Latest news with #WayneCountyMedicalExaminer'sOffice
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Yahoo
Giraffe spotted in a truck • Detroit officer charged for inappropriate texts to 6th grader • I-696 closure
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - A giraffe was spotted in the back of a pickup truck driving in Macomb County, a Detroit police officer is charged for sending inappropriate texts to 6th grader stepdaughter, and what to know about the I-696 closure: here are the top stories from FOX 2's Week in Review. 1. Giraffe in Detroit: Animal spotted in bed of pickup is 100% realA giraffe in the back of a truck turns out to be precisely what it looked like for a Metro Detroit driver. A driver spotted the exotic creature in the bed of a Ford pickup truck in Macomb County. Turns out it was owned by Darren Wehner who works at St. Clair Flats Taxidermy. 2. 'Delete these messages': Detroit cop accused of illicit texts to 6th grade stepdaughterA Detroit Police Officer and stepdad to a 6th grade girl is suspended from the force and facing prison time after Warren police said he sent inappropriate texts to his stepdaughter. Earl Raynard Anderson Jr. is charged with accosting a child for immoral purposes, after Warren Police said he sent his 12-year-old stepdaughter inappropriate texts and encouraged her to delete them. 3. Cause of death for two Detroit children who died in casino parking garageThe two children who police said froze to death at Greektown Casino in their family vehicle died from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. On Monday, Feb. 10, Tateona Williams and her family, who were experiencing homelessness, were inside their van at Detroit's Greektown Casino. Inside were her five children. 4. Pontiac mother in court, attorney believes social media may lead to unfair trialThe Pontiac mother accused of abandoning three of her kids returned to court on Tuesday. Kelli Bryant's attorney told the judge she's concerned Bryant may not get a fair trial because of information shared in media reports and on social media. 5. I-696 closure: Three things to knowThe second phase of the Restore the Reuther project begins on Monday with all eastbound lanes of I-696 closing on Monday – sending Oakland County drivers searching for alternate routes. It's the final phase in the massive multi-year project and will take roughly two years before traffic is back open in both directions. 6. Madison Heights resident display vulgar anti-Trump signs, sparking controversyIt was part of a collection of anti-Trump lawn signage with some language we can't show you on television. So neighbors along Osmun Street don't want their kids to see it either. "Everybody's like shocked and disgusted about it," said one neighbor. "Not obviously everybody feels the same way that she does. But why is she allowed to portray this horrible opinion in view of children?" 7. Utica mother demands answers after teacher allegedly forces child to clean bathroomAn angry mother is asking for answers after she says her special-needs son was forced to clean up another child's urine by a teacher. "His principal made him clean up another child's urine off of the bathroom floor because he was the last one in the bathroom, so that made him responsible," she said. 8. Five transported to hospital from chemical leak at Frankenmuth's Splash VillageFive people were hospitalized after a chemical leak at Zehnder's Splash Village in Frankenmuth Tuesday, according to the fire department. The chlorine leak happened on the Tantrum Twist Family Raft Ride at about 11:21 a.m. and five guests were treated at the scene, then transported to an area hospital for chemical inhalation. 9. Pleasant Ridge estate sale at the home of Royal Oak's 'Noir Leather' founderIt is definitely not your mom's sleepy estate sale, and you'll soon see why: the odd, the bizarre, the kinky—and a lot of them are one of a kind. The FOX 2 blurring tools got their workout with this story, carefully crafting our angles to showcase this one-of-a-kind estate sale, where Aaron Siepierski works. 10. 'This is not normal': Watch Democrat's sign ripped away as Trump entersDuring President Donald Trump's first major speech to Congress since returning to the White House for a second term, he was greeted by protesting Democrats, many of whom held signs against the administration. While not officially a State of the Union address, the event carries all the hallmarks of one, with lawmakers from both chambers filling the House chamber as Trump lays out his administration's priorities.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Yahoo
Official: Carbon monoxide caused death of kids found in Detroit casino parking garage
Two children who appeared to have frozen to death while living in a van in Detroit last month actually died of carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said. The causes of death for 2-year-old A'millah Currie and 9-year-old Darnell Currie Jr. were certified on Wednesday and deemed to be carbon monoxide toxicity and an accident, according to a news release from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. More than 400 Americans die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Feb. 10, the children's family was parked at the Hollywood Casino at Greektown when their car stopped running in the middle of the night, officials have previously said. The temperatures that day were in the low-to-mid-teens. Darnell Currie Jr. and A'millah Currie later reportedly stopped breathing and died. The family was unhoused, authorities said. The two children were living in the van with their mother, their grandmother, and three other children. Authorities haven't said what went wrong with the van. The Detroit Police Department said Wednesday it received the medical examiner's report and it will continue investigating and submit its findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. City officials could not be reached on Wednesday evening. The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office previously said the investigation into the official cause of death could take several months. But in the meantime, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan last week announced a seven-point plan to address holes in the city's response to homelessness after it was revealed Tateona Williams, the children's mother, had contacted city and county services for help several times prior to the Currie siblings' tragic death. Duggan said the city will expand the hours of a housing help line to 24 hours and seven days a week, will begin efforts to identify families living in vehicles, and will treat every call that involves children as an emergency, even if they are still housed. Williams sought help dating back to December 2022. Among her attempts include contacting the city's homeless hotline twice in December 2023 and twice more in the summer of 2024, the city said. There were attempts to contact Williams that spring, but its homeless response team was unable to reach her. Duggan said the last time Williams called the city's homeless response team was Nov. 25, 2024, to say she believed her family would soon lose shelter. Her case wasn't deemed an emergency and no one was sent to assess their situation. A phone operator classified the case as one in which the caller would lose housing within 14 days. No one followed up after that, Duggan said. In the weeks after the tragedy, leaders of homeless service agencies have said the way people get into shelters is "broken" and have called for more money and resources to address the need. And within the last year, the city added over 110 new shelter beds and created a 24-hour outreach team. Williams' family still fell through the cracks. The gas that killed the children, carbon monoxide, is considered a silent but deadly killer by health and consumer product agencies. Without proper ventilation, the gas can build up in an enclosed area and cause CO poisoning, sometimes resulting in death. In New Hampshire, a four-person family died on Christmas Day last year while on vacation due to apparent exposure to carbon monoxide. In Pennsylvania, former supermodel, actress and humanitarian Dayle Haddon died Dec. 27 from a carbon monoxide gas leak. The gas commonly is emitted from furnaces, generators, grills and gas vehicles, according to the CDC. The appliances are often used in cold weather or power outages, drawing special concern during winter weather and following natural disasters. More than 100,000 Americans visit emergency departments each year for carbon monoxide poisoning, the health agency said. Symptoms aren't all the same, but can include headaches, dizziness, nausea, altered mental state and chest pain. Preventing exposure is easy. The CDC recommends installing battery-operated or backup carbon monoxide monitors in sleeping areas and for people to check the detectors regularly. The agency urged people to clean and check chimneys every year and regularly service appliances and heating systems. Cars should never be run inside an attached garage and generators should be used more than 20 feet from the home. Contributing: Kayla Jimenez, Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY; Joanna K. Tzouvelis, Wicked Local; Nushrat Rahman, Violet Ikonomova, Detroit Free Press. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carbon monoxide caused death of kids found in Detroit parking garage
USA Today
06-03-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Official: Carbon monoxide caused death of kids found in Detroit casino parking garage
Official: Carbon monoxide caused death of kids found in Detroit casino parking garage Show Caption Hide Caption Gas leaks and how to prevent them at home Prevent gas leaks at home with a carbon monoxide alarm. Problem Solved, USA TODAY Two children who appeared to have frozen to death while living in a van in Detroit last month actually died of carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said. The causes of death for 2-year-old A'millah Currie and 9-year-old Darnell Currie Jr. were certified on Wednesday and deemed to be carbon monoxide toxicity and an accident, according to a news release from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. More than 400 Americans die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Feb. 10, the children's family was parked at the Hollywood Casino at Greektown when their car stopped running in the middle of the night, officials have previously said. The temperatures that day were in the low-to-mid-teens. Darnell Currie Jr. and A'millah Currie later reportedly stopped breathing and died. The family was unhoused, authorities said. The two children were living in the van with their mother, their grandmother, and three other children. Authorities haven't said what went wrong with the van. Children's mother previously sought help from Detroit, Wayne County The Detroit Police Department said Wednesday it received the medical examiner's report and it will continue investigating and submit its findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. City officials could not be reached on Wednesday evening. The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office previously said the investigation into the official cause of death could take several months. But in the meantime, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan last week announced a seven-point plan to address holes in the city's response to homelessness after it was revealed Tateona Williams, the children's mother, had contacted city and county services for help several times prior to the Currie siblings' tragic death. Duggan said the city will expand the hours of a housing help line to 24 hours and seven days a week, will begin efforts to identify families living in vehicles, and will treat every call that involves children as an emergency, even if they are still housed. Williams sought help dating back to December 2022. Among her attempts include contacting the city's homeless hotline twice in December 2023 and twice more in the summer of 2024, the city said. There were attempts to contact Williams that spring, but its homeless response team was unable to reach her. Duggan said the last time Williams called the city's homeless response team was Nov. 25, 2024, to say she believed her family would soon lose shelter. Her case wasn't deemed an emergency and no one was sent to assess their situation. A phone operator classified the case as one in which the caller would lose housing within 14 days. No one followed up after that, Duggan said. In the weeks after the tragedy, leaders of homeless service agencies have said the way people get into shelters is "broken" and have called for more money and resources to address the need. And within the last year, the city added over 110 new shelter beds and created a 24-hour outreach team. Williams' family still fell through the cracks. Carbon monoxide gas a deadly, silent killer The gas that killed the children, carbon monoxide, is considered a silent but deadly killer by health and consumer product agencies. Without proper ventilation, the gas can build up in an enclosed area and cause CO poisoning, sometimes resulting in death. In New Hampshire, a four-person family died on Christmas Day last year while on vacation due to apparent exposure to carbon monoxide. In Pennsylvania, former supermodel, actress and humanitarian Dayle Haddon died Dec. 27 from a carbon monoxide gas leak. The gas commonly is emitted from furnaces, generators, grills and gas vehicles, according to the CDC. The appliances are often used in cold weather or power outages, drawing special concern during winter weather and following natural disasters. More than 100,000 Americans visit emergency departments each year for carbon monoxide poisoning, the health agency said. Symptoms aren't all the same, but can include headaches, dizziness, nausea, altered mental state and chest pain. Preventing exposure is easy. The CDC recommends installing battery-operated or backup carbon monoxide monitors in sleeping areas and for people to check the detectors regularly. The agency urged people to clean and check chimneys every year and regularly service appliances and heating systems. Cars should never be run inside an attached garage and generators should be used more than 20 feet from the home. Contributing: Kayla Jimenez, Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY; Joanna K. Tzouvelis, Wicked Local; Nushrat Rahman, Violet Ikonomova, Detroit Free Press.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Yahoo
2 Detroit kids sleeping in van died of carbon monoxide, not hypothermia, medical examiner says
The cause of death of two young children who were sleeping in their family's van was revealed to be carbon monoxide poisoning and not exposure to the cold as Detroit authorities first thought. The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office said it conducted examinations Feb. 11, the day after Amillah Currie, 2, and Darnell Currie, 9, died. Their mother, Tateona Williams, said she found them unresponsive and not breathing after the van the family was living in ran out of gas. The medical examiner's office said the manner of death for both children was an accident. Williams could not immediately be reached Thursday. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said in a statement Thursday that the department received the medical examiner's report and "will continue investigating the facts and circumstances of the case and submit our findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office." Police declined to answer further questions. Toxicologist Aimee Nefcy told NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit that there could have been an internal leak inside the vehicle or carbon monoxide could have filtered in through a cracked window. "Once it gets inside the van, it settles to the bottom because it's heavier than normal air," she said. "And it layers down on the bottom of the van and it doesn't circulate out because all the windows are up higher than where the carbon monoxide is sitting." Hours before the deaths, Williams had parked on the ninth floor of Hollywood Casino's parking garage. Bettison has said that he believed the family used the garage for safety and to use the casino's bathroom. The temperature in the city that day was around 12 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. Inside the van were Williams and her four children, her mother and her mother's child, People magazine reported. It's believed the family had moved around from various casino parking lots. Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference last month that the family reached out to a homeless response team Nov. 25 and said they had been living with another family but could no longer stay there and needed help finding a new place. Duggan said that during that conversation, "there was no resolution reached on where they would go," and an outreach worker did not visit the family. The family had also reached out for help in the summer and the previous year, the mayor said. He called for a review into the family's request for assistance. Williams has since been given a new home. The city of Detroit and the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries posted a video last week of her receiving the keys. "We had to fix it, prep it, furnish it and then give them a good start so they don't have to go one day with no food or being outside anymore," said the organization's CEO and president, Chad Audi. This article was originally published on
NBC News
06-03-2025
- NBC News
2 Detroit kids sleeping in van died of carbon monoxide, not hypothermia, medical examiner says
The cause of death of two young children who were sleeping in their family's van was revealed to be carbon monoxide poisoning and not exposure to the cold as Detroit authorities first thought. The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office said it conducted examinations Feb. 11, the day after Amillah Currie, 2, and Darnell Currie, 9, died. Their mother, Tateona Williams, said she found them unresponsive and not breathing after the van the family was living in ran out of gas. The medical examiner's office said the manner of death for both children was an accident. Williams could not immediately be reached Thursday. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said in a statement Thursday that the department received the medical examiner's report and "will continue investigating the facts and circumstances of the case and submit our findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office." Police declined to answer further questions. Toxicologist Aimee Nefcy told NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit that there could have been an internal leak inside the vehicle or carbon monoxide could have filtered in through a cracked window. "Once it gets inside the van, it settles to the bottom because it's heavier than normal air," she said. "And it layers down on the bottom of the van and it doesn't circulate out because all the windows are up higher than where the carbon monoxide is sitting." Hours before the deaths, Williams had parked on the ninth floor of Hollywood Casino's parking garage. Bettison has said that he believed the family used the garage for safety and to use the casino's bathroom. The temperature in the city that day was around 12 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. Inside the van were Williams and her four children, her mother and her mother's child, People magazine reported. It's believed the family had moved around from various casino parking lots. Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference last month that the family reached out to a homeless response team Nov. 25 and said they had been living with another family but could no longer stay there and needed help finding a new place. Duggan said that during that conversation, "there was no resolution reached on where they would go," and an outreach worker did not visit the family. The family had also reached out for help in the summer and the previous year, the mayor said. He called for a review into the family's request for assistance. Williams has since been given a new home. The city of Detroit and the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries posted a video last week of her receiving the keys. "We had to fix it, prep it, furnish it and then give them a good start so they don't have to go one day with no food or being outside anymore," said the organization's CEO and president, Chad Audi.
