Free Republic

Harry Reid Suing Exercise Equipment Firm Over Eye Injury By Niels Lesniewski Posted at 3:44 p.m. today Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his wife, Landra, are suing the manufacturer of the exercise band that slipped or snapped, leading to the Nevada Democrat’s eye injury. According to court documents filed in Clark County, Nev., Reid alleges that the injury resulted from a faulty exercise resistance band, causing more than $50,000 in damages. “As a result of the TheraBand breaking or slipping out of his hand, Plaintiff Harry Reid has suffered and continues to suffer from severe pain and injuries including,...

A New Jersey man was scratched and bruised by the time the authorities arrived to arrest him after the neighbors of the elderly man he allegedly stole from decided he wasn’t going to get away with it.According to the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, 33-year-old Joey Thompson had already stolen $5 and a cellphone from a 77-year-old living in a Pompano Beach, Florida, apartment when he entered another homestead next door. The residents of this second apartment, who were putting their child to sleep at the time, sprung into action, WSVN-TV reported.“He shoved my husband down on my son’s bed and, you know,...

MADISON, Conn. (PIX11) – A beachgoer thought she was stopping a disturbing crime in progress, but instead found herself in handcuffs. When Andrea Mears saw a man piloting a drone at a public Connecticut beach, she thought he was surreptitiously taking pictures of bikini-clad women, so she called the police.

"A group of Madera residents say they caught a burglar in the act. And they made him pay for his crime. Madera Police responded to calls of a fight near North K St and 5th St around 5:20am Wednesday. When they arrived, officers found residents holding down the suspect, Jeremy Williams. MPD says Williams, 37, has a long list of arrests and convictions and is currently on AB109 for receiving stolen property. Williams is being charged with burglary, violation of probation and posession of drug paraphernalia."

A Johnson City woman who walked up on the aftermath of a downtown assault early Sunday said the incident was similar to the so-called Knockout game. Johnson City police released limited details about the assault, but indicated they need the public’s help in finding who is responsible. Matthew Brookshire, 21, Bristol, Tenn. was found unconscious and bleeding on the sidewalk near the crosswalk on State of Franklin Road between two public parking lots. A police report indicates there were no eye-witnesses, but only people who walked up on the victim. But according to Breeding’s account, there were witnesses to the...

The violent late-night fight that ended with the death of a 23-year-old California woman might have been sparked by a photobomb, a source told the LA Times. According to a friend, Kim Pham accidentally walked right in front of a camera while another group was snapping photos outside of The Crosby lounge in Santa Ana on Saturday. A verbal argument erupted between Pham's friends and the other group, which quickly dissolved into a brawl as the young woman was pummeled into the ground. Pham did not survive the beating. She was declared brain dead and taken off life support Tuesday.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Calif. — Oklahoma City Police responded to an armed robbery call at Head Honchos hair salon around midnight on the morning of Christmas Eve. Police arrested 23-year-old Corneilyus Howeth for robbery with a firearm. Howeth also had a prior felony arrest. Howeth forced the employees of the salon inside, telling them to empty their pockets. But when another employee distracted him, the owner of the salon tackled Howeth. The two fought for the gun for a short time before other employees stepped in and helped take the gun from Howeth. The employees then stripped Howeth of his clothes...

Rev. Al Sharpton condemned “knockout” attacks Saturday but stopped short of calling for marches against the brutal hate crimes. “Kids are randomly knocking out people [from] another race — some specifically going at Jewish people,” he said. “This kind of insane thuggery — there is nothing cute about that. There is no game play about knocking somebody out, and it is not a game. It is an assault and is bias, and it is wrong.” Critics of Sharpton suggested he could do more, but acknowledged his words as a “good start.”

Reports have been surfacing for days across the country, including yesterday’s story in Philadelphia, and another in Washington, D.C., about the so-called “Knockout Game” in which thugs have targeted people, frequently women, at random and attempted to knock them unconscious with a single punch. (snip)Earlier this year, a 17-year-old punk in Lansing, Mich., identified as Marvell Weaver, was shot twice when he apparently tried to take things to a higher level by using a stun gun on his intended victim. Bad luck for Marvell, now in jail, because his stun gun didn’t work but the .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-auto...

Potentially Fatal ‘Knockout’ Game Targeting Strangers May be Spreading by Chris Lingebach November 16, 2013 10:40 AM WASHINGTON - A terrifying new ‘game’ that’s already caused deaths in Syracuse, St. Louis and New Jersey is sweeping the nation, and it preys upon unsuspecting people walking the streets, anywhere. A recent report from New York-based CBS 2 shed light on the growing trend, displaying unsettling footage of teens participating in this game – which goes by the name ‘Knockout’ – and involves randomly targeting passersby, with the ultimate goal being to knock them out with one punch as they walk by....

A family member put this video together today. Simple idea, a slideshow of shut-down national parks and memorials played over the original recording of "This Land is Our Land" by Woody Guthrie; but I think it's powerful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm3MXFo3pSY

A first-year student at San Francisco’s UC Hastings College of the Law allegedly ran a guy over while trying to take revenge on a group of graffiti taggers with her 1984 Mercedes-Benz. According to the San Jose Mercury News, police say the bizarre incident went down around about 12:45 a.m. on Saturday after the student, 26-year-old Meghan Anne Zato, was asked to leave an Oakland bar for unspecified reasons. On the way, Zato and an unnamed man saw the graffiti vandals tagging an exterior wall of the Oakland Public Library. Zato’s companion told the taggers they shouldn’t deface the wall....

An off-duty, undercover police detective was arrested as fallout from a burst of motorcyclist mayhem reached a new level, with investigators saying the off-duty officer was shown on video hitting and kicking an SUV before bikers attacked its driver. Wojciech Braszczok, who was off-duty when he joined a motorcycle rally that spiraled into violence, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday. He surrendered Tuesday to face riot and criminal mischief charges, New York Police Department spokesman John McCarthy said. There was no response to phone messages left with Braszczok's attorney, Phil Karasyk. He had previously said the 10-year NYPD veteran only...

Jimmie Singleton's act of chivalry aboard a Broward County Transit bus cost him three broken ribs, a busted nose and a partially collapsed lung.

The mother of a kindergarten boy Kansas City received a citation for criminal assault because, police say, she inflicted a vicious beatdown on the boy’s teacher.

The mother of a kindergarten boy Kansas City received a citation for criminal assault because, police say, she inflicted a vicious beatdown on the boy’s teacher. The pummeling occurred on Thursday night at Truman Elementary School. Simone A. Baker, 24, allegedly entered the school and proceeded directly to the unidentified teacher’s classroom at about 6 p.m., reports The Kansas City Star. She said, “You better not touch my kid again.” She punched the teacher, 49, upside the head five to 10 times. Next, narrates a police report, Baker jerked the teacher out of her chair by the hair. Then, for...

When two men attempted to rob two other men Tuesday night on the 2300 block of Fontaine Avenue, the victims didn’t let their assailants get away. “The two victims took them on,” Charlottesville police spokesman Lt. Ronnie Roberts said. “The suspects tried to flee and the victims tried to hang onto them.” As the “physical fray” continued near the victims' home, their roommate called police, who arrived three minutes later, Roberts said. When police arrived, they found Johnny Calderon, 19, and Gerald William Allen, 18, down on the pavement, being detained by the victims, he said. Authorities are still unsure...

Watch where you step or you might walk into a photobomb beat down. Three people in Denver face charges for beating a man unconscious after he stepped into frame for one of their photos, authorities said. The unidentified victim, 30, suffered facial damage, intracranial hemorrhaging and permanent blindness in his right eye, reported The Denver Channel. In the early morning hours of May 11, that man accidentally stepped into the shot outside a bar and infuriated Bryanna Warren, 25, who started arguing with and pushing the man, according to an arrest affidavit. He pushed back to get Warren off him...

A U.S. female sailor beat a bus driver and would-be rapist into submission when she was on a 24-hour shore leave in the United Arab Emirates. Court records from Wednesday show that the woman, age 28, hopped on the bus at Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates shopping center on Jan 19. “I noticed he did not take the main road and when I asked him he told me not to worry,” she said the Daily Mail reported, according to The Washington Times. The Times report continued: He then stopped where several other buses were parked and tried to kiss her....

Queens teacher suing city claiming he was beaten up by a first-grader ‘Tiny terror,’ 6, unleashes wrath at school A hulking Queens gym teacher and former college football player claims a pupil fractured his ankle, injured his knee and forced him to go to a shrink for stress — even though the kid was only 50 pounds and in first grade. Burly, 220-pound PS 330 teacher John Webster, 27, said a 4-foot-2 Rodrigo Carpio, 6, also kicked and pinched the Elmhurst school’s principal, a security officer and another teacher during a rampage in April. “It’s sort of like an angel-devil...