In brief: 5 Georgia Southern students die in crash

ELLABELLE, Ga. – Five nursing students died early Wednesday in a chain-reaction crash in southeast Georgia that authorities said began when a tractor-trailer failed to slow down and smashed into stop-and-go traffic.

Those killed were traveling on Interstate 16 near Savannah in two passenger vehicles mangled by the crash. The tractor-trailer plowed into an SUV, then rolled over a small passenger car that burst into flames, said Sgt. 1st Class Chris Nease of the Georgia State Patrol. The big truck came to a halt after slamming into the back of a tanker.

All five of the dead were nursing students at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, about 30 miles from the crash site. St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System said the students were commuting to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah for their last day of clinical training of the school year.

“The loss of any student, especially in a tragic way, is particularly painful,” Brooks Keel, president of Georgia Southern, said in a statement. “Losing five students is almost incomprehensible.”

The Georgia State Patrol said three people also were injured.

Civil suit planned in Ferguson death

ST. LOUIS – Lawyers for the parents of Michael Brown, the unarmed, black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in a St. Louis suburb, announced Wednesday night that they planned to file a civil lawsuit today against the city of Ferguson.

The wrongful death lawsuit had been expected. Attorneys for Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, and his father, Michael Brown Sr., announced at a news conference in early March that a wrongful death lawsuit would be filed “soon.”

Police chief quits after officer charged

INKSTER, Mich. – A Detroit-area police chief has resigned, two days after one of her officers was charged with assault in the bloody beating of a motorist.

Inkster Chief Vicki Yost resigned Wednesday. City Manager Richard March told WDIV-TV that he “wished her well.”

William Melendez was charged Monday with assault and mistreatment of a prisoner during a Jan. 28 traffic stop. Floyd Dent was pulled from his car and repeatedly punched in the head, a beating that wasn’t publicly known until WDIV aired the police video in March.

A cocaine charge against the 57-year-old Dent was dismissed Wednesday at the request of prosecutors. He claims police planted drugs in his car.

After the video surfaced, Yost met in public with protesters and said she understood their concerns. Melendez has been fired.