NYC teen allegedly threw boy, 9, from roof
NEW YORK, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- A 17-year-old New York youth was charged Saturday with critically injuring a 9-year-old neighbor by throwing him off a five-story building, authorities said.
Freddy Martin was clinging to life after the 8:30 p.m. Friday incident in New York's Bronx borough, the New York Daily News reported.
Neighbors said the boy cried "Mommy! Mommy!" after hitting the sidewalk outside his apartment building, the newspaper said.
A police source told the Daily News that while en route to the hospital the child told a police officer who was responsible.
"The kid told a cop, when they were going to the hospital, that he was thrown from the roof," the source said. "The boy named the suspect."
Sources and witnesses said Casmine Aska, who lived on the fourth floor, pulled the screaming boy from his third-floor apartment and dragged him to the roof, the newspaper said.
"He was saying, 'Stop!'" said a neighbor, who did not want to give her name.
WNBC-TV, New York, reported police said the boy was listed in critical condition at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital with "severe body trauma" and was on life support.
33 hurt in Boston bus crash
BOSTON, N.Y., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- A bus crashed into an overpass in Boston Saturday night, injuring 33 of the 42 people aboard, authorities said.
The accident, involving a Calvary Coach bus, occurred about 7:35 p.m. on Soldiers Field Road, The Boston Globe reported.
Some of the passengers were trapped inside the vehicle and had to be extricated through the roof of the damaged bus, the Boston Fire Department and state police said.
Boston Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan said 33 people were injured, four seriously the newspaper said.
Calvary Coach company officials could not be reached for comment, the Globe said.
Missing NYC woman's body found in Turkey
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The body an American mother of two who disappeared while visiting Turkey was found Saturday, said authorities, who detained several people for questioning.
Senior police sources told Hurriyet Daily News Sarai Sierra, 33, of New York City, may have been stabbed to death.
Her body was discovered near the city walls in the Sarayburnu district of Istanbul. The newspaper said an autopsy was to be conducted and security forces had detained at least 10 people as they investigate the death Sierra, who had been missing since Jan. 21, the day she was to have flown back to the United States.
Hurriyet said broadcaster NTV reported police found Sierra's driver's license next to the body. Today's Zaman reported investigators also found a blanket, clothes and jewelry.
Sierra had been on vacation alone in Turkey since Jan. 7.
ABC News reported U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., whose office had been assisting the Sierra family in trying to locate her, said he was "deeply saddened" by the turn of events.
"I urge Turkish officials to move quickly to identify whomever is responsible for her tragic death and ensure that any guilty parties are punished to the fullest extent of the law," he said in a statement.
Neb. Lt. Gov. Sheehy resigns
LINCOLN, Neb., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Rick Sheehy resigned as Nebraska's lieutenant governor Saturday after revelations of his late-night phone calls to women other than his wife.
The 53-year-old Republican submitted his resignation after the World-Herald reported he had made about 2,000 calls to four women in the past four years on his state-issued cellphone. The newspaper said many of the calls were lengthy and took place late at night.
Gov. Dave Heineman, who revealed Sheehy's resignation at a news conference, said it left him with "a knot in my stomach" and "deeply disappointed."
"He's done a lot of good things for the state, but that trust was broken, and he's resigned," Heineman said.
The governor the process for filling the post would begin Monday.
Sheehy, a former mayor of Hastings who became lieutenant governor in 2005, had had his eyes on the governor's seat, filing paperwork to enter the 2014 race in December 2011. A year later, his wife of 28 years Colleen filed for divorce and that was followed by this week's revelation, the newspaper said.
"I doubt he will continue his campaign for governor, and no, I would not support him under the circumstances," said Heineman, who declined to discuss details of the conversation he had with Sheehy after learning of the matter Friday.
