EAGLESWOOD, N.J. --
Police in New Jersey say two people have died and another has been seriously injured after their SUV crashed into the side of an Ocean County restaurant.
Authorities say the crash happened in Eagleswood around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police say the driver of an SUV lost control along Route 9 before hitting utility poles and then crashing into the side of Calloway's.
According to police, 54-year-old Patty Rulon, of Manahawkin and 91-year-old Albert Rulon, of Tuckerton, died as a result of the crash.
Authorities say a 15-year-old boy is being treated for serious injuries.
According to the owner of Calloway's, no one in the restaurant was hurt in the crash.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
=============
Two people died and two others were seriously injured when a GMC Acadia struck the southeast corner of Calloway's Restaurant in Eagleswood on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.
The driver of the SUV- a 54-year-old Manahawkin woman - was heading north on Route 9 at 3 p.m. when she suddenly lost consciousness and slumped over the steering wheel with her foot still on the accelerator, said spokesman Al Della Fave.
The SUV veered into the southbound lane, went up a bank of shrubs and bushes and struck the southeast corner of the restaurant, he said.
There was substantial damage to the front of the SUV. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene via telemetry by a physician from Newark Beth Israel Hospital, Della Fave said.
The passenger in the front seat - a 91-year-old Tuckerton man - was flown to Atlanticare Medical Center with multiple injuries, but died on the way to the hospital, Della Fave said.
The rear passenger side occupant - a 44-year-old woman from Tuckerton - was partially ejected through the windshield from the backseat. She was taken to the hospital with shoulder and head injuries but is in stable condition at this time, he said.
The rear driver's side occupant, a 15-year-old male, was flown to Jersey Shore Medical Center for possible broken ribs and internal injuries. He is in stable condition.
Identities of the victims have not been released yet.
WILLIAMSBRIDGE, Bronx, NYC -
A tragic road accident killed a 37-year-old transport driver while she was unloading special-needs passengers from her van Wednesday, police say.
The victim's own vehicle rolled over her at Carpenter Avenue and East 229th Street -- crushing her head and upper body under a wheel. Police initially described the accident as a hit-and-run, but after an investigation they said the van had been switched out of gear and rolled over the victim.
Police say she walked around to the driver side of the vehicle to reposition it. She placed it in reverse and fell out, became trapped under the front wheel and was crushed.
She was taken to Montefiore Medical Center with severe trauma and pronounced dead.
The victim, Irene Espinal-Jiminian, worked for the Institutes of Applied Human Dynamics. She was a mother of two.
"We are very saddened to learn of the death of a cherished member of the IAHD family," said Brenda Rodriguez, a company spokesperson. "This is a terrible tragedy, and our heartfelt condolences go out to Ms. Espinal's family."
========================= Ambulette worker killed after van rolls over her in the Bronx
Wednesday, August 09, 2017 05:38PM
WILLIAMSBRIDGE, Bronx (WABC) -- An ambulette worker was killed after she was run over by her own van while unloading passengers in the Bronx Wednesday.
Officials said a car driving on East 229th Street in the Williamsbridge section struck 37-year-old Irene Espinal's van, causing it to roll over and land on top of her.
Neighbors came running to the scene after hearing the startling noise of the crash, and they frantically tried to save the woman pinned under the van.
"Her neck and her shoulder, they were cut with their wheel, so i guess it cut her respiration," witness Maureen Cani said.
Another witness, Bryanna Glassford, heard the screams, ran outside and called 911.
"She was breathing when I came outside, but five minutes into the conversation she stopped," Glassford said.
They said they could not pull Espinal out from under the vehicle because she was under the wheel.
Espinal was pronounced dead at the scene. She worked for IAHD and was in the process of bringing a resident of a group home to an appointment at Montefiore Medical Center when the crash happened.
"We are devastated to learn of the death of a cherished employee of IAHD," said Kerry Brady, director of residential services at IAHD. "This is a terrible tragedy and our heartfelt condolences go out to Irene's family. We are working closely with police as we await the results of their investigation."
Espinal started working for the company earlier this year.
Police said the driver of the vehicle that struck the ambulette fled the scene after the crash. They're now looking for the driver and vehicle involved.
No passengers in the ambulette were injured.
FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — UPDATE: The Fresno County Sheriff's Office says the man fell through the roof of the 4-story building.
. . .
A worker at a construction site south of Fresno died after falling about 40 feet.
The construction site is located at E Central & S East Avenues, west of Highway 99.
It's unknown at this time what the man was working on or what caused him to fall.
The man was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where he late died.
The Fresno County Sheriff's Office and Cal/OSHA are investigating the fall.
The man's name has not been released.
Disney pays at least $177 million to settle 'pink slime' case - filing
(Reuters) - Walt Disney Co paid $177 million, in addition to insurance recoveries, to settle the closely watched "pink slime" defamation case against its ABC network by Beef Products Inc., a quarterly financial report shows.
Privately-held BPI sued American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 2012 for $5.7 billion, saying it and reporter Jim Avila had defamed the company by using the "pink slime" tag, and making errors and omissions in a series of reports that year.
Disney and BPI, which calls the product "lean finely textured beef," came to an undisclosed settlement in June, 3-1/2 weeks after a trial began in South Dakota, where BPI is based.
Disney reported the settlement of the litigation in a footnote to its financial report, saying it was seeking additional insurance proceeds to recover its cash payment.
The financial tables show a charge of $177 million described as being "in connection with settlement of litigation." The figure is not directly linked to the "pink slime" case, but the BPI litigation is the only one Disney specifies in the report.
Reuters could not immediately reach Disney and an attorney for BPI for comment.
In a statement in June, ABC said it stood by its reporting. After the case was settled, Avila said the company was not retracting his stories or apologizing, and his 2012 "pink slime" reports remained on the ABC News website.
BPI's signature product, commonly mixed into ground beef, is made from beef chunks, including trimmings, and exposed to bursts of ammonium hydroxide to kill E. coli bacteria and other contaminants.
A microbiologist formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture is credited with having coined the term "pink slime."
==============
ABC settled 'pink slime' lawsuit for $177 million, leaving the beef company feeling 'vindicated'
The phrase "pink slime" turned off customers, the lawsuit claimed. Flickr/USDAgov
Disney's earnings report revealed the company spent $177 million to settle the "pink slime" lawsuit from a story ABC ran about beef in 2012.
Lawyers claim the phrase "pink slime" made Beef Products Inc. lose customers.
The company also laid off 700 workers after the report.
Disney paid Beef Products Inc. (BPI) $177 million to settle the 'pink slime' lawsuit that claimed a story ABC ran in 2012 misled viewers and caused hundreds of layoffs.
On Wednesday, Walt Disney Co's quarterly earnings report revealed that the company spent $177 million "in connection with the settlement of litigation" last quarter.
The case could have resulted in a verdict of as much as $5.7 billion if BPI had won.
In late June, ABC announced it had reached an "amicable resolution" with BPI.
BPI's attorney, Dan Webb, said the settlement "vindicated" the company and its "lean finely textured beef," the product that ABC dubbed "pink slime" in its 2012 reports, according to Hytrek.
"Although we have concluded that continued litigation of this case is not in the company's interests, we remain committed to the vigorous pursuit of truth and the consumer's right to know about the products they purchase," ABC said in a statement.
Lawyers made their opening arguments less than a month ago in a trial that could have resulted in a verdict of as much as $5.7 billion if BPI had won.
In the suit, BPI alleged that ABC misled viewers by calling its lean finely textured beef "pink slime." LFTB is a common ingredient in beef products and is safe to eat, which ABC noted in its reports. However, even with assurances that the ingredient, made from the trimmings of a cow and treated with ammonia to kill bacteria, wasn't dangerous, the phrase "pink slime" turned off customers, the lawsuit claimed.
A worker at Beef Products Inc. AP
"They ignored the proper name," Webb said in his opening argument, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "When you have a major news organization that is calling the product 'slime,' witnesses will say they can't imagine anything worse. It connotes something disgusting, inedible."
BPI said it had to close three plants and lay off 700 workers because of the "pink slime" backlash.
ABC's attorney argued that the "pink slime" reports brought to light that BPI and other ground-beef producers were using a beef product that most customers were unaware they were eating.
$2 million to be paid to victims in 2016 Rock Hill football team bus crash
the wreck was caused by the tire, and the church never should have had the bus on the road
By Andrew Dys
adys@heraldonline.com
August 08, 2017 4:02 PM
ROCK HILL
The insurance company covering the Chester church that owned a bus carrying a Rock Hill football team when it crashed last year, has agreed to pay $2 million for liability and under-insured motorist coverage, according to court documents and lawyers in a civil suit filed after the crash. The crash left four dead and dozens injured.
The bus was owned by Sandy River Baptist Church in Chester, and was carrying 46 people in September 2016 when police said a tire blew and the bus crashed into a bridge. The bus had been rented by Ramah Juco Academy, a Rock Hill based football team. A lawsuit was filed by many of the riders against the church, and lawyers now say all the people on the bus or their estates will receive portions of the $2 million insurance policy from Southern Mutual Church Insurance Company.
The driver of the bus, along with two Clinton College students and an 8-year-old child died in the crash. The child was a son of one of the coaches. About two dozen of the players were students at Rock Hill’s Clinton College.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said the church was at fault for renting out a bus that was not to be used for such commercial purposes, and also claim the tire that blew was at fault.
The first $1 million for liability claims from the church insurance policy has been disbursed to all but one person on the bus, lawyers said. The second $1 million, for under-insured motorist claims, will be reviewed and disbursed by Judge Lee Alford, a retired but still active circuit court judge from York County. Alford was appointed late last week as a special referee for disbursements, said David Manzi and Joel Hamilton, lawyers at Schiller & Hamilton of Rock Hill who represent 28 of the people injured.
“It is clear that the wreck was caused by the tire, and the church never should have had the bus on the road,” Hamilton said.
Manzi said the lawsuit, which seeks to find the manufacturer and dealer of the tire, remains ongoing.
“We are not giving up until we find them (the tire manufacturer and distributor),” Manzi said.
The $2 million was the full amount of the insurance policy, $1 million for liability and $1 million for under insured motorist, said J.R. Murphy, lawyer for the insurance company. There was another $50,000 in disbursement for medical expenses, Murphy said.
The insurance company has been “trying to expedite to make it easy on all these families,” Murphy said, adding that he believed the filing of the lawsuit to get the payments was “unnecessary.”
The company wants to make sure the payments are done “as fairly as possible,” Murphy said.
The crash on the way to the 2016 opening game in North Carolina caused the team to cancel its 2016 season but the 2017 season starts later this month.
