School bus attendant seen hitting autistic student in surveillance footage
Albuquerque Public Schools
(ALBUQUERGUE, N.M.) — A school bus attendant for Albuquerque, New Mexico, Public Schools has been arrested after she was seen in surveillance video repeatedly hitting an autistic student.
Debbie Chavira, 64, is accused of striking the child dozens of times over the course of 10 days, according to an incident report.
Police said Chavira struck the student in his face, torso and arms a total of 59 times between Aug. 26 and Sept. 4. On Sept. 4, school officials reported her after the child showed up “with fresh scratch marks on the back of his neck,” the incident report states.
While investigating the alleged abuse, officials viewed additional surveillance footage, where they say Chavira was seen repeatedly hitting the child over the span of 10 days.
Chavira struck the child “open-handed, closed fisted, and with a plastic (yellow) ‘child check’ sign,” and did so “intentionally and without justifiable cause,” according to the incident report.
Investigators were unable to interview the child due to him “being autistic and non-verbal” and unable to “communicate through writing either,” the report states.
Chavira resigned from her job Sept. 5, according to Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT, and was arrested on Oct. 4. She has been released from jail and is now under pretrial supervision.
She has been charged with five counts of abandonment or abuse of a child. A representative could not immediately be found for Chavira.
In a statement to ABC News, Martin Salazar, a spokesperson for Albuquerque Public Schools, said the school district does “not tolerate this kind of behavior.”
“Upon discovering what was happening, we immediately placed bus attendant Debbie Chavira on leave and notified the APS Police Department. APS Police launched an investigation and filed criminal charges. Ms. Chavira resigned shortly after being placed on leave,” Salazar said.
(NEW YORK) — Details about the murder of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 were revealed for the first time Friday during the trial of the man accused of killing them.
Richard Allen is charged in the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. The two friends were found dead a day after they went out for a walk on a hiking trail in February 2017.
Allen has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder.
Police have never released how the eighth graders were killed. During opening statements Friday in the long-awaited trial in Carroll County, Indiana, the prosecutors provided the jurors with details about the murders.
“You’re going to see the crime scene,” prosecutor Nick McLeland said. “It was a gruesome scene. Libby was completely naked. Her throat was cut, blood all over. Abby’s throat was also cut.”
McLeland said the case is about three things: the “bridge guy,” an unspent bullet found at the crime scene and the brutal murders of Libby and Abby, who were found dead near the Monon High Bridge.
According to McLeland, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat while they were crossing over the Monon High Bridge. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, so Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, he said.
McLeland said the man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls “down the hill.” The girls complied and then, the video on the cellphone stopped recording.
According to McLeland, Allen testified that he was on the trail that day. Investigators also found a gun in his house, and testing showed a bullet found at the crime scene cycled through that gun.
McLeland said Allen also confessed to committing the crime to his wife and mother voluntarily while in jail.
Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin said in his opening statement that there is reasonable doubt in the case, arguing that the state’s investigation was botched from the beginning.
Baldwin questioned the timeline and cellphone evidence in the state’s case, holding up a phone to the jury and saying, “Forensic data on these phones don’t lie.”
Baldwin said the prosecution claims Abby and Libby were dead by 4 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, and their bodies were never moved until they were recovered the next day. He said the prosecution’s timeline puts Allen in a parking lot near the trial at 1:30 p.m. but his cellphone data shows he was gone by 2:15 p.m.
Addressing the unspent round found at the crime scene, Baldwin said law enforcement commonly used that type of bullet, but police never investigated if an officer was missing one. He also said the owner of the property where the girls were found owns a similar weapon but his gun was never tested.
The defense also argued Allen’s mental health was in decline while in prison, which led to him to confess to the crime.
The defense told jurors they believe the girls were killed somewhere else and their bodies were returned to the crime scene — that searchers saw no bodies or girl’s clothing in the creek on the night of Feb. 13, and witnesses near the crime scene also never heard any screams.
Baldwin also said hair found in Abby’s hand was a possible match to a female relative of Libby, and not Allen. The defense revealed the evidence for the first time during proceedings earlier in the week.
Ahead of opening statements, Judge Frances Gull ruled the composite sketches of a person of interest in the case released by the Indiana State Police early in the investigation will not be used during the trial.
Prosecutors had filed a motion seeking to prevent defense attorneys from referencing the sketches, arguing they were for generating leads in the case and were not used to identify Allen as a suspect in the case.
The entrance doors of the River Glen of St. Charles, in St. Charles, Illinois, are seen in a screengrab of a video shot Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (WLS)
(ST. CHARLES, IL) — A man wielding a chainsaw inside a senior-living facility in St. Charles, Illinois, was shot and killed by police early Sunday, state and local law enforcement said.
The man, whom police have not publicly identified, was allegedly attempting to cut down a tree on the facility’s property at about 8:45 a.m. on Sunday. He was “shirtless” when police arrived at the facility, on the 900 block of North 5th Avenue, the St. Charles Police Department said in a press statement.
“Just before police arrival, witnesses advised the subject had now gained entry to the lobby of the building and began confronting residents with the chainsaw,” the department said.
Officers sought to deescalate the situation, but “the suspect continued his attempts to use the chainsaw against residents of the building,” as well as against responding officers, the department said.
Officers used a taser on the man, “but his attack continued,” the press statement said. An officer then fired his gun, striking the alleged attacker, police said.
“The male suspect was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased,” the Illinois State Police said in a press release.
Officers and residents of the assisted-living facility were treated at the scene for minor injuries, police said.
“We are deeply grateful for the swift action of our team and law enforcement,” a spokesperson for the facility, the River Glen of St. Charles, said in a statement. “We want to emphasize that our community is secure, and all residents and staff members are safe.”
The Illinois State Police said it would investigate the shooting.
(NEW YORK CITY) — Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe came under fire for comments made about Latinos and Puerto Rico at former President Donald Trump’s Sunday campaign rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
After making a vulgar joke about how Latinos “love making babies,” Hinchcliffe later turned to the Caribbean island.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
That joke came after Trump made a similar comment last Thursday, calling the U.S. a “garbage can for the world” in an escalation of his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Hispanic groups on both sides of the aisle called Hinchcliffe comments “derogatory,” “offensive” and “disrespectful.”
An estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, making up about 15% of the electorate, according to Pew Research Center. Puerto Ricans who live in the U.S. territory do not have the right to vote in the presidential election — but key swing states like Florida and North Carolina are home to prominent Hispanic and Latino communities.
“The Trump campaign’s tolerance for offensive humor, especially against Puerto Rico and its residents, highlights a disturbing pattern of disregard toward the island’s people and its challenges,” the League of United Latin American Citizens said in a statement to ABC News. “Such careless words not only deepen wounds but also normalize harmful rhetoric.”
The Republican National Hispanic Assembly also condemned the remarks.
“Such ignorant comments not only fail to capture Puerto Rico’s resilience but also misrepresent the commitment shown to the island by President Trump and his administration,” its statement read. “Puerto Ricans deserve respect and recognition for their resilience and contributions to this great Nation.”
Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of Hispanic Federation, noted in a statement to ABC News that the Trump campaign gave Hinchcliffe a platform to make his remarks on the same day the Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign introduced a plan for resolving issues impacting Puerto Rico.
“Millions of Puerto Ricans in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and New York may no longer live on the island, but they still revere it as their ancestral and cultural home, and you cannot continue to disrespect us and think that we are not going to remember that when we go to the ballot box,” Miranda said.
Hinchcliffe also made jokes targeting other racial or religious minorities, including both the Black and Jewish communities. He defended his jokes online in a response to criticism from Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Harris’ running mate Tim Walz.
“These people have no sense of humor,” Hinchcliffe wrote in an X post. “Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist. I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone … watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim … might be time to change your tampon.”
The Trump campaign distanced itself from Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke against Puerto Rico.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez wrote in a statement to ABC News.
Other GOP figures, including María Elvira Salazar, denounced the jokes online.
“This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values,” Salazar said on X.
The joke came shortly after Harris announced an “Opportunity Economy” plan for Puerto Rico, which was applauded online by prominent Hispanic figures with tens of millions of followers, including singers Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Luis Fonsi.
Her plan includes the creation of a new task force for Puerto Rico with the goal of rebuilding and modernizing the territory’s energy grid, expanding access to clean energy, building affordable housing and more.
Trump has been criticized for how he handled Hurricane Maria in 2017, during his first term. He’s long overstated how much disaster funding Puerto Rico received after the storm and also came under fire for infamously tossing paper towels into a crowd of Puerto Ricans at a relief center in the hurricane-ravaged territory after Maria hit.
Additionally, FEMA lost track of more than a quarter-billion dollars in food and supplies intended for Puerto Rico over the course of its response to 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria, according to a Department of Homeland Security report that found delays and mismanagement in the disaster response efforts.
However, Trump’s White House approved nearly $13 billion in federal aid to help rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid system and the education system in 2020.
