the DOJ statement said.
Hidden inside a heating vent in Genco’s bedroom, police said they also found an unmarked semi-automatic pistol.
Genco’s detention hearing is scheduled for Friday in the Southern District of Ohio.
(NEW YORK) — The Bootleg Fire is now the third-largest fire in Oregon state history as firefighters try to limit its spread amid extremely dry conditions.
The blaze had grown to nearly 400,000 acres in southern Oregon by Thursday morning and remained just 38% contained.
While the wildfire is affecting mostly rural areas, it has climbed to the top three fires to engulf the state, according to records dating back to 1900. The Long Draw Fire in 2012 scorched 557,028 acres, while the Biscuit Fire in 2002 burned 500,000 acres.
In comparison, the Beachie Creek Fire that destroyed more than 1,200 structures in northern Oregon in 2020 burned through 193,573 acres.
This year’s dry season, exacerbated by the megadrought and climate change, has created tinderbox conditions in the West.
Nearly 90 large wildfires are burning in 13 states, with more than 2.5 million acres burned so far this year.
Thousands of homes are threatened and have been evacuated in Oregon due to the Bootleg Fire.
Evacuations have also been ordered near Lake Tahoe due to the Tamarack Fire, which had burned through more than 50,000 acres by Wednesday morning and was 4% contained.
The Dixie Fire in Butte County, California, had scorched nearly 104,000 acres by Thursday and was 17% contained.
Air quality alerts were issued earlier in the week on the East Coast due to the large amounts of smoke being emitted from the fires.
The possibility for new fires to spark remained high on Thursday. Red flag warnings have been issued in parts of Montana and Idaho due to gusty winds and low humidity, while dry thunderstorms caused by the heat of the Bootleg Fire could bring lightning strikes to the drought-ridden region.
Currently, more than 46% of the contiguous U.S. is in a moderate or worse drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and some of the regions that need rain the most are not forecast to receive any major precipitation that could alleviate the fires.
Rain is not expected for California and the Pacific Northwest. However, parts of the Southwest are seeing some relief due to monsoon storms.
ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman, Melissa Griffin and Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.
(CALHOUN, Ga.) — A Georgia family is mourning the loss of their 5-year-old son who they say died after contracting COVID-19.
Wyatt Gibson, 5, died on July 16 after suffering a stroke, according to a statement written by his grandmother, Andrea Mitchell, and shared with ABC News.
Mitchell described Wyatt, of Calhoun, Georgia, as a “typical healthy, happy boy” who became sick last week with what the family originally thought was food poisoning.
After two days of symptoms, including vomiting, no appetite and lethargy, Wyatt’s parents took him to a local hospital. He was then transferred to a children’s hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was diagnosed with strep and staph infections and COVID-19, according to Mitchell. Viral respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, can pre-dispose a person to secondary bacterial infections such as bacterial pneumonia or meningitis.
Days later, Wyatt suffered a stroke and died, according to Mitchell. It is unclear which infection caused the stroke. The official cause of death is unknown and hospital officials declined to comment citing federal privacy laws.
“All we know is a bright light has left. He left rainbows everywhere for us to see. We’ll be constantly reminded, saddened, then maybe in time, make peace with it,” she wrote. “For there was so much life in this 5-year-old boy. So much joy. So maybe it’s not the quantity of life that we will miss. But the quality of life. That was pure bliss.”
Wyatt’s father, Wes Gibson, was also diagnosed with COVID-19 at the same time as his son, according to Mitchell. It is unclear whether any of Wyatt’s family members were fully vaccinated.
Gibson, a local law enforcement officer, and his wife Alexis, who also share a daughter, declined to be interviewed.
The number of young children diagnosed with COVID-19 is also increasing. There were more than 23,000 new pediatric cases diagnosed in the U.S. last week, twice as many as the end of June, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Children under the age of 12 are currently not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Public health experts have stressed the importance of parents and caregivers being fully vaccinated to help protect those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
People who are fully vaccinated, a term used to describe a person two weeks after their last shot, are still considered safe from serious illness or death, even if they are exposed to the delta variant, which is quickly becoming the dominant variant spread in the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 99.5% of hospitalizations are people who weren’t immunized.
(PADUCAH, Ky.) — Ten people have been injured in an explosion at a Kentucky Dippin’ Dots factory.
The explosion took place Wednesday at a Dippin’ Dots-owned facility on Industrial Drive in Paducah. The site is not where the ice cream is made, but where ingredients for a third-party company are produced, officials said.
A truck was unloading liquid nitrogen when the eruption took place, but it’s unclear exactly what caused the explosion, Paducah police spokeswoman Robin Newberry said to local ABC Kentucky affiliate WPSD Wednesday.
The 10 injured people were taken to two local hospitals, Newberry said.
Dippin’ Dots, which is headquartered in Paducah, told ABC News: “This is a terrible accident … At this moment, our focus is on the well-being of our fellow employees who were injured.”
The company said they’re working with authorities for a complete investigation into the incident.
Dippin’ Dots CEO Scott Fischer also released a statement to ABC News: “My heart is with our employees, especially those injured in this afternoon’s terrible incident. I care deeply for our employees — they are family to me. Please join me in praying for our employees.”
(NEW YORK) — The Supreme Court last month remanded a lower court’s ruling that police officers who used excessive force on a 27-year-old man who died in their custody were protected because they didn’t know their actions were unconstitutional.
And it’s a decision that could have lasting effects, according to legal experts including Jon Taylor, an attorney who represented the family of that man, Nicholas Gilbert.
“The Supreme Court has summarily vacated a pro-officer decision by a lower court in an excessive force case,” Taylor told ABC News. “So this is a big deal, not only because of what the Supreme Court said but also because of what it will be for the record going forward.”
Steve Art, an attorney who submitted a brief on behalf of the ACLU for the case, shared Taylor’s sentiments.
“It’s extremely rare for the Supreme Court to summarily reverse a decision finding that police did not use excessive force,” Art told ABC News. “The Supreme Court is sending a clear signal to lower courts that they cannot reflexively decide cases for police officers when they use brutal tactics on restrained citizens.”
Gilbert died in a St. Louis Police Department holding cell in December 2015 after six officers restrained him for 15 minutes, handcuffed him and placed him in shackles, and forced him face down on the ground. Police at the time said they believed Gilbert to be suicidal and said they acted to prevent him from taking his own life. The officers were never criminally charged.
Gilbert’s parents, Bryan Gilbert and Jody Lombardo, sued the officers after his death, and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them.
The officers pushed to receive qualified immunity — meaning they’d be shielded from personal liability unless proven to have violated clearly established constitutional rights — when confronted with the lawsuit in 2016, and in 2019, that immunity was granted by a federal judge in the 8th Circuit Court who did acknowledge that excessive force had been used.
But the Supreme Court on June 28 remanded the case back to the lower court, ruling that the 8th Circuit Court did not clearly define whether “prone restraint” was constitutional.
“The Eighth Circuit didn’t get to the qualified immunity question because it didn’t find a constitutional violation in the first place,” Elizabeth Beske, a law professor at American University, told ABC News. “By sending the case back, the Supreme Court is signaling to the Eighth Circuit that excessive force cases require a hard look at specific facts and circumstances and can’t be dismissed lightly.”
Part of the ruling stated: “It is unclear whether the court thought the use of a prone restraint — no matter the kind, intensity, duration or surrounding circumstances is per se constitutional so long as an individual appears to resist officers’ efforts to subdue him.”
But the Supreme Court’s decision was not unanimous — conservative justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
Alito wrote the dissent, which included: “We have two respective options: deny review of the fact-bound question that the case presents or grant the petition, have the case briefed and argued, roll up our sleeves and decide the real issue. I favor the latter course, but what we should not do is take the easy out that the court has chosen.”
“That Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett signed on to this opinion sends a powerful message that this Court is paying attention and will not brook casual treatment of these serious social issues,” Beske added.
This decision could have a lasting impact and set a precedent for future cases involving excessive force, Taylor, the lawyer for Gilbert’s family, explained.
“I think the Court recognizes this political moment, in particular, that there is heightened attention being paid to these kinds of issues,” Taylor added. “I think that partially explains why the Supreme Court didn’t let this go.”
Art, who submitted the brief for the ACLU, added: “We expect that the Lombardo case will result in juries hearing more cases brought by the loved ones of those killed and hurt by police, rather than those cases being decided by judges before trial.”
This is not the first time the 8th Circuit has weighed in on an excessive force case. It also had jurisdiction over cases involving Michael Brown and George Floyd, who each were killed by police after being arrested for misdemeanors — Brown in 2014 and Floyd in 2020. In 2017, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld, in a 2-1 decision, a lower court ruling that Ferguson, Missouri, police were not entitled to qualified immunity from a lawsuit by Dorian Johnson, who was stopped along with Brown.
“The Court’s efforts in this area are likely responsive to the ongoing racial justice movement and to political pressure on the Supreme Court itself. Calls to ‘pack’ the court will grow if it is widely perceived that the conservative Court is significantly out-of-step with public opinion,” Beske said.
Gilbert at the time was homeless and under the influence of methamphetamines when he was arrested for a nonviolent misdemeanor, police said. After Gilbert died, officers said they believed he was experiencing a “mental health crisis” when he was in his cell, prompting officers to engage and restrain him.
Taylor said Gilbert “was lifting his chest in an attempt to breathe and saying it hurts, asking them to stop, and then he died. An autopsy found the cause of death to be asphyxiation induced by forcible restraint.”
While race-related issues perhaps have been more widely documented in cases where police have been accused of using excessive force, another major factor is mental illness. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, persons with an untreated metal illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement.
The Department of Justice has warned about these risk factors in the past, and law enforcement agencies across the country have been asked to train police on how to properly handle potential mental illness episodes. Officers have been cautioned that persons suffering such an episode, or who may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, are at a particular risk of dying by asphyxiation when held face down because it restricts their breathing.
In a statement provided to ABC News, Gilbert’s mother said her son was “kind and loving” and “the type of young man who gives the shirt off his back. He was bubbly and happy all the time. He was a happy young man and he had plans in life.”
“I want my son to finally have his day in court in front of a jury,” she added. “I want my son’s case to be an example — something that changes the way police treat people.”
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — Hospital officials in Northeast Florida are urging people to get vaccinated as the number of COVID-19 patients is approaching or exceeding levels they saw during the worst of the pandemic amid “rampant” spread of the more transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.
UF Health Jacksonville, in Florida’s most populous city, has seen an “exponential” rise in the number of COVID-19 patients admitted in recent weeks, Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at the hospital, told ABC News.
The previous record for the highest number of daily COVID-19 patients across its two campuses — 125 — was set in January; the hospital surpassed that three days ago, Neilsen said, and is currently at 136, with about 40 people in the intensive care unit.
Last week, there were 75 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, 45 the prior week and 20 the week before that, according to Dr. Leon Haley Jr., CEO of UF Health Jacksonville.
“We knew it was most likely due to the delta variant taking a bigger footprint here in the Northeast Florida region because it was so rapid of an increase,” Nielsen said. “Everybody in town is suffering the same fate we are.”
At the Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville hospital, there has been a “significant” increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past three weeks, “approaching our previous peak numbers,” Dr. Ken Thielen, CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida, said during a COVID-19 press briefing Wednesday with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and other local health care leaders.
“This represents a five-fold increase in COVID hospitalizations, and follows many weeks when we only had a handful of hospitalized COVID patients,” Thielen said.
There are other similarities among the area’s hospitals — the COVID-19 patients they are admitting are largely unvaccinated, and they are younger than what they’ve previously seen during the pandemic.
Among UF Health Jacksonville’s COVID-19 patients, 90% are unvaccinated, and nearly 70% range in age from 40 to 69, Neilsen said. Prior to this surge, 75% of the COVID-19 patients were ages 60 and up, he said.
“We’re definitely seeing a shift into a younger demographic of people,” he said.
According to Tom VanOsdol, president and CEO of Ascension Florida and Gulf Coast, which operates a hospital in Jacksonville, over 96% of its COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
“Our median age of our hospitalized patients is 49 — it was in the mid-60s in prior waves of this pandemic,” VanOsdol said during Wednesday’s press briefing. “So it’s a younger demographic who are not getting vaccinated that unfortunately are contracting COVID, and these cases are requiring hospitalization for treatment.”
At Baptist Health in Jacksonville, the COVID-19 patients are “younger, sicker and getting sicker quicker,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Timothy Groover said during the briefing.
In the past month, 44% of COVID-19 patients at the hospital were in their 40s or younger, and “most were previously healthy,” he said.
As the delta variant has quickly become the dominant variant spreading in the United States, Florida is one of four states reporting the highest weekly COVID-19 case rates per capita, with over 200 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Monday, the seven-day average of new cases went up 107.48% in Duval County, where Jacksonville sits, according to the CDC.
At the same time, fewer than half of the state’s residents are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Rates are lagging in Duval County, where 41% of residents are fully vaccinated.
“Vaccines are stagnant here in Northeast Florida, and the delta variant is just running rampant amongst the unvaccinated folks,” Neilsen said.
Neilson attributes the latest surge in part to delta’s rise coinciding with Fourth of July gatherings, but said it’s hard to predict where hospitalizations might be heading “because it spreads so quickly.”
Hospitals in the region are worried about staff burnout and shortages as the pandemic wears on and unvaccinated staff are exposed in the community and also get sick.
“We’re facing a real staffing crisis if this continues,” Nielsen said.
The area health care leaders offered a plea for people to get vaccinated if they haven’t already, and to continue mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing.
Curry also urged residents to get vaccinated — but stopped short of issuing any restrictions.
“The path to moving beyond the surge and preventing future ones is increasing our percentage of vaccinations,” he said during Wednesday’s briefing. “The math is clear — vaccines work. Restrictions to our economy and personal freedoms are not the answer. The answer is getting vaccinated.”
“Hospitals are full and busy because of unvaccinated people, so the solution here is to get the vaccine,” he added.
(MIDDLETOWN, Ohio) — A 14-year-old girl died Tuesday evening after she was pulled from the water at an Ohio theme park, officials said.
Police were called to the Land of Illusion Aqua Adventure Park in Middletown after the teen went under water and did not surface, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office said in a press release that the girl went under at about 5 p.m. and she wasn’t located until a half hour later.
The victim was identified by authorities as Mykiara Jones.
Mykiara was airlifted to Dayton Children’s Hospital, where she later died, police and other officials said.
“This is a tragedy no parent should have to endure,” Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said in a statement. “These are the calls first responders dread and have difficulty dealing with. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.”
An investigation is ongoing.
In a statement released on its Facebook page, Land of Illusion’s owners said it closed down the water park and is cooperating with investigators to determine what happened.
“We ask that you join us in sending thoughts and prayers and our deepest condolences to our guest’s family and friends, as well as to the team members and guests who were onsite last evening during this tragedy,” the owners said.
The Middletown School District put out a statement alerting the community about Mykiara’s death.
Superintendent Marlon Styles said Mykiara was going to be a freshman at Middletown High School in the fall and the teen’s mother worked in the school system.
“We will be wrapping our arms around her during this extremely difficult time,” Styles said of Mykiara’s mother.
The school provided students, faculty and other members with information on counseling services.
“We extend our deepest sympathy and prayers to the family, friends, and teachers of Mykiara. We pray the family finds peace and comfort during this difficult time,” Styles said.
