Free Republic

Rodney King, the man whose videotaped beating by police led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, was found dead at the bottom of his pool, police said. Mr. King's fiancée found him at the bottom of the pool on Sunday morning at his home in Rialito, Calif. He was 47. "The preliminary investigation indicates that this is a drowning and there are no signs of foul play," said Rialto Police Sgt. Paul Stella. In 1991, a video of police beating Mr. King after a freeway chase in Los Angeles rocketed across the world, stoking national tensions over race and police...

SOUTH OF ALAMO — A 17-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself with a semi-automatic handgun Monday night when the single round he fired at a butane tank ricocheted and hit him in the head, authorities said.

South Africa: Man Photographs Cheetahs Attacking Wife The photos taken by a tourist from Scotland show his wife on the ground, hair flying, blood on her neck, with two cheetahs nearby (Violet D'Mello poses with a cheetah while being photographed by her husband Archibald during a visit to Kragga Kamma game reserve near Port Elizabeth, South Africa.) JOHANNESBURG — The photos taken by a tourist from Scotland show his wife on the ground, hair flying, blood on her neck, with two cheetahs nearby. The Port Elizabeth Herald reported Friday that Violet D'Mello of Aberdeen, Scotland, was attacked by cheetahs on...

A suspected Southern California copper thief has been electrocuted after climbing a power pole and using bolt cutters on a live wire, which also caused a power outage. The San Bernardino County Sun ( http://bit.ly/IEc5yx) says the body of 26-year-old Robert Buchanan and bolt cutters were found early Monday at the base of a utility pole in an unincorporated area near Fontana. Nearly 3,100 Southern California Edison customers were without power for about 90 minutes. San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators say Buchanan apparently used the bolt cutters to cut live wires from the pole. A sheriff's spokeswoman says Edison wires...

Already they have interrupted Michele Bachmann and drawn a withering putdown from Newt Gingrich as “all noise, no thought.” Now, to the dismay of Iowa Republicans, Occupy activists in Des Moines are vowing to expand their protests as Republican presidential hopefuls converge on the state that speaks first in the race for the party’s presidential nomination. “The 99 percent have woken up, and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Occupy activist Stephen Toothman of Des Moines said as an advance guard met Tuesday to decide which candidates to target in the coming week. Hundreds of Occupy activists from at...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Rescuers battled high waves Sunday as they searched for 200 asylum seekers still missing after their wooden ship sank off Indonesia's main island of Java. So far only 33 people have been plucked alive from the choppy waters alive. Survivors told authorities they had been trying to reach Australia, said Lt. Alwi Mudzakir, a maritime police official who was heading rescue operations. He blamed Saturday's accident on overloading, saying the vessel - packed with 250 men, women and children from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey - appeared to have been carrying more than twice its capacity....

WESLEY CHAPEL — A 78-year-old man was shot in a bizarre accident early Saturday when a dog bumped a rifle and caused it to fire, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Billy E. Brown of Dade City, a friend and a bulldog set out before dawn to hunt deer, which has been a tradition of theirs for more than 25 years. They were traveling down a bumpy, rocky road in a pickup truck to their hunting stands when the dog got excited and bumped a high-powered Browning .308-caliber rifle. The bullet struck in the right thigh as...

A South African farmer has been killed by the pet hippopotamus he raised from the age of five months, and which he once described as being 'like a son' to him. Humphrey the Hippo gouged owner Marius Els, 41, to death by repeatedly biting him in a vicious attack on Saturday night. The farmer's mutilated body was discovered submerged in a river running through his 400-acre farm in rural South Africa. ... Hippos are considered to one of the world's most dangerous animals. They are, by nature, very aggressive -... They commonly attack humans with no apparent provocation, usually using...

A suspect who was killed in a car wreck following a home invasion on Oct. 4, died of a self-inflicted gun shot, not from the accident, according to Clayton County police. Kenneth Kenard Fortson, 21, died when the pickup truck he and three other suspects were traveling in overturned on Roberts Drive across from Riverdale High School. That accident happened after the three men had allegedly forced entry into a home on Fairway Pointe Drive in Riverdale and demanded money and a video game, according to police. "He was found with a weapon in his hand, after the truck crashed,"...

SAN DIEGO — An autopsy is tentatively scheduled Tuesday on the body of the man who fell to his death from a parking structure at the Community Concourse at City Hall downtown Monday afternoon. Officials with the Medical Examiner’s Office said the man fell after losing his balance while trying to hang flyers on outside walls. San Diego police, however, said Monday that the man committed suicide. Witnesses told police the victim was possibly hanging a sign from the eighth floor of the building structure when he fell about 3:15 p.m. Flyers that said “Important message to intelligent earthlings from...

JENNINGS COUNTY, Ind. -- A southern Indiana woman was seriously injured in an accident police said was caused by car surfing. Investigators said 20-year-old Emily Jackson and a 19-year-old woman were car surfing on the roof of a Subaru station wagon that another 19-year-old was driving. It happened just after 11 p.m. Wednesday at Muscatatuck County Park in North Vernon, Ind. Jackson was flown to an Indianapolis hospital with a serious head injury. The crash is under investigation and police said it will be forwarded to the Jennings County prosecutor’s office for review.

ABBEVILLE, La. — The narrow, brick chimney of a Louisiana bank became his tomb for 27 years and now Joseph Schexnider will be laid to rest Sunday in a proper grave with a proper farewell by his family. Still, his brother Robert wonders, how did he wind up in that chimney? Didn't anyone hear any cries for help? Was it a robbery attempt gone awry, an accident or something more sinister?... [snip] "Everybody has an opinion," said Lt. David Hardy, chief of investigations for the Abbeville Police Department. "But no one has evidence to say one way or another." If...

<p>A Welsh animal lover was blinded in one eye after a seabird he tried to rescue pecked his eyeball out of its socket.</p> <p>Michael Buckland, 38, was walking with his girlfriend on a beach in Gower, South Wales, when the couple spotted a gannet that seemed unable to walk or fly...</p>

Keith Carmickle and his friends had already caught three balls during Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby Monday night and wanted more. He nearly got a lot more: a headfirst fall to a pool deck about 20 feet below. Chasing a home run hit by Milwaukee's Prince Fielder, Carmickle was saved from a long fall when his brother and a friend grabbed him around the legs and arms, then pulled him back as he dangled above the deck area behind the pool in right field at Chase Field.

Darwin Award of the WeekA valuable lesson was learned by a Darwin Award candidate this week. An unidentified Colorado teen had the bright (and explosive) idea to combine a pile of small fireworks into a big one by shredding them up in a coffee grinder. He should be receiving his award after he is released from the hospital. The Fire Marshal postulates that the electric coffee grinder probably caused enough friction to cause the explosion. Comments

ONONDAGA, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike's handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

A Russian man died after burying himself alive in a friend's garden in the eastern city of Blagoveshchensk in an endurance test that went wrong. "According to his friend, the man, 35, wanted to test his endurance and insistently asked his friend to help him spend the night buried," said Alexei Lubinsky, a senior aide to the region's chief investigator. The two men dug a hole in the garden and put inside an improvised coffin with holes for air pipes. The man also took a blanket, a bottle of water and a cell phone. The victim's friend told investigators he...

A man who was thrown from a skateboard while "hot-boarding" near Santa Clarita has died, sheriff's officials say. Edward Culhane, 35, was cruising along on his skateboard while holding onto a vehicle along Cedarfalls Drive near Urbandale Avenue Saturday evening when he lost his grip and hit his head on the ground. The driver, 33-year-old Ryan Howell, is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Los Angeles County sheriff's said. Howell was arrested and booked for felony DUI. 'Hot-boarding' is a dangerous stunt involving a skateboarder being towed behind a moving vehicle. A San Diego County man...

Nato has denied claims that its naval units left dozens of migrants to die aboard another boat in distress. It said it was unaware of the plight of the boat, which reportedly was adrift for more than two weeks. The Guardian newspaper said 61 of the 72 people on board the boat died of hunger or thirst, despite being spotted by a military helicopter and Nato ship.

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Police arrested a 41-year-old man last week after he called 911 and told officers that he was not given the correct change after buying crack cocaine from a drug dealer.