(NEW YORK) — The FBI is investigating a “suspicious death” of a female passenger aboard a Carnival cruise ship while it was en route to the Bahamas.
The incident occurred on Carnival’s Sunshine during its Feb. 27 voyage from the United States to Nassau, Bahamas, when medical staff and other crew members aboard the ship were made aware of an unresponsive passenger and life-saving measures were immediately attempted, according to a statement from the FBI’s field office in Columbia, South Carolina.
Despite the crew’s best efforts, the unidentified female passenger was pronounced dead on the ship of currently unknown causes.
“The FBI investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons,” the FBI said. “As such, FBI Evidence Response Team (ERT) members responded to process the passenger’s room once the ship returned to the Charleston port on March 4.”
The “suspicious death” was isolated, according to the FBI, and there was no threat to any other passengers before or after the passenger was found deceased.
This incident remains under investigation by the FBI.
(NEW YORK) — A 64-year-old woman collapsed and died while hiking on an exposed and rugged desert trail in Texas, officials say.
The incident occurred at approximately 2:45 p.m. on Monday when Big Bend National Park’s Communications Center received a call requesting emergency assistance for a 64-year-old female who had collapsed and was unresponsive on the park’s Hot Springs Canyon Trail — a three mile trail that takes hikers through rugged desert and rocky cliffs above the Rio Grande.
“A team of Park Rangers and a U.S. Border Patrol Agent responded and reached the patient by 3:30 pm and immediately began CPR,” read a statement from Big bend National Park following the incident. “A U.S. Border Patrol helicopter was called in to provide emergency transport of the patient.”
All attempts to revive the hiker, however, were unsuccessful.
“Big Bend National Park staff and our partners are saddened by this loss,” stated Acting Deputy Superintendent Rick Gupman. “While we can’t conclude that weather was a factor in this incident, March reminds us that the beauty of spring often brings dangerously hot temperatures to Big Bend. Our entire Big Bend family extends our deep condolences to the hiker’s family and friends.”
Park officials warn that no shade or water along the trail the hiker was on can often make it dangerous to attempt in the heat of the afternoon.
With approximately 581,000 visitors in 2021, Big Bend National Park is the 15th largest in the national park system at 1,252 square miles and was authorized by Congress in 1935 to “preserve and protect a representative area of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande.”
(WINTER HAVEN, Fla.) — Four people have died after two planes crashed over Lake Hartridge in Winter Haven, Florida, on Tuesday, law enforcement officials said.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has identified Faith Irene Baker, 24, a pilot and flight instructor with Sunrise Aviation; Zachary Jean Mace, 19, a student at Polk State College; and Randall Elbert Crawford, 67, from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, as three of the people who died in the collision.
“My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who were killed in today’s crash. The NTSB and FAA will be investigating the cause and circumstances of the collision,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “Please keep the families in your prayers during this difficult and stressful time.”
Police are working to identify the fourth person, authorities said. Baker and Mace were in a Cherokee Piper 161, while Crawford and the fourth victim were in a Piper J-3 Cub, according to the sheriff’s office.
Search and rescue operations have ceased, as all four people are believed to be the only occupants of the two aircraft, police said.
“Our Polk State College family is devastated by this tragedy,” Angela Garcia Falconetti, the school’s president, said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to their families, friends and colleagues.”
One of the planes was operated by Sunrise Aviation on behalf of Polk State College, while the other was run by Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News in a statement.
Police responded to a 911 call at 2:04 p.m. local time about the crash.
One plane was floating below the surface of the water while the other sat 21 feet on the lake bed, according to police.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to Lake Hartridge to investigate the collision.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — About 20 more hours of police video and audio in the Tyre Nichols case will be released Wednesday afternoon, according to City of Memphis Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Sink.
The release comes after a seventh officer who was involved in the Jan. 7 incident was fired following an internal investigation, according to Sink.
Nichols, 29, died several days after a violent traffic stop captured in body camera footage, which shows officers striking Nichols repeatedly.
His death has prompted protests and unrest across the country.
In a Tuesday city council meeting, Sink announced that the internal investigations resulted in four Memphis Fire Department personnel being charged, and 13 Memphis Police Department personnel being charged. According to Sink, these are not criminal investigations, but rather administrative investigations.
Prior to the meeting the Memphis Police Department announced that six officers involved in the incident were fired. Sink revealed to council members that a seventh unidentified officer who was under investigation was terminated.
Of the remaining officers under investigation, three officers received a suspension, two had their charges dismissed and one individual resigned in lieu of termination, Sink said. The charges and disciplinary decisions will be officially posted on Wednesday alongside the latest round of released footage, she said.
All officers directly involved in Nichols’ beating were part of the first round of terminations and criminal charges, Sink said.
Those five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in Nichols’ beating and subsequent death.
A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, was fired in February, days after the body camera footage was released to the public.
Another officer, who was suspended, “did place hands on [Nichols’] legs,” Sink said, but asserted that it was not a strike or assault.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(CENTRAL FALLS, R.I.) — An airline passenger accused of attempting to open a plane emergency exit door and then swinging at a flight attendant with a broken spoon allegedly tried to attack two guards Tuesday at the jail where he is being held, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Francisco Torres, 33, of Leominster, Massachusetts, is being held at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, after he was ordered detained pending a bail hearing on Thursday.
Details and the severity of the incident at the jail were not immediately clear.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, which is prosecuting the case against Torres, declined to comment.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the warden’s office.
Torres was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon, following the incident on a United Airlines flight on Sunday from Los Angeles to Boston.
Torres allegedly tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon after he was confronted about tampering with the door, federal prosecutors said.
A “flight attendant found that the door’s locking handle had been moved out of the fully locked position … and that the emergency slide arming lever had been moved to the ‘disarmed’ position,” prosecutors said.
Torres later told police he went into the bathroom to break the spoon “to make a weapon,” court records stated. Torres also allegedly told investigators he believed a flight attendant was trying to kill him, so he tried to kill the flight attendant first, according to court records.
Fellow passengers tackled him and the flight crew helped restrain him, prosecutors said. The flight attendant told police he wasn’t hurt, according to court documents.
Torres was taken into custody when the flight landed at Logan Airport.
Torres has two prior arrests, one for armed robbery and the other for assault and battery, though he was never convicted, law enforcement sources told ABC News. It appears he was determined not fit for prosecution.
ABC News Emily Shapiro and Benjamin Stein contributed to this report.
(LOCUST GROVE, Ga.) — Family and friends are mourning the shocking death of a Georgia bookstore owner whose body was found floating in a creek over the weekend.
Erica Atkins, 40, the owner of Birdsong Books, was found dead hours after she was reported missing from her home in Locust Grove, about 35 miles southeast of Atlanta, police said.
Her body was discovered Sunday by a fisherman in Cedar Creek, several miles from her home, authorities said.
Romero Johnson, 38, faces murder and kidnapping charges in connection with her death, Locust Grove Police said.
Johnson was an ex-boyfriend of Atkins’ who would sometimes work at the bookstore, her brother, Phillip Robinson, told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB.
“It was shocking and extremely, extremely painful,” Robinson told WSB.
Akins leaves behind a 21-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, WSB reported.
“I’m really going to miss her,” her daughter, Jasmine Atkins, told WSB. “My mother was everything to me.”
Atkins was reported missing on Sunday, police said. A friend called police after noticing the front door to Atkins’ home was wide open, WSB reported.
Detectives “quickly identified” Johnson as a suspect and he was taken into custody on Sunday for kidnapping, police said in a statement.
Later on Sunday, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office contacted Locust Grove police after finding a dead body that matched the physical description of the kidnapping victim, police said.
“To dispose of a body like that is just heartbreaking, senseless,” Locust Grove Police Chief Derrick Austin told WSB.
Detectives obtained an additional warrant for murder for Johnson, police said. Austin told WSB that neighborhood cameras showed that the suspect had been at the victim’s home, and that detectives tracked his car to Putnam County, near where Atkins was found.
“It’s such a sad situation,” Austin told WSB. “Someone she obviously trusted enough to have at her home, who would do something like this to her.”
Johnson is currently being detained in Henry County Jail. It is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Authorities are still working to determine the cause of death.
Flowers have been placed outside Birdsong Books following news of Atkins’ death. The new and used bookstore opened in Locust Grove in late 2021. A bio on the store’s website described Atkins as an “advocate of reading, learning and educating people of all walks of life.”
“She grew up loving to read. An avid reader,” Robinson said of his sister. “She would spend hours when we were kids reading aloud.”
Birdsong Books was named 2022 Microbusiness of the Year by the Henry County Chamber of Commerce, which called Atkins’ death a “tremendous loss” to the community.
“As a business and community leader and a friend, she will be sorely missed,” the chamber of commerce said in a statement on social media Monday.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — About 20 more hours of police video and audio in the Tyre Nichols case will be released Wednesday afternoon, according to City of Memphis Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Sink.
Nichols, 29, died several days after a violent Jan. 7 traffic stop captured in body camera footage, which shows officers striking Nichols repeatedly.
His death has prompted protests and unrest across the country.
In a Tuesday city council meeting, Sink announced that the internal investigations resulted in four Memphis Fire Department personnel being charged, and 13 Memphis Police Department personnel being charged. According to Sink, these are not criminal investigations, but rather administrative investigations.
Of the 13 MPD personnel charged, seven were terminated, three officers received a suspension, two had their charges dismissed and one individual resigned in lieu of termination, Sink said. The charges and disciplinary decisions will be officially posted on Wednesday alongside the latest round of released footage, she said.
All officers directly involved in Nichols’ beating were part of the first round of terminations and criminal charges, Sink said.
Those five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in Nichols’ beating and subsequent death.
A sixth officer was fired and a seventh has been relieved of duty in the wake of Nichols’ death, officials said.
Another officer, who was suspended, “did place hands on [Nichols’] legs,” Sink said, but asserted that it was not a strike or assault.
(WASHINGTON) — The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday it is opening a special investigation into Norfolk Southern’s safety practices and culture in the wake of a hazardous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and other recent incidents involving the train company.
The last time the agency opened such an investigation was in 2014 for Metro-North following several significant accidents.
The scrutiny comes after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed on Feb. 3 near East Palestine, Ohio, sending toxic chemicals into the air, soil and creeks in the area. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy called the derailment “100% preventable” and said it was “no accident.”
Most recently, a Norfolk Southern train derailed Saturday near Springfield, Ohio. The railroad company told authorities that this incident did not involve hazardous materials. But officials acknowledged Monday that cars on the train that did not derail did have hazardous contents.
A Norfolk Southern train conductor was killed in a collision with a dump truck at a rail crossing at the property of steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs, in Cleveland, Ohio, early Tuesday.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is set to testify before the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee during a hearing on Wednesday amid calls for reform.
A bipartisan group of senators, led by Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown and Ohio Republican J.D. Vance, introduced legislation last week looking to regulate the railroad industry in the wake of the East Palestine disaster.
“It shouldn’t take a rail disaster to get us working together like that. And that’s what we’re going to be doing,” Brown told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
NTSB’s preliminary report into the East Palestine incident found that a wheel bearing appeared to overheat moments before the derailment. A final report with recommendations might not be finished for up to two years, officials said.
Representatives from NTSB were on site Monday investigating the wreck near Springfield.
(MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C.) — What police officers thought was a routine traffic stop turned out to be a blessing in disguise for 58-year-old Tamara Palmer.
On Dec. 2, 2022, police officers were called to a highway in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, with reports of a potential drunk driver.
It was on the highway that the two responding officers from the Mount Pleasant Police Department reported they observed Palmer erratically hitting the curb and veering in and out of lanes multiple times.
After pulling her over, officers questioned Palmer, but after determining that she had no drugs or alcohol in her system they feared something else might be wrong.
“I told them I [had] a bad headache and I lost my vision for a few seconds,” Palmer told “Good Morning America.” “And then [they realized] something really medically was not right with me.”
Tamara Palmer says police officers who stopped her while driving helped to save her life.
The two responding officers requested an ambulance for Palmer after deciding she was “possibly having a medical episode,” the police department wrote in a Facebook post.
Once at the hospital, Palmer said an MRI detected a tumor in her brain. She said doctors told her it was possible the tumor had been growing in her head for 35 years.
Due to the size and location of the tumor, doctors rushed Palmer into surgery less than 48 hours after she was pulled over.
“[It was a] very successful surgery,” Palmer said, noting she was discharged from the hospital two days later. “I didn’t have any complications. I feel like I didn’t have any surgery at all.”
Now recovered, Palmer said she has returned to work as an assistant teacher.
She also followed up with the police department, letting them know last month that the two police officers who pulled her over saved her life, the department shared on Facebook.
Palmer said she is grateful to have been given a second chance at life, thanks to the quick thinking of the police officers who pulled her over that December day.
“I just wake up every morning and say, ‘Thank you.’ I opened my eyes and I’m alive. I go to work. I enjoy my kids. I enjoy my work. I just enjoy any breath I take,” Palmer told “GMA.” “Dec. 2, it’s my second birthday because [of these] police officers. They [gave] me the best birthday gift I could ask for — life.”
(JACKSON, Miss) — The city of Jackson, Mississippi, has grappled with crisis after crisis in recent years with the reliability of the city’s water infrastructure, and residents say they are experiencing the brunt of the burden — this time with their wallets.
Jackson residents have been reporting irregularly high water bills, with multiple households telling ABC Jackson affiliate WAPT that their bills are doubling, even quadrupling, in any given month.
Officials are aiming to establish a rate structure that enables the utility to run solely on local revenue sources and no longer require assistance from the federal government, Ted Henifin, the Department of Justice-appointed interim manager of the Jackson Water System, told community members during a town hall on Tuesday.
Rate setting in the U.S. is a challenge because utility companies around the country don’t necessarily “charge what water’s worth,” rather setting prices for what is affordable for the lower 20% of socioeconomic demographics, Henifin said, adding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers a household “stressed” if it is spending more than 4.5% of its income on its water and sewer bill.
Henifin stressed that the cost is not only for the water itself but for the chemicals to treat the water and the energy to transport it, as well as the working infrastructure to accomplish those steps.
In addition, there will be some politics to navigate over the municipal authority that will oversee the restored water system, Henifin said.
Problems with water systems in Jackson — boil water notices, water shortages and infrastructure problems — have persisted in the city for decades.
Recent years have proved even more difficult.
In March 2021, back-to-back winter storms wreaked havoc on the city’s water system, leaving much of the city under a boil water alert and some without running water at all.
Historic flooding in the state in September caused river flooding that created problems with water pressure at long-failing treatment systems, and freezing temperatures in December inundated the city’s water system even more.
“Our facilities weren’t built for that,” Henifin told ABC News last month of the infrastructure’s ability to withstand extreme weather events.
The compounding issues are affecting residents throughout the city, from lack of water pressure in schools to water being knocked out in nearly every strong storm.
The failing water system is the result of “decades of neglect,” Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told ABC News last month.
Despite an uphill battle to fortify the city’s water systems, Lumumba is confident that a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ for the crisis is near, especially with more than $800 million in federal support.
Those changes won’t happen overnight, the mayor said, describing efforts that include first ensuring the availability of water and then providing filters to build confidence on the water quality while repairs on the infrastructure are taking place.
