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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nation in brief: Girl’s death blamed on sports cream

The Spokesman-Review

A medical examiner blamed a 17-year-old track star’s death on the use of too much anti-inflammatory muscle cream.

Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday.

The medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used “topical medication to excess.”

In addition to muscle cream, Newman was using adhesive pads containing the anti-inflammatory, plus an unspecified third product containing the chemical, Borakove said. The products were used and the chemical absorbed over time, she said.

Newman died April 3. Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Bengay, expressed sympathy and reminded consumers about “the importance of reading the label on this and all over-the-counter medicines to ensure safe and proper use,” in a statement released Saturday.

ERIE, Pa.

Mom now blames dad for son’s injury

The woman who admitted swinging her 4-week-old son like a bat to hit her boyfriend, fracturing the infant’s skull, wants to withdraw her guilty plea, saying she now remembers events more clearly.

Chytoria Graham asked to withdraw her plea Friday – the day she was to be sentenced to at least five years in prison – because she now believes she was not responsible for the injury that Jarron Troop suffered on Oct. 8.

Graham, 27, of Erie, pleaded guilty because she had been drinking that night and, as a caring mother, felt she was responsible for whatever happened to the child, said defense attorney Julia Dudics.

Another defense lawyer, James Pitonyak, said Graham has since recalled events more clearly and now believes that her boyfriend, Deangelo Troop, Jarron’s father, also caused the baby’s injuries.

Los Angeles

Hilton says she won’t appeal

Paris Hilton said Saturday she was “learning and growing” from her time behind bars and will not appeal her 45-day jail sentence for a probation violation in a reckless driving case.

The hotel heiress was at a maximum-security detention center, where she was believed to have undergone medical and psychiatric evaluations to determine the best jail to keep her in.

“Being in jail is by far the hardest thing I have ever done,” Hilton said in a statement released by her lawyer, Richard A. Hutton. “During the past several days, I have had a lot of time to think and I believe that I am learning and growing from this experience.”

Hilton, in tears and screaming for her mother, was taken to the downtown Twin Towers detention center Friday after a judge ordered her back to jail, ending her brief stint under house arrest.

Hilton’s lawyers sought to keep her out of jail on grounds that the 26-year-old was suffering an unspecified medical condition.