Tourist suffers third-degree burns to feet after losing flip-flops in Death Valley
(LAS VEGAS) — A tourist from Belgium has been hospitalized in Las Vegas after suffering third-degree burns to his feet while walking on sand dunes in Death Valley, officials said.
The 42-year-old man was wearing flip flops when officials from the National Park Service said that they either broke or he lost them in the sand last Saturday at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
Air temperatures were 123 degrees at the time, but park officials say that the sand temperatures would have been much hotter.
“The man’s family called for help and recruited other park visitors who carried the man to the parking lot,” according to the NPS statement. “Park rangers determined the man needed to be transported to a hospital quickly due to his burns and pain level.”
Mercy Air’s helicopter was not able to safely land in Death Valley due to extreme temperatures which can reduce rotor lift so park rangers initially transported the victim by ambulance to a landing zone at a higher elevation, which was 109 degrees. From there, the Belgian tourist was taken by Mercy Air to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas where he is being treated for his injuries.
“Park rangers recommend that summer travelers to Death Valley National Park stay within a 10 minute walk of an air conditioned vehicle, not hike after 10 a.m., drink plenty of water, eat salty snacks and wear a hat and sunscreen,” said the National Park Service following the incident.
(WASHINGTON) — A California man convicted of carrying out some of the most extended and brutal assaults against police during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday.
The 20-year prison term for David Dempsey, handed down by senior D.C. District Judge Royce Lamberth, marks the second longest sentence yet for a defendant convicted in connection with the Capitol assault.
With several of Dempsey’s victims from the Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police in attendance in the courtroom during the trial, prosecutors played multiple videos showing Dempsey at one of the most violent exchanges of the riot near the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol — repeatedly striking, kicking, and throwing object after object at the police line trying to prevent the pro-Trump mob from swarming into the building.
In one video clip, Dempsey repeatedly swung a stolen metal crutch down onto an officer’s helmet, cracking the face shield.
One officer who Dempsey struck testified that he believed he was going to die and that his thoughts began drifting to his family.
Judge Lamberth described Dempsey’s offenses as “exceptionally egregious” before handing down the sentence, which he said was further warranted due to Dempsey’s lengthy criminal history and past instances where he had attacked political opponents during protests in 2019 and 2020.
The judge, a Reagan appointee, said that “fortunately” Dempsey’s efforts to break through the police line were not fruitful, as it would likely have resulted in a “bloodbath” for lawmakers sheltering inside the building.
“David Dempsey is political violence personified,” a prosecutor said in making the case for Dempsey’s harsh sentence.
Prior to receiving his sentence, Dempsey addressed the court and spoke of his “profound sense of regret” for his actions, issuing a personal apology to the police gathered in the room.
After receiving the sentence, however, Dempsey — as he was escorted out by the bailiff — made a hand sign in the air that is commonly associated with “white power” or the white supremacist Groyper movement.
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,265 defendants and secured prison sentences for more than 460 people involved in the Capitol attack, according to figures released early this year by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C.
(WASHINGTON) — As federal investigators continue to probe how a gunman managed to climb atop a roof and fire a barrage of shots at former President Donald Trump in an apparent assassination attempt on Saturday, multiple witnesses said they tried to point out the suspect to police and Secret Service agents before gunfire erupted.
Roughly eight minutes after Trump took the stage at a campaign rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, witnesses said they saw the alleged gunman shimmying up the sloping roof of the American Glass Research building outside the security perimeter of the rally.
The building is within 400 feet of the rally podium where Trump was speaking and was being used by local police as a staging area when the gunman got on the roof, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.
Witness Ryan Knight, who was working at the rally selling pizza slices and bottled water with his boss, said he was standing outside the security perimeter at a fence line when someone standing next to him said “This guy’s got a gun” and pointed.
“I look over at the AGR building and there was a guy prone, laying down on the AGR roof,” Knight told ABC News. “At that point, I look over and the guy starts taking shots at the president. I am losing my mind. I’m thinking, ‘Get down on the ground.'”
According to a timeline of events pieced together by the ABC News video verification team, Trump took the stage at 6:03 p.m. local time to loud applause and at 6:05 p.m. began speaking: “This is a big crowd. This is a big, big beautiful crowd.”
Knight, who says he is a registered Republican and a supporter of the former president, explained that once Trump took the stage, he and his boss walked over to the fence line about 50 feet from the AGR building to listen to the speech.
Knight said the rally was initially joyful, with attendees yelling their support for Trump.
“We were just having a great time. I mean, everybody was in happy spirits,” Knight said.
But at 6:09 p.m., bystander video taken outside the security perimeter near the fence line and reviewed by ABC News picked up someone yelling, “He’s got a gun!”
At 6:10 p.m., another bystander video reviewed by ABC News showed a police officer walking around the AGR building investigating reports of a suspicious person reported to be in the area.
Around that same time, Trump turned his head to the right to look at a Jumbotron flashing immigration statistics, according to video footage. About a minute later, the staccato of gunshots rang out and the GOP presidential nominee suddenly clutched his right ear and went to the ground after apparently noticing blood on his hand, according to the video.
A New York Times photographer took a photo that appeared to capture the path of a bullet whizzing by Trump’s head. Three rallygoers were shot in the incident, including 50-year-old volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore who was killed shielding his family from the gunshots, officials said. The two other rallygoers were listed in stable condition.
Secret Service agents rushed to Trump and covered him with their bodies as chaos erupted.
Mike and Amber DiFrischia of Adamsville, Pennsylvania, told ABC News that they arrived at the rally around 5:53 p.m. and decided to sit in the shade outside the security perimeter until Trump began to speak. The couple said they moved up to the fence line to listen to Trump. Amber DiFrischia said it was the first time she had attended a Trump rally.
“We were only at the fence for maybe five minutes, Trump came on, and then shortly after he started speaking, my wife said, ‘Michael what is going on behind us?'” Mike DiFrischia said. “We turned around and we saw people pointing and running and that’s when we walked away from the fence and noticed that he [the gunman] was shimmying up the roof.”
At first, he said thought it was someone just trying to get a better view of Trump.
“Then the guy behind me said, ‘The guy’s got a gun.’ And as soon as he said ‘gun,’ everybody started running and screaming,” Mike DiFrischia said.
He said he and others could see the gunman “perfectly” on the roof because they were a short distance away, but police couldn’t see him immediately due to being at the base of the building.
“The law enforcement was running around. It was pretty hectic. They could not see him, the police officers. They were too close to the building,” Mike DiFrischia said.
He said police officers were yelling, “Where is he at?”
“And we were trying to explain to them, he’s right there,” Mike DiFrischia said.
Amber DiFrischia added, “How could this happen so quickly?”
Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe said law enforcement officials told him that a Butler Township police officer was vaulted onto the roof and confronted by the gunman who pointed his weapon at the officer.
“He dropped down because the gentleman was turning with the firearm,” Slupe told ABC News, adding that the officer immediately radioed in about the gunman.
According to the ABC News video verification team’s timeline, gunfire erupted around 6:11 p.m. Investigators believe the gunman immediately opened fire after being interrupted by the Butler Township police officer.
“I got on the ground and I’m watching him shoot,” Knight told ABC News of the gunman. “I could see the smoke coming out of the barrel of his gun.”
Video of the mayhem showed a Secret Service counter-sniper firing at the gunman from a rooftop behind the stage where Trump was giving his speech.
“I was scared for my life,” said Knight, explaining that he and other spectators were standing in what was an open field with nowhere to take cover.
He said he heard a shot that sounded louder than the initial gunfire and saw the gunmen’s head kick back as he was shot.
“My main thought is why the Secret Service was not on top of that building,” Knight said. “There should have been people on top of it. I don’t know how or why that got missed.”
Cheatle, the Secret Service director, told ABC News chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas on Monday that local authorities were tasked with securing the building where the alleged shooter fired the shots and confirmed that local police were present inside the building while the shooter was on the roof.
“In this particular instance, we did share support for that particular site and that the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter,” Cheatle said. “And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter. There was local police in that building — there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”
President Joe Biden said Sunday that he has ordered an independent investigation of the security provided at Saturday’s rally.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the Secret Service, told George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” on Monday that the 20-year-old gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, should never have been able to get a clear line of sight on the former president.
“George, a direct line of sight like that to the former president of the United States should not occur,” Mayorkas said.
Cheatle told ABC News in the interview on Monday that the Pennsylvania rally shooting was “unacceptable.”
“I don’t have all the details yet, but it was a very short period of time,” she said about the shooter being seen by witnesses before he opened fire. “Seeking that person out, finding them, identifying them, and eventually neutralizing them took place in a very short period of time, and it makes it very difficult.”
(LOS ANGELES) — More than a year after a plea deal between prosecutors and Hunter Biden collapsed, jury selection in the federal tax trial of President Joe Biden’s son is scheduled to begin this morning in a Los Angeles federal courthouse.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi plans to seat 12 jurors and four alternates for a trial that is expected to throw Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, his struggles with addiction, and his lavish spending into the spotlight.
Prosecutors allege that Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on exotic cars, clothing, escorts, drugs, and luxury hotels. He has pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment that includes six misdemeanor charges of failure to pay, plus a felony tax evasion charge and two felony charges of filing false returns.
All back taxes and penalties were eventually paid in full by a third party, identified by ABC News as Hunter Biden confidant Kevin Morris.
The trial comes three months after Hunter Biden was convicted by a Delaware jury on three felony charges related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while allegedly addicted to drugs. His sentencing in that case is scheduled for Nov. 13.
If convicted in Los Angeles, Hunter Biden faces a maximum combined sentence of up to 17 years in prison.
After two days of jury selection this week, opening statements in the trial are scheduled to begin on Monday. Prosecutors expect to spend six days presenting their case, and Hunter Biden’s team has said it would spend two days on his defense.
Here’s what to know about the proceedings:
How will jury selection work?
Judge Scarsi plans to use a similar process used in Hunter Biden’s Delaware trial — where jury selection took one day — to select the jury in the Los Angeles trial. One hundred and twenty potential jurors from from Los Angeles and six nearby counties are expected to be summoned for jury selection on Thursday.
The jury selection process will center on a lengthy questionnaire that includes 50 questions on topics including prospective jurors’ interactions with law enforcement and their experiences filing taxes.
Four of the questions directly address Hunter Biden’s unique position as a criminal defendant whose father is the president of the United States, including asking if prospective jurors’ thoughts on the upcoming presidential election would impact their decision-making and whether they believe law enforcement agencies make decisions based on politics.
“Do you believe Robert Hunter Biden is being prosecuted in this case or is not being prosecuted in other cases because his father is the President of the United States and was until recently a candidate for President?” one question asks.
Five questions also touch on addiction, including if potential jurors have family members who suffer from substance abuse issues or if they have experience with addiction treatment and counseling.
“Do you believe someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol should not be charged with a crime?” another question asks.
What do prosecutors allege?
In their 56-page indictment, prosecutors alleged that Hunter Biden willfully avoided paying taxes by subverting his company’s own payroll system, that he failed to pay his taxes on time despite having the money to do so, and that he included false information in his 2018 tax returns.
“[T]he defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” the indictment alleged.
Prosecutors also highlighted millions of dollars that Hunter Biden received from overseas business in Ukraine, China, and Romania in exchange for “almost no work.”
Although Hunter Biden eventually paid back all his back taxes and penalties with the help of a third party, Judge Scarsi blocked defense attorneys from introducing that information to the jury.
“Evidence of late payment here is irrelevant to Mr. Biden’s state of mind at the time he allegedly committed the charged crimes,” Scarsi wrote in an order last week.
Why is this going to trial?
Last June, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor offenses, acknowledging that he failed to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018. The deal also allowed him to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement to avoid criminal charges related to his 2018 firearm purchase.
Had the deal worked out, Hunter Biden would have likely faced probation for the tax offenses and had his gun charge dropped if he adhered to the terms of his diversion agreement.
However, the plea deal fell apart during a contentious hearing before U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who took issue with the structure of the deal.
By September, special counsel David Weiss had unsealed an indictment in Delaware charging Hunter Biden for lying on a federal form when he purchased a firearm in 2018.
The federal indictment in Los Angeles for the tax crimes followed in December.