Washington
Police kill crazed cow that charged police officers
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Police in Mount Vernon, Washington, killed an agitated Angus cow that rampaged through town, tossing a police officer into the air and tap-dancing on a patrol car.
The Skagit Valley Herald reports that police spokeswoman Shannon Haigh says the cow apparently escaped from a farm outside the city limits. It was first reported in a Wal-Mart parking lot last Friday.
Haigh says the cow slipped past city police and Skagit County sheriff’s deputies who tried to keep it out of the street and away from a nearby wedding.
When officers tried to catch it a few blocks away, Haigh says it charged an officer, tossing him into the air. He was sore, but not seriously hurt. The cow escaped again by jumping on the hood of a patrol car, trotting across it and running off.
Haigh says police and the cow’s owner finally agreed it might need to be killed to prevent further injury or damage. An officer shot the animal.
Vermont
Brothers say they were attacked before stabbing
NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — Two Vermont men involved in the fatal stabbing of a man at their Newport home say they were being attacked and acted in self-defense.
Police are continuing to investigate the Saturday death of 35-year-old Isaac Hunt, of Newport, at the home of 31-year-old Christian Cornelius and his 24-year-old brother Garrett.
No charges have been filed.
The Cornelius brothers tell the Orleans County Record Hunt was stabbed by Christian after Hunt tried to force their way into their home by smashing down following a dispute over money loaned to Hunt, but never repaid.
State police say an autopsy determined Hunt died after being cut in the leg.
The Cornelius brothers say they’d known Hunt for years, but his behavior had changed recently.
North Carolina
Man wounded during Buddhist temple opening
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Charlotte police are still trying to figure out who fired a shot that struck and injured a man selling food during a festival for the opening of a Cambodian Buddhist Temple last weekend.
Forty-seven-year-old Brandon Yam is paralyzed after being hit on the top of the head on the night of the Fourth of July as the festival concluded.
Family members say Yam had started packing the food and drinks they were selling when he was hit.
Police spokeswoman Jessica Wallin said it does not appear Yam was targeted. Wallin says investigators think he was hit by someone who had fired a celebration shot into the air.
No charges have been filed.
Yam’s sister says the bullet is still in his head as doctors wait for the swelling to subside.
Illinois
Panel to hear clemency bid in buried-alive case
CHICAGO (AP) — The Illinois Prisoner Review Board will hear a clemency petition on behalf of a woman convicted of helping kidnap Kankakee businessman Stephen Small and burying him alive in 1987.
Nancy Rish says she was trapped in an abusive relationship with the drug dealer who plotted the kidnapping. She says she knew nothing of his plans and was threatened at gunpoint for demanding an explanation as he forced her into becoming an unwitting accomplice.
Small was a member of a prominent media family and a great-grandson of Len Small, Illinois’ governor in the 1920s.
He was buried alive in a box and suffocated when a crudely fashioned breathing tube failed before a ransom could be paid.
If clemency is recommended, Gov. Pat Quinn would have no deadline for a decision.
Wisconsin
Med malpractice award in strep may be appealed
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee woman and her husband have been awarded more than $25 million in a medical malpractice case.
The woman’s arms and legs were amputated in 2011 after a strep infection went undetected. A Milwaukee County jury determined Ascaris Mayo lost her limbs as a result of medical malpractice.
Defense attorneys are expected to appeal the award of $15 million for pain and suffering and $1.5 million for her husband’s loss of companionship because Wisconsin law limits those types of damages to $750,000. Mayo’s attorney Daniel Rottier tells the Journal Sentinel he expects the case will be decided by the state Supreme Court.
The jury found that the doctor and the physician’s assistant failed to provide Mayo with “alternative medical diagnoses” that would have led her to pursue other treatment.
Pennsylvania
Penn State seeks to seal Paterno discovery papers
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State’s attorneys want a judge to seal any documents they hand over to the estate of late football coach Joe Paterno, claiming his family plans to use them “to conduct a public relations campaign.”
Attorneys for the NCAA and the Paternos have also filed requests on how they’d like the documents to be handled by the court. The Penn State request, though filed last week, wasn’t listed on the Centre County courts website until Monday.
The Paternos have sued challenging NCAA sanctions against the school for its handling of child-sex abuse allegations against Paterno’s former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky. He’s in prison for molesting 10 boys.
The Paterno family filing has argued that only documents deemed confidential by the court should be sealed. Penn State and the NCAA want all documents sealed.
Massachusetts
Charge reduced in stabbing over dominoes game
LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — Authorities have reduced charges against a Lawrence man charged with stabbing another man after losing a game of dominoes.
Wanderlis Ceballos was originally charged with assault with intent to murder for allegedly stabbing the 30-year-old victim in the back three times in the early morning hours of June 29.
The Eagle-Tribune reports that at a dangerousness hearing Monday, the charge was reduced to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and he was released on $5,000 bail.
Investigators say the 26-year-old Ceballos was angry because the victim’s team had beaten his team at dominoes.
Ceballos and the victim agreed to settle their dispute over the game by engaging in a fistfight. Ceballos allegedly pulled the knife during the fight.
Ceballos denied the charges.
