Showing posts with label Accident. Show all posts
At least 57 treated after nitrogen leak at Intel plant in Arizona
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| Intel plant, Arizona (Image from thedroidguy.com) |
A massive nitrogen leak at an Arizona Intel plant caused the hospitalization of at least 11 people, with a further 46 needing medical treatment on Saturday morning. The severity of the injuries of those hospitalized is yet to be confirmed.
“This is not over,” Tom Dwiggins, spokesman for the Chandler Fire Department, told local news teams standing outside the facility where the leak began.
Those who were taken for treatment reported breathing problems and skin and eye irritation. Fire authorities from Chandler, Sun Lakes and Phoenix who arrived at the scene stopped short of evacuating neighborhoods in the area.
Fire crews managed to find the source of the leak, which has now been secured, according to Dwiggins.
“After meeting with the command staff, we've stopped the leak and there's no concern for [residents in surrounding] neighborhoods,” Dwiggins said.The incident is still being investigated as it remains unclear what caused the problems.
The Intel plant in Chandler was only built last year, when it was decided that the facility would span 285,000 square feet. Intel announced at the time that it was specifically looking for military veterans with relevant training to fill new jobs at the semiconductor manufacturing plant. It claims to be the largest employer in Chandler.
US chemical plants in America have fallen victim to a number of unfortunate accidents this year, the most serious being April’s Texas fertilizer plant explosion in which 15 people died, and over a hundred were hospitalized.
More recently, two chemical plant explosions in Louisiana were rocked by massive blasts, with 77 injured and one killed in the first, and at least one dead and some seven injured in an accident in the same state only two days later.
West, Texas sues owner of exploded fertilizer plant
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| An aerial picture, taken from a helicopter shows the devastation at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas (AFP Photo / Jewel Samad) |
The city of West, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against the owner of the fertilizer plant that exploded in April, as well as the chemical company that supplied two 100-ton shipments of ammonium nitrate in the weeks before the deadly blast.
The city has filed a suit against Adair Grain Inc. and ammonium nitrate supplier CF Industries, claiming that the chemical shipments were improperly stored and caused the explosion that killed 15 people and destroyed more than 150 homes. A high school, middle school, apartment complex and a nursing home were also destroyed in the April 17 blast.
The lawsuit claims that 30 tons from the first 100-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate had not yet been sold and were being dangerously stored in the plant at the time of the explosion. The city has accused the supplier of failing to properly inspect the fertilizer mixing facility to determine whether hazard mitigation was necessary or to provide recommendations for safe storage. Even though the Illinois-based CF industries knew that the plant was located within a community of homes, parks, and schools, it chose to blindly sell hundreds of tons of the hazardous material to the facility, the suit states.
“The explosion happened when a substantial portion of the thirty tons of ammonium nitrate stockpiled in the fertilizer mixing building was heated to the point of detonation,” the complaint states. “This explosion occurred at approximately 7:50 p.m., some twenty minutes after a fire had been detected in the same building at the fertilizer facility.”
The lawsuit also accused CF Industries of providing outdated safety information to West Fertilizer, and failing to provide a material safety data sheet for either of the two shipments.
After investigating the blast for a month, Texas fire marshals said they could not determine a cause. Investigators have launched a criminal probe, but no one has yet been charged.
The city of West is seeking $17 million in damages for negligence and product liability. The city says it needs the money to fix its streets, water and sewer lines that were destroyed by the explosion. The deadly blast resulted in an estimated $57 million in damages, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has refused to provide funds to help rebuild the devastated town.
But Scott Deatherage, a Dallas attorney specializing in environmental law, told CBS News that this would most likely be a difficult case for the city to win, since the chemical in question is used extensively throughout the US. Ammonium nitrate can be found in products ranging from fertilizer to instant cold packs used as first aid on injuries.
“Consider ammonium nitrate is a very common material sold all over the country, all over Texas, and it’s used everyday,” he said. “So to argue that particular product is somewhat defective is extremely difficult. It’d be like saying gasoline is defective because it exploded somewhere.”
CF Industries provided a statement to WPTV, claiming that there is “no basis for this suit”, but that it was “sympathetic to those whose lives were affected by this unfortunate incident.”
“The CF Industries’ companies will seek dismissal of this lawsuit and otherwise defend the company vigorously in court,” it said in a statement to CBS.
Bush advisor: Hastings crash ‘consistent with a car cyberattack’
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| Michael Hastings (DC. Paul Morigi/Getty Images for The Guardian/AFP) |
A former cybersecurity advisor to President George W. Bush says a sophisticated computer hack could have been the cause of the automobile accident that claimed the life of journalist Michael Hastings last week in Los Angeles.
Richard Clarke, a State Department official-turned-special advisor to several United States presidents, said the early morning auto crash last Tuesday was "consistent with a car cyberattack,” raising new questions about the death of the award-winning journalist.
Hastings died last week when his 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe collided with a tree in Los Angeles, California on the morning of June 18. He was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed and failed to stop at a red light moments before the single-car crash. He was only 33.
Speaking to Huffington Post this week, Clarke said that a cyberattack waged at the vehicle could have caused the fatal collision.
"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."
"So if there were a cyberattack on the car — and I'm not saying there was," Clarke continued, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."
The Los Angeles Police Department said they don’t expect foul play was involved in the crash, but an investigation has been opened nonetheless.
In an email reportedly sent by Hastings hours before the crash, he told colleagues that he thought he was the target of a federal investigation.
“Hey [redacted}, the Feds are interviewing my ‘close friends and associates,’” Hastings wrote 15 hours before the crash.
“Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit,” he added. “All the best, and hope to see you all soon.”
The email was supplied to KTLA News in Los Angeles by Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, who says he met Hastings while the journalist was embedded in Afghanistan in 2008. It was reportedly send to a handful of Hastings’ associates and was blind-copied to Biggs.
“I just said it doesn’t seem like him. I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling and it just really bothered me,” Biggs told KTLA.
Reporters at Buzzfeed where Hastings worked say they received an email from their colleague, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement two days after Hastings’ death to quash rumors that they had been looking into the reporter.
“At no time was Michael Hastings under investigation by the FBI,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
According to the Associated Press, however, Hastings’ fingerprints were on file with the FBI and were used by the bureau to identify his body after flames consumed much the auto wreckage last week.
"I believe the FBI when they say they weren't investigating him," Clarke told the Huffington Post. "That was very unusual, and I'm sure they checked very carefully before they said that."
"I'm not a conspiracy guy. In fact, I've spent most of my life knocking down conspiracy theories," he said. "But my rule has always been you don't knock down a conspiracy theory until you can prove it [wrong]. And in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyberattack. And the problem with that is you can't prove it."
Clarke, 62, spent nearly two decades at the Pentagon before relocating to the White House where he served under President Ronald Reagan and both Presidents Bush. He served as special advisor to President George W. Bush on cybersecurity until leaving the administration in 2003 and is currently the chairman and CEO of Good Harbor Security Risk Management, LLC.
Hours before death, Hastings claimed the FBI was on his tail
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| Michael Hastings.(AFP Photo / Paul Morigi) |
The death of journalist Michael Hastings is raising new questions after an email he sent hours before last week’s fatal car crash has surfaced showing a possible FBI probe into the reporter. KTLA News in Los Angeles received an email on Friday that was forwarded to them by a friend of the 33-year-old reporter.
Hastings, who wrote for Rolling Stone and the website BuzzFeed, perished after an auto wreck in L.A. early Tuesday last week.
According to an email Hastings sent Monday afternoon to a handful of friends, he believed his colleagues could be visited by Federal Bureau of Investigation officers due to an article he was working on.
“Hey [redacted}, the Feds are interviewing my ‘close friends and associates,’” Hastings wrote, before recommending to his colleagues that they seek legal advice if approached by investigators. “Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit,” he added. “All the best, and hope to see you all soon.”
Hastings was reportedly working on an article about Florida socialite Jill Kelley at the time of his death. Kelley made headlines last year after she became entangled in a high-profile scandal involving then-CIA Director David Petraeus and Gen. George Allen, who then commanded US troops in Afghanistan. A federal probe of suspicious emails sent to Kelley later unearthed an extramarital affair between Gen. Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, which led to the CIA director’s resignation.
Before taking the helm as CIA director, Petraeus commanded US troops in Afghanistan — the same role that later went to Gen. Allen. Petraeus had inherited that role from Gen. Stanley McChrystal. On his part, McChystal resigned from that position after a 2010 Hastings-penned article from Afghanistan raised questions about the commander’s remarks about the Obama administration. He was forced to apologize for comments he made in the article that led to his resignation, and Hastings was presented with a Polk journalism award for his report.
Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, who met Hastings when the journalist was embedded in Afghanistan in 2008, said he received the email less than a day before the auto accident and told KTLA it sounded “very panicked.”
“It alarmed me very much,” Biggs said. “I just said it doesn’t seem like him. I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling and it just really bothered me,” he said.
“He was a good friend of mine,” Biggs wrote in a tweet sent after Hastings’ death.According to the soldier, Biggs was blind-copied on the email sent mid-day Monday, which was addressed to a handful of Hastings’ colleagues. He died around 15 hours after the email was sent. One week after his death, speculations continue to surround Hastings’ death. The other recipients of the email obtained by Higgs have yet to address the correspondence, but the soldier said it’s unlikely because others are worried of what will happen next.
“The reason I released the email is because those people were too scared. I'm not,” Higgs tweeted over the weekend.
“I won't let a man die in vein [sic] because I'm too scared of what will happen to me. If I sent that email to Mike he wouldn't rest,” Higgs wrote, “He would fight.”
On the eve of Hastings’ funeral this Monday in Vermont, Higgs said the deceased journalist’s wife thanked him for releasing the email.
“She's vowing to take down whoever did this. She's a fighter,” he wrote.
The Los Angeles Police Department says they do not suspect foul play in Hastings’ death, and the FBI said he was not the target of an investigation.
Appearing on Fox News on Monday, Ali Gharib, a journalist and friend of Hastings, said “I don’t think he was a reckless a person.”
“That doesn’t mean he might not have been driving excessively fast,” added Gharib, who said it wouldn’t be “a wild situation” to imagine Hastings driving quickly through Los Angeles late last week.
Speaking to Yahoo News last week, eyewitness Michael Carter wrote that he was nearby at the time of impact and “saw a giant fireball at the base of one of the palms that line the medians” on the road Hastings’ Mercedes was traveling down. “It was surreal. Even from as far away as I was, I could see how violent an impact it had been.”
Pakistani gunmen kill 9 tourists in hotel shooting
A group of gunmen have stormed a hotel in northern Pakistan, killing ten foreign tourists, Pakistani security officials report. Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian citizens were among the victims of the attack.
This is the first attack on tourists in the far flung region of the country and the motives behind it are unclear as of yet.
"Unknown people entered a hotel where foreign tourists were staying last night and opened fire," Ali Sher, a senior police officer in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan province, told Reuters. "They killed 10 foreign tourists and fled."
He added that three Chinese, five Ukrainians, one Russian and a guide were gunned down in the attack that happened at around 1:00 am local time (20:00 GMT).
Authorities have deployed a large number of security personnel to the area and have sealed off the scene of the crime.
The bodies will have to be recovered by helicopter because of the remoteness of the northern province that borders China and Kashmir, an anonymous official told Reuters.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW.
Possible new leak at Hanford State, higher radioactivity levels detected
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| A view looking over the world's largest environmental cleanup project at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is seen 30 June, 2005 near Richland, Washington. (Jeff T. Green/Getty Images/AFP) |
A tank containing highly radioactive waste may be leaking into the soil at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation (the US’s most contaminated nuclear site) in Washington state, employees have told media. State and federal officials are investigating reports that workers detected elevated radioactivity levels under tank AY-102 during a routine inspection on Thursday. According to technician Mike Geffre, who works for contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, an inspection was made of a pit under the tank. Its water samples had an 800,000-count of radioactivity and a high dose rate, which means that workers must reduce time spent in the area. "Anything above a 500 count is considered contaminated and would have to be disposed of as nuclear waste," Geffre explained. "Plus, the amount of material we've seen from the leak is very small, which means it's a very strong radioactive isotope." If the waste escapes the tank and gets into the soil, it may reach groundwater and potentially the Columbia River. "This is really, really bad. They are going to pollute the ground and the groundwater with some of the nastiest stuff, and they don't have a solution for it," Tom Carpenter, executive director of the Seattle-based advocacy group Hanford Challenge, a watchdog group that conducts environmental sampling to monitor for radioactive and chemical contamination, told AP.
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| A sign is seen as you enter the world's largest environmental cleanup project at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation 30 June, 2005 near Richland, Washington. (Jeff T. Green/Getty Images/AFP) |
There are 177 tanks holding up to 56 million gallons of waste, 149 of which are single-shell. Six of those tanks were discovered in February to be leaking at a rate of about 1,000 gallons annually. AY-102 is one of Hanford's 28 tanks with two walls, which was installed when single-shell tanks began leaking and some of the most radioactive liquid in those tanks was pumped into the sturdier double-shell tanks. The tanks are now beyond their intended life span. Two radionuclides comprise much of the radioactivity in Hanford's tanks: cesium-137 and strontium-90. While both take hundreds of years to decay, exposure to either can increase the risk of cancer. Officials say that leaking tanks pose no immediate threat to the environment or public health, with the closest communities being several miles away. "These last few months just seem like one body blow after another," said Ken Niles of Oregon's Energy Department. "It's true this is not an immediate risk, but it's one more thing to deal with among many at Hanford." “The Energy Department has been actively monitoring double-shell tank AY-102 since it was discovered to have a slow leak from the primary tank,” the department said in a statement. “Workers detected an increased level of contamination during a routine removal of water and survey of the leak detection pit.” Additional testing is expected to take several days, though the state will demand an accelerated plan to deal with all the waste at Hanford, said Washington Governor Jay Inslee, adding that the potential leak "raises very troubling questions."
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| 55-gallon drums containing transuranic (TRU) waste are prepared for shipment at the Waste Receiving and Processing facility (WARP) on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, 30 June, 2005 near Richland, Washington. (Jeff T. Green/Getty Images/AFP) |
An engineering analysis team will conduct additional sampling and video inspection to determine the source of the contamination, Spokeswoman Lori Gamache said. The Energy Department announced last year that AY-102 was leaking between its two walls, but gave reassurances then that no waste had escaped. However, Seattle’s KING5 television station has reported that the cleanup contractor and the department knew a year earlier that the tank was leaking. At the height of World War II, the federal government created Hanford as part of a secret project to create the atomic bomb. The site ultimately produced plutonium for the world's first atomic blast and for one of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan; it continued production through the Cold War. These days, it has a reputation as the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with a cleanup expected to take several decades. It costs up to US$2 billion annually and has already set taxpayers back US$40 billion, with US$115 billion more expected to be needed. The biggest challenge thus far has been removing highly radioactive waste from the 177 aging underground tanks and constructing a plant to treat that waste, which will be encased in glasslike logs for permanent disposal. Workers designing and building the unique plant have encountered numerous technical problems, however, as well as delays and rising costs. The plant is unlikely to begin operating before 2019, far beyond the original 2011 deadline.
Worst fire in years hits Latvian president’s residence, medieval castle damaged (VIDEO)
The worst fire in recent years has badly damaged Riga Castle, the medieval fortress that is also the official residence of the Latvian president. President Berzims described the fire as a national disaster as the castle also houses the National Museum. The biggest damage was done to the depositories of the local history museum, as well as the museum of literature and music. Part of the exhibits were protected, and about a hundred of the most valuable items were moved to a safe place. Latvia’s Minister of Culture Janeta Jaunzeme-Grende personally took part in the rescue operations. The fire broke out late on Thursday and ripped through the roof and the attic, according to the Baltic News Service. A spokeswoman for the State Fire and Rescue Service, Viktorija Sembele, confirmed that the overnight blaze damaged the roof and the second and third floors of the castle.
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| Firefighters put out a fire burning at Riga Castle in Riga on June 20, 2013. (AFP Photo) |
There have been no reports of injuries. One firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation.Sembele said some valuable relics in the museum suffered water damage, none were destroyed, however. Latvia's President, Andris Berzins was not staying at the castle, as the historic building is currently being renovated. Local authorities mobilized ten fire crews to tackle the blaze.
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| A fire blazes at Riga Castle on June 20, 2013 in Riga, Latvia. (AFP Photo) |
The head of Latvia’s fire rescue department described the fire as “the largest and worst in recent years in Riga”. Firemen were combatting the blaze throughout the night.A helicopter was provided by the army to drop water from the nearby Daugava River.
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“[Our] equipment dates back to Soviet times. Of course, we do our best to keep in good order so we could use it any moment. But as experience shows during bad fires weaknesses manifest themselves, as it happened this time around. Let’s put it this way, our pumping station has failed us,” Oscars Abolinsh said in an interview with Latvian radio.
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| View of the Presidential Castle, center, from the Daugava River in Riga. (RIA Novosti/Oksana Dzhadan) |
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
FBI 'justified' in every shooting since 1993 - report
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| FBI agents stand near a New York City apartment building.(Reuters / Keith Bedford) |
It's standard operating procedure for the FBI to conduct an internal
investigation when an agent shoots a suspect. Questions are being
raised, though, after a report found that every single intentional
shooting in the past 20 years was deemed 'justified.' Between 1993 and early 2011 FBI agents fatally shot 70 people and
wounded approximately 80 others. In no incident, including one
that led to a $1.3 million payout for a victim wrongfully
identified as a bank robber, was an agent wrong to fire their
weapon. The records were obtained by The New York Times through a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. “The FBI takes very seriously any shooting incidents involving
our agents, and as such we have an effective, time-tested process
for addressing them internally,” an FBI spokesman said,
adding that there have been no improper intentional shootings
since 2011. The FBI investigation into the death of Ibragim Todashev a
Chechen man connected to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan
Tsarnaev, is still ongoing. Todashev was fatally shot during an
interview with FBI agents. Since the May 22 incident, unnamed
agents have told media outlets Todashev threatened them with a
knife, broomstick or metal pipe before the bureau admitted he was
unarmed after all. Tim Murphy, a former deputy director of the FBI, told the Times
that agents are generally older with more experience than the
average police officer. He said officials plan to go into a
situation with an “overwhelming presence,” which may help
cut down on the number of shots fired. Critics simply do not believe it. Samuel Walker, who teaches
criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the
FBI’s number of admitted mistakes is “suspiciously
low.” Agents were disciplined in at least five cases since 1993,
though, for so-called “bad shoots,” deemed so because they
did not conform to FBI policy. The “bad shoots” came when
an agent fired her weapon into the air to fend off a group of
threatening men, when an agent shot at a gun lying on the ground
in an attempt to disable it, twice when agents were pursuing
fleeing suspects, and the fifth in a demonstration when an agent
shot at a safe, the bullet ricocheting into a crowd and causing
minor injuries. Independent analysis of the 289 deliberate shootings is nearly
impossible because, in nearly every case, no alternative review
of the incident was held. Perhaps the most suspicious case came when police pulled over a
car in Maryland thought to be carrying a bank robber. Agents
surrounded the vehicle, raised their weapons, and later claimed
they shouted “show me your hands.” The passenger, a
20-year-old innocent, unarmed man, reached down at his face – at
which point he was shot in the jaw. An independent review was conducted in this case and contained
multiple differences with the FBI files, bringing into question
the legitimacy of the other reports. One discrepancy, for
instance, said the car was traveling at a mere 12 miles per hour,
while the FBI file described a fleeing pursuit. The victim later
filed suit and the bureau, and while a court found no evidence of
wrongdoing, he was able to settle for $1.3 million.
Journalist who exposed American millitary killed in car crash
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A hard-hitting journalist, war reporter and author Michael Hastings, whose article brought down a four-star general, US military chief in Afghanistan, has died in a car crash. Conspiracy theorists were fast to suggest his death wasn’t an accident. There are few details about the accident that killed the 33-years old journalist in the early hours of Tuesday. Police have determined that speed was main factor. However, neither Los Angeles officers nor the county coroner's office could confirm his death as the body still has not been officially ID’d. Coroner's Lieutenant Fred Corral said it was impossible immediately identify the driver as his body was burned beyond recognition. It would also take weeks to get results from toxicology tests. Despite the lack of official information, the family and Hastings’ latest employer, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith have confirmed the journalist was killed in a tragedy at the corner of Melrose and Highland Avenues in LA. "We are shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is gone," BuzzFeed editor-in-chief said in a statement. "Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered, from wars to politicians." Smith said he learned of the death from a family member.
Remembering Michael Hastings http://t.co/vVQJpF3NHR pic.twitter.com/qIl4DRrQjv
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) June 19, 2013
Michael Hastings was best known for his sensational, award-winning piece 'The Runaway General' published in Rolling Stone in 2010. It portrayed a commander of the US-led force in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal and “general's staff” as “handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs”, revealed openly disrespectful attitude to President Obama, administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, and their war policies. As a result, less than 48 hours after Hastings’s article was made public, McChrystal was summoned to the White House and sacked from his position. Obama replaced McChrystal in Afghanistan with David Petraeus, who later also become a central figure in another Hastings revelatory article. Titled ‘The Sins Of General David Petraeus’ it gave details of Petraeus' strategy for the war and touched closely his private life. Petraeus resigned in disgrace in November 2012 after admitting an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, 20 years his junior. ‘The Runaway General’, for which Hastings won a George Polk Award, sparked debate in the media over war journalism. Hastings’ article also led to some restrictions narrowing access to information, making reporting for many journalists more complicated. The war theme and McChrystal’s command then also became a base for his bigger work – a book “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan''.Experienced war reporter, Hastings revealed shocking details of military activities overseas. "Michael Hastings' death cuts short a life dedicated to speaking truth to power. He believed that journalists must be more than bystanders; he was a truthteller, a charming provocateur and a relentless seeker of decency in a nasty world,'' said David Rosenthal, president of The Blue Rider Press, which published "The Operators'' in 2012. The war in Iraq personally affected Michael. In 2006 Hastings reported from the warzone, his fiancée Andrea Parhamovich, followed him to Baghdad and was killed in an ambush in January 2007. Hastings wrote about the experience in a 2008 memoir, 'I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story.'
Evidence Indicates Michael Hastings Was Assassinated - http://t.co/32MrguyAqO
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) June 20, 2013
In his latest work Hastings’ concentrated on covering hot-button topics including National Security Agency and the CIA. His final piece for Buzzfeed titled ‘Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans’ dates back June 7. Hastings’ death has prompted conspiracy theorists to suggest the car crash was more than an accident as the journalist’s last works covered burning issues.
Hastings joins Aaron Swartz - as a victim of a state-sanctioned hit. #RIPAmericaWeHardlyKnewYa
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) June 20, 2013
Shortly after his death Wikileaks twitted that Hastings reported to the organization’s lawyer that he was under FBI investigation.
Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 19, 2013
Hastings had written freelance stories for GQ, the Los Angeles Times, Daily Beast and the Washington Post.
Mistrial for police officer who fatally shot 7-year-old girl
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| Detroit Police.(AFP Photo / Geoff Robins) |
A mistrial was declared Tuesday after jurors were deadlocked on how to decide the fate of a police officer who, while accompanied by a camera crew, shot and killed a 7-year-old girl during a midnight raid three years ago in Detroit, Michigan. Joseph Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter for shooting Aiyana Stanley-Jones as she slept on a couch the night of May 16, 2010. Weekley was among a group of Detroit officers executing a search warrant on a home where they hoped to find a 17-year-old murder suspect. They threw a flash grenade inside the home hoping the bright light, smoke and vibrations would confuse the occupants before the officers entered. Stanley-Jones was shot seconds later, with Weekley testifying that he heard a noise from the couch “like somebody’s out of breath” before Aiyana’s grandmother, Mertilla Jones, attempted to push the gun away. Jones denied she made a move for the gun and claimed police intentionally murdered Stanley-Jones. A member of the Detroit Police Special Response Team at the time, Weekley was trailed by a crew filming for the television show, “The First 48.” The A&E reality show, in the vein of “Cops,” follows simultaneous murder investigations and depicts real-life scenarios from an investigators’ perspective. Some video was used at the trial, with footage from outside showing officers throwing the flash grenades into the home and the audible sound of a gunshot. Videographer Allison Howard also faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly withholding some of the footage while sharing it with unspecified “third parties.” Along with involuntary manslaughter, Weekley was charged with careless discharge of a firearm, charges that could have cost him 15 years in prison, according to the Detroit Free Press. Jurors deliberated for three days before admitting they could not come to an agreement. Weekley testified in his own defense during the trial, saying he has felt “devastated and depressed” and that he would “never be the same.” He reiterated that the grandmother was to blame for the gunshot. She hit it in a downward motion,” he said on the witness stand. “As she hits it down, I start to pull back. I hear the shot.” The judge has set a pretrial conference for July 25, with prosecutors and defense attorneys preparing to argue the case again for a new jury.
