(OTTUMWA, IA) — A 68-year-old man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting his wife with a crossbow while she slept on a sofa in their home.
The incident occurred at approximately 1:13 a.m. on Wednesday morning when authorities in Ottumwa, Iowa, responded to a report that a woman had been shot at a residence in the town, which is located approximately 90 miles southeast of the state capital of Des Moines.
The victim, later identified as 68-year-old Lillian Dennison, was reportedly on the sofa when her husband approached her with a crossbow and shot her as she slept, according to a press release published by the Ottumwa Police Department.
Authorities say that Dennison was taken to a local area hospital and treated for minor injuries suffered in the attack. She was subsequently released and is expected to survive.
Her husband managed to flee the scene of the crime after he allegedly shot her but was located approximately nine hours later, according to police.
“Later that morning at approximately 10:00 a.m., officers from the Ottumwa Police Department and the Wapello County Sheriff’s Department arrested George Edward Dennison, age 68, near the wooded area around Evergreen and Mable in Ottumwa,” police said in a statement.
George Dennison was arrested and taken into custody and charged with attempt to commit murder along with domestic abuse assault. Authorities did not disclose any possible motives in this case.
He is now being held on these charges in the Wapello County Jail with a $50,000 cash only bond but it is unclear when he will be appearing in court.
(LEXINGTON, MS) — A month after the police chief of a Mississippi town was fired following leaked audio allegedly of him using racial slurs, a civil rights group is suing the department.
Jill Colin Jefferson, the founder of the civil rights organization Julian, filed a lawsuit against Lexington, Mississippi, its police department, and others on behalf of five residents who claimed to have been victims of mistreatment by officers.
The lawsuit contends that the police force has had a long history of racially profiling its Black residents including with alleged targeted traffic stops, harassment and retaliation for speaking out against cops.
The suit contends the plaintiffs have “been falsely arrested, forced to undergo baseless searches and seizures at roadblocks, and subjected to unreasonable force by LPD officers when they verbally object to police mistreatment,” among other incidents experienced by Black residents over the last two years.
Roughly 1,500 of Lexington’s 1,800 residents are Black, according to the suit.
Jefferson told ABC News Live that the suit stems from the department’s operation under former police chief Sam Dobbins, who is one of the defendants in the suit. Last month, Dobbins was fired after audio from a conversation he allegedly had with other officers was leaked in which he allegedly used racial slurs against Black people.
Jefferson contends that Dobbins still has a presence over the police force due to his time spent training and instructing officers.
“The way that this town functions is that it continues to function in his shadow. His dominance is still there,” Jefferson told ABC News.
The Lexington Police Department and Lexington’s mayor’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment from ABC News about the suit. Dobbins told the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, which released the audio, that he didn’t use racial or other slurs, adding, “I don’t talk like that,” when he was asked about his recorded comments in July.
The suit cites a few examples of police misconduct against Black Lexington residents.
One was an alleged incident involving brothers Darius and Robert Harris, who were approached by officers on New Year’s Eve. The officers allegedly cited the brothers for using fireworks on Robert Harris’s private property and violating a city ordinance, according to the suit.
During the incident, which was filmed, officers allegedly tased Darius Harris, the suit said.
Jefferson told ABC News that Dobbins then harassed her client while he was still in pain.
“Sam Dobbins went to Darius and actually showed his flashlight in his face when he’s on the ground and told him to put his hands behind his back. At that moment, that was physically impossible,” she said.
The lawsuit doesn’t cite charges filed against Darius Harris, but details an alleged pattern of retaliation by police officers against both Harris brothers.
In another example, the suit cited a March incident involving plaintiff Peter Reeves, who criticized a police officer on social media. Reeves was allegedly stopped at a roadblock by the same officer, according to the suit.
Reeves was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance because he had a Tylenol bottle in his vehicle, the suit contends.
Jefferson said other Black residents have been subjected to roadblocks by the police. Tasha Walden, a Lexington resident, told ABC News, that in addition to the roadblocks, she’s seen and experienced officers following Black residents outside the city limits.
“It’s more than me, it’s basically 99% of the Black [community],” she told ABC News.
The suit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
Jefferson said she wants more policy changes to the police department to be enacted by the city government and better accountability when residents file complaints against officers.
Last year, more than 200 complaints were filed against the police department, the suit said.
“That’s the other thing we need…a civilian complaint review board to actually review these complaints as they come in, because right now they’re just being swept under the rug,” she said. “But on a larger level, we need a federal investigation into what is happening in Lexington, not just of this police department or one of two or one or two officers, but this entire municipality.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — When students in Uvalde, Texas, return to school in September, they will have brand new picnic tables where they can sit and gather.
Many of their classrooms will be stocked with school supplies ranging from new books to new pens and pencils, all donated by strangers. And some kids will ride to school on the first day on new bikes, also donated by strangers.
It’s all part of a national, grassroots effort to help the community after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School on May 24.
“For the Uvalde community, it’s just letting them know that they are not forgotten,” said Amanda Stevens, a mom of two from Dallas, Texas. “We will be here and we will honor their losses and support them with whatever they need.”
Stevens is one of the organizers behind an effort to fulfill Uvalde teachers’ wish lists — specifically teachers from Robb Elementary.
Across the country, as the back to school season approaches, many teachers post public wish lists of supplies they would otherwise have to pay for out of pocket, including everything from snacks for kids to books, educational materials and classroom supplies like tissues and hand sanitizer.
The wish lists are often shared on social media, where strangers can find them and donate the supplies.
For teachers in Uvalde, their lists have been shared far and wide this year, with people like Stevens working hard to make sure teachers there don’t have the extra burden of finding supplies.
Stevens is working alongside Frank Gomez, a teacher at her kids’ school and a Uvalde native, who said he specifically wanted to help the teachers at Robb Elementary School who are being relocated. The superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced in June that students and staff would not return to Robb Elementary when the new school year begins on Sept. 6, and would instead be served “on other campuses” around the district.
“Myself as a teacher, I started to think about what about the teachers,” said Gomez. “As they go into new buildings, what are they going to have to take with them? How are they going to get started?”
Gomez and Stevens said they have collected thousands of dollars worth of supplies for teachers in Uvalde by sharing teachers’ wish lists with their own school community and on social media. A GoFundMe started by Gomez also raised over $5,000, which he said is being used to purchase everything from books to classroom decorations to help the first day back at school seem more normal.
“The kids will see their teachers, their smiling faces,” Gomez said. “They’ll be a little bit nervous and scared and everything, but hopefully they’ll see their teacher and they’ll concentrate on getting back to school and getting back to the business of learning.”
On the first day of school, Uvalde students will also see new picnic tables at their schools, thanks to more than $15,000 that was raised in less than one day earlier this summer.
Katie Grossbard, 29, of Los Angeles, along with two of her friends, Val Vogt and actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, was an organizer of that fundraiser. She said she and the others spoke with Uvalde school officials to find something specific they needed for the new school year.
Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.
“We said to them, ‘How can we help?,’ and they said, ‘We need picnic tables,'” Grossbard recalled. “We said, ‘Great, send us links to what you want. We’ll figure out how much money it’s going to cost and we’ll make it happen.'”
In less than 18 hours, $15,000 was raised, according to Grossbard. She said the money has been used to purchase one dozen picnic tables that will be placed at schools to help accommodate students from Robb Elementary.
“One of the things that the people at the school district talked about when we were talking about making this happen was just creating a sense of community that was welcoming these students in with open arms and ready for them — and it not feeling like they were out of place or like that they weren’t supposed to be there,” Grossbard said. “They didn’t want it to feel like, ‘Oh, now we’re crowded and now you’re reminded every day that you’re not supposed to be here, you’re supposed to be somewhere else.'”
The picnic tables, according to Grossbard, will also be used as locations for students to sit and talk with mental health counselors as needed.
“People can sit down and be together and know that they’re not alone and know that they didn’t go through these experiences alone,” she explained.
The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District did not reply to ABC News for this story.
The district’s school board has held special sessions throughout the summer to plan accommodations for the new school year, including upgrading security measures and allowing all students K-12 the opportunity to attend classes virtually after parents said their children do not feel comfortable returning to school in person. The district also pushed the start of school back from mid-August to Sept. 6.
Tensions within the community have often spilled out at the board’s meetings, particularly in the wake of a 77-page report by a joint committee of the Texas Legislature slammed the police response to the incident and the school district’s lack of preparation for such an attack.
Earlier this month, the school district announced Mandy Gutierrez, the principal of Robb Elementary School, who was briefly suspended following the probe into the attack, will be leaving the school for a position in district administration.
The district’s police chief, Pete Arredondo, remains on unpaid administrative leave, and the school district has recommended he be fired.
Amid the grief and tension in the community, Uvalde’s local library, the El Progreso Memorial Library, located just a few blocks from Robb Elementary School, has become a center of healing and community for people, largely thanks to strangers’ donations, according to library director Mendell Morgan.
Morgan said thousands of children’s books have been donated since the shooting, along with items like kids’ bicycles and toys.
“At a time like this, books can be such a comfort, a wonderful means to escape and a wonderful way to transport yourself into a different world where there is not hurting or pain,” Morgan said. “It’s always been our effort to bring the community here for times when we need to be together, in times of joy as well as times of sorrow when we need to comfort one another.”
The library has become a place to mourn and grieve through both reading and mental health counseling, as well as a place to have fun. Throughout the summer, the library has hosted everything from ponies and bounce houses to a special day that featured superhero characters reading books to kids, according to Morgan.
“People are so incredibly kind,” he said. “Great evil came to our community on May 24, no one can deny this, but the outpouring of good, the response has been overwhelming in the other direction, and we are so grateful.”
(NEW YORK) — Allen Weisselberg, who first met Donald Trump in the 1970s when he began working for Trump’s father, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in New York that accused him of running a yearslong scheme to avoid taxes while he was the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty to all 15 counts — including conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records — and conceded he skirted taxes on nearly $2 million in income, including fringe benefits like rent, luxury cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren.
The plea implicates former President Trump’s namesake family business, which was charged in the same indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
“In one of the most difficult decisions of his life, Mr. Weisselberg decided to enter a plea of guilty today to put an end to this case and the years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family,” said Weisselberg’s attorney, Nicholas Gravante Jr. “Rather than risk the possibility of 15 years in prison, he has agreed to serve 100 days. We are glad to have this behind him.”
Weisselberg repeatedly answered “Yes, your honor” as Judge Juan Merchan asked a series of questions about the scheme to evade taxes, admitting that he falsely underreported compensation, including a luxury apartment on Riverside Drive in Manhattan, multiple Mercedes Benz cars, cash, private school tuition for his grandchildren, and additional homes.
As part of his plea deal, Weisselberg agreed to serve five months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. He also agreed to testify against the Trump Organization when the company goes on trial in connection with the alleged compensation scheme beginning in October.
If he does not testify truthfully, the deal is off, exposing Weisselberg to additional prison time of between five and 15 years.
“The defendant must agree to testify truthfully at the trial of the Trump Organization,” assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass said.
The plea agreement contains no requirement for Weisselberg to cooperate in the criminal case against Trump himself, which centers on whether the former president knowingly misled tax authorities, lenders and insurance brokers by providing inaccurate financial statements about the value of his real estate portfolio.
Weisselberg must also pay back taxes and penalties totaling $1.94 million.
“Today Allen Weisselberg admitted in Court that he used his position at the Trump Organization to bilk taxpayers and enrich himself,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “This plea agreement directly implicates the Trump Organization in a wide range of criminal activity and requires Weisselberg to provide invaluable testimony in the upcoming trial against the corporation. We look forward to proving our case in court against the Trump Organization.”
A corporate tax fraud case was not what prosecutors were after. When they first filed charges against Weisselberg last summer, prosecutors hoped Weisselberg would turn on Trump, sources have told ABC News.
Trump asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition last week as part of a parallel civil investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office.
“For years, Mr. Weisselberg broke the law to line his own pockets and fund a lavish lifestyle. Today, that misconduct ends. Let this guilty plea send a loud and clear message: we will crack down on anyone who steals from the public for personal gain because no one is above the law,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement following Weisselberg’s guilty plea.
The criminal investigation, which began under former Manhattan DA Cy Vance, appeared to stall earlier this year when the two senior prosecutors leading it resigned amid frustration that Bragg was not immediately seeking an indictment against Trump, sources told ABC News.
Bragg’s office has said the investigation remains ongoing.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Ahead of the new school year, Minneapolis Public Schools has defended its agreement reached with the teacher’s union this spring to prioritize retaining educators of underrepresented backgrounds when determining layoffs.
Effective in the spring of 2023, the contract provision states that teachers who are members of “populations underrepresented among licensed teachers in the district” may be exempt from district-wide layoffs outside of seniority order, deviating from the traditional “last-in, first-out” system.
The stipulation is a part of a recent collective bargaining agreement between the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) and MPS, which concluded a weekslong teachers’ strike in March.
“To remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) mutually agreed to contract language that aims to support the recruitment and retention of teachers from underrepresented groups as compared to the labor market and to the community served by the school district,” a spokesperson for Minneapolis Public Schools said in a statement to ABC News Wednesday.
The policy comes as efforts to diversify teachers in Minnesota are ramping up in the state legislature with the introduction of HF3079, the 2022 Increase Teachers of Color Act.
The legislation seeks to “increase the percentage of teachers of color and American Indian teachers in Minnesota” to ensure that “all students have equitable access to effective and racially and ethnically diverse teachers who reflect the diversity of students,” according to the text of the bill.
However, as news of the MPS policy has made national headlines in recent days, critics say the policy’s attempts to rectify past discrimination could constitute discrimination itself — potentially even a violation of the 14th Amendment.
James Dickey, an attorney in Minneapolis, told ABC News that his firm has recently received a “flood of emails” from taxpayers and teachers in Minneapolis who are opposed to the policy and have reached out regarding potential legal actions.
Dickey is senior legal counsel at the Upper Midwest Law Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm in Minnesota, and said that his firm could be “prepared to go forward with litigation” soon.
When asked about efforts to diversify the teaching staff in Minnesota public schools, Dickey acknowledged the concern but said that addressing the issue instead requires reforming the seniority system, suggesting that layoffs should be based on merit, not seniority or race.
“Teachers are not being evaluated based on merit, they’re being evaluated based on, you know, first in first and last out. And I think that’s the bigger problem,” he said.
Responding to criticism, MFT has doubled down on its support of the policy, citing the need for educators to reflect the diversity of their schools’ student bodies. While 65% of the students attending MPS in the 2021-22 school year were people of color, only around 30% of the teaching staff were, the district reported.
“No matter where they live in Minneapolis, or what they look like, every student in the Minneapolis Public Schools deserves great teachers and education support professionals who challenge, support and educate all their students in a safe and stable learning environment,” the union wrote in a statement to ABC News.
The union wrote that it wanted to create a “transparent, legal, ethical process” to retain the “unique skills and experiences” of educators of color and those of other underrepresented backgrounds in the case of budget cuts and layoffs.
MFT described the agreement as a small step toward dismantling discriminatory systems in education but noted that diversifying educators will be a long haul given the nationwide teacher shortage. There are currently more than 370 open jobs for teachers in MPS, the union said.
Tra Carter, a former behavioral specialist at Clara Barton Community School in south Minneapolis, said he believes MPS could do even more to support teachers of color. Carter, who was laid off last year during the strike, said that at the time, he was the only Black male educator employed at his school.
“Black and brown educators of color are losing their jobs exponentially faster than their white counterparts, so I’m happy again that something got done,” Carter said.
“But I don’t think that it’s ever going to be enough,” he added. “I think one of the first steps that the district needs to do is to begin hiring more educators of color and helping those educators that are already in the schools who don’t have those teaching licenses or who don’t have those degrees, helping those educators so that they can then be in that community.”
(LAS VEGAS) — Another set of human remains were found in Lake Mead near Las Vegas, the second time this month that remains have been found in the country’s largest reservoir, officials said Wednesday.
The remains were discovered at Swim Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area around 8:00 p.m. Monday, according to the National Park Service.
With the help of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s dive team, park rangers responded and set up a perimeter to retrieve the body, the NPS said.
The Clark County Medical Examiner was contacted and is working to identify the person and discover the cause of death, the park service said.
This is the fifth time since May and the second time this month that human remains have been found in Lake Mead, where water levels are receding at a historic rate.
Lake Mead, formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, supplies drinking water to millions of people in California, Arizona, Nevada and part of Mexico.
Officials said the water levels are so depleted, they could soon reach “dead pool” status, in which the water is too low to flow downstream to the Hoover Dam. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the minimum water surface level needed to generate power at the dam is 1,050 feet.
On May 7, human skeletal remains were found near the lake’s Callville Bay, according to NPS. The discovery came a week after the decayed body of a man was found stuffed in a steel barrel near the reservoir’s Hemenway Fishing Pier, over 20 miles from Callville Bay, according to Las Vegas police.
On July 25 and Aug. 6, human remains were also discovered at Swim Beach.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — Anne Heche’s death has been ruled an accident, more than a week after suffering serious injuries in a fiery Los Angeles car crash, city records show.
Heche, 53, died from inhalation and thermal injuries, according to records from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. She also suffered a sternal fracture due to blunt trauma, the records stated. The day of her death was listed as Aug. 11.
The actress was declared brain dead on the night of Aug. 11 but was kept on life support for organ donation, and her heart was still beating, her representative said. She was peacefully taken off life support on Sunday, her representative said.
Heche was alone in her car on Aug. 5 when she crashed into a home in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, engulfing her car and the house in flames, according to Los Angeles police and fire officials. No one else was injured in the single-car crash, and the home’s resident and her pets were able to escape the blaze unharmed.
She suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and was in a coma in critical condition following the crash, her family and friends said in a statement.
Heche was not expected to survive her injuries, her family said, noting that it “has long been her choice to donate her organs,” her family said.
Results from a blood draw completed after the crash showed Heche had narcotics in her system, but additional tests were being run to determine more about the drugs, and to rule out which ones may have been present based on drugs administered at the hospital, according to the Los Angeles Police Department,
Investigators told ABC News no alcohol was detected in Heche’s blood sample, though the blood draw was many hours after the crash.
LAPD investigators told ABC News on Aug. 12 that the criminal investigation had ended due to the latest developments in her condition.
Heche is survived by her two sons.
“My brother Atlas and I lost our Mom,” her oldest son, Homer, said in a statement Friday. “After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness. Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom.”
“Rest In Peace Mom, I love you,” he said.
ABC News’ Alex Stone and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A Florida appeals court ruled on Monday that a 16-year-old girl was not “mature enough” to decide to terminate her pregnancy.
The decision comes after a circuit judge in northwest Florida ruled that the teen could not get an abortion without notification and consent of a parent or guardian, despite the fact the teen has been found to be “parentless.”
The teen was requesting to bypass the Florida law that requires all individuals in the state under the age of 18 to receive parental consent before obtaining an abortion. At the time of the original hearing, the teen was 10 weeks pregnant, although it is unclear how far along she was at the time of Monday’s decision.
According to the ruling, the teen, unnamed and referred to as Jane Doe 22-B, lives with a relative and has an appointed guardian.
In her initial court filing, the teen said her guardian was “fine” with her pursuing an abortion.
However, Escambia County Circuit Judge Jessica Frydrychowicz denied the bypass request, and a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal upheld the decision.
Judges Harvey Jay and Rachel Nordby concurred with the entire decision, holding that the case did not need to be returned to the circuit judge. Judge Scott Makar stood by the decision to block the bypass, but dissented against closing the case, instead asserting that the teen’s request should be returned to the circuit judge for further consideration.
According to Makar’s dissent, the teen is pursuing a GED with “involvement in a program designed to assist young women who have experienced trauma in their lives by providing educational support and counseling.”
The ruling said the teen had endured “renewed trauma” as her friend died shortly before she sought to obtain an abortion.
Makar continued to write that the teen said in a court petition that she was “sufficiently mature” to make a decision about an abortion and was not ready to have a baby, as she did not have a job and the father was unable to assist her.
According to the ruling, the teen came to her circuit hearing with a case worker and a guardian ad-litem child advocate manager. Makar said she had “inexplicably” chosen not to ask for representation by an attorney, which would have been free.
Makar said the trial was conducted admirably, as the trial judge “displayed concern for the minor’s predicament throughout the hearing [and] asked difficult questions of the minor on sensitive personal matters in a compassionate manner.”
However, Makar wrote that the case was a “close call” and that the teen “showed, at times, that she is stable and mature enough to make this decision.”
Makar said in the ruling that the teen had looked into abortion and had gained an understanding of her medical options and their consequences.
The ruling said the court had found that the teen “acknowledges she is not ready for the emotional, physical, or financial responsibility of raising a child” and “has valid concerns about her ability to raise a child.”
Makar, in his dissent, said he believes the trial court wanted to give the teen additional time to deal with her friend’s death before deciding to obtain an abortion, and should be able to return to court to further petition her case.
Florida law bans abortions after 15 weeks, significantly sooner than the 24-week cut off that existed in the state’s laws prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June. The 15-week ban is currently being challenged in state courts.
In the state’s “Parental Notice of and Consent for Abortion Act,” physicians must get written consent from a parent or legal guardian before performing an abortion on a minor. Exceptions are made in medical emergencies or with a waiver from the parents or guardian.
(MISSOURI CITY, Texas) — A Texas middle school student had quite the start to her first day of school after she opened her front door to see an alligator.
Running back into the house, her father didn’t believe her until he saw the gator, Mike Trinh wrote in a Facebook post.
Luckily, the Missouri City local said his years of watching the “Crocodile Hunter,” the late Steve Irwin, on TV prepared him to take on the gator.
Trinh, the owner of nearby restaurant Mike’s Seafood, told ABC News on Wednesday that he had to get his kids to school, so he threw a towel over the gator to subdue it and walk past to his car. However, when he returned from his drop-off duties, Trinh said the gator was still on his front porch.
“I’ve never had to deal with a gator like this,” he said. “You see them in the water, but never crawling through the subdivision and up to the front door.”
Trinh said he called Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office who then directed him to the Missouri City Police Department, who Trinh said then directed him to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which hadn’t yet opened for the day.
After waiting for about an hour, Trinh told ABC News, he decided to address the gator himself.
“I pinned his mouth closed with a sledgehammer and got onto his back,” Trinh said. “I asked my daughter to get duct tape and she started taping his mouth shut. I finished taping up his mouth and then taped his legs together.”
Trinh told ABC News Houston station KTRK that he is a former mixed martial arts fighter, which helped guide him in pinning down the animal.
Eventually, Trinh decided to call a local game warden since he hadn’t heard back from other officials. However, Trinh said the fee would have been $300 to have someone come take the gator, a price he wasn’t willing to pay.
Instead, Trinh and a friend loaded the gator into the back of the truck and drove to a nearby lake. After untaping the gator, Trinh said the animal slid off the back of the truck and into the water.
Experts say that it’s unusual for an alligator to approach humans, as they usually will stay within the water.
However, if you do find yourself squaring off with a gator, experts offer several tips on how to fight back and get away.
(NEW YORK) — Traffic deaths for the first quarter of this year were the highest since 2002, according to early estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The agency estimates 9,560 people died from motor vehicle crashes during the first quarter of this year — up 7% from the same time in 2021.
Traffic-related deaths have been on the rise since the onset of the pandemic. In 2019, NHTSA reported 36,355 people died on U.S. roads — a number that grew to 38,824 in 2020 and 42,915 in 2021, despite less cars on the road.
“The overall numbers are still moving in the wrong direction,” said NHTSA administrator Steve Cliff.
“We’re talking about three years in a row of traffic deaths, not just being up but being up significantly,” Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the non-profit Governor’s Highway Safety Association said in an interview with ABC News.
Adkins said the surge is due to multiple factors — including less traffic enforcement on roads and prevalence of dangerous behaviors among drivers.
“States are telling me all across the country that speeds are up, drivers are just continuing to speed,” Adkins said. “We really need to bring some of the same attention to speeding that was brought to drunk driving and distracted driving. If we were to get drivers to slow down even a little bit, that make a big difference.”
Cliff said states should “double down” on traffic safety, saying, “Through the bipartisan infrastructure law, there are more resources than ever for research, interventions and effective messaging and programs that can reverse the deadly trend and save lives.”
