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RV fire backs up I-4 in Volusia County

The state fire marshal is investigating what caused a recreational vehicle to catch fire, after an enferno that back up rushhour traffic on Interstate 4 for miles. Florida Department of Transportation cameras caught the massive fireball the engulfed the RV on I-4 at the St. Johns River Causeway in Volusia County Thursday evening. Vehicles were backed up for miles and many drove right past the flames. Many drivers were stuck on the causeway, but others were able to find detours. Tom Snyder got off before the bottleneck and said, "It's dead stop. We're going to Daytona and because it's on the bridge, you had to get on U.S. 17-92 to go around." A family with children were inside the RV when it started to smoke. The driver said they pulled over and got out just seconds before it burst into flames. The RV was hauling an SUV labeled "BigfootTracker" and Local 6 learned it's part of a team of people on a cross-country tour searching for Bigfoot. The people in the RV escaped without a scratch, and they were lucky to escape in time, because there were propane tanks in the vehicle that never exploded.

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:15:33 GMT

Brush fire closes road in Clermont

A large brush fire caused a Clermont road to close Thursday night. The Florida Highway Patrol reported County Road 561 was closed in the area of Bronson Rd. and 12th St. The exact size of the fire was not known, but Division of Forestry told Local 6 it is at least 200 acres. DOF was not aware of the fire threatening any homes. Watch Local 6 for more on this story.

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:30:32 GMT

Deputies: Hyperbaric chamber in explosion had known problems

The hyperbaric chamber that exploded last week at an equine rehabilitation center, killing a woman and the horse, had known issues, according to a Marion County sheriff's report released Thursday. Deputies said in an interview, Sorcha Moneley, the woman that survived the explosion in KESMARC Florida, told them she was aware that there were some problems with the valves on the chamber leaking. According to the report, KESMARC Florida manager Leonora Byrne had contacted the hyperbaric chamber facility in Kentucky twice requesting an engineer to look at the chamber. The company told Byrne they would send someone when they could and for the time being, the chamber could be manually operated to regulate the pressure, the report said. Moneley told deputies she was aware of some heated emails and arguments between Byrne and the Kentucky facility concerning the chamber. The owner of KESMARC Kentucky said she has not been affiliated with the Florida facility for two years and doesn't own the hyperbaric chamber or the company that makes the chamber. She said she doesn't want to comment out of respect for the victims. It's not clear if the valve issue is what caused the explosion. Moneley also gave deputies details of events leading up to the explosion, saying she was 20 feet away from the chamber room when the explosion occurred, killing Erica Marshall, 28, who was regulating the chamber. Fire rescue officials said the horse, with a stable name of "Tux", started kicking while it was inside the chamber and the workers went to turn the chamber off when the explosion occurred. She said she and Marshall were watching it all unfold on a monitor. Moneley said she ran to get help as soon as she saw the horse kicking and that's when the chamber exploded, according to the report. Moneley said she fell to the ground describing it as if hot gas had surrounded her and took her breath away. She said the last thing she saw was Marshall staring at the monitor and crying, according to the report. The report has conflicting accounts in the sheriff's report on if the horse was in fact sedated. Moneley told deputies that the horse was given a sedative but the manager said the horse didn't receive one. The horse kicked off a protective shield inside of the oxygen-filled chamber and as the steel shoe as struck the side of chamber, it caused a spark and ignited instantly. Horses are typically treated in a hyperbaric chamber after a vet prescribes it, officials said. It's not clear if the horse was prescribed treatment. Hyperbaric chambers are designed to push highly pressurized, pure oxygen into tissue to speed up recovery times for certain injuries. Deputies said Marshall died at the scene. Her husband said she died doing what she loved. Her funeral is being held Friday. Moneley, 32, was airlifted to Shands with serious injuries and underwent surgery. OSHA also launched an investigation and has not released any findings.

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:55:30 GMT

Stalker used social media sites to harass woman for years

It was nearly 2 a.m. in September 2009 and Sergeant Mark Conway was wrapping up an off-duty patrol job he had worked for the past five years. The Seminole County Sheriff's Office deputy said he was just four or five minutes from leaving the Oveido apartment complex when someone suspicious showed up. Patrick Macchione was dressed in black and was carrying a backpack, and when he saw Conway in the unmarked car he tried to go the other way. Conway said he had never seen Macchione before, so he knew he didn't live there and figured him for a car burglar. He stopped him and asked to see inside his backpack. Macchione began acting apprehensive and didn't want the deputy looking through his posessions. "I thought he was a car burglar, and expected to find car stereos or GPS units inside," recalled Conway. Instead, he found a video camera and dozens of videos of Macchione addressing someone named "Kristin". "I have no doubt if he would have encountered her he would have hurt her or killed her," said Conway. He booked Macchione on a loitering and prowling charge and plugged his name into a department database. He found police reports and injunctions against Macchione from Kristin Pratt. Pratt, now 23, was a UCF student at the time who knew all too well what the videos Conway found in the backpack contained. When Conway called her and said Macchioned was in custody, Pratt said she sighed a breath of relief. "I've been trying to tell people this for years now and no one wants to listen to me," she said, "Sergeant Conway saved my life." Pratt barely knew Macchione. They had a dual enrollment college credit class together when they were both still in high school in 2007. Pratt was from New Port Richey, and Macchione was from near Gainseville. "I didn't even know he existed in that class," said Pratt. But he remembered her. About a year later, in January 2008 he started messaging her on Facebook. He mentioned the class and she responded in a friendly manner. "Just hi how are you, how have you been," she said. "I was never flirtatious." Within the first five or six messages, Pratt said Macchione's tone changed from friendly to strange. She said countless phone calls, text messages, emails, twitter and facebook messages started showing up. He called more than forty times one evening while she was at work, and she called police. "I called the police and they came and they said, 'Well he doesn't know where you live does he?' And I said, 'No', and he said, 'Well, there's nothing we can do and they just left," recalled Pratt. Then he started posting videos on Youtube. Some are friendly, where he is asking to take her on a date. In others, he is angry and threatening his own life and hers. In one he is masturbating and asking Pratt to be with him. In June 2009, she filed a petition for an injunction in Orange County and handed in over 200 pages of information detailing the harassment. Later that month, an Orange County judge awarded Pratt a 10-year injunction that forbid Macchione from being within 500 feet of her place of employement at any time, and to not have any contact whatsoever with her. But the vidoes and messages did not stop. Pratt said she would let the court know that he was violating the injuction, but she felt she was getting the runaround. On September 6, 2009 he showed up outside Outback Steakhouse on Kirkman Road, where she was working at the time. She said she saw him and immediately ran inside and told her manager what was going on. They called police again, but by the time they arrived Macchione was gone. It was enough for police to file a warrant for his arrest since he had violated that injunction. Pratt said they were waiting for a judge to sign off on that warrant when Sergeant Conway came into contact with Macchione on September 19, 2009. Conway said he realized after watching the videos and speaking with Pratt he had to do everything in his power to help her. He suggested they ask for a higher bond amount to keep him locked up longer, so he could get in touch with the State Attorney's office in Orange County to get charges filed. But Macchione's parents were able to bond him out on the loitering and prowling charge in Seminole County. He returned to his parent's home in the Gainseville area and made even more videos directed at Kristen. In one of them, he expressed disbelief that he had been let out of jail. Conway said Macchione's parents realized that their son needed help and turned him in at the Orange County jail shortly after bonding him out. In January 2012, he was sentenced to four years in prison along with psychiatric treatment and a lifetime ban from using the internet. He will also have to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. Pratt said it is not enough to keep her resting easy at night. She said Macchione still haunts her dreams. "I have a couple reacurring dreams where he finds a way to get in my house, where he's just there and I wake up and he just kills me," she said.

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:13:09 GMT

20 most- followed people on Twitter

See which celebrities and public figures are dominating Twitter as the most followed people on the site.

Published: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:05:00 GMT

High schoolers racist video goes viral

At first watch, it's just two teenage girls chatting on the internet. But if you turn up the volume, you'll hear how two Gainesville High School students have put themselves in the middle of a firestorm. In the 14 minute video, the girls make comments mostly about African-Americans. "You can understand what we are staying, our accents. We use actual words. Black people do not. Like I fixing to go out to Selma, I gonna buy this thing oh man oh girl… Tyrone… Okay what is that? Are you stupid?" The two girls decided to take to the net to unload their frustrations over African-American classmates at Gainesville High and in their community. "Every argument I have is based on where I live," one of the girls says. "It's a ghetto place. If you lived here, you would understand. You would not like these black people." The video has caused problems at their school and calls were not returned to Channel 4. The Gainesville Sun reported that the two girls left the school but were not expelled or suspended. The Sun also reported that there was an emergency faculty meeting on campus to deal with the video that is getting a lot of views. "GHS is incredibly diverse and that's something all of us take great pride in and celebrate," principal David Shelnutt is quoted as saying in the newspaper. In fact, the girls talk about their ethnic background, in their own way. "I am not Mexican. Half my family is from Cuba. The other half is Irish-American. Some other crap." Their rants involve everything from the welfare system to complains about classmates that might indicate why they're not in school. "Miss Gill was like what about steak. They're 'we can't afford steak' but you can afford expensive Hollister clothes and iPhone but you can't afford a steak. Like what are your priority. Your phone and all your clothes are more important than your food."

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:41:50 GMT

2 Clay County deputies shot, 1 dies

Two deputies were shot during a raid of a suspected meth lab in Middleburg on Thursday evening. One of those deputies and a suspect running form the scene both died, according to Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler. The second deputy was also hit by gunfire in the incident on Alligator Boulevard just after 6:30 p.m. Beseler identify the deputy killed as David White, 35, a detective and nine-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office. "Detective White ... was literally one of the best officers we had," Beseler said. "He will be sorely missed." UNCUT: 'Clay County has lost one of its finest sons' White was the first Clay County deputy to be killed in the line of duty in almost 40 years. The second deputy, Matt Hanlin, was struck in the arm and was taken to Orange Park Medical Center, where he was taken to surgery. "This is the darkest day in the history of this agency," Beseler said after visiting the shooting scene. Beseler said the deputies were shot at the front of the house. Another deputy shot and killed the suspect as he ran out the back door. His name has not been released. Five people were arrested at the scene, but details were still being sorted out. "Right now the focus of all the members of the Sheriff's Office and the members of the community is with the family of those two officers," Beseler said. "We just ask for everyone's prayers." Channel 4 has crews covering the shootings. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, with a full report on The Local Station at 10 and 11 p.mn

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:41:26 GMT

Ump school owner apologizes for KKK costumes

The owner of a Central Florida umpire school apologized publicly Thursday night after they received backlash from trainees dressing up as members of the Ku Klux Klan. Every year, employees with the Jim Evans Academy for Professional Umpiring in Kissimmee attend a company costume bowling party after training is over. Major League Baseball cut ties with the academy immediately. In his first public interview since the incident, Jim Evans said he was regretful of the whole situation. "I apologize I regret it sincerely," Evans said. "It was a family situation that got blown out of proportion." It happened last month at the Orange Bowl Lanes in Kissimmee. The umpires wore white cones on their heads and their team name, "Klein's Kleaning Krew," on their shirts. They said it was a joke. "There's nothing funny about it. I really thought we got passed stuff like that, but I guess it's still there," Deon Williams, a Kissimmee resident, said Tuesday. The only black employee for the academy also didn't find humor in it. Several days later, he voiced his feelings, causing Minor League Baseball officials to launch an investigation and ultimately sever ties with the academy, no longer accepting students into the professional ranks. "It's a shame for the students, but when someone does something like that, you have to sever ties with them," Williams said. Evans, a MLB umpire for nearly thirty years, said he takes full responsibility for what happened. Evans said the punishment is extreme and could kill his business, which had an outstanding reputation until now. "The costumes were in bad taste a stupid joke and we should be punished," Evans said. Evans said he was at the bowling party, which was a private event that no students attended. He said he didn't even realize the stunt was out of line because by the time he realized what it was the team had changed to start bowling. Evans said no one seemed offended at the time, but four days later, he received a complaint and apologized for the behavior. "I'm going to try to make things right. I would like to see the punishment mitigated," Evans said. "I'm a big boy I can take punishment I can take responsibility for what happened." The employee who complained has resigned. The three umpires involved in the so-called joke were fired. Evans said his academy hasn't received any complaints before and in no way has any issues with racial discrimination.

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:58:40 GMT

Jeff Ashton's son found guilty in DUI trial

The son of Jeff Ashton, who is one of the three prosecutors in the Casey Anthony trial, was found guilty of driving under the influence on Thursday. Ashton was back in the courtroom Thursday for the first time since the trial, this time to defend his 21-year-old son, Alexander. Alexander Ashton was arrested in October after he failed a series of field sobriety tests when he was pulled on U.S. 17-92 over by a Seminole County deputy for speeding. The judge ruled Alexander Ashton must pay $200, go through 12 months of probation and will lose his license for six months. Ashton said his son had been drinking that night but was not drunk. The six-person jury heard from both defense and prosecution on Thursday at the Seminole County courthouse. The judge denied Ashton's judgment of acquittal, saying there was "more than enough evidence to continue." The deputy who pulled Ashton over, Brendan Lohri, was only witness the prosecution used. Lohri said Alexander was driving 68 mph in a 45 zone and after he pulled him over at 2 a.m. he suspected Alexander was drunk. The jury was shown cop's 40 minute dashboard video of Alexander taking his sobriety tests. He was then handcuffed and brought to the Seminole County Jail and given a breathalyzer test, which he also failed, according to the deputy's report. Jurors didn't hear that because Ashton argued the tests were unreliable so prosecutors agreed not to use those results earlier in the week.

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:11:58 GMT

Casey Anthony civil trial on track for April start date

Judge Lisa Munyon on Thursday set a tentative trial period date of April 9 for the civil lawsuit filed by Zenaida Gonzalez against Casey Anthony. Gonzalez is suing Anthony, 25, for defamation, claiming her life was ruined after Anthony linked her to Caylee Anthony's disappearance in 2008. The exact start date of the trial is uncertain, but Munyon said she hopes to begin around the week of April 9. She said she plans to start jury selection on a Tuesday or Wednesday, possibly the prior week, with the six-day trial beginning on a Monday. Munyon called for the meeting Thursday to ensure that both sides were ready for trial, and both sides said they were. Attorney Keith Mitnik is representing Gonzalez and attorney Charles Greene is representing Anthony. The jury will likely consist of a six-person panel. Gonzalez's attorneys said they doubt they'll ask for a sequestered jury. It is unclear if Anthony's attorneys will make that request. Both Gonzalez's and Anthony's teams expressed optimism on Thursday they would be able to find a fair jury in Orange County. Gonzalez's team said they plan to subpoena Anthony and put her on the stand, even though Anthony will likely plead the Fifth Amendment. Anthony's attorneys pointed out that a defendant is otherwise not required to be present at the trial. They're unsure yet how they'll handle the witness subpoena. As a courtesy to the security concerns, Gonzalez's attorneys said they have offered to serve the subpoena to Anthony's lawyers to prevent putting her home address on the subpoena. Gonzalez filed a motion Wednesday asking for a partial judgement against Anthony for statements Cindy Anthony made to the media about Gonzalez. No hearing is set for that case yet. Within the next two weeks, Anthony plans to file a motion asking for the case to be thrown out. One of their big angles will be that Anthony always mentioned a Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez. Records show that that is not Gonzalez's full name, even though her attorneys had originally filed the lawsuit under that name erroneously. Gonzalez's lawyers would not discuss any type of settlement options, but said that Anthony could come to the table with something and halt the trial.

Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:51:35 GMT

Cops: Man attacks grandmother for drug money

A man was arrested for attacking his grandmother over money to purchase drugs, Volusia County deputies said Thursday. According to the incident report, a deputy arrived to the home on Bailey Avenue in Deltona on Tuesday because of a battery complaint. At the scene, 84-year-old Lucille Cameron told the deputy she and her grandson, 34-year-old Steven Saul, had argued over money he wanted to use to purchase drugs. Cameron said she tried to leave the home and Saul pushed her from behind into the parked vehicle. Cameron told deputies Saul tried to grab her purse, but she managed to hold onto it. Her right ear was hurt in the fight, according to the report. When deputies talked with Saul, he told them he woke up to Cameron throwing unknown items at him. When he tried to leave to avoid further confrontation, Saul said his grandmother followed him. Saul initially claimed Cameron's car door hit her, causing the injuries, but he later changed his story. Saul was placed under arrest for domestic battery on a person over 65-years-old. He was in Volusia County jail as of Thursday afternoon.

Published: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:22:57 GMT

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