Free Republic

Columnist O. Ricardo Pimentel doesn’t seem to like guns very much. Oh, he’s willing to admit that they have their moments, citing this incident in San Antonio where a homeowner shot at two armed men (killing one, wounding the other) coming into his house through his garage. But Ricardo almost immediately goes into damning-with-faint-praise mode saying, “and this, of course, is the type of incident that seemingly undercuts the arguments of even the most ardent supporters of reasonable gun control and bolsters those of folks in the opposing, see-that’s-what-I-mean camp.” Okay, just for starters Ricardo, how is it that a...

One of the two people killed on a slippery road in Superior was facing prison time after pleading guilty in federal court to charges in a widespread identity theft ring. Forty-one-year-old Frances Jones was a passenger in an SUV that collided with another vehicle last Friday. The driver of the SUV, 49-year-old Harry Wilson, was also killed. The U.S. Attorney's Office says 12 people were indicted in the plot that defrauded banks and retail businesses, primarily in the Midwest, of more than $2 million. Jones faced up to 32 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit...

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado man who was killed when a 3-foot tree branch flew through his windshield and impaled him in the chest was able to steer the car to safety before losing consciousness. The wife of 61-year-old James Baker-Jarvis told the Daily Camera (http://goo.gl/WsaHg ) that her husband was able to pull the Subaru Outback over to the roadside, saving her from any injury. Baker-Jarvis died later at a hospital.

OK, he was 24...  and it happened in Switzerland. But it seems that this Mustang GT 5.0 owner -like many others- had a little bit of trouble getting used to the car's 6-speed stick and it's  troublesome reverse-gear 'safety' lockout feature: add to that a few hundred horsepower and no parking garage can contain her.A miracle nobody got hurt, with a car falling out of the sky in a Swiss town center like that- just a bruised young ego, totalled 'stang, and a whole bunch of mooshed-up bikes down dere.Chalk-up another one for hyperlegislative government and blood-sucking trail attorneys...

US Nuclear Expert Raises Concerns Over Safety of N. Korea's LWRs The safety of North Korea's light water reactor under construction has been questioned by a renowned US nuclear expert, who first revealed the North's uranium enrichment facility to the world last year. In Seoul to talk about his visit to North Korea last year, Stanford University professor Siegfried Hecker, indicated how important it is for a country to choose the right materials and construction methodology when building such reactors. He added that lessons should be learned from past nuclear-related accidents, like the recent nuclear meltdown at Japan's Fukushima plant.

NEWARK — An out-of-control SUV was launched several feet into the air last night and plunged into the second floor of a Newark home, leaving structural damage but no injuries, officials said.

TEHRAN: A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran killed 27 elite Revolutionary Guards on Saturday and wounded 16 others, state broadcaster IRIB said. Officials said it was an accident which happened as troops were moving ammunition at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar, some 45 km (28 miles) west of Tehran. While there was no indication of any attack, the explosion shook homes and rattled windows for miles around at a time of mounting tensions with Israel over Iran's nuclear programme. "So far, 27 personnel of Revolutionary Guards have been martyred...

The family of a Texas man killed when a racing aircraft crashed into spectators in the National Championship Air Races in Reno filed a $25 million lawsuit Tuesday against the pilot's family, a mechanic on the World War II-era aircraft and the Nevada organization that hosted the event.

A Chinese toddler was run over twice and ignored by nearly 20 passers-by in Guangdong Province in a case that has caused outrage around the world. It is a story that has deeply unsettled millions in China, posing troubling questions about whether three decades of headlong economic development has left nothing but a moral vacuum in its wake. It begins last Thursday when a two-year-old girl totters into a narrow lane in a wholesale market in the thriving industrial city of Foshan in Guangdong Province and is hit by a small, white van. The driver pauses, and then pulls away,...

LAS VEGAS (CBS Sports.com) – IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon has been seriously injured in a massive 15-car wreck has sent cars flying through the air early in Sunday’s Las Vegas Indy 300. Paul Tracy, who was involved in the wreck, said a team of doctors were working on Wheldon, but there was no word of his injuries. A helicopter lifted off from the speedway, but there was no indication if Wheldon was onboard. Pippa Mann also appeared to be shaky as she was helped to an ambulance. The wreck coming out of Turn 2 on the 12th lap left Townsend...

NESCOPECK – A truck driver survived a crash down a steep embankment Tuesday, only to be struck and killed by another vehicle after climbing back to the roadway. The crash occurred Tuesday morning in the eastbound lane of Interstate 80 near exit 256, Conyngham/Nescopeck. It shut down the highway’s eastbound lane for several hours as investigators pieced together the scene and recovered the truck. State police at Hazleton said the driver lost control of the tractor-trailer and traveled off the shoulder of the highway and down an embankment, coming to a rest on its side at the bottom of the...

David Lavau, age 67, missing for six days, was found alive and well by his grown children who formed their own search party to find their father. They reported him missing to the authorities after he'd been missing for five days and on the sixth day formed their own search party. The children drove the desolate stretch of road they suspected their father had driven, stopping at the dropoffs calling their father's name, and at one place they heard a faint, "Help, help," and amazingly, it was their father! The state of his car after plunging so many feet was...

Reese Witherspoon is recovering after being struck by a car while jogging in Santa Monica on Wednesday morning. The 35-year-old Oscar-winning actress was running across an unmarked crosswalk around 11 a.m. when an 84-year-old woman failed to slow down and struck her. According to NBC L.A., Santa Monica Police spokesman Sgt. Richard Lewis said Witherspoon, "suffered minor injuries and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital for medical treatment." The "Water for Elephants" star was discharged a short time later and spent the night at home recovering from the incident. Lewis said the unidentified driver of the vehicle, who...

A New York television reporter returned home to a horrible scene Thursday night when he found his 5-week-old infant son and babysitter both dead. Authorities said 39-year-old Teresa Coffey likely suffered a fatal medical condition while she was holding the baby and collapsed on top of him.

China `unaware` of reported radioactive leak from nuke sub AUGUST 05, 2011 08:21 China is known to have told Korea that it does not know about a reported leak of radioactive materials to the Yellow Sea from a Chinese nuclear submarine moored in the Chinese port of Dalian in Liaoning Province. The Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry told a regular news briefing Thursday that it has asked Beijing to confirm reports about the rumored leak. “We`re waiting for China’s answer,” said a ministry official. Another ministry official said, however, that the ministry asked China through a diplomatic channel Tuesday...

TAMPICO, Ill.—A summer rite of passage for tens of thousands of Midwestern teenagers turned to a time of mourning for two 14-year-old girls—neighbors and best friends—who were electrocuted in a muddy field as they removed tassels from corn. The teenagers, Hannah Kendall and Jade Garza, were killed Monday after they came in contact with irrigation equipment or a nearby puddle conducting high voltage. Authorities said the incident was under investigation, but local farmers blamed irrigation system damage caused by a weekend lightning strike. "It's one of those one-in-a-billion things," said Doug Mitchell, a farmer whose property abuts the field where...

CLEVELAND, OHIO -- Police say man well known for his collection of exotic animals has died after choking on a sex toy. Sam Mazzola, 49, was found dead in his Columbia Station home on Sunday. Last year, Mazzola came under scrutiny when a black bear, named Cherokee, killed an employee of the sanctuary. According to Lorain County Chief Deputy Coroner Dr. Frank Miller, Mazzola was found face down on his water bed, restrained with handcuffs, chains and padlocks. An autopsy determined the preliminary cause of death was asphyxia due to airway obstruction by foreign body. Mazzola had a sex toy...

An Illinois man is being held at the Christian County Jail after a tractor-trailer he was driving hit a horse-drawn buggy, killing a young Amish girl and injuring three members of her family Friday night on Fort Campbell Boulevard, police said Mark Bohms, 52, is being held for murder, operating a vehicle under the influence, criminal mischief and three counts of assault, according to the Christian County Jail’ s website. A Kentucky State Police drug recognition expert evaluated Bohms, who drives for Schneider National Carrier based in Green Bay, Wis., at Jennie Stuart Medical Center and suspected Bohms of being...

The number of fatal firearms accidents for the last six years of record are: 2002 - 762; 2003 - 730; 2004 - 649; 2005 - 630; 2006 - 680. 2007 - 613 I had to hunt a bit for this information, which I think many are interested in. The accidental firearm death rate is down over 94% since 1905. You have to do a bit of work at the link to find the figures in the source.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Tips are now coming in for a story we first brought you last week involving a woman who lost her hand in a road rage crash. It's not a crash that 52-year-old Pamela Price will ever forget. "I have nightmares every time I go to sleep," says Pamela Price. On Friday, Pamela was released from University Hospital after a more than two week stay. It all stemmed from a Memorial Day crash. The New Albany woman says she passed a car as she was heading westbound on Indiana 265, that then sped up and she says...

A U.S. nuclear submarine came within feet of running aground as it left Plymouth naval base, a report has found. The drama unfolded as the USS Minneapolis-St Paul entered rough seas and tried to take evasive action resulting in five crewmen being swept overboard, two of whom died. Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins and Petty Officer Michael Holtz were attached to the submarine with safety lines and had been helping the habour pilot to disembark when the submarine changed direction. They died as they were repeatedly pounded 'like rag dolls' The 2007 Royal Navy report into the incident, released this...

The hit-and-run conviction of Ryan LeVin, a wealthy Florida man, is generating controversy due to what some say is an unusually lenient sentence. On Friday, LeVin pleaded guilty to killing two businessmen in 2009 with his Porsche 911 but received a sentence of house arrest after agreeing to pay an undisclosed amount to the widows of the victims, the Chicago Tribune reports. The son of a family that ran a direct-sales jewelry company, LeVin is on probation for a 2006 crash in which he drove into a police officer; court records show that he has more than 50 traffic violations...

SMICKSBURG (KDKA) — An Amish woman from Indiana County died this week after an accident while she was doing laundry. Ella Miller, 32, was doing laundry in a pot over an open flame early Monday morning. State police say she threw some kerosene on the fire in an attempt to intensify the heat, but that caused an explosion which caught her clothing on fire. Miller suffered first, second and third degree burns. At her request, she was treated with home remedies by family and neighbors.

Atlanta, Ga. - Saturday morning, two woman plunged 10 stories out of a window at the W Hotel in midtown Atlanta after a round of 'play fighting,' according to police. LaShawna Threatt, an aspiring model was celebrating her 30th birthday at the posh hotel when the incident occurred. She was killed as a result of the fall. Ciara Williams, the other woman involved in the 'play fighting,' also fell, but rolled off a ledge and then fell the remaining 20 feet onto the patio below. She remains in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta Police Department spokesperson Carlos Campos...

~ EXCERPT ~ Incident in which Arab driver hit cars along two-kilometer route, attacked bystanders was “regular accident,” says Arab MK, driver's family.

A momentary lapse in attention was all it took for a toddler to grab a loaded gun and fatally shoot his mother, a 911 call of the incident revealed Monday. According to a man identified in the call as the 2-year-old boy's father, the boy grabbed the hand gun and before the man could get it away from the inquisitive child, the toddler had pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Julia Bennett in the back, killing the 33-year-old Miramar woman.

(Reuters) - Japanese operators have been considering the removal of panels from the No.5 and No.6 reactors at its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant to prevent any hydrogen build-up, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) noted that it was a build-up of hydrogen at the plant's 1-3 units that had led to previous explosions at the complex since Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami. "Units 5 and 6 were shut down at the time of the earthquake ... both reactors are currently loaded with fuel," the Vienna-based agency said in a statement.

Many people die every day, how many die doing something they absolutely LOVE? Brooke Ann did. I'm sure her adrenaline was pumping just before she got on that bull. I'm sure there was a part of her that thought "this is the one I'm going to make 8 seconds on". She smelled the bull, felt his power underneath her and was loving every minute of it. Would it have been easier, more PC or less heartbreaking if she'd been killed in a car wreck on the way home? No.

A Delray Beach police officer was killed early Thursday when his patrol car hit a tree outside Boca Raton, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. The accident happened shortly after 6:15 a.m. near Southwest 18th Street and Boca Rio Road. The officer, who hasn't been identified, was driving eastbound on 18th Street when, for unknown reasons, it slammed into a tree on the roadway's median, said PBSO spokeswoman Teri Barbera.

A hospital in China has sewn the left foot of a patient on to his right leg in a bid to save both the foot itself and his left limb. The patient, named as Mr Ma, had the surgery in Zhengzhou, in central China, following a work accident two weeks ago which badly damaged his left leg. It appears that doctors felt that the infected wound in the leg would have ultimately led to amputating the foot and leaving the limb 7in shorter - so decided to make their radical decision. They decided to attach the left foot to the...

GOSHEN – Robert Gooding, 52, of Newburgh was sentenced in Orange County Court Friday to nine years in state prison on his guilty plea of criminal possession of a weapon. Gooding admitted to owning an illegal handgun that was used to shoot and kill 10-year-old Brandon Scandrett, who lived in the same Chambers Street apartment as the young boy’s mother and two other small children. Having the gun in the apartment is what led to the unfortunate killing, said District Attorney Frank Phillips. “No homicide charges have been filed in this case; the police have been unable to determine who...

A fatal hit-and-run in Hawthorne left one man dead, a good Samaritan injured by another car when she attempted to help, and the motorist who stopped to check on her after allegedly striking her beaten and robbed by a mob of bystanders. The bizarre chain of events unfolded about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on a busy stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard near the 105 Freeway when a southbound driver struck a pedestrian walking across the street outside the crosswalk. Hawthorne Police Lt. Gary Tomatoni said the driver of a white or gray minivan fled the scene and as the injured pedestrian lay...

-click any to enlarge- Accident occurred north of Deer Lodge, Montana on I-90. The driver was a twenty-something guy headed back east to college. He had left central Washington early in the morning, but fell asleep at the wheel and drifted off the shoulder hitting the end of the section of guard rail at high-speed... The guard rail came through the right headlight, engine compartment, firewall, glove box, passenger seat, rear seat and exited out the driver s side rear window. That is 120 ft. of guard rail that threaded through the Suburban... Thankfully, there was no passengers in the...

In discussing a House resolution on Thursday to condemn the shooting in Arizona, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi referred to the shooting as a "tragic accident."

Lord in Heaven, you can’t make this up. Yesterday, on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, deposed Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-Mars), called the deliberate and premeditated killing of six people – the Tucson massacre – an “accident.” Specifically, Madame said, quote: “This resolution is a fitting tribute. It is a great resolution. Please, read it again and again. Carry those names in your heart. Remember, each of these people because, again, a tragic accident took lives, wounded people in the expression of ideas.” If you find this confusing, you are not alone, because “middle-class families” do, as well....

ROME – A speeding car plowed head-on into a group of cyclists in southern Italy on Sunday morning, killing eight of them, officials said. The driver had been smoking marijuana, police said. Bent, mangled bikes were strewn about the scene, and the sheet-draped corpses dotted the two-lane road near Lamezia Terme, in the Calabrian "toe" of boot-shaped Italy where the accident occurred. In addition to the eight cyclists killed, four people were injured, said Gianluca Gioia, a spokesman for ANAS, the agency that runs Italy's state roads and highways. Police confirmed the toll.

A toddler is dead after falling 50 feet from a luxury suite at Staples Center after Sunday night’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.

A Leeds man has been charged with reckless murder in the deaths of a Sylacauga mother and two of her children who were killed Friday night in a vehicle accident near Westover, Alabama State Troopers announced tonight.

A Notre Dame student killed Wednesday in a tower collapse tapped out two chilling Twitter posts before his fatal 30-foot plunge. In the first post, Declan Sullivan, who was perched on a scissor lift to film a Fighting Irish football practice, made a dark joke predicting his horrific fate. "Gusts of wind up to 60 mph. Well today will be fun at work. I guess I’ve lived long enough," Sullivan wrote at 3:22 p.m., just as practice was getting started. More than 40-minutes later, the 20-year-old junior from Long Grove, Ill., was frozen with fear as wind-gusts approached 50 mph....

Man, 19, hanging out truck window killed in crash with pole A 19-year-old Silver Spring man was killed Monday when he leaned out of a truck traveling on a Davidsonville road to motion to friends walking in an adjacent field and the vehicle sideswiped a telephone pole ...

This is the horrifying moment a wheelchair-bound man plunged to his death down an elevator shaft after he deliberately rammed the lift door in a fit of anger. The Korean man just misses a lift in a shopping centre after the woman inside pressed the button to go down. As the doors closed a split-second before he reached the lift, the man, known only as Mr Lee, slammed his vehicle into them. The 40-year-old pressed the button to no avail and the elevator left. Mr Lee then reversed his vehicle slightly and drove into the doors again, making a dent....

Thirteen people drowned and eight are missing after a small skiff packed with more than seven dozen people capsized while getting aid from a U.S. Navy vessel in the Gulf of Aden, the U.S. military said Monday. The skiff, packed with 75 Ethiopians and 10 Somalis, was spotted adrift in the gulf by a South Korean warship, which asked the guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill to provide assistance, according to a statement from the Combined Maritime Forces, which conducts anti-piracy patrols off the east coast of Africa. [Snip] At about 8:30 am local time Monday, U.S. sailors...

The granddaughter of the most senior officer to survive the sinking of the Titanic has revealed a century-old secret that could rewrite history. UK author Louise Patten says the ship had lots of time to shift course when its crew members spotted an iceberg, but plowed straight into it because of a simple steering error. Patten, the granddaughter of the Titanic’s Second Officer Charles Lightoller, told the The Daily Telegraph she has known about the secret since the 1960s. The Titanic was built at a time when the world was converting from sail to steam ships, which used two different...

" Talk about a close shave, Wow! A man is walking down the street when a car comes into view almost nailing the guy when it hits the wall and careens off down the road. Then the driver gets out of the car and runs off leaving the car in the, middle of the road. It is almost as if the driver is running to see who ran him off the road where he almost killed a guy. Notice how the drive eventually looks to the right as if looking to see what happened to the car that almost hit...

A founding member of ELO has been killed in a freak accident when a giant hay bale rolled out of a field and landed on his van. Cellist Mike Edwards died instantly when the 50-stone cylindrical bale careered down a slope, flipped 15ft over a hedge and smashed on to the roof of his van. Mr Edwards, 62, was known for unconventional cello playing including plucking the strings with an orange or grapefruit and his bizarre customs which became a major ingredient of ELO, the Electric Light Orchestra.

TOTNES, England, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- An early member of the 1970s rock group ELOwas killed when his van was crushed by a bale of hay, British police said.

WARNER ROBINS — A man has been charged with vehicular homicide in connection with an accident Saturday that left one woman dead and two men hospitalized. Mario Gutierrez-Gonzalez, 41, of Warner Robins, has been charged with one count each of vehicular homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol, hit and run, failing to report an accident, driving without a license, reckless driving, inactive vehicle registration, no proof of insurance, failure to yield the right of way, failure to maintain lane, having an open container in the vehicle and two counts of serious injury by motor vehicle.

As investigators attempt to determine the cause of the Transformers 3 accident that sent a 24-year-old extra to hospital with brain injuries, Paramount, the studio behind the film, is suddenly contradicting eyewitness and police reports. Michael Bay's Transformers 3 was wrapping up filming in Hammond, Indiana — after spending the past few weeks shooting throughout the Chicago-land area (the photo above is from earlier in Chicago shooting, and not from the incident in question) — when a stunt reportedly malfunctioned. The result? 24-year-old first-time extra and aspiring actress Garbiela Cedillo was sent to the hospital with serious head trauma in...

Franklin - The family of a woman who died after a pallet of bottled water fell on her at a Kroger store in central Indiana is suing the water bottler, arguing a new eco-friendly bottle design might have contributed to the accident...

For many, the name Chappaquiddick conjures images of a drunken Sen. Edward Kennedy hitting on Mary Jo Kopechne in his Oldsmobile, losing control, and plunging into the water of Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island, adjacent to Martha's Vineyard where President Obama was vacationing. Kopechne, a family friend, drowned; and Teddy fumbled for excuses about what happened. Now, a year after Kennedy died, his lifelong biographer Burton Hersh, armed with fresh interviews with Kennedy's mistress at the time, tells Whispers that the whole July 1969 episode should have been handled as a simple crash, leaving the senator's legacy untainted. "It was...