Suspected Carjackers Appear in Court

This is of particular interest to me because my mother and I heard it all go down as it happened on the online police scanner. It's public information to hear, and *almost* better than watching Cops!

They were said to have a large number of weapons in the car that they ditched, and they all spread out and gave the cops a good run for their money locating them. One fell into a pond and got sucked in by the mud- making him helpless!

I'd like to see how the trial goes, especially this one below who seems to have Zach Galifianakis representing him!

(11/01/10) BRIDGEPORT - Three people accused in a Bridgeport carjacking appeared in court today.

Police say Nicole Bowen, 27, of Bridgeport, Tye Thomas, 20, of the Bronx, and Dashawn Perry, 18, of Yonkers, forced someone to drive them to New York. As the car neared the state line, police say the victim tried to get out of the car and crashed the vehicle.

Investigators say the suspects jumped out of the car and ran, but were later caught by Greenwich police.

-See News Video here-

Car Stolen With Child Inside

So relieved that it turned out that the little girl wasn't hurt!
MIAMI-DADE, Fla. -- Police are searching for a man who stole a car with a 3-year-old girl inside on Monday morning.

According to investigators, Joaquin Lassus was preparing to take his 3-year-old granddaughter, Kayla Lassus, to school. He put Kayla in the car and went back into his home to get a water bottle.

When Lassus came back outside, his car and Kayla were gone.

Police found Lassus' yellow Pontiac Aztek with Kayla inside two blocks away, near Northwest 100th Street and 31st Avenue. Investigators said they believe the car thief must have realized there was a child inside and abandoned the vehicle.

Kayla, who was not harmed, told police the thief was a man.

"I love her with all my heart, and the feeling of thinking that she's not going to be there, I wouldn't want anybody to go through that feeling again. So I really hope that they catch this person so that he gets off the streets and isn't able to do what he did to me this morning to anybody else," said Kayla's mother, Candice Suarez.

Police have not released a description of the car thief. Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).

3 Children, Woman Killed by Fleeing Driver

PHILADELPHIA - June 11, 2009 (WPVI) -- Three children and a mother are dead after a car jumped a curb and plowed into a crowd of people. Authorities say the driver of the car was fleeing police.

22-year-old Latoya Smith, the mother of the youngest of the child victims and an aunt to another, died Thursday at Einstein Hospital. Smith was mortally wounded in the crash that occurred Wednesday night.

Smith and others were outside their Feltonville homes on 3rd Street enjoying the weather when the out of control car rammed them.

At a makeshift memorial a grandmother expressed her rage at the sudden death of a 7-year-old, Gina Marie Rosario. She held up a picture of the little girl giving the American Sign Language sign for "I really love you." The grandmother said, "This is what she wore for the last time."
Gina Marie was one of three children killed last night.

The chain of events that led to the carnage began blocks away with the hijacking of a motorcycle at Fisher and Rising Sun Avenue shortly before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The hijacker exited a silver Pontiac Grand Am, and soon police were in pursuit of the Pontiac headed south along the Roosevelt Boulevard.

The car cut left, down 3rd Street and plowed into residents at Annsbury Street.
Philadelphia Police Lt. Frank Vanore told reporters, "When that vehicle reached the 4500 block of 3rd Street, at a very high rate of speed, [it] jumped the pavement and struck four people."

All four victims were killed - three victims were under the age of 10: 7-year-old Gina Marie Rosario, Smith's daughter 11-month-old Remedy Smith and her neice 6-year-old Alliyah Griffin.
The driver of the car was also briefly hospitalized with non life-threatening injuries. Police say he was in possession of a gun.

Police also say they arrested the alleged motorcycle hijacker at a house on 8th Street. They say they also recovered four guns at that house.

The Action Cam visited the scene of the crash early Thursday morning. A memorial grows near Third and Annsbury streets where that driver hopped the curb - leaving a scarred tree and three children dead.

Family and friends are trying to come to grips with the tragedy.
In an instant Ted Canada's life changed forever. Canada's 22-year-old daughter, Latoya Smith, and his baby granddaughter, Remedy, were killed.

Wednesday night outside Einstein Hospital Canada spoke with Action News about the death of his granddaughter. "That's all we can do is thank God. Thank God he loaned her to us for the time that he did," said Canada. "I'm gonna remember her as an angel because she was an angel... and the angel has gone home. And one good thing that I can say is she had no reason not to make it in heaven because she had no time to sin."

Mayor Michal Nutter is asking the Philadelphia community to pray for the victims and their families. The mayor and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey both rushed to the scene last night.

They were saddened and outraged. The mayor said, "It is incomprehensible what some of these people are doing out on the streets of this city. They engage in this kind of action. It's senseless."

Commissioner Ramsey followed the mayor's statement by saying, "It's just a tragedy. Again, as the mayor said, it just shows how violent some people are in the city."
Police towed away the striking vehicle Wednesday night.

Even veteran police officers called the crash scene the most horrific they have ever witnessed.

Stay with Action News and 6abc.com for new developments on this story throughout the day.

Husband, Not Carjacker, Charged in Wife's Death

(CNN) -- A man who told Maryland State Police that his wife was killed by a carjacker early Friday morning has been charged in her death.

Ryan Holness, 28, was charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Serika Dunkley Holness, 26, according to Maryland police.

Her body was found about 6 a.m. Friday in a field in Crumpton, Maryland, police said.

Holness was arrested after inconsistencies surfaced in his story, according to investigators.

Holness said that he and his wife were carjacked by a man armed with a knife and a gun on the New Jersey Turnpike while returning to Maryland from New York on Thursday night, police said.

"He told investigators that he was assaulted by the suspect and forced to drive to Crumpton," said Gregory Shipley of the Maryland State Police. "He said the suspect bound his feet and hands with duct tape before attacking his wife who had tried to flee the scene."

Police interviewed various people and launched a nationwide search for the carjacker and Holness' 2007 blue Honda Accord, Shipley said.

"Information provided by Holness throughout the day Friday did not match information developed through witnesses and evidence at the scene," Shipley said.

Shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, Holness' car was located by a D.C. police officer on a Washington street.

"Maryland State police homicide detectives have taken custody of the car," Shipley said.

State police are not yet sure how the car got to Washington.

Wife Murdered After Couple Carjacked

CRUMPTON, Md. (AP) -- A woman was found dead on the side of a rural Eastern Shore road Friday and her injured husband told investigators they were carjacked on the New Jersey Turnpike, according to Maryland State Police.

The St. Mary's County man in his 20s told police he and his wife, also in her 20s, were carjacked early Friday as they drove home from Brooklyn, where they own another home, police spokesman Greg Shipley said.

Shipley said he told officers the man forced them to drive to the Crumpton area in Kent County, where he bound the man's hands and feet on Route 290, four miles north of Route 301.

He told police his wife tried to escape then but the carjacker caught and killed her in a rural area where homes are at least a quarter-mile apart, Shipley said. Shipley didn't say how police believe the woman died and her name is being withheld pending notification of her family.

The husband said the man armed with a knife and gun drove away around 1 a.m. in the couple's blue Honda Accord with Virginia registration: 876-718.

The husband, who had a knife wound when police arrived, told officers that he was able to free himself after several hours and called 911 about 6 a.m. from a nearby home.

Police found the body of the woman a few minutes' walk away from that house.

The New York City Police Department, New Jersey State Police and Kent County Sheriff's Office are also investigating, Shipley said.