(BATON ROUGE, La.) — Two people, including a Louisiana State University women’s pole vaulter, died in a car crash on the school’s Baton Rouge campus Wednesday night, according to college officials.
At approximately 9:07 p.m. on Wednesday, the driver of a Honda Accord was traveling southbound on Nicholas Drive and attempted to make a left turn on South Quad Drive, the Baton Rouge Police Department said in a statement on Thursday.
When trying to make the left turn, the “Honda Accord was struck by the driver of a BMW motorcycle that was traveling northbound on Nicholson Drive.”
The driver of the car and the motorcyclist, 23-year-old Bohdi Linton, both died on the scene of the accident, police said.
Dillon Reidenauer, 18, was identified as the driver of the car, LSU Athletics said in a statement on Thursday.
“We are devastated by the tragic passing of Dillon Reidenauer, who was taken from us much too soon,” LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver said. “Everyone in our LSU Track & Field family is keeping Dillon’s loved ones in our thoughts and prayers, as well as those of the other individual lost in the incident.”
Reidenauer was a freshman at LSU, pursuing a degree in interior design and was a part of the women’s pole vault team, the college said.
Originally from Abita Springs, Louisiana, Reidenauer was one of the top prep pole vaulters in the state while attending Fontainebleau High School. She finished second at the 2024 LHSAA 5A Championships and placed fourth at that same meet as a junior.
Her bio on LSU’s athletics page describes Reidenauer as “one of the best pole vaulters in the state of Louisiana coming out of high school.”
LSU is one of the top pole vaulting programs in the nation, thanks in part to alum Mondo Duplantis, who holds the world record in the event and won gold at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. Reidenauer, as a freshman, was not yet competing, but was learning under the team’s top pole vaulter, senior Johanna Duplantis, the younger sister of the acknowledged greatest pole vaulter of all time.
Shaver said the team is currently on the road at College Station, Texas, for the SEC Championships and “thanks Texas A&M for offering their support and compassion.”
LSU Athletics said they are “providing resources and support to all of our student-athletes and staff directly impacted by this tragic loss.”
Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Crime in New York City’s transit system dropped in 2024 for the second year in a row, the head of the New York City Police Department said Monday, while acknowledging that people still do not feel safe after several shocking subway incidents that included the death of a woman who was set on fire.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said she has ordered more officers to patrol the subway trains and platforms following the “terrifying acts of random violence.”
Overall, major crime — including incidents of murder, felony assault, robbery and burglary — decreased 5.4% last year in the transit system compared to 2023 and is 12.7% below pre-pandemic crime levels, according to NYPD data.
Compared to the previous year, 2024 saw drops in robberies (down 16.3%) and burglaries (down 23.5%) in the transit system, according to NYPD data. However, murders on the subway doubled, with 10 in 2024 compared to five in 2023, and shootings and petit larceny also increased year-over-year, according to the data.
Tisch called the overall transit crime drop “significant” but more needs to be done to address the perception of safety in the subway system after the “terrifying acts of random violence we have seen recently.”
“I want to be very clear, the subways will always be a bellwether for the perception of public safety in New York City. Declining crime numbers are significant, but we still must do more, because people don’t feel safe in our subways,” Tisch said during a press briefing on Monday.
The sentiment was echoed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“It is clear, perception always overrides reality, and when you look at some of the horrific incidents that the commissioner talked about in these last few days, the average New Yorker would believe that they’re living in a city that is out of control. That is not the reality,” Adams said. “We know that we are doing a good job in fighting crime, as the numbers will show, but we must deal with the perception that many New Yorkers feel.”
One such horrifying incident included the killing of a 57-year-old woman who was set on fire last month on a subway train in Brooklyn. The victim, Debrina Kawam, was sleeping when she was set ablaze, police said. An undocumented Guatemalan citizen has been charged with first-degree murder.
In another, a man was critically injured last week after an assailant pushed him onto the subway tracks in front of train in Manhattan in a random attack, police said. The suspect in that case was charged with attempted murder.
“Nothing is more horrific than watching a person burned to death on our subway system. We know how individuals feel when they’re shoved to the tracks for no reason at all. We know how it impacts us,” Adams said Monday.
The latest crime data was announced a day after New York City’s congestion pricing plan went into effect. Under the new toll system, the first such program of its kind in the country, drivers will pay $9 to access the center of Manhattan during peak hours as part of an effort to ease congestion and raise funds for the city’s transit system.
Among measures to address subway safety, Tisch said she has directed to move more than 200 officers onto the trains to do “specialty train patrols,” effective this week.
“I have further directed that we deploy more officers onto subway platforms in the 50 highest crime stations in the city,” she added. “It’s all part of the strategy to refocus our subway efforts to places where the crime is occurring.”
She said more initiatives are in the works.
“This month, we will roll out substantial additional improvements to our transit deployments to be even more responsive to the terrifying acts of random violence we have seen recently,” she said. “I will have more to say about that soon.”
Adams also said addressing “severe mental health” issues will be a focus of the governor’s budget to address public transit safety.
“We know we have to tackle that perception, and it starts with dealing with the real issue — mental health,” he said.
Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she plans to launch a $1 billion plan to address mental health care and supportive housing.
“The recent surge in violent crimes in our public transit system cannot continue — and we need to tackle this crisis head-on,” Hochul said in a statement. “Many of these horrific incidents have involved people with serious untreated mental illness, the result of a failure to get treatment to people who are living on the streets and are disconnected from our mental health care system. We have a duty to protect the public from random acts of violence, and the only fair and compassionate thing to do is to get our fellow New Yorkers the help they need.”
The drop in transit crime coincides with an overall 2.9% drop in crime in 2024, including murders and shootings, Tisch said.
The police commissioner attributed increases in felony assaults to repeat offenders. She called it “disheartening” for police officers to be arresting the same people over and over again due to an increase in the number of decline-to-prosecute cases and a decrease in the number of defendants for whom bail is set.
Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter is an attractive target “for violent extremists to attack,” especially after the vehicle ramming in New Orleans that killed 14 people, though there are no known threats to the funeral, according to a new security assessment obtained by ABC News.
“State funerals are considered no-notice events that significantly reduce planning timelines for potential hostile actors,” the document said. “However, state funerals still present attractive targets due to the large gathering of senior US government officials, foreign dignitaries, and heads of state, as well as the symbolic nature of the venues and media attention expected.”
Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100, will be honored with a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy and President-elect Donald Trump is expected to attend.
The memorials for Carter begin on Saturday when he’s transferred from his hometown of Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta. A ceremony will be held at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.
Carter’s remains will be transferred to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and he will lie in state at the Capitol from Tuesday to Thursday. After the service at Washington National Cathedral, Carter’s remains will return to Plains.
The assessment also noted other specially designated security events this month, including the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6 and Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The simultaneous events “may increase the perception of a target-rich environment for a variety of threat actors,” the document said.
“Targets could include the planned special events and ceremonies related to the State Funeral and associated First Amendment-protected activities around these ceremonies,” the assessment said. “While there is no indication that the intersection of these two events will lead to an increased threat picture, the potentially large crowds for both may provide an attractive target to threat actors.”
The document also specifically mentioned the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, noting “the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics has become a recurring tactic employed by violent threat actors in the West.”
The document added that “large crowds gathering in publicly accessible locations to observe or participate in State Funeral events could become targets of opportunity for a vehicle attack.”
Fourteen people were killed and dozens were hurt when a man drove a truck through crowds on Bourbon Street early on New Year’s Day. The suspect, who also died in the attack, posted several videos online “proclaiming his support for ISIS,” and mentioning he joined ISIS before this summer, according to the FBI.
(NEW YORK) — A U.S. appeals court has upheld the conviction of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors with false claims about her company’s blood-testing technology.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the fraud convictions, sentences and $452 million restitution order for Holmes and her second in command, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
