This tugs at the heartstrings . Newlywed Teachers Die In Car Crash According to Mail Online Two young teachers married for just three months have died after a driver taking them to the airport after a wedding lost control of the vehicle, sending them crashing into a tree. In a further tragic twist, the newlywed wife, Jamie Soukup Reid, 25, was pregnant with the couple’s first child. Ultrasounds were recovered from her purse. She died instantly when the driver of their hired town car, 45-year-old Rodney Koon, lost control of the vehicle in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday. Her husband, 26-year-old Will Reid, was still conscious when paramedics arrived and he urged them to help his pregnant wife first. He also died from his injuries. Speaking to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jamie’s father Ron Soukup, a retired engineer for Microsoft Corp., shared his heartbreak at losing the young couple, who were both teachers in Philadelphia. ‘We lost our two kids and our first grandchild,’ he said. ‘She had the ultrasound pictures in her purse. He added: ‘We loved Will like he was our son. He was a wonderful guy.’ They visited Asheville at the weekend to attend a wedding of one of Mr Reid’s college friends. They were in the back of a town car heading east on Interstate 26 on Sunday morning when Koon lost control at 11.11am. The vehicle hurtled down an embankment and struck a tree, police said. Jamie was pronounced dead at the scene while her husband died of his injuries at Mission Hospital. Rodney Koon remains hospitalized after the crash and could face charges. An investigation is continuing and police have not said what caused Koon to crash. But in search warrant applications filed on Tuesday, police investigators said Koon’s ‘actions directly contributed to the collision,’ the Asheville Citizen-Times reported. The warrants allowed officers to search the vehicle and a digital recording device in the car’s electrical system was seized. It could reveal speed and other operational details before the crash. ‘She was fantastic with the written word,’ her father said. Will Reid’s father, James Reid, an orthopedic surgeon in Phillipsburg, said that the young couple were a perfect match for each other. ‘He was very talkative and had a dry wit,’ Reid said. ‘He was very funny. She was just beautiful and nice and happy. She was very caring. They were very much caring for each other.’ A memorial service will be held for the couple on August 17 at noon in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. They had their whole lives ahead of them. Sad. Facebook
Earlier this week, Taylor Swift released the official Red music video . But yesterday the singer was in more of a red, white and blue mood, posting a series of patriotic photos on her blog as she celebrated the nation’s 237th birthday alongside some close friends. “Happy belated 4th of July,” the Grammy winner wrote. “My touring family joined me at the beach and I wanted to show you some of the pictures because you’re the reason we all get to be on tour together.” The following pics were snapped at Swift’s $17 million mansion in Watch Hill, Rhode Island: Following a holiday hiatus, Swift and her team will return to the road, as her Red tour continues in Pittsburgh later today.
A Boeing 777, operated by Asiana Airlines and en route from South Korea, crash landed this afternoon at San Francisco International Airport. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown says the sequence of events that led to the accident is unclear, but footage (below) depicts smoke emanating from the plane as it sits on the tarmac. Passengers were evacuated via emergency slides and, at this time, no deaths have been reported. San Francisco Plane Crash David Eun, a passenger on the plane, has Tweeted a few updates and says the tail ripped off and fire and rescue workers quickly arrived on the scene, tending to the injured. He wrote soon after finding safety that “a majority of passengers seem ok.” Temperatures were approximately 65 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, and winds were about 8 miles per hour, leading one to believe that weather was not a factor in the crash. It’s not known how many people were on board, but a Boeing 777 can carry between 246 to 300 individuals. We’ll update this story as news breaks.
Veteran daredevil Jane Wicker was killed along with her pilot as her plane plunged to the ground during an air show performance Saturday in Dayton, Ohio. The show was suspended following the crash of her Stearman biplane, and expressions of sympathy have poured in to the performer’s Facebook page. It wasn’t clear what went so wrong, but the biplane glided through the sky, rolled over, then crashed and exploded into flames, killing Wicker and the pilot. The video of the crash, below, is not for the faint of heart: Jane Wicker Plane Crash Wicker, whose “wing walking” was an air show staple, said she felt confident of her ability and that lots of practice makes her signature stunt a “managed risk.” As always, Jane had planned to hang underneath the plane’s wing by her feet and sit on the bottom of the airplane while it was upside-down. The video shows the performer sitting on top of the wing; the plane then tilts and crashes to the ground, erupting into flames as spectators scream. The show was canceled for the rest of the day, but organizers said events would resume Sunday and follow the previous schedule and normal operations. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the crash. On the video, the announcer narrates as the plane glides and rolls over while the stuntwoman perches on a wing as she has countless times before. “Now she’s still on that far side. Keep an eye on Jane. Keep an eye on Charlie. Watch this! Jane Wicker, sitting on top of the world,” the announcer said. R.I.P.
A huge, multi-car crash on the final lap of Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway injured 28 fans, some seriously. At least one NASCAR fan suffered life-threatening injuries. An amazing raw video of the crash quickly went viral: NASCAR Crash at Daytona As CNN reports, shredded debris flew into the racetrack barrier and beyond, with some reaching 20 feet up to the second level of the track’s stands. Tires and parts flew into the crowd after the crash; 14 of those injured were treated on site and 14 others were transferred off-site to seek medical help. Halifax Medical Center reports that one adult underwent surgery for life-threatening head trauma, while a 14-year-old is in critical condition as well. Kyle Larson, the driver of the car torn to pieces, was not hurt. The Daytona 500, the first and biggest event of the NASCAR racing season, takes place at the same track Sunday, with Danica Patrick in pole position. It’s a dangerous sport … for drivers and spectators.
Bus Driver Found Not Guilty In Crash That Killed 15 People The verdict has come down in the case of the bus driver who was so exhausted that he dozed off while driving and crashed, killing 15 people last year. His lawyer’s defense that the crash was the result of another vehicle that ran the bus off of the road held up in court, as he was recently found not guilty of manslaughter. Fox News A casino bus driver at the helm of a New York crash that killed 15 people last year was found not guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide on Friday. Ophadell Williams was found guilty on one count of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. Williams wept and covered his face with his hands as the verdict was read. On the one count he was found guilty of, the judge sentenced him to 30 days in prison, which he has served. He also has to pay a fee of $500. Prosecutors alleged he was so exhausted it was as though he was drunk behind the wheel. Do you think justice was served in this case? Shutterstock
Big moves for Brit filmmaker Joe Cornish : The writer-director of Attack the Block (who also co-wrote Steven Spielberg’s Tintin and Marvel’s Ant-Man script with Edgar Wright) has landed the gig of writing and directing an adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash for Paramount, Deadline reports . The alternate-reality sci-fi tale follows one Hiro Protagonist, a hacker/swordsman who discovers a new drug/computer virus called Snow Crash is spreading through the postmodern future… and you know what that means: Time for a round of Cast That Movie! Which actors out there could fill Hiro’s shoes? [ Deadline ]
Details On Deadly Plane Crash In Nigeria Via CNN: The pilot of the Dana Air plane that crashed into a densely populated neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, radioed that the plane was having trouble just minutes earlier, an airline official told CNN on Monday. The details emerged as search and rescue crews worked to recover bodies from the wreckage, while authorities searched for the flight data recorders to try to piece together what brought down the plane Sunday, killing all 153 people aboard and at least 10 on the ground. The death toll will probably rise as crews search the rubble of a two-story residential building that the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 plane struck. It was unclear how many people were inside the building and on the street outside at the time of the crash, Mohammad Sani Sidi, the emergency management director, told CNN from the crash site. The pilot declared an emergency as the plane was on final approach to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and witnesses said it appeared the plane was having engine trouble, said Oscar Wason, Dana Air’s director of operations. Wason identified the pilot as an American, but did not release his name or hometown. The co-pilot was from India, and the flight engineer from Indonesia, Wason said. Among the dead are six Chinese citizens who were on board the flight, the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria said Monday. According to witnesses, the passenger plane appeared to be coming in high with its nose up when it crashed, hitting the ground tail first, Wason said. The flight, bound from the Nigerian capital of Abuja, crashed at 3:43 p.m. (10:43 a.m. ET) in the neighborhood of Iju Ishaga, just north of the airport, according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. The crash site was 11 miles from the runway, Wason said. The Nigerian aviation authority has not asked Dana Air to ground its planes, though the airline canceled all its flights Monday as show of respect for the victims of the crash, he said. Dana Air, which is privately owned and based in Lagos, began operations in 2008. Nigeria’s deadliest air disaster came in July 1991, when all 261 on board a Nigerian Airways airliner were killed when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Saudi Arabia. On Saturday, a Boeing 727 cargo plane operated by Nigeria-based Allied Air from Lagos overshot the runway in Accra, Ghana, and hit a passenger bus, killing 10 people, officials said. Dana Air set up a 24-hour hotline to provide information about the Sunday crash. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of guests who were involved in the Dana Air mishap,” the airline posted on its website. “May the souls of the deceased rest in peace.” Lagos, with a population of more than 7.9 million people, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. It is Nigeria’s commercial hub. Wow. The plane went down just 11 miles from the runway. R.I.P. to those lost in this disaster.
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