(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Two University of Buffalo football players have been charged after a video of them allegedly beating a miniature poodle with a leather belt was posted on social media.
Blake Hiligh — 19-years-old from Alexandria, Virginia — and Zachary Pilarcek — 20-years-old from Endicott, New York — were arraigned in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday when they appeared before Amherst Town Court Justice Geoffrey Klein in regard to accusations that they beat a miniature poodle with a leather belt.
The defendants became the subject of an investigation after the SPAC Serving Erie County received a report of animal abuse after a video of the alleged beating was posted on social media.
“It is alleged that on the evening of June 13, 2023, at approximately 9:00 p.m., the defendants, while acting in concert with one another, beat a dog under their care and custody with a leather belt,” read a press release from the Erie County District Attorney’s Office published on Thursday. “The alleged crime occurred inside of an apartment on Sweet Home Road in the Town of Amherst. A video of the alleged incident was posted on social media.”
“The following day, on June 14, 2023, the SPCA Serving Erie County seized the dog, a 4-year-old male miniature Poodle named “Kobe.” Both defendants were charged and given an appearance ticket to be arraigned,” read the press release. “The dog was immediately transported to the SPCA Serving Erie County’s veterinary team where he received treatment for bruises and abrasions. “Kobe” remains under the care of the SPCA at an undisclosed location.”
Both Hiligh and Pilarcek were charged on Thursday with one count of overdriving, torturing and injuring animals and one count of failure to provide proper sustenance. If convicted of these charges, both men could face a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
Hiligh and Pilarcek both played football at the University of Buffalo but were subsequently suspended and then dismissed from the program following the incident.
“I want to thank our partners at the SPCA for their work in this investigation and the many services that they provide to help animals in our community. I also commend the University at Buffalo and the UB Football program for taking immediate action, which further demonstrates that animal abuse will not be tolerated in this community,” said Erie County DA John Flynn.
Pilarcek is scheduled to return to court on July 27 at 9:30 a.m. for further proceedings regarding this case while Hiligh is scheduled for August 3 at 9:30 a.m.
“Both were released on their own recognizance as charge is a non-qualifying offense for bail,” said Erie County’s District Attorney’s Office. “Judge Klein issued a temporary order that prevents that defendants from owning or caring for any animals while the case is pending.”
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christine M. Garvey of the Felony Trials Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Richard K. Barney, III of the Justice Courts Bureau.
Both Hiligh and Pilarcek are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The investigation is ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — Millions of Americans are on alert for unhealthy air quality as smoke from wildfires in neighboring Canada drifts to the United States.
Wildfires have burned a record of more than 19.5 million acres across Canada so far this year, with no end in sight. There are nearly 500 active wildfires throughout the country and over 250 have been deemed out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. The smoke has been making its way to the U.S. for more than a month.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 30, 6:03 AM EDT
20 US states under air quality alerts as wildfire smoke lingers in East for another day
At least 20 U.S. states are under air quality alerts on Friday morning as Canadian wildfire smoke lingers in the East for another day before it’s forecast to dissipate over the weekend.
The thickest smoke on Friday will stretch from the eastern Great Lakes to the Interstate 95 travel corridor and down to parts of the Southeast.
Skies will be clearer by Saturday, but some light haze could still hang over the East Coast.
Jun 29, 3:47 PM EDT
Air quality alerts in 21 states
Air quality alerts are in effect in 21 states Thursday afternoon as the Canadian wildfire smoke infiltrates the Midwest, Northeast and parts of the South.
Jun 29, 1:58 PM EDT
Pittsburgh air quality ‘very unhealthy,’ MLB game delayed
The Air Quality Index in Pittsburgh climbed to 231 Thursday afternoon, which falls under the “very unhealthy” category. Any number over 100 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Thursday afternoon’s MLB game in Pittsburgh between the Pirates and San Diego Padres was delayed 45 minutes due to the poor air quality, according to The Associated Press.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is encouraging residents to stay inside on Thursday.
Jun 29, 1:14 PM EDT
New York to roll out air quality phone alerts
New York will be rolling out phone alerts to remind residents to take precautions amid the poor air quality, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday.
The Air Quality Index is currently in the “unhealthy” category in Rochester and Buffalo.
“The truth is, there is no end in sight,” Hochul said at news conference, noting the conditions could linger off and on through the summer. “This is the new normal for New Yorkers.”
Phone alerts will be sent in areas where the Air Quality Index is above 200 for one hour or longer. Announcements will also be made on mass transit, where hundreds of thousands of masks will be handed out.
Hochul said it is too early to know about the air quality over the July 4 holiday.
“We don’t know what is going to happen beyond the next couple days — today will be very bad, tomorrow will be very bad. We expect to see the winds start to dissipate over the next couple days. It is impossible for us at this point to predict the holiday celebrations,” she said.
Jackie Bray, commissioner of New York’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, added that it’s “totally appropriate to keep the pools open today, totally appropriate for people to be out, as long as they don’t fall into these sensitive groups.”
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Jun 29, 12:59 PM EDT
Columbus, Ohio, hits its worst air quality ever
Columbus, Ohio, hit an Air Quality Index of 244 on Thursday morning, the highest reading ever for the city.
The AQI has since lowered to 169. Any number over 100 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.
-ABC News’ Jeremy Edwards
Jun 29, 11:36 AM EDT
Pittsburgh air quality reaches ‘very unhealthy’
The Air Quality Index in Pittsburgh climbed to 220 Thursday morning, which falls under the “very unhealthy” category.
Any number over 100 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is encouraging residents to stay inside on Thursday.
Jun 29, 8:03 AM EDT
Wildfire smoke forecast to dissipate by the weekend
The Canadian wildfire smoke drifting into the United States is expected to largely dissipate by the weekend.
By Friday morning, the smoke is forecast to linger in the eastern Great Lakes from Detroit to Ohio, Pennsylvania, western New York state, down to Virginia and the Carolinas.
New York City is not expected to see much smoke, but skies over the Big Apple could still be a bit hazy due to the nearby plumes.
By Friday evening, the smoke will really begin to diminish in the East with lingering effects from New York to the Carolinas.
Jun 29, 5:20 AM EDT
Videos show Canadian wildfire smoke casting haze over US cities
Videos verified by ABC News show smoke from Canada’s wildfires casting a haze over several U.S. cities on Wednesday.
One video, taken by a driver and posted on Twitter, shows the wildfire smoke hanging over a highway near Lawrenceburg, Indiana, as the state and much of the Midwest were under air quality alerts.
Lawrenceburg is located some 100 miles southeast of Indianapolis, near the state border with Ohio and Kentucky. The city is about 25 miles west of Cincinnati, Ohio.
-ABC News’ Matthew Holroyd
Jun 28, 6:05 PM EDT
Over 100 million Americans under air quality alerts
Air quality alerts remain in effect for more than 100 million Americans across the Midwest and into the Northeast Wednesday evening, as wildfire smoke from neighboring Canada blankets large swaths of the United States.
Air quality alerts remain in effect for more than 100 million Americans across the…Read More
Hard-hit Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis remain among the top five places in the world with the worst air quality as of Wednesday evening.
The air quality alerts are mainly for people in sensitive groups who have upper respiratory issues.
Near-surface smoke is expected to stretch from Wisconsin to Kentucky and into t…Read More
The near-surface smoke is expected to stretch from Wisconsin to Kentucky and into the Carolinas Wednesday evening. Some of the smoke will likely make its way into the mid-Atlantic overnight. Pittsburgh to Syracuse are forecast to see hazy, smoky skies and poor air quality Wednesday night.
Through Thursday, the smoke is expected to move out of the Midwest and linger farther east but not be as heavy. No significant smoke issues are forecast at this time for major Northeast cities, including New York City.
-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin
Jun 28, 1:10 PM EDT
Air quality health advisory issued in New York
While the poor air quality is mostly hovering over the Midwest, the dangerous smoke is also drifting toward the East Coast.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has expanded Wednesday’s air quality health advisory to include the entire state.
“Air in Western New York, Central New York, and the Eastern Lake Ontario regions is forecast to be ‘Unhealthy,'” Hochul’s office said. “The forecast for the remainder of the state, including New York City and Long Island, is ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.'”
Jun 28, 12:39 PM EDT
Chicago’s Air Quality Alert in effect until Wednesday night
In Chicago, where the Air Quality Index is in the “very unhealthy” category, an Air Quality Alert is in effect until Wednesday night.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is urging “particularly sensitive populations, including individuals with heart or lung disease, older adults, pregnant people, and young children” to avoid outdoor activities.
Camps have been moved indoors where possible, the mayor said, and he’s encouraging “Chicagoans without access to properly ventilated and safe indoor conditions” to “please utilize our public libraries, senior centers, Park District facilities, and the Cultural Center or the six community service centers that operate from 9am-5pm.”
Jun 28, 12:30 PM EDT
White House monitoring air quality issues as Biden visits Chicago
President Joe Biden has touched down in Chicago for fundraising and an economic address, and the White House said his schedule has not been modified due to the poor air quality in the city.
“No modifications to today’s schedule that I’m aware of as a result of this,” principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said. “But certainly, we are monitoring the air quality issues across the country closely and federal agencies are ensuring that federal resources are available in affected regions as appropriate.”
The Air Quality Index in hazy Chicago reached 207 on Wednesday morning. Any number over 100 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Jun 28, 8:59 AM EDT
Where the smoke is concentrating and why
The latest round of unhealthy air quality due to smoke from wildfires in Canada has pushed into the United States, and it’s ability to concentrate over areas from Wisconsin to Kentucky is aided by recent storms that spawned tornadoes, large hail and [damaging winds]).
Winds at the mid-levels of the atmosphere are causing the Canadian wildfire smoke to concentrate over a specific area of the midwestern and eastern U.S.
Meanwhile, a heat dome that’s been causing stagnant deadly heat in the Deep South for weeks is keeping the smoke largely out of the region.
The next round of widespread showers and thunderstorms for this area of the eastern Midwest and the East is forecast to arrive on Friday and continue through the weekend, which will clear the smoke.
But as long as the wildfires continue to rage in Canada, these events of dense smoke plumes will likely continue to disperse into the U.S. Canada’s wildfire activity typically peaks from June to August.
Jun 28, 7:59 AM EDT
What to know about the Air Quality Index from wildfire smoke and how it affects human health
Heavy blankets of smoke billowing over the United States from wildfires burning in neighboring Canada are threatening the health of millions of people — even non-vulnerable populations with no preexisting conditions. But what about the smoke makes it so hazardous for humans to be around?
Wildfire smoke contains fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, which are microscopic solid or liquid droplets — often 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair — that can be inhaled and cause serious health problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Most particles form in the atmosphere as a result of complex reactions of chemicals, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides — pollutants emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles. But wildfires likely contain PM2.5 that is up to 10 times more harmful than the same type of air pollution coming from combustion activity, according to a 2021 study conducted in California.
PM2.5 is considered unhealthy for “Code Orange” and sensitive groups once the Air Quality Index surpasses 100, according to AirNow, a website that publishes air quality data. Once the AQI surpasses 150, it is considered “Code Red,” unhealthy for some members of the general public who may experience health effects, with sensitive groups experiencing more severe effects.
The AQI is at “Code Purple” once it surpasses 200, considered “very unhealthy” with increased health risk for all populations. “Code Maroon” is labeled as “hazardous” and a health warning for emergency conditions once the AQI reaches 300 and higher.
At Code Maroon, “everyone is more likely to be affected,” according to AirNow.
A “good” AQI is measured at 50 and below, and a “moderate” air quality index ranks between 51 and 100.
Jun 28, 7:45 AM EDT
Chicago air quality hits ‘very unhealthy’ category
As Canadian wildfire smoke infiltrates the midwestern United States, the air in Chicago has deteriorated to the Air Quality Index’s> “very unhealthy” category.
The AQI in hazy Chicago reached 250 on Tuesday afternoon. Any number over 100 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.
“We recommend children, teens, seniors, people with heart or lung disease, and individuals who are pregnant avoid strenuous activities and limit their time outdoors,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson warned in a statement. “For additional precautions, all Chicagoans may also consider wearing masks, limiting their outdoor exposure, moving activities indoors, running air purifiers, and closing windows.”
The smoke is forecast to clear on Friday when showers and thunderstorms hit the region.
Earlier this month, the AQI in the northeastern U.S. reached near maximum with levels in the high 400s.
Jun 28, 7:03 AM EDT
20 US states under air quality alerts
As of Wednesday morning, 20 U.S. states are under air quality alerts from Minnesota down to Georgia and as far north as western New York.
Wildfire smoke from neighbouring Canada is currently blanketing large swaths of the United States, from Iowa to western Pennsylvania to North Carolina and most everywhere in between. Only Chicago is getting a small reprieve on Wednesday morning due to a lake breeze, which isn’t expected to last for long.
Later on Wednesday, the smoke is expected to cover areas from Minnesota to Washington, D.C. and down to the Carolinas.
By early Thursday morning, the smoke will be seen in Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Pittsburgh. But by the afternoon, it will linger from Detroit to Atlanta and east to Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.
New York City could be impacted as well, but most of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires is expected to stay in western New York state, Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
(PICKFORD, Mich.) — Seann Pietila the 19-year-old who allegedly subscribed to a neo-Nazi ideology, was indicted by a grand jury — and the indictment offers more details about what Pietila allegedly said about carrying out a mass attack.
“I won’t be taken alive, I’ll make sure of that,” Pietila allegedly wrote in an Instagram message to another unnamed user. “Remember ‘Heil Hitler!’ boom red mist.”
Authorities initially charged Pietela, 19, of Pickford, Michigan, via criminal complaint with transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure another.
When they searched his home in Michigan, he allegedly had ammunition, magazines, a shotgun, a rifle, a pistol, various knives, firearms accessories, tactical vests, mask, a Nazi flag, a ghillie suit, gas masks and military sniper and survival manuals. Also seized was Pietela’s phone, and in the Notes app, he had identified a particular synagogue in East Lansing, a date, and a list of equipment.
Court documents unsealed on Wednesday allege that Pietila wanted to carry out his shooting online for people “so they could screen record and send it to other people.”
He also allegedly went into detail about which guns he were to use and why and expressed his disdain for Jewish persons.
In communicating with users on Instagram, he allegedly sent pictures that showed Nazi paraphernalia and were supportive of the ideology of the New Zealand shooter.
In 2019, a shooter in New Zealand killed dozens of people in back-to-back shootings at two mosques.
“The crimes alleged in this indictment have made members of our community feel unsafe as they practice their religion. No American should fear engaging in their constitutionally protected rights,” said James A. Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan. “I appreciate the coordinated efforts of our state and local law enforcement partners to disrupt this defendant before he could put his plans into action.”
Pietila’s mother, Brittany Stob, told ABC News earlier this month her son began consuming antisemitic content online when he was isolated during the pandemic and didn’t have access to the mental health treatment he needed.
“He said some stuff online that he shouldn’t have,” she added.
But Stob asserts she believes her son is not violent and was not truly planning an attack.
“He’s a good kid,” she said. “He would never hurt anybody.”
(HOUSTON) — Nearly 9,800 extra live births occurred in Texas the year after a strict abortion ban went into effect in 2021, a new analysis found.
In the study, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a team from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health looked at available data of live births from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. between 2016 and 2022.
Next, they used statistical modeling to estimate what birth counts in Texas would have looked like had S.B.8 — the law banning nearly all abortions after 6 weeks — not passed.
Researchers estimated 287,289 live births in Texas would have occurred from April 2022 to December 2022 had the abortion ban not gone into effect in September 2021. The actual number of births during this period was 297,088, meaning there were 9,799 more live births.
In 2021, Texas lawmakers passed, and Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law, S.B.8 , which bans abortion after six weeks gestation, before many women know they are pregnant.
S.B.8 also allows any private citizen to sue anyone who performs an abortion or assists a pregnant person in obtaining the procedure.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, Texas had a trigger law go into effect in August 2022, banning abortion at nearly all stages, and making it a felony, punishable by up to life in prison, with an exception to save the life of a pregnant person.
“There just are a lot of questions around what’s going to happen to actual fertility, whether people are going to be able to get an abortion or not,” co-lead author Alison Gemmill, an assistant professor in the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, told ABC News.
Gemmill said the findings highlight how thousands of people may not have had a choice but to continue an unwanted or unsafe pregnancy due to the ban, and there may be even more who can’t after the Supreme Court decision, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“At the time that this Texas ban was passed, people could still go out of state to the neighboring states,” Gemmill said. “But since Dobbs, we know that all of those neighboring states have also banned abortion and so there’s the question of whether that impact is going to be larger now that you have fewer states where people can access abortion.”
Although studies have shown there was an increase in abortions provided to Texans in other states, the team said the findings of its analysis suggest not everyone who might have wanted an abortion was able to get one after S.B.8. passed.
This is not the first study to examine the effects of Texas’s abortion ban. A 2022 study found abortions in or around Texas fell by 38% the month after the ban went into effect.
Gemmill said the analysis did not go into the effects of being denied access to abortion, but research has shown it can have a serious impact on physical and mental health.
“Even though we’re not directly measuring the negative consequences of the study, we know from other studies … that people who are denied wanted abortions face a host of negative consequences,” she said. “We need to contextualize what these births mean. It’s nuanced.”
(WASHINGTON) — A man with a Jan. 6-related warrant was arrested near former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., house, and he had guns and ammunition in his car, multiple law enforcement sources tell ABC News.
Taylor Taranto, 37, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and charged with Fugitive from Justice, pursuant to an arrest warrant, according to a statement from the agency. The officials did not specify what the warrant was for.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that they were concerned he was coming to the area and had a Be On the Lookout, or BOLO, order out for his arrest. He was livestreaming just before he was arrested at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon, according to sources.
Authorities who searched his car found multiple firearms, ammunition and material to make at least one Molotov cocktail, according to law enforcement sources.
Taranto wasn’t in the protective bubble of the former president and had not gotten past any checkpoints, law enforcement sources stressed.
Taranto didn’t make any direct threats to the former president or mention him by name, but he did suggest he had weapons in his comments on his livestream, according to law enforcement sources.
There is no active threat to the community, and the incident remains under investigation, according to MPD’s statement.
The story was first reported by CBS News.
Taranto is a defendant named in a civil lawsuit brought by the widow of MPD officer Jeffrey Smith, who died by suicide following the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
The complaint, brought by Smith’s widow in August 2021, identified Taranto as having entered the Capitol and alleged that he aided another rioter, David Walls-Kaufman, in attacking Smith as he was trying to remove rioters from the building.
Walls-Kaufman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense after federal prosecutors acknowledged they couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had assaulted Smith, and he was sentenced to two months in jail earlier this month.
It is not clear why Taranto has not been charged. He has claimed in the civil court proceedings, however, that he was in the mob acting as an “established 1st amendment press agent” that covers Antifa and Black Lives Matter “provocateurs.”
He has otherwise denied aiding in Smith’s assault. The civil lawsuit remains active after being assigned to a new judge in February.
(HOUSTON) — At least 13 people have died from heat-related illness in Texas, The Associated Press reported.
Ten deaths due to heat illness were reported in Webb County and another death occurred in Galveston County in the past two weeks, local officials told ABC News, as the Southern U.S. grapples with a weeks-long heat wave and triple-digit temperatures.
Emergency room visits in Texas between June 18 and June 24 have spiked compared to the same time last year as the state battles an early onset of extreme heat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The region averaged 837 heat-related visits per 100,000 ER visits compared to 639 visits per 100,000 emergency department visits during the same period in 2022, CDC data shows.
Much of the South is experiencing waves of extreme heat far earlier in the season than normal. This has been particularly true of Texas, where temperatures have regularly exceeded 100 degrees for several weeks.
On Wednesday, temperatures in Texas reached 107 degrees in Corpus Christi, 108 degrees in Austin and 109 degrees in Houston.
On Monday, Laredo and San Angelo tied their all-time recorded hottest temperatures at 115 degrees and 111 degrees, respectively.
This level of heat in Texas isn’t considered novel but it typically isn’t seen until July and August. When Houston exceeded the 100-degree mark on Wednesday for the first time this season, it did so a full month earlier than it usually does, records show.
The death toll is likely to rise as the scorching temperatures continue, officials said.
Across the country, heat indexes are measuring in the triple digits, with states including New Mexico and Oklahoma all under heat alerts on Thursday.
Human-caused climate change is making near-record heat in parts of Texas at least five times more likely, according to an analysis by the nonprofit climate change research organization Climate Central.
Heat is the number-one weather-related killer in the world, with more than 600 people dying from heat-related illnesses every year in the U.S., according to the CDC.
The U.S. could soon be paying an additional $1 billion in healthcare expenses each summer due to forecasts of continuing waves of extreme heat in the near future, according to a new report by Virginia Commonwealth University and the think tank Center for American Progress.
An increase in prolonged periods of high heat has coincided with the increase in heat-related illness, the report found.
If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, Americans could experience on average up to 53 days every year in which temperatures exceed 95 degrees, according to a report by the consulting firm ICF International.
ABC News’ Gina Sunseri, Flor Tolentino, Jennifer Watts and Tracy Wholf contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) — A grand jury has declined to indict rapper Travis Scott and five others in connection with the deadly crowd crush at the 2021 Astroworld Festival in Houston, prosecutors said.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the grand jury on Thursday returned no bills on all criminal charges related to the deaths of the 10 spectators.
“The grand jury found that no crime did occur, that no single individual was criminally responsible,” Ogg said during a press briefing.
Ten people died, including a 9-year-old boy, after the crowd rushed toward the stage during headline and festival founder Travis Scott’s set. Thousands were injured, according to attorneys representing people suing Scott, promoter Live Nation and dozens of other companies.
According to Houston Police and witness accounts, a wave of tens of thousands of people moved toward the stage when Scott — and later rapper Drake — appeared. Concert attendees said they were pushed into one another from all sides. As the crowd pressed its way forward, some began to fall, pass out and get trampled by others in the audience. The 10 victims died from compression asphyxia and were located in the same general area, police said.
“One of the key contributing factors to the deaths was the overpopulation and resulting compaction in this quadrant,” Houston Detective Michael Barrow told reporters during the press briefing. “This was not a crowd stampede, this was not a stage rush, this was not a crowd surge. This was a slow compaction or constriction into this quadrant, resulting in collapses within the crowd.”
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said police completed their criminal investigation into the incident last week, calling it a “very complex investigation.” The investigation will be publicly released, he said.
In addition to Scott, the grand jury weighed whether any criminal charges should be filed against festival manager Brent Silberstein; John Junell, with Live Nation; Shawna Boardman and Seyth Boardman, with crowd management company Contemporary Services Corporation; and Emily Ockenden with production company BWG, according to court documents.
Alycia Harvey, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said possible charges under consideration were limited to crimes that can be committed by omission, such as child endangerment. Charges of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide would have needed an “act of causation” to be sustained in front of the grand jury, she said.
An attorney for Scott called the 19-month investigation “one of the most exhaustive investigations in the history of the Houston Police Department” in remarks to reporters Thursday.
The case has “had a huge impact” on Scott’s career, the attorney, Kent Schaffer, said, including lost sponsorships and endorsements.
“As long as there was a pending criminal investigation, it makes it extremely difficult to get insured,” Schaffer said. “Now he’s going to be able to pick back up where he left off, which is great because, you know, in this country everybody’s presumed innocent.”
Following the concert, Scott released a statement on Twitter, saying, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld festival.”
In an extensive interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God in December 2021, the rapper said he was unaware of the injuries and fatalities among fans until after his performance was over.
When asked at the time if he feels responsible for the tragedy, Scott said, “I have a responsibility to figure out what happened here. I have a responsibility to figure out the solution.”
In a statement to ABC News in the days after the concert, Live Nation said it was working with law enforcement to get answers.
“We continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time,” Live Nation said.
Scott and event organizers have been hit with litigation in the wake of the tragedy.
Hundreds of lawsuits filed against the event organizers, managers and performers were consolidated and are being handled by one judge.
A case brought by the family of Axel Acosta, a 21-year-old who was killed in the crush, settled last year under undisclosed terms.
The family of Ezra Blount, the 9-year-old killed, have also sued Scott and other event organizers.
The attorney for his family, Robert C. Hilliard, said in a statement Thursday that “criminal and civil accountability are critical to be sure that those responsible for the loss of innocent lives are made to not only understand the permanent devastation they caused these families — but to show the rule of law applies to the powerful, to the well connected.”
The grand jury’s decision “has no impact on the many civil lawsuits pending,” Ogg said.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Thursday denied former President Donald Trump’s request to dismiss E. Jean Carroll’s original defamation claim against him, ruling his arguments lacked merit.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in November 2019 over comments he made shortly after Carroll publicly accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. In those statements Trump denied the accusation, said Carroll was “not my type,” and suggested she fabricated her accusation for ulterior and improper purposes, including to increase sales of her then-forthcoming book.
“Regarding the ‘story’ by E. Jean Carroll, claiming she once encountered me at Bergdorf Goodman 23 years ago. I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section,” Trump posted on Twitter.
Trump argued the case should be dismissed because he is immune from her claim since he was president at the time.
“His theory fails for two reasons,” Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote Thursday. “First, absolute presidential immunity is not the only type of absolute immunity that raises separation of powers concerns. Second, and more importantly, ‘separation of powers’ is not a magic phrase that automatically transforms any issue it touches into an impediment to the exercise of subject matter jurisdiction.”
Kaplan also rejected Trump’s claim that his denials were part of his official duties as president.
“Mr. Trump did not merely deny Ms. Carroll’s accusation of sexual assault. Instead, he accused Ms. Carroll of lying about him sexually assaulting her in order to increase sales of her book, gain publicity, and/or carry out a political agenda,” Kaplan wrote. “Even assuming that the president’s decision publicly to deny an accusation of personal wrongdoing comes within the outer perimeter of his official duties, it does not follow that the president’s own personal attacks on his or her accuser equally fall within that boundary.”
The civil trial is scheduled for January.
In May, Carroll prevailed in a second lawsuit that alleged defamation and battery. A jury found Trump liable for both and awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
In a separate filing Thursday, Trump’s attorneys argued he deserved either a new trial or a downward modification of the damage payment.
“Consequently, the Jury’s $2 million award was clearly motivated by sympathy rather than by evidence of harm, and the Court should grant a new trial as to compensatory damages for the battery claim, or grant a remittitur of such award to an amount no more than $400,000,” defense attorney Joe Tacopina wrote.
Trump has also filed a defamation suit against Carroll for continuing to accuse him of rape after the jury in May ruled that he was liable for sexually assaulting her but not raping her as she claimed.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(PARKLAND, Fla.) — The former Parkland, Florida, resource officer accused of failing to confront the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter who killed 14 students and three staff members in 2018 has been found not guilty on all counts.
Scot Peterson, 60, was charged in 2019 with multiple counts of child neglect after an internal investigation found that he retreated while students were under attack. Prosecutors accused Peterson, a 30-year veteran of the Broward Sheriff’s Office, of making a false statement, claiming that he did not hear gunshots.
Peterson could be seen sobbing with his head on the table after the verdicts were read by the judge.
Peterson, who was fired after the probe report was released, had pleaded not guilty.
After the verdict, Peterson told reporters the only one person to blame for the tragedy was “that monster,” referring to the gunman.
“In any type of incident, do your due diligence and look at the facts,” Peterson said.
Kristen Gomes, an assistant state attorney at the Broward County State Attorney’s Office, said during closing arguments that Peterson didn’t do anything to search for the shooter and confront him.
“When the defendant ran, he left behind an unrestricted killer who spent the next four minutes and 15 seconds wandering the halls at his leisure. Because when Scot Peterson ran, he left them in a building with a predator unchecked,” she said.
Mark Eiglarsh, Peterson’s attorney, argued that his client was being made a “sacrificial lamb.” Eiglarsh said in closing arguments that Peterson couldn’t accurately detect where the gunshots came from and neither could several other students and teachers.
“He did everything he could,” Eiglarsh told reporters after the verdict.
Peterson faced up to 95 years in state prison and the loss of his pension if convicted on all charges.
When asked if Peterson was considering a civil case against the police, Eiglarsh declined to answer.
“We’ll look into everything after the fact,” he said.
Linda Beigel Schulman,, the mother of slain Parkland teacher Scott Beigel, slammed Peterson for telling reporters that he got his life back following the verdict.
“Well bravo for getting your life back, I cannot get my son’s life back,” she told ABC News Live.
Beigel Schulman said that even though the jury found Peterson not legally responsible for the deaths, she found him morally responsible for her son’s killing.
Peterson told reporters that he was open to talking to the victim’s family members, but Beigel Schulman said that was one offer she wouldn’t accept.
“I am not going to speak to him and absolve him of his moral guilt,” she said. “No way.”
The gunman, Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the high school, was sentenced to life in prison last year after pleading guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(UVALDE, Texas) — In the 13 months after the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting, resources from across the state flowed into the small Texas town, including the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas.
Now, the bereavement center is permanently establishing its roots in Uvalde, recognizing the irreversible impact loss can have on children.
“Play is the language of children,” Dr. Marian Sokol, CEO of the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas, told ABC News. “Sometimes they can’t find the words, but they can create the words.”
The nonprofit from San Antonio, Texas serves children and families grieving the death of a loved one, focusing on therapy through expressive arts.
The center has been in four temporary locations throughout the city, including a space from St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, which is now the lender of their permanent building. Rev. Michael Marsh of St. Philip’s told ABC News that the parish immediately wanted to help the community in a tangible way after the shooting.
“I think about the building, what it used to look like and what it looks like now, and itself is a symbol of hope and transformation,” Marsh told ABC News.
“In some ways, the grief will never go away, we won’t get over it but through it,” said Marsh. “There will be a time that life will get larger.”
The permanent space also includes enhanced security measures in its construction, including ballistic glass and automatic locks on the doors. Sokol hopes to help reduce the high levels of anxiety her team sees in their clients and bring them methods to cope.
The center will include private counseling offices, rooms for art therapy and an outdoor space.
The Children’s Bereavement Center currently has two full-time counselors and three interns, serving roughly 100 children, as they continue to search for additional counselors to hire.
“So much of what we’re seeing now is really trauma,” said Sokol. “Sometimes it takes years to get through the trauma. But being able to put that into a positive train of thought in terms of things that they can do in life to honor and respect and show that the continued love and the continued memorializing of the children.”
All services are provided at no cost to families. The cost for interior structure and design is compensated through donations by several communities in the greater San Antonio neighborhoods.
A dedication ceremony for the new facility was hosted on June 29.
