A Brooklyn man was seriously injured in a dirt bike crash in Plainfield Friday.
Plainfield police said 34-year-old Benjamin Harman was riding southbound on Putnam Road when he lost control of his bike and crashed near Jolley Road. He was taken to the Backus Emergency Care Center in Plainfield and later taken to UMASS Hospital for further treatment.
The crash remains under investigation.
The United States has rejected an appeal from Britain, France and Germany to grant broad exemptions to European firms doing business in Iran, saying it would press ahead with sanctions intended to exert “unprecedented” economic pressure on the Tehran regime, U.S. and Western officials told NBC News.
Replying to a June 4 letter from the European powers, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wrote that the Trump administration would not agree to wide-ranging protections for European companies operating in Iran and instead would grant only limited exceptions based on national security or humanitarian grounds, the officials said.
The stern message comes as the White House has ratcheted up its rhetoric toward Iran, accused Tehran of plotting terrorist attacks in Europe and vowed to hammer the country’s economy.
Former President Barack Obama is heading to Africa this week to visit Kenya and South Africa, but before he departs he’s sharing his summer reading recommendations.
The former president, who is visiting the continent as part of a celebration of the 100th anniversary of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela’s birth, wrote a lengthy Facebook post for his summer reading list, featuring a group of authors from Africa.
“I wanted to share a list of books that I’d recommend for summer reading, including some from a number of Africa’s best writers and thinkers – each of whom illustrate our world in powerful and unique ways,” he said.
Here is the former president’s list:
“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
“A Grain of Wheat” by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
“Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela
“Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“The Return” by Hisham Matar
“The World As It Is” by Ben Rhodes
The former president’s foundation will convene over 200 leaders in South Africa during his visit, and he will deliver a speech to honor Mandela’s birth.
A New Haven man was killed in a motorcycle crash on Farren Avenue early Saturday morning.
Police said 33-year-old Angel Gonzalez was traveling with a group of riders when he lost control of his motorcycle at a curve in the road at Farren Avenue and Chamberlin Street. Gonzalez’s motorcycle struck a stone wall and he was ejected.
Gonzalez was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:38 a.m.
The crash remains under investigation.
Farmington police are trying to locate a missing 47-year-old man.
Police said 47-year-old Bryan Canto was last seen at his home in Farmington around 9:30 a.m. Friday and appears to have left home on foot.
He is bald with blue eyes, 185 pounds, and 5-foot-11. He also tattoos on his left and right arms – a Libra symbol and a Rising sun with a lion. He was last seen wearing a blacked collared polo shirt, tan shorts and brown Sketchers sneakers.
Canto has never gone missing before and the behavior is “completely out of line for his character,” according to police. Police are concerned for his safety and well being.
Anyone with information on Canto’s whereabouts should contact Farmington police at 860-675-2400.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will hold a vote Tuesday that may potentially ban buses and vans from one of the most visited sites in San Francisco, the Full House property.
A new ban would primarily affect buses carrying at least nine people through the narrow and very busy street in Lower Pac Heights, but neighbors say it’s not just buses but people that are making the area “chaotic.”
"I grew up watching Full House back in a part of Southern India," said tourist Shaun Reddy. "So it’s very important, I relate to it."
So many people visit the iconic home, that neighbors are begging the city to help control the crowds, claiming it’s a safety hazard.
"Large vehicles were parking on the block, right in front of the house," said Paul Rose from SFMTA. "That was causing people who were driving, walking, riding bikes to go around those large vehicles into the traffic lane and that’s creating a safety hazard."
The SFMTA will weigh a ban on buses and vans, though people who live in the area say cars and ride-sharing trips clog things up too.
"We’ve been dealing with it for a while, but in the last couple of years since they’ve started construction again, it’s gotten way more chaotic," said Nicholas Hollister, whose home is attached to the Full House.
Hollister said the release of the show’s spinoff, Fuller House, unleased a new torrent of visitors.
"People were very, very angry," he said. "So the whole block has kind of come together in a sense."
Signs posted next to the home help explain that anger, they say things like "we hear you all day long" and "please keep the volume down."
SFMTA will turn its attention on the ban Tuesday and if passed, it will go into effect in four to six weeks.
First it was #BarbecueBecky. Then it was #PermitPatty.
Now, another video has gone viral showing a woman being criticized for questioning a street vendor in San Francisco about whether they had a permit. The woman is being mocked and attacked on social media.
But some are saying the case is different.
Vendors along Market Street near San Francisco's Ferry Building are required by law to have sellers permits. When vendors were shown the viral video, they said they would not be offended if someone asked them for their permits.
#PermitBetty is an online nickname that stuck for the woman wearing a red shirt in the video.
The man recording her and calling her by that name claims she is harassing the street vendor by asking if they have a seller's permit. The video has been shared over 20,000 times just on Facebook and has garnered thousands of comments.
Many of the comments attack the woman. There has also been other fallout.
Non-profit Yerba Buena Community Benefit District told NBC Bay Area on Friday the woman in the video works for one of their service providers and that they have now cut ties with her after the video was posted.
It is unclear if the woman's direct employer has taken any action against her or not. The company did not return requests for a comment on Friday.
According to employment attorney Leslie Levy, that kind of fame can cost you your job.
"The general rule in California or in most of the country most people have what’s called at will employment and they can be fired for any reason and no reason," Levy said.
Several street artist in the same area told NBC Bay Area they do not have issue with the woman's request.
"I don't think that's harassment," street artist Frank Dong said. "Usually, I wouldn't do what the woman do. I would mind my own business."
Street vendor Greye Dixon said they usually keep their permits on the table.
"We're proud that we had to go through the process to be here," Dixon said. "I'll tell you by looking at the video, that I'm actually irritated as a vendor because that for sure is not one of us, and she definitely shouldn't be there."
It was not clear from the cell phone video whether or not that vendor had a permit or who "Permit Betty" was calling during the interaction.
"The person doing the reporting is not doing anything illegal," Levy said. "They may be doing something immoral.”
Swimming is once again off-limits at Lakewood Park in Waterbury due to high bacteria levels in the water.
Mayor Neil O’Leary made the announcement Saturday on Facebook. No swimming will be allowed at the park until bacteria levels return to normal. The lake will be retested on Monday.
This is the third time so far this summer that the park has been closed to swimming. One Waterbury alderman told NBC Connecticut geese might be part of the problem.
“You can actually smell the turds as the wind blows,” said Alderman Vernon Matthews (R - District 2).
Matthews said the park has issues with bacteria levels every single year.
The city’s public works department said the water is tested twice a week and the sand is raked several times a day to help manage goose droppings. Coyote decoys, bitter grass planted next to the beach, noise-makers, and strobe lights haven’t been a successful deterrent for the birds.
Leaders are exploring other options to control the problem.
A jaguar escaped its habitat at a New Orleans zoo and killed six other animals Saturday morning.
No humans were injured in the incident, which occurred at the Audubon Zoo at about 7:20 a.m., before it was open to the public.
"The animal care team is devastated by this tragic loss. Today is a difficult day for the Audubon family," a statement from the Audobon Nature Institute said.
The jaguar killed four alpaca, one emu and a fox before a vet team sedated it.
The zoo remained closed Saturday, but announced it would reopen Sunday, July 15.
The Audubon Nature Institute also announced it would conduct an "action review" and investigation into how the jaguar escaped.
A bus with 32 passengers onboard rolled over on the Santa Monica Freeway in downtown Los Angeles Saturday morning and 25 passengers were taken to area hospitals.
Officers responded at 4 a.m. to a call of a vehicle hitting attenuators designed to absorb a crash impact and discovered the bus on its side, according to Officer Peter Nicholson with the California Highway Patrol.
Good samaritans and first responders entered the bus and helped passengers exit the wreckage.
Enrique Marcial Jr., who was on the bus when it crashed, was happy to have suffered only minor injuries. "I should be OK. Thank God that I'm alive," he said.
Firefighters transported four people in serious condition, five in fair condition and 16 in good condition, according to Amy Bastman with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Most passengers walked from the bus and seven refused treatment, she said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
"The bus was starting from the Palo Casino and it was headed up to Koreatown, so we're still under investigation as to whether that driver did fall asleep and what caused him to lose control of the bus," CHP Officer Roberto Gomez said.
A SigAlert was in place for an unknown duration for the westbound lanes of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway at the Harbor (110) Freeway connector, Nicholson said. Lanes reopened around 9:30 a.m.
A Connecticut judge has ruled that the federal government’s separation of two immigrant children from their families is unconstitutional.
In a ruling issued Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden declared the actions of the Trump Administration unconstitutional and ordered the government to take steps to correct the harm it has caused.
The two children in question, 9-year-old boy from Honduras and a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador, were each separated from their parents and placed in a group home run by a Groton non-profit. The legal team is suing the federal government in hopes of having the families reunited.
At an emergency hearing Wednesday, a psychiatrist who has met with both children testified the kids suffer from PTSD, depression, anxiety, and loss of hope and recommended reunifying the children with their parents immediately.
In court documents, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement insists the children are being well cared for.
The court felt that the plantiffs offered enough evidence to prove that the government’s actions traumatized the children.
“The Court agrees that the Government violated J.S.R.’s and V.F.B.’s constitutional rights by forcibly removing them from their parents without due process of law. The Government failed to provide the children with notice or a hearing, instead taking their parents, while distracting the children,” Bolden wrote in the decision.
Judge Bolden’s decision is the first ruling in the country to find the practice violates the constitutional rights of the children and not just the parents.
The court has ordered a status conference on July 18 where the government has been ordered produce the children’s parents and each party will present a plan for addressing the children’s trauma. This will be the first time the children have seen their parents in months.
The court has also ordered daily video conferences between the children and their parents.
Bolden was sworn in as a US District judge on January 7, 2015.. He received an AB degree from Columbia College in 1986 and a Juris Doctor for Harvard Law School in 1989.
A New London woman has been charged with assault after a stabbing in Groton.
Police arrested 32-year-old Stephanie Fialco-Garchitor Friday. She is accused of stabbing another woman during a confrontation at Quincy Court in Poquonnock Bridge Friday evening.
The victim suffered serious but non-life-threatening cuts to her arm and chest.
Stephanie Fialco-Garchitor was charged with first-degree assault and held on a $500,000 bond.
A man was struck during a police-involved shooting on Saturday afternoon in the South Shore neighborhood, authorities say.
The shooting took place in the 2000 block of East 71st Street, police said. According to police, officers on a foot assignment observed a man that they believed was armed. After officers attempted to question him, a confrontation broke out and the man was shot.
According to police, the man was fatally wounded, and a weapon was recovered at the scene.
According to police, no officers were injured in the shooting, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability is on the scene investigating.
"COPA is committed to a thorough, objective, and unbiased investigation and requests the public's patience and cooperation," the organization said in a statement.
After the shooting, large crowds gathered near the scene, with several individuals shouting "we can't even mourn in our community!" into megaphones. Some residents at the scene were seen on video clashing with authorities.
According to police, several officers were injured after residents threw rocks and bottles at them. Four individuals were taken into custody by police after the incident.
The incident occurred near the Bryn Mawr stop on the Metra South Chicago line, and trains traveling in both directions aren't operating due to police activity, the agency confirmed on social media.
Stay tuned for more updates to this breaking story.
Troopers from Connecticut State Police are searching for victims of car break-ins in Southbury and Roxbury on Sunday.
Police say they were called to Southbury Road in Roxbury around 6:20 a.m. on Sunday. A resident reported that two men were rummaging through his vehicle in his driveway, but fled in a silver sedan when they were seen.
According to officers, the silver sedan was located and the two men were stopped and detained. During an investigation, police say they found burglary tools, numerous credit cards, small electronics, fishing gear, driver's licenses, and women's pocketbooks. None of the items belonged to either man.
Troopers say the car break-ins happened on River Road, Falls Road and Southbury Road in Roxbury and Perkins Road and Brown Brook Road in Southbury.
While police continue their investigation, they ask anyone in the Roxbury and Southbury area to call them at (203) 267-2200 if they notice items missing from their car.
A man was killed during a police-involved shooting Saturday evening — an incident that turned into a violent protest where four Chicago police officers were injured and four arrests were made in the South Shore neighborhood, authorities said.
The shooting took place in the 2000 block of East 71st Street, around 5:30 p.m., police said. According to police, officers on a foot assignment observed a man that they believed was armed. After officers attempted to question him, a confrontation broke out and the man was shot.
The man, identified Sunday morning by police as 37-year-old Harith Augustus, was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Hospital, and a weapon was recovered at the scene.
A violent confrontation with police officers emerged after neighbors gathered at the scene of the incident. Police brought additional officers to the chaotic scene to help control an angry crowd. Some people threw bottles of urine and rocks at officers, even causing some damages to squad cars. Four arrests were made and four police officers were injured.
Several individuals were heard shouting "We can't even mourn in our community!" into megaphones. Some residents at the scene were seen on video clashing with authorities and others kept yelling "Who do you serve? Who do you protest?" to police.
The protest later turned into a march that lasted past 11:30 p.m.
Police said Sunday that body camera footage from the officers involved would be released "in the interest of transparency & to dispel inaccurate information."
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was on the scene investigating.
"COPA is committed to a thorough, objective, and unbiased investigation and requests the public's patience and cooperation," the organization said in a statement.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois issued a statement Sunday morning saying, "the community deserves an open, fair investigation of this shooting. But that cannot happen until Chicago reforms the police department, including how misconduct is investigated. The City should agree to the Attorney General’s demands, to community demands, and start the process of reform now."
The incident occurred near the Bryn Mawr stop on the Metra South Chicago line, and trains traveling in both directions were shut down due to police activity. Service was later restored early Sunday.
Troopers from Connecticut State Police are investigating several untimely deaths in Litchfield County.
Officers say the deaths are potentially related to heroin overdoses and have been reported over the past two weeks. They say several different items of suspected heroin paraphernalia were found at each scene.
Detectives are working to determine if any of the narcotics that were consumed contained substances that were unknown to the people taking them.
Police are reminding residents to be cautious and vigilant. If you, someone you know or anyone you see shows symptoms of a narcotic overdose, you're encouraged to call 911 immediately.
According to officers, symptoms of opioid overdose include slow or stopped breathing, pinpoint pupils, cyanosis, slow or stopped heartbeat, a limp body and gurgling noises.
If you have information about overdose investigations, you're asked to call police at (860) 626-7975 or text TIP711 with any information to 274637. Calls can remain confidential.
A Seymour police car was hit by a car while on Route 8 on Sunday.
Officers say they were assisting Connecticut State Police with multiple accidents on Route 8 when a Seymour police car was hit from behind while blocking the right lane of the highway from traffic.
According to police, the officer was not inside of the police car when it was hit.
The operator of the car was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries.
Police are reminding motorists to slow down and move over when emergency personnel are performing duties on roads.
Detectives from New London Police are investigating after a man was shot early Sunday morning.
Police say they received notification from L+M Hospital shortly before 12:45 a.m. that a man with gunshot wounds had arrived at the hospital.
After officers arrived on scene, they determined the man was shot near 13 Washington Street. The scene was secured and detectives processed the scene.
The man who was shot remains hospitalized. Authorities have not released his identity.
Anyone who has information about the shooting is encouraged to contact the New London Police Department's Detective Bureau at (860) 447-1481. Anonymous information can be submitted via the New London Tips 411 system by texting NLPDTip plus the information to Tip411 (847411).
Part of I-95 in Waterford is closed after a crash with a life-threatening injury on Sunday afternoon.
Police say the 2-car crash has closed I-95 southbound between exits 80 and 81. Officers are having motorists exit the highway at exit 81.
According to police, at least one person was transported to the hospital.
It is unclear how long the highway will be closed for.
Hartford Police have arrested a man from Windsor after they say he fired a gun after the Riverfest fireworks on Saturday night.
Police say during the annual Riverfest fireworks event, there were reports of possible shots fired in the Riverfront Plaza. When officers arrived, they determined the incident was firecrackers.
As crowds were leaving after the fireworks, officers say they heard multiple gunshots on the upper plaza level adjacent to the Constitution Plaza. Once officers arrived to the area, they say they found 19-year-old Michael Robinson, of Windsor, firing off a gun and attempting to flee. When officers gave him orders to drop his weapon, they say he threw his gun over the bridge to the walkway below.
According to police, Robinson was taken into custody and the gun was immediately secured.
Investigators found property damage to the window and building of Constitution Plaza and a concrete planter. They say seven bullet casings were found where the shots originated from.
Nobody was injured.
Robinson is facing charges including unlawful discharge of a firearm, reckless endangerment, theft of a firearm, criminal attempt at assault, interfering with police and breach of peace. He is being held on $500,000 bond and will be in court on Monday.
Mayor Bronin released a statement about the incident saying, "After last night's fireworks, an individual from Windsor recklessly and dangerously fired a weapon near a crowded area. Thankfully no one was injured, and the Hartford Police Department responded immediately and detained the individual very, very quickly without incident. I was at the fireworks last night with my family and with thousands of other people, and I want to thank the outstanding Hartford police officers who responded so professionally, quickly, and effectively.”
Hartford Police say there were 75 supervisors, officers and detectives specifically working at Riverfest. More officers who were working at a nearby concert also responded to the scene when the shooting happened.
