Stamford Man Killed in I-95 Rollover

WESTPORT -- A Stamford man was killed after being ejected from a van following a three-car crash that closed all three southbound lanes on Interstate 95 for four hours late Thursday night into Friday morning, police and fire officials said.



Westport Fire Department Assistant Chief Larry Conklin said the man, identified Friday by state police as 37-year-old Carlos Flores of Stamford, was declared dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred at about 11:45 p.m., about 100 yards from the Norwalk city line.



With the three lanes closed, state troopers directed cars through the accident scene by routing them through the high-speed breakdown lane, Conklin said



According to a state police accident summary, Flores' van was traveling behind a Subaru Outback when it struck the rear of the Outback, causing the car to veer to the right and strike a metal beam guardrail.



The van then moved to the left but veered right again, striking a Nissan Altima in the center lane, causing it to spin around and end up on the median, state police said.



The 2001 Chevrolet van driven by Flores then went off the highway on the right, striking the metal guardrail and a light pole. The impact caused the van to roll over more than once, ending up on the driver's side, state police said.



Both Flores and his passenger were ejected from the van onto the roadway, and Flores was pronounced dead at the scene. The state police report indicates the men in the van were not wearing seat belts and their airbags did not deploy.



Flores' passenger, a 44-year-old Stamford man, was brought to Norwalk Hospital with non life-threatening injuries, officials said.



A Greenwich woman driving the Subaru complained of minor injuries and was transported to Norwalk Hospital as a precaution, state police said. The Westport man in the Nissan was not injured. Both of those drivers were alone in their cars.



The cause of the crash is still under investigation and no charges have been filed, state police said.

 

Manteca Dementia Patient in Pajamas Dies After High Speed Chase

You can't make this sh*t up!

MANTECA, CA - A Manteca woman wonders how her husband, who suffered from dementia, bought a new truck and led cops on a high speed chase.

Janet Davis said her husband Donald, who suffered from dementia, managed to escape from a Manteca care home in a wheelchair, buy a new truck and lead authorities on a high speed chase on Thursday.

"That hurts me so much to know that he was all by himself and lost in his last hours," said Janet. "My heart just went out to my husband because I can just picture him so confused and trying to get home."

According to Manteca police Sgt. Ralph Colin, Donald Davis was reported missing from the Manteca Care and Rehabilitation Center last Thursday morning. A search ensued for the 67-year-old man who suffered from dementia and had disappeared wearing pajamas and slippers in his wheelchair.

Janet said she found a number for the Cabral Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership on her husband's bedside. She said she called the dealership and workers said they hadn't seen Donald. But during a later call, apparently workers admitted Donald had been in and had purchased a new pickup truck.

That evening Manteca police learned Donald had been stopped by the California Highway Patrol following a high speed chase in Pleasanton, nearly 50 miles from Manteca.

When Donald finally brought the truck to a stop, officers noticed he was confused and disoriented. They took him to a hospital where he died of heart failure Thursday evening.

"The pursuit started because the patient had been driving at a unsafe speed which caught the highway patrol's attention," Colin said. "It was a short pursuit where speeds reached upwards of 103 miles per hour."

According to Colin, Davis was driven to the car dealership from the care home by a Cabral employee. Janet said she talked to the worker who claimed she had called one of the dealership's owners twice saying she was concerned about picking up Davis who apparently fell as she tried to get him into a car to transport him.

"I couldn't believe it. How could something like this happen," Janet said. "He didn't have a wallet or driver's license. They threw his wheelchair in the back of the truck and gave him the keys."

Apparently Donald's new truck was also outfitted with some chrome wheels he asked for. Janet said her husband had driven 300 miles before cops caught up with him. When she had heard the news, her daughter and grandson jumped in a car with her and were on their way to the hospital. But her husband died before they reached him.

She says out over the years, she and her family have purchased 15 vehicles from Cabral. She said workers were aware of her husband's medical problems because they recently returned two vehicles to get money to pay for his medical bills.

"There were so many things that should have been red flags to these people. I don't see how they could say they he seemed perfectly normal," she said.

Cabral General Sales Manager Bob Bronken told News10, "we decline to make a comment at this time."

Phone calls to the Manteca care center went unanswered.

Meanwhile, Manteca police are investigating the incident and the Davis family is planning Donald's funeral.

High-Speed Chase In Dallas Area Ends in Crash

DALLAS — A high-speed chase through the Dallas area ended when a car being pursued by authorities ran a red light and collided with a pickup truck.

Television reports identified the suspect as 29-year-old Shane Michel. Baylor University Medical Center spokeswoman Maria Carpenter said he was in critical condition late Monday afternoon.

Television reports say the chase lasted about 90 minutes after starting in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite.

Dallas County constable assistant dispatcher Curtis Hettich said the chase began as a routine traffic stop. Constable Michael Gothard said the suspect was wanted on a felony warrant.

Trooper Had Fatal Crash on First Night Shift

State trooper trial 5:50
Trial highlights from New Jersey vs. Robert Higbee.

[Click for video]

This Case Pisses Me Off So Much..

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, New Jersey–Prosecutors are expected to call the detective who questioned New Jersey State Trooper Robert Higbee two weeks after a fatal collision between his cruiser and a car carrying two young women.

The prosecution is also expected to play Higbee’s 33-minute audiotaped statement during Det. Sgt. Karl Ulbrich’s testimony.

Jurors in the vehicular manslaughter trial were shown videotape of the crash scene Wednesday. The prosecution says the police video, which depicts the road Robert Higbee traveled before he collided with Christina and Jacqueline Becker, helps prove the defendant was reckless. The defense says the crash was an accident, and that Higbee was trying to catch up with a speeding motorist.






The young women were pronounced dead at the scene. The occupants of a third car involved in the crash escaped serious injury.

Traffic signs and the intersection are clearly illuminated in the video. However, the defense contends the video misrepresents what the trooper actually saw. Higbee’s patrol supervisor at the time of the incident testified that the traffic signs ordinarily do not appear as brightly lit but were when the video was taken because of the lights from the emergency vehicles on the scene. The defense believes poor lighting and the sightline to the stop sign at the intersection prevented Higbee from seeing the intersection.

The trial is expected to last several more weeks. Stay tuned to In Session for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the case with correspondent Jean Casarez.

Trooper Trial: Stop Sign At Crash Scene Critical Evidence

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, NJ–Attorneys in the trial of a New Jersey state trooper accused of vehicular manslaughter are arguing this morning over whether Judge Raymond A. Batten should allow testimony regarding any changes to the intersection of Stagecoach and Tuckahoe Roads after the high-speed collision that killed Christina and Jacqueline Becker in September 2006.

Defense attorney William Subin says such information is relevant to his case because, he says, the photos in evidence do not accurately reflect what the intersection looked like the day of the incident. Since the incident, the original stop sign has been replaced by a larger one with reflective tape and is supported by two poles. Reflective tape has also been placed on the “stop sign ahead” warning sign. A four way blinking light has also been put up.

A large focus of the defense case is that the intersection was dangerous because of the difficulty in seeing the stop sign.

Later today jurors are expected to hear from Michael Taylor, the passenger in the third car in the collision. The first medical responder and law enforcement officials who responded to the scene are expected to follow.

On Monday, the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the scene and the driver of a third car involved in the collision testified. Prosecutors say Trooper Robert Higbee’s recklessness while pursuing a speeding motorist resulted in the deaths of Christina and Jacqueline Becker. His patrol car collided with their mini-van after he ran a stop sign.

The defense claims Higbee followed police procedure and that lighting conditions and placement of the stop sign at the intersection prevented Higbee from seeing the stop sign until it was too late.

Higbee faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors indicted the trooper five months after the crash, alleging that he acted recklessly while chasing a speeding car.

Stay tuned to In Session for gavel-to-gavel coverage of this case with correspondent Jean Casarez.

Oh, Shit!

Driver holds on as hijacked semi leads police on chase
---->[Video]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A hijacked tractor-trailer, its driver clinging to the outside, led police on a wild chase Tuesday on Interstate 75 just south of Atlanta, Georgia, officials said.

When the chase was over, the truck driver was safe and the hijacking suspect was in custody. Aerial footage of the chase showed truck driver Torrey Lang, 32, seated behind his truck's cab and holding on as it hurtled down Interstate 75 with Georgia State Patrol in pursuit, and the suspected hijacker behind the wheel.

Lang, apparently was in a parking lot when he saw the truck being stolen, said Greg Thompson, spokesman for Chattanooga, Tennessee-based U.S. Xpress, the company Lang works for.

Lang jumped on the side of the truck, then made his way to the back of the truck when it started moving, Thompson said.

As the truck was moving, Lang called 9-1-1. He stayed on the line describing the situation and his location until his phone was either dropped or lost, said George Louth, a spokesman for the police department in Union City, Georgia, where the chase began about 15 miles south of Atlanta.

The hour-long police pursuit started on surface streets and continued onto the interstate, eventually covering nearly 70 miles and passing through seven counties before it ended in Forsyth, Georgia, according to Louth.

Footage shows officers deploying spike strips to deflate the truck's tires, which then peeled away from the truck. Running on at least one rim, the truck slowed and began to stop, and Lang leaped onto the roadway and fell briefly before running to safety.

Once the truck came to a complete stop, more than a dozen officers surrounded it, guns drawn. Officers broke the drivers' side window, opened the cab door and pulled the suspect from the vehicle. He struggled briefly, but was tackled by numerous officers and forced to the ground. The suspect was later shown in police custody walking to a vehicle.

Milo Banks, 27, will be charged with fleeing and attempting to elude, kidnapping and theft by taking, according to Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright. He also faces a felony theft charge in Union City, according to Louth.

A Georgia State Patrol officer was shot in the arm, but his injuries were superficial, a dispatcher said. Circumstances surrounding the shooting were unclear.

This Woman's On Crack!

I came into work today and on CNN was watching this lady flying down LA highways with her hazard lights on (LOL way to be courteous).. This was reminiscent of the OJ pursuit, hahaha
"Woman allegedly tried to run over LB police before chase, capture"

LOS ANGELES (AP)- A driver tried to ram a Long Beach car, prompting an hour-long, high-speed chase Friday in which the woman drove the car in circles, went the wrong way on a tollway and even got out of the car to gesture at officers, authorities said.

The woman was arrested after about a 40-mile pursuit and could face charges of reckless driving, California Highway Patrol Officer Gabe Montoya said. Her name was not immediately known.

No injuries were reported, but the woman endangered motorists on four freeways, CHP officers said.

The chase began when Long Beach officers went to an intersection shortly after 6 a.m. in response to a report of a woman screaming. A car tried to ram their police cruiser three times and then fled, Long Beach police Officer Jackie Bezart said.

After an eight-minute chase through Long Beach, the driver got onto a freeway and the CHP was notified.

Officers chased the silver Scion into Orange County at speeds that sometimes topped 100 mph, authorities said.

Television news helicopters carried the chase live.

On the SR 241 tollway in Rancho Santa Margarita, the woman made "doughnuts" while driving on both shoulders of the road, briefly drove the wrong way then got out of the car and gestured with both hands at officers before returning to the slowly rolling vehicle and driving off.

A short time later a patrol car rammed the back of the Scion, spinning it around and knocking off its bumper in
an attempt to stop it, but the driver managed to flee again.

The car finally was stopped at the end of the tollway in an unincorporated area near Rancho Santa Margarita.

After being bumped a second time, the Scion was boxed in and swarmed by officers, including one who jumped onto the roof. The woman was pulled through the car's window, forced to the ground and handcuffed.