9-month-old dead after being found strapped into safety seat by grandmother in hot car for 8 hours
Guido Mieth/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A 9-month-old child has died after being left in a car by the child’s grandmother for nearly eight hours in what authorities are investigating as a heat-related death.
The incident occurred in Beeville, Texas, some 100 miles southeast of San Antonio, on Wednesday when the Beeville Police Department said a child was found unresponsive at approximately 4 p.m. in the child safety seat of their grandmother’s car, according to a statement from the Beeville Police Department.
“Beeville police detectives are currently on the scene of what appears to be a temperature related death of a 9-month-old child,” authorities said in their statement on Wednesday. “A preliminary investigation has determined that the child’s grandmother had left the child in the rear seat of her car in the child safety seat since approximately 8:30 this morning. The child was found at approximately 4pm non-responsive by the grandmother.”
This comes just one day after a 22-month-old toddler was found dead in another alleged heat-related hot car incident in Corpus Christi.
“The incident is being worked as a criminal homicide,” police said. “The Beeville police are being assisted by the Department of Public Safety Texas Rangers. No charges have been filed in connection to this case at this time, but such charges are expected to be filed.”
According to Kids and Car Safety, there have been at least 25 other cases in which children in the United States have died in hot cars in 2024. Texas has the most child deaths caused by hot cars from 1990 to 2023 with a total of 156 deaths.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — The judge overseeing the federal trial of three ex-Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols told the jury on Wednesday to disregard the emotional part of the previous day’s testimony from a former officer who pleaded guilty to charges connected to Nichols’ death.
Judge Mark Norris was referring to Desmond Mills Jr.’s statements on the witness stand Tuesday as he described how he felt when watching the police body camera footage from the night of Nichols’ beating, according to WATN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom.
“I wish I would’ve stopped the punches. It hurts to watch. It hurts inside so much,” said Desmond Mills Jr., who cried during his testimony, according to WATN. “It felt bad every time the picture is on the screen to know I’m a part of that. I made his child fatherless. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know ‘sorry’ won’t bring him back, but I pray his child has everything he needs growing up.”
Justin Smith, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mills and Emmitt Martin III, the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.
Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.
Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records.
“We’re praying for everyone involved,” Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing the Nichols’ family, said during a prayer vigil Wednesday morning outside the courthouse when asked for his response regarding Mills’ emotional testimony.
Crump said this trial was one of the most emotional trials he has ever attended, a sentiment shared by Antonio Romanucci, his co-counsel.
“In my career, which is now over 40 years,” Romanucci said, “I have never seen such testimony as I did yesterday — police officer who had such contrition. [Former] Officer Mills, without knowing it, just talked about why we’re here, and that’s for accountability.”
The prosecution told ABC News earlier this month that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Within the courtroom, defense attorneys cross-examined Mills regarding the use of his baton on Nichols, which Mills said on Tuesday he used to hit Nichols three times the night of their encounter, according to WATN.
Mills claimed that he didn’t use the baton to hit Nichols in the head, but admitted that he used it improperly since it’s only meant to be used in self-defense, according to WATN. He said it was the first time he ever used his baton or used excessive force on a suspect.
Mills noted that the use of his baton was not because verbal commands weren’t working on Nichols when asked by the defense, according to WATN.
Mills reiterated his testimony from Tuesday that he was angry and he sprayed himself with pepper spray, and therefore used excessive force on Nichols, according to WATN.
“I was angry because I just [pepper] sprayed myself in the face,” Mills said on Tuesday, according to WATN. “I didn’t give him a chance to give me his hands.”
Mills disagreed with Bean’s attorney when he asked Mills if he was the only one who could intervene to stop the beating, since Mills didn’t have his hands on Nichols that night, according to WATN. The ex-officer claimed that the other officers could have moved Nichols away from the strikes and punches while they held his hands.
Mills admitted to the defense that the reason he changed his statement about what happened that night was because he took a plea deal from prosecutors, according to WATN. He said he lied in earlier statements.
Mills told prosecutors that when he told Lt. Dewayne Smith, his former supervisor, that the arrest was done “by the book,” he only said that to hide what really happened, according to WATN. The ex-officer claimed that there was a mutual understanding that their off-camera conversations would go unreported.
“I needed this job for my wife and kids,” Mills said when the prosecution asked why he was not initially truthful about the encounter. “This job has good insurance. I have children with special needs. I needed this job for my family. I let them down.”
Mills was asked about response to resistance forms from the incident, stating they weren’t accurate and that Nichols, “was not aggressive at all,” according to WATN.
Mills said that Haley asked him if Mills’ body camera captured him during the encounter with Nichols.
“I hope I’m not on there,” Mills said Haley told him.
Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over on Jan. 7, 2023, for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him.
Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition.
“I was going along, either way, [with] the cover-up,” Mills said. “Hoping for the best that Mr. Nichols would survive and this whole thing would blow over.”
Nichols, 29, died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.
After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.
The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.
“As an officer, I respond to scenes where the victim looks like Mr. Nichols [did after he was beaten],” Mills said. “This was the first time I was a part of it.”
(WASHINGTON) — Housing costs are top of mind for voters across the country, as rising prices force many renters and potential home buyers to empty their pockets.
Nearly half of all renter households were cost-burdened by their rent in 2023 — meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
And housing costs? They’ve outpaced inflation since the 1960s, rising 2.4 times faster, according to an analysis of housing data published by property advice site Clever Real Estate in March.
The study found that if home prices only kept pace with inflation, the median home could cost about $177,000 instead of the roughly $431,000 it actually costs.
Housing policy was mentioned during Tuesday’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, as Harris touted her newly released policy proposals several times.
“We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people,” she said.
When it comes to housing and rent, here’s a look at the policies Harris and Trump have signaled support for if elected in November.
Harris’ proposals
Harris is calling for the construction of 3 million new housing units to address the supply shortage, she said, by proposing a tax incentive for companies who build units to be sold to first-time homebuyers.
The vice president’s proposal also includes a $40 billion fund to support local governments in “innovative methods” of building affordable housing that have proven to be successful, referencing the construction of housing units in Wake County, North Carolina.
She supports the Stop Predatory Investing Act, which is aimed at removing tax benefits for major corporate or Wall Street investors who acquire large numbers of single-family rental homes and mark up prices.
Harris also backs the passage of the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act, which would prohibit the use of algorithmic systems to artificially inflate the price or reduce the supply of leased or rented residential dwelling units.
Additionally, Harris plans to provide $25,000 in down payment support for first-time home buyers, with expanded support for first-generation home owners.
Trump’s proposals
Trump has promised to eliminate certain regulations on the construction of new homes, which he says will help with the cost.
The former president did not say which specific regulations he hopes to eliminate. During his term as president, he signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, which lowered the corporate tax rate and created Opportunity Zones, in which people can invest in low-income areas and temporarily defer tax on eligible gains.
Trump also plans to open up portions of federal land for large-scale housing construction.
“These zones will be ultra-low tax and ultra-low regulation,” he said in a Q&A at The Economic Club of New York on Sept. 5.
Trump claimed that undocumented immigrants are behind the rise in housing costs in his policy proposals and speeches, adding that he would ban mortgages for undocumented people. Researchers and officials have attributed rising housing costs to high interest rates, the housing shortage, rent gouging and an increase in construction costs and supply chain constraints to the rising costs.
Trump’s Agenda47, which outlines his plans if he’s elected in November, also notes that he intends to “promote homeownership through Tax Incentives and support for first-time buyers.”
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is seeking to delay the upcoming sentencing in his New York hush money case by again asking a federal court in New York to take up the case in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
In a 60-page filing Thursday, Trump’s lawyers urged the court to reconsider his argument to remove the case from state court to federal court ahead of the former president’s Sept. 18 sentencing.
“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump — the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election — and voters located far beyond Manhattan,” defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in the filing.
Trump was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. In a subsequent decision last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken as president.
It’s unclear if the federal court will consider Trump’s new motion, since U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Trump’s original attempt to have the case removed in July 2023 when the former president argued that the case centered on his official acts while in office.
“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties,” Hellerstein wrote in that ruling.
Trump’s lawyers are now arguing that multiple Supreme Court decisions this year — including the court’s rulings on presidential immunity and Chevron deference — “add force” to Trump’s argument for removal and immunity.
“The groundbreaking Presidential immunity issues arising from Trump v. United States are alone a sufficient basis to grant this removal application,” Thursday’s filing said.
Trump’s lawyers raised familiar arguments about the kind of “official-acts evidence” they believe tainted the former president’s New York trial, including the testimony of White House former communications director Hope Hicks and the use of Trump’s tweets while president as evidence. Defense lawyers also repeated previously unsuccessful arguments about the alleged bias of the judge overseeing the case.
“Post-trial removal is necessary under these circumstances to afford President Trump an unbiased forum, free from local hostilities, where he can seek redress for these Constitutional violations,” the filing said.
Defense lawyers repeatedly mentioned the timing of Trump’s sentencing throughout their filing and warned about the impact of Trump’s potential imprisonment, though most legal experts believe Trump is unlikely to serve any sentence until after the election.
“The impending election cannot be redone. The currently unaddressed harm to the Presidency resulting from this improper prosecution will adversely impact the operations of the federal government for generations,” the filing said.
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment on the filing.
