Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio Deputy Dies After Car Plummets Into Sinkhole
Updated at 05:31am, December 6, 2016


A deputy in San Antonio, Texas, has died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday night.


Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. (Credit: San Antonio Fire Department)

Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, was off-duty at the time of the fatal crash, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. Two other people were injured.

Nishihara, who had worked as a reserve deputy for seven years, had transitioned into a part-time deputy role at the Bexar County Courthouse, Bexar Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said in a statement.

“My heart and prayers go out to the family involved in this tragedy,” San Antonio Mayor Ivy R. Taylor said in a statement.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, Nishihara’s car was headed down Quintana Road when it crashed into a 12-foot-deep sinkhole, CNN affiliate WOAI reported. Rushing water quickly poured into the car from a sewer main. Soon, the vehicle submerged.

By Monday morning, emergency responders shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission, during which emergency workers attempted to pull the vehicles out of the sinkhole.

“We suffered a few collapses that widened the sinkhole, and our technical rescue team firefighters were exposed to raw sewage at a fast, flowing rate, as well as very cold water,” Chief Charles Hood of the San Antonio Fire Department told WOAI.

San Antonio Councilman Rey Saldana has since called for action in order to avoid similar tragedies in the future.

“We must identify the origins of the problem that caused yesterday’s sinkhole incident,” Saldana said in a statement.


Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. (Credit: San Antonio Fire Department)

New Jersey State trooper and male driver killed after the male driver traveling southbound in his Toyota Corolla crossed the grass median, entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a marked state police vehicle

New Jersey state trooper dies of injuries after crash





Chopper 6 over a crash in Millville, New Jersey involving a state police vehicle.

Updated 1 hr 18 mins ago
MILLVILLE, N.J. -- A New Jersey state trooper and another man were killed in a head-on highway crash.

It happened around 7 p.m. Monday in Millville, in the southern part of the state.









The scene outside Cooper University Hospital where a New Jersey state police trooper was pronounced dead after a crash on December 5, 2016.
A man traveling southbound in his Toyota Corolla crossed the grass median, entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a marked state police vehicle. Trooper Frankie Williams was on duty and responding to a call at the time of the collision, state police said in a statement early Tuesday.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene. Trooper Williams, 31, was flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he was pronounced dead, state police said.

News helicopter video showed the mangled cars and debris littering the roadway. The crash remained under investigation early Tuesday.

State police said Williams, of Atlantic County, was a member of the 156th State Police Class, which graduated January 29, 2016. He was assigned to Port Norris Station.

No other information was immediately available.

Kimmi Kay Chute, 47, is charged with second-degree felony insurance fraud after Jeep found in ravine

Kimmi Kay Chute, 47, is charged with second-degree felony insurance fraud. South Ogden police said in charging documents Nov. 28, 2016, that Chute reported her Jeep stolen and filed an insurance claim. Police said a friend had told Chute he "can make the Jeep disappear." The Jeep was found in the bottom of a ravine near Mantua.
 
 South Ogden woman charged with insurance fraud after Jeep found in ravine

Monday , December 05, 2016 - 5:00 AM
 





MARK SHENEFELT, Standard-Examiner Staff


  SOUTH OGDEN, UTAH — A South Ogden woman has been charged with felony insurance fraud after she reported her Jeep Cherokee stolen and it was found at the bottom of a national forest ravine in Box Elder County.

South Ogden police said Kimmi Chute, 47, reported the theft to police and filed an auto insurance claim for the vehicle, saying it had disappeared overnight June 30. But the Jeep was located July 1 via GPS trackers installed by the dealership that had leased it to Chute.

Officers later learned Chute had been having financial troubles, the Jeep had transmission problems and she had told others she could no longer afford the $600 payment, a probable cause statement filed in 2nd District Court said. Under questioning Aug. 1 at the police station, she admitted she had talked to a family friend who “told her he can make the Jeep disappear,” the document said.


That man showed up at her home two days later, and she asked him if he had taken the Jeep, but he wouldn’t tell her, the probable cause statement said.

Ken Knighton, owner of K&J Auto in Bountiful, said he reported the GPS’s coordinates to authorities. The Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office found the mangled Jeep in a ravine in the Cache National Forest near Mantua.

“We lost our shirts on this deal,” Knighton said Friday.

Chute’s insurance carrier denied the claim, and K&J Auto has a high insurance deductible on its leased vehicles, Knighton said. He estimates he lost up to $5,000.

GPS devices are installed in leased vehicles as a loss prevention move, he said. It allows some people who could not otherwise afford a vehicle to get a decent car with a $300 down-payment or deposit.

“It’s a hell of a risk for us,” he said.

South Ogden Police Detective Tony Perfetto said Friday, “You are starting to see a lot of these places helping with our investigations. They are more and more protective of their investments.”

State Insurance Department statistics show the agency handles an average of 36 false auto theft cases each year. The total rose to 49 cases in 2015.

Armand Glick, director of the department’s Fraud Division, said most of such cases are referred to his agency by insurance carriers.

“We’re probably able to prove about half of those cases,” Glick said. “They’re difficult to prove unless you’ve got a witness or the vehicle has been listed for sale for months or mechanical issues — three days prior they are diagnosed and all of a sudden the car is gone.”

Many cases stem from individuals in rough financial times, Glick said, but the Fraud Division also investigates organized fraud rings.

“We had one big staged ring with 14 to 17 cars all related to the same group,” he said. “They were racing vehicles, they’d blow the motor, they’re still paying on the car, they have someone chop it up and it’s reported stolen.”

Perfetto said he’s investigated three insurance fraud cases this year, including a staged burglary.

“Property crime is on the upward trend, unfortunately,” he said, attributing much of it to people trying to pay for their drug habits.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimates the crimes cost the economy $96 billion annually. It said up to 30 percent of policy holders’ insurance premiums are due to charges added to cover industry losses from fraud.

Not just consumers commit insurance fraud, the coalition said, noting insurers and service providers also defraud — especially in the health care industry.

In South Ogden, Chute was served with a summons Nov. 28 to appear in court Jan. 10 to answer a second-degree felony count of false or fraudulent insurance claim. Court records show she has not yet been assigned or hired an attorney.

Perfetto said police were unable to develop charges against the 45-year-old man suspected of rolling the Jeep into the ravine.

OSHA cites Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing for 1 willful, 2 serious violations. Roofing company did not provide adequate fall protection for roofers working at commercial site in O'Fallon, Illinois

December 5, 2016

Roofing company did not provide adequate fall protection
for roofers working at commercial site in O'Fallon, Illinois
OSHA cites Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing for 1 willful, 2 serious violations

O'FALLON, Ill. - Federal investigators saw eight workers at risk of falls of more than 14 feet while re-roofing a commercial structure in O'Fallon in October 2016 because their employer failed to provide adequate fall protection.


As the construction industry continues to grow, falls continue to be the leading cause of death. Source: http://www.bls.gov

On Nov. 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing Inc. of Greenville, one repeat and two serious safety violations.

"An adequate fall protection system must be used whenever employees are working at heights greater than 6 feet," said Aaron Priddy, OSHA's area director in Fairview Heights. "Preventable falls account for nearly 40 percent of all deaths in the construction industry. OSHA is committed to protecting construction workers from unnecessary injuries or worse."

Inspectors also found:

• Warning lines were not properly rigged.
• A competent person did not inspect the work sites frequently.

Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing faces $61,721 in proposed federal fines. View current citations here.

Federal safety and health officials are determined to reduce the numbers of preventable, fall-related deaths in the construction industry. OSHA offers a Stop Falls online resource with detailed information in English and Spanish on fall protection standards. The page provides fact sheets, posters and videos that illustrate various fall hazards and appropriate preventive measures. OSHA standards require that an effective form of fall protection be in use when workers perform construction activities 6 feet or more above the next lower level.

The ongoing Fall Prevention Campaign was developed in partnership with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda program. Begun in 2012, the campaign provides employers with lifesaving information and educational materials on how to prevent falls, provide the right equipment for workers and train employees to use gear properly.

Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Fairview Heights Area Office at 618-632-8612.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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OSHA finds flooring subcontractor Subfloor Systems Inc. workers exposed to dangerous falls at construction site; Subfloor Systems Inc., a Dallas-area employer faces $87K in fines

December 5, 2016

OSHA finds flooring subcontractor Subfloor Systems Inc. workers exposed to dangerous falls at construction site; Subfloor Systems Inc., a Dallas-area employer faces $87K in fines

Employer Name:

Subfloor Systems Inc.

10509 Tube St.

Hurst, Texas

Citations Issued: Nov. 8, 2016

Investigation Findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration observed a Subfloor Systems' foreman and other employees working without fall protection at the construction site of a commercial building. After its Sept. 19, 2016, investigation, the agency cited the company with one willful violation for exposing workers to potential falls. In January 2016, OSHA cited the company with a willful violation after its investigation of an employee's serious injury after falling 22 feet.

Proposed penalties: $87,297

Quote: "Subfloor Systems is repeatedly demonstrating a negligence to protect workers from fall hazards and OSHA will not tolerate this willful disregard of safety," said Jack Rector, OSHA's area director in Fort Worth. "The company must provide fall protection and take the necessary steps to ensure no other employees are injured."

Link to citations: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/SubfloorSystems_1176662.pdf

Information: Subfloor Systems has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Fort Worth Area Office at 817-581-7303.

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