Couple arrested for trying to board American Airlines flight without authorization: Police
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(MIAMI) — A couple was arrested after allegedly attempting to board an American Airlines flight without authorization, leading to a physical altercation in which one individual allegedly threw coffee on an airline staff member, police said.
The incident occurred on Sunday at Miami International Airport as passengers were preparing to board American Airlines flight 2494 traveling from Miami to Cancún.
Rafael Seirafe-Novaes and Beatriz Rapoport-De-Campos-Maia “ignored the signs and verbal commands from the ticket agent” and allegedly pushed past the agent and others to enter the jet bridge, according to a police report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
According to the report, the couple “were denied boarding and became irate at which time they pushed the two victims,” and Rapoport-De-Campos-Maia allegedly “threw coffee on them.”
American Airlines said in a statement to ABC News: “Acts of violence are not tolerated by American Airlines and we are committed to working closely with law enforcement in their investigation.”
Rapoport-De-Campos-Maia and Seirafe-Novaes have each been charged with two counts of battery and one count each of trespassing on property after warning, police said. Seirafe-Novaes has also been charged with one count of resisting an officer without violence to his person, as he pulled his arms away from the arresting officer, per the police report.
The couple was taken into custody and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, according to the police report.
It was unclear if either has an attorney who can speak on their behalf.
(SAN DIEGO, CA) — A cousin of the Menendez brothers said she’s “thrilled” that California Gov. Gavin Newsom is addressing the brothers’ request for clemency and ordering the parole board to investigate further.
“I certainly gasped in relief,” cousin Anamaria Baralt, one of at least 20 relatives in support of the brothers’ release, told ABC News at a virtual news conference Thursday. “This is huge.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents — have “cautious optimism” they’ll be released, Baralt said.
“They are the first life without parole prisoners on this path,” added another cousin, Tamara Goodell. “So when we look at any advancements … it’s definitely with hope, but also understanding that there are no promises.”
Newsom announced Wednesday that he’s ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether the brothers pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.
“There’s no guarantee of outcome here,” Newsom said Wednesday on his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” “My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis. But this process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case, as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”
Baralt called Newsom’s decision a “positive step forward” and said she’s confident the parole board will determine Lyle and Erik Menendez are not a risk to public safety.
“We have seen their rehabilitation over the last three decades,” Baralt said.
She said the parole board’s investigation will find: the brothers’ repeated and sincere remorse; their work to improve prison culture and run several programs to help inmates reenter society; and how they’ve spent most of their lives in prison but still built meaningful lives helping others. The board will also consider their age at the time of the crime and their lack of criminal history outside of “making a horrific decision” as a direct result of the abuse they endured, Baralt said.
“We understand that this is not without professional risk for him,” Baralt said of Newsom.
Though the cousins praised Newsom, they were disappointed and frustrated by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s announcement last week that he’s asked the court to deny the brothers’ habeas corpus petition.
Lyle and Erik Menendez filed the petition in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father Jose Menendez; and allegations from a former boy band member, Roy Rossello, who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman argued the letter failed the credibility test, saying if it existed, the defense would have used it at the brothers’ trials in the 1990s.
Hochman said Rossello’s allegation failed the admissibility test, because the brothers didn’t know about his claims until recent years, so it couldn’t have influenced their state of mind during the crime and “play a role in self-defense or premeditated murder.”
After Hochman’s announcement, Erik Menendez said to the family, “We need you strong,” Goodell recalled. “They both really mirrored our frustration, but they also said, ‘Let it go. We need to focus on moving forward.’ And so that is our focus.”
Baralt stands by the new evidence.
The letter to Cano, while received in December 1988, was not discovered until recent years, according to the brothers’ attorney.
Baralt stressed that Cano was 14 or 15 at the time Erik Menendez sent him that letter.
“It’s only natural for a teenage boy to not realize he is sitting on critical evidence. Andy wasn’t a lawyer. He wasn’t even an adult,” she said. “To pose the question now, decades later, after he passed, of why wasn’t the letter submitted back then? It’s like asking a teenager who got in a fender bender why didn’t you call the police to file a report — because a teenager doesn’t know any better. He didn’t realize how vital that letter would be to the case.”
And as for Rossello’s admission in 2023, Baralt stressed that it’s common for abuse victims to not disclose for years.
“Roy coming out to share his story in his own time is new evidence” that should be considered admissible, she said.
Baralt said Hochman’s decision “felt extra hurtful, because it was only a few weeks ago that dozens of [relatives] sat in his office and described the horror of being in this victim family, with 35 years of being retraumatized.”
“We have become victims in this process,” she said. “We have been laughed at, ridiculed and forced to relive the pain over and over again.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez. The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors alleged they killed for money.
Besides clemency and the habeas corpus petition, another possible path to freedom is resentencing.
In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman.
Hochman, who came into office on Dec. 3, has yet to announce if he is in support of or against resentencing for the brothers. He’s expected to decide in the coming weeks.
A hearing regarding the resentencing case is set for March 20 and 21.
(OHIO) — An Ohio doctor has been charged with arson after allegedly setting fire to another doctor’s house, officials said.
Andrew Campbell, 33, was arrested following an investigation into the Dec. 7 blaze, which police told ABC News they “determined to have not been accidental in nature.”
On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Campbell on six counts of aggravated arson.
Authorities are looking into a possible connection between the fire and an alleged affair between Campbell’s wife and Dr. Tahir Jamil, who was targeted with the arson.
Jamil told police he and Campbell’s wife had an affair from late July to early August 2024, according to the police report. On Aug. 7, she allegedly told Jamil her husband had discovered their relationship.
A spokesperson for the University of Toledo confirmed Campbell is a fellow in their Hematology-Oncology program.
He was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the school was informed of the charges, the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.
“The University will decline further comment at this time as authorities conduct their investigation,” the spokesperson said.
(NEW YORK) — A once-in-a-generation extreme weather event is underway, beginning with a tornado outbreak and continuing into the weekend with four days of dangerous flooding pounding the same region.
A rare high risk (level 5 of 5) for severe weather has been issued for Wednesday evening, warning of dangerous thunderstorms, destructive wind gusts and potentially strong, large-track tornadoes from Arkansas to Illinois.
The three areas of greatest concern into Wednesday evening are those in Arkansas, where there are large and extremely dangerous tornadoes on the ground, with Particularly Dangerous Situation, or PDS, tornado warnings in effect.
The first is near Lake City, where a tornado emergency has just been issued — impacting parts of Craighead and Poinsett counties and potentially crossing right into southern Missouri. The second, near Waldenburg, impacts parts of Craighead, Poinsett and Cross counties. The third, near Almrya, impacts parts of Monroe and Arkansas counties.
Additionally, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Director Patrick C. Sheehan issued a state of emergency ahead of the major storms and significant flooding expected to slam the state. The governor also requested an emergency declaration, which would seek FEMA assistance ahead of the severe forecast. The National Weather Service warned that those in the flood zone “should prepare now for the possibility of long duration and severe disruptions to daily life.”
There were at least four reported tornadoes — one in Missouri and three in Arkansas — on Wednesday, for a total of eight reported tornadoes across Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas over a 24-hour period.
Only one tornado has been rated: The National Weather Service said that an EF-1 tornado touched the ground for 17 miles near Vernon County, Missouri, with peak winds up to 98 mph, leaving thousands without power in the region.
Throughout Wednesday, there were numerous reports of strong winds gusts, wind damage and large hail stretching from Arkansas to Ohio.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management said late Wednesday that four injuries were reported in Craighead County linked to the extreme weather, but there have been no fatalities. However, over 35,000 are without power, the ADEM said.
A particularly dangerous situation, or PDS, tornado watch is in effect across parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. Cities in the bull’s-eye include Jonesboro, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky; and Evansville, Indiana.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has declared a state of emergency.
“We’re really concerned about people’s safety, especially in the overnight, because when storms or tornadoes hit while people are asleep, that’s sadly when we’ve lost the most people,” he said in a statement. “So, everybody out there, be really careful.”
But the biggest threat from this weather event is the potentially historic rainfall.
Wednesday’s severe thunderstorm threat will diminish slightly after midnight, but the threat of severe storms will persist overnight. Then, a life-threatening flash flood threat will begin to ramp up into Thursday morning — bringing another very active, dangerous weather day for millions.
In Arkansas, the cities of Memphis, Jonesboro and Little Rock are under a moderate risk (level 3 of 4) for excessive rainfall on Wednesday night — and the flash flooding threat will become more extreme and widespread on Thursday. A rare high risk (level 4 of 4) for excessive rainfall will then go into effect, impacting Jonesboro, Paducah and the Memphis suburbs.
The flooding will last into Friday and Saturday.
The four-day event will leave 10 to 15 inches of rain or more over the bull’s-eye area from Jonesboro to Paducah. Seven to 10 inches of rain is possible from Little Rock to Memphis to Louisville, Kentucky, to Cincinnati.
The system will finally be on the move on Sunday.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
