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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
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News briefs

Bob Saget’s family wants records about his death kept private

ORLANDO, Fla. — Comedian Bob Saget’s family asked an Orange County judge on Tuesday to block local authorities from releasing records related to his death investigation.

The lawsuit filed by Saget’s wife Kelly Rizzo and his daughters, Aubrey Saget, Lara Saget and Jennifer Saget, seeks to prevent Orange County Sheriff John Mina and the District Nine Medical Examiner’s Office from releasing further information in response to public records requests.

Saget’s family will “suffer irreparable harm in the form of extreme mental pain, anguish, and emotional distress” if more details about his death investigation are released, the complaint said. “No legitimate public interest would be served by the release or dissemination of the records to the public.”

Saget, 65, was found dead Jan. 9 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Orlando. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has already released an incident report and a recording of the 911 call by hotel security.

According to Saget’s autopsy report, which the Medical Examiner’s Office made public last week, he died of head trauma that “most likely incurred from an unwitnessed fall” in his room. His death was ruled an accident.

Lawyers for the GrayRobinson firm in Orlando, representing Saget’s family, wrote in the complaint that photographs, video and audio recordings from the investigation of Saget’s death and his autopsy are confidential and should be exempt from release.

—Orlando Sentinel

Passenger forces emergency landing in KC, FBI says

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A California man allegedly tried to force his way into the cockpit of an American Airlines plane and open an emergency hatch during a cross-country flight on Sunday afternoon, prompting airline staff and passengers to restrain him until the plane made an unscheduled landing at Kansas City International.

Juan Remberto Rivas, 50, is charged with one felony count of interference with a flight attendant, prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri announced Monday. He was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 1775, a nonstop from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.

According to an affidavit written by an FBI agent, passengers and flight staff told authorities of a harrowing scene on the airplane where Rivas allegedly said he wanted to “bring down the plane.”

Several flight attendants reported to the FBI that Rivas he requested to be moved to first class because he was afraid of another passenger, a flight attendant said, but was instead moved to another row.

During the flight, several passengers noticed Rivas had gone toward the front of the plane near the cockpit and a work area for the flight attendants. He started to kick and push the service cart into flight attendants, prosecutors said.

During the scuffle, Rivas allegedly tried to open the door to the cockpit. He also attempted to pull open an emergency hatch, according to the complaint.

Another flight attendant walked toward the front of the plane with a coffee pot and struck Rivas twice in the head. Rivas was then restrained with handcuffs, zip ties and duct tape, the complaint says. He was taken into FBI custody after the plane’s unscheduled landing.

—The Kansas City Star

Woman, baby escape car moments before it is hit by train

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A woman and baby got out of their car unharmed Tuesday morning just before the vehicle was hit by a Brightline train, according to Delray Beach Fire Rescue.

Delray Beach police are investigating. A woman was handcuffed at the scene by officers.

This is the second such incident this week.

A West Palm Beach man died when a Brightline train struck his car in Lake Worth Beach late Sunday afternoon.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said that driver went around the safety arm as a train was approaching.

Sunday’s crash is believed to be the 54th fatality involving the company since January 2018.

Last month, a man tried to cross the train tracks in Hollywood, Florida, when he was fatally struck by a Brightline train. Marc Charleus, 68, and his sister were killed in January when Charleus drove his SUV around a lowered crossing gate and into the train’s path in Aventura.

—South Florida Sun Sentinel

Putin foe Navalny faces years more in jail in new fraud trial

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny faces years more in prison as a new fraud trial started Tuesday that his supporters and human rights defenders say aims to keep President Vladimir Putin’s top critic silent.

Navalny, 45, has been in detention since January 2021, when he returned to Russia after recovering abroad from a near-fatal attack involving a nerve agent that he and Western governments blamed on Putin’s secret services. The Kremlin denies any involvement in the assassination attempt in Siberia.

Held in a strict-regime penal colony about 60 miles east of Moscow, Navalny is going on trial inside the prison. The new charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years and represent a further blow to Putin’s top opponent, who was due to be released next year.

The proceedings amount to a “sham trial,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “It’s obvious that the Russian authorities intend to ensure that Navalny doesn’t leave prison any time soon.”

Navalny is currently serving a 2 1/2-year sentence for violating probation terms of an earlier suspended fraud sentence in a case the European Court of Human Rights has called politically motivated. He’s now charged with embezzling 356 million rubles ($4.7 million) of funds donated to his political organizations. Navalny also faces a separate count of contempt of court during a hearing last year.

—Bloomberg News

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