Latest news with #FordSuperDutyF-350
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Yahoo
‘How to go on,' husband laments at sentencing of Mounds View drunk driver who killed wife and unborn child
Christopher Yang said he often finds himself sitting in his car after pulling up to his Coon Rapids home and not wanting to go inside. It's a place that he and his wife, Melinda Thao, bought together, where they were supposed to raise a family. Waking up in the house is a reminder of what he lost, Yang said Friday in an Anoka County courtroom. He replays conversations in his mind that he had with Thao, who was his 'support system and best friend' and 'source of comfort.' Sitting to Yang's left was Makayla April Sua Richardson of Mounds View. On Aug. 18, Richardson, then 20, drove drunk in Coon Rapids without a valid license, ran a red light while also speeding and crashed into the couple's SUV, killing Thao and their unborn child. 'I grapple with how to go on without them,' Yang told the court. Anoka County District Judge Sean Gibbs went on to give Richardson two consecutive sentences: four years in prison for criminal vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol and five years of probation for criminal vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol. Probation will begin after her incarceration. She will receive credit for 193 days already served. In January, Richardson pleaded guilty to the two charges. She entered the plea after an offer from the prosecution, who agreed to dismiss two other charges: criminal vehicular operation causing great bodily harm and DWI. Assistant Anoka County Attorney Kelly Sinton asked the judge to give Richardson two consecutive four-year prison terms. Richardson's attorney, DeAundres Wilson, told the judge she is 'particularly amenable to probation.' He said she does not have a prior criminal history — 'not even a parking ticket' — and that she has shown remorse and accepted responsibility for her crimes. On Aug. 18, Richardson left a beach, where she drank alcohol, and was on her way to a friend's house when she got a flat tire, and 'though in retrospect that may have been divine intervention attempting to prevent her continued operation of a vehicle, she sought out another vehicle to drive,' Sinton in the state's memo on sentencing, filed this week. Richardson then went to her stepfather's house and asked to use his 2006 Ford Super Duty F-350. He agreed, but told her to first unhitch a fully loaded enclosed trailer from the pickup, Sinton said Friday in court. 'She chose not to. She chose to drive anyway. Her level of intoxication was staggering.' Just before 9:30 p.m., Yang and Thao and three of her siblings had left a movie and were headed to get dinner, the couple in their 2023 Toyota Highlander SUV and the others following in another vehicle. Richardson was headed west on Coon Rapids Boulevard alone in the 2006 Ford Super Duty F-350, still pulling the loaded trailer. The couple, with Yang driving, was traveling east on Coon Rapids Boulevard. With a green arrow to turn onto northbound Springbrook Drive, Yang began the left-hand turn. Richardson plowed into them. Crime & Public Safety | Teens charged with entering high school in St. Paul, assaulting student Crime & Public Safety | Mounds View shooting suspect arrested in South St. Paul Crime & Public Safety | Stillwater moves to ban cryptocurrency ATMs after series of scams Crime & Public Safety | American Airlines Boeing 737 catches fire after landing at Denver airport; 12 people taken to hospitals with minor injuries Crime & Public Safety | Mounds View police looking for 'armed and dangerous' shooting suspect Thao's siblings witnessed the violent collision, and ran to the SUV. Thao was buckled in the front passenger seat, gasping for air, her older sister, Cindy Thao, told the court in a statement Friday. 'She wasn't waking up when we called her, she was breathing slowly,' Thao recalled. 'When I saw my sister lying there and saw how badly injured her arms and legs were, the thought of my sister dying crossed my mind.' Melinda Thao and the unborn child were pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital, where Yang was hospitalized with broken ribs. An autopsy determined Yang's cause of death to be blunt chest and abdominal trauma. Richardson told responding officers that she had shared one can of an alcoholic seltzer with friends three to four hours earlier, and said she had a green light. Witnesses told police otherwise, that the couple had a green arrow and that Richardson went through the intersection against a red light. An empty can of an alcoholic beverage was found inside the truck. She submitted to field-sobriety tests, which she failed, and blew a 0.18 BAC on a preliminary breath test. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08. Richardson was placed under arrest and transported to the hospital for a blood draw. A blood sample, taken nearly two hours after the crash, showed her alcohol concentration was 0.162. Richardson was given a learner's permit in January 2024, but not a license to drive. A crash reconstruction by the Minnesota State Patrol determined Richardson was driving the pickup truck between 63 and 70 mph — in a 50 mph zone — when it collided with the SUV, which was mid-turn and traveling 12 to 13 mph. The weight of the trailer was found to be 3,700 pounds, with the F-350 weighing 7,600 pounds. On Aug. 20, the day that Richardson was charged, Yang posted to YouTube a gender reveal video for their family and friends. Yang and Melinda Thao had been trying to conceive for three years — and got a positive test in April. The married couple, who were high school sweethearts, went to their first ultrasound on June 18 and found out their baby was 9 weeks and 2 days old. On July 13, they got back the baby's gender — and decided to learn together while sitting in their vehicle during Yang's lunch break. Yang pulled up the results on his phone, looked over at his wife and took a deep breath. 'Don't say anything,' Thao said during the gender reveal. 'Just show me.' Yang turned the phone in her direction. 'It's a girl!' she said, then laughed. In an Aug. 21 GoFundMe post, Yang wrote about the couple's struggles to become parents. 'Melinda was so excited, she waited until I went on lunch break so we (could) look at the results together,' he said. 'To our surprise, it was a GIRL! We were honestly happy regardless of the gender, we were more happy that the baby was healthy.' He said their due date was Jan. 19, Melinda's birthday. They'd been together since 2013 and got married five years later after finishing college, finding stable jobs and buying a home in Coon Rapids, he said. 'Melinda worked so hard to uplift our lives to be filled with joy, love, and security,' he said. 'She worked hard for us to buy a home, conceive a child, and have careers. This is just the tip of the iceberg of our story and it pains me to, now, explain why I am on this page to request for everyone's help.' Thao was 'strong and smart and independent,' her mother, Amy Thao, said Friday in court. 'My beautiful daughter is gone forever,' she said. 'I will never get to hug my daughter again. At home … there is an empty space at the table, and an empty space in my heart.' Melinda Thao was the 'embodiment of kindness' who dreamed of a future where her children would grow up surrounded by love, friend, La Vang, said in a statement read by the prosecutor. 'But she never got to see that future.' Crime & Public Safety | Teens charged with entering high school in St. Paul, assaulting student Crime & Public Safety | Mounds View shooting suspect arrested in South St. Paul Crime & Public Safety | Hip-hop artist Sean 'Diddy' Combs pleads not guilty ahead of May sex trafficking trial Crime & Public Safety | Former Philippines President Duterte appears by video link at International Criminal Court hearing Crime & Public Safety | Mounds View police looking for 'armed and dangerous' shooting suspect When given the opportunity to address the court, Richardson, who is a mother of a daughter, apologized for what she did and said she 'thinks about all the things I could have done differently.' 'I know that my actions cannot be reversed, and my heart breaks every day that I wake up reminded of what I did,' she said. 'Melinda was going to be a mommy, and it's so not fair that the lives of Melinda and Leona were lost. Chris was going to be a dad, and I'm so sorry that that was taken from him.' She said she prays every day for forgiveness, adding, 'I know that this is not something that is easy to forgive. I have a hard time forgiving myself, and I just wish I could take everybody's pain away.'
CBC
10-03-2025
- General
- CBC
New truck to beef up fire response in Champagne, Yukon
Social Sharing Yukon's Fire Marshal's Office delivered a brand new pickup truck to Champagne's scene safety response unit (SSRU) last week. The unit's main objective is to secure a scene and prevent fire from spreading to other properties or structures until a neighbouring fire department arrives. The tiny community, which had a population of only 22 people in 2021, relies on the Ibex Valley and Hootalinqua volunteer fire departments to put out fires. That response could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half depending which department answers the call first. That's why the new truck is important. Kiara Adams, Yukon's fire marshal, said the 2024 Ford Super Duty F-350 pickup has a 300 gallon tank in the back and a pump that's capable of pumping 300 gallons of water per minute. It also has a one-inch hose and nozzle on a booster reel. "It makes it fairly simple and easy for a volunteer to be able to deploy the hose reel with a hundred feet of hose on it," she said. "Do something instead of watching" Heather Hougen, a member of Champagne's scene safety response unit, said there are up to 12 members who meet up for training once a month. The unit formed in September 2023, following a recommendation that stemmed from the Keno City Hotel fire in 2020. She said their training was put to the test within a year – when it responded to a tree fire last summer within the community. It had been struck by lightning. "It was a real eye opener on how quick something can happen and how vulnerable you are." Hougen said her unit, with the help of community members, were quick to act and put the fire out before outside help arrived. That's when she knew how important it was to have a response team in the community. Hougen said the new truck is a form of validation. She's looking forward to learning everything about the truck and how it works during the next training session. "We're proud of what we're doing," she said. Proper equipment critical for small communities Adams said there are currently six SSRU teams across the territory. There are also units in Ross River, Pelly Crossing, Old Crow, Destruction Bay and Keno City. She said another truck is currently in Whitehorse being outfitted with the same equipment. Adams said it will be delivered to another community with an SSRU. Adams said it's extremely important for communities without a fire department close by to have proper equipment, training, and resources readily available to them in the event of an emergency. Although, she said, prevention is key. "Our role as first responders is to make sure that we're prepared and adequately equipped to be able to meet the needs when they come," Adams said. Those needs come at all hours of the day, 365 days a year, she said. "It's very important and critical that we have the resources for the territory for us to respond adequately," she said. Adams said her office heavily relies on financial support from the territory to make things like this happen. She said the government has shown it's committed to improving fire services across the Yukon, but she knows more support is needed in order to provide high quality service.
