Human bones found in Brooklyn park for 2nd time this week
(NEW YORK) — Human bones were found in a Brooklyn park along the shore of the East River for the second time in a week, according to the New York Police Department.
Police responded to a 911 report of a body found at Jane’s Carousel early Wednesday, and determined the civilian discovered skeletal remains on the rocks along the shore, the NYPD said.
The discovery came two days after police responded to another report of a found body part near the same location. A New York City Parks enforcement officer discovered skeletal remains on the beach, the NYPD said.
A femur and a couple of smaller bones were found Wednesday, according to New York ABC station WABC.
The medical examiner is investigating the remains found on both days, according to the NYPD.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ohio) — A bomb threat prompted a major police response in Springfield, Ohio, on Thursday morning, according to the city commission office.
The threat was sent via email “to multiple agencies and media outlets,” the office said.
Explosive-detecting K-9s helped police clear multiple facilities listed in the threat, including two elementary schools, City Hall and a few driver’s license bureaus, Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliott told reporters. The county court facilities were also cleared “out of an abundance of caution,” she said.
The FBI is working with local police to help identify the source of the threat, Elliott said.
Though it is not yet known if they are connected, the threat comes after baseless rumors spread online in the wake of viral social media posts claiming Haitian migrants were abducting people’s pets in Springfield order to eat them. The rumors were amplified by right-wing politicians, including former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said at Tuesday night’s presidential debate. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
A spokesperson for the city of Springfield told ABC News these claims are false, and that there have been “no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals in the immigrant community.”
“Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes,” the spokesperson said. “Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”
Springfield estimates there are around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants living in the county; migrants have been drawn to the region because of low cost of living and work opportunities, according to the city. The rapid rise in population has strained housing, health care and school resources, according to the city. But city officials also said the migrants are in the country legally and that many are recipients of Temporary Protected Status.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance condemned the “baseless and inflammatory” claims about Haitian migrants, arguing they “not only perpetuate harmful stereotypes but also contribute to the dangerous stigmatization of immigrant communities, particularly Black immigrants from the Republic of Haiti.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who dispelled the rumors this week, said the state would send more resources to Springfield.
(NEW YORK) — Fred Trump III, the nephew of former President Donald Trump, said his uncle is “atomic crazy,” that he witnessed him using racial slurs decades ago — and that he plans to vote for Kamala Harris.
The Trump way was to be “complex and sometimes cruel,” Fred Trump said in an interview with ABC News’ Aaron Katersky.
“And within every family — people know this — families are complicated. Every family has their crazy uncle. My Uncle Donald is atomic crazy. And … he has put his mark on the family history,” he said, as he promoted his new book, All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.
Pressed to explain further, Fred Trump said it “means he does things that, even as much as I know him when he’s out there now, I sort of shudder and say, ‘Is this the same guy I knew? What’s making him change? … What got him this way?’ But that all being said, I’ve always had a good relationship.”
He added, “But he’s done really horrific things to me, which some people will say, ‘How could you still want to have a relationship with him?’ He’s my uncle. He’s family, and that means a lot.”
Fred Trump, the son of the former president’s late older brother Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981 at 42, says he wrote the book in part to advocate for people with severe developmental disabilities, like his adult son William. He says this latest Trump family tell-all is not a political hit job, but rather the “full-on truth” about his uncle, who is the Republican nominee for president.
In a statement to ABC News, Trump Campaign Communications Director Steven Cheung denied the claims about the former president.
“This is completely fabricated and total fake news of the highest order,” he said. “It is appalling a lie so blatantly disgusting can be printed in media. Anyone who knows President Trump knows he would never use such language, and false stories like this have been thoroughly debunked.”
The younger Trump’s new book includes a chapter titled, “The Race Card.” In that chapter, he details his uncle using a racial slur, he said.
“I was about 10 years old, and I was at my grandparents’ house, like I was a lot,” Fred Trump said. “And Donald — I could hear him screaming. And I went down to the driveway of my grandparents’ house, and there was his white El Dorado convertible with two slashes. Still remember it. And he had electrical tape, because the roof was black. And he used the word — the N-word — twice just saying who he thought probably had done this.”
The former president has consistently denied using the racial slur. Fred Trump said that despite being young when the incident occurred, he “absolutely” remembered the moment as it happened.
“OK. He did twice that day,” Fred Trump said when ABC News brought up Donald Trump’s repeated denials.
Fred Trump wrote in his book that some people have labeled the former president as racist, and some say he is not. But what does he believe?
“He, at time[s], espouses things that people who I believe are racist espouses. That’s the best I can answer that question,” he said.
“I don’t believe he’s a racist,” Fred Trump added when pressed on the question. “I just think that he uses people, whether they’re Black or they’re — whoever can help him he will use them. And, you know, call it racist or not, I don’t believe in that. He uses them as props. And when he gets what he needs out of them — votes — he’ll cast them aside.”
After his uncle was elected president in 2016, Fred Trump saw an opportunity to advocate for the disabled, he said.
“I was in the Oval Office 12 times about. And that was our mission: to advocate for people with complex disabilities,” he said.
He added, “It culminated in May of 2020 in the Oval Office. Donald was there, and he was very gracious. Several other folks were there, including the group that we brought down. We dispersed. I was asked to go back and see Donald. He greeted me with his familiar, ‘Hey, pal. How’s it going?'”
He says he “sat down for a bit” with his uncle.
“And he just came out with, ‘These people, all the expenses. They should just die,'” Fred Trump recalled. “He’s talking about human beings who have complex issues, and the first thing he could say was they should just die.”
Fred Trump said the comment wasn’t an isolated incident. He described a phone call to alert his uncle that the medical fund set up by the family for his son William was running low, a fund he says his uncle consistently replenished.
“A couple of years ago … I called him. I said, ‘Donald, the fund’s running out.’ And without hesitation, he said, ‘Your son doesn’t recognize you. Let him die and move to Florida,'” Fred Trump said.
Asked if he was surprised by the comment, Fred Trump said he was. He said he told his uncle that his son did recognize him.
“Was I surprised? I don’t think you could hear something like that and not be surprised,” Fred Trump said. “But that is what he has become. It’s sad.”
“You describe your uncle as incredibly cruel. Why would you want a relationship with him?” ABC News asked.
“I’m not gonna change him I don’t think there’s anybody that could change him,” Fred Trump said. “But I’ve always enjoyed time with him. And I would hope if he’s not elected that he’ll calm down. I don’t know if that’s possible. But my guess is I may not be welcome to any of the golf courses anymore. I’ll find others. But I do thank him for the entree to those courses. I’m a heck of a golfer.”
Fred Trump said he planned to vote for Harris, but would attend the inauguration if his uncle wins and if he’s invited.
Tune into “Good Morning America” Tuesday at 7 a.m. ET to watch more of Aaron Katersky’s interview with Fred Trump III.
(MEMPHIS) — Opening statements began on Wednesday in the federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Rogers presented the prosecution’s case, explaining to jurors what evidence they can expect to see and warned them that they will watch and hear “horrifying” body camera video and audio over the course of the trial, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom.
“They stood by his dying body and laughed,” Rogers said, describing what happened after the officers were finished beating Nichols, according to WATN. “These will not be easy days.”
Defense attorneys for the former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — also began presenting opening statements.
John Perry, Bean’s defense attorney, told jurors that they can expect to see that the evidence will show the officers did their job, according to WATN.
“It will take you 5 minutes to deliberate,” Perry said, according to WATN.
Michael Stengel, Haley’s attorney, said that Nichols did not stop for 2 miles after officers turned on their police lights, according to WATN. Stengel claimed that there is no evidence that the officer knew who was driving at the time and there was no personal vendetta concerning rumors of a woman.
“When they got the wallet [of Nichols] after the stop, that’s when they learned who it was,” Stengel said, according to WATN.
Bean, Haley and Smith, along with two other officers involved in the incident, 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 – charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The 4-count indictment also charged all five officers with conspiring to engage in misleading conduct by attempting to falsify or intentionally withholding details of the arrest in statements and to a supervisor – charges that carry up to 20 years in prison, per the DOJ.
Bean, Haley and Smith have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin III, the two additional officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.
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.
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’s plea agreement.
Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, who attended opening statements, told reporters on Wednesday that she hopes the jury will return a guilty verdict.
“Our hope is that they’re found guilty and to show the world that my son was a good person and he wasn’t the criminal that they’re trying to make him out to be,” she said.
ABC News reached out to the attorneys representing the officers but requests for comment were not immediately returned.
Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023 – three days after a traffic stop captured in body camera footage and surveillance footage, which allegedly shows officers violently striking Nichols repeatedly and walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. He was also pepper-sprayed and tased during the incident. The beating triggered protests and calls for police reform.
Police said Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, though Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that.
Body camera footage shows Nichols getting away from the officers after the initial stop, but he was apprehended minutes later by the officers. He then sustained multiple punches, kicks and hits from a baton from the officers.
Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition where he later died. 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.
While Nichols’ mother has said that first responders told her he was drunk and high, the autopsy report shows that his blood alcohol level was .049, the DA’s office said. The district attorney’s office told the family that was “well less than the legal limit to drive.”
The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit – a crime suppression unit that has since been disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Rogers told the jury on Wednesday that the SCORPION unit followed an alleged rule that they called the “run tax,” according to WATN, where it was understood that the first person to reach a running suspect would beat them.
Perry claimed that his client, Bean, was not present at the initial stop and only arrived at the second scene after hearing a call on dispatch radio, according to WATN.
The five officers charged in connection to Nichols’ death were all fired for violating the policies of the Memphis Police Department.
All five former officers also face state felony charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, in connection with Nichols’ death. They pleaded not guilty.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.