Suspect held in synthetic pot overdoses
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Police arrested a 53-year-old man after more than 100 people who took a synthetic marijuana overdosed, many of them in the same New Haven park, after authorities said Friday that they caught the suspect with 32 bags of the drug.
Several victims identified John Parker of New Haven as one of the people who was dealing K2 on New Haven Green, where most of the overdoses occurred Wednesday and Thursday, Police Chief Anthony Campbell said. No deaths were reported, and officials said most people recovered quickly.
No overdoses were reported Friday.
Parker, who was arrested Wednesday and is being held in lieu of $225,000 bond, was charged with drug crimes after being found in possession of the K2 bags, Campbell said. He was also charged in connection with drug sales in the city earlier this year, the chief said.
Campbell said two other people were arrested -- one by New Haven police and one by federal authorities -- but investigators were trying to determine whether they were connected to the overdoses.
Authorities described chaotic scenes at the park near Yale University, with people falling unconscious at the same time. Others became nauseated, officials said. Some people who overdosed returned to the green and overdosed again, officials said.
Killer of 5 people at airport gets life
MIAMI -- A 28-year-old Alaska man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the January 2017 Florida airport shooting that left five people dead and six wounded, a federal judge ordered Friday.
U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom accepted a plea deal in which Esteban Santiago agreed to admit to the shooting if prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. Santiago pleaded guilty in May to 11 charges of causing death and violence at an international airport. He was sentenced to five consecutive life prison sentences for the five deaths and an additional 120 years for the six people he wounded.
Santiago, of Anchorage, admitted he opened fire with a handgun in a baggage area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after traveling there on a one-way ticket. He retrieved a box containing a Walther 9mm handgun from checked luggage, loaded it in a restroom and came out firing 15 shots.
Bloom called the rampage "85 seconds of evil" and said she found it difficult to "separate the evil of the acts from the evil in the man."
An Iraq War veteran, Santiago was diagnosed after the shooting as schizophrenic but was found competent to understand legal proceedings.
Prosecutor Rick Del Toro said the family members supported the decision not to seek the death penalty for Santiago, with many preferring that Santiago sit in prison for decades rather than face execution.
Trial now likely in fatal warehouse fire
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Lawyers for the two men charged in the Northern California warehouse fire that killed 36 people said Friday that they are now preparing for a trial where they will try to shift blame for the blaze from their clients to others, including the building's owner and government officials.
Derick Almena, 48, and Max Harris, 28, on Friday appeared briefly in an Oakland courtroom for the first time since a judge scuttled a plea deal agreed to by prosecutors. They were ordered back to court in three weeks to schedule a trial.
Outside court, the men's lawyers say there's plenty of blame to share for the Dec. 2, 2016, fire in an Oakland warehouse illegally converted into an underground entertainment venue and live-work space for artists. The cause of the fire has never been determined.
"It could have been arson," Almena's lawyer, Tony Serra, said. "It could have been started by the guy next door ... who knows?"
Serra also said numerous government officials, including child welfare workers and police, visited the illegally converted warehouse before the fire, and they had a duty to report the building's condition to authorities. In addition, Oakland's Fire Department conceded that it failed to inspect the warehouse annually as required.
Oklahoma cannabis initiative in doubt
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma secretary of state says the number of signatures submitted in a push to enshrine the use of medical marijuana in the state constitution has come up short, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court will make the final decision.
Secretary of State James Williamson announced Friday that his office counted more than 95,000 signatures for State Question 796. Almost 124,000 are required to qualify for the November ballot.
Pro-marijuana group Green the Vote submitted the signatures Aug. 8. The state Supreme Court will officially determine whether the signatures are sufficient.
A separate initiative, State Question 797, would make recreational marijuana legal for adults 21 or older. Green the Vote has also submitted signatures for that measure.
A Section on 08/18/2018