Superwomen lift car off crushed boy

 The Sun UK

June 4, 2009

TWO "superwomen" saved a schoolboy's life — by lifting a CAR off his trapped body.

Mighty mums Donna McNamee and Abigail Sicolo sprang into action when eight-year-old Bailey Fowler was run over on their street.

The little lad screamed in agony beneath the weight of the engine of the 1400kg (3086lb) Renault Clio.

But neighbours Abi, 29, and Donna, 24, grabbed the bumper and managed to haul the car up so Bailey could be pulled free.

The schoolboy broke his leg and suffered crushing injuries needing plastic surgery in the accident — but was yesterday expected to make a full recovery.

His family thanked Abi and Donna — and believe Bailey would have died if he wasn't freed so quickly.

Screaming

The boy was playing water pistols with friends outside his home when he ran into the road and was hit by the car.

Mum-of-four Donna said: "It all happened so quickly. I was in my garden when I heard screaming and ran out.

"At first I thought it was one of my children. I had to help so I did the first thing that came into my head.

"All we could see were these little legs under the car. He was trapped right under the engine and screaming.

"But we knew we had to get him out. We just bent over, grabbed the underneath of the car and lifted.

"I must admit lifting the car was hard work. It's not something I practice for."

Abi's only child Jaydon, seven, was playing with Bailey at the time of the accident in Newport, Gwent.

She said: "I had to look under the car and check it wasn't my son.

"I saw a boy with blonde hair just lying there trapped - I was relieved it wasn't Jaydon but we had to try and get him free.

"The poor boy was screaming throughout - it was horrific.

"The car was so heavy. I bruised my arm and shoulder when we were lowering it.

"We're not heroes anyone would have done it."

Both women were surprised at summoning up the superhuman strength to lift the vehicle — because neither have a firm exercise regime.

Abi said: "You don't need to exercise when you have a young family to run around after.

"We do plenty of lifting and carrying around the house so perhaps that's why we could manage it."

Donna's dad Anthony McNamee, 42, helped the two to heave up the car before an ambulance arrived to take Bailey to hospital

He said: "The girls were magnificent - they are like Superwomen. We had to physically lift the car off the ground high enough for others to pull him clear.

"It was a horrible experience which I would never like to see again - I've never seen anything like it."

Bailey's dad Paul said: "We're really shaken up at the moment but it's great to know we've got neighbours like this around us."

His mother Wendy added: "He's in a bad way at the moment, but he's such a happy little boy and he's not letting it get him down too much. I don't know what I would have done without my neighbours."

Gwent Police are investigating and said enquiries are continuing with the driver of the Clio.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Mom accused of duct-taping daughter's boyfriend

The Associated Press

A sheriff's spokeswoman said Tuesday that Anna Gaffney and Linda Chevalier went to the young man's home on Saturday afternoon and tried to tie him up with duct tape. The victim told authorities the women said they were taking him to Northern California to get him away from Gaffney's 21-year-old daughter.

Authorities say both women were arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping.

Officials say the girlfriend was later arrested for investigation of dissuading a witness and extortion for allegedly trying to get her boyfriend to recant his statements to authorities.

Two arrested following Daytona Beach bank robbery

| Sentinel Staff Writer 4:41 PM EDT, June 2, 2009

NY store owner gives $40, loaf of bread to contrite would-be thief after he begs forgiveness

By FRANK ELTMAN

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) --A rifle-toting convenience store owner said he decided to show mercy on a would-be robber after seeing the man collapse into tears and claim he was only committing the crime to support his starving family.

The Long Island store owner provided the bat-wielding man with $40 and a loaf of bread and made him promise never to rob again.

"This was a grown man, crying like a baby," Mohammad Sohail, owner of the Shirley Express convenience store about 65 miles east of New York City, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

The man dropped the bat, picked up the bread and tucked the $40 into his waistband before fleeing, said Suffolk County police Sgt. John Best.

Sohail, who moved to the United States from Pakistan about 20 years ago, said he was getting ready to close his store shortly after midnight on May 21 when the man in his 40s entered with a bat in his hand. Sohail said he tried to stall for a moment and then grabbed a rifle he keeps behind the counter and ordered the assailant to drop the bat.

The would-be thief dropped to his knees and begged for forgiveness, Sohail said.

"He started crying that he was out of work and was trying to feed his hungry family," he said. "I felt bad for him. I mean, this wasn't some kid."

He said he tossed $40 to the man, who then stood up and told Sohail he was inspired by the act of mercy and wanted to become a fellow Muslim. Sohail said he led the man in a profession of Muslim faith and the two ended up shaking hands.

Sohail said he went to the back of the store to get some milk to give to the man, but when he returned the man had fled. He said he called police and reported the attempted robbery, but he doesn't want to press charges if the man is ever caught.

Best said detectives have reviewed a store surveillance video of the attempted holdup, but said it would be difficult for anyone to identify the suspect because he was wearing a mask.

Sohail, who said he had never been the victim of a robbery attempt, said he didn't expect any accolades for what he had done.

"I'm a very little man. I just did a good job," said the married father of one. "I have a good feeling in my heart. I feel very good."

Link to video:

http://video.ap.org/?t=By%20Section/U.S.&p=&f=PAREA&g=0602dv_nyc_mercy_robbery

Masterstroke: Man who couldn't even draw stickmen wakes from brain surgery... as a talented artist

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:05 PM on 01st June 2009 

Stroke of genius: Alan Brown was unable to draw even stickmen before his life-saving brain operation

For most, stroke and brain surgery can be devastating but for Alan Brown it sparked a previously unseen talent... as an artist.

When Alan, 49, emerged from a gruelling 16-hour operation following his stroke, he found he had become a reborn 'Michelangelo' and was able to paint and draw with incredible detail.

Alan, from Malvern, Worcestershire, believes the surgery must have 'flicked a switch' in the creative part of his brain.

Until the stroke, Alan was unable to draw or paint, and the best he could manage was a simple 2D stickman.

The father-of-three spent two months recovering in intensive care before he was well enough to write and 'doodle' to pass the time and this is when he discovered his bizarre new talent.

Alan, who is divorced, said: 'I was out of the danger zone but still in intensive care and a nurse came up to me and said I looked bored and suggested I start drawing.

'She gave me a pencil and some paper and photograph of her dog which I copied almost perfectly.

'She looked at it and asked me if I was an artist. I said no and she said I should look into doing a course. Since then I've never looked back.'

Alan has just completed a fine art degree and has plans to open his own gallery

Alan, who used to run a double-glazing firm, collapsed at his home six years ago after suffering a bout of migraines.

He was rushed to Worcestershire Royal Hospital for a scan where doctors discovered a burst blood vessel, or aneurysm, in his brain.

He was transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford for surgery.

Creative streak: A display of Mr Brown's work

During a mammoth 16-hour operation - which involved a team of 15 surgeons - Alan almost died twice after suffering a major stroke.

He said: 'Going through this illness brought out a creative side of me that I never even knew existed.'

'I had never even set foot in an art gallery, let alone tried creating my own art work.'

Alan, who has three children, Joshua, 16, Ellie, 10 and Maisy, eight, is now about to graduate from Worcester university with a Fine Art Degree.

He has also decided to open his own art gallery in Malvern after turning his back on selling double-glazing.

He said: 'The stroke left me without the use of my left arm which would mean I'm pretty useless at work.

'I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and art felt like my calling.

'I'm incredibly proud of my work. I don't have a particular style because I love all kinds of art from portraits to landscapes.'

Last month, Yorkshireman Chris Gregory, 30, shocked his family when he woke up from a brain-op with a thick Irish accent.

A spokesman for Headway, the brain injury association, said: 'It is always encouraging to hear about people with acquired brain injuries discovering new skills and talents.

'Brain injury can be devastating and can mean having to relearn even the most basic of life skills, but there is life after brain injury.

'An injury to the brain can result in varying and unpredictable effects.

'While most of the effects involve a loss of functioning, in some cases people have been known to acquire or discover new skills, although the exact reason for this is not fully understood.'

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Russian police 5-year-old girl raised by cats and dogs

MOSCOW, May 27 (Reuters) - Russian police have taken into care a 5-year-old girl who has been shut up in a flat in the company of cats and dogs for her entire life, police said on Wednesday.

The girl, who lived in the Eastern Siberian city of Chita, could not speak Russian and acted like an dog when police took her into care.

"For five years, the girl was 'brought up' by several dogs and cats and had never been outside," a police statement said.

"The unwashed girl was dressed in filthy clothes, had the clear attributes of an animal and jumped at people," it said.

The flat had no heat, water or sewage system.

A police spokeswoman said the girl, known as Natasha, is being monitored by psychologists in an orphanage. Her mother was being questioned but her father has not been found yet.

She appears to be about 2-years-old, though her real age is five, refuses to eat with a spoon and has taken on many of the gestures of the animals with which she lived, police said.

"When carers leave the room, the girl jumps at the door and barks," the police said.

Feral children, the stuff of folklore all over the world, usually exhibit the behaviour of the animals with whom they have had closest contact, a condition known as the Mowgli Syndrome after the fictional child from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" who was raised by wolves in the jungle.

Such children have usually built strong ties with the animals with whom they lived and find the transition to normal human contact extremely traumatic. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Farah Master)

Police: Fleeing Calif. bank robber leapt off 5-story parking garage, was critically injured

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities in Southern California say a bank robber leapt off a five-story parking garage while fleeing police and was badly injured.

Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Pope Givens says the man in his early 30s was hospitalized in critical condition Monday. Police are trying to determine his identity and whether he was trying to kill himself or escape.

She says a California National Bank branch was robbed about 9:15 a.m. and a witness followed the robber, reporting via cell phone that he had run into the structure.

The man ran to the roof after officers arrived and jumped to the concrete below, suffering multiple fractures including broken legs.

Investigators found cash in the parking garage.

May 28th 2009
By Jeremy Taylor

5 People Who Won the Lottery in Spite of Themselves

http://www.asylum.com/2009/05/28/5-people-who-won-the-lottery-in-spite-of-themselves/

May 30, 2009 12:15 pm US/Eastern

2 Murderers Escape Ark. Prison In Guard Uniforms

Convicts Serving Life Without Parole Escape Wearing Corrections Officer Uniforms

GRADY, Ark. (CBS)

 

CBS

 

Two convicted murderers put on corrections-officer uniforms and walked out of an Arkansas prison during a shift change, officials said Saturday as they searched for the men.

Jeffrey Grinder, 32, and Calvin Adams, 39, escaped Friday evening from the Cummins Unit prison in Grady more than three hours before officials realized they were missing, corrections department spokeswoman Dina Tyler said.

Both men were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole at the prison about 60 miles southeast of Little Rock.

The guard uniforms the inmates put on are made in the prison. Video surveillance shows the men put them in the prison library after the 6 p.m. headcount and walked out of the prison during a shift change less than 20 minutes later, Tyler said.

Grinder and Adams drove away in a maroon or burgundy colored, 4-door sedan that had been left for them. Officials realized the men were missing after coming up short during the 10 p.m. inmate headcount, Tyler said.

Grinder was convicted of capital murder in 2004, and Adams was convicted of capital murder in 1995. Both men have family in Arkansas and out of state.

"It is possible they could have left Arkansas," Tyler said.

Corrections officials are trying to develop leads on where the men are and hoping someone will spot them, Tyler said.

LINK TO VIDEO AND PHOTOS OF INMATES

http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/UPDATE-Escapees-sought-after-in-Michigan/GWuXtx56CEOrK1ledT02Fw.cspx?rss=315

UPDATE: Escapees sought after in Michigan

Reported by: Brent Solomon  Last Update: 3:59 pm

Jeffery Grinder and Calvin Adams escaped a prison in Grady wearing guards uniforms LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Five prison guards were placed on leave Monday after two convicted killers from a high-security unit Grady escaped by putting on jail guard uniforms that are made at the prison and walking to a car that had been left for them. The fugitives, who escaped Friday evening, were spotted in the Missouri Bootheel on Saturday but later seen in Michigan, where one of them has relatives, Correction Department spokeswoman Dina Tyler said Monday afternoon. Tyler said the five officers were on unpaid leave while the department investigates the escape of Jeffrey Grinder and Calvin Adams. Tyler would not name the five officers, but said they had been guarding the entry and exit points of the prison. Gov. Mike Beebe on Monday called the escape "inexcusable" and said he was waiting on the department's investigation on how it occurred. He said he was sure there would be some ramifications. Among the jobs for inmates at the Cummins Unit is making uniforms for jail guards and law officers. Video surveillance shows the men put the uniforms on in the prison library after the 6 p.m. headcount and walked out of the prison unchallenged during a shift change less than 20 minutes later, Tyler said. Grinder and Adams drove away in a car that was left for them. Tyler said the men were spotted northwest of Kalamazoo. Adams has relatives in Michigan, including his mother, but Tyler said it wasn't his mother who reported seeing the fugitives. "We feel real confident about (the sighting)," Tyler said. Officers in Michigan searched an area and tracking dogs picked up a scent, which they lost at a paved road. "It could indicate they got back in the car and left," Tyler said. "We are working with Michigan and will continue to be a presence in the Bootheel." Grinder, 32, and Adams, 39, were each convicted of capital murder and were serving life sentences without parole. Tyler says the men were spotted Saturday in two southeast Missouri communities, Hayti and Braggadocio. Grinder and Adams are believed to be traveling together. Tyler said the department is investigating how the inmates obtained the uniforms and were able to leave the prison without anyone noticing something was amiss. "We know that they used officer uniforms and they walked out the front," Tyler said. "We don't know where the uniforms came from, but the suspect has to be the garment factory." Tyler said that inmates who work in the garment factory are searched upon entering and leaving the building, which is separate from the prison facility. Authorities are also trying to find out who left the automobile for the fugitives. Adams is from Leachville and was convicted of capital murder in 1995 in the 1994 kidnapping and shooting death of banker Richard Austin, 25. Austin's wife was wounded and was able to walk more than a mile for help. Grinder is from Yellville and was convicted of capital murder, aggravated robbery and burglary in the 2003 beating death of Pat Gardner, 77, who lived near Springdale. Tyler said the fugitives did not display a weapon in any of the three sightings. She noted that they were each serving life without parole and pose a heightened risk to the public "because they don't have a whole lot to lose." Beebe said he didn't know what action would be taken against department employees over the escape, and said he was waiting on more details on how it occurred. "We don't know whether it was a breakdown at the gate where they left, we don't know if it's a breakdown with whoever was watching the cameras, we don't know whether it was a breakdown within the library. We don't know how much of it was inside in terms of cooperation," Beebe told The Associated Press. "Until we know all that, it's kind of hard to know what the ramifications will be, but I'm sure there will be some."

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Hundreds of thousands of dollars lying on a city street. It was a shocking discovery for two people on Syracuse's Northside.

One man walking out of a barber shop and another man walking to his car on North Salina Street discovered at least $250,000 had fallen out of an armored Brinks truck. At first, both men say they thought the bags were trash.

"I saw it and thought who dumped that trash off? As I got closer I realized that these bags were full of money, lots of money! Plastic bags full of hundred dollar bills and twenty dollar bills and I thought oh my goodness," said Syracuse Antiques Exchange owner David Jenks.

"Two postal bins rolled over, the money spilled. I tried to catch the one bag before it went down the drain and in the water," said Liverpool resident Hanson Herring.

Jenks took the money into his store where there happened to be a police officer inside.

        THIS STORY WAS REPORTED BY ANOTHER NEWS STATION

Thousands still missing after armored truck loses its load

Last updated 11:32 am

WSYR-TV Syracuse, New York

Syracuse, New York (WSYR-TV) - Hundreds of thousands of dollars fell out of an armored truck along North Salina Street in Syracuse on Friday night. While much of the money was recovered, about $60,000 is still missing.

The Brinks armored truck was carrying about $336,000 when the money somehow fell out of the truck. Two men, David Jenks and Hanson Herring, saw the money on North Salina Street and helped secure it. But Syracuse Police are now trying to figure out where roughly $60,000 of the money went.

Jenks, who owns the Syracuse Antiques Exchange near the corner of North Salina and Wolf Streets, says he had no idea what he stumbled across when he saw the bags of cash in the street.

“They were just clear plastic bags, they looked like trash bags,” Jenks said. “That’s what I thought when I first saw them.

“At first we thought it was trash,” Herring said. “We walked over, and looked at it, and it’s money!”

Jenks says the two men immediately flagged down a nearby police officer, who called for backup. All the bags of cash were put inside the Syracuse Antiques Exchange to keep them safe.

Syracuse Police are giving us an update on their investigation into the missing cash later today, and we’ll bring you the update as soon as we get it.

We had previously reported that the money fell out of Loomis truck, when in fact, a Brinks truck was carrying the money and Loomis had no involvment.

VIDEO LINK:

http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Thousands-still-missing-after-armored-truck-loses/PmY-yrWxqkihRu4U1W0Aqw.cspx

Bride saves family from burning house

 
BRIDGEPORT -- A North End family was trapped in their home Sunday, flames licking at the walls when suddenly their savior appeared, charging through the thick curtain of smoke in a wedding dress.

Later, the Eitelberg family sat huddled on a lawn across the street from their West McKinley Avenue colonial as firefighters blasted water into the blackened remains of their home. They lamented the loss of their two-story house, but were happy that they and their pets had been spirited to freedom.

A short distance away their rescuer, Georgette Clemons, of Bridgeport, was surrounded by her wedding entourage as she neatly folded her blackened and stained wedding dress.

"It's been an eventful day," she said matter of factly.

Shortly before 5:30 Sunday evening, Clemons, formerly Georgette Fogary, had just been married to Charles Clemons and was being driven from Testo's restaurant where the reception was held when she spotted smoke coming from the Eitelberg's home.

Hanifah Bost, who was driving the car, said Clemons suddenly yelled, "Stop the car, stop the car."

"There was smoke coming from this house and as soon as I stopped the car, Georgette got out in her wedding dress and ran toward the front door." She said Clemons ran through the smoke into the house and she ran after her.

"I don't know what she was thinking, she had just got married," Bost said.

Clemons said she saw flames on the outside of the house and yelled  for the occupants to get out. She said she could see someone inside and when they didn't come out, she ran in to get them.

"The woman was yelling about her animals and didn't want to get out so I had to pull her out," Clemons said.

The occupants, including two dogs and two ferrets, out safely, Clemons then ran next door to warn the neighbors of the fire.

"My shoes got messed up, but what are you going to do?" Clemons said later. "At least the people are OK." Firefighters arrived as a thick blanket of smoke covered the neighborhood. Residents, who had come out of their homes to see the fire, ran back covering their faces from the smoke.

"I smelled smoke and then in two seconds the whole place was up in smoke," said neighbor, Sean O'Regan. "It was unreal."

"There was smoke at first and then flames erupted," added Jim O'Donnell.

Assistant Fire Chief Christopher Martin said when firefighters arrived flames were shooting out of the second-floor windows.

"The right side of the house appears to have total damage. The people were out when we arrived, and fortunately there were no injuries," he said.

Martin said it appears the fire started in the rear of the house, but the Eitelbergs did not know what started it.

Georgette Clemons