Here's a daily list of recent activities drawing the attention of North Texas law enforcement. List compiled on Sept. 22, 2010.
UPS TRUCK ROLLS OVER IN FORT WORTH
A UPS driver told police the driver of a black Mercedes started to come into his lane so he swerved to miss it and ended up rolling is truck over. It happened in the 9900 block of Ten Mile Bridge Road near Eagle Mountain Lake. The UPS driver, who was not injured, told police the Mercedes drove off. Police are still searching for the driver of the Mercedes.
OVERNIGHT MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT ON CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY
Dallas police said a motorcyclist riding northbound on Central Expressway lost control of his bike and had to lay it down on the highway. It happened at about 1:45 a.m. just north of Haskell Avenue. The man was taken to the hospital for treatment of road rash on his body. He was last listed in serious but stable condition.
THREE FOUND DEAD IN ARSON AT SHERMAN-AREA HOME
Autopsy results are pending after a man and two sisters were found dead in a suspicious fire that destroyed a mobile home near Sherman. Grayson County Sheriff's Sgt. Rickey Wheeler said Wednesday that nobody had been arrested and the case is being investigated as a triple homicide and arson. Wheeler told The Associated Press that it appears the case involves an "isolated incident where it was one or all three were targeted for a specific purpose." Further details were not released. The bodies of 30-year-old Brian Lee Ritchie, his girlfriend 25-year-old Misty Yvonne Ballou and her visiting sibling, 28-year-old Cassandra Dawn Ballou of Frederickburg, were discovered Monday morning. Wheeler says people passing by noticed the mobile home was on fire and summoned help.
TEXAS TRUCKER PLEADS GUILTY IN DEADLY COLORADO CRASH
Authorities say a trucker from Texas has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in a 2009 crash that killed two. State prosecutors in Elbert County said Wednesday that Richard Widmier entered his plea in state court. He listed his hometown as Burleson, Texas. Authorities say Widimier was driving a tractor-trailer rig that crashed into the rear of an SUV on Interstate 70 in eastern Colorado during a snowstorm. Forty-eight-year-old Ginger Gillespie and 77-year-old Lois Kelton, both of Grand Junction, were killed. Investigators say the SUV was traveling at about 15 mph because of conditions and Widimier was going between 56 and 63 mph. Two other vehicles were hit, but no other serious injuries were reported. Sentencing is Nov. 12.
TEXAS COURT REVERSES CONVICTION IN DOG SCENT CASE
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has acquitted a convicted murderer imprisoned primarily because a trio of bloodhounds allegedly matched his scent to the crime scene. The appeals court reversed the 2007 guilty verdict against Richard Winfrey Sr. on Wednesday, ruling the evidence was legally insufficient to convict. The main evidence in the 2004 murder of Murray Burr was a positive scent identification from three bloodhounds named Quincy, James Bond and Clue. The dogs belong to former Fort Bend Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett, who retired this year. Pikett is a defendant in at least three lawsuits from men saying they were wrongly jailed after his dogs linked them to crimes they did not commit. He did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press.
