Category: ROAD

A man who charged Black Lives Matter protesters while wearing a glove with four long, serrated blades was convicted of attempted murder charges, the Queens district attorney announced in August. A peaceful gathering on the overpass above the Cross Island Parkway in June 2020 was interrupted when Frank Cavalluzzi, 57, jumped out of a vehicle shouting, “I will kill you,” and chasing protesters while wearing a “glove of blades,” prosecutors alleged. He then got back into his vehicle and drove on a sidewalk, narrowly missing the demonstrators. “A dangerous man is going to jail. It’s a good day for New York and the First Amendment,” District Attorney Melinda Katz said. The trial lasted two weeks before the Flushing man was convicted on nine counts of attempted murder, nine counts of attempted assault, seven counts of menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless driving.

A large school system in Kentucky was forced to close schools after a situation that was dubbed a “transportation disaster” by the superintendent. The situation left some children on buses until just before 10 p.m. on the first day of school. In a video statement posted to social media, Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio apologized to the district’s 96,000 students, their families, bus drivers and school officials. He said that canceling day two and day three of school was the hardest decision of his superintendent career. The school district later extended the school closure into the following week. The district, which includes Louisville, has 65,000 bus riders. In a video statement made by the superintendent he said the district “always experiences delays in transportation during the first days of school” but that what occurred was unacceptable. Families waited for hours, the statement said, for children to return home after dismissal. “We acknowledge that the delays and frustrations felt by families were worse than in years past as bus drivers, families, students and school staff all worked to navigate a brand-new transportation plan,” he said in the statement.

Ambulances were forced to divert to other hospitals when a cyberattack knocked computer systems offline at hospitals in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, according to the hospital spokespeople. Crozer Health, with three hospitals and a medical center in Philadelphia, was still diverting ambulances for stroke and trauma patients to other hospitals because of a “ransomware attack,” Crozer Health spokesperson Lori Bookbinder told reporters. The hack hit Prospect Medical Holdings and affected all of their health care facilities, according to a statement from PMH affiliate Eastern Connecticut Health Network. PMH owns 16 hospitals in California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to its website.

During a one-week period in July, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers intensified inspections on incoming shipments moving through the Cincinnati Port of Entry. On July 10-14, during Special Operation Home Plate, officers focused enforcement efforts on counterfeit merchandise bearing protected brands or trademarked logos of teams within Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), and the National Football League (NFL). Cincinnati CBP officers seized 100 shipments containing counterfeit merchandise with a total Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $155,919. An additional 34 shipments were abandoned by the importers. Most of the products originated from China and Hong Kong, but officers also seized shipments imported from Mexico, Guatemala and Canada.

Border police officers found 28 Syrian citizens who were trying to enter Turkey illegally, hidden in a truck loaded with cabbage. The incident occurred at the Giurgiu Border Crossing Point in a truck that was being driven by a Turkish citizen. Twenty-six men and two women were found hidden in the semi-trailer of the truck after a thorough search based on potential risk, Turkish authorities said. The group identified themselves as Syrians, although no documentation of any kind was found on them or in their belongings. “Based on the protocol concluded between the border authorities between the two states, the persons found hidden, the Turkish driver and the road assembly were taken over by the Bulgarian Border Police in order to continue the investigations,” according to Border Security Report.

A car crashed into the gates of Downing Street in London, the official residence of the U.K. prime minister, police reported. A video that was broadcast by the BBC shows a silver car driving at slow speed across Whitehall, the main thoroughfare that passes the end of Downing Street. The car then goes directly toward the wrought-iron gates that prevent public access to Downing Street which many call the heart of the U.K. government. Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, was at Downing Street at the time of the incident. The incident set off a “rapid, intense security response.” However, police said they were not treating the incident as terror-related. No one was injured. The driver of the vehicle, Seth Kneller, of Crewe, was arrested at the scene.

Latvia, which was formerly a part of the Soviet Union, has been sending cars that have been seized from drunk drivers to help the military effort in Ukraine. The country is working with the NGO Twitter Convoy. Officials in Latvia said the drink-and-drive seized vehicles will be in better hands there and used for logistics. The vehicles sent from Latvia are said to be offered for use for war supplies and medical transport. Announcing the transfer of the vehicles to Ukraine, the head of the charity, Renys Poznakas, said the vehicles would be in good hands in Ukraine. The first batch of vehicles from Latvia was sent to Ukraine at the end of March. They will be given to a hospital of a Ukrainian army unit in Vinnytsia and a medical association in Kupyansk.

Two people were killed and 15 others were injured when a bridge collapsed in Colombia’s western Valle del Cauca province, according to locals. The two killed, happened to be police officers who were traveling in a vehicle that was trapped between concrete slabs that fell into the river. Two other trucks and a car crossing the bridge were also trapped. Some people escaped from the vehicles with injuries.

A male zebra escaped a zoo in Seoul, South Korea and spent hours trotting through the city on busy roads and back alleys. Eventually, experts tranquilized the animal and returned it to the zoo. Social media videos showed the 3-year-old zebra, named Sero, galloping through the Gwangjin district of Seoul amid heavy traffic. Firefighters were dispatched to the scene and were able to herd it into an alley, where it was tranquilized and brought back to the Children’s Grand Park, where it normally resides in east Seoul.

A lorry to tipped over on a busy U.K. motorway during high winds caused by Storm Noa. The HGV slid across all three lanes causing major delays on the M62 as the storm hit the U.K. The HGV was traveling in the left lane near Rochdale when it tipped over and crashed. It then slid across three lanes before it hit the central median. One person was injured in the lorry accident National Highways confirmed, said a report in the Manchester Evening News.