Thunderstorms destroy rink
Lines of thunderstorms hammered the South on Wednesday, turning a Montgomery skating rink into a hulk of twisted metal soon after 31 preschoolers and four adults fled to the only part of the building that turned out to be safe.
One child suffered a broken bone and another a cut to the head, but everyone else emerged unharmed from the crumpled wreck of the Fun Zone Skate Center, which doubled as a day-care facility.
“I’m amazed that anyone got out of there,” said Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright.
Several states were battered by the storms, which unleashed tornadoes and straight-line winds that overturned mobile homes and tractor-trailers, uprooted trees and knocked down power lines. At least one person was killed and several injured.
Los Angeles
Man sentenced in homeless attack
21-year-old Inglewood man who beat a sleeping homeless man with a baseball bat was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday, as his victim expressed compassion for his attacker.
Ernest Adams, 56, a long scar and scalp depression left by the attack visible through his black hair, told the court, “I do not have revenge in my heart” for Justin Edward Brumfield, who police said admitted to committing the crime after watching a “Bumfight” video depicting homeless men brawling.
Adams asked only that he not be stuck with the medical bills from the beating.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta told Brumfield his crime “shows you are a serious danger to society, which includes the homeless.” After the sentencing, Brumfield’s mother, Laurel Simpson, turned in her courtroom seat and passed a handwritten letter to Adams. The older man firmly grasped her hand, smiled warmly and told her, “Have a good day.”
Los Angeles
Charges filed in patient dumping
The Los Angeles city attorney’s office filed false imprisonment and dependent-care abuse charges against hospital giant Kaiser Permanente on Wednesday, the first criminal prosecution of a medical center accused of “dumping” patients on Skid Row.
The charges stem from an incident earlier this year when a 63-year-old patient from Kaiser Permanente’s Bellflower hospital was captured on video exiting a taxi in gown and socks, and then wandering the streets of Skid Row.
In addition to the criminal charges, the city attorney also filed a civil lawsuit against Kaiser, using a California law on unfair business practices that city prosecutors usually implement against unscrupulous slumlords to force them to clean up their buildings. The suit seeks a judge’s order forbidding all Kaiser medical facilities from dumping homeless patients in Skid Row upon discharge and financial sanctions if it does.