(UVALDE, Texas) — Lawmakers in Texas on Sunday unveiled the first detailed investigative report into the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, laying out the lapses in preparation, training and judgment in connection with one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Their report, which painted the most complete portrait to date of the massacre, described a series of “shortcomings and failures of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and of various agencies and officers of law enforcement.”
Members of a special committee of the Texas state legislature met Sunday with family members of the victims to present their findings and field questions from a community still seeking answers nearly two months after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.
Family members of the victims say the anguish of losing their loved ones has been compounded by a failure on the part of state and local leaders to articulate what took police officers nearly 77 minutes to confront and kill the 18-year-old gunman.
Senior law enforcement and elected officials have repeatedly shared misleading or contradictory information about the police response, testing the community’s faith in leadership. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he had been “misled” by authorities after conveying inaccurate information to the public days after the shooting — a blunder that he said left him “livid.”
In those first hours, officials painted a picture of heroism and fast action by police — but in the days and weeks since, that portrait has been turned on its head.
“There are people who deserve answers the most, and those are the families whose lives have been destroyed,” Abbott said. “They need answers that are accurate, and it is inexcusable that they may have suffered from any inaccurate information whatsoever.”
Last month, at a hearing before a state Senate panel, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw called the police response an “abject failure” and claimed that enough officers and equipment arrived on the scene within three minutes to “neutralize” the shooter.
Surveillance video of the shooting obtained and published last week by ABC affiliate KVUE and the Austin-American Statesman showed dozens of officers congregating outside the adjoined classrooms where the gunman had fired indiscriminately on students and teachers.
Lawmakers had planned to release the surveillance video on Sunday after meeting with the families, but were preempted earlier this week when media outlets broadcast the footage — enraging some family members of the victims, who said they felt blindsided by how things were handled.
During his testimony last month, McCraw reserved his harshest criticism for Uvalde ISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who he accused of “[deciding] to place the lives of officers before the lives of children.” Arredondo, who has not responded to multiple interview requests from ABC News, told the Texas Tribune last month that he did not know he was the on-scene commander during the shooting.
ABC News’ Alexandra Dukakis contributed to this report.
(ENGLEWOOD, Fla.) — An elderly woman was killed after she fell into a pond along a Florida golf course and was attacked by two alligators, authorities said.
The incident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Friday at the Boca Royale Golf and Country Club in Englewood, about 30 miles south of Sarasota.
The woman fell into a pond along the course near her home “and struggled to stay afloat,” the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“While in the water two alligators were observed near the victim and ultimately grabbed her while in the water,” the sheriff’s office said.
The woman, who has not been identified by authorities, was pronounced dead at the scene.
An alligator trapper from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded and removed the alligators as part of the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said an 8′ 10” alligator and a 7′ 7″ alligator seen near the pond were removed. The agency said it is unknown at this time if the alligators were involved in the incident, but that it doesn’t plan to remove any additional alligators from the area at this time.
“The FWC and Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office will be working jointly on this investigation until cause of death is determined by the Sarasota County Medical Examiner’s Office,” the agency said in a statement.
No further information was released by the sheriff’s office amid the investigation.
The Boca Royale Golf and Country Club told ABC News it doesn’t have a comment at this time.
The country club is located in a 1,000-acre private gated community that features lakes and nature preserves, according to its website.
Fatal alligator bites are rare. From 1948 to 2021, Florida reported 442 unprovoked bite incidents from alligators, 26 of which resulted in fatalities, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In the last 10 years, the state has averaged eight unprovoked bites a year that require medical treatment, the agency said.
The likelihood of someone being seriously injured during an unprovoked alligator incident in Florida is roughly one in 3.1 million, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
A man believed to be looking for Frisbees in a lake was killed in a suspected alligator attack in late May in Largo, a city in the Tampa Bay area, police said.
(INDIANAPOLIS) — The attorney for an Indiana physician who performed an abortion for a 10-year-old girl from Ohio has sent a cease and desist letter to the Indiana attorney general over “false” and “defamatory” statements made about the doctor.
The cease and desist letter, which was sent Friday and obtained by ABC News, is the latest development stemming from the unsettling case, which has become a flash point in the national debate on abortion post-Roe v. Wade.
The incident first came to light in a July 1 report by the Indianapolis Star. Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an OB-GYN at Indiana University Health Medical Center in Indianapolis, recounted to the publication that she had a 10-year-old patient from Ohio who, at over 6 weeks pregnant, traveled to Indianapolis for an abortion after her state’s so-called heartbeat law banning most abortions went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
The report gained national attention, with President Joe Biden referencing the IndyStar report during remarks made while signing an executive order on abortion access last week.
Meanwhile, some Republican leaders, including the Ohio attorney general, doubted the veracity of the report. The Wall Street Journal editorial board said it was “too good to confirm.”
On Tuesday, Columbus police arrested a 27-year-old suspect who allegedly confessed to raping the 10-year-old victim, who police said had traveled to Indianapolis to obtain a medical abortion on June 30. The suspect was ordered held on $2 million bond on Wednesday.
After the suspect was arraigned on the felony rape charge, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, said his office was investigating Bernard “to prove if the abortion and/or the abuse were reported,” as is required under Indiana law.
“The failure to do so constitutes a crime in Indiana, and her behavior could also affect her licensure,” he said in a statement. “Additionally, if a HIPAA violation did occur, that may affect next steps as well. I will not relent in the pursuit of the truth.”
A termination of pregnancy report filed with the Indiana Department of Health obtained by ABC News shows that Bernard did report the abortion within three days of the procedure, as required by state law. Indiana University Health also released a statement Friday that an investigation has found Bernard to be in compliance with privacy laws.
The Columbus Division of Police, which was alerted to the girl’s pregnancy on June 22, was already investigating the rape case by the time the abortion was performed.
The cease and desist from Bernard’s attorney, Kathleen DeLaney, cites “false and defamatory statements” Rokita made to Fox News on Wednesday that “cast Dr. Bernard in a false light and allege misconduct in her profession.”
While appearing on Fox News Wednesday night, Rokita claimed that Bernard was an “activist acting as a doctor with a history of failing to report.”
“So, we’re gathering the information, we’re gathering the evidence as we speak and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure, if she failed to report,” he said. “And in Indiana it’s a crime to not report to intentionally not report.”
The cease and desist states that Rokita continued to make statements that “further cast Dr. Bernard in a false light and mislead consumers and patients,” even after the release of the termination of pregnancy report showed she complied with reporting laws.
“We are especially concerned that, given the controversial political context of the statements, such inflammatory accusations have the potential to incite harassment or violence from the public which could prevent Dr. Bernard, an Indiana licensed physician, from providing care to her patients safely,” DeLaney stated.
“Moreover, to the extent that any statement you make exceeds the general scope of your authority as Indiana’s Attorney General, such a statement forms the basis of an actionable defamation claim,” she continued.
The cease and desist comes a day after DeLaney said they were considering legal action “against those who have smeared my client, including Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.”
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Rokita’s office said it will review the cease and desist “if and when it arrives.”
“Regardless, no false or misleading statements have been made,” the spokesperson said.
On Friday, Bernard’s colleague, Dr. Tracey Wilkinson, detailed in a guest essay in the New York Times how Bernard “became a target of a national smear campaign for speaking out about her 10-year-old patient.”
Bernard was supposed to co-write the essay, about the “chilling effect” the Supreme Court’s decision has had on medicine, until Rokita said his office will be investigating her, according to Wilkinson, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.
“So I’m writing this essay myself, not only to bring attention to the chilling effect on medicine we’re seeing at this moment — but also because I’m terrified that I or any one of our colleagues could soon face what Dr. Bernard is going through after delivering care to our patients,” Wilkinson wrote.
After news broke of the arrest in the rape case, Bernard commented on Twitter Wednesday that her “heart breaks for all survivors of sexual assault and abuse.”
“I am so sad that our country is failing them when they need us most,” she said. “Doctors must be able to give people the medical care they need, when and where they need it.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Kevin Kraus contributed to this report.
(NEWARK, N.J.) — If you travel more than a mile to a supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store with affordable and healthy food options in an urban area, and more than 20 miles in a rural area, you live in what’s considered the definition of a food desert by the U.S Department of Agriculture.
This lack of access impacts roughly 17 million Americans according to the Food Access Research Atlas. The data also shows people who live a half mile or more from food options in urban areas, or 10 miles in rural areas, increases that number to more than 53 million Americans, including those in New Jersey.
In January 2021, New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy, signed into law the Food Desert Relief Act, part of the Economic Recovery Act, which will provide about $240 million in funding to combat this issue in the state.
The Food Desert Relief Act provides tax breaks to stores that open in under-served areas, grants loans and other assistance for stores of all types to operate in food deserts.
The Community Food Bank of New Jersey estimates that 800,000 New Jersey residents are dealing with food insecurity, and almost 200,000 of them are children.
53-year-old Robert Brown from Newark, NJ, makes a two-mile commute from his home to a ShopRite, without a car, telling ABC News that pricing and options are a factor “I live like 20 blocks away, but we have a store downstairs, where I live at, but they’re so high, I come here. There’s no need in spending my money there, and I’m getting a little bit of nothing when I can get everything I need.”
45-year-old Katrina Moseley must take it a step farther, as the two-mile journey to ShopRite, is her second grocery shopping trip of the day, “I started at 8oclock this morning, I went to Walmart, got back home like 1130, rest for a little bit, caught the bus what time is it, I got here like 12 something, 12 or one something. Shopped. I take my time in the store to go thru stuff, and now I’m waiting for transportation to go home.”
Moseley depends on two different bus lines, taxis, and relatives to pick her up, as she spends her day-off from work to feed her family of four, including a daughter with a baby on the way, “So I go to Walmart to get the bulk of the meat because it lasts, you can make like… One of their packets of meat you can make like 2-3 meals out of it, all depends on how you do it.”
Transportation back is also an issue for Brown, knowing some options are not practical, “f I would’ve tried to get on the bus with this, it would be too much, it would be too much.”
Tara Colton, the Executive Vice President for Economic Security for New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority, says that addressing food deserts, a product of structural racism, neighborhood redlining, and disinvestment, is not as simple as building a supermarket, “You can live next door to the most amazing market or farmer’s market but if you can’t afford to buy
the food that’s in there, or they don’t accept federal nutrition programs like snap, then its inaccessible to you.”
Sustain & Serve NJ initially began as a $2million pilot program to help with food security, in conjunction with supporting the states restaurant industry in 2020. The program has evolved into a $45 million initiative, paying restaurants to deliver ready to eat meals directly to those in need. Colton told ABC News, “I often say it isn’t about bringing people to food, it’s about bringing food to people. And there’s a lot of ways to do that. They can go into a big building, and buy it put it into the truck of a car, but you can also bring it to them more centrally.”
Colton touts the program, “That one dollar you’re spending is keeping the restaurant open, the workers employed and is giving people who often can’t access this kind of food, a healthy fresh nutritious homemade meal.”
For those like Moseley who prefer to cook their own meals, despite the miles long odyssey to multiple supermarkets, the focus isn’t on feeling disenfranchised, but doing what’s necessary for her family, “Those who I gotta worry about, so this is what I do for them, shop. Getting it done, out of the way.”
(CHEYENNE, Wyo.) — Lyle Neiberger would have turned 33 this year. But he is forever 17, frozen in his father Lance’s memory.
“I’ve never been angry at my son. I’ve always been angry at me. Why didn’t I see it? What if I would have done something different?” he lamented, while sitting in his woodshop at his home in central Wyoming.
It’s been 16 years since Lyle died by suicide. Lance Neiberger had no idea his son was contemplating suicide and Lyle left no note behind.
Memories of Lyle line the walls of Neiberger’s woodshop – a hobby father and son bonded over. “We’re all in the cowboy-up attitude, you know. Real men don’t cry. Real men don’t have problems,” he said.
Here in Wyoming, nicknamed the Cowboy State, “real men” are taught that when they have a problem, they pick up and fix it without looking back, Neiberger said.
“We all have something go wrong, and we all need help at times. And when you learn that you don’t need help and you just go on, maybe that makes life a lot tougher,” Neiberger said.
U.S. suicide rates are the highest they’ve been since World War II. At 30.5 per 100,000 persons in 2020, Wyoming’s rate is more than double that of the national average and the highest rate per capita in the nation, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.
At 71, Neiberger has taken on the responsibility of helping to curb Wyoming’s high suicide rate by telling Lyle’s story to schools in the surrounding area and by heading the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Task Force. He hopes he can save at least one life.
The task force meets once a month in Casper, Wyoming, to plan events, pool resources and keep track of the lives lost.
At nearly 60,000 residents, Casper is Wyoming’s second largest city. Casper Police Chief Keith McPheeters told ABC News that his officers respond to suicide calls twice as often as they do for shoplifting.
“I just want to go over the statistics that we are showing. Year to date last year, my officers had responded to 256 persons who were considering suicide and, this year, we have seen an absolute negligible change; so, year to date from May 15, 253,” he said at a recent task force meeting.
Sixteen years ago, one of those calls came from Lance Neiberger – when he found Lyle at home. Neiberger said he had no idea his son was suicidal.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. Now, after his death, it was horrible. It was just miserable. It was crying. It was the whys, the kicking yourself, everything. Today, I can often think about Lyle just with a smile on my face. I came to a point where I realized that it was Lyle’s decision and his decision only,” he said.
When asked why he thinks the suicide rate in Wyoming is so high, he had many reasons, one of them the state’s rural landscape.
Wyoming, accounting for its land mass, is the tenth largest state in the country; by population, it’s the smallest. So, even if you wanted help – help might be a long way from you.
Andrea Summerville, the executive director of the Wyoming Association of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Centers, showed ABC News’ Trevor Ault the area right outside of Casper. She pointed out miles and miles of sweeping plains with very few people in sight.
“You’ll hit a major town about every hundred miles. And when I say a town, I mean a town of 5,000 people,” she said. “You might get a call from somebody that’s 100 miles away from the nearest town, but you might also just not have the mental health professionals. Wyoming has been a mental health professional shortage area, always, designated by the Rural Health Agency. The entire state. Not just an area, not just a town, but the entire state.”
Now federal legislation to help any American in crisis reach a counselor by phone is set to launch July 16. It will transition the ten-digit suicide hotline into a three-digit number, 988. But in Wyoming, even that will be an uphill climb to adopt.
“There are some logistics tied with 988, specifically things like geo location. So with 911, everybody knows if you call 911 they know where you’re at to locate your cellphone. You’re not going to find a cell tower every 50 miles or so here. And so making sure that we are meeting those infrastructure challenges is probably going to be our biggest, most expensive long-term project,” Summerville said.
The 988 hotline is being touted as a one stop shop for anyone experiencing a mental health crisis, but funding the project so that health care providers are ready for the influx of calls is proving to be challenging.
Similarly to 911, 988 will be funded by a monthly fee on all phone lines. The fee is determined by each state.
The Department of Health and Human Services expects the volume of calls to double within the first year. However, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, only Colorado, Nevada, Washington, and Virginia have enacted a comprehensive plan for funding.
The Central Wyoming Counseling Center is one of two suicide hotlines centers already up and running in Wyoming. It opened two years ago.
The workers know this state’s layout, its culture, its resources or lack thereof– which is essential in a crisis.
They’ve secured $2.1 million to expand the suicide hotline to a 24-hour service, most of it federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act that Wisconsin Gov. Mark Gordon appropriated, but with the state legislature refusing to expand Medicaid, federal funding will soon run out.
Summerville told ABC News they currently only have the funding to continue 988 for two more years. “In terms of putting it into operation in Wyoming, It’s going to take a lot of work. We only have four crisis stabilization centers across the state. So how do we move people across the state?”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the 45,979 who died by suicide in the United States in 2020, nearly 70% were white men. Men are less likely to reach out for help, a fact that Dr. Amanda DeDiego, an Assistant Professor at the University of Wyoming, is all too aware of.
“There’s that heavy, heavy stigma about help seeking behavior. And then there’s not a lot of options for you to be able to seek care in these rural communities and have your confidentiality. It’s not that your provider is not honoring the confidentiality. It’s just that everybody knows everything,” DeDeigo said.
Along with Lisa Scroggins, the Executive Director of the Natrona County Library, she is spearheading a new project to create spaces that sidestep the issue of stigma. It’s called Wyoming Public Access to Telehealth Services or WyPATHS. It will be a booth placed in local libraries that is soundproof and provides a space for people to be able to connect through telehealth to their health care providers.
They plan on training library staff across Wyoming in suicide prevention.
“A big part of the training is being empathetic to your fellow citizen or resident. So seeing the person who walks into the door and realizing their situation may be different than yours and looking for signs that a person may be needing help and then saying, ‘Hey, right here, here’s your help,’” said Scroggins.
Lance Neiberger still thinks about how Lyle didn’t come to him about his negative thoughts when he reflects on the loss of his son.
“He didn’t feel comfortable enough to come to me and say, ‘Dad, life’s kicking my butt. I’m really struggling here.’ So, I think what he was doing was acting up and as his drama increased, I got angry. I didn’t like the drama. We weren’t communicating about the problem. So he took his drama to another level and I took my anger to another level. And at the time of his death and when he needed me the most, I wasn’t there for him because we were going in opposite directions instead of working together,” he said.
Neiberger said he considered taking his own life during the six months after Lyle died. “It wasn’t until our daughter gave birth to our granddaughter that I really realized what I would have missed had I not lived back then.”
As Neiberger stared at Lyle’s gravestone, decorated with mementos from friends and family, he couldn’t help but wonder what his son’s life would have been like had he lived past 17. But he is determined to keep having these very uncomfortable conversations in the hopes that Lyle’s death will not be in vain.
“That’s what keeps me going. My faith in the fact that I truly believe I’ll see him again someday. I’ll be with him. That’s what’s given me the hope to continue,” he said.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The rollout of the national 988 mental health hotline is expected on July 16.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(NEW YORK) — As the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline prepared for the launch of a nationwide three-digit number on Saturday, local, state and federal government officials gathered in Philadelphia Friday to discuss the effort to get the new nationwide 988 calling code.
“There’s been a lot of work to get to this day,” Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, said. “But what we’ve done is we’ve made it easy. 988 is easy to remember. Now we have to make it clear to the entire country that it is a sign of strength to call it and use it, and not a sign of weakness.”
The Lifeline has been in operation at a ten-digit number (1-800-283-TALK) since 2005, has taken over 20 million calls in that time, and that number will continue to route callers to the Lifeline following the launch of 988. However, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (a division of HHS) anticipates the increased ease of use for the three-digit number will dramatically increase calls to the service.
Tim Jansen, chief executive officer of Community Crisis Services Inc. in Hyattsville, Maryland, told ABC News that call volume at his facility has gone up over the last few years, and he expects the increase will continue amid the launch of 988.
“I think we’re going to see a significant uptick in calls,” Jansen said, adding that his facility has been working to increase their staff over the last six months in preparation. “I think the big thing is [988 will] make the number much easier to remember.”
The Biden administration has put an unprecedented amount of funding toward launching the new number for the Lifeline. Following the addition of $150 million for the Lifeline as part of the recently passed gun safety legislation, the federal investment in 988 stands at $432 million.
Jansen says that funding, along with about $5 million in funding from Maryland that will be distributed across the state this fiscal year, has helped his facility increase the salary of existing staff and hire about 150 new employees. CCSI now has about 225 employees available to answer calls, chats and texts for the Lifeline in its capacity as both a local center and one of the national backup call centers.
Experts say that, ideally, Lifeline calls should be answered at the local level so callers can be more easily connected with follow-up resources in their area, but there are several national backup centers (such as CCSI) that can field calls from anywhere in the country if a particular center is unable to answer.
Jansen explained that local centers have about 30 seconds to answer a call before it is forwarded to the next nearest local or regional call center. If it is not answered by that center within about three minutes, he added, it then goes to the national backup network.
Nationwide, HHS officials say, the influx of federal funding for the Lifeline has enabled call centers to field 17,000 more calls, 37,000 more chats and 3,000 more texts in June of this year, compared to 2021.
While the federal funding has increased the ability of the Lifeline to respond nationwide, answer rates still vary from state to state, as much of the funding for these call centers happens at the state level.
When Congress designated 988 as the new number for the Lifeline in 2020, it gave states the authority to levy fees on cell phone bills to help sustainably fund the service, similar to how 911 call centers are funded.
So far, only four states have passed that legislation. Some others, like Maryland, have allocated some funding for the launch. Experts worry, however, that many states will not be able to accommodate the volume of calls anticipated after the new number launches.
HHS officials continue to emphasize the need for state-level investment for this system to be built out long-term and able to handle the volume of calls.
“Failure is not an option,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said at the launch news conference on Friday.
“988 is a three digit number, but it really is more.” Becerra said. “It’s a message — when you need someone, we will be there.”
The transition to a fully reimagined mental health crisis care system — the ultimate goal of 988 — will take time, officials say.
While most of the callers reaching out to the Lifeline during a mental health crisis can be deescalated over the phone, some require additional care, which can include a visit from a mobile crisis response team, a trip to a crisis stabilization unit or in some cases, inpatient hospitalization.
Those additional elements of what experts call the “crisis care continuum” are currently available in some cities across the country, but that portion of the crisis care system will take additional time to build out, they say.
“One of the challenges with 988 is it’s going to expose the fact that there are not enough vendors, not enough therapists, not enough counselors,” Jansen said.
Despite the expected hiccups in the overall nationwide rollout, he said, “To me, one life saved is success,” adding, “But I think that the ultimate gauge of what makes [988] successful is if we ultimately see a reduction in the rates of suicide. That’s going to take some time.”
An employee for nearly 26 years at the center he now runs, Jansen said, “It’s one call, one text, one chat at a time … [Every day] You can walk out of here knowing that I helped somebody with a safety plan. Somebody said that their only option was dying and now they have other options.”
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text the new three digit code at 9-8-8. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org or dial the current toll free number 800-273-8255 [TALK].
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — A pilot who landed his plane on a Missouri highway early Friday after running out of fuel was arrested for allegedly flying while intoxicated, authorities said.
Troopers responded to reports of a small plane blocking the westbound lanes of I-70 near the Kansas City suburb of Grain Valley around 3 a.m. local time.
“Interstate 70 (westbound lanes) BLOCKED by an AIRCRAFT!” Missouri State Highway Patrol tweeted while warning commuters to expect delays.
The plane managed to avoid hitting any vehicles but had a “minor collision” with a guardrail, Missouri State Highway Patrol said. The pilot, who was the only person on board, suffered minor injuries, it said.
Authorities determined that the plane had run out of fuel when the pilot radioed in and made an emergency landing on the highway.
Interstate 70 (westbound lanes) BLOCKED by an AIRCRAFT!
Initial report is a small plane landed on the highway for an unknown reason. The pilot was the only person onboard w/ minor injuries. NO vehicles were hit!@MoDOT_KC is responding due to lane closure. Expect delays. pic.twitter.com/Q6SIIJhXRk
The pilot, identified by authorities as 35-year-old John Seesing was arrested after he was “found to be intoxicated,” Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
Sgt. Andy Bell, a public information officer for Missouri State Highway Patrol, said troopers suspected impairment by a combination of alcohol and drugs.
Missouri State Highway Patrol records show that Seesing, of Prairie Village, Kanas, was arrested on charges including DWI, careless and imprudent driving involving a crash, felony possession of a controlled substance, felony unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.
Seesing was treated at a local hospital for his injuries and underwent blood testing in connection with the charges, Bell said. He has since been released, he said.
It is unclear if Seesing has an attorney.
The single-engine Piper plane was towed from the scene and all lanes on the highway had reopened by 5:30 a.m.
Troopers believe the pilot was flying from Florida to the Kansas City Downtown Airport.
Flight Aware records show the plane left the Kansas City area early Thursday morning before arriving in Daytona Beach, Florida, then started making its way back toward the Kansas City area later that night.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating the incident.
(AKRON, Ohio) — Tensions between protesters and law enforcement have persisted amid weekslong demonstrations following the fatal police shooting of 25-year-old Jayland Walker.
As protesters seek accountability from police in Walker’s death, local and national advocacy groups have released lists of demands for the mayor and local law enforcement.
“Without a new approach to policing and public safety broadly, policymakers keep taking us through the same cycle of violence; more militarization and surveillance, more prisons, and more Black people murdered by police,” said Sakira Cook, of the social justice organization Color Of Change. “Yet, we are not deterred. Together, alongside our members and partners, we’ll continue to work to end our violent policing system, redefine public safety, and invest in Black communities.”
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has offered to sit down and have meetings with the various advocacy groups, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
Walker was unarmed when he was fatally shot in Akron, Ohio, by police on June 27 after a traffic stop turned into a pursuit. He was running away when eight officers opened fire on him, body-camera footage released by the city showed.
Officials said they attempted to pull over Walker for a traffic violation and an equipment violation with his car. He allegedly refused to stop, which set off a chase that ended in his death.
Officials said a flash of light seen in body camera footage appeared to be the muzzle flash of a gun coming from the driver’s side of Walker’s car.
In a second body camera video, officers are heard radioing that they heard a shot being fired from Walker’s car. The footage shows the officer following Walker’s Buick off Route 8 and continuing the pursuit on side streets.
At one point, Walker slowed down and jumped out of the passenger side door before it came to a full stop. As Walker ran away from police, several officers simultaneously fired several bullets, fatally shooting him.
A gun was later recovered inside the car, but Walker was unarmed when he was shot.
The officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave and have not been named.
The incident is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“When an officer makes the most critical decision in his or her life as a police officer, it doesn’t matter where in the country this happens, when they make that most critical decision to point their firearm at another human being and pull the trigger, they’ve got to be ready to explain why they did what they did,” Police Chief Steve Mylett said in a July 3 press conference, as the department released body camera footage.
A list of demands from Color Of Change and social advocacy group The Freedom BLOC for Akron officials has already received more than 3,000 signatures.
It calls for the abolition of the use of tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, the release of all protesters from jail with charges dropped and records expunged, as well as an order for police to stop arresting protesters.
The demands also include funding an unarmed traffic enforcement unit for routine traffic stops, as well as a unit to respond to mental health calls and anti-violence community programs.
Demonstrators also demand the city create a citizen-led commission to reallocate money from the police department to other community programs that invest in housing, public transportation, health care and more.
The Department of Justice Community Relations Service has offered to be mediators in these conversations between officials and the organizations, and “we believe this is the best path forward for our community,” a spokesperson from the mayor’s office told ABC News.
Akron officials have implemented a curfew to quell protests, saying that the nationwide outrage about Walker’s death has put the city on edge.
Two relatives of police shooting victims – Jacob Blake Sr., the father of Jacob Blake, and Bianca Austin, an aunt of Breonna Taylor – were arrested on rioting charges while protesting the police shooting in the city.
According to local reports from WKYC, demonstrators claimed to have been tear-gassed while protesting.
The Akron Police Department did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the allegations.
Ohio officials called for protesters to pause demonstrations on July 8, after two people were killed in unrelated gun violence in other parts of Akron.
“This has been a very difficult week for Akron, almost two weeks for Akron. The heat is very very high, tensions are running high in this city,” Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett said at a press briefing that night. “We’re asking for people to stand down for at least 48 hours, let the temperature come down.”
Both the family and police have called for peaceful demonstrations after officials said some protests turned violent. Some officers also claim to have received threats due to their involvement in the department.
“So long as the participants are non-violent, we are going to give them space,” said Lt. Michael Miller in a July 11 press conference.
Following that press conference, the legal team representing Walker’s family held a press conference in response.
“We don’t stand for any violence towards anyone, whether it be a police officer or a citizen but here’s the fact of the matter: the police are in control here, aren’t they?,” attorney Bobby DiCello said. “When the community is hurting, they need to let that hurt out and not take it personally.”
The city officially declared July 13 a day of mourning in Walker’s name in a new resolution to quell the tension.
In it, officials call for peaceful protesting and healing throughout the community. “The City urges that the friends and family of Jayland Walker, and the entire Akron community, be surrounded with love and peace, and that the City would begin to heal,” the city said.
(LAFAYETTE, Ind.) — An Indiana police department is praising a “heroic” 25-year-old Good Samaritan who rescued five children from a massive house fire.
Nicholas Bostic saved an 18-year-old who was home with her siblings, ages 2, 6 and 13, Lafayette Police Lt. Randy Sherer said. Bostic also rescued a friend of the 13-year-old who was there spending the night, Sherer said. The siblings’ parents weren’t home, Sherer said.
The blaze broke out around 12:30 a.m. Monday, Sherer said. Bostic was driving by when he spotted the house fully engulfed in flames and pulled over, he told ABC News, beating first responders to the scene.
Bostic didn’t have his phone to call 911, so he ran to the back of the house to see if he could spot anyone, he said.
Bostic went inside and raced upstairs, where he found the 18-year-old, 2-year-old and two 13-year-olds, and he led them down the stairs and outside, Bostic said.
“I asked them if anybody was left in there — and that’s when they told me that the 6-year-old was,” Bostic said.
Bostic said he ran back inside to look for the 6-year-old girl, but the thick smoke made it hard to see and the overwhelming heat scared him.
That’s when he heard the little girl whimper, which he said gave him the courage to keep going. All the while, he was terrified the house would explode.
“The last thing I could do was waste a second panicking,” he said.
Once Bostic found the 6-year-old, he punched through a window so they could escape, he said.
Bostic was hospitalized for severe smoke inhalation and a serious cut to his arm, police said. He has since been released.
All of the children are doing well, Sherer said.
Sherer called Bostic’s actions “heroic. The city in a statement said Bostic has “impressed many with his courage, tenacity, and steadfast calmness.”
Bostic said he’s spoken with the children’s parents.
“The dad said he’d love to take me out for a dinner,” he said. “They have wide-open arms welcoming me as a part of their family.”
“I’m glad I was there at the right time, the right place,” Bostic added.
And Bostic, still recovering, said he wouldn’t hesitate to race into another house fire.
“If opportunity came again and I had to do it, I would do it,” he said. “I knew what I was risking. I knew the next second it could be my life. But every second counted.”
(OAKHURST, Calif.) — The Washburn Fire in central California has now scorched 4,700 acres across Yosemite National Park to Sierra National Forest as of Friday morning, officials said, growing over 300 acres overnight.
According to park officials, the fire is 27% contained, with more than 1,500 firefighters assigned to it.
The persisting fire began near the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and now is claiming parts of Sierra National Forest, park officials said.
Since its first few days, when the fire measured 1,591 acres with 0% containment and 360 firefighters assigned to the fire, the threat to the area’s famous sequoia trees remains a major concern.
As climate change effects worsen, such fires become an increasing threat to the durable, celebrated sequoia trees, and measures continue to be taken to protect the area.
Some of the tree trunks were wrapped in fire-resistant foil, a technique used in September to protect trees in Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest from fire.
A sprinkler system has also been set up within the grove to keep the sequoias’ trunks moist, officials said.
The continued spread has led to further road closures, including Forest Routes 5S43, 5S06 (Mt. Raymond Rd.), 5S22 and 5S37.
The closures are intended to assist firefighters in getting resources to and from the fire and to keep the public out of harm’s way, officials said.
The cause of the fire is still said to be under investigation. However, at a public meeting on Monday night, Yosemite’s park superintendent said it appears to have been started by people.
The fire is expected to take weeks for the fire to be fully extinguished, as it is happening in “difficult terrain” due to heavy fuel lingering nearby after a significant tree mortality event from 2013 to 2015, according to Yosemite Fire and Aviation Management.
The fuel, consisting of both standing trees and those that have fallen to the ground, is presenting safety hazards to firefighters, officials said.
Further closures due to the fire include the Highway 41 entrance to Yosemite National Park, meaning that visitors will need to use Highway 120 or 140 to access the Yosemite Valley.
However, the remainder of the park remains open, despite heavy smoke on Sunday that affected air quality in the area and obstructed the park’s views.
The Tenaya Lodge, just south of Yosemite, remains open.
The community of Wawona and the Wawona Campground continue to be under a mandatory evacuation order, according to officials.
An evacuation shelter is available at the Mariposa New Life Church, located at 5089 Cole Road.
