New Hampshire governor and her security detail help after fiery crash at toll plaza: Police
A burning car is seen following a crash at the Bedford Toll Plaza in Bedford, New Hampshire, March 31, 2026. (New Hampshire State Police)
(NEW HAMPSHIRE) — New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte and her security detail were among those who assisted in a fiery crash at a New Hampshire toll plaza on Tuesday — with a state trooper on her detail and two other bystanders helping pull the driver from the burning vehicle, according to state police.
The “dangerous” collision occurred at the Bedford Toll Plaza on the Everett Turnpike shortly before noon, according to New Hampshire State Police Director Col. Mark Hall.
The vehicle, a 2026 Lucid electric vehicle, “immediately became engulfed in flames,” Hall said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
The governor and her security detail came upon the accident just after the vehicle crashed into the toll plaza, Hall said. A New Hampshire state trooper assigned to her detail and two other bystanders helped pull the male driver — the lone occupant — out of the burning vehicle through the window, according to Hall.
Hall said he is not identifying the trooper due to the nature of the assignment.
“It is a veteran trooper, and certainly their actions were heroic in what they did — without hesitation, put themselves in danger to render aid to somebody that clearly was in need of it,” Hall said.
The governor and other witnesses also provided assistance at the scene, according to Hall.
“The governor did get out of the vehicle and tried to assist in any way that she could,” Hall said, adding he believed she tried to get a fire extinguisher from a vehicle to help put the fire out.
The driver was transported to an area hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Photos released by police showed the burning vehicle and firefighters at the scene.
The northbound lanes of the turnpike remain closed in the wake of the crash, and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation is assessing the damage to the toll plaza from the collision and fire, Hall said.
The crash remains under investigation.
ABC News has reached out to the governor’s office for comment and did not immediately receive a response.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022, during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 6, 2026, in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(UVALDE, Texas) — An attorney for former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales brought a neon orange foam handgun to court on Monday as he tried to defend the police response to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.
After stepping behind an eight-foot foam board, defense attorney Nico LaHood began his cross examination by asking the witness, a ranger with the Texas Department of Public Safety, “I’m going to point this — do you mind if I point this at you?”
LaHood proceeded to peek his fake weapon out of the foam board while asking the witness, Scott Swick, about the appropriate police response to a mass shooting.
“As a law enforcement officer, you should never rush into a situation without assessing it?” LaHood asked.
“To a point,” Swick said.
Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the May 2022 rampage.
Another witness on Monday was Texas Ranger Terry Snyder, who testified about the shell casings recovered from the hallway of Robb Elementary.
During cross examination, defense attorney Gary Hillier tried to use the testimony to highlight the risk potentially faced by Gonzales.
“Because we’ve seen evidence here that rounds have been fired in this hallway, so anyone who enters through that doorway is entering a potentially life or death situation for them personally?” Hillier asked.
“Correct,” Snyder said.
Prosecutors attempted to recover from the cross examinations by highlighting the urgency of the police response to a mass shooting.
“So, when an officer hears shooting but can’t see shooting, what does the officer do?” prosecutor Bill Turner said.
“Runs to the shooting, where we tactically approach to where the shooting has occurred,” Snyder said.
Monday’s testimony was much more technical than last week’s, when the prosecution’s witnesses included educators who survived the massacre. Teacher Lynn Deming testified that she used her body to protect her fourth-grade students from gunfire and tried to keep them calm.
“I just kept saying, you know, like, ‘Babies, I love you. Just pray, I love you, OK,'” she testified as she held back tears. “I just wanted the last thing they heard was that somebody loved them. So, I think I said it a million times.”
Friday also brought the first testimony from a parent of a victim. Jennifer Garcia, whose 9-year-old daughter Eliahna Amyah Garcia was killed, told jurors, “We couldn’t find her. Kids were just running everywhere.”
According to former acting Dallas District Attorney Messina Madson, prosecutors appeared to be using their first witnesses to lay bare the tragedy that took place before turning their focus to Gonzales specifically.
“This is an unusual way to apply this law, and so from an overall point of view of what the district attorney’s office is trying to do is say this is a tragedy,” Madson, now a criminal defense attorney at MC Criminal Law, told ABC News. “This is a terrible, horrible thing that happened, and it is so horrible that not only do we have to mourn it, but somebody is criminally responsible, besides the person who pulled the trigger.”
According to Madson, prosecutors will need to clearly identify what opportunities Gonzales had to intervene and how close he was to the shooter to prove he “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly and with criminal negligence” placed students in harm’s way.
“It’s saying that somebody in those circumstances would have understood the risk and would have intervened and … you behaved in a way that was not how a reasonable person would in that situation,” Madson said.
ABC News’ Juan Renteria contributed to this report.
Kristin Ramsey, 53, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ashley Okland. (West Des Moines Police)
(WEST DES MOINES, Iowa) — A woman has been arrested in the 2011 cold case murder of an Iowa real estate agent, authorities said.
Kristin Ramsey, 53, was arrested on Tuesday for first-degree murder in the death of Ashley Okland, the West Des Moines Police said.
Police and prosecutors did not elaborate on what led to Ramsey’s arrest, but Dallas County Attorney Matt Schultz said at a Wednesday news conference, “After hearing the evidence, a Dallas County grand jury issued a true bill indicting Kristin Ramsey with the murder of Ashley Okland.”
Okland was shot and killed while working at a model townhouse on April 8, 2011, according to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office Cold Case Unit.
Okland’s death sent “shockwaves” throughout the state and “haunted” the real estate community, West Des Moines Police Assistant Chief Jody Hayes said at the news conference.
“That Friday afternoon when Ashley was taken from us seems so long ago. We had lost our hope in finding answers and having any justice,” Okland’s sister, Brittany Bruce, told reporters.
She thanked the detectives and prosecutors for their relentless work on the case.
“We have full confidence in their abilities to see this through,” she said.
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(INVERNESS, Fla.) — Two teenagers, whose relatives said were best friends, have died after a sand hole they were digging at a Florida park collapsed and buried them for more than an hour, authorities said.
The incident occurred at Sportsman Park in Inverness, Florida, according to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our hearts are with both families as they grieve the tremendous loss of their sons. We hope the community will continue to respect their privacy and unite in remembering and celebrating both boys,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The two 14-year-olds were identified on Wednesday as George Watts and Derrick Hubbard, the Florida District 8 and District 5 Medical Examiners’ offices told ABC News.
The boys were playing in the park on Sunday when a five-foot-deep sand hole they were digging collapsed, trapping them, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said the emergency was reported about 12:44 p.m. local time.
“The caller reported that two 14-year-old children were lost in the park, and there was a large hole; the caller thought the children were trapped inside the hole,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel raced to the park and attempted to rescue the boys after one of their parents pinged their child’s cellphone and pinpointed their whereabouts underground, according to the sheriff’s office.
Rescuers pulled both boys from the sand hole around 1:15 p.m. and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They were taken by ambulance to HCA Florida Citrus Hospital in Inverness.
One of the boys, Derrick Hubbard, was pronounced dead on Sunday, authorities said. The sheriff’s office said George Watts was pronounced dead at the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
“In a tragic accident, we lost our oldest son, George Watts, and his best friend, Derrick Hubbard,” Watts’ mother, Jasmine Watts, wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to raise money to cover the boys’ funeral expenses. “These two boys shared a bond that went beyond friendship — they were inseparable, full of life, curiosity, and dreams for the future.”
The boys were students at Inverness Middle School, the school said in a statement.
“This situation has deeply affected many within our school and district community,” the school said in a statement, adding that counselors, social workers and psychologists were made available to students this week “as we navigate this difficult time together.”
