Mum finds incredible strength to lift car off boyfriend
By ROBIN PERRIE
Published: 24 Oct 2009
A SUPER-strong mum saved her trapped boyfriend's life by lifting a car off him.
Tracy Gibson, 34, performed her incredible feat when the Peugeot 106 rolled off its ramps and crushed Richard Newman, 38, who was fixing the exhaust.
Tracy heaved the car up by its back bumper, then screamed for help as Richard slipped unconscious.
Neighbours rushed over - and Lee Stevens helped her take the weight while Louise Hinson dragged Richard out by his legs. Richard was rushed to hospital and treated for four days with internal bruising.
Doctors said he would almost certainly have died if Tracy had not acted.
The mum of two, a support worker for adults with special needs in Lincoln, said: "I don't know where the strength came from. It felt like my arms were being ripped out but I couldn't let go. I just wanted to save Richard.
"I'm a bit of a couch potato but I guess I've got hidden power.
"Afterwards I felt a bit guilty because I had nagged Richard to fix my wobbly exhaust."
D.A.: Mother's Behavior 'Outrageous' in Alleged Drunken Car Crash
Saturday, October 24, 2009
NEW YORK — A mother accused of drunkenly causing a high-speed wreck managed to pull her own 11-year-old daughter from the mangled, overturned car as another girl lay dying on the roadside, prosecutors said Friday.
The mother, Carmen Huertas, had brushed off warnings that she was too drunk to drive, piling seven children in her station wagon to drive them to a slumber party at her home, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.
He said she played a morbid guessing game as she sped up a highway at nearly 70 mph, asking her young passengers to raise their hands if they thought they would crash.
Morgenthau called Huertas' behavior "outrageous" as he announced that she was indicted on charges including manslaughter, assault and driving under the influence of alcohol. She remains hospitalized with a shoulder injury; her arraignment isn't expected until mid-November.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said they continue to explore whether others — such as the adults who noticed her condition — might face legal consequences.
Huertas' lawyer didn't immediately return a call Friday. Her family has said she is suicidally distraught over the Oct. 11 crash.
After gathering a half-dozen of her daughter's friends for a weekend sleepover at her Bronx home, she took them to a family birthday party in Manhattan, prosecutors said. She downed enough cognac and other drinks there that her former boyfriend told another man in her life, the father of her toddler son, she wasn't fit to drive home, according to prosecutors.
After confronting her about his concerns and being rebuffed, the father got his 14-month-old boy out of the car — but left the other children, prosecutors said. No telephone number could be found for the toddler's father or Huertas' former companion.
Huertas drove off after midnight, teasing and terrifying the children, according to prosecutors and a survivor's family. The relatives have said she ignored pleas from the girls — including her 11-year-old daughter, Brittany Gonzalez — to slow down.
"If you think this is bad, wait until we get on the highway," the parents of one of the girls, Kayla Fernandez, told reporters in the days after the wreck.
When Huertas lost control of the car on the Henry Hudson Parkway, it swerved violently and flew off the road, rolling upside-down as it landed on the road's tree-lined shoulder, authorities said. Three children were hurled to the ground from the station wagon's back compartment; one, Leandra Rosado, died within minutes.
Huertas crawled free and rescued her daughter, prosecutors said. They said the other children in the car managed to get out on their own.
One of the girls, Yiselle Rosario, remains hospitalized in serious, but stable condition.
Prosecutors said a breath test taken at the scene showed Huertas had a blood-alcohol level above 0.13 percent; the legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Huertas, 31, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The crash came about three months after another mother, Diane Schuler, drove her minivan the wrong way on the suburban Taconic Parkway and hit an SUV, killing herself, her daughter, three young nieces and three men in the SUV.
Authorities say toxicology tests found she had been drinking heavily and smoking marijuana, which her husband disputes. Westchester County medical examiners have stood by their findings.
Video footage of police beating unarmed Vietnamese student likened to Rodney King attack
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:19 PM on 25th October 2009
A mobile phone video that shows police officers repeatedly battering an unarmed university student with batons and a Taser gun has sparked fury in the U.S.
The shocking footage shows one officer hitting a Vietnamese student Phuong Ho with a metal baton more than 10 times, including once over the head.
Another officer is seen striking the 20-year-old San Jose State Mathematics student with a Taser gun, in the video posted on the San Jose Mercury News website yesterday.
The final baton strike in last month's incident appears to take place after handcuffs have been attached to Ho's wrists.
The sickening footage has prompted calls for a criminal investigation into the officers' conduct, a San Jose police spokesman said.
More...
- Watch the video here
Roger Clark, a police expert and a retired lieutenant with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, lamented: 'It takes me back to the day I saw the Rodney King video on TV.'
The last baton strike ought to bring a felony (serious crime) charge, Clark added.
Officers arrested Ho, originally of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on suspicion of assaulting one of his roommates.
He was not armed when police arrived and he told the newspaper he didn't resist arrest.
Victim: Vietnamese student Phuong Ho was hit with a metal baton more than 10 times, including once over the head
The confrontation began on September 3 when Ho's roommate, Jeremy Suftin, put soap on Ho's steak.
The two scuffled, and Ho picked up a steak knife, saying that in his home country he would have killed Suftin for doing what he did. Suftin called police and four officers responded.
Officer Kenneth Siegel encountered Ho in the hallway, but couldn't understand the student's accent, police reports said.
Ho then ignored a police command to stand still, reports said.
When Ho tried to follow Siegel into his room, officer Steven Payne Jr. moved to handcuff Ho.
Payne wrote in his report that he pushed Ho into a wall and then forced him to the floor when Ho resisted being handcuffed.
Ho said his glasses fell off, and as he went to pick them up, the officers struck him.
Another one of Ho's roommates, Dimitri Masouris, captured the events on his cell phone. Ho can be heard on the video moaning and crying as he's struck.
Masouris said he considered the police response excessive. He sold the tape to San Jose lawyer Duyen Hoang Nguyen, who is representing Ho.
The Mercury News showed the video to Daniel Katz, San Jose's assistant police chief.
The department is taking the matter very seriously, Katz said.
Several other police experts said the video raises serious concerns.
'Once he is handcuffed, then he is helpless,' said Frank Jordan, a former San Francisco police chief and mayor.
'If you can show that his hands are behind his back, and he is handcuffed, that is where you get brutality. That would be excessive force.'
Siegel and Payne didn't respond to written requests for comment sent through department officials and their union.
Worker Killed After Getting Trapped in California Factory's Trash Compactor
Saturday, October 24, 2009
LOS ANGELES — A worker died Friday after getting trapped inside a trash compactor at a factory north of Los Angeles.
City Fire Department spokesman Devin Gales said authorities were called to the factory in North Hills Friday afternoon. When they arrived, they found the man dead at the scene.
Gales said the unnamed victim was inside the trash compactor when it somehow turned on.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Paper boy who saved elderly lady is named Britain’s best
By Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 12:51 AM on 25th October 2009
Award: Hero Myles Whittaker, 15
A paper boy who saved an injured pensioner has been named the best in Britain.
Myles Whittaker, 15, was posting a paper through Marjorie Knight’s letterbox when he spotted her lying on the floor bleeding.
He flagged down his father, who was driving past, and asked him to call an ambulance while he reassured Mrs Knight through the letterbox Mrs Knight, of Dalton, Cumbria, was taken to hospital and treated for a head injury.
Myles said: ‘You have to make sure people stay awake, so I kept her talking.’
Myles was named News Deliverer of the Year at the National Federation of Retail Newsagents Awards in London, sponsored by The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail.
He received a trophy and £300 of Halfords vouchers for a new bike.
Myles added: ‘It’s a bit overwhelming. The trophy weighs a ton, I don’t know where I’m going to put it.’