A Louisiana woman sitting in her stopped car on a state highway died Friday after being hit by a Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office deputy responding to a call, according to a release from the Louisiana State Police.An initial investigation revealed that a 2004 Saturn Ion, driven by Christinia Estave, 33, was stopped in the left lane of LA 16 southbound for "unknown reasons," according to police."A Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office Deputy was driving south in the left lane of LA 16 in a fully marked 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe while responding to a call of service and struck the rear of the stopped vehicle," the release said.Estave, who was unrestrained, was taken to a hospital where she died, police said.The deputy who was involved in the crash was also not restrained when the crash took place, police said, and sustained minor injuries."While the deputy is not suspected of being impaired, a toxicology sample was collected from both drivers and will be submitted for analysis," police said. "This crash remains under investigation."The crash took place east of Baton Rouge.Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard issued a statement on Facebook regarding the incident, in which he said he is concerned about the deputy not being restrained at the time and will address it."My thoughts & prayers are with the families of all those involved," the post said. "Please know that we are fully cooperating with Louisiana State Police in its ongoing investigation. As we all await more details, I have been made aware that the deputy was unrestrained. That is a concern for me & will be addressed."

JENSEN BEACH, Fla. —

Along the railroad tracks in Jensen Beach, Florida, you may find pieces of a black Honda Fit.

The vehicle, which belongs to Joe William Ceballos, was stolen early Saturday morning, struck by a train and ended up resting on the side of a house.

"I thought it was a movie," Ceballos said.

Ceballos said he moved to Florida from Georgia to start a cleaning service business called Casey's Cleaning, and that car was a work vehicle.

He said when he got a call from his business partner and the homeowner letting him know the car had been stolen. He couldn't believe it.

"They are saying someone stole the car, and I said, 'That's impossible because it's at the business,'" Ceballos said. "Then when she sends me the picture of the car flipped at the owner's house, I'm like, 'Oh my God!'"

He also couldn't believe how it happened.

"He says he took the car," Ceballos said. "In good faith to find his car."

According to the Martin County Sheriff's Office, Bradford Weitzel of Port St. Lucie told detectives he couldn't find his car after leaving a bar, so he stole one in an effort to locate his own.

The car somehow suddenly stopped on the train tracks and David Deoliveira, who was at home in bed at the time, heard the commotion and went outside to help.

"How does a guy get from the crossing to the actual tracks?" Deoliveira said. "I went over there to try to help the guy to see if he needed help, but unfortunately, I can't really help do much."

Soon after, a train started heading their way and they left the car. No one was injured.

Officials report that Weitzel continued on to a nearby fruit stand, where he vandalized the business. They say he also attempted to steal a forklift.

Weitzel eventually flagged down authorities to inform them he was in search of his car.

Deputies arrested and charged Weitzel with grand theft and criminal mischief. Additional charges are expected.

Ceballos said the Honda was a total loss, and the supplies inside the car are gone, but he still plans to move forward with his cleaning business.

BOONE COUNTY, Ky. —

A Boone County sheriff's deputy injured in the line of duty continues to recover at home and is sharing his story for the first time.

Lt. Chris Hall, who has served on the sheriff's department for almost 20 years, said he continues reliving the moment he believes he nearly lost his life.

He was laying out stop sticks at U.S. 42 and I-71/75 on a rainy Friday night in October when he was hit by the car he was trying to stop.

"I know in reality it only took a second or two," he said. "I know it happened so fast, but I could probably sit here and talk to you for hours about it."

Hall said the next several seconds seemed to move in slow motion. His body camera footage captured a car coming straight at him and Hall being hit only a few seconds later.

"Not mentally prepared to watch it yet. It's in my head. I can't stop thinking of it," Hall said.

Deputies say four teenagers were in the stolen car, leading police on a chase. They eventually abandoned the car and were arrested hours later.

Hall is bruised and has healing brush burns on his arm. His most serious injury is his knee. He said has several fractures and may need surgery.

"I could easily ride this out, retire in five months and go away, and I don't think anybody would question why," he said. "But this just makes me and motivates me to want to come back even harder ... If I do retire, the bad guys win, and I'm not going to let it happen."

Hall believes the teenager who was driving the stolen vehicle hit him intentionally.

"He had an alley and a lane he could have gone... He would run over the stop sticks," he said. "The only other choice he had was to avoid them and intentionally strike me, which I firmly believe he did."

He was thrown onto the hood of the car and then to the ground.

"First thought is your family. I have my wife, I have a 20-year-old son, a 17-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. They're the first thing you think of. You immediately start thinking 'Are they gonna have to go to a law enforcement officer's funeral'?" he said.

While lying in the road receiving medical treatment, he said he asked someone to bring him his phone. He called his wife.

"I needed my family to hear first. I did not need them to have somebody knocking at my door, somebody making a phone call or worse, the kids finding out on social media," he said.

It is not the first time he's had to make an emergency call like that to his wife.

In 2003, Hall was rear-ended on duty while working a traffic crash on I-75 in the pouring rain. He sustained minor injuries.

In 2001, he was working for the United States Secret Service at the White House on Sept. 11. His wife was pregnant.

"After the Pentagon was struck, I made a quick phone call to her just saying, 'hey, I love you. Tell our son I love him' and I hung up on her," he said.

Hall said his wife gave birth two days later to their first child.

He said the community's support following his recent injury has been tremendous. He has received dozens of letters, cards and thank you notes, including from school children.

While he said the positive outweighs the negative, he has lingering questions about the teenagers who put him in the hospital and could have cost him his life.

"I want to know why," he said. "We all know these are kids that had stolen multiple cars, firearms, running from police and now here we are running over people, running over police officers. I just want to know what got you to this point in your life."

Hall said he knows he may never get an answer.

"Fortunately, I'm still here today. Probably shouldn't be. But it could have been bad. Instead of an attempted murder charge, it could have been a murder charge," he said.

Hall plans to return to duty as soon as he is medically cleared.

TAMPA, Fla. — At a Tampa mall on May 30, Hillsborough County Deputy William Scobie was on the frontline as hundreds of rioters put on a relentless attack lasting several hours.

The violence came in waves. Periods of calm were followed by coordinated attacks on Hillsborough County deputies and Tampa police standing in front of University Mall.

At one point, law enforcement deployed tear gas, clearing the crowd. Once the wind carried the choking fumes out of the area, more and more people began to show up. Heavily outnumbered and overwhelmed, law enforcement did everything they could to protect themselves and prevent more violence.

As law enforcement scanned the crowd and sky for objects, they couldn't look everywhere.

"Nothing real violent was going on for about probably 15 minutes or so," deputy Scobie said. "And then, all of a sudden, I took a beer bottle to the face. When the bottle exploded, it caused my head to drop down; there was about three inches of my neck that was unprotected when I looked down. And, it was a lucky shot that got me right in that three inches."

Scobie said he doesn't remember anything after the brick hit his neck.

"It actually hit my carotid artery, which caused me to lose temporary consciousness," Scobie said. "I just remember waking up on the ground. The deputies were asking me where I was shot. They thought I was shot. I was just telling them I got hit with a brick and couldn't feel my arms and my legs. And, they rushed me to try and evacuate me out of there. With the amount of people and stuff that were around, it was hard to get me outta there, so there were two Tampa police officers that had a car they threw me in the back of the car and the Tampa police actually evacuated me to the hospital."

For more roughly seven hours, Scobie was checked out at the hospital.

"I got feeling back in legs pretty quick. My right arm took about two hours. My left arm, I suffered a pinched nerve, and it was swollen. So, I had no feeling in my left arm for almost 24 hours, and I had a pretty significant bruise on my neck," he said.

Scobie said he's wanted to be in law enforcement since he was 5 years old. After eight years in the military, he joined the sheriff's office. In 2018, Scobie was honored with the Tampa Police Chief's Appreciation Award after helping track a murder suspect.

On June 24, 2018, Scobie's neighbor, 42-year-old Pedro Aguerreberry, was riding bikes on a bike trail with his two children when a car veered over the grass and onto the bike trail, hitting and killing Aguerreberry and injuring his two sons, ages 3 and 8. Mikese Morse, the suspect driver, was arrested and charged in the incident.

Scobie heard the call and tracked down the car police say Morse was driving and eventually leading to an arrest.

Morse was found incompetent to stand trial.

Scobie said he loves his job and wants the public to know he is human, has a family, and only wants to serve and protect his community.

Two days after Scobie was hit by the brick, he was back at work patrolling the streets.

"When we show up on a call, just give us the benefit of the doubt. Know that it truly is our goal to help you in any way we can without getting into a fight, without being injured, without causing any injuries," Scobie said. "If I could deal with 20 people a day and every one of them says 'thank you,' it's a good day. And, that's truly what we come to work for."

This story was originally published by Michael Paluska at WFTS.

HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio —

As police officers across Ohio and the state's top cop continue to push for police officers to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccinations, the Greater Cincinnati area is mourning the loss of a sheriff's deputy who died after contracting the virus.

Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy Donald Gilreath III died Friday from COVID-19 complications after working in the jail through the pandemic, according to the sheriff's office. Gilreath was a 15-year veteran of the department, a husband and father of three.

"Police officers can't work from home. They don't have the option of socially distancing," said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. "Governor, act. We need this done now."

Yost pointed out that in 2020, coronavirus was the leading cause of death among law enforcement. He has been publicly and privately pressing the governor on the issue for weeks and even sent him a formal letter in January.

"It's important to get the schools open again. I get that, but we've got teachers that have been vaccinated that haven't been on the job at school all year, not in contact with people," Yost said. "It seems to me that if you've got a job that requires you to be out in public interacting with people who may be infected that they maybe ought to be a higher priority."

The Cincinnati Police Department, the largest in Hamilton County, was unable to provide the number of officers who have contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic. The department did say that 240 have taken administrative leave due to COVID-19 issues, including infections and quarantines.

The department's FOP President, Dan Hils, said dozens of officers have contracted the virus and some have been hospitalized. He said unlike many other professions, police officers often have other more pressing safety concerns than taking the time to put on personal protective equipment.

"We have other tactical concerns... We might be worried about being harmed in another way," he said. "Unlike teachers, there's no way we can Zoom call into a family in trouble. We can't Zoom call into a bank robbery in progress."

WLWT reached out to the governor's office Friday evening. The press secretary sent the office's condolences to Gilreath's family and the entire Hamilton County sheriff's office.

The press secretary said law enforcement makes an extremely compelling case as to why police should be vaccinated next and that news like that of Gilreath's death makes the case even more compelling. However, the governor's office said it comes down to a supply and demand issue and it is prioritizing those most vulnerable and at-risk, namely older Ohioans.

When asked how educators fit into that, the governor's office spokesman said the decision to vaccinate teachers and school staff was not a risk-based decision but instead a decision to help another vulnerable population, children, by ensuring a safe return to the classroom.

The Hardin County Sheriff's Office is mourning the death of one of their own.

Officials with the sheriff's office posted during the early-morning hours Saturday that a Hardin County deputy had died in an ATV accident.

The sheriff's office said the deputy was off duty when the accident occurred.

Kentucky State Police, the lead agency investigating the crash, sent out additional information Saturday morning, identifying the deputy as Kevin Johnson, 36. The crash happened Friday night.

According to investigators, Johnson was operating an ATV near the 100 block of Lincoln Avenue in Elizabethtown when, for reasons unknown, he lost control of the vehicle. The ATV ran off the roadway and then struck a fence, troopers said.

Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene by the coroner's office. The deputy was with a 7-year-old passenger, who was identified by Johnson's family and friends as his daughter, Aliyana, who was flown to Norton Children's Hospital, where she remains in critical condition.

The Johnson’s family and friends are asking for cards and letters to be sent to lift Aliyana’s spirits as she is currently in the ICU and unaware she has lost her hero, her dad.

Cards and letters can be sent to:

Norton Children’s Hospital

Attn: Aliyana Johnson

231 East Chestnut St.

Louisville, KY 40202

"Please keep the deputy's family and the Hardin County Sheriff's Office in your thoughts and prayers," the sheriff's office said on Facebook.

This content is imported from Facebook.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Additional details were not released by state police or the sheriff's office.

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio —

A Clermont County grandmother is in despair.

She said drugs took over the life of her 31-year-old grandson Christopher Simpson, to the point that he was armed with a knife and shot by a deputy Tuesday night. Now, she worries about what happens next, as her grandson recovers in the hospital.

Officials said Simpson is stable, but family members said they've been told he has life-threatening injuries and has been through at least one surgery.

They said they have tried to help him beat his addiction and there is nothing that seems to work.

"It's like a bad nightmare. I don't believe it all happened," Sandra Purdon said.

Purdon is a grandmother who wishes she could save her grandson. He's in the hospital after being shot by a deputy near her home in Clermont County.

"I never would've dreamed that this would've happened. Never in a million years," Purdon said.

She said a fight sparked over an open window and the air conditioner in her home at Richmond Estates on State Route 132.

She said her grandson, Simpson, refused to close a window and the situation became a battle between two brothers. Simpson's mother called 911 as he apparently motioned as he would cut them.

"He like, pulled out this knife and started, like, pointing it, and just talking off the wall stuff," she said on the call.

Purdon said Simpson has been into drugs and that they found a syringe on his bed.

She said he got out of jail in January and they've tried to help him, but it has been frightening.

"He's got this thing that he's possessed by the devil. He was walking around here the day before yesterday carrying a Bible," Purdon said.

She said they kicked him out leading up to the shooting.

Investigators said Simpson kept inching closer with the knife.

"We wish that they would have just tased him instead of shooting him, if that was at all possible, you know," Purdon said.

Now, this grandmother wonders if there's anything she can do.

"No matter what, he's my grandson, you know, and I don't want to see him die, so," Purdon said.

No one else was hurt, according to investigators.

Family members said while Simpson is apparently in stable condition, they're still waiting to see if he'll need any more surgeries.

They told WLWT they were told he was shot twice in the chest.

Ohio BCI is investigating the shooting by the deputy. No information has been released about the deputy involved. Authorities say Simpson has been charged with felonious assault, aggravated menacing and domestic violence.