State briefs: Man accused of crashing car into deputy’s car

Published 11:55 pm Wednesday, January 26, 2022

STATESVILLE (AP) — Multiple charges have been filed against a North Carolina man’s whose vehicle crashed into a sheriff’s patrol car, authorities said.

The N.C. State Highway Patrol said a car driven by Charles Adam Stanley, 31, hit a an Iredell County Sheriff’s Office car driven by by Deputy Philip Henshaw, the Statesville News & Record reported.

According to the patrol, both vehicles were traveling north on Interstate 77, when Stanley lost control of his car and hit the passenger side of the patrol car. Investigators said Stanley’s car was traveling at a high rate of speed.

The patrol said Henshaw was taken to a hospital for treatment and added that Stanley also received minor injuries.

Stanley is charged with driving while impaired, reckless driving and failing to maintain lane control following the Monday night accident.

Inmate gets over 10 years for assaulting officer

GREENSBORO (AP) — A North Carolina jail inmate who assaulted a detention officer in 2021 will serve at least 10 years in prison after pleading guilty charges stemming from the attack, according to a local district attorney’s office.

Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Chris Parrish says a judge sentenced Elijah J. Evans to serve from 10 years and six months up to 15 years and five months months in prison, the maximum sentence allowed under the law, the News & Record of Greensboro reported.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office says Evans approached a desk where Sheldon Kaminsky, 71, was seated while on duty in an inmate housing pod on June 21. After a brief conversation, Evans moved behind the desk and hit Kaminsky with his fist, knocking him to the floor and leaving him unconscious, according to the sheriff’s office said.

Kaminsky was hospitalized in intensive care and still suffers from a traumatic brain injury, Parrish said.

Prior to the assault, Evans was jailed June 2 on robbery and assault charges involving an incident on a basketball court. Evans also pleaded guilty to two charges in that case on Monday, when he was sentenced in the officer assault.

Detainee at jail dies; 6th death in 16 months

ASHEVILLE (AP) — A woman being detained at a North Carolina jail has died, according to a sheriff’s office, marking the fifth such death at the jail within a year and the sixth within 16 months.

The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that Maria Christina Frisbee, 41, was jailed on Tuesday evening on multiple drug charges and for felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle, the Asheville Citizen Times reported.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Aaron Sarver said Frisbee was on special watch, which the news release said was based on her previous booking history and history of drug use.

A detention officer was conducting supervision rounds at around 8:30 p.m. and saw a detainee acting erratically in a holding cell, the news release said. The officer went into the holding cell and summoned medical help and supervisors, authorities said.

After a check by the nurse, emergency medical services arrived at the detention center 8:45 p.m. Frisbee died at 11:46 p.m. at a local hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

The cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner pending an autopsy, according to the sheriff’s office. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation will look into the death as well.

Motorist charged after car crashes into school playground

CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Three children were injured when an SUV crashed into a playground at a North Carolina elementary school, police said.

Police in Chapel Hill said Fiona Evans, 40, was charged with a safe-movement violation, news outlets reported.

According to police, Evans was parking her SUV in a lot next to the playground at Northside Elementary School on Tuesday when she hit the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal. The vehicle crashed through a fence, striking playground equipment.

School officials said about 20 children were on the playground for the Community Schools afterschool program.

Evans and the two children who were hit were taken to UNC Hospitals for treatment. One child remained hospitalized on Wednesday, police said. A third child was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Authorities said an investigation is continuing.

North Carolina AG sues company over scam phone calls

RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in a lawsuit filed against a Texas company which claims it helped scammers place robocalls inundating phones.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that Texas-based telecommunications business Articul8 helped facilitate scam calls across the country, the lawsuit says. That includes tens of millions of calls to North Carolinians, even though the company either knew or should’ve known that it was helping criminals try to defraud people, according to the lawsuit.

Rather than targeting individual scammers, the state is targeting the company that has been routing their calls and making a good profit doing so, Stein said.

Articul8 didn’t respond to the newspaper’s email request for comment.

The lawsuit points to a period from December 2020 through April 2021, when it says Articul8 helped suspected scammers place more than 515 million robocalls.

Stein said his office knows of a woman in Raleigh who lost more than a million dollars. He said if the scammers who bilked the woman or anyone else in North Carolina were using Articul8’s services, then any money the state might win from the lawsuit might go toward paying them back for some of their losses.

$25M gift to start triple negative breast cancer center

CHAPEL HILL (AP) — A $25 million gift from an anonymous donor to a North Carolina cancer center will allow for more research into a highly aggressive breast cancer that disproportionately affects Black, Latina and young women and previously has had limited funding, a news release said.

According to the news release from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the gift went to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to establish the UNC Lineberger Center for Triple Negative Breast Cancer. It’s the largest donation in the center’s history, the news release said.

The gift was made in gratitude for the care a family member received while being treated for cancer at UNC, the school said. Specifically, the donor designated the gift to help women and men with all types of breast cancer, especially triple negative breast cancer because of its poor prognosis.

Also, the gift will support research directed toward developing more effective treatments for metastatic disease, improving pediatric cancer care, and eliminating racial disparities in cancer treatment outcomes.

Dr. Lisa A. Carey, the inaugural director of the new center, said the gift provides the resources to expand and increase the pace of research that could lead to better treatments for women with the disease.