Free Republic

A 10-year-old Granite City boy died Saturday in what Jefferson County authorities believe was a “tragic accident.” Christian G. Clark died when a round accidentally discharged from a gun and struck him, Jefferson County Sheriff Roger Mulch said in a news release. Preliminary investigation revealed Clark and his 7-year-old sister were in their grandfather’s recreational vehicle when his sister picked up a long gun, Mulch said. The gun accidentally discharged, striking Christian Clark with a round. A 911 call at 3:30 p.m. alerted authorities to the shooting in the recreational vehicle, which was parked in a wooded area near a...

At least 11 people were killed and a dozen others injured Sunday in a single-vehicle crash near Berclair in Goliad County, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Around 7 p.m., the driver of a Ford F-250 super-duty pickup veered off of U.S. 59 while heading north and crashed in unincorporated Goliad County, DPS spokesman Trooper Gerald Bryant said. "The truck left the roadway and struck two very large trees," Bryant said. A man who claimed to have been the truck's driver was ejected but is alive, Bryant said, and six others inside the cab of the truck...

SALEM, Ore. -- Police said a Salem man who had been drinking while playing with a gun ended up shooting his own television. The incident happened just before midnight July 14 in the 4000 block of Cranston Street Southeast in Salem. Steve Birr of the Salem Police Department said Robert Edward Walters, 54, was entertaining himself and his dog with a laser scope on his gun. He eventually pointed it at someone on the television and pulled the trigger, forgetting the gun was loaded. The bullet went through the wall into an adjacent home where five people were. One of...

The week had been difficult enough for the Weinberger family after a rare derecho storm knocked out power to their Bethesda home for four nights and an enormous oak tree had been toppled by the wind into their roof. And that was before a heavy duty crane tipped over in their yard. “We had a lovely driveway, a beautiful lawn you could host Wimbledon on,” said Lauren Weinberger with a laugh, as she chatted by phone on Sunday.

A Tacoma man was charged after filing a $20,000 claim for a fictitious dead cat, using pet photos he lifted off the Internet, the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner said. “We’ve handled some pretty unusual fraud cases, but this is one of the stranger ones,” said Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. Yevgeniy M. Samsonov, 29, has been charged with first-degree attempted theft and felony insurance fraud in Pierce County Superior Court. --snip-- Two and a half years later, Samsonov sought additional payment from PEMCO. He said that in addition to the vehicle damage and medical claim, his beloved cat...

Dozens of Hevron area Arabs went on the rampage Saturday night during the funerals for four Arabs who died in a traffic accident earlier in the day. The rioters hurled rocks at cars with Israeli license plates and at IDF forces in Hevron. Several cars were damaged. A Jewish resident told Arutz Sheva that a car driven by a Jew was ambushed and attacked severely but managed to escape the angry mob. The Tatzpit agency reported that an Israeli was injured by rocks and received treatment from Kiryat Arba's Magen David Adom teams. ..... Video

IN a bizarre set of circumstances, a rare but dead albino possum is believed to have caused a log truck roll-over on the Princes Highway just south of Narooma. The accident occurred just after 1pm when witnesses said a local from Wallaga Lake stopped to look at the road-kill possum that had been lying on the roadside at the entrance to the Island View Beach Resort. A series of cars backed up behind the stopped vehicle in the southbound lane. Another Narooma local who was last in the line of stopped cars looked in his rear-vision mirror only to see...

<p>HAVERHILL, Mass. (AP) -- A Massachusetts teenager has been found guilty of motor vehicle homicide and negligent operation for causing a fatal car crash while texting on his cellphone.</p> <p>It was the first time someone had been tried in Massachusetts for the crimes while sending or receiving a text message.</p>

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Houston Police confirm it was a customer with a concealed handgun license who accidentally shot and killed a store clerk. The CHL holder was trying to protect Tyrza Smith, 26, from armed robbers, but something went terribly wrong and she was killed. It happened on May 17 at the Family Dollar located at 6951 Bellfort in southeast Houston. Police say Dwight Richardson, 20, and another man who hasn't been arrested are accused of bursting into the store, locking the front door and holding a gun to the clerk's head. "They come in, they got guns out...

This horrifying footage serves as a reminder of the deadly potential of one of the world's fastest sports cars. Three people died when a Ferrari 599 GTO ploughed into the side of a taxi while speeding across a city centre junction in Singapore.

A six-year-old boy who wanted to help his father clear timber ended up losing his life due to his altruistic urge, in one of the more gruesome recent tragedies. Jeffrey Bourgeoiff, who was helping his father throw branches into a wood chipper, decided to throw a few branches in himself while his father’s back was turned

CHANDLER, AZ - A teen is in the hospital and another is in custody after a shooting involving a stolen gun in Chandler this morning. Police at the scene, near Ray and Rural roads, said two 18-year-old men were playing with a gun across from a Circle K. One of the teens allegedly shot the other in the arm by mistake. Police said the two ran to the Circle K to get help and left the gun there. They reportedly told police they were walking near the Circle K and got shot, but police realized the story wasn't adding up...

YNDON, Kan. – A packed motor home headed from Texas to Minnesota crashed Sunday morning in northeast Kansas, killing five people and sending 13 others to hospitals. The Kansas Highway Patrol said the northbound vehicle was filled with 18 people and pulling a trailer when the driver lost control at 9 a.m. on Interstate 35.

GENEVA — A bus smashed into a tunnel wall in the Swiss Alps, killing 22 Belgian 12-year-olds returning from a ski vacation and the six adults who were accompanying them, police said Wednesday. Another 24 students were hospitalized with injuries, Valais cantonal (state) police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet told The Associated Press. The bus carrying 52 people, including young students from two different Belgian schools, hit the tunnel wall shortly after 9 p.m. local time Tuesday on the A9 highway near Sierre, Switzerland, in the southern Swiss canton of Valais, an area of popular ski resorts. Authorities were still identifying all...

Allegations of faulty car design are at the center of a lawsuit by an injured Fresno teen against Ford Motor Co. Shaela Warkentin, 16, suffered serious head and facial injuries a year ago when the 2000 Ford Mustang she was riding in was rear-ended by a pickup. Shaela's head was pinned against the rear edge of the car's roof, and rescuers had to cut the roof from the car to free her. The injuries cost the girl her eyesight and left her hospitalized for weeks. Fresno attorney Warren Paboojian filed the suit Friday on behalf of Shaela and her sister,...

Bonus Stupidity: teasing your African Bullfrog FAIL: [YouTube] Those things tip the scales at 4-5 lbs! Video/more at Reaganite Republican h/t Robert

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...