Timelines August 13, 2015

Fetus found in Suffern sewage facility to be buried

A fetus believed to be between 15 and 19 weeks old will be buried this week with a private service at Scarr Funeral Home and interment at Airmont Cemetery. The fetus was found by a worker with the Suffern Sewer Department at 7:40 a.m. on Friday while he was cleaning a grate at the department’s sewer facility. According to authorities, the fetus likely died as a result of a miscarriage. Both the funeral home and the cemetery have donated their services to lay the unborn child to rest.

Health Department: Rockland Legionnaire’s disease cases isolated

Three cases of Legionnaire’s disease have been identified in Rockland County since July 1, but according to Health Commissioner Patricia Schnabel Rupert, the county does not appear to have a wider outbreak on its hands.

According to Ruppert, the three cases appear to be isolated and do not represent a local cluster of the potentially fatal respiratory infection. One of the cases appears to have originated from the South Bronx where the patient worked while the origins of the other two are not yet known. One patient’s employment at Orangeburg’s Chromalloy manufacturing plant also necessitated the industrial disinfection of the facility over the weekend.

Legionnaire’s disease, which can cause death in 5 to 30 percent of patients, is a waterborne and airborne disease that causes coughing, shortness of breath, muscle aches, headaches and high fever. The County typically sees a handful of cases each year and Ruppert stressed the number of new cases does not appear to be outside the norm.

However, a larger outbreak in the city has concerned health officials. A cluster of the disease has already sickened 100 people in the South Bronx and killed 12.

Protests wind down in Ferguson after one year anniversary of Michael Brown shooting

A round of protests to mark the one year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death flared into violence early this week before settling into more peaceful demonstrations by Wednesday.

About 100 protesters gathered on Tuesday night to protest the killing and broader issues of police violence against blacks, chanting slogans and marching. Though traffic was briefly blocked by a group of protesters, the gathering was peaceably dispersed and no arrests, property damage or violence were reported.

Peaceful protests began on Sunday, the anniversary of Brown’s shooting by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, an incident which spurred wide debate and impelled the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement. However, unrest flared Tyrone Harris Jr., 18, allegedly fired on a police van with a handgun and police returned fire. Security footage was released showing Harris reaching for a handgun in his waistband.

Looting and property damage were reported on Sunday before a state of emergency was declared and riot police moved in to contain the situation. Twenty people were arrested before the situation de-escalated.

Man arrested for attack on first gay couple married at West Point

A man was arrested in Soho on August 2 after an unprovoked attack on the first gay couple to be married at the West Point Military Academy.

Thomas Clabough, 57, was arrested at his Junction Boulevard home on Wednesday and charged with assault and attempted assault as a hate crime after he assailed Daniel and Larry Lennox-Choate, two West Point graduates.

The couple was standing in line at a Newsstand store on Prince and Sullivan Streets in Manhattan when they were approached by Clabough, who began to scream anti-gay slurs and obscenities at the couple before repeatedly punched Daniel in the face. Larry pulled Clabough off his partner and drove him off before authorities were called.

Army helicopter crashes in Japan

A U.S. Army helicopter crashed off the coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa on Wednesday, injuring seven people onboard.

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, which had just returned from a training mission, faltered during a “hard deck” landing on the USNS Red Cloud as the vessel sat about 20 miles off the island coast. Seventeen people were on-board at the time of the crash, which tore the tail off the airship. The cause of the crash is currently being investigated.

The helicopter was initially reported as missing off the island, which is home to the majority of the U.S. military presence in Japan. Japanese search parties were called off after they received word from U.S. Camp Foster military police.

The crash is the second such incident this year. In March, four National Guardsmen from Louisiana were killed when their helicopter went down off the coast of Florida.

ISIS condemned by Taliban with new video release

The release of a new video by the Islamic State has provoked the ire of even other radical Islamists as the Taliban has rushed to condemn atrocities committed by the terror group.

The video showed ISIS militants executing Afghan prisoners with explosives. A caption on the video states the victims were captured after a battle between the Islamic State, the Taliban and Afghan government forces.

Though it has its own lengthy record of human rights violations against captured Afghan military personnel, the Taliban condemned the video by stating ISIS did not have the right to treat prisoners with that level of cruelty.

The release was one of two executions made public this week. In the second, a still photo purported to show the beheading of Tomislav Salopek, 30-year-old Croation hostage who was captured on July 22. Salopek was executed after an Islamic State-imposed deadline passed for the release of prisoners detained in Egypt during a 2013 crackdown on Islamist groups.