Category: CNN Regional

By Jermont Terry, Darius Johnson, Elyssa Kaufman

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — An arson investigation is underway after a woman was set on fire while riding a CTA Blue Line in Chicago’s Loop on Monday night.

According to Chicago police, a 26-year-old woman got into an argument with a 45-year-old man while on a train at Clark and Lake streets around 9:25 p.m. Police said the fight escalated when the man poured a liquid on the woman and set her on fire.

Police said the woman got off the train and collapsed on the platform. A witness told CBS Chicago they saw the victim jump off the train and bystanders come to her aid.

She sustained severe burns and was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

CBS Chicago has obtained video of the aftermath, which shows a woman with significant burns on her head.

No arrests have been made.

Chicago police arson detectives are investigating.

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By Tim Pulliam

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    LONG BEACH, California (KABC) — Long Beach dealt with major street flooding on Saturday after a storm brought heavy rain through the area.

Many neighborhood streets looked like rivers, and some residents even got out on the water on kayaks.

Although the water had drained by Saturday night, many neighbors say they aren’t taking any chances with more rain in the forecast. Eyewitness News spotted many homes with sandbags outside.

Neighbors on Naples Lane in Long Beach sloshed through murky rainwater on Saturday.

Tim Morrisse captured video of flooded streets around his neighborhood. One shot shows his dog trying to wade through the water.

Forget the beach — families made the most of the weather event. The rainstorm transformed their neighborhood sidewalk and street into a shallow pool.

“The water just started coming up really fast,” Morrisse said.

Overnight, Long Beach was walloped by water. Neighbors took cover underneath hoodies and umbrellas.

By Saturday afternoon, Morrisse and his neighbors living near Naples Lane and Ravenna Drive were overwhelmed. He admits he was not completely prepared for the rain.

Video shows the water getting too close to residents’ garages.

“I put some sandbags around the house. It’s almost in the house. It’s a little scary,” Morrisse said.

Morrisse said this typically happens when there’s heavy rain and storm drains are clogged, and he believes this is one of the worst times he’s seen the flooding.

The Long Beach Public Works Department said there was a power outage that caused a couple of L.A. County-maintained pumps to go offline. Officials said work is being done to minimize the impact.

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By David Collins

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     GLEN BURNIE, Maryland (WBAL) — A road rage incident ended with a gun drawn and threats to use the weapon in Glen Burnie, police said.

“It appears the victim approached to discuss the situation, to confront the suspect, and that’s when the suspect brandished a firearm, threatened the victim, then fled the area,” said Justin Mulcahy, a spokesperson for Anne Arundel County police.

Erick Brett Metzger, 34, is charged with pulling a gun on a driver who accused him of cutting him off. The confrontation took place in the parking lot of a car wash in Glen Burnie, police said.

The alleged victim told police Metzger pulled out a handgun, cocked it and pointed it at him, saying “You will never see your family again,” according to charging documents.

Police said Metzger then turned his attention to a car wash employee who did not see the encounter.

Metzger pointed at the employee and said, “If you want some, you can have some too,” according to charging documents.

According to police charging documents, Metzger arrived at the car wash just before closing. His tag was captured by a camera. Then another camera took a picture of him behind the wheel when he purchased a car wash.

In addition, police have business surveillance video that followed Metzger’s movements.

“We’ve had some prior encounters,” Mulcahy said. “This particular suspect, through our investigation, was prohibited from carrying a firearm, and had an open arrest warrant, which was appropriately served.”

Metzger’s criminal history includes charges of robbery, assault, burglary and theft, online records show.

Metzger told police at the car wash that a stranger quickly approached him. Unsure of what was going on, he secured his gun and put a round in the chamber. Metzger said he never pointed it at the individual.

He is being held without bail.

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By Olivia Hickey

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    CHOCTAW, Oklahoma (KOCO) — Volunteers in Choctaw are helping 89-year-old Ruth “Connie” Holland clean up her property, which was devastated by a tornado last November.

Holland had lived in her home for decades before the 2024 tornado destroyed it. Recently, Corey Driver, a local resident, discovered her address on a city council meeting agenda,

“One of the items on the agenda was to discuss the disposition of a dilapidated structure at this address,” Driver said. “I knew that if the city council was talking about it at this point, that probably the next step was that they were going to make her clean the place up, and if she didn’t, they were going to put a lien on her property. I felt bad because I knew that she had lost that property in the tornado and she didn’t have insurance.”

After Driver put out a call for help on Facebook, dozens of volunteers offered their time and equipment to assist with the demolition and cleanup, alleviating the costs for Holland and her family.

On Saturday, demolition crews took down what remained of the house, and on Sunday, volunteers of all ages gathered to clear debris, filling several donated dumpsters.

“I can hardly believe it. They’re just wonderful people,” Holland said.

Although she had hoped to rebuild, Holland now said she believes it is more likely that the property will be sold, with the hope that another family can move in and create memories as she did.

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By James Curtis

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    NORTH PORT, Florida (WBBH) — A North Port man was found guilty and received a life sentence in prison on Friday for stabbing his adoptive parents to death in their home in 2023.

Dima James Tower, 24, committed the first-degree murder of Rob and Jennifer Tower, his adoptive parents, according to the verdict. He was also found guilty of fleeing/eluding law enforcement.

Tower grew up in Ukraine before his parents adopted him. When the North Port Police Department responded to the scene at the Tower’s home on Mallicoat Road in 2023, they said officers saw Tower bloodied and shutting the trunk of a vehicle. Officers tried to stop Tower, but he fled the scene in a black car.

After an eight-hour search after a chase, Venice police officers found him at the Shell Gas Station located on Knight’s Trail Road.

When officers entered the Tower’s home, they found the dead bodies of Rob and Jennifer lying on the living room floor. Rob appeared to have puncture wounds in his upper back, while Jennifer’s head was covered in blood, NPPD said.

Officers found blood on the couches in the living room, the bed in the master bedroom, the inside of the front door and the kitchen. A towel rag in the kitchen sink was also covered in blood.

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By Malcolm Shields

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (WPBF) — A Boynton Beach man accused of paying an undercover Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputy to kill his ex-wife has asked a judge to dismiss his case.

According to court documents in Broward County, Michael D. Pine, 56, submitted on Oct. 29 a motion to dismiss attempted first-degree murder and first-degree solicitation of murder charges against him.

According to documents submitted by Pine in his own handwriting, Pine argues that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office engaged in entrapment.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, entrapment says “Government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person’s mind the disposition to commit a criminal act and then induce commission of the crime so that the Government may prosecute.”

Pine argues that the state attorney’s office in Broward County has not established or been able to provide evidence of any criminal activity prior to his encounter with law enforcement or the confidential source.

Pine argues that because of that, he should not be in jail, and the court must discharge the case.

Pine also requested in another motion on Oct. 29 that his court-appointed public defender be taken off his case, claiming that the attorney has not prepared a defense for the case and has failed to contact Pine in recent weeks about the case.

Pine has a scheduled Tuesday court hearing in Fort Lauderdale.

[related id=’d20f83d1-129c-45d8-8701-b3b822ec1b0b’ align=’center’ source=”][/related] Pine is accused of wanting his ex-wife dead so he could get his kid back and also blamed her for him going to state prison.

Pine initially requested someone to kill his ex-wife in February while serving a prison sentence for stalking, written threats and insurance claim fraud that occurred in Palm Beach County.

When Pine was released from prison on Feb. 26, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office continued its investigation into Pine.

Pine allegedly offered an undercover detective $10,000 to kill his ex-wife and in March, he paid an undercover detective $2,000 as a down payment for the murder.

After the undercover agent told Pine he killed his ex-wife, Pine allegedly agreed to pay the remaining $8,000.

Pine, who was born in New York, was arrested on March 6 and has pleaded not guilty.

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By Waverle Monroe

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — While holding his Bible, 64-year-old Sabir shares his story.

“This is the blood, the only blood I was seeing after I came home,” Sabir said.

He was shot in the head back in February of 2021.

“So now, I’m blind on one side. The bullet, still in my head, and it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth,” Sabir said.

And he says he knows the shooter.

“I was shot by my son. I don’t know why,” Sabir said.

The suspect was charged with first-degree assault back in 2021.

The charge carries up to 50 years in prison, if convicted.

The suspect never went to trial, and Sabir’s spent the last four years wondering why.

He said that’s why he called KETV Investigates.

“Finally, somebody is listening to me. Finally, somebody hears me. Finally, somebody is going to help me to get answers,” Sabir said.

He points the finger at the prosecutor’s office.

“I see Donald Kleine on the television a lot. ‘Well, I’m going to do this. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to do this. I’m looking to do that.’ Well, what happened?” Sabir said.

KETV went to the Douglas County Attorney’s Office to find those answers.

“I don’t disagree with him. This should not have happened,” Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said.

Kleine said the defendant got off on a technicality.

Basically, a paperwork mistake that Kleine said all came apart when a trial date was set.

“We rely on the judges; we don’t set their calendar,” Kleine said. “They set their own calendar.”

According to court records, the trial was initially set for Oct. 18, but district court judge Honorable Marlon Polk had another trial that would overlap.

Polk moved the new trial date to Valentine’s Day 2022, a date that would fall four months outside the six-month window for a speedy trial.

“But the way the record was made was not good enough, and so we should have caught that and we didn’t,” Kleine said.

The case made its way all to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

The high court ruled emails and statements of unavailability were “insufficient to show docket congestion existed” or that there was “good cause” to continue the jury trial past that six-month speedy trial window.

Now, because of the law, the defendant cannot be tried again.

“It makes me feel like I’ve been victimized twice,” Sabir said.

Kleine said he wants to make sure this never happens again.

“It should bother everybody that’s involved in this side of the business that this is not the way things should happen, and so, it’s a problem, a big problem because it caused dismissal of the case,” Kleine said.

Sabir told KETV he is looking at possibly filing a lawsuit in order to get some justice in his case.

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By Web Staff

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — Weeks after a Halloween party, a Sacramento resident remains hospitalized after an attack that the Sacramento Police Department is investigating as a hate crime.

The attack happened after 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 1 at Badlands Sacramento, one of the city’s most prominent LGBT+ friendly nightclubs. Officers who went to the Lavender Heights district found a man with serious injuries.

Andrea Prasad told KCRA 3 that she went to Badlands with her father, Alvin Prasad, whom she described as being very close to. They were celebrating Halloween with their friend Jonathon Wisniske and left the club around 2 a.m. when they were approached by a man as they were heading back to their car.

“A guy walked past me and my dad and just called him weird, insulted him for the way he was dressed. My dad is gay, and he likes to dress up a lot when going out dancing. So he was dressed more flamboyantly,” Andrea Prasad recalled.

Andrea Prasad said her father turned to confront the man and asked Jonathon to check on him. Wisniske said Andrea had not even finished her sentence when he saw the man cock back and punch Alvin Prasad “right in the forehead.”

“My dad hit the ground pretty quickly,” Andrea Prasad said. “The back of his head hit the concrete.”

After the initial punch, Wisniske said he threw himself in the middle of them and confronted the man.

“He cocks back again to punch me,” Wisniske recalled, explaining that he punched back in self-defense. “I wasn’t going to let him go. The first thing I said to him was, ‘Why are you running?’ That’s when he went into the street.”

After the confrontation ended, Wisniske said he rushed back to help Alvin Prasad, noting that he saw blood underneath his head.

Alvin Prasad has been in the hospital ever since that night. Andrea Prasad said he is in a coma and has permanent brain damage.

“He’s never going to be who he was,” Andrea Prasad said. “He can’t express himself, can’t go out dancing.”

That night has also been traumatic for Wisniske, who said he can’t even look at his hands without seeing Alvin Prasad’s blood on them.

Police said they arrested 24-year-old Sean Payton in connection with the attack. He faces a felony charge for assault with great bodily injury with a hate crime enhancement and a misdemeanor charge for resisting arrest, according to a complaint obtained by KCRA 3.

As her father recovers, Andrea Prasad remains overwhelmed by a mix of emotions, one of them anger.

“I don’t understand why someone would choose to do something to someone they don’t even know,” Andrea Prasad said.

When asked what she would tell her dad, she said that she would tell him that she misses him, wants him to get better, a lot of people care about him and that “he should still be happy and proud to be gay.”

“Last thing I said to him was the dimmest light shines brightest in the dark, that he’s that light and that he should keep shining,” Wisniske said.

Payton is due in court on Monday.

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