Nation in brief: Boaters swept over 150-foot dam
A boat carrying four people, including two boys ages 6 and 7, careened off a 150-foot dam on the Colorado River and became wedged near the bottom, authorities said.
The boaters were rescued Friday, and two of them, including one child, were airlifted to a nearby hospital, Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers said.
The Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday identified the adults as Shawn Allen Vincik and Alfred Ernest Tobola, both of Guy, Texas.
The recreation-style boat submerged into whitewater-speed rapids after going over the falls near Bay City, Eggers said. The Coast Guard’s Houston office received a call from the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office before sunset Friday requesting help for the boaters.
ALVARADO, Texas
Infant killed in high-speed chase
A woman led police on a 25-mile high speed chase until she crashed into a concrete median, killing her 9-month-old daughter in the collision, authorities said.
Alexxus Riza was thrown Friday night from the SUV, which rolled several times under an Interstate 35 overpass, said Trooper Dub Gillum of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The vehicle struck a traffic light before hitting the concrete barrier, officials said.
Aimee Andrea Riza, 36, of Keene, sustained minor injuries and was charged with manslaughter, evading arrest, resisting arrest and reckless driving, Gillum said.
“She was combative after the crash when they tried to extract her out of the vehicle,” he said. “The officers had to wrestle her to get her under control.”
A motorist had called the Somervell County Sheriff’s Department to report a reckless driver. When Riza refused to stop, authorities chased her through two counties at speeds up to 110 mph, Gillum said.
Authorities used spikes, tried to block intersections ahead and backed off the SUV hoping it would slow down. But Riza continued to drive until she crashed, traveling on the rims after the SUV’s tires were deflated, Gillum said.
NEW YORK
Officials say worker siphoned city funds
A former city maintenance worker used repeating payments of $49.95 to a “John Awesome” to steal thousands of dollars from the city, prosecutors said Saturday.
Investigators want to know if it is related to a larger theft of $3.6 million.
Prosecutors said Duwinn McClelland lifted a city bank account number from his worker’s compensation checks, then somehow used it to tap into the government fund for his own use.
McClelland is accused of quietly taking $4,000 over about 3 1/2 years, most of it in the form of automatic electronic payments to two sexually explicit Web sites. He was arraigned Saturday on larceny and fraud charges.
Investigators discovered the suspect charges while leafing through city financial statements, trying to discover how someone managed to infiltrate the same JPMorgan Chase account to the tune of $3.6 million.
In that case, a former social worker is accused of lavishing stolen funds on jewelry, electronic appliances and expensive personal items.