Mother, boyfriend accused of leaving 2-year-old alone in car while they drank at Florida bar
Edgewater Police Department
(EDGEWATER, Fla.) — A woman called 911 to report a toddler left alone in a vehicle outside a Florida bar before the mother of the child and her boyfriend were arrested for child neglect, according to newly released audio.
The Edgewater Police Department released the audio of the 911 call along with the body camera footage Monday of what they had called a “disgusting” incident.
The child’s mother, 35-year-old Kristina Vitucci, and her boyfriend, 39-year-old Joshua Harris, were both arrested after Vitucci’s 2-year-old daughter was left in an unlocked vehicle while they sat inside an Edgewater bar drinking for nearly two hours on Jan. 28, according to police.
“I don’t know that there’s an actual emergency, but there’s a baby out here in a car by itself,” the 911 caller can be heard telling the dispatcher.
“I just don’t want anybody to get mad at me. But I just, you know, this is wrong,” the caller said.
“Yeah, I agree,” the dispatcher said.
An officer responded at approximately 8:15 p.m. and reported that the child had been crying in the vehicle and it was unknown where her parent was, according to the body camera footage.
Upon arriving at the vehicle a few minutes later, Harris told officers that he owned the car and that the child’s mother was inside the bar, the body camera footage shows.
When Vitucci subsequently came outside of the bar to the parking lot, an officer told her, “You’ve got an idea of why we’re here,” the footage shows.
“Yeah, she said.
The officer told Vitucci her daughter was fine and to stay with him, as police continued to question the couple about the incident.
They were both arrested for child neglect, a third-degree felony.
Vitucci is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 18 and Harris on Feb. 25, court records show.
ABC News has reached out to their public defenders for comment.
(LOS ANGELES) — In an area famous for natural disasters, survivors of multiple massive wildfires in Los Angeles County described apocalyptic scenes and the horror of trying to outrun flames stoked by hurricane-like winds.
At least five wildfires continued to burn out of control Wednesday evening, consuming nearly 27,000 acres combined and destroying more than 1,000 homes, including multimillion-dollar mansions, in some of the priciest enclaves in America. More than 100,000 people were under mandatory evacuation.
At least five people were killed in one of the fires, officials said.
“It’s astounding what’s happening,” President Joe Biden said during a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, during which he announced that he had signed an emergency disaster declaration.
6 blazes burning at once
The blazes began around 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday with the Palisades Fire and the Hurst Fire erupting around the same time miles apart, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Palisades Fire — burning in Pacific Palisades, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles along the Pacific Ocean — had consumed nearly 16,000 acres by Wednesday evening, CalFire reported. The Hurst Fire near San Fernando, about 22 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, had burned over 800 acres.
The Eaton Fire, the second-largest fire in the area, ignited just after 6 p.m. on Tuesday and was fanned by strong Santa Ana winds that reached 98 mph in some areas, had grown to 10,600 acres, torching homes in Pasadena and Altadena, both about 11 miles east of downtown L.A. Five residents perished in the Eaton Fire, but officials did not disclose details of how they died.
A fourth blaze burning in Los Angeles County, the Woodley Fire, erupted at about 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday near Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley and quickly spread to 30 acres. As of about 6 p.m. local time, the flames were considered “under control,” according to LA Mayor Karen Bass.
On Wednesday afternoon, a fifth fire broke out in Los Angeles County near Palmdale, about 40 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The Lidia Fire spread to over 300 acres in the remaining hours of the evening, according to CalFire, but it was reported as 40% contained by midnight Wednesday.
Another fire erupted just before 6 p.m. PT in the Hollywood Hills and quickly grew to take up 50 acres in Runyon Canyon. The Sunset Fire’s rapid spread led to evacuation orders in the early evening as the flames and smoke encroached on the dense residential area, close to numerous LA landmarks.
The Palisades Fire had by then spread to Malibu Beach, where a lifeguard station went up in flames and homes along the Pacific Coast Highway were also blazing like a string of Roman candles.
‘Not prepared for this type of widespread disaster’
In the tony business district of Pacific Palisades, shop after shop was on fire, including the community’s largest supermarket. The Getty Villa, a museum filled with more than 125,000 priceless artifacts, was also being threatened as flames engulfed the hillside it is perched on.
ABC News reporters on the scene describe horrific scenes of destruction and chaos as everything appeared to be on fire at once, including luxury homes, trash bins, lines of palm trees and numerous vehicles. The fires were accompanied by an eerie soundtrack of blazes popping, broken gas lines hissing, buildings collapsing and winds roaring.
The devastation came even as fire departments in the area prepared for potential fires over the weekend, placing equipment and personnel in areas vulnerable to fires after the National Weather Service forecast high-risk fire danger due to a Santa Ana wind event that became the worst in more than a decade.
“No, L.A. County and all 29 fire departments in our country are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster,” said Chief Jim McDonnell of the Los Angeles Police Department, adding that there were not enough firefighters to address all the fires burning in L.A. County.
Chief Kristine Crowl of the Los Angeles Fire Department said that in her 25 years as a firefighter she had never experienced a disaster as far-reaching as the one that has now enveloped one of the most densely populated areas of the nation, home to more than 10 million people.
The wind, fires and terrain filled with bone-dry vegetation from lack of rain in the area had formed a perfect storm for the disaster, Crowl said.
“The fire is being fueled by a combination of strong winds and surrounding topography, which is making it extremely challenging for our personnel that are assigned to this incident,” Crowl said.
The conflagrations caused officials to close several iconic landmarks around Los Angeles, including access to the Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Zoo, Griffith Park and the Griffith Observatory.
‘Everything was on fire’
Nearly 1.2 million customers were also without power midday on Wednesday due to burning trees falling on powerlines or Southern California Edison shutting down power in an attempt to prevent the fires from spreading, officials of the utility company said.
That number was closer to 400,000 by midnight, according to Poweroutage.us.
After signing the emergency declaration, Biden said he was sending in federal assistance to help suppress the fires, including 10 Navy helicopters.
The president also said fire crews from Oregon, Washington, Arizona and elsewhere were headed to Los Angeles County to help.
Actor Steve Guttenberg told ABC’s “Good Morning America,” that at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, it was a typically beautiful, sunny Southern California day. But 90 minutes later, he said, “Everything was black and the fire was raging.”
“Everything was on fire on both sides,” Guttenberg said of his path to safety. “I couldn’t see more than three feet in front of my car. The smoke was so thick. It looked like a volcano was on the sides of the hills, and all of a sudden people were just fleeing. It was two miles of cars packed.”
Los Angeles County’s famed Sunset Boulevard, which runs through Pacific Palisades, was lined with cars Wednesday as desperate residents rushed to get out of harm’s way. But firefighters said people, apparently fearful of getting trapped by the flames while sitting in a traffic jam, abandoned their cars on Sunset Boulevard, prompting fire crews to use a bulldozer to push vehicles out of the way and clear a path for first responders.
Pacific Palisades resident Tricia Rakusin told ABC News on Wednesday that when the fire started she began hosing down her home and the trees and shrubbery around it, but soon realized she and her family had to evacuate after she seeing flames creeping up to her residence.
She said she fled down Sunset Boulevard only to get stuck in traffic.
“I’ve never been so petrified,” Rakusin said. “It’s absolutely unreal. We have never experienced anything like this in this area.”
Rakusin’s husband, Kenny, said that their home insurance carrier recently dropped them and other residents in the area because of the fire risks.
“We don’t know whether our house is standing or not, but if it’s not standing, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said.
This image created on Dec. 4, 2024, shows the snow forecast for the northeastern U.S. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — A fast-moving, low-pressure clipper system is forecast to bring snow and strong winds to the Midwest and the Northeast over the next two days, as cold air drives temperatures down towards freezing.
More than 20 states from the Dakotas to New Jersey were under wind and snow alerts as of Wednesday morning.
The Appalachian Mountains in Maryland and West Virginia are under a blizzard warning with potential wind gusts of up to 65 mph and up to 10 inches of snow.
The heaviest snow is expected to fall near the Great Lakes, where a reinforcing shot of cold air will create heavy lake-effect snow bands.
Between 1 and 2 feet of snow is possible from Michigan to upstate New York, while between 3 and 10 inches is possible from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Caribou, Maine.
The I-95 corridor — including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston — is not expecting any snow accumulation. But major cities can expect high wind gusts of up to 40 to 50 mph. High winds are especially likely for Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City.
Below-freezing temperatures were already biting as far south as Florida on Wednesday. Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday reported its first snowfall for 966 days.
The clipper system will be followed by strong winds and Arctic air, driving temperatures down across the eastern half of the U.S. Wind chills are forecast to push temperatures below freezing in the Midwest by Thursday morning.
Temperatures may feel as low as -10 degrees in Chicago as of Thursday morning, with Boston temperatures feeling like 6 degrees by Friday morning.
The Carolinas, meanwhile, may record record low temperatures over the coming days.
Police officers investigate the scene where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot/Photo credit: Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Police appear to be closing in on an identity of the man suspected of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan, sources told ABC News on Thursday.
Police have sought a search warrant for a location in New York City where they believe the suspect may have been staying, sources said.
The masked gunman shot Thompson several times at close range on Wednesday morning outside a Hilton Hotel where he was attending a conference.
The “brazen, targeted attack” was “premeditated,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The motive remains unknown, police said.
Detectives believe the gunman is not a professional killer, sources said. Bullet casings found at the scene had the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written on them, police sources said.
Thompson, 50, was in New York City for the UnitedHealthcare investors conference, which was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. His schedule was widely known, police sources said.
The suspect — who was caught on surveillance cameras before, during and immediately after the shooting — had been lying in wait near the hotel.
Thompson was shot at about 6:40 a.m. After the shooting, the shooter fled on foot into an alley, where a phone believed to be linked to the suspect was later recovered, police sources said.
The suspect then fled on a bike and he was last seen riding into Central Park at 6:48 a.m., police said.
The shooter was caught on surveillance video at 5 a.m. the morning of the shooting outside Frederick Douglass Houses, a public housing project on the Upper West Side, sources told ABC News. That footage showed the suspect carrying what appeared to be an e-bike battery.
Police have recovered a water bottle and candy wrapper from the scene of the shooting which they believe are linked to the gunman. Fingerprint and DNA tests on the items are ongoing, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, said in a statement that she was “shattered” by the “senseless killing.”
“Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives,” she said. “Most importantly, Brian was an incredibly loving father to our two sons and will be greatly missed.”
Police urge the public to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS with any information.
ABC News’ Mark Crudele and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
