Sheriff’s deputy hospitalized after being struck by fleeing driver
(LOS ANGELES) — A sheriff’s deputy in California has been hospitalized after she was run over by a driver who was attempting to flee the scene after being pulled over during a traffic stop, officials said.
The sheriff’s deputy from Ventura County, California, tried to conduct a traffic stop at approximately 8:30 p.m. Tuesday near Ventura Avenue and Kellogg Street, according to a statement from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office that was obtained by ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC-TV.
It’s unclear what prompted the traffic stop or what happened in the moments before the deputy was injured, according to KABC, but authorities did confirm that the driver fled the scene after the crash.
A description of the suspect and their vehicle has not yet been made available, but investigators have said that they are looking for possible surveillance video to help them find the driver.
The deputy involved in the incident has not yet been identified and her current condition is unknown. The investigation is ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — The venue will be changed in the University of Idaho quadruple murder trial, Judge John Judge has ruled.
The judge said, “Considering the undisputed evidence presented by the defense, the extreme nature of the news coverage in this case, and the smaller population in Latah County, the defense has met the rather low standard of demonstrating ‘a reasonable likelihood’ that prejudicial news coverage will compromise a fair trial in Latah County. Thus, the Court will grant Kohberger’s motion to change venue for presumed prejudice.”
The new location was not immediately clear. The decision will be left up to Idaho’s highest court.
Lawyers for the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, pushed to move the trial to Boise, arguing the local jury pool in Latah County, which encompasses Moscow, was tainted by pretrial publicity.
Defense lawyers surveyed Latah County residents and said their results found that the “pressure to convict” Kohberger was shown to be “so severe” that the venue couldn’t be impartial.
The defense said one respondent answered they would “burn the courthouse down” if he were not convicted. The same survey, according to the defense, found “much less emotional” responses from people living closer to Boise, which is about 300 miles south of Moscow.
The prosecution has said the case has national and international interest, and that the case has been covered plenty in Boise, so a change of venue would not solve any problem.
The relatives of victim Kaylee Goncalves said they’re “incredibly disappointed” that the venue will be changed.
“As victims’s families you are left to just watch like everyone else and really you have little rights or say in the process and at the same time you are the most vested in the outcome,” the family said in a statement on Monday. “We have always felt that a fair and impartial jury could be found in Latah County and still believe that is where the trial deserves to be held to help the community heal.”
Moscow Mayor Art Bettge said in a statement in August that, if the case stayed in Latah County, “I firmly believe people would be able to set aside any personal feelings they have … set aside any information they may have read or heard … and make a determination of guilt or not guilty based on the evidence presented in the courtroom and deliberate according to the instructions provided to them.”
The trial is set to begin on June 2, 2025, and run until Aug. 29, 2025. The judge said in June that if the venue changed, the trial date would still hold.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in an off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger was a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time.
Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
(SEATTLE) — A man has been arrested after he allegedly carjacked an 80-year-old dog walker, leaving her with fatal injuries before stabbing her dog to death, according to police.
James K. Hayes, a 48-year-old Seattle resident, was found and arrested Thursday morning in the murder of 80-year-old Ruth Dalton.
Police expect he will be charged with first-degree murder, murder during the commission of a robbery and first-degree animal cruelty. He has eight prior felony convictions — including a vehicular homicide conviction from 1993 — and a history of mental health concerns.
Police said he had a knife on him with blood on it when he was arrested.
Police were able to identify the suspect after they received a 911 call reporting that an individual was hurting a dog. An animal control officer then responded to the scene and found a dog that was stabbed to death. The dog was wearing a tag identifying the victim as its owner and the victim’s car was found nearby.
Crime scene investigators were able to lift fingerprints from the victim’s phone, which was in the car, and identify the suspect.
Seattle Police responded to a report of a carjacking on Wednesday and found a citizen giving aid to a woman who was down on the road.
Officers took over life-saving efforts until Seattle Fire Department officials showed up and took over. The victim died of her injuries Wednesday, police said.
Witnesses then told investigators that they had seen a struggle between the woman and the suspect inside the vehicle while the vehicle was moving. The vehicle then drove off the road and a struggle between them continued with the suspect trying to push the victim out of the vehicle as she resisted, according to police.
A witness then stopped their car in the road and came to assist her and the suspect took out a knife. The witness then backed away and retrieved a stick or bat and came back to try and help the woman, according to police.
The car then began to move across the road and crashed into two parked vehicles and the woman was struck during the crash. The suspect drove away from the scene and the victim was left on the street.
Police believe the suspect then drove to a park, stabbed the dog and fled on foot.
“We want to thank the community for the heroic actions of passers-by who just happened to see something like this happening and tried to intervene,” Eric Barden, the deputy chief of the Seattle Police Department said during a press conference.
Police said they are unsure how the suspect got into the car before the carjacking and said that is under investigation. Police do not believe the suspect and the victim knew each other — they think it is a random incident.
There were at least two dogs in the car, one of which escaped the car.
“This is a tragic and horrific incident where a wonderful member of our community was active and participating vibrantly in her community at 80 years old and that was snatched from her and from her family and friends and the community by virtue of this senseless violent act,” Barden said.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Four children, ages 11 to 14, driving around Minneapolis in a stolen car were shot and wounded, one critically, when an assailant chasing them unleashed a barrage of gunfire on the vehicle, police said.
The shooting unfolded around 1 a.m. Sunday in northwest Minneapolis, setting off ShotSpotter gunfire detection activations and prompting multiple 911 calls, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
Two boys and two girls were shot in the incidents, and an 11-year-old boy driving the stolen car was taken into custody, O’Hara said. One of the wounded girls was shot in the head and was in critical but stable condition at Hennepin Medical Center, O’Hara said. The other three juveniles were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, O’Hara said.
The names of those injured were not released.
“Four kids shot between [the ages] 11 and 14 is outrageous and everyone should be up in arms over it. The police are doing everything that we can in response to this, but we can’t keep responding after the fact,” O’Hara said Sunday.
The assailant who opened fire on the stolen white Kia has not been caught or identified and a motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that five minors were inside of a stolen Kia driving in this area when a dark-colored sedan began following them and firing at them with fully automatic gunfire,” O’Hara said at a news conference Sunday near the crime scene.
At least 30 shell casings were collected at the scene, O’Hara said.
“We believe even more rounds were fired because some of those casings may have been inside the suspect vehicle,” O’Hara said.
The chief said the driver of the stolen car, an 11-year-old boy who was not injured in the shooting, was detained at the scene but was later released to his parents.
O’Hara said two of the juveniles in the stolen car were arrested less than two weeks ago for being in a stolen vehicle.
“We are failing to deter this behavior and, with that being said, we are failing these kids as well,” O’Hara said.
O’Hara said the shooting came during an uptick that Minneapolis police noticed this month in the theft of Kias and Hyundais after the number of those types of stolen vehicles had gone down in the past year.
“What’s most notable over the course of the year is that while there’s fewer of these cars being stolen, the activity that these juveniles are involved with has become more and more brazen,” O’Hara said. “There have been more aggravated assaults, more robberies, more hit and runs, more serious crimes more frequently committed by those individuals who were involved in the theft of these cars. So it’s very, very concerning.”
He said Sunday’s shooting is an example of the escalating boldness of the perpetrators.
“It just shows really brazen, callous behavior,” O’Hara said. “They don’t care about their own lives let alone the lives of other people.”