Germany train derailment: Four killed, 15 severely injured after ...

Berlin CNN —

At least four people were killed and 15 severely injured when a train derailed in southern Germany on Friday, according to local police.

The regional train was traveling in the direction of Munich when it derailed near Burgrain, north of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a ski resort in the Bavarian Alps.

”The number of fatally injured in the train accident unfortunately increases to four people,” Upper Bavaria South Police, which have taken over rescue efforts, tweeted Friday afternoon.

Police said of the approximately 30 injured passengers, 15 have sustained serious injuries and were admitted to hospitals in the surrounding area.

Rescue operations are still ongoing at the scene of the crash near Burgrain. Josef Hornsteiner/dpa/AP

Stephan Scharf, an official from the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, had told CNN earlier that 60 people were receiving medical treatment.

The accident occurred on the last day of school before the Pentecost, a religious holiday celebrated in Bavaria. It was not immediately clear how many students were on board when the train came off the tracks.

Photos and videos from the scene shared on social media show carriages of a double-decker regional train rolled down an embankment and caught in leafy trees, as rescue workers carried people away on stretchers.

Prosecutors and police have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident, police told CNN.

Zhengzhou: More than 200 cars involved in massive pileup in China ...

CNN —

One person was killed during a massive pileup involving more than 200 vehicles in the central Chinese city Zhengzhou on Wednesday, according to state media.

The pileup took place on a bridge that was shrouded in heavy morning fog, which caused multiple vehicles to crash, according to state-owned The Global Times.

Photos from the scene show the long multi-lane bridge, stretching across fields and the Yellow River, strewn with vehicles crammed into each other. Cars, cargo trucks, lorries and other vehicles can be seen in the pileup.

An aerial photo showing the multi-vehicle collision on Zhengxin Yellow River Bridge in Zhengzhou, China, on December 28. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

In videos filmed from the ground, the air is still thick with fog. One clip shows a truck sliding forward, crashing into several smaller cars, as sirens ring in the distance.

Many drivers and passengers were trapped in their cars, according to The Global Times. Emergency response workers and fire rescuers were deployed to the scene, including personnel from the traffic and health departments.

One eyewitness told The Global Times the pileup stretched several kilometers long, and that moisture on the bridge made the road particularly slippery.

More than 200 vehicles were involved in the pileup, caused by fog, according to state media. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

In some areas, visibility that morning was only 200 meters (about 656 feet), according to Reuters, citing the local meteorology agency. Several hours after the pileup, police had issued a warning for cars not to cross the bridge due to the fog.

“In the winter the temperature is low and there is often heavy fog,” traffic police posted on their official account on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. It reminded drivers to slow down, use their lights, and to leave dangerous areas as quickly as possible.

The overpass connects Zhengzhou with the city of Xinxiang. Police shut down the bridge during rescue operations, with traffic resuming later that afternoon.

Jessie Yeung Jennie Chen
Jessie Yeung
Jennie Chen

Toddler, woman die in Dewey Ave. crash

Steve Orr and Chad Roberts

Staff writers

A driver who apparently was fleeing police by careening along on the wrong side of the road in bad weather conditions caused a two-vehicle crash that left a young boy and a woman dead Friday night on Rochester's west side.

A Greece police official had tried to pull over the driver 12 blocks north of the accident site in connection with a shoplifting complaint, but the motorist raced off and the officer chose not to pursue him, Greece police said.

The crash occurred at 10 p.m. at 1196 Dewey Avenue, across the street from Aquinas Institute, where Dewey intersects with Albemarle Street., Capt. John Corbelli of the Rochester Police Department said

A 2½-year-old boy, who was riding in a 2001 Saturn driven by his mother, died shortly before 11 p.m. after being taken to Strong Memorial Hospital by Rural/Metro Medical Services ambulance, Corbelli said. The boy's mother sustained relatively minor injuries.

A 35-year-old Rochester woman, an occupant of the striking car, died at the scene, Corbelli said. A male occupant of the striking car, a 2013 Toyota Camry, suffered life-threatening injuries and is being treated at Strong.

Names of the four persons involved in the crash have not been released.

The occupants of the Camry were being sought by Greece police in connection with a larceny complaint at the Walmart store in Northgate Plaza in Greece. Security there described the suspect vehicle to a passing Greece patrol officer and told him it had headed south on Dewey.

The officer drove more than 2 ½ miles south on Dewey looking for the car, eventually passing from the town into the city and finally encountering the suspect vehicle stopped in traffic on Dewey at West Ridge Road, the Greece Police Department said in a statement Saturday morning.

"As traffic started up, the officer activated his emergency lights, in an attempt to make a stop of the suspect vehicle," the statement said. "The vehicle cut to the left, passing other cars as it sped off south on Dewey."

The unidentified officer chose not to pursue the Camry and shut off his emergency lights, according to the statement. He made that decision, the statement said, after considering "road conditions at the time, the severity of the crime and the fact that he had obtained a plate number on the suspect vehicle."

The Greece officer advised a radio dispatcher to alert city police to the situation, then turned around and headed north toward the town line, the statement said.

The Camry continued south on Dewey at a high rate of speed, Rochester police investigators believe. Witnesses reported the car driving on the wrong side of the road in a reckless manner in snowy and icy conditions.

As the vehicle passed Seneca Parkway, the striking vehicle lost control, crossed from the southbound lane to the northbound lane, and collided with the Saturn.

The crash scene is 12 blocks, or nine-tenths of a mile, from the point where Greece police said their officer encountered the suspect Camry. There are five traffic signals on Dewey between West Ridge and Albemarle with two lanes of traffic in each direction.

Greece Police Capt. Brian Uhrmacher said Saturday the officer, whose name he declined to disclose, handled the situation properly.

"We train not only the supervisors but the officers on patrol to weigh several circumstances when becoming involved in a pursuit. This didn't reach the level of being a pursuit, but the officer did consider several of those factors in deciding whether or not to pursue the vehicle

"In my opinion, the officer made a very good decision not to pursue it," Uhrmacher said.

He also said the officer was "well within his rights" to continue his search for the suspects, and to try and pull them over, after crossing into the city.

Shortly after the crash occurred, a Rochester officer was notified by a passing motorist. That officer responded along with Rochester firefighters and Rural/Metro paramedics to assist the occupants of the two vehicles, Corbelli said. Greece officers also responded to the scene.

Rochester police investigators, with assistance from reconstruction technicians and the New York State Police, processed the scene overnight. The area was open to traffic Saturday morning.

Uhrmacher said two bad choices led to the double-fatal crash.

"These people apparently made a decision to go to the Walmart store and commit a crime there. When our officer attempted to stop them, a decision was made … not to stop for the officer," he said. "As a result we've got a tragic situation. It's a tragedy any time of the year, but we've got several families that are going to be affected during the holiday season."

Bangladesh container depot fire kills 49 people, injures hundreds ...

Hong Kong CNN —

At least 49 people have been killed and more than 300 injured, after a fire tore through a container depot in southeastern Bangladesh over the weekend.

The fire started on Saturday night at the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda, in Chittagong District, according to state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).

Among the dead are at least nine firefighters who had been deployed to douse the flames, BSS reported. Two firefighters remained missing late on Sunday.

Firefighters were still working to extinguish the blaze on Sunday afternoon, as containers filled with chemicals including hydrogen peroxide or sulphur continued to erupt, Reuters reported, citing fire service officials.

While the cause of the fire remains unknown, fire service officials said it may have originated from a vessel of hydrogen peroxide and diffused to other containers.

“It’s really getting harder as toxic fumes engulfed the area,” Newton Das, a fire service official, told Reuters.

Local residents told the agency that the initial blast caused the neighborhood to quake, and subsequently broke some of the glass windows on local infrastructure.

An injured victim is brought to a hospital following the blaze. Str/Reuters

Firefighters assess the damage at the site of the fire. Str/Reuters

The depot’s authorities have announced that they would provide 10 lakh Bangladeshi taka (around $11,200) in compensation to each family of the workers who died in the fire, BSS said.

They also promised to pay six lakh Bangladeshi taka (around $6700) to each critically injured worker who lost body parts in the fire and four lakh Bangladeshi taka (around $4500) to other injured workers.

The company has formed a five-member inquiry committee to probe the deadly incident, the state news agency reported.

The incident is the latest in a string of fatal industrial accidents over several years in the South Asian nation.

In December, at least 38 people were killed after a fire destroyed a launch on the Sugandha River, in the southern district of Jhalakathi.

A few months earlier, at least 52 people died and about 50 others were left injured when a huge fire swept through a juice factory in Rupganj, east of the capital Dhaka.

Sophie Jeong Teele Rebane Sana Noor Haq
Sophie Jeong
Teele Rebane
Sana Noor Haq

Redding.com news roundup: Rolling updates in July 2019

In this roundup, you'll read about:

A new scholarship program at Simpson University for fire victims.

The identification of two people who died, one in a crash in Shasta Lake and another who was hit by a train.

A man in a wheelchair who was struck by a car in Red Bluff.

Repairs along Interstate 5 after the 2018 Delta Fire.

An outage that affected a handful of Redding households.

A tree branch came crashing down near a couple's picnic at Caldwell Park.

The community viewing of "Seattle is Dying."

An effort to block the proposed wind farm near Burney.

The results from Redding police's DUI checkpoint.

A boat that exploded over the Fourth of July weekend on Lake Shasta.

July 31

Victims of the Carr Fire or Camp Fire may be eligible to receive tuition scholarships offered by Simpson University in Redding.

The university said that it will distribute Carr & Camp Fire Scholarship awards of up to $15,000.

Recipients must show proof of being impacted by one of last year's wildfires, including address verification of an affected location, an insurance claim application and an application with the Federal Emergency Management Association.

Individuals must also commit to living on the Simpson campus, unless the recipient is approved to live off campus.

More information is available at simpsonu.edu/scholarships.

July 30

Shasta Lake crash victim identified

After seven days, Shasta County Coroner's Office has identified the 64-year-old man killed in a Shasta Lake traffic collision on July 23.

The coroner's office identified the victim as William Francis Coleman of Redding. Coleman was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash off Kennett Road at about 3 p.m. July 23 after suffering "significant injuries" as a result of the crash, according to a press release.

The incident remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

July 24

Fatal train victim identified

The Shasta County Coroner's Office has identified the person hit and killed by a train last week in south Redding.

Lt. Gene Randall said 28-year-old Lottie Adell Guillen, of Redding, died at the scene of the incident Friday near Star Drive and Eastside Road.

Man in wheelchair struck by vehicle as he crossed the street

A Red Bluff man was hospitalized with critical injuries on Wednesday after he was hit by a car while crossing the street in a power wheelchair.

The injured man, a 59-year-old whose identity was not released by police, was within a marked crosswalk near the 300 block of Main Street in Red Bluff when he was stuck by a minivan at about 12:43 p.m, according to a news release.

Red Bluff police identified the driver as 19-year-old Brenden Medellin. Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the collision, police said.

The 59-year-old was taken to St. Elizabeth's Community Hospital before being flown to Mercy Hospital in Redding.

A portion of Main Street was shut down for about an hour following the incident.

The incident remains under investigation by the Red Bluff Police Department.

July 15

Repairs complete on I-5 after 2018 Delta Fire

Work is done on the Interstate 5 project to clear out damage and debris from 2018's Delta Fire, the California Department of Transportation announced Monday.

Spokeswoman Lupita Franco said some 10,000 burnt trees were removed, culverts have been replaced and other repairs were made north of Redding, including a new guardrail and signs. Measures also were taken to prevent erosion, she said.

The fire forced the closure of both sides of the freeway in early September near Lakehead.

July 13

REU outage affects neighborhood

An early morning power outage affected a residential area near Lake Boulevard in Redding.

In a tweet posted at 7:53 a.m., Redding Electric Utility (REU) announced its working to restore power to 16 customers in the area of Panorama Drive. REU estimates power should be back on by 7 p.m.

No cause of the outage has been released.

Temperatures are expected to soar to 102 Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Those without power are advised to seek out cooling stations like the Shasta County Library in Redding.

July 11

Tree branch almost hits couple at Caldwell Park

A Redding couple may have escaped serious injury Wednesday evening after a large oak branch broke came crashing down just a few feet from where they were having a picnic.

Edward McNeill said he and his wife, Adriana, were with their pit bull, Wedda, lying on the grass at Caldwell Park. It was after 7 p.m. when they heard a crackling sound.

"I was not thinking anything of it and then that branch came tumbling down," he said. "I'll tell you, it was scary."

The branch landed about 7 to 8 feet from where the McNeills had spread a blanket.

"I had bark that landed on me," he said and added someone at the city should check the trees other branches. "That is as close as I've come to death."

The incident comes about five months after a Feb. 13 winter storm dumped about a foot of heavy, wet snow in Redding. The historic storm toppled trees and left thousands of North State homes without power.

City officials have said a quarter of the trees have been damaged by the storm.

July 10

'Is Redding dying?': Discussion centers on homelessness, crime

Upwards of 200 people gathered at the Cascade Theatre on Tuesday to watch a documentary on homelessness in Seattle and compare it to Redding's transient situation.

The documentary "Seattle is Dying" has drawn attention recently for its position that Washington's largest city is "rotting from within" because of homelessness as well as the crime and littering it can lead to.

The event was sponsored by the Shasta Builders Exchange. Joe Chimenti, Shasta County's District 1 Supervisor and a former executive for the builders exchange, introduced the film, posing the question: Is Redding dying, too?

"We are not," Chimenti said. "Are we facing some sound issues? Yes. ... Great societies, like we are, rise above that, and that's what we're hereto do, is start embracing the strategies that empower us."

After the one-hour documentary, District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett took the stage and said part of the problem is recent changes in California law that portray a more lax attitude toward low-level crime.

Bridgett advocated for an increase in the number of police, prosecutors and jail space to address the problem.

"The state’s not gonna come in and fix it," Bridgett said. "They’re actually what’s making it bad for us."

The full post-movie discussion is available for residents to view on the Facebook page for the Shasta County District Attorney's Office.

More:530 Fire Watch: Cal Fire suspends residential burn permits in Shasta, east Trinity counties

More:The 5 digital benefits of a Record Searchlight subscription

July 8

Citizen's group wants to block new wind farms in Shasta County

A citizen's group that opposes the construction of Shasta County's second major wind energy production facility said it has asked the Shasta County Board of Supervisors to place a countywide moratorium on any more large energy generation projects.

Portland, Oregon-based Pacific Wind Development, LLC — a subsidiary of Avangrid Renewables, LLC — wants to build as many as 100 turbines about 35 miles northeast of Redding and 6 miles west of Burney.

The new wind turbine proposal, called the Fountain Wind Project, would be located on leased timberland near the communities of Montgomery Creek, Round Mountain, Oak Run, Moose Camp, Big Bend and Wengler.

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Avangrid's proposed Fountain Wind project calls for three-blade turbines that are nearly as tall as the Shasta Dam.

Citizens in Opposition to the Fountain Wind Project said the nearly 38,000-acre forested area earmarked to house the turbines is located in a high fire hazard zone. According to industry research, wind turbines are mostly fire-free compared to other energy-production industries, although lightning strikes, electrical malfunction or even overheated bearings and gearboxes have triggered wind turbine fires that could spread to the surrounding land.

The proposed development would contain more than twice the number of wind turbines that now operate at the Hatchet Ridge Development near Burney, in between Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen. Hatchet Ridge, owned by renewable energy firm Pattern Energy, reached full capacity in 2010.

The Fountain Wind proposal could come before the Shasta County Planning Commission in late 2019 or early 2020.

Additional information about the citizens' group and its online petition can be found at Stop Fountain Wind, www.stopfw.com.

July 6

At DUI checkpoint, RPD screen 526 vehicles, make 1 arrest

Redding police said they arrested one person on suspicion of driving under the influence Friday night at a DUI and driver's license checkpoint.

The checkpoint was set up on Benton Driver south of Quartz Hill Road between 7 to 11 p.m.

Officers screened a total of 526 vehicles. Three drivers were cited for driving on a suspended license while four were cited for driving without a license, police said.

July 5

'One big boom' as custom-built boat explodes on Lake Shasta

Three Klamath Falls residents escaped without major injury after their motorboat exploded on July 4 on Lake Shasta.

According to police, Bryce Balan, 26, along with his wife Kristen Balin, 26, and Jared Aguiar, 27, had been camping at the Arbuckle Flat Campground and went to fuel up their vessel at the Silverthorn Resort gas pumps.

At 6:45 p.m., as the custom-built 1985 boat was backing up from the dock, police said the vessel exploded and threw all three people into the lake.

One of the men reported they'd been tossed 15 feet into the air before landing in the water, said Shasta County Sheriff Boating Safety Unit Officer Jim Lindquist.

"It sounds pretty much like it was just one big boom and the fuel tank remained intact, which kept the fire from spreading everywhere," said Lindquist. "They were very lucky that their injuries weren't more severe."

Dock workers at Silverthorn rescued the couple and their friend from the water and extinguished the fire.

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The boat's occupants sustained only minor cuts and did not ask to be seen by paramedics.

The vessel was a total loss, Lindquist said: "The entire of the top of the boat was blown off."

While the boat's blower — which evacuates gas fumes from enclosed areas of the boat before the engine is started — was being used before the explosion, Lindquist said, "It appears there was some kind of either slow fume leak or ... something ignited."

Lindquist said that Balin reported being a skilled boater and owning the boat "for a while and used it successfully without a problem."

READ:Sheriff: Man jumps off boat to get out of sobriety test, then asks deputy to rescue him

Watch this video from 2017 about the law that went into effect in 2018 requiring a California Boater Card:

The most extreme weather events in 2021 | The Week UK

This year was regarded by scientists, politicians and environmentalists as pivotal in the global effort to take action on climate change.

Stark warnings and alarming forecasts were issued, as regions that were previously not considered to be on the frontline of climate change saw unprecedented weather events destroy homes and claim lives. As mercury levels in Moscow hit record-breaking highs in June, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the world was reaching a “point of no return”

In August, Boris Johnson described the latest global assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a “wake-up call to the world”. The “most comprehensive” climate report from the panel issued a “code red for humanity”, said The Independent, and stated the link between global warming and the increased rate and severity of extreme weather events.

Climate scientist Professor Hannah Cloke said that this year’s extreme weather events “ought to serve as a canary in the coal mine to spur faster action to adapt society to the reality of a changing climate”.

Here are some of the most costly weather incidents recorded so far this year.

Record-breaking snowfall, Madrid In the first weeks of 2021, Storm Filomena brought record-breaking levels of snow for Madrid and elderly Spanish citizens were warned to stay at home as temperatures plummeted. The heaviest snow for 50 years brought transport in and out of the city to a “standstill”, Euronews reported. The snowstorm caused around €1.4bn (£1.2bn) of damage, The New York Times said.

Storm Christoph, UK The period from 18 to 20 January 2021 was “one of the wettest three-day periods on record” for North Wales and North-West England, according to the Met Office. Homes in Cheshire were flooded, and residents were evacuated from homes in Manchester and Merseyside. Once Storm Christoph cleared, significant snowfall also led to travel disruption with icy conditions and road closures. Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Kilpatrick told the Manchester Evening News the atmosphere was one of “anxiety and disbelief”.

Cyclone Ana, Fiji Cyclone Ana “pummelled” Fiji towards the end of January, “just a month after category 5 Cyclone Yasa tore through the country’s northern islands”, The Guardian said. Satyendra Prasad, Fiji’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the cyclone – which caused more than 10,000 people to take refuge in 318 evacuation centres across the country – had left behind “a difficult recovery”.

Winter storms, Texas The Week US reported that 3.5 million businesses and homes were left without power in February as temperatures dropped to -13℃ in some areas of Texas. Power went out across the state, leaving many vulnerable people in extremely cold conditions. The total death toll rose from 151 to 210 in July, after a decision was made to include deaths caused by the collapse of the state electric power grid in the final count, The Guardian reported.

Dust storm, China Flights were grounded and schools shut in what the South China Morning post reported as the worst sandstorm in a decade. But what was widely reported as a sandstorm in China was, in fact, a dust storm - “and that’s much worse”, said The Conversation. The miniscule particles can travel “much, much further” than sand, and can cause health risks if they are “drawn deep into the lungs”. In Beijing, the sky became orange as dust and pollution caused hazardous air quality.

Flooding, New South Wales In March, Sydney and New South Wales (NSW) residents felt the effects of extreme flooding. The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) urged residents to take care of both their physical and mental health as heavy downpours lead to rivers and dams overflowing, with thousands evacuated from their homes.

Cyclone Seroja In April 160 people died in Indonesia after a tropical cyclone “hit a remote cluster of islands”, Climate Home News reported. Landslides and flash floods displaced at least 22,000 people, the news site adds. Reaching Western Australia days after it made landfall in Indonesia, residents in the town of Kalbarri, north of Perth, said the storm was “absolutely terrifying”, the BBC reported. Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said Cyclone Seroja was "like nothing we have seen before in decades”.

Record temperatures, Moscow As temperatures reached 34.8℃ in Moscow, “the absolute record for any day in June was hit”, The Moscow Times reported. The “abnormal temperatures” of the “record-breaking heatwave” weren’t just recorded in the capital; Penza, Vologda and Petrozavodsk also broke heat records during the month.

Heat dome, Pacific Northwest Soaring temperatures across the Northwest United States “rewrote the record books” this year, National Geographic reported. The “heat dome” was the “most dramatic example” of an extreme weather event, said The Guardian’s global environment editor Jonathan Watts, and the meteorological phenomenon led to evacuations across states that weren’t “remotely prepared for the heat”. Lytton, a village in Canada’s British Columbia, was “engulfed and largely destroyed by a wildfire” as a result of the temperatures, National Geographic continued. Blistering Pacific Northwest temperatures should act as a wake-up call

Berlin: One person dead, six with life-threatening injuries after car ...

CNN —

A 29-year-old man drove a car into a crowd of people in a busy Berlin shopping district on Wednesday, killing a teacher and leaving six others with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

The driver, identified by police as a German-Armenian national, ploughed into pedestrians on a sidewalk around 10:30 a.m. near Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a well-known Berlin landmark. The car then crashed into a shop window on an adjoining street, according to the city’s police and fire department.

Iris Spranger, Berlin’s top security official, said the woman killed was a teacher accompanying a group of high school students on a trip from the German state of Hesse.

Fourteen of those students are among the injured, Berlin police said, adding that their relatives have been informed.

Six people sustained life-threatening injuries and three others were seriously hurt, the Berlin fire department said. In total, 17 people have been injured, it said.

The driver was apparently detained by members of the public at the scene and then arrested by a police officer in the area, Berlin police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said. Police are trying to determine whether the man deliberately rammed into the crowd or whether it was an accident, possibly due to a medical emergency, he added.

The suspect is currently in the hospital, Berlin Police President Barbara Slowik said in a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.

“We currently do not have conclusive evidence for a politically motivated act,” Slowik said.

Later Wednesday, Spranger said that the driver “appears” to be a “mentally impaired person.”

Police have called on members of the public to submit videos or images from the scene so that officers can review them for clues.

Investigators are in the process of searching the man’s car, a small silver Renault, but there was no letter of confession found inside the vehicle, as previously reported by some local media outlets, Spranger said.

“I am told there are posters in the car but there are no actual letters of confession. But one needs to be very careful with such statements,” Spranger added.

More than 130 emergency services personnel responded to the incident, Berlin’s mayor, Franziska Giffey, said in a post on Twitter thanking them for their quick action.

“I am deeply affected by this incident. We know that there is one dead and there are several seriously injured. The police are working urgently to clarify the situation,” Giffey tweeted.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “deeply saddened by the gruesome crime,” on Twitter.

The driver was detained after ploughing into a shop front in Berlin's Charlottenburg district. Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images

Police and emergency services secure the area after the incident. Fabian Sommer/picture alliance/Getty Images

Videos and images shared on social media showed blankets covering what appeared to be a body in an area cordoned off by police and a helicopter circling above.

Scottish-American actor John Barrowman, who was at the scene, said that the car careened onto the pavement and hit people before crashing into a storefront window. “I heard the bang and the crash when we were in a store and then we came out and we just saw the car,” he said in a video posted on Twitter, adding that he saw a number of people with injuries.

Wednesday’s incident unfolded near the spot of a fatal attack on December 19, 2016, when Anis Amri, a Tunisian national with Islamist terrorist links, rammed a tractor trailer truck into a crowded Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48. Amri was later shot dead by police in Italy.

Benjamin Brown Eliza Mackintosh
Benjamin Brown
Eliza Mackintosh

Local policies reduce fatal police chases

Sean Lahman

@seanlahman

More than 300 people are killed in the U.S. each year during high-speed police chases.

But in Monroe County, only two fatalities have occurred during police pursuits since 1999, and in both cases those pursuits lasted less than a mile.

The Democrat and Chronicle analyzed federal data on police pursuits in conjunction with a nationwide USA TODAY investigation into the matter.

While the number of fatal police pursuits has remained fairly steady nationwide, the local numbers have shown dramatic improvement.

“I don’t think it’s luck,” said Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan. “I think it’s a matter of good policy and good training.

“We have a clear understanding of the dangers involved in pursuits and we take that very seriously.” he said. “We don’t enter into pursuits lightly.”

Daniel Varrenti, Brockport police chief and president of the Monroe County Chiefs of Police Association, says that local departments have worked together to develop stringent policies on when officers should pursue a suspect in a motor vehicle.

“Collaboratively and collectively, we all felt that we didn’t want to put people’s lives in danger over non-serious situations,” he said. “We don’t want to see people die, whether it’s an innocent bystander or a fleeing suspect,” Varrenti said. “Regardless of what somebody may have done, everybody’s life is valuable.”

But the desire to avoid escalating a situation doesn’t mean that police will simply let suspected criminals go when they decide not to cooperate.

“It’s not a ‘no pursuit’ policy,” Varrenti said. “We can’t say we won’t hold people accountable for their actions. We can’t say we won’t stop people even for something like a stolen vehicle.”

Deadly police chases

During a span of a few weeks in 2007, two high-speed pursuits in Monroe County ended with fatal crashes.

On June 25, a trooper with the New York State Police attempted to pull over a vehicle on North Clinton Avenue during a multi-agency drug investigation. The car did not stop, and the driver, Reynaldo Bonilla, 23, of Rochester attempted to flee with two passengers. He hit a curb and crashed into a tree just north of East Ridge Road. A passenger in the front seat, 27-year-old Omar Marquez, was killed.

Officials said that the chase did not last long enough for the officers involved to decide whether or not to continue their pursuit.

“It lasted a mile, at the most,” said State Police Maj. Steven White. “Normally, it takes longer to determine whether to terminate (the chase) or not.”

Police in the town of Greece said a pursuit that occurred weeks earlier was just as brief. On May 14, 2007, a patrol officer spotted a woman running from an exit at the Mall at Greece Ridge with her arms full of clothes that still had the tags on them. The officer pulled behind her car after it exited the mall’s parking lot and turned on his lights, but the vehicle sped off.

Less than a mile later, the driver, 44-year-old Pamela Chatman, lost control of her vehicle near the intersection of West Ridge Road and Mount Read Boulevard. She was ejected from her vehicle and died from her injuries.

“I think that pursuit was completely within policy,” Phelan said this week, although he was not chief of the Greece Police Department at the time.

He said his department’s pursuit policy had been tweaked since then, but not as a direct result of Chatman’s crash.

“It was an unfortunate accident, but I don’t think there’s any lesson to be learned from that case.”

Training and policy

Phelan and other officials say that training is vitally important for police officers, helping them to be prepared for whatever situation they might encounter on the job.

“We know that in stressful situations, police officers fall back on their training,” Phelan said. “It’s a huge part of what they do, and that’s why we put so much emphasis on training.”

Recruits at the police academy receive training in both emergency driving and pursuit policies, but it starts with intensive training in making traffic stops.

“There are good and better ways to stop a vehicle,” Varrenti said. “If you turn your lights and sirens on from a quarter-mile behind, a driver who is inclined to flee probably will.”

Varrenti says it’s preferable for the officer to wait until they are closer to the vehicle. At that point, the officer can transmit the vehicle’s license plate number and a description of the car. The officer can also make a better assessment of who is in the vehicle.

“If you conduct a stop in accordance with the way we train officers to do it, you limit the opportunity for them to flee,” Varrenti said. “It’s not a guarantee, but it s an important factor.”

If a vehicle does refuse to pull over, officers are trained to go through a mental checklist, starting with the reason for making a vehicle stop in the first place. Did an officer see a driver roll through a red light, or was the stop initiated because the license plate comes back to a felony suspect?

Officers also need to be aware of the conditions which might make a pursuit more dangerous, including the time of day, the weather conditions, and the suspect’s vehicle. Is it a 1984 Ford Escort or is it a shiny new Lamborghini?

“All of those things go through their mind during the initial decision about whether to pursue,” Varrenti said, “and the supervisor, who is at a distance, can provide another evaluation of all of those criteria.”

Once a pursuit ensues, both the pursuing officer and the supervisor are constantly re-evaluating the circumstances as they change. Did the pursuit move from a rural area to a high traffic area, or are the vehicles entering a school zone? How fast is the pursuit, and how much traffic is around?

If the decision is made to end the pursuit, Varrenti said, most officers are OK with that.

“We’re not afraid to put aside our egos, put out a description of the vehicle and let another agency catch them at some other time.”

Besides, he added, high-speed pursuits are nothing like what we might see on television.

“Pursuits are not fun. They put everybody in danger, including the officer,” he said. “When we can avoid them we will.”

Evolution in approach

Varrenti, who served in the town of Irondequoit before becoming Brockport’s chief, said that policies on pursuits have changed dramatically in the course of his 36-year career. Phelan, who has been with the Greece Police Department for 28 years, agreed.

“Many years ago, we would pursue for lesser offenses, and let pursuits go on longer,” Phelan said.

“We’ve learned as a police community, that with them (pursuits) comes a significant risk to human life. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to do it, because there is also a significant risk in letting the person go in some circumstances.”

The thinking about vehicle pursuits continues to evolve. Anytime one occurs — even if it’s discontinued quickly — the internal review process can reveal new lessons and lead to changes in policy or training.

Part of the evolution has been a realization that the people who decide to flee the police might not share a concern over escalating a dangerous situation.

“Our challenge is to react in a safe and rational manner when we’re dealing with people who aren’t safe and rational. Its not always an easy thing,” Phelan said.

SLAHMAN@Gannett.com

Woman survives push from platform as train driver stops with inches ...

CNN —

A man who pushed a woman in front of an approaching train at a Brussels metro station on Friday January 14 has been detained on suspicion of attempted manslaughter, according to prosecutors.

The woman narrowly survived after the driver was able to pull the emergency brake just in time to avoid a fatal accident. In footage of the event, she can be seen with her head on the tracks as the train comes to a halt in front of her.

In a statement given to CNN, the Brussels public prosecutor’s office confirmed that police had been called to the Rogier metro station around 7:45 p.m. local time because “a young man had pushed a woman onto the metro tracks.”

A man pushed a woman onto the tracks of a Brussels metro station on Friday. The train driver was able to pull the emergency brake in time to avoid a fatal accident. @jen_maeva03/Tik Tok

When the police arrived, they determined that the victim had already been rescued by witnesses. According to the public prosecutor’s office, rescue services attended to both the victim and the metro driver and they received hospital treatment before being discharged.

“It appears that a young man, after walking back and forth on the platform, pushed a woman on the metro tracks as a metro was approaching the station,” the public prosecutor’s office said. “The driver, warned by other people on the platform, was able to stop the metro before it hit the victim. Thanks to the quick intervention of the metro driver, not a single passenger in the metro was injured.”

The public prosecutor’s office said that the assailant fled along the tracks after the train stopped but was intercepted a few minutes later at the Brouckere station.

After questioning by the police, the suspect was then placed in the custody of the Brussels public prosecutor, who is seeking a charge of attempted manslaughter, according to the statement.

The public prosecutor’s office said that “the investigation is still ongoing to determine the exact circumstances of the events and the motive of the suspect.”

Mick Krever Hannah Ryan
Mick Krever
Hannah Ryan

Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 21 June 2021 | The Week UK

Covid-era rail tickets launched

New flexible season tickets have gone on sale aimed at commuters who travel to work only two or three days a week. The new tickets can be used for eight days in any month-long period. They are part of the government's planned shake-up of rail services but are being introduced early in response to the trend towards more home working. Ministers say commuters could save between £60 and £350 a year.