Laborer Survives With 1/2 a Headdailymail - While helping to tear down a building without any safety training Alan Hind's life and features changed forever.
Left with half a head and brain damage, the 28-year-old laborer welcomed the conviction of of his boss who was found to have breached safety laws at the work site.
Mr Hind suffered massive head injuries, including extensive skull fractures, a badly broken jaw, a severed optic nerve that left him blind in one eye and irreparable brain damage.
He also suffered kidney damage and was left deaf in one ear following the February 2008 accident.
Surgeons carried out three complex operations and six months after his fall used a titanium plate to replace a large section of shattered skull.
Parts of his brain were so damaged they had to be removed.
At Carlisle Crown Court, a jury convicted Mr Hind's supervisor Eric Murray, 63, who allowed him to work on the roof of a building at Watt's Yard, off London Road, Carlisle, without safety equipment or training.
Murray's older brother Robert, 65, admitted two health and safety breaches at an earlier court hearing.
Following the trial, Mr Hind, recalled waiting for the plate to be inserted in his skull saying: 'That was a frightening time.
'There was nothing to protect my brain - just skin. I was worried to go out.
'I didn't like to be around lots of people in case I bumped my head.'
Mr Hind, of Lockerbie, Scotland, has been unable to work since his accident. He welcomed the guilty verdict but warned other young workers: 'If it's not safe, it's not worth it.'
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Psychics Duke it Out in Connecticut
thehour - The owner of Psychic Tea Room on Washington Street will see what the future has in store for him on Monday at Norwalk Superior Court when he answers to the charges he is facing for his alleged role in a fight with another psychic.
Steve Cola -- a 38-year-old Norwalk resident -- is charged with third-degree assault, second-degree threatening and harassment.
Also facing misdemeanor charges for their alleged roles in the incident are Nino Miller -- a 22-year-old Southport resident who runs Psychic of Norwalk on Connecticut Avenue -- and a 17-year-old male, whose name is being withheld because of his age.
All three men were released on promises to appear in court
The fight began when Cola and the 17-year-old confronted Miller in a parking lot at 187 East Ave., where Miller was looking to rent an office, police said. Miller was accompanied by Sabrina Demetro at the time of the incident, police said.
Miller told police that Cola had been following him around all day and when he saw Cola, a heated argument began, police said.
According to police, Miller alleges that at one point during the argument, Cola asked him: "Do you want your children to grow up without a father?"
A physical altercation ensued and Miller claims he was pushed to the ground and kicked by the 17-year-old and Cola, police said. Miller said he hit his head during the fight, police said.
Miller said he saw Cola run into the building at 161 East Ave. and officers were able to locate Cola, according to police.
Cola told police that Miller had threatened to kill him and that Miller started the fight by punching him. He said that Miller and Demetro were "gypsies" and that he couldn't understand what they were saying during the verbal argument, police said.
Cola also alleged that Miller assaulted his ex-wife Janet Lee -- a Westport-Greenwich psychic -- in Sept. 2009, according to police and sources close to the case.
Lee had told Greenwich Police in September 2009 that a rival psychic gave her a black eye, police said. However, she was later charged with giving a false statement to police after police found inconsistencies in her statement, police said. The charges against Lee have since been dismissed because of her successful completion of the accelerated rehabilitation program.
In addition to the three people arrested for their roles in the fight, Demetro was arrested on a warrant for failure to appear in court.
Cola said his lawyer advised him not to comment on the incident.
Lee told The Hour that the incident "is kind of proof that I was right" about the Greenwich incident but she would not comment any further on the case.
Miller could not be reached for comment.
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Woman Set Office Ablaze So She Could Go Home Early
A Florida woman accused of starting an office fire to get sent home early with pay pleaded guilty to criminal mischief.
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office said Michelle Perrino, 40, drew suspicion during a meeting of Bayonet Point Oxygen employees when she mentioned the May 12, 2009, fire had started in a filing cabinet before workers had been informed of the fire's origins.
Investigators said a friend of Perrino told them she had admitted to tripping the main circuit breaker and adjusting phones to block incoming calls in bids to go home early without sacrificing the day's pay.
Perrino was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment followed by 5 years of probation. She was also ordered to pay Bayonet Point Oxygen $4,800 in restitution and banned from contacting the company or its employees.
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911 CALL: Brother Killed Brother, Buries Body in Backyard
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A frantic 911 call made by the sister of a brother who murdered his brother and buried him in the backyard. While she is talking to a very dim and annoying 911 operator, the brother DIGS UP THE DEAD BROTHER'S BODY in the backyard.
Police say Stanley Elias Eckard admitted to strangling his brother Sean and burying the body next to his parents' home. The family discovered the body in the ground.
Phantoms and Monsters - Fortean / Oddball News - 6/26/2010
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