California deputy killed by friendly fire
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- A sheriff's deputy who died in a mass shooting at a California bar was shot five times by a gunman who massacred 11 others, but the officer was killed by friendly fire, authorities said Friday.
Sgt. Ron Helus was fatally shot in the heart by a California highway patrolman who had joined him in the chaotic gunbattle at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said.
Investigators did not offer any more insight into what drove Ian David Long, 28, to storm the country-western bar during a weekly event for college students.
Helus and the California Highway Patrol officer returned fire, but Long was not struck by any of their rounds and took his own life after the firefight.
Helus was wearing a bullet-resistant vest when he was shot, but officials did not say where the bullet entered his body. His wounds from Long's handgun were serious, but potentially survivable, said Christopher Young, the chief medical examiner.
The California Highway Patrol officer was only identified as a nine-year veteran of the force. He is on leave.
Medical official faces trial in Flint crisis
LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan's chief medical executive will stand trial on involuntary manslaughter and other charges in a criminal investigation over the Flint water crisis, a judge ruled Friday, making Dr. Eden Wells the second member of Gov. Rick Snyder's Cabinet to go before a jury.
Wells is among six current or former government officials facing involuntary manslaughter charges in connection to an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area in 2014 and 2015. Wells is now the second high-ranking state official, along with Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, to be ordered to trial.
Wells, who like Lyon is accused of failing to alert the public of the spike in Legionnaires' cases in a timely manner and causing the death of 85-year-old John Snyder, learned of the trial decision from Judge William Crawford II inside a Flint courtroom. The 55-year-old from Ann Arbor also faces charges of obstructing justice, lying to an investigator and committing misconduct in office.
She denied any wrongdoing.
"Dr. Wells is not guilty of these manufactured crimes and we will continue to fight as long as it takes to achieve a just result," said Steven Tramontin, one of her attorneys.
Officer in stun-gun case wins appeal
HARTFORD, Conn. -- A Connecticut police officer who used a stun gun on a 12-year-old deaf boy at his school acted reasonably and cannot be sued by the boy's parents for excessive force because of government immunity, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York decided in favor of now-retired West Hartford officer Paul Gionfriddo, who appealed a lower court judge's denial of his request to dismiss the claims against him in the parents' lawsuit. The appeals court overturned the lower court and ordered it to issue a judgment for Gionfriddo.
Gionfriddo and another officer responded to the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford in April 2013 when school officials reported the boy had assaulted a teacher during a dispute over a takeout food order. School officials say the boy hit the teacher with a stick and rocks outside the school.
Police said they ordered the boy to drop a large rock and warned him they would use a stun gun if he didn't. Teachers at the school translated the officers' commands and warnings in sign language to the boy, who police say ignored officers' orders.
Gionfriddo shot the boy once with stun gun wires and administered electroshock for five seconds, then deployed a second electroshock that allowed officers to get handcuffs on, officials said.
The boy claimed he was defending himself after a teacher assaulted him. He also denied receiving and understanding the teachers' sign language interpretations of the police commands.
Police give all-clear in CNN bomb threat
NEW YORK -- Police gave the all-clear Thursday night after a phoned in bomb threat forced the evacuation of CNN's offices in New York.
Police said a man with a southern accent called CNN just after 10 p.m. Thursday and said five bombs had been placed throughout the facility inside the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle.
Police said the building was evacuated and building security did a preliminary search. Police units then swept the building with the New York Police Department bomb squad on standby.
Outside the building, CNN's Brian Stelter and Don Lemon continued to broadcast. Lemon said fire alarms rang and a loudspeaker told them they needed to evacuate during his live show.
In October, the building was partially evacuated after a suspicious package containing a crude pipe bomb was delivered to the company.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 12/08/2018