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All Dani Jo Carter heard was a bang.

It was September 25, 2016, but it still felt like a warm, summer night. Stopped at a red light in the heart of downtown Atlanta, Carter gripped the steering wheel of the white Ford Expedition and looked to her right, where Diane McIver, a well-known business executive and her best friend of more than 30 years, sat in shock.

Behind Diane sat her husband, Claud Lee “Tex” McIver, an attorney with powerful political connections, with a gun in his lap.

“Tex, you shot me,” Diane muttered, slumping forward. Hours later, she was pronounced dead at an Atlanta hospital.

Her husband was charged in the killing, and his 2018 criminal trial, which spanned more than a month and featured dozens of witnesses, led to his felony murder conviction.

Jurors found McIver guilty of intentionally shooting his wife, and he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

But now, nearly six years since that trial, McIver, 81, may soon walk out of prison after a plea deal that could mark the end of a tragic and convoluted case of wealth, power and controversy that captured global headlines.

A second trial ends as soon as it begins

In 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court threw out the guilty verdict against McIver, ruling jurors should have been allowed to consider a lesser charge. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced she would retry McIver for felony murder, setting the stage for a second trial in December 2023.

But the new trial was halted indefinitely as soon as jury selection began over evidence issues.

And last Friday, with the second trial never making it any further, McIver took a negotiated deal and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of felony involuntary manslaughter, admitting he acted recklessly with the gun but did not intentionally shoot his wife.

“This resolution that the lawyers on both sides have reached is one that will allow the greatest number of people to move forward as best they can,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said last Friday.

McIver’s negotiated sentence – including eight years in prison – is largely offset by the roughly 6.5 years he’s already spent behind bars, his attorney Don Samuel told CNN, adding he could be released on parole any day – if the parole board approves. Once he is released, McIver will be on probation at home, with a strict curfew and ankle monitor, according to the plea agreement.

A dark night, a traffic jam and a gunshot

On that night in 2016, Carter and the McIvers were on their way back to Atlanta after a weekend at their sprawling ranch about an hour away in Putnam County, where they had horses, a guest house and a saloon-style entertainment area among other amenities. Carter and Diane chatted for most of the drive after the group stopped for dinner. In the back seat, Tex appeared to nod off.

CNN gathered details of Diane’s last night from witness testimony during McIver’s 2018 murder trial and from the June 2022 state Supreme Court ruling that reversed his conviction.

For a Sunday evening, traffic was heavy on the interstate. A string of red brake lights stretching far into the distance welcomed them to the city. At the urging of her friend, Dani Jo Carter took an early exit off the highway, to return to the McIvers’ lavish Buckhead condo through the downtown streets.

“This is a really bad area,” McIver complained from the backseat as they exited the highway, saying they were in a bad part of town. He would later tell investigators the area was dark and had a “particularly high population” of homeless people.

McIver asked his wife for his gun, and she reached into the SUV’s center console and handed back a .38 caliber revolver inside a Publix bag.

Soon, they reached a stoplight.

The conversation stopped. Carter heard Diane locking the car doors as they waited. Then, came the bang.

A massive auction, conflicting statements and questions

Prosecutors in the 2018 trial argued McIver had intentionally killed his wife for her money.

Diane was described by those who knew her as a good friend and a brilliant businesswoman. She rose from a bookkeeper to the president of a real estate business and owned, or partly owned, at least three other companies. Tex was a partner at a large law firm with offices across the US and sat on the state’s election board, which oversees voting and election procedures. When the pair got married, they kept their finances separate, prosecutor Seleta Griffin had told jurors.

Tex McIver’s life had begun “spinning out of control” before Diane’s death, Griffin said. His salary saw a steep decline as he prepared to retire and he borrowed large sums of money from Diane to try and keep up with his affluent lifestyle, including a $350,000 loan that would allow her to foreclose on the couple’s ranch if he couldn’t pay on time. Who would get that ranch after the couple died was a point of contention, prosecutors said. McIver wanted to leave it to a son from a previous marriage, while Diane wanted it to go to their godson.

In the months after Diane’s death, McIver auctioned off her expensive belongings – a quick sale prosecutors argued showed he was focused on money. McIver said he was advised by an attorney to sell his late wife’s things to fulfill her will’s responsibilities.

“He sold her hats, shoes, purses, her fur coats. Why?” lead prosecutor Clint Rucker said in 2018 closing statements, arguing obligations in her will still were not fulfilled after those sales. “He didn’t care about Diane McIver; he just wanted her money.”

The state also argued McIver’s comments and actions after his wife’s death suggested he was dishonest and lacked remorse.

An emergency room nurse told the court she heard him say he shot Diane while cleaning the gun in his bathroom. (Defense attorneys pointed out no other nurses heard McIver make that comment.) A man who had worked for Diane testified McIver told him they had been in a car accident and his wife was killed.

Another witness also testified that about a month after Diane’s death, McIver spoke about a woman he had dated and said maybe he could “get her back.”

Prosecutors also argued McIver had a financial motive by saying his net worth shot up when Diane died, and after her death, he became the executor and one of the beneficiaries of her multimillion-dollar estate.

“On September 25, 2016, Diane was making all of the money. Diane owned the two condos in Buckhead. Diane could take the ranch – this ranch, according to the witnesses, that was his pride and joy,” Griffin said in the trial. “The easiest way for him to gain control was to kill Diane.”

But the defense argued that because McIver served as the executor of his wife’s estate, he did not have control of her money, but had to fulfill bequests in her will and pay off other obligations, including funeral expenses. And, the defense said, Diane’s death cut off a regular cash flow McIver received from her.

“There is no doubt that Tex McIver depended on his wife’s money,” defense attorney Bruce Harvey said in trial. “It would have been financially detrimental to him to concoct a plan to deliberately take the life of his wife.”

Defense attorneys argued the shooting was a horrible accident and the gun was accidentally fired when McIver, who they said suffered from a sleeping disorder, was startled. And, the defense said, killing Diane on that drive just didn’t make sense – a point also made by the state’s highest court.

“If McIver intended to fatally shoot Diane, why would he do it in the presence of Carter, and why would he do it in midtown Atlanta, within a few miles of several major hospitals, instead of on a rural interstate, far from any medical aid?” the state’s supreme court ruling said.

Georgia’s Supreme Court sides with McIver, throws out verdict against him

Jurors found McIver guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. They acquitted him of malice murder, finding while he did not intentionally kill his wife, he did purposefully shoot her.

He was also convicted on one count of influencing a witness, stemming from a comment McIver made to Dani Jo Carter on the night of Diane’s death, instructing her to tell authorities she was not in the SUV at the time of the shooting. He has already served the five-year sentence for that count and the state’s supreme court did not overturn that conviction.

McIver appealed his murder conviction, arguing there was enough evidence presented at trial for the judge to have allowed jurors the option to consider a lesser charge of misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter – which carries a much lighter sentence.

The state’s supreme court agreed with him.

“The jury could have concluded that the revolver was not deliberately or intentionally fired, but rather, as McIver suggests, discharged as a result of his being startled awake, reflexively or involuntarily clutching at the bag holding the firearm, and inadvertently contacting the trigger,” the court ruled.

And, it said, the evidence prosecutors presented that the shooting was intentional was “not overwhelming or even strong,” and that witnesses said the couple was “very much in love” and no one testified about any quarrels between them.

The court also ruled that evidence of a new will Diane had allegedly created before her death was “irrelevant and inadmissible.” Prosecutors had attempted to use Diane’s alleged new will to prove McIver had a financial motive to kill her.

Diane’s original will was executed in 2006 – before the McIvers’ godson was born – and included “substantial bequests to (Tex) McIver and established a trust for his benefit,” the supreme court’s ruling said.

But a coworker and friend of Diane testified that a year and a half before her death, Diane entrusted her with making copies of a “new will.” The court also heard testimony Diane had prepared a codicil – a document modifying a person’s will – which added their godson as a beneficiary, but that codicil was never executed.

Prosecutors could not prove a new will existed, and the state supreme court ruled there was no proof McIver knew about it or its contents – nor that there was evidence the alleged new will would give him a reason to want to kill Diane.

Instead of a new trial, a guilty plea on lesser charges

Less than a month after the court’s ruling was published, the district attorney’s office said it would retry McIver on felony murder and the aggravated assault and firearm possession charges, highlighting jurors previously “unanimously convicted (McIver) of intentional crimes of violence against his wife.”

Instead, prosecutors allowed him last month to plead guilty to unintentionally causing his wife’s death. He was sentenced to 15 years: eight in prison and seven on probation, with the first five probation years served under home confinement with a curfew and an ankle monitor, according to the plea agreement. The time he’s already served behind bars will be counted toward his eight-year prison term.

“The resolution reached allows those who loved, cared, and admired Diane McIver to close this chapter and move forward the best they can by honoring the memory of Mrs. McIver who was full of life and touched and changed the lives of many with her larger than life personality and vigor,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Adam Abbate said in a statement emailed to CNN.

McIver is already eligible for parole because he has served more than what is required by Georgia law for the involuntary manslaughter charge, Samuel told CNN, adding the decision is ultimately up to the parole board.

Amanda Clark Palmer, another of McIver’s attorneys, said the plea “recognizes that Tex never intended to hurt Diane. He loved her deeply and still loves her today. He would never do anything to hurt her, much less intend to kill her.”

In a statement before the judge on Friday, McIver apologized for the killing.

“She died as a result of my actions, plain and simple.”

CNN’s Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.

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DODGE COUNTY, Wis. (WFRV) – An escaped Huber inmate in southcentral Wisconsin has deputies asking for the public’s help in finding her, authorities say she was last seen at an approved medical visit.

According to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, 44-year-old Jennifer P. Petersen left the jail, presumably the Dodge County Detention Facility in Juneau, before midnight on Saturday.

Person threatening others with weapon draws large police presence to Appleton business, in custody

Deputies say that Petersen was picked up for her appointment by an approved driver, identified as 46-year-old Matthew Reszel of Milwaukee.

The last confirmed sighting of Petersen was in the parking lot of Marshfield Medical Center in Beaver Dam.

The vehicle she was believed to be traveling in, a red, 2007 Ford Edge with the Wisconsin plate AJA2190, was seen a short time later heading back into Juneau, however, Petersen never reported back to jail.

It was noted in the release that Petersen does not have a known permanent address but has ties to areas in Dodge County and the Madison area.

Wisconsin DOJ: Person shot and killed while approaching officer after I-41 pursuit, claiming to have gun

Anyone with relevant information about where Petersen may be or has recently been is asked to contact the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office at 920-386-3726.

No other information about the incident has been provided.

Huber privileges allow certain inmates to leave a facility for work and medical appointments.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 – Green Bay, Appleton.

President Biden’s team reportedly is fearing that photos included in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s imminent report on the handling of classified documents could impact his 2024 reelection bid.

Axios reported that Biden’s aides do not expect criminal charges as a result of the investigation, but they are concerned about potentially embarrassing photos included in Hur’s expected report that could be released as soon as this week. The images could show how Biden stored classified materials, which were discovered in late 2022 in the garage of Biden’s Delaware home as well as in a private office. The classified documents were carried over from Biden’s time as former President Obama’s vice president.

Biden’s aides told Axios that they are fearful former President Trump’s campaign could use the photos against the Democrat incumbent ahead of their likely 2024 rematch.

Trump himself is facing more than 40 counts, including obstruction of justice and willful retention of national defense information, for improperly storing classified documents at his private residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida after leaving the White House, following a probe by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

BIDEN INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL ABOUT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

With Hur’s report looming, Biden’s aides are concerned Trump’s campaign could attempt to contrast the handling of the two investigations.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Hur, a former U.S. attorney nominated by Trump in 2017 and a former clerk for conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist, is obligated to write a report about the investigation, and Biden’s aides told Axios they expect the report could come as soon as this week, though the exact timing of its release is unknown.

Biden has defended the storing of classified documents in the past.

“By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” he once said.

In a CBS “60 Minutes’ interview last fall, Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed to make public a special counsel’s report related to another matter – the one related to Hunter Biden – “to the extent permissible under the law” and promised to explain the “decisions to prosecute or not prosecute, and their strategic decisions along the way.”

10 UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT BIDEN’S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

“Usually, the special counsels have testified at the end of their reports, and I expect that that will be the case here,” Garland said.

The Justice Department told Axios that Garland is also committed to releasing Hur’s report as well.

Anthony Coley, a former senior adviser to Garland, accused the Biden team of slow-walking discovery in the case.

“Against the backdrop of former President Trump’s indictment on charges of willful and deliberate retention of classified documents, the Biden team’s drip, drip, drip of information made the discoveries seem even worse,” he wrote in an op-ed.

Original article source: Biden camp reportedly fears photos from special counsel classified docs probe could devastate reelection bid

After being brutally attacked by one of her dogs, 25-year-old Kalista Munoz had her right arm amputated. Despite the challenges she faces every single day, Munoz is committed to staying positive.

“Everyone has a sad story, and I can make mine sound like the saddest, but that’s not what I’m trying to do with myself,” said Munoz.

While Munoz has always loved animals, she told The Arizona Republic that the calling to rescue strays and abandoned animals found her. Since Munoz got her first pet — a turtle — she has been caring for abandoned animals, including kittens found in a box and dogs left at a dog park. Munoz currently has four dogs and three cats.

“I love animals but I never imagined that I’d have this many. But I know these animals have come to me and … I know I can give an animal the home they need,” said Munoz.

This is what Munoz was doing with Zona, a stray that a friend of hers found in front of his apartment complex. She’d been caring for Zona for three months when she received a donation to get the dog neutered. The next day, July 2, Zona suddenly darted out of Munoz’s room and ran downstairs, pinning another one of Munoz’s dogs to the wall.

“There was no hesitation on my end, I wanted to protect my babies,” explained Munoz.

Munoz did her best to gain control of the situation, which she described as a “battle.” She ordered her other dogs upstairs and was able to move Zona into the bathroom as the dog bit both of her arms. Once in the bathroom, Munoz pinned the dog but could not stop the attack. Munoz said she estimated the incident lasted for 45 minutes; she remembers losing a lot of blood and feeling dehydrated.

Fortunately, Munoz’s neighbors were moving that day. They heard her cries for help and called the police.

“Phoenix PD was not what I needed them to be in such a traumatic situation..”

But Munoz still faced an uphill battle getting the help she needed once Phoenix police arrived.

“Phoenix PD was not what I needed them to be in such a traumatic situation, which is kind of alarming considering that’s who we depend on for various situations like this,” she said.

Munoz said that it took Phoenix police officers a long time to break down her fence and almost five minutes to enter the house despite her backdoor being unlocked.

Munoz stated that the police dragged her by her feet to the backyard patio chair. Despite her requests, officers did not cover her exposed chest. Bystanders attempting to offer medical aid were instructed to keep their distance. It wasn’t until a different officer arrived much later at the house that her need for a tourniquet was recognized.

“Unfortunately, I have a theory that if they had put tourniquets on me in my time of need, I would not have grown an infection and I would have still had my f***ing arm,” she explained.

Despite her frustrations, Munoz said she is incredibly grateful for the officer who came to her rescue, whom she called a “saint.”

“That officer who came running out telling me I was going to be OK, that’s the type of officer I like to see,” said Munoz.

When Arizona Republic reached out to Phoenix PD, they provided the following statement:

“Officers were called to an ‘unknown trouble’ call at a residence near 15th Avenue and Missouri Avenue. When responding to a call for service, officers must assess the situation, determine an appropriate course of action, and respond accordingly. Within approximately 11 minutes, officers had gathered information from witnesses, secured the scene to ensure there was no ongoing threat to others, located the victim, separated her from a dangerous situation, and relocated the victim to receive EMS care.”

When the ambulance arrived, Munoz was transported to a hospital and placed in an induced coma for a week. Despite the doctors’ efforts to save her arm, it proved to be an uphill battle.

They went into her left leg to extract a central vein to replace the damaged one in her right arm, Munoz explained. Unfortunately, that procedure did not return feeling to her arm, and Munoz also developed a fatal infection. At this point, doctors told her that if they amputated the arm now, it would be possible to save the elbow and replace the upper arm with a prosthetic.

“It was my conscious decision,” explained Munoz.

Munoz’s amputation was successful, and she was able to receive a bionic arm prosthetic. Unfortunately, when the prototype arrived, her dogs got to it first. Munoz has requested another one, but since they are custom-made it will take some time.

Road to recovery

Returning to her daily tasks has been challenging, she said. Although Munoz is left-handed, the loss of her right arm significantly complicates her work as an assistant manager at a restaurant, where she carries dishes and busses tables.

Munoz said her bosses at work were empathetic and understanding when she returned to work. She’s worked at the restaurant for seven years, and management knew she would continue to do her job well.

Munoz must also keep up with the needs of the seven animals in her care, which was no easy task even before the accident.

She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in social justice at Arizona State University and is determined to finish by December. Given her coursework, which involves a significant amount of writing, the process takes longer with only one hand. While her professors have been understanding, Munoz has expressed some frustrations with ASU’s formal process for accommodating disabled students.

“I’ve had to fill out the same form around five freaking times now. And I don’t know how else to tell them that losing an arm affects your academics,” said Munoz.

Telling her truth

Munoz expressed her commitment to sharing her story, hoping that some good can come from it.

“My motivation to tell my tale is that it brings exposure to disability, to self wellness, and to animal owners to be responsible,” she said. “I am human and I have my bad days … but I definitely take this as a very rewarding experience. My future ahead of me is so much bigger.”

“Maybe all it needed to cost me was my arm to be able to be a great social worker and be better able to empathize with people,” she added.

Munoz is unsure of what she will do when she graduates in December, although she is leaning toward work that addresses systemic issues in the prison system.

Despite everything she has been through, Munoz said she holds no anger toward Zona, whom she still refers to as “her sweet angel.” She said the dog, who was euthanized after the incident, was not himself when he attacked. Munoz wonders if the whole situation could have been avoided if she took in Zona sooner.

“When I see other animals like him in certain situations, it makes me very sad because there’s so much bad in this world,” said Munoz. “Why can’t we just take ownership of being somewhat a good part?”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix woman speaks out about having arm amputated after dog attack

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Sunday denounced anti-Arab rhetoric in response to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece targeting Dearborn, Michigan, that the mayor called “bigoted” and “Islamophobic.”

The WSJ published the piece on Friday headlined as “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital”, suggesting the city’s residents, including religious leaders and politicians, supported Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and extremism. The column drew outrage from Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, as well as several U.S. lawmakers and rights advocates from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The mayor said on Saturday he had ramped up the city’s police presence at houses of worship and other public places after “an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn.” As of Sunday afternoon, there were no reports of any unrest in Dearborn, a suburb of about 110,000 people that borders Detroit.

Biden, while not referring directly to the WSJ or the article’s author, said on social media platform X it was wrong to blame “a group of people based on the words of a small few.”

“That’s exactly what can lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate, and it shouldn’t happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American town,” Biden said on the platform formerly called Twitter.

The city has one of the highest percentages of Arab Americans among U.S. cities, with census figures showing it is about 54% Arab American.

“Reckless. Bigoted. Islamophobic,” Hammoud said on Saturday about the WSJ piece written by Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Biden, who is running for re-election, has himself faced criticism and protests from Dearborn and from anti-war voices around the country for his administration’s support for Israel in its operations in Gaza.

The WSJ did not respond to a request for comment. Stalinsky said he stood by his piece and added that videos compiled by his institute showed that “shocking anti-U.S. and pro-jihad sermons and marches” had taken place in the city. Reuters was not able to independently verify the location or the date of when the videos were filmed.

Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism in the U.S. since the eruption of war in the Middle East in October.

Among anti-Palestinian incidents that raised alarm were a November shooting in Vermont of three students of Palestinian descent and the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American in Illinois in October.

Some Democratic members of the U.S. Congress like Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna, and Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, also condemned the WSJ opinion piece, with Jayapal demanding an apology from the newspaper.

The latest eruption of war in the Middle East began on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200. Israel has since assaulted Hamas-governed Gaza, killing over 27,000, according to the local health ministry. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is displaced. The densely populated enclave also faces starvation.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington;Editing by Dan Burns and Lisa Shumaker)

FIRST ON FOX: Four men charged in Saturday’s attack on two NYPD officers are believed to have fled to California on a bus, and unwitting taxpayers appear to have paid for their tickets, a law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.

The city and Mayor Eric Adams have been struggling with a massive influx of illegal immigrants under President Biden.

With many new arrivals making their way to blue sanctuary cities, New York in October began offering one-way plane tickets to migrants who wanted to leave.

Surveillance cameras captured a group of migrants brawling with two police officers, kicking them in the head and wrestling on the ground in video that shocked the city and much of the country this week.

MIGRANT ARRESTED IN SPAT WITH POLICE AFTER SHOWING OFF NYPD ATTACK VIDEO

More quietly, the city’s Office of Emergency Management has been supplying travel vouchers to migrants who approach participating nonprofit groups and ask for help leaving the overburdened city, according to law enforcement sources. Those vouchers can be used for various means of transportation, including buses.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

NYC MIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING POLICE FLEE TO CALIFORNIA UPON RELEASE: REPORT

A handful of the suspects in the shocking attack, after being freed without bail, are believed to have swapped immigration numbers with other people at their shelter and used the misappropriated identities to obtain vouchers and tickets under fake names, a law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.

DANIEL PENNY LAWYER BLASTS RELEASE OF MIGRANTS WHO ATTACKED NYPD OFFICERS WITHOUT BAIL: ‘VERY CONFOUNDING’

A woman who answered the phone at the church where the suspects are believed to have obtained travel vouchers said she would take a message for the priest authorized to speak with the media. He did not immediately return the call.

But the source said it was a woman at the church who recognized the suspects’ faces in retrospect and flagged their departure to OEM.

An OEM spokesperson deferred comment to City Hall. The mayor’s office shared a statement  but did not respond to specific questions about the bus vouchers.

“The men and women of the NYPD put their lives on the line every single day, working tirelessly to keep us and our streets safe,” a spokesperson said. “Violence — of any kind, and no less against our officers — is unacceptable and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONVICTED OF ASSAULT LAST MONTH AMONG 3 ARRESTED AGAIN IN SANCTUARY CITY ROBBERY

At a press conference Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she wanted to speak with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg about why most of the suspects were released without bail and said prosecutors should have sought to keep them jailed.

“Certainly an assault on a police officer is bail eligible,” Hochul told reporters. “There are over 100 crimes that also can lead to deportation, and so that is also something I want to have a conversation with the district attorney about – his options here.”

Bragg, who met with the governor earlier but did not take part in the news briefing, declined to comment when asked by Fox News why five of the suspects were released. A spokesman for his office told Fox News Digital the alleged bus escape is under investigation.

On the way out of his Manhattan arraignment Wednesday, suspect Jhoan Boada, 22, flashed news photographers two middle fingers while walking with another man who was later arrested after being spotted showing the assault video to other men outside a migrant shelter nearby.

Yoiber Martinez, 19, appeared on video arguing with passing police officers and smoking from a pipe before staggering down the sidewalk. He was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, disrupting traffic and possession of a controlled substance.

At the time of his arrest, he was already walking free despite more than a dozen pending larceny charges, including six felonies related to credit card theft.

Some, but not all, of the suspects and their associates are part of an “Oliver Twist”-style group of Venezuelan pickpockets who operate a ring around Times Square and other tourist attractions, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital Friday.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The NYPD identified the assault suspects as Boada, Yohenry Brito, 24, Jandry Barros, 21, Darwin Andres Gomez Izquiel, 19, Kelvin Servat Arocha, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Yorman Reveron, 24.

Reveron has two pending cases in Manhattan for assault and robbery. Barros’ charges in the officer assault were dropped by Bragg’s office, citing a lack of evidence, but he has an open case in Queens on counts of resisting arrest, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

Original article source: Illegals who caught bus out of NYC after attack on police may have gotten free ride from US taxpayers: sources

CNN has obtained new video that, according to the Iraqi military, shows the aftermath of US strikes on an apparent weapons depot in Qaim, Iraq. US strikes were launched on 85 targets in response to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal lawsuit says a woman who died last February shouldn’t have been discharged from a Tennessee hospital, forced to leave despite her pleas for more help and unassisted by security guards and police during a medical emergency.

The son of 60-year-old Lisa Edwards on Thursday sued the city of Knoxville, a security company, individual officers and security guards, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, its parent company and a physician group.

The death sparked public outrage after the Knoxville Police Department released video early last year showing officers accusing Edwards of faking mobility and breathing problems and ignoring her repeated pleas for help.

Edwards used a wheelchair because of a disability from a previous stroke, the lawsuit says.

Security officers at the hospital called police Feb. 5, 2023, saying that Edwards had been evaluated and discharged, but she was refusing to leave. Several police officers were investigated. The lawsuit filed in Knoxville names three officers who were later disciplined by the city’s police department, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Police Chief Paul Noel has previously said he was “embarrassed and disturbed” by what he saw in the video of the interaction, and added that Edwards “deserved better from us.”

The Knox County District Attorney’s office declined to press criminal charges against the officers after an autopsy determined that Edwards died of a stroke and that “at no time did law enforcement interaction cause or contribute to Ms. Edwards’ death.”

Additionally, the hospital said it conducted a thorough internal investigation of Edwards’ care and found that her “medical treatment and hospital discharge were clinically appropriate.”

The hospital said changes were being made to security procedures. Several security officers who were working at the facility when Edwards was removed are no longer working there, and the hospital and its parent company, Covenant Health, announced plans to add empathy training for security guards.

Edwards was “rolled by hospital security guards into the freezing cold wearing only paper scrubs, placed under physical arrest, and forcibly removed by police officers from the hospital property,” according to the lawsuit, which says it was 29 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 1.7 Celsius) at the time.

A video released by police showed officers struggle for about 25 minutes to move Edwards into a police van and finally a cruiser. Edwards repeatedly asks for help. But she is rebuffed by officers and hospital security guards who become frustrated with her inability to step up into the van and tell her she is faking her incapacity.

After she is placed in a police cruiser, video shows Edwards trying to pull herself upright repeatedly, but eventually she slumps over out of sight. Several minutes later, one of the officers performs a traffic stop on another vehicle while Edwards remains in the backseat.

When he opens the rear door, Edwards is unresponsive. He calls dispatch for an ambulance, telling them, “I don’t know if she’s faking it or what, but she’s not answering me.”

Edwards was pronounced dead at the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center the following day.

“This was an emergency medical condition that began and worsened on hospital property and that was unequivocally preventable and treatable,” the lawsuit states.

The 18-count lawsuit claims violations of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth and 14th amendments, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. It alleges a conspiracy to violate federal civil rights and violations of state laws, including a wrongful death claim.

A Covenant Health spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit. A city of Knoxville spokesperson declined to comment as well.

Tucker Carlson, one of America’s most influential presenters, was compared to Jane Fonda after pictures appeared to show him in Russia.

Russian media published a picture that is said to show Carlson attending a performance of Spartacus at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, prompting speculation of an interview with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Carlson has expressed sympathetic views on Russia and Putin.

Commenting on the unverified pictures, Bill Kristol, former chief of staff to the vice president of the United States during the Reagan administration, said: “I didn’t like Jane Fonda going to Hanoi in 1972, and I don’t like Tucker Carlson going to Moscow in 2024.”

Fonda was nicknamed Hanoi Jane and accused of showing sympathy for a US enemy when the American actress was filmed posing on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun as US troops were battling communist forces in the country.

Mr Kristol suggested a temporary ban on Carlson reentering the US.

‌He said: “Perhaps we need a total and complete shutdown of Tucker Carlson re-entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

The image of Carlson, alongside another of him allegedly at Istanbul airport on a layover, reignited rumours that the political commentator and former Fox News host may be the first Western journalist to interview the Russian president since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The potential visit also follows rumours of Carlson linking-up with Russian state television for a new show. Carlson is one of the most prominent figures in US media, particularly on the Right, and was close to Donald Trump.

He is known to be sympathetic to Putin, and any link with Russia will likely worry Democrats at a time when Joe Biden is pushing for more money and weapons to be sent to Ukraine.

Tucker Carlson Tonight was the most viewed cable news show in America before it was taken off-air amid a defamation lawsuit in April 2023.

The presenter has since taken his show to Twitter, where his interviews with figures such as Victor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, and controversial online influencer Andrew Tate have reached millions of views.

Rumours of a link-up with Russia first circulated in the summer, when Russian state television ran ads with a montage of Carlson repeatedly saying “Russia” and promising: “The high-profile American presenter is moving to another level. Here.”

Carlson is popular with Russian state-controlled media. Vladimir Solovyov, an anchor on the Russia 1 channel, urged Carlson to “come join us” after Carlson’s departure from Fox News.

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary to Vladimir Putin, said in September that he believes that the “time will come” for an interview by Western media of the Russian president, adding that “whether Carlson will be among those who will be considered for an interview, well, let’s wait and see”.

‘Remarkably stupid or consciously evil’

Bill Browder, the British financier and arch-critic of Vladimir Putin, said: “As Russia conducts a genocidal war to eliminate Ukrainians and Putin is wanted for crimes against humanity by the ICC, Tucker Carlson, an American citizen and influencer, is in Moscow?!? Either he’s remarkably stupid or consciously evil. No other excuse.”

Some Republican responses have been supportive of Carlson’s visit to Moscow.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the US House of Representatives from Georgia, wrote on social media that “Democrats and their propagandists in the media are spasming at the prospect of Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin”.

In January, Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of former US president Donald Trump, said Carlson was “a contender” to be his father’s running mate in the US 2024 presidential election.

“I mean they’re very friendly, I think they agree on virtually all of these things. They certainly agree on stopping the never-ending wars. And so, I would love to see that happen. That would certainly be a contender,” Trump Jr said in an interview with Newsmax.

According to Russian Telegram channel Mash, Carlson was pictured at the Bolshoi Theatre after spending three days in Moscow.

He was earlier pictured during a layover at Istanbul Airport en route to the Russian capital.

The Telegraph has contacted Tucker Carlson for comment.

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• Ukrainian forces decimated a Russian column of 11 tanks and armored vehicles.

• Ukraine heavily relied on FPV attack drones to obliterate the Russian vehicles.

• Russia’s perceived tactical blunders are increasingly frustrating Russian military bloggers.

Ukrainian forces deployed FPV, or first-person-view, attack drones to help obliterate a column of Russian armored vehicles, Metro reported.

Video appears to show Ukrainian exploding drones finishing off 11 tanks and armored vehicles. It included three T-72 tanks, five tracked amphibious armored fighting vehicles, and an infantry fighting vehicle reduced to burning hulks scattered across the battlefield.

Ukraine also destroyed two tracked armored fighting vehicles, one with an anti-tank guided missile, Metro reported.

The battle was near the settlement of Novomykhailivka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, which Russia has been attempting to capture since October.

Cameras mounted on the attacking drones and those flying overhead captured the assault, showing the devastation to the Russian column.

The convoy was maneuvering near the front lines along the east of Ukraine and became vulnerable to fire from artillery and swift and targeted drone strikes.

Leveling Russia’s battlefield advantage

Footage shows the FPV exploding drones accelerating toward the Russian tanks and armored vehicles, with the feed abruptly cutting off just before impact.

Other footage gives a panoramic view, showing the dark shapes of tanks in motion, some bursting into flames as the exploding drones hit, followed by an aftermath of smoking, twisted wrecks abandoned in winter fields pockmarked with shell holes.

The video was dated January 30. According to reports, the battle lasted nearly 2 ½ hours.

Business Insider could not independently verify the video.

The apparent victory against the armored column matters because Ukraine increasingly sees relatively inexpensive drone technology as a way of leveling Russia’s battlefield advantage.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, wrote on Thursday for CNN News that with accelerated technical innovations, the nature of war had changed.

He highlighted the key role that unmanned weapons systems, such as drones, play in helping Ukraine against Putin’s forces despite Russia’s significant manpower and weapon superiority.

FPV drones are an effective and low-cost weapon that Russia and Ukraine have used since the start of the full-scale invasion.

“Perhaps the number one priority here is mastery of an entire arsenal of (relatively) cheap, modern and highly effective unmanned vehicles and other technological means.

Already such assets allow commanders to monitor the situation on the battlefield in real time, day and night, and in all weather conditions,” Ukraine’s top military leader wrote.

‘Complete stupidity and incompetence’

While the number of casualties from the wrecked armored column remains unknown, the strikes triggered a backlash among pro-war “Z” channels associated with Putin, expressing frustration over perceived military incompetence, Metro reported.

Russian military bloggers have become increasingly frustrated with the Russian military’s tactics. Russian forces continue to self-sabotage by gathering in large groups to attack Ukrainian positions, making them an easy target for Ukrainian drones.

The Institute for the Study of War, or ISW, a US think tank, said one Russian military blogger expressed dismay at Russian forces‘ tactics, describing them as “complete stupidity and incompetence.”

Another Kremlin-affiliated milblogger argued that Russian military command needs to stop attacking in mechanized columns due to repeated high equipment losses.

The milblogger also criticized military leadership for not accounting for Ukrainian drone operations and not equipping Russian armored vehicles with electronic-warfare systems, ISW said.

Ukraine, after nearly two years of war, has called on the West to bolster its defenses. The increased use of drone attacks, which have reached targets as far afield as Moscow and St. Petersburg, has become a strategic focus for Ukraine.

“It’s a war of armor against projectiles. At the moment, projectiles are winning,” Gleb Molchanov, a Ukrainian drone operator, told The Guardian.

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