(NEW YORK) — Actor Jonathan Majors was arrested Saturday in New York and charged with strangulation and battering a woman, police said.
New York City police said the “Creed III” actor was arrested when officers responded to a 911 call shortly after 11:00 a.m. for an alleged domestic dispute at an apartment in the city’s Chelsea neighborhood.
A 30-year-old woman told police she had been assaulted. Officers placed Majors, 33, into custody without incident, the NYPD said.
The woman claimed Majors struck “her about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear,” a criminal complaint filed in the incident alleges.
She also alleged Majors grabbed her hand and put his hands on her neck, causing swelling, bruising and substantial pain to her neck and hand.
Majors’ attorney denied the allegations, saying evidence would prove the actor is innocent.
“Jonathan Majors is completely innocent … We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently,” Priya Chaudhry, Major’s attorney, said in a statement Sunday.
Chaudhry said the evidence includes video footage from the vehicle where the alleged assault occurred, witness testimony from the driver and others who both saw and heard the episode, “and most importantly, two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations.”
“The NYPD is required to make an arrest in these situations, and this is the only reason Mr. Majors was arrested. We expect these charges to be dropped soon,” Chaudhry’s statement said.
The woman was taken to a local hospital and treated, according to police.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Majors denied any wrongdoing by the actor.
“He has done nothing wrong. We look forward to clearing his name and clearing this up,” the spokesperson said.
Majors was charged with two misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault, second-degree aggravated harassment, second-degree harassment and third-degree attempted assault.
The 33-year-old Majors appeared briefly in court where a judge released him on his own recognizance. The next court date is May 8.
Majors was nominated for an Emmy in 2021 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role in HBO’s “Lovecraft Country.” He most recently appeared in “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”
(MACON, Ga.) — At least two twisters touched down Sunday morning in Georgia — both described by the National Weather Service as “large and extremely dangerous” — as President Joe Biden approved disaster relief for storm-battered Mississippi, where at least 25 people were left dead in the wake of powerful tornado outbreak.
Residents of the Macon, Georgia, suburbs of Milledgeville, Linton, Beulah and Underwood were being advised by the weather service to “take cover now.”
A second tornado was confirmed to have touched down Sunday morning near LaGrange, Georgia, about 65 miles southeast of Atlanta, and was moving east at 40 mph, according to the weather service.
“You are in a life-threatening situation,” the weather service warned residents in the path of both funnel clouds.
While the amount of damage and possible casualties remain unclear in Georgia, the weather service warned that flying debris could be deadly for those caught without shelter, and there is a likelihood homes, businesses and vehicles “will be destroyed.”
A tornado watch is in effect until at least 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time for parts of Alabama and Georgia.
At least 4 million people in the South are also under a severe thunderstorm watch forecast to be accompanied by golf ball-sized hail and 60 mph winds.
As the severe weather continued in the South from the early spring storm that began in California, where it spawned twisters near Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, towns in rural Mississippi were starting the clean up from the swarm of tornadoes on Friday.
Biden approved disaster relief for Mississippi on Sunday, making funding available to those impacted by the storm devastation. Federal funds will be available to government, tribal and other agencies in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, the White House said in a statement.
“The biggest priority for me is, one, making sure that the local jurisdictions, those first responders, have all of the resources that they need. And then, second, that we start to take care of these families,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday.
Criswell said she will travel on Sunday to the Mississippi towns devastated by the tornadoes “to be able to see firsthand the impacts that some of these communities have had.”
The severe tornado that tore through Rolling Fork, Mississippi, late Friday was assigned a rating of EF-4, a classification that marks it as a rare and powerful storm
The National Weather Service office in Jackson, Mississippi, said the preliminary rating comes as staffers are still gathering information about the storm.
The EF, or Enhanced Fujita, scale assigns tornados a number from zero to five based on damage, with five being the most catastrophic. According to the Storm Prediction Center, EF-4 tornadoes make up only 1% of all tornadoes. Historically, the vast majority of twisters have been rated EF-0 or EF-1.
Early data showed that the tornado was on the ground for 59 miles over a period of about 70 minutes. Its maximum width was about three-quarters of a mile, or roughly 4,000 feet.
The tornado’s maximum wind gust was measured at 170 mph.
Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker said search-rescue efforts were “pretty close” to finished and authorities believe everyone has been accounted for. He said his town of roughly 1,800 people was nearly wiped off the map.
“The community has been destroyed. And now we’ve got to put the pieces back together again,” Walker said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Walker is also the town’s funeral director and said some of the 20 people killed in the tornado that struck his town were friends.
Rolling Rock resident Erwin Macon stood outside his completely decimated home with just a suitcase that he said held all the possessions he has left. Macon told ABC News that during the tornado he was shielded from flying debris by a carpet that came out of nowhere and landed on him.
Macon said he is just thankful to be alive.
“This can all be replaced,” he said of his home. “I’ll be okay.”
A separate Mississippi tornado cut a 28.6-mile path of destruction through Carroll and Montgomery counties, killing three people and causing extensive damage in the town of Blackhawk and Winona. The half-mile-wide twister, preliminarily ranked an EF-3 by the National Weather Service, created winds as high as 155 mph and was on the ground for more 25 minutes.
At least four other tornadoes, all measuring EF-1 and packing winds of 90 to 110 mph, also touched down in Mississippi.
The tornadoes that hit Mississippi were among 10 twisters that developed on Friday, including a pair of EF-2 funnel clouds in Alabama that killed a person in Hartselle in Morgan County.
Another EF-2 twister hit near Fayetteville, Tennessee, and churned on the ground for four miles in just six minutes, officials said. The tornado damaged the roofs of several homes and businesses, snapped trees and power poles, destroyed a large shed and ripped the reinforced roof off of the horse stalls at the local fairgrounds. The tornado also caused a large horse trailer to roll about 80 yards and picked up several cars and slammed them to the ground, officials said.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who submitted the disaster declaration, said on Saturday that the “scale of the damage and loss is evident everywhere affected today.”
“Homes, businesses … entire communities. Respond, Recover, Rebuild together,” he said on Twitter. “That is the mission.”
Criswell said that while tornado warnings were activated and sirens in some towns alerted residents of the coming disaster, not everyone received or heeded the alerts.
“In some of these communities, they are certainly some of the poorest communities in the state. And we know that we’re going to have to bring the full force of the federal family in there to come help them,” Criswell said.
In the interview with Criswell on “This Week,” Raddatz noted that up to 35% of Mississippi residents in the area where the massive tornado struck, live below the poverty line and may not have cell phones to receive alerts.
“I think it’s something that we have to … continually look at what we can do to better inform people,” Criswell said. “We know that there are sirens. I know that some sirens did go off. I don’t have, the exact picture of where they went off. But sirens are one of the best tools that we do have to give a widespread warning to people quickly, especially when you have nocturnal tornadoes like this that happen while people are asleep.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Daniel Amarante, Kevin Shalvey and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
(KEY WEST, Fla.) — Two Cuban migrants landed at Key West International Airport on a motorized hang glider Saturday morning, authorities said.
They were taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody after landing at approximately 10:30 am. local time, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, which has deputies assigned to the airport.
No serious injuries were reported, authorities said.
The sheriff’s office and Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar shared images of the powered hang glider following the incident.
ABC News has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for more information on the incident.
“Cuban migrants arrive in all manner, typically in makeshift homemade boats,” Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Adam Linhardt told ABC News. “This is not a typical event, but it’s not completely unusual.”
Chris Ferrara, a Key West local and self-proclaimed aviation buff, told ABC News he was driving his golf cart nearby when he heard the distinct noise of the hang glider engine hovering above him.
“I looked up and just knew that it shouldn’t be there,” Ferrara said.
(WINONA, Miss.) — As a deadly tornado barrelled toward Winona, Mississippi, late on Friday, one local family scrambled for safety inside their home.
“Obviously it was coming right behind us because as soon as we got in there, we heard a big boom and didn’t hear anything else for a little while,” a local man told ABC News affiliate WTVA.
He added, “So we walked out and then just came out to about 10 trees down in our yard.”
The strong and deadly tornado cut eastward across the state, destroying homes and ruining infrastructure. It touched down in cities 100 miles apart within about an hour. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said at least 23 people were dead. Four others were reported missing.
First responders on Saturday morning searched through the destruction, looking for victims. The United Cajun Navy President Todd Terrell said the town of “Rolling Fork is leveled. It’s pretty much devastated.”
In an interview with “GMA” on Saturday, Edgar O’Neal, a storm chaser who was on the ground in Rolling Fork, described the scene as “complete and utter devastation.”
“Houses gone. Gas stations destroyed. Trees, power lines blocking entrances everywhere,” he said. “Stray animals, people wandering the streets clearly in shock. Lots of people out there in the community helping.”
One Rolling Fork resident told WAPT that residents lost a lot more than their homes.
“I thought I was dead,” Rolling Fork resident Shanta Howard said.
“We had to help dead bodies out of the house, so that is very disturbing,” Howard said. “Actually seeing people losing their lives over a weather incident.”
Yazoo County Coroner Ricky Shivers, who is leading the response team of six corners in Rolling Fork, told ABC News he is anticipating a “really severe” death toll.
“It’s going to be catastrophic,” he said.
When asked about the damage to the town, his response was two words: “Completely devastated.” He said his team of six corners “will be prepared to get in high gear at daylight.”
The strength of the tornado, as well as its path, created a devastating result, he said.
(WEST READING, Pa.) — Two people are dead, five are missing and multiple others are injured after an explosion at a chocolate factory Friday in West Reading, Pennsylvania, police and city officials said.
One person was found alive overnight in the rubble. Eight people are in the hospital but their conditions are unknown, according to officials.
“Rescue workers continue to search for any other possible survivors. The discovery of life overnight … provides hope that others still may be found,” Mayor Samantha Kaag said at a press conference Saturday.
Officials do not yet know what caused the explosion.
The explosion occurred around 4:57 p.m. at the RM Palmer Company in West Reading, located about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Teams are still searching through the rubble, according to West Reading Police Chief Wayne Holben.
The explosion caused destruction to one building nearby and damaged another.
Kaag, a former volunteer firefighter, called the incident “pretty scary,” adding that the explosion was so strong it pushed a building back four feet. She said the factory building was “pretty leveled” and crews will “probably” be working through the weekend to clear the debris.
Images of the scene showed smoke and flames billowing from the factory on Friday evening.
(UVALDE, Texas) — “Numerous” migrants were reported injured in a train car in Uvalde County, Texas, on Friday, police said.
Medical helicopters responded to the scene in an area on US Highway 90 near Knippa, Uvalde police said on Facebook.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told ABC San Antonio affiliate KSAT that people inside the train car called 911.
The incident was not a derailment, a source told ABC News.
The portion of the highway, which runs parallel to train tracks in the area, was closed between Uvalde and Sabinal but reopened Friday evening, police said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the scene.
Knippa is located about 70 miles west of San Antonio.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(SALT LAKE CITY, Utah) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed two bills into law on on Friday that seek to limit the harm caused by social media to children and teens by requiring parents and guardians to consent to their children having accounts and by prohibiting social media companies from designing addictive features.
“Our administration is very concerned about how social media is affecting our children. Youth rates of depression and other mental health issues are on the rise, and social media companies know their products are toxic,” Cox said in a recording posted online. “As leaders and as parents we have a responsibility to protect our young people.”
As of March 1, 2024, social media companies will be required to verify the adult age of Utah residents seeking to open or maintain social media accounts. Those under the age of 18 will need the consent of a parent or guardian.
Social media companies will also be required to allow parents full access to their child’s account, create curfew settings that blocks access overnight, prohibit direct messages from anyone the child hasn’t followed or friended and block underage accounts from search results.
Social media companies will also be prohibited from collecting a child’s data or target their accounts for advertising, according to the law.
Violations may be reported to the Consumer Protection Division, which can fine social media companies up to $2,500 per violation and can seek additional remedies through courts.
A second law, which will go into effect on Dec. 31, will implement penalties on social media companies that target users under the age of 18 with addictive algorithms. Social media companies will be prohibited from “using a design or feature that causes a minor to have an addiction to the company’s social media platform,” according to the law.
Violators could face a fine of $250,000 and a penalty of up to $2,500 per child who is exposed to an addictive feature. Companies that perform quarterly audits and address addictive feature violations within 30 days could avoid the fine, according to the law.
Parents will also be able to sue social media companies directly for the financial, physical or emotional harm to their children. For those under the age of 16, harm would be presumed under the law and social media companies would have to prove otherwise.
“Utah’s leading the way in holding social media companies accountable – and we’re not slowing down anytime soon,” Cox said in a tweet.
(FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.) — The Fairfax County Police Department released body camera footage of the fatal police shooting of Timothy Johnson, 37, who allegedly stole a pair of sunglasses in a Northern Virginia mall.
The surveillance and body camera videos from Feb. 22 were shown publicly for the first time during a Thursday press conference led by Police Chief Kevin Davis, who announced that the officer who fired the fatal shot has been dismissed from the department.
“The other discharging officer has been served a notice administratively separating him from the Fairfax County Police Department. This notice was served today. He will no longer be a Fairfax County police officer,” Davis said.
The other officer involved has been placed on modified restricted duty, he said.
Melissa Johnson, the mother of Timothy Johnson, told ABC News she “was pleased to hear about the administrative separation” of one of the officers; however, she “was not pleased to hear about the continuation of restricted duty” for the other.
“They both discharged their weapons. They both had their weapons out,” Johnson’s mother said, adding that for the first time since Wednesday, she felt like she could breathe.
She also told ABC News that she viewed the body camera video Wednesday before it was released.
“No parent should have to view something like that,” she said.
According to police, store surveillance video shows Johnson at a Nordstrom department store inside Tysons Corner Center allegedly stealing at least one pair of sunglasses.
Shortly after the alleged theft, an anti-theft alarm was activated as Johnson was leaving the store, police said, prompting officers to pursue Johnson in a foot chase.
Body camera footage shows police chasing Johnson as he exited the garage and ran toward a dark, wooded area. There, shots can be heard on the footage, one shot hitting Johnson’s chest, according to the police.
Police said they immediately rendered aid to Johnson until a local fire and rescue department arrived.
Johnson was then taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
According to Davis, “The officer’s actions do not meet the expectations of our police department.”
“They drew their guns and shot and killed him and the only thing they knew was that he was accused of allegedly taking a pair of sunglasses,” Melissa Johnson said at a previous press conference.
Police said no weapon was found at the scene.
Both officers are both still under investigation, according to the police department.
The officers did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(MONTICELLO, Minn.) — A Minnesota nuclear plant where 400,000 gallons of radioactive water leaked last year is temporarily shutting down after discovering a smaller leak this week.
Xcel Energy said it will begin powering down its plant in Monticello on Friday to expedite repairs needed to permanently resolve a leak of tritium-contaminated water. The length of the shutdown has not yet been determined but should not impact customers’ electric service, the Minneapolis-based utility company said.
Xcel Energy and state agencies publicly announced last week the initial leak of roughly 400,000 gallons of water containing tritium — a byproduct of the production of electricity by nuclear power plants that emits low levels of radiation.
The initial leak was detected in late November through routine groundwater monitoring systems and occurred in a water pipe that runs between two buildings at the plant, which is located along the Mississippi River about 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
The leak does not pose any health and safety risk to the local community or the environment and the tritium levels are below Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety thresholds, Xcel Energy said. State officials monitoring the cleanup of the water also said the leak had not reached the Mississippi River or contaminated drinking water sources.
Xcel Energy said it had been capturing the water from the leaking pipe and rerouting it back into the plant for re-use until it could install a replacement pipe in mid-April. Though on Wednesday, monitoring equipment indicated that over the past two days “a small amount of new water from the original leak had reached the groundwater,” the company said in a press release on Thursday.
The new leakage is estimated to be in the “hundreds of gallons” and “will not materially increase the amount of tritium the company is working to recover and does not pose any risk to health or the environment,” Xcel Energy said.
Continued monitoring has determined that the leaked water “remains fully contained on-site and has not been detected beyond the facility or in any local drinking water,” the company said.
“While the leak continues to pose no risk to the public or the environment, we determined the best course of action is to power down the plant and perform the permanent repairs immediately,” Chris Clark, president of Xcel Energy–Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, said in a statement. “We are continuing to work with and inform our state, federal, city and county leaders in the process.”
The company reported to state officials on Thursday that the new leak was still ongoing, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup of the impacted groundwater along with the Minnesota Department of Health.
The agencies said they are “encouraged” by the “immediate action” taken by Xcel Energy to address the leak.
“State agencies have no evidence at this point to indicate a current or imminent risk to the public and will continue to monitor groundwater samples. Should an imminent risk arise, we will inform the public promptly,” the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said in a statement Thursday.
So far about 32% of the released tritium has been recovered, Xcel Energy said Thursday.
(NEW YORK) — A dangerous tornado outbreak is headed to the South, where intense, long-track tornadoes reaching EF-3 or higher are possible Friday afternoon and evening.
Damaging winds and large hail are also a threat all the way to Tennessee and Indiana, as is flash flooding, which could stretch from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania.
The storms will start up in eastern Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas Friday afternoon and will strengthen in the evening along the Mississippi River from Louisiana to Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee.
To the north, along the Ohio River Valley, Friday thunderstorms could spark several inches of rain and flash flooding.
The same storm system will bring snow from Iowa to Michigan on Saturday morning.
This storm will then move into the Northeast on Saturday, bringing rainy, windy and chilly conditions.
