Amarillo built Osprey crashes in Florida

Hurlburt Field, Florida (CNN) -- An Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed Wednesday during a routine training mission north of Navarre, Florida, injuring five crew members aboard, a military official said.

The crash occurred about 6:45 p.m. at Hurlburt Field's Eglin Range, said Amy Nicholson, chief of public affairs at the airfield.

The five injured crew members were taken to an area hospital, Nicholson said. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, she said.

The Army began developing the Osprey in 1982, though the program was nearly scrapped in 1989 when then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney sought to cancel it because of ballooning costs.The Osprey was assigned to the 1st Special Operations Wing, the Air Force said. The tilt-rotor aircraft can fly like an airplane and land like a helicopter.

Questions were raised about the safety of the Osprey after two crashes, including one in 1992 at a Marine Corps air base in Virginia that killed the crew.

In late 2000, the Marine Corps grounded the Osprey fleet after two crashes -- one in Arizona that killed four crew members and 15 passengers, and another in North Carolina that killed the crew.

A redesign was ordered on the Osprey, and it resumed flights in 2002.

The Air Force began using Ospreys in 2008 after testing the aircraft in 2006. They were first deployed by the Marines in Iraq in 2007 after 18 years and $20 billion in development.

The MV and CV-22 Osprey is assembled in Amarillo, Texas

Passengers suing Jet Blue over pilot wig-out.

Ten passengers filed a lawsuit Wednesday against JetBlue Airways, claiming they feared for their lives when a pilot had to be physically restrained after running through the cabin yelling about Jesus and al-Qaida during a New York-to-Las Vegas flight in March.

The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Queens, claims the airline was "grossly negligent" in allowing Capt. Clayton Osbon to fly.

A flight attendant's ribs were bruised as passengers tried to restrain Osbon, but no one on board was seriously hurt. The March 27 flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas.

Osbon faces a hearing Friday morning in Amarillo to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial. He faces federal charges of interfering with a flight crew. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

An airline spokesman did not immediately comment Wednesday on the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit and a federal indictment, witnesses on Flight 191 say Osbon ran through the cabin in a wild rant. The first officer locked him out of the cockpit and passengers wrestled Osbon to the floor. 

The lawsuit also claims he was "yelling about September 11th, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, al-Qaida and terrorists." 

Other comments, according to the suit, included: "we're all going down", "you better start praying right now", "I'm going to show you Iraq and Iran right now", "there's a bomb on board" ''the plane will never make it to Vegas." 

The lawsuit claims JetBlue knew or should have known he was unfit to be entrusted with the aircraft as pilot. 

The 10 plaintiffs, all from the metropolitan New York area, are seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress.

Lawyer cyclist killed just outside of Amarillo

Amarillo Lawyer Jeff Tankersley was killed Sunday afternoon when a vehicle struck him while he was riding his bicycle down South Dowell Road.

The driver of the vehicle was 20-year-old Brent Kyle Browning.

Tankersley had already passed away when law enforcement arrived at the scene, and Browning did not sustain serious injures, officials said.

Troopers are investigating to see if drugs, alcohol or texting and (or) reckless driving were factors in the accident.

Details of the incident have not yet been released; Pronews 7 will post updates as they are received.

Editors note: Considerable confusion still surrounds the details of this tragic incident. There were reports overheard on the scanner (and from those on the scene)  the driver of the vehicle was possibly texting while driving and that a 20 year old woman in the vehicle was transported to the hospital with serious injuries that occurred when the cyclist crashed through the windshield. 

APD told the press this was the case - but DPS press releases say nothing about another person being injured. 

Pair charged with murder linked to home invasion -somehow.

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Two people were arrested after being charged with a murder linked to a home invasion on Friday afternoon, police said.

26-year-old Jessica Medina and 29-year-old Timothy Francisco Lopez were both arrested on a charge of Murder.

On Friday afternoon, 26-year-old Gabriel Castillo was killed after he reportedly, along with another person, attempted to burglarize a home, police said.

Just after noon on Friday, police said a caller told them two masked men were found inside a backyard office trying to steal a safe in the 2900 block of South Highland. Police said the caller, who owned the backyard office, confronted the men.

The men then fled on foot and one of them pointed what was believed to be a pistol at the office owner, police said.

That's when, according to police, the office owner fired at the suspect because he was in fear for his own life.

Police said the suspects fled the scene at a high rate of speed. The vehicle was driven by a third person, police said.

Later, police said they received a call from the 2400 block of Rule on a person who had been shot and was not breathing. Police said that person was one of the suspects from the burglary on South Highland.

Castillo was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

A Justice of the Peace ordered an autopsy and police are continuing their investigation. The preliminary autopsy results indicated Castillo died from a gunshot wound to the right hip area, police said.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Special Crimes at 378-9468.

Photos from Cruise Night 6-3-2012 Region 16 Education Center

Click to enlarge:
Photographed at Region 16 Education Center, Amarillo Texas on June, 3rd 2012.  Sponsored by the Panhandle Council of Car Club - Cruise Night take place at 5PM on the first Saturday of every month. It's free and open to the public.

This Saturday there was a large turnout - but impending bad weather cut the event short.

Photos by Steve Douglass

Police investigate hit & run as possible crime

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Amarillo Police are investigating a motor vehicle vs. pedestrian accident that left a man with life-threatening injuries.

Police were called to the 2400 block of South Crockett at 1:03 a.m. Sunday morning on that accident.

Once on scene, they found 22-year old Hector Alejandro Gonzalez had been struck by a vehicle that had fled the scene. 

That vehicle, a Toyota FJ Cruiser was later found in the 5900 block of Shawnee. The driver, 19-year old Collin Lee Johnson, was arrested on scene for Failure to Stop and Render Aid and Intoxicated Assault. He was booked into the Potter County Jail.

Police say apparently Gonzalez and Johnson were part of two different groups that went to Austin Park to fight. They say the incident is being investigated as an assault because the accident may have been part of that disturbance. Alcohol is a factor in this incident.

The case is being investigated by the Traffic Investigation Unit and the Detective Division of the Amarillo Police Department.

APD releases details on Memorial Day aggravated assault on Columbine/Gardenia

On 5-28-12, at 8:40 PM, officers were sent to 1318 Columbine on a reported aggravated assault. Officers found two men injured and being treated outside that home.

 One was an Asian male age 36. An officer said that this man appeared to be unconscious and may have suffered some type of head injury.

 The second man, an Asian male age 17, had multiple facial lacerations. Initial information provided to officers was that brass knuckles were used in the fight in which the men were involved. One witness later mentioned clubs and sticks.

 Both men were being treated by paramedics and the unconscious man was transported to a local hospital. Officers found that the two men had been at a party at 1424 Gardenia. There was some type of verbal dispute or argument, and a fight involving the two men and an unknown number of other people broke out. The two men sustained their injuries during the fight.

 The initial information is that the fight happened inside the home. The two injured men apparently drove from the Gardenia address to the home on Columbine. Officers and investigators went to the Gardenia address and found several people still there, but others involved may have left before officers arrived. The officers secured consent and searched the home.

 At least three people were taken to the APD to be interviewed. Everyone was later released without charges and there have been no arrests. The most severely injured man’s condition was initially described as life-threatening. Investigators later learned the injuries were probably not life-threatening. They are in the process of verifying the man’s current condition at the time of this release. No names have been released pending additional investigation.                                                                                                                                      

Texas Panhandle War Memorial today

Photos from today's Memorial Day observances at the Texas Panhandle War Memorial.

All photos by Steve Douglass

Burglars busted ...

On 5-13-12, at about 4:40 AM, officers saw a black Dodge SUV type vehicle driving southbound in the 1500 block of S. Bell at a high rate of speed.

 As the officers continued to watch the vehicle, they were dispatched to the Kensington Apartments at 1524 Bell on a burglary of the office.

 A witness reportedly heard glass break, people talking, and then saw a black vehicle shaped like an SUV leave the lot at a high rate of speed. An officer stopped the vehicle in the 4300 block of W. IH-40. The driver was a female, and there were two passengers, a male and a female. The officer saw papers and checks from the Kensington Apartments.

 They also saw a damaged mail slot face plate in the vehicle. Two of the people in the car had fresh cuts on their hands. Officers sent to the burglary confirmed that the apartment’s office had been burglarized. They found a window broken out and the front door had been pried open.

 The night drop box was been broken open. Ashley Radawn Stauder WF 21 and Michael Christopher Bailey WM 25 of Amarillo were arrested and booked into the Potter Co. Detention Center for burglary. The female passenger in the car was released pending investigation.                                                                                    

BPI closing Amarillo plant due to pink slime controversy

Beef Products, Inc., of South Dakota has announced it will be closing three of its processing plants on May 25. BPI claims the "pink slime" controversy in March of this year was the cause of the closures that will affect 650 workers.

Plants affected by the closure are located in Amarillo, Texas, Garden City, Kansas and Waterloo, Ohio. A fourth plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska will remain open, but at a reduced level of production.

BPI came up with the process of making the additive, LFTB, in 1994 when concern was high over the way to kill E. coli, Salmonella and other pathogens sometimes found in ground beef. The process involves heating beef scraps with ammonia, which in turn effectively kills the pathogens. 

Called "lean finely textured beef", the product name, "pink slime", was coined by a microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, in 2002. At that time, Zirnstein worked for the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.