Sunday, January 02, 2005

Weekly Toll

One Killed In Workplace Shooting

Mountain Lake, Minn. - A 57-year-old rural Odin man was fatally shot Friday by a co-worker at a business near Mountain Lake, authorities said. The 30-year-old suspect, also of rural Odin, allegedly entered Fast Distributing Inc. about 7:30 a.m. Friday and shot co-worker Howard O. Hockel with a shotgun, according to a statement from Cottonwood County Sheriff Robert Haken. "People who were working there heard two shotgun blasts," Haken said. Hockel died at the scene, Haken said. State Department of Public Safety spokesman Kevin Smith said no one else was wounded. Authorities were not considering the shooting a workplace crime because the two men had previous contacts with each other, Haken said. Authorities say this was not a random incident and that the two men had argued previously.

Peru construction worker found dead

Kokomo, IN - A Peru Utilities employee discovered the body of a Plymouth man Wednesday in the pumping station at Canal and Cass streets. The body of James E. Collins, 58, was found around 7:08 p.m., pinned between a scissor lift and an I-beam on the ceiling, according to Peru Police officials. It appears Collins was working on the I-beam when his head got stuck between the scissor lift and the I-beam, according 911 central dispatch reports.


Avis employee killed in company van crash in Revere

Boston, MA- A van full of Avis car rental employees careened off Route 1A in Revere, flipped and slammed into a utility pole, killing the driver and injuring six passengers, police said. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the Ford van - an Avis rental vehicle - to lose control and crash on the north side of the highway just before Bell Circle about 9:30 a.m., Sgt. Peter Papasodora said. Suffolk District Attorney's Office spokesman David Procopio identified the driver as Ronald Martin, 39, of Mattapan. Police would not release the identities of the passengers. One was hospitalized with serious injuries, the other five suffered minor injuries.


Restaurant manager killed during robbery

Dallas- South Dallas resident, father of two in 'wrong place at the wrong time'. Jose Aquileo Pérez regularly swung by the Old East Dallas location of Taquería Pedritos to do after-hours paperwork. About 1 a.m. Monday, the 41-year-old father of two, who managed the Oak Cliff location of the popular Mexican eatery, found himself caught in the middle of a violent robbery that ended with his death. A 46-year-old employee who was shot after he and Mr. Pérez were cornered in a small upstairs office and storage area remained in critical condition at Baylor University Medical Center, authorities said.


Construction worker dies when his ladder hit wires

STICKNEY, Ill.- A construction worker died over the weekend after his ladder hit electrical wires.A Cook County sheriff's spokeswoman says 23-year-old Roman Pezdek and two other men were working Saturday on a home near Stickney. When Pezdek tried to take down a ladder, it struck the high-tension wires. He was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. An autopsy yesterday confirmed that he died of electrocution and his death was ruled an accident.


Gas Station Worker Shot Dead

NEW ORLEANS -- A 56-year-old gas station employee was shot and killed late Sunday. New Orleans police found the man with an apparent gunshot wound to the head after responding to a "shots fired" call from the Chevron gas station at 10422 Chef Menteur Highway. Emergency workers pronounced him dead at the scene. Investigators said three unknown black men entered the store and demanded money at about 8:45 p.m. One of the men produced a handgun and shot the victim once in the head. The robbers took an undetermined amount of cash and fled the scene on foot. The victim's name has not been released. Police are trying to notify relatives about the incident.


Texas truck driver dies after he's hit by falling poly pipe

Gillette WY- A Texas man died Monday morning when he was hit in the head by falling pipes at a work site west of Gillette, according to the Campbell County Sheriff's Office. Ronnie Keith Green, 38, suffered massive trauma to his skull when a set of polyethylene pipes fell while they were being unloaded from a tractor-trailer near Kingsbury Road, sheriff's Investigator Steve Bagwell said. As a forklift was being used to unload the pipes, the forks went too far into the stack and pushed a set on the trailer's other side, Bagwell said. The other set fell and hit Green, who died at the scene.


Manager dies at U.S. Steel

Valparaiso, IN- A 36-year-old supervisor was killed by gas Tuesday at U.S. Steel’s Gary Works blast furnace plant, the fourth man to die in a local steel mill this year. Karl D. Richards, 36, of Valparaiso, was a manager in the plant’s No. 13 blast furnace, its largest. U.S. Steel officials said he was found unconscious in the morning and was transported to the Methodist Hospitals in Gary.


Tree falls across forest road, kills crewman

LAKE ARROWHEAD CA- An Alpha Tree Service employee working near Lake Arrowhead died Tuesday when a tree fell on the truck he was driving. The accident occurred shortly before 9:30 a.m. as Greg Russ, 32, was driving a hopper truck south on Highway 173, according to San Bernardino County Fire Engineer Alan Mackay. The large trucks have removable bins on the back and are used to haul away trees.


'We lost one of our bravest’

LEAGUE CITY TX— League City resident Nito Guajardo had been with the Baytown Fire Department for less than a year when he was killed battling a house fire Monday. He was 24. Four other firefighters and two Emergency Medical Services workers were injured in the blaze in the Country Club Oaks subdivision. All six had been treated and released by Tuesday.


Jeweler fatally shot in store

Long Island,NY- A man walked into a jewelry store in upscale Glen Head yesterday afternoon, engaged an employee in lengthy conversation about merchandise and then shot him several times during an apparent robbery, Nassau police said. Police said the employee, identified by neighbors of the J & J Jewelers as Tom Renison, the son-in-law of the store owners, died about a half hour after the 4:30 p.m. shooting.


Man charged in gas station slayings

St. Paul,MN- A 22-year-old man — at large and believed armed and dangerous — was charged Tuesday with murder and attempted murder in a double shooting at a North Minneapolis gas station this past weekend. Three witnesses identified Robert Leroy Banker Jr. as the lone gunman in the shootings at 4501 Lyndale Ave. N., according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. Investigators said a surveillance camera recorded Banker entering the store about 1 p.m. Saturday, glancing at two employees before going into a bathroom. Moments later, he exited the bathroom, walked to the counter and fired a handgun at the employees "without comment or provocation" then ran away, the complaint said. Employee James Keultjes was shot in the head and later died. Saleh Al Bubbeiry was shot twice and remains hospitalized at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale.


Industrial Accident Claims Life

Dinwiddie, VA -- One person died and another had to be flown for medical treatment after an industrial accident yesterday at TXI Chaparral Steel, police said. No details of the fatal incident were released by authorities yesterday. A person answering the phone at Chaparral's steel recycling plant said "there is no comment" from the company. First responders from around Dinwiddie County rushed to the scene after an emergency call at 5:46 p.m. about the accident. Units from Namozine, Carson and Ford all responded, along with a ladder truck from Petersburg, authorities said. The Chaparral Steel plant is a $400 million facility that produces more than one million tons of steel product per year through recycling. The plant mainly produces structural beams for general construction and manufactured housing.


Town Used to Deaths at Sea Fears There Will Be MoreNew Bedford Awaits Word on Crewman

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- Even by the hard-bitten standard of the livelihood they chose, it was a cruel time and place to be lost at sea, tossed in the heaving, frigid swells, a few days before Christmas.
A local scallop boat, the Northern Edge, capsized Monday afternoon about 45 miles southeast of Nantucket, and five crewmen were missing. The news spread like a fog across this port town, which has not lost so many fishermen in a single instance in more than a decade. By Tuesday evening, a Coast Guard jet and helicopter and two cutters had covered about 1,500 square miles in the region where the ship disappeared. An empty life vest and a floatation ring were all that was spotted. A sixth crewman, Pedro Furtado, was pulled from a life raft by the fishermen aboard another New Bedford boat, the Diane Marie, soon after the 76-foot Northern
Edge sent out a distress signal at 4:44 p.m. Monday.



In the Line of Duty: Kenneth Leonard

CLEVELAND, December 16 -- Brother Kenneth Leonard of BLET Division 5 (Los Angeles, Calif.) was
killed in a head-on collision between two Union Pacific freight trains on December 10. Brother Leonard joined the BLE on November 1, 1992. Brother Leonard, 44, engineer of the eastbound train, was taken from the accident scene to a hospital where he died. It wasn't immediately known what his injuries were. Four other crew members were taken for medical treatment as a precaution for what were considered minor injuries. Five locomotives and seven rail cars were derailed. One train hauling 87 freight cars was en route from Los Angeles to Dallas, the other, with 35 cars, was heading west from Chicago to Los Angeles.


Man who died at grain elevator is identified

Kansas City - Authorities today identified the man who died when
he fell down the elevator shaft of a Northland grain company as Bradley Droge. Droge, 42, a Kansas City, Kan. resident, died Wednesday afternoon at a Bartlett Grain Co. facility at 5801 N.E. Birmingham Road in Kansas City, North.


Worker dies in fall from scaffold

Jersey City,NJ-
Worker's fatal plunge classified as accident. A tragic incident Wednesday in which a Highland Park man fell 40 feet to his death in a Jersey City warehouse has been classified as an industrial accident, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday. T he dead man, 58-year-old Amado Lopez, worked as a forklift operator at the East Coast Warehouse and Distribution Center on Port Jersey Boulevard, said DeFazio. Lopez died after he fell onto the warehouse's concrete floor around 4 p.m., having lost his balance from atop a stack of pallets filled with cases of beer, DeFazio said.


One of three charged in Mason County worker's death admits guilt

LUDINGTON, Mich. One of three men accused of killing a migrant worker in Mason County has admitted to his role in the crime. The sheriff's department says 29-year-old Luis Fernando Ruiz-Meja was killed during a robbery attempt at a migrant housing unit near Ludington in late September. Authorities say Donald Case Junior pleaded guilty yesterday.


Fall kills demolition worker

Denver,CO- Man plunges down elevator shaft at ex-postal building A demolition worker died after falling four stories down an empty elevator shaft at the former U.S. Postal Service terminal annex in Lower Downtown Denver. Labor Department officials are investigating the Tuesday accident that killed the worker, identified by the Denver coroner's office as Kerry Sharp, 43, of Denver. Phone calls to Sharp's home were not returned.


Debris kills construction worker on job

LENOIR CITY TN - A construction worker was killed Wednesday in Loudon County when he was
pinned under a piece of debris that fell from a house he was working on, authorities said. Adam Southern, 33, of Maryville, was backfilling the foundation of a new house on Nichols Road when a safety bar on his tractor got caught on a concrete truss overhead, according to Loudon County Sheriff's Office Deputy Dewayne Drinnen.


Officer dies 10 months after crash

PHOENIX AZ- A 60-year-old Phoenix police officer died Wednesday night
as the result of injuries he suffered 10 months ago in a deadly car crash. Officer Darrol Yoos died of a heart attack, but doctors told authorities that his extensive injuries and months of hospitalization from the accident weakened his heart. "It just finally took its toll on him," said Sgt. Lauri Williams, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix Police Department.


A trench collapse two days before Christmas claimed the life of a young construction worker laboring on the Yost Road widening project.

PEARLAND TX— Arturo Fierro, 21, became trapped last Thursday after a water main burst in the 10-foot deep trench where he was working in with two other men, according to Rick Fernandez, public information officer with the Pearland Police Department,The other two escaped, Fernandez said, but they were unable to rescue Fierro, who was quickly submerged by the water gushing into the trench and possibly pinned down by the weight of the dirt falling from the unshored walls of the trench. Rescuers at the scene spent more than five hours working in the cold water and mud to retrieve Fierro's body. As one worker used a backhoe to scoop out the ever-rising waters from the hole in an attempt to reach him, others assembled plywood shoring and lowered it into the hole in an attempt to contain the dissolving dirt walls.As hours ticked by, the rescue attempt turned into a recovery effort, leaving workers staring blankly into the trench where Fierro's body lay submerged.


Trucking worker is shot to death


WOODBRIDGE NJ - A Bridgewater man was shot to death inside his office at an Avenel trucking company yesterday, authorities said. A customer at Brandywine Trucking, located at 1130 Route 1 in Avenel, called police at 1:03 p.m. and said someone needed help. Police arrived at the scene and found Jerome O'Brien had been shot in the chest. He was pronounced dead at 1:17 p.m., said Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Kapsak.


Tow truck driver shot in Klamath Falls

Klamath Falls, OR- A man sought for a double homicide in Washington and the murder of a Chemult two truck driver fatally shot himself early Monday, the Klamath County district attorney's office said. The tow truck driver was identified as Marvin Erickson, 67, who
had been shot several times. State Police said an Oregon Department of Transportation worker found a car stuck in a snowstorm, noted the license number and called a tow truck. They said the driver of the car, Brian Pennington, 44, of Lacey, Wash., then reportedly shot the tow truck driver. Lacey then drove to the parking lot of a restaurant where state police and Klamath County sheriff's deputies were assembling after learning that Pennington was wanted for homicides in Olympia, Wash. Lacey drove behind the restaurant and shot himself in the chest, authorities said.


Guard Is Burned to Death in Elevator, and Two Boys Are Charged

New York- On Christmas night at the Ocean Village apartments in the Rockaways, teenagers were setting fire to the holiday decorations in the hallways. This was not remarkable in itself, residents said - hallway fires were routine, and teenagers had been burning wreaths and bows off apartment doors all week. But on Saturday night, a security guard named Raymond James tried to do something about the fires. He pulled a smoldering cart of garbage into an elevator on the fifth floor of the apartment building, at 146 Beach 59th Street in Arverne, to get it out of the hallway. After the door shut, the cart burst into flames. By the time the elevator door opened in the lobby, belching clouds of black smoke, Mr. James, 32 years old and a father of four, had burned to death.


Truck driver killed in interstate crash

MUNCIE IN- A Louisville
truck driver was killed early Monday when his truck sideswiped another and then crashed along Interstate 69 in western Delaware County. Gary R. Thomason, 53, sideswiped a semitractor-trailer that had pulled to the side of the road for repairs. Before leaving the highway and crashing head-on into a tree, Thomason's truck came so close to the broken-down semi that it tore off a set of steps below the driver's side door, narrowly missing a repair man from a truckstop at the nearby Ind. 28 exit


Farmer killed by his own bull

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN PRAIRIE, WIS- A rural Fall River
man is dead after being attacked by his own bull on his property late Sunday or early Monday. The Columbia County Sheriff's Department found Jeffrey T. Peeper, 48, in a field north of Fall River near McDonald Road shortly before 4 a.m., Columbia County Coroner Marc Playman said. Assistant Columbia County Coroner Lou Brady pronounced Peeper dead at the scene. Family members originally found Peeper in the field. They had gone out looking for him because he didn't return to the residence late that evening after farm chores, they said.


BANGOR CITY EMPLOYEE KILLED

Bangor,ME- Bangor Police say Ron Raymond, 53, died in an apparent workplace accident in Norumbega Park in Bangor Monday. Raymond lived in Glenburn, and was a long-time employee of the city. Raymond was called to fix a small bucker loader which had broken down. Somehow,
he was crushed underneath the machine. "Due to the size of these vehicles, they typically are worked on where they've broken down, if at all possible. Currently the Bangor Police Department and Department of Labor are investigating this incident," says Paul Kenison with the Bangor Police Department.


Feds Investigating Accidental Death at Rice Mill

STUTTGART, AR - Federal safety investigators are looking into the accidental death of a worker who fell at a rice mill in Stuttgart. Clifton Darnell Guydon, 42, of Stuttgart, died at the Producers Rice Mill on December 18. He fell 26 feet from a roof to be refurbished by McCollum Roofing of Stuttgart.


Truck driver dies in Interstate 91 crash

SPRINGFIELD, Vt. (AP) _ A Connecticut truck driver was killed Tuesday morning when his tractor-trailer rig crashed through a guardrail on Interstate 91 and plunged into the Black River. Eduardo Gonzalez, 32, of Wallingford, Conn., was pronounced dead at the scene when the truck's cab was pulled from the water at about 2:30 p.m., seven hours after the crash.


Boom operator dies at workplace

JEFFERSON, ME -- A West Bethel man was killed Tuesday after being ejected from a work truck at a wood lot on South Clary Road. Neil Gilbert, 51, was working as a boom operator on a pulp truck at around 8:30 a.m., when the vehicle slid down a sloped, unpaved road and flipped over, police said.


Oilfield worker killed in fall

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo.-- An investigation continued into the death of an oilfield worker who fell 90 feet from a drilling rig. Phillip Pepper, 43, died Wednesday night after falling from a rig about 70 miles northeast of Rock Springs, according to Sweetwater County Sheriff Dave Gray. Rig worker dies after equipment hits him20-year-old was helping stabilize pipe. An oil rig worker died Monday evening after being struck by equipment, which knocked him from a catwalk and left him dangling from his safety harness about 20 feet from the ground, KRIS 6 News reported. Chaise Joel Richard, 20, of Alice, was helping stabilize casing pipe being threaded into a well hole by other workers when the accident occurred at 6:48 p.m. at a site in Live Oak County, Sheriff Larry Busby said.


Explosion leaves crater, three dead

Blaine, MN- A
possible gas leak destroyed a 2,166 square-foot commercial building along Highway 10 in Ramsey, killing three people and leaving one man in critical condition. Firefighters were called to the explosion at Premier Commercial Properties building Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. When they arrived they found motorists and neighboring business members attempting to dig out Robert Lee (Bob) Smith, 60, Coon Rapids. Smith was airlifted at 10 a.m. to Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) with second- and third- degree burns. Smith’s condition was upgraded from critical to serious late Wednesday. While firefighters attempted to extinguish flames in the northwest corner of the site from an active gas pipeline, other fire fighters and law enforcement officers formed a bucket brigade to remove debris and search for three victims. The bodies of two employees of Riverview Community Bank were discovered at about 1:30 p.m. Monday afternoon. Lois Gale Self, 49, of Elk River and Ann Kris Talle, 43, of Anoka, were employees of Riverview Community Bank. Lorraine Melton’s body was found early Tuesday evening.


Pilot error, ice led to plane crash that killed four

NASHVILLE, Tenn.-
The Cessna crashed into a wooded hillside and burst into flames, killing Jochman and three passengers: Laura Jones, 44, of Tampa; Hani Boutros, 27, of Brandon; and John Saunders Jr., 40, of Tampa. John Saunders Sr., 58, of Tampa, the sole survivor, was badly hurt. All of the passengers worked for the Saunders Financial Advisory Group, a Tampa company that advises firms on 401(k) plans and other employee benefits. The group was traveling to Greeneville for a meeting with Forward Air Corp. after a stopover in Columbus, Ohio.


Construction Worker Killed When Trench Collapses

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A construction worker was killed in north Raleigh Friday morning after a trench collapsed and buried him in a mound of dirt, authorities said. It happened shortly before 10 a.m. at 11903 Pawley's Mills Circle, where a house was being built at Wakefield Plantation, near Capital Boulevard. Jose Martinez, 32, worked for BB&K Construction, a subcontractor of Atlanta-based Beazer Homes. Authorities said he was digging a trench for the foundation of the home when he slipped and fell into the hole and it collapsed in on him.


Factory worker dies from explosion at metals plant

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- A man who was severely burned in an explosion Tuesday at the Wabash Alloys plant in Dickson has died. John Peek of Humphreys County died at the burn unit at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. Authorities say Peek suffered second and third-degree burns over nearly all his body.


Yaffe workers start cleanup after explsion that killed two

Muskogee,OK- Fourteen people who were not employees were injured by the Tuesday blast, and the concussion was felt 45 miles away. Windows were knocked out and some homes in an eight-block radius around the plant were damaged. Yaffe melted aluminum in the furnace that exploded about 8 p.m. Tuesday. Two metal warehouses containing aluminum, copper, brass and other metals, one on each side of the furnace area, were heavily damaged. The bodies of the two workers who died, Joaquin Barbosa Prado, 40, the father of six, and Ernesto Chavez, 24, both of Muskogee, were recovered in the furnace area early Wednesday. Both were burned beyond recognition.


Peoria, Illinois Police Officer Dies in Car Accident

PEORIA, Ill. -- An on-duty Peoria police officer has been killed after a squad car hit a utility pole. Cristy Tindall, 33, died in the crash, which happened Thursday night around 9:30 p.m., said Peoria County Deputy Coroner Johnna Ingersoll. Tindall was a ten-year department veteran.


Attendant at gas station shot dead

NY- A gas station attendant known around a Queens neighborhood as helpful and friendly was shot and killed at work early yesterday, police said. The victim, whose name was not released pending family notification, was found with money in his pocket, and money was left in the cash register of the Emporium gas station at 187-46


Runaway trailer kills driver

TN- A runaway 12-foot trailer hit and killed a truck driver on impact as he stood outside his rig on Distribution Drive near South Mendenhall. The bizarre accident happened at 8:36 a.m. Monday when a trailer from a FedEx bob truck apparently became unhitched as its driver was heading to Pemko Manufacturing Co. at 5535 Distribution Drive. Memphis police Sgt. Vince Higgins said the trailer crushed a driver with Shipper's Transport in Nashville. That driver, whose name hasn't been released, apparently was making his vehicle checks as he waitedto pull in his empty rig for warehouse workers to load.


Man kills retirement home manager, then himself in Palatka

PALATKA, Fla.- A 71-year-old man killed the manager of his retirement home and then himself Monday in an apparent murder-suicide, police said. Police identified the victim as Caroline Rawls, 43, manager of Holly Ridge Senior Apartments. The man's name was being withheld until relatives are notified. Their bodies were found in the building's first floor office by a maintenance worker checking the room after witnesses reported hearing gunshots. Police also found a .410-gauge shotgun at the scene. The man was involved in legal proceedings stemming from a prior battery incident with another resident, and that case had been the subject of a dispute between Rawls and the gunman, said Police Chief Gary Getchell.


Investigation of fatal accident at Boone mine continues

CHARLESTON, W.Va.- State and federal authorities are trying to determine what caused a section of high wall to fall onto an excavator at a Boone County surface mine, killing the machine's operator. The accident occurred at about 2 a.m. Saturday November 21, at Independence Coal's Red Cedar Surface Mine near Clothier. Independence Coal, a subsidiary of Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy, operates the mine as Endurance Mining, according to federal Mine Safety and Health Administration records. Kevin Lee Lupardus, 41, of Mabscott, was operating the excavator when a "large section" of the highwall fell onto the machine's cab, said Terry Farley, an administrator with the state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training.


Fatal shooting of convenience store owner quickly follows rape, car theft, robbery attempt.

TX-A rapid-fire wave of violence devastated a Southeast Side neighborhood early Sunday, robbing residents of a quiet weekend morning - and a beloved convenience store owner. The vicious crimes started with a rape and continued with a car theft and attempted robbery before ending with the fatal shooting of 53-year-old Hasmukh Patel, owner of Mini Food Mart, leaving the neighborhood and police stunned


Two die in crash with school bus

Houston County, TN- Wrecker service employees from Erin killed, children unhurt. Two Houston County men were killed Friday on state Highway 48/13 when the northbound wrecker they were traveling in was struck by a southbound Clarksville-Montgomery County school bus. The four passengers on the bus, all students at Montgomery Central Middle School, were not injured in the crash, according to Elise Shelton, schools spokeswoman. The driver of the bus, Lynette Graham, 31,was taken to Gateway Medical Center with multiple injuries, including a compound leg fracture. "We've got another one here," Emergency Medical Service's Lt. Gary Perry said shaking his head at the scene of the crash, "It looks like we've broken that (highway fatality) record for the year." The deaths of Samuel K. Bobbitt, 52, and Kerry H. Underwood, 45, both of Erin, were the 37th and 38th traffic fatalities on Montgomery County roads this year - numbers that pass the previous annual county record of 36, set in 1981.


African casino workers die in crash of van

TN- A three-vehicle crash Friday morning on South Third Street killed three West African casino workers and hurt nine other people, Memphis police said. Two of the dead were Mamadou Sarr, 57, who worked for the Grand Casino, and Younouss Dia, 36, who worked for the Sheraton, according to Valerie Morris, spokesman for Caesars Entertainment, which owns both casinos. The third person who died wasn't identified by police or Caesars. Those killed were in a van that held 15 passengers, on their way home from work in Tunica. Most of the van's passengers were from Senegal, Morris said.


Police investigate cab driver's death

NORWALK, Conn.- A city taxi driver was shot and killed while working early Saturday morning, police said. The driver was dispatched to pick up a passenger at an Ely Avenue address around 4 a.m., Cablevision 12 News reported. He was later found near that address shot in the chest, and his taxi cab had crashed through a fence. Police said they do not know if he ever picked up the passenger. The man was pronounced dead at Norwalk Hospital. Authorities did not release the driver's identity


Worker killed on job is identified

CA- OCEANSIDE -- A construction worker killed Wednesday when lumber being moved by a crane fell on him at a work site was identified as Nathaniel Shane Ingram, 34, of San Marcos, the Medical Examiner's Office said. Ingram was among several workers building a two-story residential structure on South Pacific Street when lumber slipped from the sling of a crane and fell on him about noon, authorities said. State occupational health and safety investigators were called to the site.


Officials investigate worker's death

BENSON NC -- State labor officials are investigating a workplace accident that killed a man Tuesday, authorities said Wednesday. Sandy McLean, 44, was killed when a tractor-trailer truck pinned him against a loading dock about 6:30 a.m., said Juan Santos, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Labor. McLean worked at Smithfield Packing Company on Gilbert Road in Benson. McLean was pronounced dead at WakeMed, Santos said.


Firefighter dies from injuries

AZ- St. David Volunteer Firefighter Thomas C. Baker, 54, died Friday, Nov. 19, due to complications from a heart attack and stroke he suffered while responding to a fire call two years ago. Baker's wife, Joy, said her husband responded to a structure fire on Feb. 24, 2002, when he had a heart attack and then a major stroke.


Tree Service Worker Killed

A Lakeland tree service worker died on the job Tuesday night after a car ran into him from behind. Stephen Shearon, 21, died instantly and became Polk County's 115th traffic fatality this year. About 6 p.m., the Bozeman Tree Service worker was directing traffic, said Polk County Sheriff Sgt. Tom Dixon, when 72-year-old W.J. Christopher's Chrysler ran into him on State Road 559 and Reflection Boulevard.

Cabdriver shot in east Charlotte

FLORIDA- Crime scene tape surrounded the victim's cab Thursday night. A cab driver was shot and robbed Thursday in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Police believe the gunmen got in when the complex's gates were supposed to be locked. The cab's driver, Navidd, was not working at the time of the incident, but was in his car at the Delta Crossing Apartments in East Charlotte. There was no word on his condition Friday morning, but witnesses said he had been shot in the stomach and was alert and talking when the medic took him to the hospital.


Worker found dead under pile of cottonseed

VALDOSTA, Ga.- A worker at a company that stores cottonseed was found dead Tuesday in a two-story pile of seed, two days after he disappeared. The family of Rene Perez Ramirez, 22, reported him missing to the Valdosta Police Department on Sunday. He was last seen that day in the breakroom of Western Hay Co.. According to reports, one of Ramirez's coworkers stepped forward Tuesday, stating that he was known to take naps in the company's cottonseed bins. Police Lt. Bernard Robinson said the pile kept shifting and sinking as officers tried to reach what they suspected to be the body of Ramirez. A bulldozer was brought in to assist the officers, and a few hours later the victim was found.


POLICE INVESTIGATE DEATH OF GIFT SHOP CLERK

CAVE CITY, KY- State police are investigating the death of a gift shop clerk who was found dead at her workplace in Cave City on Sunday as a homicide. Several tourists from Louisville entered Abner's Gift Shop on Mammoth Cave Road about 10:15 a.m. Sunday and found Veronica Rothwell, 36, of Smiths Grove dead. The cash register was missing, said Trooper Todd Holder, a Kentucky State Police public affairs officer. Police have no suspects and do not think there was a video surveillance system in the store, he said. Holder declined to say how Rothwell died, but said her body was sent to the state medical examiner for an autopsy.


Accident at plant in NLR kills man


William Pearson, a 34-year employee of Koppers Industries, a business that manufactures railroad ties, was somehow injured by railroad cars at the company's Edmonds Street plant.


Man charged in deaths of Forsyth deputy and civilians

WALKERTOWN, N.C.- Police charged a man with murder Friday, hours after a deputy sheriff and two civilians died in a shooting that stemmed from a dispute between former neighbors. Denny Carson Booth, 59, of East Bend was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, Forsyth County Sheriff Bill Schatzman said at a news conference.


Clerk Killed

CA- Authorities today released the name of a 45-year-old clerk fatally shot during a robbery at an Ocean Beach liquor store. arial;">Rich Hemmes was shot at Prime Market Liquor, 4161 Voltaire Street, around 8:10 p.m. Wednesday, San Diego police and county Medical Examiner's officials said. The man who shot Hemmes remained at large today, police said.


Girls find cab driver shot dead

STOCKTON -- Three girls walking to Marshall Middle School on Friday stumbled upon a taxicab driver shot dead behind the wheel of his cab. Chandrika Dip, 52, of Stockton was shot in the head, officials said. The meter was still running when police arrived, said Roger Collins, manager of City Cab & All Airports.


Officer Is Dead After Standoff in Connecticut

EWINGTON, Conn. - An overnight standoff between dozens of law enforcement officials and a gunman who shot a local police officer and then took him hostage ended on Friday when the gunman cut off communication with negotiators and killed himself, the authorities said The standoff began late Thursday when Officer Peter Lavery, a 17-year veteran of the Town of Newington Police Department, responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at 57 Mountain View Drive in this suburb six miles south of Hartford. A woman who had called in the complaint met Officer Lavery and another officer outside the house and told them the suspect, who neighbors say was her boyfriend, was still inside. As the officers descended steps to the basement, the suspect, who was holed up there, shot Officer Lavery with an assault