(LAKE WORTH, TX.) — Two homes have been heavily damaged after a military training aircraft crashed in Lake Worth, Texas, according to the Fort Worth Fire Department.
Two to three patients are being treated at this time, fire officials said.
Additional details were not immediately available.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NORTH PORT, Fla.) — A search for Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, resumed on Sunday in a 24,565-acre preserve in Florida as authorities more than 2,300 miles away combed Grand Teton National Park for clues on the whereabouts of the woman who went missing during the couple’s cross-country road trip.
North Port, Florida, police said a team of officers picked up the search for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve north of Laundrie’s home in North Port. The search began on Saturday but was suspended overnight due to darkness.
“A team of more than 50 looking for anything of note after his (Laundrie’s) parents say this is where he went,” North Port police said in a post on Twitter Sunday morning.
Laundrie has been named by police as a “person of interest” in Petito’s disappearance. The 23-year-old Laundrie, who returned home more than two weeks ago without Petito and has refused to speak to the police, has not been seen since Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.
“Be advised that the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are currently unknown,” an attorney for the family said Friday. “The FBI is currently at the Laundrie residence removing property to assist in locating Brian. As of now the FBI is now looking for both Gabby and Brian.”
North Port police officers accompanied by FBI agents, drones, K-9 and bloodhounds are involved in the search for Laundrie, police said during a briefing Saturday afternoon. Authorities took clothing from the family home Friday to help canine units, North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor said.
A tip from the family drove law enforcement to the Carlton Reserve, Taylor said. Laundrie’s family told police on Friday that they last saw him on Tuesday with a backpack and he told them he was going to the massive preserve, which he would frequent for hikes, according to Taylor.
“Our goal is to get answers. We love to be able to find Gabby. And right now we need to find Brian, too. Not only is he missing, but he potentially holds some key information in helping us find Gabby,” Taylor told ABC News on Saturday night. “We have to locate him. We’re hopeful to bring him in because I think he does have some information that will really lead us to Gabby. And that is the primary objective, to find this little girl.”
In response to the news that Laundrie’s whereabouts were unknown, a lawyer for the Petito family said in a statement: “All of Gabby’s family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing.”
The search for Laundrie is the latest twist in the case that has grabbed national attention as the couple had been traveling across the country since June in Petito’s 2012 Ford Transit and documenting the trip on social media. Laundrie returned home in Petito’s van to North Port, on Sept. 1 without his girlfriend, according to police.
Petito’s parents reported her missing on Sept. 11 after not speaking with her for two weeks.
As the search for Petito continues, FBI Denver said in an update Saturday evening that authorities are “conducting ground surveys” at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. The FBI asked for anyone who saw the couple’s white van, with Florida license plate QFTG03, to contact the FBI.
The FBI specifically said it would like to talk to anyone who was at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area from Aug. 27 to 30 and may have seen the couple or their van. The agency said it would not comment on the specifics of the information in its investigation.
North Port police were also forced to clear up a rumor about finding a body in the Carlton Reserve that spread on social media Saturday, saying it was “completely fake.”
Petito was last seen on Aug. 24 leaving a hotel room in Utah. The next day, she spoke to her mother, Nichole Schmidt, telling her that their next stops would be at Grand Teton and Yellowstone, Schmidt told ABC News.
Schmidt received two text messages from her daughter’s phone in the days after speaking to her, but it was unclear whether they were actually sent by Petito.
“Many people are wondering why Mr. Laundrie would not make a statement or speak with law enforcement in the face of Ms. Petito’s absence,” the attorney representing the Laundrie family, Steven P. Bertolino, said in a statement last week. “In my experience, intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focuses their attention on in cases like this, and the warning that ‘any statement will be used against you’ is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito’s disappearance. As such, on the advice of counsel, Mr. Laundrie is not speaking on this matter.”
The North Port Police Department said Friday afternoon it had entered the family’s home, where Brian was believed to be staying, to speak with the family “at their request.”
The police later tweeted Friday, “The conversation at the Laundrie home is complete. Once we have the details, a statement will be made. We ask for calm! Please let us work through this and information will be forthcoming.”
It was after that tweet that the family lawyer released the statement saying the location of Brian Laundrie was unknown.
“We’ve been trying to reach the family all week. This is the first time we’ve had communication with them, and now they’re telling us that he’s been gone for essentially the last four days,” Taylor said in an interview with “Good Morning America” Saturday.
Laundrie’s family told police about where he went after becoming “concerned about his whereabouts” and wanted to file a missing person’s report, Taylor told reporters Saturday.
Laundrie’s car was at the Carlton Reserve but then found again at the family’s home, police said. When pressed by reporters as to how the car would have gotten back without a sign of Laundrie, Taylor said, “We are going by [the family’s] word.”
People had gathered outside the Laundrie home throughout the day Friday, some with bullhorns, chanting “Where is Gabby?” and calling on Brian Laundrie or the family to talk to authorities. Those people were moved from the lawn to the sidewalk as they chanted toward the house.
Brian’s sister, Cassandra Laundrie, spoke to ABC News on Thursday night, saying she had spoken to police about Petito’s disappearance but was mostly learning details from the news.
“Obviously, me and my family want Gabby to be found safe,” she said. “She is like a sister and my children love her, and all I want is for her to come home safe and sound and this be just a big misunderstanding.”
The Grand County Sheriff’s Office in Moab, Utah, said last week that Petito and Laundrie did not appear to be connected to the murders of two women at a campground in mid-August. The sheriff’s office said on Thursday it had been in contact with Florida authorities about investigating a possible connection to the double murder.
The two women were last seen leaving a bar on Aug. 13, one day after authorities were called about a disagreement between Petito and Laundrie while they were traveling in Moab.
The couple’s white van had been pulled over after a witness called police about an altercation between the two at the Arches National Park. Moab police released body camera footage of the couple admitting they had been arguing and that Petito had slapped Laundrie, according to a police report. The couple told police that Laundrie had not hit Petito.
There was “insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges,” Moab Police Department Chief Bret Edge said in a statement Tuesday.
ABC News’ Alondra Valle, Julia Jacobo, Joshua Hoyos and Matt Foster contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(SUNLAND PARK, N.M.) — Each year on the last Sunday of October thousands of worshipers take a pilgrimage to Mount Cristo Rey — a mountain located in Sunland Park, New Mexico, that overlooks El Paso, Texas, the border wall, the United States and Mexico.
At the mountain’s peak is a magnificent 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus Christ — a monument erected in 1934 that has become a shrine for the faithful. And for decades, thousands of believers have climbed the steep and rugged terrain to ask for a miracle.
Rebecca Escarciga Lehman is one of them.
Lehman was born and raised in California, but her parents are from El Paso. As a child, she spent her summers there and was very close to her family, particularly to her aunt Esperanza Salas Escandon or as she called her “Tia Guera.”
“She provided guidance and support in the years following my own mother’s serious illness and continued through my late teens and young adulthood. She had encouraged me to participate in the Mount Cristo Rey pilgrimage … to strengthen my faith, to pray for God’s guidance and blessings for our families,” Lehman said.
But before Lehman made arrangements to go on a pilgrimage to Mount Cristo Rey, her aunt got seriously ill.
“When I visited her in the hospital, she was not clinically awake, but I promised her that I would go to the mountain in her honor,” Lehman said.
“Lord, take care of her, you know what’s best. We want her here. But don’t let her suffer,” she said, recalling her prayers at the time. “I said I will be going to Mount Cristo Rey as she requested from here on forward.”
Tia Guera died shortly after but for the past twenty years, Lehman has been making the pilgrimage to Cristo Rey each year — only missing the trip when she was pregnant and in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the annual event.
“I pray the rosary on my way up,” she said, adding that the climb down the mountain is a time to catch up with family members who accompany her.
For Lehman, El Paso has become her spiritual anchor and the pilgrimage is about renewing her faith and being there for family.
Her cousin Ruben Escandon, the son of Tia Guera, has been visiting Cristo Rey since he was a child and his grandparents on both sides of his family helped develop Mount Cristo Rey.
According to Escandon, the monument was inspired by Fr. Lourdes Costa, a local parish priest in El Paso’s Smeltertown, who had a vision of erecting a monument to Christ in 1933 as he looked out his back window. Initially, a wooden cross was erected, but Costa commissioned a friend, sculptor Urbici Soler, to create it.
The statue was completed by 1939 and since then, the monument and the hike trail have been maintained by volunteers – local El Pasoans whose family history is connected to the story of Cristo Rey.
“[When you climb up the mountain] you start thinking about the people that built it, the people that volunteered their hard work and labor back in the thirties and, and the people that have maintained it up until this point,” Escandon said.
Escandon’s grandparents grew up in Smeltertown, a former residential community in El Paso, where hundreds of volunteers carried supplies up the mountain to build the statue’s base and labored for years to build the road that made it possible to place the statue of Christ at the mountain’s peak.
Escandon is a third-generation volunteer and is the spokesman for the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee — an organization that works to maintain and preserve the statue of Christ, which is often vandalized, as well as the trail that leads to it.
“It’s a jewel … a spiritual beacon that draws people here from pretty much all over the country,” he said.
He regularly leads groups up the mountain, organizes the annual pilgrimage, which has drawn up to 20,000 participants, and welcomes visitors from around the country, including Lehman who makes the trip from California to El Paso to spend time with family and keep her promise to Tia Guera.
And according to Lehman, although you can see the border wall from Mount Cristo Rey, when you look up the landscape blends together and you can no longer see where Mexico begins and where the U.S ends.
“As you’re walking, you feel, you see the elevation physically … it feels like you’re lifting yourself up above the earth and the worldly issues and the problems,” Rebecca Escarciga Lehman said.
“All the garbage and stuff and the political things and everything that’s going on, and everybody being so different, you’re up here and it’s gone,” she added. “For me, each rise kind of felt like all that stuff is going further away and I’m realizing what is really at the core of importance, which is faith and family, community, no matter who you are.”
ABC News’ James Scholz contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — After three days in space, the first all-civilian flight into Earth’s orbit splashed down successfully Saturday night.
The Dragon capsule returned to Earth just after 7 p.m. ET.
The capsule was traveling at 17,500 mph when it deorbited, slowed down to around 350 mph when the parachute deployed at 18,000 feet and slowed to 119 mph before it hit the ocean.
It splashed down in its preferred location in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral. They had been prepared to pivot to the Gulf of Mexico, if needed.
SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission made history as the farthest any civilian has traveled from Earth — 367 miles above it — even farther than the International Space Station.
There is always risk launching into space and coming home. While the crew has been trained by SpaceX, they are not professional astronauts.
Saturday’s splashdown was the third SpaceX Dragon-crewed capsule to splash down from orbit, but the first with no professional astronaut on board.
Billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, an experienced pilot, is commanding the mission. He founded a payment process company called Shift4 Payments and purchased all four seats on the flight for an estimated $220 million.
Isaacman wanted this mission to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Before the launch he personally donated $100 million to help end child cancer.
He reserved one seat for 29-year-old St. Jude ambassador Hayley Arceneaux. Arceneaux was treated at St. Jude as a child and returned to work there as a physician assistant. She is now the youngest American to go to space as well as the first pediatric cancer survivor.
Dr. Sian Proctor, 51, the third occupant, made history as well as the fourth African American woman astronaut to travel into space.
Rounding out the crew was Chris Sembroski, 41, an Iraq war veteran and engineer with Lockheed Martin.
They all spoke with children currently being treated at St. Jude live from space on Friday.
“What kind of sleeping bag do you have?” one child asked Arceneaux.
“So if you’ve ever been camping, we pretty much have those same kind of sleeping bags,” she said. “We were in our sleeping bags on top of our chairs, but we were floating on top of the chair and we had a seat belt around our sleeping bag. So we didn’t fly away when we were sleeping.”
“Can you take pictures in space?” another child asked Proctor.
“We absolutely can take pictures in space,” she responded. “And we’ve been taking a lot of those pictures and video so we can capture this moment and share it with everybody when we come home.”
Since liftoff, the mission has raised an additional $500,000 for the research hospital.
The crew has also been busy conducting experiments including using a portable ultrasound to measure their corneas and optic nerves for indications on intracranial pressure.
“We’ve also been taking several swabs of different parts of our body to evaluate the microbiome and how that changes in these three days in space,” Arceanaux said.
ABC News’ Gio Benitez and Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — After three days in space, the first all-civilian flight to Earth’s orbit is set to splashdown tonight.
The Dragon capsule is expected to return to Earth just after 7 p.m. ET Saturday evening.
It will be traveling at 17,500 miles per hour when it deorbits; will slow down to around 350 mph when the parachute deploys at 18,000 feet; will and stay at around 119 mph before it hits the ocean.
SpaceX’s preferred splashdown location is in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral, but they are prepared to pivot to the Gulf of Mexico, if needed.
SpaceX’s Inspiration 4 mission has already made history as the farthest any civilian has traveled from Earth — 367 miles above it — even farther than the International Space Station.
There is always risk launching into space and coming home. While the crew has been trained by SpaceX, they are not professional astronauts.
Saturday’s splashdown will be the third SpaceX Dragon-crewed capsule to splashdown from orbit, but the first with no professional astronaut on board.
Billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, an experienced pilot, is commanding the mission. He founded a payment process company called Shift4 Payments and purchased all four seats on the flight for an estimated $220 million.
Isaacman wanted this mission to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Before the launch he personally donated $100 million to help end child cancer.
He reserved one seat for 29-year-old St. Jude ambassador Hayley Arceneaux. Arceneaux was treated at St. Jude as a child and returned to work there as a physician’s assistant. She is now the youngest American to go to space as well as the first pediatric cancer survivor.
Dr. Sian Proctor, 51, the third occupant, made history as well as the fourth African American woman astronaut to travel into space.
Rounding out the crew is Chris Sembroski, 41, an Iraq war veteran and engineer with Lockheed Martin.
They all spoke with children currently being treated at St. Jude live from space on Friday.
“What kind of sleeping bag do you have?,” one child asked Arceneaux.
“So if you’ve ever been camping, we pretty much have those same kind of sleeping bags,” she said. “We were in our sleeping bags on top of our chairs, but we were floating on top of the chair and we had a seat belt around our sleeping bag. So we didn’t fly away when we were sleeping.”
“Can you take pictures in space?,” another child asked Proctor.
“We absolutely can take pictures in space,” she responded. “And we’ve been taking a lot of those pictures and video so we can capture this moment and share it with everybody when we come home.”
Since liftoff, the mission has raised an additional $500,000 for the research hospital.
The crew has also been busy conducting experiments including using a portable ultrasound to measure their corneas and optic nerves for indications on intracranial pressure.
“We’ve also been taking several swabs of different parts of our body to evaluate the microbiome and how that changes in these three days in space,” Arceanaux said.
ABC News’ Gio Benitez and Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — From the Olympics to practically every major league sport, 2021 has been a year where top Latino athletes have led their franchises to huge victories, winning world titles and gold medals.
When they’re not competing, some Latino athletes have also worked to advocate for their communities, And through it all, on and off the field, they’ve represented their heritage with pride.
“As a Latino, the minute life starts making sense for you, you know that things are not going to be that easy,” said three-time Major League Baseball World Series champion and 10-time All-Star David “Big Papi” Ortiz. “In the Latin culture, hard work and motivation and getting to know that you have to fight to get things is a part of our culture. I was never the guy that had anything handed to me. And I think that comes along hand-in-hand with being Latino.”
Like Ortiz, who was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, many MLB players come from several Caribbean and Latin American countries, such as Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, and Cuba — making baseball their pathway to the American Dream. In fact, since the 2016 season, every team at the major league level has been required to have a Spanish-speaking translator on its staff. To date, close to 2,000 players of Latin American descent have made it to the major leagues making up 25% the league’s talent.
“Latinos, we are hard-working people. We are people that come here with a mentality of putting our family in a better situation,” said Ortiz. “I come from the very bottom, and I know what my people are all about. And whenever I see Spanish people doing well, representing, [it] is something that definitely makes me very proud.”
That same pride Ortiz has with representing his heritage is mirrored by Olympian Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who chose to represent Puerto Rico during the 2021 Olympic Games.
Born and raised in South Carolina to an African American father and Puerto Rican mother, the hurdler made what became a controversial decision to compete in the Olympics for Puerto Rico instead of the U.S. Her decision caused some to criticize her on social media, and some former Olympians suggested Camacho-Quinn was unqualified to compete for the island. She ended up winning a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdle.
“I just felt like a lot of it was racism, and I wanted to say things, but I’m realizing I’m in the limelight right now, and I can’t say certain things,” said Camacho-Quinn. “But I was like, ‘You know what, this doesn’t change the fact that Puerto Ricans were really with me.’”
Her hyphenated last name speaks to her identity. Along with her hair and skin tone, Camacho-Quinn identifies as an Afro-Latina, a descendant of Latin America with African roots. It’s an identity reflected in her physical features, which she says she’s not only proud of but honored to have. She encouraged other people from “mixed” backgrounds to be just as proud.
“Who you are is who you are, and nobody can change that — literally nobody,” she said. “You have a right to represent both sides because that’s exactly who you are and what you are made of. Don’t be afraid.”
Camacho-Quinn is only the second Olympian representing Puerto Rico to bring back a gold medal. After winning in Tokyo, she and her family did a victory lap around Puerto Rico. Not only did its residents accept her as one of their own, but they celebrated her win with a parade — something the island had not been able to do since the tragedy of Hurricane Maria. Her victory brought not only happiness but a sense of togetherness despite the criticism she received.
“It’s still hitting me. Like, that’s something that cannot be taken away,” she said. “That right there is making history. It means a lot.”
Just like Camacho-Quinn, boxing world champion Canelo Álvarez understands not only his power in the ring but the importance of his voice outside the ring against injustice, especially for Latinos.
“I’m in the position to have the power to speak for the rest; to tell people not to treat Latino or Mexicans differently, and I’m proving that,” he said in Spanish.
Unlike Ortiz and Camacho-Quinn, Álvarez describes himself as light-skinned and is often mistaken for being European rather than Mexican. He said that as a kid, he was bullied for his red hair, earning him the nickname “Canelo,” which means cinnamon in Spanish. Whether Latinos come from the islands of the Caribbean or the lands of Central and South America, many of them still share one thing in common: their language.
“I’m 100% Mexican. Even if I don’t look like one, I’m 100% Mexican and I’m proud of being one — being able to represent my country,” he said. “No matter if you’re light- or dark-skinned, or another color, having money or not, we’re all the same.”
Álvarez said that like any great athlete, they each experience their share of hurdles when it comes to the difficulties that life sometimes brings.
In the form of a hurdle, a curveball or a knockout, challenges come from every angle in life regardless of one’s race or identity. But one thing we all have in common is the will to not give up.
“Yes, life is not easy, right? It’s not easy for anyone,” Álvarez said. “But you have to keep going. You have to keep fighting because, in the end, the one who fights — who stands up — is the one who makes history.”
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NORTH PORT, Fla.) — A police search is underway in a “vast” Florida preserve after the family of Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, who went missing while the couple was on a cross-country trip, said his whereabouts are now unknown, too.
“Be advised that the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are currently unknown,” an attorney for the family said Friday. “The FBI is currently at the Laundrie residence removing property to assist in locating Brian. As of now the FBI is now looking for both Gabby and Brian.”
Laundrie has not been seen since Tuesday, according to police and the family’s lawyer.
North Port Police said Saturday morning that they are now currently searching for “the vast Carlton Reserve,” a 24,565-acre preserve north of his home in North Port, for Laundrie.
“His family says they believe he entered the area earlier this week,” police said. “More details when available.”
The development was the latest in a case that has grabbed national attention as the couple had been traveling across the country since June in her 2012 Ford Transit van and documenting the trip on social media. Laundrie returned home to North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1 without his girlfriend, according to police.
Petito’s parents reported her missing on Sept. 11 after not speaking with her for two weeks.
In response to the news Friday that Laundrie’s whereabouts were unknown, a lawyer for the Petito family said in a statement: “All of Gabby’s family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing.”
Petito was last seen on Aug. 24 leaving a hotel room in Utah. The next day, she spoke to her mother, Nichole Schmidt, telling her that their next stops would be at Grand Teton and Yellowstone, Schmidt told ABC News this week.
Schmidt received two text messages from her daughter’s phone in the days after speaking to her, but it was unclear whether they were actually sent by Petito.
Laundrie has been named a person of interest in the case, but he has so far refused to speak to police.
“Many people are wondering why Mr. Laundrie would not make a statement or speak with law enforcement in the face of Ms. Petito’s absence,” the attorney representing the Laundrie family, Steven P. Bertolino, said in a statement Wednesday. “In my experience, intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focuses their attention on in cases like this, and the warning that ‘any statement will be used against you’ is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito’s disappearance. As such, on the advice of counsel, Mr. Laundrie is not speaking on this matter.”
The North Port Police Department said Friday afternoon it had entered the family’s home, where Brian was believed to be staying, to speak with the family “at their request.”
The police later tweeted Friday, “The conversation at the Laundrie home is complete. Once we have the details, a statement will be made. We ask for calm! Please let us work through this and information will be forthcoming.”
It was after that tweet that the family lawyer released the statement saying the location of Brian Laundrie was unknown.
“We’ve been trying to reach the family all week. This is the first time we’ve had communication with them, and now they’re telling us that he’s been gone for essentially the last four days,” Officer Josh Taylor, a spokesman for the North Port Police, said in an interview with “Good Morning America” Saturday.
People had gathered outside the Laundrie home throughout the day Friday, some with bullhorns, chanting “Where is Gabby?” and calling on Brian Laundrie or the family to talk to authorities. Those people were moved from the lawn to the sidewalk as they chanted toward the house.
Brian’s sister, Cassandra Laundrie, spoke to ABC News on Thursday night, saying she had spoken to police about Petito’s disappearance but was mostly learning details from the news.
“Obviously, me and my family want Gabby to be found safe,” she said. “She is like a sister and my children love her, and all I want is for her to come home safe and sound and this be just a big misunderstanding.”
Earlier in the day, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office in Moab, Utah, said Petito and Laundrie did not appear to be connected to the murders of two women at a campground in mid-August. The sheriff’s office said on Thursday it had been in contact with Florida authorities about investigating a possible connection to the double murder.
The two women were last seen leaving a bar on Aug. 13, one day after authorities were called about a disagreement between Petito and Laundrie while they were traveling in Moab.
The couple’s white van had been pulled over after a witness called police about an altercation between the two at the Arches National Park. The couple admitted to arguing and that Petito had slapped Laundrie, according to the report. Both told police that Laundrie had not hit Petito.
There was “insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges,” Moab Police Department Chief Bret Edge said in a statement Tuesday.
ABC News’ Alondra Valle, Julia Jacobo and Matt Foster contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — A hostess in New York City was assaulted after asking patrons from Texas to show proof of their vaccination status when they entered a restaurant, authorities said.
New York City mandates that those 12 and older seeking to dine indoors show proof of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, though enforcement of the policy has largely fallen on front-line hospitality workers.
The incident took place at Carmine’s Italian Restaurant in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan on Thursday evening, according to the New York Police Department. Three women from Texas — a 44-year-old and her 21-year-old daughter, as well as another 49-year-old — tried to enter the restaurant when they were asked for proof of vaccination, according to the police department.
The women then assaulted the 24-year-old hostess and broke her necklace during the attack, police said. The victim refused medical attention.
Authorities have not released the names of the accused, each of whom was taken into custody and given a desk appearance ticket, the NYPD said. The investigation remains ongoing.
“Our goal is to serve our customers great food, offer excellent service and hospitality while keeping our employees and customers safe as we comply with the government-mandated COVID-19 protocols,” a Carmine’s Italian Restaurant spokesperson said. “It’s a shocking and tragic situation when one of our valued employees is assaulted for doing their job — as required by city policies — and trying to make a living.”
“Our focus right now is caring for our employee and the rest of our restaurant family,” the statement added. “We are a family-style restaurant, and this is the absolute last experience any of our employees should ever endure and any customers witness.”
The New York City Hospitality Alliance, a nonprofit trade group representing workers in the industry, called on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to increase awareness of the vaccine requirements for indoor dining, especially to visitors who may be unaware of it, and heighten penalties for noncompliance.
“Assaulting a restaurant worker for doing their job is abhorrent and must be punished,” Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement. “We’re calling on the City and State of New York to immediately increase penalties for assaulting restaurant workers in New York City in conjunction with enforcement of Covid-19 protocols.”
Like mask mandates throughout 2020, vaccine mandates have emerged as a hot-button issue in the U.S. even as a global pandemic rages. Despite the urging of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and assurances from health authorities that vaccines are safe and effective, many Americans are still refusing the jab — decisions that likely have contributed to a recent resurgence of virus cases propelled by the highly contagious delta variant.
As of Friday, some 74.2% of the U.S. population 12 years of age and older had received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 63.5% were fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Just last week, the U.S. reached the a milestone: COVID-19 has killed 1 in every 500 Americans.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has announced charges against an Ohio man accused of making threats against a local reproductive health services clinic.
Newly unsealed charging documents allege Carlos Manuel Rodriquez Brime, 25, of making two separate threats via telephone to the Your Choice Healthcare facility in Columbus on April 11.
“My girlfriend is a patient there and I’m going to bring the heat. If she kills my baby, I’m going to kill her,” Brime allegedly said in the first call.
A little over two hours later, Brime called again and made a bomb threat, saying, “My organization will be bringing a bomb to your facility. I suggest you close your doors.”
Brime was charged with one count of violating the FACE Act, which makes it a crime to threaten anyone receiving or providing reproductive health services.
In recent weeks, the Justice Department has vowed aggressive enforcement of the FACE Act in Texas against anyone who levies threats against those seeking abortions or reproductive health clinic workers, after the state’s restrictive law banning most abortions took effect earlier this month.
Brime is also charged with two other counts making threatening statements and making a bomb threat. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the DOJ.
He was arrested Thursday and ordered to remain detained pending further legal proceedings. He has not yet entered a plea in his case and his arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday.
A public defender listed as representing Brime did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 670,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 63.5% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 17, 11:56 am
125 employees leave Indiana hospital system after refusing vaccine
Indiana University Health, the state’s largest network of physicians, said 125 employees have left after choosing to not get vaccinated.
All workers were required to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 1. Those who didn’t were given a two-week unpaid suspension ending Sept. 14, and those who still didn’t agree to the shot by that point “left the organization,” according to a statement by IU Health.
Sep 17, 11:21 am
Art exhibit commemorating COVID deaths opens to public
An art exhibit commemorating the Americans who died from COVID-19 is opening to the public on Friday.
The exhibit, which will run until Oct. 3, displays more than 660,000 white flags on the National Mall at the base of the Washington Monument.
This is the largest participatory art installation on the National Mall since the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Sep 17, 10:56 am
Kentucky school district cancels all classes due to increase in cases
Newport Independent Schools in Kentucky has canceled all classes on Friday due to an increase in the number of sick or quarantined students, the district said.
Classes will be virtual on Monday and Tuesday. The district said it plans to return to in-person learning on Wednesday.
Sep 17, 10:44 am
More than 10,000 new deaths reported in US in 1 week
The U.S. recorded more than 10,100 confirmed COVID-19 related deaths in one week, according to federal data. States with some of the highest death tolls are Texas, Georgia and North Carolina.
The U.S. reported more than 1.02 million cases over the last week. This is a major step back in the fight against COVID-19; in June, the U.S. recorded just 80,000 new cases in one week.
Tennessee and West Virginia currently have the country’s highest case rate, followed by Alaska, Wyoming, South Carolina, Montana and Kentucky, according to federal data.
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