Youths’ elaborate escape is foiled
Youths’ elaborate escape is foiled
SEATTLE (AP) — The teenage boys apparently planned their escape from the juvenile detention center in Washington state. Some had packed bags with them, and one boy even stuffed his bed to make it look like he was there, authorities said.
On Saturday night, when they were supposed to be locked in their rooms at Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie, six inmates knocked a staff member unconscious, locked her in a room and fled, authorities said.
They were captured a few hours later after a helicopter crew using thermal-imaging equipment spotted them in nearby woods early Sunday, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.
“They basically attacked the staff member, knocked her out, took her keys and fled,” Sgt. Cindi West said. The teens left the woman unconscious and locked in a room at the facility, she said.
All of the inmates should have been locked in their rooms by 11 p.m., but they somehow managed to get out, said David Griffith, who directs institutions for the state Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration.
National Zoo’s panda cub dies
WASHINGTON (AP) — The giant panda cub born a week ago at the National Zoo in Washington died Sunday morning, saddening zoo officials and visitors who had heralded its unexpected arrival.
The 4-ounce cub, about the size of a stick of butter, showed no obvious signs of distress and made its final recorded noise shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday, zoo officials said at a news conference.
The cub’s mother, Mei Xiang, then made an unusual honking sound at 9:17 a.m. that her keepers interpreted as a distress call, and she moved away from where she had been nesting with the cub.
About an hour later, one keeper distracted her with honey water while another used an instrument similar to a lacrosse stick to pick up the cub.
Cat goes for bath, gets euthanized
GARDNER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman says her cat went to the veterinarian for a flea bath but was mistakenly put to death.
Colleen Conlon of Gardner is grieving the loss of 8-year-old Lady, which she attributes to negligence by the vet, Muhammad Malik. Malik’s lawyer says people should wait until all the facts come out before passing judgment.
Conlon’s 24-year-old son, Jesse, took Lady to the Broadway Animal Hospital last week and unknowingly authorized the cat to be put to sleep after he says he was handed the wrong forms. He says he learned of the mix-up when he returned with a second cat and the vet asked whether he wanted to keep the body.
“At first he thought it was some cruel joke,” Conlon said.
But the vet told her son he’d signed the papers. Her son didn’t leave the other cat at the vet’s office, Conlon said.
Conlon said she has filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s office and plans to talk with state licensing officials.
“I don’t think there was any malicious intent, but I do think it was negligent,” Conlon said. “I’m sure there are standards of practice they have to follow.”
Conlon’s daughter had given her the cat about a year before she was killed in a car accident in 2010.
Malik’s lawyer, Michael Sheridan, said Malik is well-respected and has saved many animals’ lives during his 30 years as a veterinarian.
“He’s treated thousands of animals, keeping them healthy and strong,” Sheridan said.
Sheridan declined to comment on a one-year probation period imposed on Malik’s license in 2005, for failing to follow standards when he treated a dog’s paw in 2002, the newspaper reported. Malik also was ordered to take 25 hours of continuing education in radiology and orthopedics.
Woman hit by bullet at New Mexico game
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — University police say a woman watching the New Mexico-New Mexico State game was struck in the leg by a bullet apparently fired from outside Aggie Memorial Stadium.
Deputy Chief Andy Bowen of the New Mexico State University Police says the woman in her 50s was watching Saturday night’s game when she felt what she thought was a bug bite. Then she realized she had been shot.
The shooting happened at about 8 p.m. at the stadium in Las Cruces.
Bowen says no one in the stadium heard a shot. The trajectory of the bullet was consistent with it being fired into the air outside the stadium and then coming down.
The woman was flown to a hospital in El Paso, Texas, where she was doing well Sunday morning.