Category: CNN Regional

By Randy Wimbley

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    DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit police officer is suspended and under investigation after a woman says he stole intimate videos and photos from her phone while she was in custody.

Samantha Thomason says the officer sent intimate videos and a nude photo from her phone to himself while she was detained following a traffic stop. Detroit police confirm the officer is under investigation and was arrested earlier this week.

“It is just kind of like scary to think that you’re someone who is here to protect people, that’s your job, that’s what you’re supposed to do, and yet you chose to do something like that,” Thomason said.

Thomason says the incident began late Tuesday night when she first encountered the officer at a gas station on the city’s east side. She was later pulled over at Harper and Morang avenue for driving without insurance and arrested on a probation violation warrant out of Canton.

Thomason says she suspected something was wrong after the officer got hold of her phone during the stop. She says she did not confirm what happened until she bonded out the following morning.

“When you initially first seen even the text just sent to the number, it was a sexual video off of my phone. So I already knew that was weird because I didn’t have access to my phone at this time. The only people who had my phone were the two officers who arrested me,” Thomason said.

Thomason says 12 items total were sent from her phone — 11 videos and one photo.

She says she texted the unknown number from a different phone with a direct message: “I will be reporting you because you sent my nudes.”

Thomason claims the officer then showed up at her home shortly after.

“My boyfriend’s brother, the one who wasn’t there when we got pulled over, he answered the door and he was asking the officer what’s going on? And he was like, is Samantha Thomason here? I have a warrant for her arrest,” Thomason said.

“He asked him to see the warrant, but he wouldn’t show him the warrant,” Thomason said.

The officer eventually left, and Thomason called 911 to report him.

Sources told me the officer has less than five years on the force and worked in the 5th Precinct’s Special Operations Unit. He was still in custody at the Detroit Detention Center as of Friday afternoon. Internal Affairs is investigating.

Detroit police released a statement on the allegations:

“This matter is being actively investigated. The involved officer was arrested and conveyed to the Detroit Detention Center for processing. The alleged actions are concerning and do not represent the overwhelming majority of Detroit Police officers who maintain a high level of conduct and professionalism that they have sworn to uphold. The officer has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. At the conclusion of the investigation, the findings will be submitted to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office for review.”

Thomason says she wants the officer to face serious consequences.

“He should be in jail. He should, for one, definitely lose — you should not be a police officer at all,” Thomason said.

Once the investigation is complete, the Detroit Police Department will turn the case over to the Wayne County Prosecutor for a charging decision.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By John Ramos

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    WINDSOR, California (KPIX) — It’s been 80 years since World War II ended, and the world is a very different place because of it. One Windsor man was there to see all of it, and on Saturday, he was honored with a vintage military salute for his 105th birthday.

“All of the decisions have enabled me to live a perfect life of 105,” Dick Sharp said about his impending birthday. “It’s OK. I just don’t recommend it.”

One of those decisions happened in 1941, when he enlisted in the Army Air Corp, three months before Pearl Harbor was attacked. As the country geared up for war, Sharp already had his pilot’s license, so they made him a flight instructor. But in 1945, late in the war, he was sent to the Pacific island of Tinian to fly B-29 bombers, sometimes joining 300 other planes as they pounded Tokyo.

“It looked like one hell of a lot of fireworks over the city, with the searchlights, the fire on the ground, the tracer ammunition coming up,” he recalled. “And there was some concern about, jeez, I’m going to have to fly right into just an enormous display of Fourth of July fireworks.”

The nightly missions continued until one day a plane showed up at the base that everyone was told not to get near. It was the Enola Gay, which delivered the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Later, Sharp moved into civilian life, becoming a dentist and raising a family. But, still, the military brotherhood remained strong. On his 100th birthday, he met fellow pilot Larry Scott, who flew during the Cold War in 1953.

“I often, when I meet someone, after a few minutes, I’ll ask them if they had been in the military,” said Scott. “Because there is kind of — It’s not a big deal, but it’s kind of a thing.”

It was a big deal on Saturday, as a parade of vintage Army vehicles passed by Sharp’s home in Windsor, a salute to wish him a happy birthday. He recalled the years following the war as “the best of times,” when education was readily available and opportunities were everywhere.

He said he was lucky to have lived through it and as he pondered his birthday, he offered an unusual salute to his parents:

“I’d like to say thank you Olive and Lowell for having sex and creating my life!” Sharp said.

Sharp will officially turn 105 on Wednesday. He said he thought somebody may be planning a special dinner for him, but he would rather just stay home. And he may have found the perfect partner, because at age 94, Michele Harris has an equally pragmatic attitude about why the couple is not getting married.

“Well, what’s the point at our age? I’m not apt to get pregnant. I don’t think there’s any point,” she said. “He doesn’t want to get married … You know, ‘Been there’ and ‘Done that.’ Dick’s only been married once, but I was married three times. So, you know, that’s it.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By John Lauritsen

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    IVANHOE, Minnesota (WCCO) — When Lois Widmark turned 104 in January, the party wasn’t quite as big, but that’s OK. These days she spends a lot of time doing what she loves at her home in Ivanhoe, Minnesota, alongside her 5-year-old cat Muggins.

“I read a lot. I embroidered 52 dish towels two years ago,” Lois Widmark said. “Muggins and I have a lot of time together.”

Time at home is time for reflection. In 1944, when Lois Widmark was 22, she wanted to help with the war effort. So she and a friend decided to join the Navy.

“That’s what people said, I let my patriotism get the best of me,” she said.

She became part of a women’s branch called WAVES, which stood for “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services.” Lois Widmark and thousands of others were given the task of cracking German and Japanese codes for the U.S. military. They were known as the “Code Girls.”

“There were a lot of girls doing that,” she said. “We had to be at least 5 feet tall and weigh 95 pounds.”

They worked with mechanical devices called “Bombes” to crack the codes, much like the one invented by British mathematician Alan Turing. Lois Widmark and the WAVES were highly effective.

“I only wish I would have joined sooner,” she said.

She moved back to Nebraska after the war and went to college on the GI bill. She got a teaching degree and then moved to Ivanhoe after marrying her husband, Arnold. He also served in World War II.

“Both my parents are World War II veterans. That didn’t happen very often that both parents were World War II veterans,” said son Alan Widmark.

In recent years, Lois Widmark wrote a memoir called “Echoes of My Life.” It details her childhood, her time in the military and how she and her family built a life in western Minnesota.

She sells the memoir and a photo for $100, with all the money going towards a scholarship for future teachers at Southwest State University. Afterall, she’s their oldest living alum.

Lois Widmark also does her best to keep up with other women who were part of World War II, and “The Greatest Generation.”

“Not many of them even get to 100 before they’re gone,” she said.

A sad reality, but also the reason why she believes it’s her duty to tell their story and carry on their legacy.

“World War II was everybody’s war,” she said.

Lois Widmark was appointed to welcome back Admiral William Halsey to the Naval headquarters after the war. She says in addition to her husband Arnold, her brother Sonny also served in World War II.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Erin Jones

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    AUSTIN, Texas (KTVT) — A viral video out of Austin is raising questions about how self‑driving cars respond during emergencies.

A man recorded what appears to be a Waymo vehicle blocking first responders during the deadly shooting on West Sixth Street.

A Waymo robotaxi sits in the roadway as an ambulance tries to reach the scene. The car inches forward but does not clear the way.

Then an officer appears to communicate with the company through the car’s external speaker system before getting inside and driving it away.

When asked about the incident, Waymo told CBS News Texas the vehicle immediately began making a U-turn to clear the way, and a nearby officer assisted.

Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz addressed the incident on Monday.

“We were on scene within 57 seconds, and so in the grand scheme of the impact on the overall incident, we don’t believe it had any impact on patient outcomes,” he said. “I will say that we’re already in touch with Waymo and the autonomous vehicles to give them our concerns and work with them in order to try and address this moving forward.”

“That’s great if, in fact, that was the case and they were very lucky, but what’s going to happen next time?” Witherite Law Group Managing Attorney John Nohinek said.

Nohinek has been tracking autonomous vehicle cases and is especially concerned about one in Atlanta.

“The Waymo had a passenger, drove past emergency vehicles and into an active crime scene,” he said. “They have failed to stop and pass school buses. Failure to yield the right of way both to vehicles, and pedestrians, more importantly, it’s very concerning.”

Nohinek says this prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to open a formal safety investigation into Waymo.

“They don’t do that lightly,” he said. “That means that there is a higher degree of safety risk that they need to investigate.”

While the Austin incident was brief and temporarily blocked an ambulance headed to the shooting scene, it is a new safety concern for critics who are urging cities to put the brakes on autonomous vehicles.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Eva Andersen, Sean Tallant

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A large sinkhole that appeared on a historic street in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood around Christmas has continued to disrupt traffic and frustrate neighbors and nearby businesses, some of whom say they’re still waiting for answers about when it will be repaired.

The sinkhole sits along the 200 block of Church Street, a narrow roadway lined with homes, small businesses and frequent tourist foot traffic.

Mittul Patel, general manager of Old City Coffee, said the location is normally one of the area’s biggest draws.

“It’s a beautiful, charming street,” Patel said.

But right now, he said, the large hole blocking the roadway is making it harder for his customers to access the coffee shop.

“Obviously it makes it harder to walk across, do deliveries, trash pickup,” Patel said.

A nearby resident who declined to share his name said the issue first appeared in late December.

“There was a period of time when our water was cut off… on Christmas Day, in fact,” the neighbor said.

While residents say water service was restored, the sinkhole has remained in the roadway for months.

Old City resident Stephanie Ott described the situation as “chaotic.”

“It’s been a big issue with the through traffic, because now people can’t get down Church Street,” Ott said.

Neighbors said city crews have come to work on the site intermittently, often during overnight hours.

Neighbors say, the sinkhole has also become a noticeable sight for visitors and tourists, adding they worry about the impression it leaves on tour groups.

“It shows that people don’t care,” a resident said.

With Philly expected to welcome large numbers of visitors this summer, some business owners say they hope the problem is resolved soon.

“I understand that things have to get worked on, but this does seem to be dragging on for quite some time,” Patel said. “It would be great to have this fixed up before all the tourists come for the summer.”

CBS News Philadelphia has reached out to the Philadelphia Water Department to confirm what caused the sinkhole and when repairs may be completed. We are still waiting to hear back.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Carolyn Gusoff

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — Some senior veterans on Long Island are travelling the world again without leaving their nursing home.

Virtual reality is giving them adventures they thought were behind them, while also helping reduce stress and isolation.

Mynd Immersive created the VR, which was specially designed for older adults. Long Island State Veterans Home at Stony Brook University was the first in the nation to use it in its therapy, and now it’s the first with a more interactive and realistic upgrade.

“What we like to say is, ‘Where would you like to go today?’ You get to leave the walls of the nursing home,” said Jonathan Spier, deputy executive director at the Long Island State Veterans Home. “We can link six units together, so we can do a trip together … We can go down the streets of Paris, France.”

From his wheelchair, in a facility he hasn’t left in more than two years, Air Force veteran Bill Bornhoeft can skydive. Army veteran Naomi Sawyer can go under the sea with sharks. Vietnam veteran Gene Faber can head back to the lanes, 25 years after his last bowling alley visit.

“It takes me instantly to a different world … an enjoyable world,” Bornhoeft said.

“It was so realistic,” Sawyer said. “It takes you away from what you’re thinking about, if you have something heavy on your mind.”

There are hundreds of experiences to choose from to combat isolation, and stimulate conversation and movement.

“We are able to bring it right to their room and bring that veteran out of that darkness and whatever they are experiencing, and bring them to their happy place,” Spier said.

Vietnam as it is today, lush and peaceful, is also among the possible destinations. Many Vietnam veterans find the journey back therapeutic.

“They may be suffering from chronic pain, anxiety, depression, PTSD, cognitive decline, isolation – any number of those indications, doctors and clinicians can now prescribe Mynd for those veterans, and it’s a major breakthrough,” Mynd Immersive co-founder and CEO Chris Brickler said.

The technology is now in more than 100 state veteran homes and Veterans Affairs medical centers, bringing the world back to those who served around the globe.

At Long Island State Veterans Home, the program is made possible in part thanks to a private grant.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.