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Florida girl and boy, armed with AK-47, in shootout with deputies
Two children in Florida ran away from a group home, broke into a house and engaged in a shootout with law enforcement officers responding to the scene, authorities said on Wednesday.
A 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl found guns inside a home they broke into in Enterprise, Fla., and fired on sheriff's deputies, the Volusia County sheriff's office said in a statement.
The girl was shot and wounded after she pointed a shotgun at deputies.
"The 12-year-old boy, armed with an AK-47, finally put down his weapon shortly thereafter and was not injured," the sheriff's statement said.
Body cam footage released on Wednesday showed deputies hiding behind trees as shots rang out around them. The footage of when the girl was shot was blurred. The audio of the video painted a frantic scene as deputies rushed to provide medical aid to the girl, who was screaming in pain.
She underwent surgery and was in stable condition, authorities said. No sheriff's deputies were hurt in the Tuesday night shooting.
Unspecified charges against the children are pending, according to the sheriff's department.
The children had run away from Florida United Methodist Children's Home in Enterprise on Tuesday afternoon, the sheriff's department said.
A few hours later, they broke into a home. Passersby reported hearing glass breaking at the home, and alerted the deputies.
The officers surrounded the home. At that point gunfire erupted from the house, the sheriff's statement said. The home contained a handgun, a shotgun and the AK-47, along with a large amount of ammunition.
Over the course of 35 minutes there were four exchanges of gunfire.
"Deputies did everything they could tonight to de-escalate, and they almost lost their lives to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old," said Volusia County sheriff Mike Chitwood.
The sheriff said the girl had a record and last year was arrested for lighting several vacant lots on fire.
During a Wednesday press conference, Chitwood blasted Florida's juvenile justice system as being broken. He noted that violent teenage offenders are often put into group homes not trained to handle them. He said the girl involved in the shooting should not have been placed in the home she escaped from.
Ex-state trooper sent himself nude photos from woman’s phone after crash
Sytonia Reid
34 year-old Albert Kuehne pleaded guilty to the “nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images”
Former Minnesota state trooper Albert Kuehne has pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining the private photos of a 25 year-old woman during an arrest made last year. This week, 34 year-old Kuehne pleaded guilty to the “nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images” for which he is likely to receive two years of probation, NBC News reports.
Last March, Kuehne detained an unnamed woman who was suspected of driving while intoxicated after a crash near Minneapolis’s Cedar Avenue and Interstate 94. While the woman was being examined by medical staff on the scene, Kuehne obtained her cell phone and scrolled through her photos without permission.
The former state trooper then texted three photos to himself and deleted the texts from the victim’s phone — two of them showed the woman’s exposed breast, according to the Washington Post.
Although there was no evidence of the sent texts on the cell phone itself, the victim’s boyfriend discovered them on a Mac laptop that was synched and called the recipient number, which was Kuehne’s. The former state trooper originally received felony charges of “harassment with bias” which could carry up to five years in prison, but his plea deal cooperation means he will receive a lighter sentence.
“We hold troopers to a high standard and the conduct outlined in this complaint is reprehensible and inconsistent with the core values of the Minnesota State Patrol,” said Col. Matt Langer in a statement to KSTP.
Kuehne, who is also an Army Reserves veteran was fired from the force last October and the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board confirmed to KSTP that he no longer has an active law enforcement license in Minnesota.
In 2018, Kuehne was also suspended after pursuing an 80 mph high-speed chase in northern Minneapolis that resulted in three small children being hit by a car; all of the children miraculously survived but the incident caused the Hennepin County Attorney General to question Kuehne’s judgment.
“Minnesota State Trooper Albert Kuehne, who will be sentenced later this month, is also an Army reservist. After her arrest, she found her explicit photos sent to a strange number. A state trooper answered the line,” tweeted Washington Post editor Gina Harkins on Thursday.
Kuehne has a veterans court hearing scheduled for next Monday and is expected to be sentenced later in June.
Best Buy Sued After Delivery Man Allegedly Beats Customer, Sets Her On Fire
Jorge Lachazo killed Evelyn Udell of Boca Raton, Florida, after installing her new washer and dryer, police say.
The family of a 75-year-old woman who was allegedly killed in her Florida home last month by a man who delivered a washer and dryer she bought from a Best Buy store has filed a negligence lawsuit against the retail chain.
Boca Raton police say Jorge Lachazo, 21, smashed Evelyn “Evy” Udell in the head with a mallet, doused her unconscious body with acetone and lit her on fire after delivering the appliances to her home on Aug. 19.
David Gonzalez, who told police that he drove the delivery van that day and that Lachazo was assigned to be his helper, was reportedly outside during the attack. He called 911 after realizing what happened. Udell was transported to a hospital but died the next day.
Police arrested Lachazo soon after he fled the scene in the delivery van. He was charged with first-degree murder on Aug. 29 and was awaiting his arraignment.
According to a lawsuit filed Thursday by Udell’s family, Best Buy is legally responsible for the woman’s wrongful death because the company did not properly investigate and oversee the delivery drivers. Udell believed she hired Best Buy employees, subject to the company’s oversight, to deliver her new washer and dryer and remove the old ones, the lawsuit alleges. But Best Buy hired transport company J.B. Hunt to handle the delivery, which then contracted X.M. Delivery Service, which then assigned Lachazo and Gonzalez to the task.
“It’s scary that the place where we should be the safest ― our own home ― is unfortunately a place of danger,” Nick Panagakis, the Udell family’s attorney, told HuffPost.
Panagakis accused Best Buy of acting with “reckless disregard” and said companies failing to properly vet and take accountability for delivery people and other in-home service workers is a “national epidemic.”
“This has been going on for years,” the lawyer said. “You either have to be operating with blinders on or you just know it and don’t care.”
Udell’s husband, Joel, has suffered from “mental anguish and emotional distress,” according to the lawsuit, filed in the Palm Beach County Circuit Court. The family is seeking compensatory damages in excess of $15 million.
They're also calling for legislation that requires extensive and ongoing background checks for in-home service workers and ensures companies continuously monitor workers for criminal activity as long as they are employed, Udell’s family said during a press conference.
Udell’s family is suing Best Buy on several counts, including negligence and loss of consortium. Lachazo, Gonzalez, X.M. Delivery Service and its owner Manuel Chavez, J.B. Hunt, and the two Best Buy employees who arranged for the washer and dryer to be delivered are also charged in the lawsuit.
Lachazo admitted to police that he attacked Udell and that he had been using cocaine and marijuana earlier, according to an arrest report. He had been previously arrested for theft in 2018 and had a history of traffic and driving-related citations.
Udell suffered multiple skull and facial fractures, severe brain bleeding and second and third-degree burns over the majority of her body, the police report said.
Best Buy said in a statement that it would support legislation requiring background checks across the retail industry and offered to donate to a charity established by the Udell family in the wake of Evelyn’s death.
“Specific to our own practices, background checks have long been required by Best Buy and we are working with those we contract out to ensure that these checks are up-to-date and are done on a re-occurring basis,” the company said. “Additionally, we continue to work with an independent security firm to review the practices of all third parties that we hire to do work on our behalf in customers’ homes.”
J.B. Hunt said in a statement that the company didn’t directly employ Lachazo and that it had stopped working with X.M. Delivery Service amid a review of the firm’s safety standards, reported NBC News.
The Best Motorcycles from the 1970s Are A Blast From The Past
The 1970s was a starting point for a new league of bikes. In the 1970s buyers and riders would start seeing some of the seeds of motorcycles that we have come to know today.
Some motorcycle trends from the 1970s include vintage styling making a comeback as well as highly specialized motorcycles. The 1970s saw one of the largest spikes in riders to this date and even faced some of the declines that came in the later years when vehicles and other modes of transportation became popular. Here are some of the best motorcycles from the 1970s.
This upcoming Kawasaki could go a 1/4 mile in just 12 seconds.
Kawasaki H2 750
First on this list is the H2 Mach IV which was a 750 cc 3-cylinder engine production bike built and manufactured by Kawasaki from 1971 through 1975. Straight from the factory, the H2 was able to race a 1/4 mile in just 12 seconds and had upgraded handling compared to its predecessor the Mach III.
Kawasaki was inspired to build the H2 Mach IV after the success of the H1 Mach III from the late 1960s. The H1 had a 500 cc engine and had 3,500 rpm and redlined at 7,500 rpm.
Hodaka Super Rat
During its life span, hundreds of thousands of Hodaka Super Rats would be sold all over the globe. The company that made the Hodaka was located in the state of Oregon and had been previously owned by Shell Oil Company from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s.
The company’s mission statement read, “Motorcycling is fun. No one should have to strain their budget to enjoy it.” With that in mind, the company built bikes that were simple, with low maintenance costs, that anyone on any budget could enjoy riding.
Moto Guzzi V7 Sport
The Moto Guzzi V7 Sport was the first bike manufactured by the Italian manufacturing company Moto Guzzi. Based on the V7 Roadster, the Moto Guzzi V7 Sport came with a brand new design that included clip-on handlebars.
Compared to the previous model, the V7 was lighter, had better handling and was generally more well received and popular than its predecessor. In 2008, Moto Guzzi unveiled the “V7 Special” which paid homage to the 1970’s model.
Suzuki GS750
The Suzuki GS750 was part of Suzuki’s GS series which had a full range of 4-stroke powered road bikes after selling only 2-stroke bikes up until the 1970s. The first bike that Suzuki designed with a 4-stroke engine was the Colleda COX in 1955 that had 125 and 93 cc engines.
After more research, Suzuki designed the GS series and perfected the 4-stroke bike while still selling popular 2-stroke motorcycles. Sold along with the GS750 was the GS400 which debuted in 1976.
