Distracted walking can be as hazardous as distracted driving, the public was reminded after the deeply unfortunate Christmas Day death of a man in San Diego. Lifeguards say the man was walking and looking at a device in the Sunset Cliffs area at sunset around 4:50 p.m. Friday when he dropped 60 feet to his death, the New York Daily News reports.
"Witnesses stated seeing someone distracted by an electronic device and he just fell over the edge," lifeguard Bill Bender tells NBC San Diego. He "wasn't watching where he was walking, he was looking down at the device in his hands."
The man apparently drove to the area with a passenger to watch the sunset. KABC reports he struggled to find parking and exited the vehicle in search of a spot; that's when witnesses say he was looking at a device and plummeted.
Bender says that after the man fell, three witnesses "put themselves at jeopardy" by making their way down the rocks to administer CPR to the man, who was in his 30s, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. NBC San Diego cites lifeguard speculation that the device was a phone or camera, but says no such device has been recovered yet.
Via: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-distracted-electronic-device-falls-cliff-dies-article-1.2477250
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Man Dies After Getting Sucked Into Plane Engine
NEW DELHI — Airport and airline authorities in India on Thursday began investigating the death of a technician who was sucked into an aircraft engine at an airport in Mumbai.Air India chief Ashwani Lohani said the accident happened Wednesday evening when the plane was being moved from an airport gate. A pilot misinterpreted a signal and switched on the plane’s engine.
Lohani said the aircraft was being pushed back from the gate when the accident happened.
The maintenance engineer was working on equipment used to push back the aircraft when he was sucked into the engine and killed instantly, Lohani said.
The plane was full of passengers for a flight from Mumbai to the southeastern city of Hyderabad.
The accident was under investigation, Lohani said.
Via: http://nypost.com/2015/12/17/indian-man-dies-after-being-sucked-into-aircraft-engine/
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Florida Alligator Eats Burgler
A 22-year-old man reportedly out to burglarize a few homes in Brevard County found out the hard way that crime doesn’t pay.
According to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, a burglary suspect they were actively looking for on Nov. 13 realized deputies were hot on his trail and chose to hide near Barefoot Bay lake. That decision proved fatal.
While hiding near the water, it seems the burglary suspect, identified as Matthew Riggins, ran afoul of an 11-foot alligator. Seeing easy prey, the gator attacked.
Riggins, the sheriff’s office said, drowned as a result of that attack. His body, however, wasn’t found until 10 days after the initial burglary call came in.
The incident that led up to Riggins’ death began to unfold in the late evening hours of Nov. 12. Riggins, the sheriff’s office wrote in a media release, told his girlfriend he and another man planned to go to Barefoot Bay that night to “commit burglaries.”
It was around 2 a.m. Nov. 13 when the sheriff’s office was called out to investigate two suspicious men in that area. The men, deputies were told, were dressed in all black and were seen walking behind homes in the area.
Deputies caught up with the two men on Royal Palm Boulevard, but the suspects fled. While K9 and aviation units were called out, deputies did not catch their suspects that evening.
“It was later learned that Riggins had contacted his girlfriend during the timeframe of the search, advising that they were being chased by deputies,” the media release stated. “Riggins was reported as a missing person to the Palm Bay Police Department later that day when he did not return home.”
Riggins remained missing until Nov. 23 when his body was spotted in the lake. The sheriff’s dive team was called in for the retrieval. Its members also spotted that 11-foot gator and noted it was a rather aggressive one.
Because of the gator’s aggressive behavior and the trauma observed on Riggins’ body, deputies called a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trapper for help. The gator was ultimately captured and euthanized, the agency said.
A forensic examination of the critter revealed it was indeed the one involved in Riggins’ death, the agency noted. Riggins’ official cause of death was listed as drowning as a result of the alligator attack.
Deputies say they’ve identified the man with Riggins that evening, but he hasn’t cooperated with their investigation so far.
Riggins’ death is the second alligator-related human fatality in Florida in 2015. In October, a man was killed while swimming in the waters of Blue Spring State Park.
Despite the state’s bustling alligator population, fatal attacks are not common in Florida. Between 1948 and 2013, there were 22 fatalities recorded, according to FWC records. During that period, a total of 122 minor bites and 235 major bites were also logged. The last fatal alligator attack on record prior to this year occurred in 2007.
Alligator-related human fatalities might not be common, but encounters with the creatures are. Those encounters add up to so many over the course of any given year that the state has set up its own hotline to accept nuisance alligator calls. That number is 1-866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).
In 2013 alone, the state fielded 15,036 nuisance alligator calls, which resulted in the removal of 6,605 creatures.
Via: http://patch.com/florida/sarasota/11-foot-gator-eats-burglar-0
According to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, a burglary suspect they were actively looking for on Nov. 13 realized deputies were hot on his trail and chose to hide near Barefoot Bay lake. That decision proved fatal.
While hiding near the water, it seems the burglary suspect, identified as Matthew Riggins, ran afoul of an 11-foot alligator. Seeing easy prey, the gator attacked.
Riggins, the sheriff’s office said, drowned as a result of that attack. His body, however, wasn’t found until 10 days after the initial burglary call came in.
The incident that led up to Riggins’ death began to unfold in the late evening hours of Nov. 12. Riggins, the sheriff’s office wrote in a media release, told his girlfriend he and another man planned to go to Barefoot Bay that night to “commit burglaries.”
It was around 2 a.m. Nov. 13 when the sheriff’s office was called out to investigate two suspicious men in that area. The men, deputies were told, were dressed in all black and were seen walking behind homes in the area.
Deputies caught up with the two men on Royal Palm Boulevard, but the suspects fled. While K9 and aviation units were called out, deputies did not catch their suspects that evening.
“It was later learned that Riggins had contacted his girlfriend during the timeframe of the search, advising that they were being chased by deputies,” the media release stated. “Riggins was reported as a missing person to the Palm Bay Police Department later that day when he did not return home.”
Riggins remained missing until Nov. 23 when his body was spotted in the lake. The sheriff’s dive team was called in for the retrieval. Its members also spotted that 11-foot gator and noted it was a rather aggressive one.
Because of the gator’s aggressive behavior and the trauma observed on Riggins’ body, deputies called a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trapper for help. The gator was ultimately captured and euthanized, the agency said.
A forensic examination of the critter revealed it was indeed the one involved in Riggins’ death, the agency noted. Riggins’ official cause of death was listed as drowning as a result of the alligator attack.
Deputies say they’ve identified the man with Riggins that evening, but he hasn’t cooperated with their investigation so far.
Riggins’ death is the second alligator-related human fatality in Florida in 2015. In October, a man was killed while swimming in the waters of Blue Spring State Park.
Despite the state’s bustling alligator population, fatal attacks are not common in Florida. Between 1948 and 2013, there were 22 fatalities recorded, according to FWC records. During that period, a total of 122 minor bites and 235 major bites were also logged. The last fatal alligator attack on record prior to this year occurred in 2007.
Alligator-related human fatalities might not be common, but encounters with the creatures are. Those encounters add up to so many over the course of any given year that the state has set up its own hotline to accept nuisance alligator calls. That number is 1-866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).
In 2013 alone, the state fielded 15,036 nuisance alligator calls, which resulted in the removal of 6,605 creatures.
Via: http://patch.com/florida/sarasota/11-foot-gator-eats-burglar-0
Friday, December 4, 2015
Woman Who Survived Car Crash Killed Going Back To Her Car
A 25-year-old Long Island woman survived a car crash early this morning, but was fatally struck by a driver when she went back to her car to get her belongings.
Police say the incident happened just before 4 a.m. Sunday when Brittany Leith, a mother of a 3-year-old girl, struck the center median on the Southern State Parkway at Exit 36. Her car flipped over, but she was able to climb out via a cracked window with help from passersby, and made it safely to the shoulder of the road.
However, she then apparently returned to her vehicle before cops arrived "despite warnings from the motorists who had assisted her," according to Newsday. While she was gathering her things, she was struck and killed by another passing driver.
The grandmother said Brittany and Zoey had been living with her since the young mom got divorced. Brittany was on her way home from a friend’s home when she was killed, the grandmother said.
Anna Leith says she thinks the people who were on the scene with Brittany should have done more to keep her from running back into traffic.
“I was told someone was there to help her out of the car, but she could have hit her head and been out of it,” the grandmother said. “Somebody should have held on to her and not let her run back into the street.
“This should not have happened,” she added.
The parkway was shut down for more than seven hours as police investigated both accidents. They finally reopened the roadway around 11:30 a.m.
Via: http://nypost.com/2015/11/29/woman-survives-car-crash-dies-trying-to-retrieve-her-things/
Police say the incident happened just before 4 a.m. Sunday when Brittany Leith, a mother of a 3-year-old girl, struck the center median on the Southern State Parkway at Exit 36. Her car flipped over, but she was able to climb out via a cracked window with help from passersby, and made it safely to the shoulder of the road.
However, she then apparently returned to her vehicle before cops arrived "despite warnings from the motorists who had assisted her," according to Newsday. While she was gathering her things, she was struck and killed by another passing driver.
The grandmother said Brittany and Zoey had been living with her since the young mom got divorced. Brittany was on her way home from a friend’s home when she was killed, the grandmother said.
Anna Leith says she thinks the people who were on the scene with Brittany should have done more to keep her from running back into traffic.
“I was told someone was there to help her out of the car, but she could have hit her head and been out of it,” the grandmother said. “Somebody should have held on to her and not let her run back into the street.
“This should not have happened,” she added.
The parkway was shut down for more than seven hours as police investigated both accidents. They finally reopened the roadway around 11:30 a.m.
Via: http://nypost.com/2015/11/29/woman-survives-car-crash-dies-trying-to-retrieve-her-things/
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Stranger pays woman’s grocery bill, dies in car crash hours later
A San Diego-area woman is working to honor the memory of a stranger who died hours after he paid for her groceries and asked her to “pay it forward.”
Matthew Jackson, of Oceanside, was killed in a crash on Nov. 11, less than 24 hours after he met Jamie-Lynne Knighten, KNSD-TV in San Diego reported.
Knighten was ahead of Jackson in line to pay for her groceries with her crying infant when her card was declined.
That’s when Jackson stepped up and offered to foot the bill, which came to more than $200.
The 28-year-old wanted one thing in return.
“As long as you promise to do it for somebody else,” Jackson said, according to Knighten.
Knighten later called his employer, a local gym, to praise Jackson — only to find out he had died when a car he was in struck a tree.
As a person of faith, Knighten said she believes Jackson didn’t die in vain. She said she is working to further honor the man’s legacy and is encouraging others to pay it forward.
Via: http://nypost.com/2015/12/01/stranger-pays-womans-grocery-bill-dies-in-car-crash-hours-later/
Matthew Jackson, of Oceanside, was killed in a crash on Nov. 11, less than 24 hours after he met Jamie-Lynne Knighten, KNSD-TV in San Diego reported.
Knighten was ahead of Jackson in line to pay for her groceries with her crying infant when her card was declined.
That’s when Jackson stepped up and offered to foot the bill, which came to more than $200.
The 28-year-old wanted one thing in return.
“As long as you promise to do it for somebody else,” Jackson said, according to Knighten.
Knighten later called his employer, a local gym, to praise Jackson — only to find out he had died when a car he was in struck a tree.
As a person of faith, Knighten said she believes Jackson didn’t die in vain. She said she is working to further honor the man’s legacy and is encouraging others to pay it forward.
Via: http://nypost.com/2015/12/01/stranger-pays-womans-grocery-bill-dies-in-car-crash-hours-later/
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