A partial power outage at the Christiana Mall left shoppers and stores in the dark for more than five hours and it's not the first time that's happened this holiday season.
Delmarva Power confirms the large mall, located off of I-95 in Newark, Del., had power service disrupted at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
A power cable, owned by Delmarva, that runs under the mall's parking lot failed leaving 100 stores and a number of corridors without electricity, officials said.
Power was restored more than five hours later at 3:30 p.m. Had the electricity not been turned back on by 5 p.m., the mall was prepared to close for the night because it would be too dark out to safely operate.
This is the second time a power outage has affected the mall.
An outage on Black Friday left many of the stores without electricity, forcing some to close up shop for some time.
The parents of a U.S. Marine who claim their son's heart was "harvested" during an illegal autopsy in Greece have added the Greek government to a lawsuit filed in the wake of his death.
Craig and Beverly LaLoup, of Coatesville, Pa., filed a lawsuit in federal court last Friday against the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Navy and U.S. government for negligence, emotional distress and alleged mistreatment of their son’s body.
The Greek government was added to the suit in an amended filing on Wednesday morning.
The family contends that an illegal autopsy was conducted on U.S. Marine Sgt. Brian LaLoup following his suicide inside the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece in 2012. During that autopsy, his heart was removed and never replaced.
Sgt. LaLoup's body was returned to the U.S. and buried without a heart. His parents claim they weren't told about the missing organ until after their son was laid to rest.
According to the lawsuit, the Greek government then allegedly sent a heart to the family, they claimed was Sgt. LaLoup's. However, the suit states that DNA testing showed it was not his heart.
"We have been concerned about the role of the Greek authorities and the hospital since these proceedings began," Aaron Freiwald, the family's attorney, said of the suit's amendment.
Freiwald said comments from Greek authorities about the case also played into the decision to add the foreign entity to the suit.
Christos Falidais, press secretary for the Greece Embassy in Washington, D.C., tells NBC10 that Sgt. LaLoup's heart was removed for toxicology testing, but would not say what happened to the heart after the tests were performed.
Faildais said the autopsy was done in accordance with Greek law and that the Greek Ambassador in Washington offered his condolences to the soldier's mother a "long time ago."
Questions about whether the wrong heart was sent to the family were not answered. The heart remains missing.
Faildais offered no comment on the Greek government's addition to the lawsuit.
Freiwald says Sgt. LaLoup enjoyed diplomatic immunity, meaning that Greek law shouldn't apply in this case.
The family also makes a bevy of claims against the U.S. government, service members and defense officials in the lawsuit. Among them, the family says officials failed to act on the Marine's warnings of suicide, guard his body once it was transported to the Athens hospital and lied to them about the missing heart, according to the filing.
The attorney says filing suit against governments, which typically are immune from lawsuits, is not easy, but he believes the facts in the case support the suit.
"We hope that both governments come forward and resolve this and answers the many questions the family have about what happened," he said.
The Department of Defense offered no comment on the case citing the pending litigation. The U.S. Attorney's General's Office offered no comment.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
Police continue to investigate a possible abduction that was caught on surveillance video and they want to speak to a man they believe could be involved.
On Tuesday morning, Philadelphia Police released a still image of a man they are calling a suspect in the possible abduction of a woman in the Spring Garden section of the city.
A 26-year-old witness told police she heard a woman screaming for help on Monday around 4:15 p.m. on the 1900 block of Green Street. When the woman looked out her window, she says she saw a man following a woman who was walking away.
The witness says the man had exited a black Chrysler Coupe with Pennsylvania tags and tried to grab the woman and pull her several times as the woman tried to get away. The witness says the man then picked the woman up and carried her to his vehicle as she struggled to escape.
The witness says the man then placed the woman into the back of the car through the driver’s side and then drove off. The vehicle was last seen traveling eastbound on Green Street from 19th Street.
Police say the woman who was grabbed was wearing a grey sweatshirt and black pants while the man who grabbed her was wearing a dark-colored jacket.
On Wednesday, police said there were no new details about the incident.
If you have any information on the identities or whereabouts of the man and woman, please call Central Detective Division at 215-686-3093/3094 or call 911.
Pennsylvania State Senators unanimously passed a bill to offer immunity to drug users who call 911 when someone is having an overdose.
The Pa. Senate voted 50-0 to pass Senate Bill 1164, known as a Good Samaritan drug overdose law, during their session in Harrisburg, Pa. on Tuesday.
The bill, would amend the state’s controlled substance law, to offer drug users immunity from prosecution for certain drug crimes when they call for help when a person they are with experiences a drug overdose. To receive immunity, a person must call 911, give authorities identifying information about themselves and stay with the overdosing person until help arrives. The bill’s writers say the law is written in a way that would ensure drug dealers would not be given immunity.
The law was introduced by Pa. State Senator Dominic Pileggi (R-9th), who serves parts of Chester and Delaware Counties, after he was approached by Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan.
Hogan says prosecutors wouldn’t typically prosecute a Good Samaritan in a case where they got help for an overdosing person, but believes people don’t realize that. So, he says, getting law on the books would help alleviate that.
Lynne Massi, a drug abuse advocate, says such a law could have saved the life of her nephew, David Massi. The 27-year-old was left brain dead after an overdose at a friend’s apartment in 2012. Lynne and her family believe David’s friends did not call for help because they were using drugs and were afraid of being arrested.
Several other states already have such immunity laws – including New Jersey, Delaware and New York. Pa.’s legislation has also gotten the stamp of approval from the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
The bill now moves onto the Pa. House where Sen. Pileggi is confident it will pass. He hopes the legislation will become law by the Spring of 2014.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
Police have found a woman who went missing at a bus stop in Bensalem on Wednesday.
Investigators say 29-year-old Leslie Neffle went outside her home on the 1200 block of Neshaminy Valley Drive in Bensalem around 8 a.m. to wait for her transport bus.
Neffle’s family told police that the transport company called them to let them know the bus was running late. The family went outside at 8:20 a.m. to check on Neffle but she was nowhere to be found.
Shortly after 5 p.m., police announced that Neffle was found safe.
Police are investigating the shooting death of a man in the Kensington section of the city.
Police say the 30-year-old man was on the 100 block of East Westmoreland Street when an unknown gunman opened fire.
The man was struck five times. He was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:06 p.m.
Police have not yet revealed the victim’s identity. No arrests have been made. Police have not yet released information on any suspects.
Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.
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A father was arrested after he allegedly burned his 3-year-old son with a hot fork.
Police say they were called to the home of 48-year-old Miguel Sanchez on the 7000 block of Radbourne Road in Upper Darby on Tuesday around 3:30 p.m. The 35-year-old mother of Sanchez’s four children called them for a domestic dispute, according to investigators.
When they arrived, police say they noticed burn marks on the face of Sanchez’s 3-year-old son. After further investigation, police say they discovered that Sanchez had heated a fork on a stove and then placed it on his son’s cheek.
Sanchez was arrested and charged with child endangerment and simple assault. Along with his 3-year-old son, Sanchez’s 2-year-old, 5-year-old and 6-year-old children were all taken into protective custody and evaluated at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.
Investigators say they also determined that Sanchez’s 6-year-old child was burned on the chest with a cigarette. No one has been charged in connection to that child’s injuries though the investigation continues.
Sanchez is currently being held at the Delaware County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bail.
As the region recovers from its second snow of the week we are looking towards a third weather system that could bring even more winter weather to the region this weekend.
“A tremendous amount of moisture” is currently off the Pacific Coast and should be moving our way as the week goes on, said NBC10 First Alert Weather chief meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz.
At this point it's unclear how significant the winter weather will be. The system should arrive from the west Saturday morning bringing snow early, before changing to a wintry mix of sleet and rain later in the day.
Some accumulation is likely to occur throughout the morning and into the afternoon, when the Army-Navy Game will be underway at Lincoln Financial Field. But the fast-moving system makes it difficult to predict the total amount of precipitation.
Ahead of the storm expect bitter cold temperatures, which will likely stay below the freezing mark all week before bottoming out in the mid-teens Friday. That cold air will cool off the ground enough to cause any moisture that arrives to almost immediately stick to surfaces.
The trick is how quickly temps go up on Saturday. Lows are expected in the mid-20s in Philadelphia Saturday morning and should push into the 30s as the day goes on but how fast and how quick could be the difference maker between notable accumulation or not.
In general, early models show more snow to the north and west but totals aren’t clear this far out.
The best bet for now is to continue to check back with the NBC10.com Severe Weather Central and the NBC10 First Alert Weather team.
A South Jersey community is taking the steps to solve its homeless problem after a man was killed while trying to find shelter from the bitter cold.
Joseph Hanshaw, 50, died after he was trapped in a clothing collection bin outside the Salvation Army Church in Bridgeton, New Jersey on Monday.
Police found him dangling from the clothing box. He was later pronounced dead at a medical center.
“He was a gentleman who came in quite often,” said Salvation Army Captain James Stephenson. “As a matter of fact he was in earlier that day.”
Hanshaw’s death prompted Bridgeton Mayor Albert Kelly to take action and spearhead efforts to help the city’s homeless population.
“We have been neglectful,” Mayor Kelly said. “Not the city, but this community. We have not stepped up to the plate.”
Bridgeton currently does not have code blue procedures in place or shelters for the homeless, although there were discussions on opening shelters prior to Hanshaw's death. On Tuesday, Kelly opened an immediate but temporary warming center inside St. Andrew’s Church.
“Luckily right now we’ve got blankets from the Salvation Army,” Kelly said. “We’ve got cots from Cumberland County Emergency Management.
A meeting in which a more permanent solution will be discussed is set to take place on Thursday. Officials with the city’s ministry as well as fire, police, business and economic officers will all be in attendance. Both Kelly and Stephenson hope the meeting will prompt the creation of a code blue warming center program.
“I do not want his death to be in vain,” Kelly said.
“To be able to come in and just sit down in a warm space, have a place to rest and have a cup of coffee,” Stephenson said. “It’s been something I’ve been pushing beyond the last two years.”
A former claims manager for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority admitted to stealing at least $1.5 million from the Authority as well as various insurance companies.
Gerardo Blasi, 55, of Clifton, New Jersey pleaded guilty to defrauding the Turnpike Authority and insurance companies in order to obtain money and property.
Blasi worked as the claims manager to the NJTA from May 2009 to June 2013. As claims manager, Blasi negotiated and recovered the costs of repairs from insurance companies of motorists who damaged NJTA property.
Blasi, with the help of representatives from two NJ-based insurance claims adjusting companies, inflated the costs to repair the damages done to the property by insured motorists. The inflated claims were then submitted to the motorists’ insurance companies and payment was directed through the mail to one of the claims adjusting companies rather than to the NJTA. Only payments for the actual costs were passed on to the NJTA.
Blasi and his conspirators then shared the difference between the inflated costs and the payments of the actual costs sent to the NJTA.
Blasi continued to process those claims violating an NJTA policy which prohibited any attempt to recover on damages caused by motorists who died from accidents on the Turnpike.
Since the NTA was unaware Blasi had processed the claims, he was able to share the entire payment sent by the insurance company between himself and one of his conspirators.
Blasi’s sentencing is scheduled for March 19, 2014 and faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A man drove himself to a Philadelphia police station this afternoon after suffering a gunshot wound.
Around 3:10 p.m. the 23-year-old victim arrived at the Philadelphia Police Department 35th District headquarters at Broad and Champlost streets in the Logan section of the city, according to officials.
Police say the man was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound in his lower back.
He was taken to Einstein Medical Center where he is in critical condition.
According to police, the victim said he was shot around the intersection of 67th Avenue and Smedley Street in the West Oak Lane neighborhood. There is no known motive, but police say a retaliation shooting is a possibility.
Police are treating his vehicle, which remains outside the station, as a crime scene.
The investigation is ongoing.
Safe walks to school, new green spaces and encouraging healthy eating in young people is how three local organizations will invest $100,000 in new grant money back into our region.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Trust for Public Land and The Food Trust were all chosen as this year’s recipients of grant money from NBC10 and The NBCUniversal Foundation’s 21st Century Solutions Program.
21st Century Solutions awards $1.2 million nationwide in the 10 markets served by the NBC Owned Television Stations. One winning organization and two runners-up are selected in each city. NBC10 promoted the initiative locally and created a panel to review and select the final grant recipients.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia has been awarded $50,000 for their ongoing work promoting bicycling as a healthy, low-cost, environmentally friendly form of transportation. Earlier this year, 24 Philadelphia Schools closed, forcing thousands of students to take longer routes to school. The BCGP responded by expanded their Walking School Bus program, which provides children with safe, adult-supervised walking groups, ensuring their safety as they walk through unfamiliar neighborhoods and across busy streets.
The Trust for Public Land will receive $25,000 for their work creating parks, playgrounds, and developing active green spaces to strengthen underserved communities. TPL has local residents and students actively participate in the design process so their visions for their neighborhoods become a reality.
The Food Trust will receive $25,000 for their Healthy You Positive Energy program. HYPE empowers youth to become leaders of healthy change by participating in organized youth councils. Council members work together with their peers to stress the importance of healthy eating and being active.
Launched in 2012, the 21st Century Solutions program supports initiatives designed to address emerging and ongoing community challenges in new and creative ways. By focusing on social innovation, the program encourages non-profit organizations to drive forward bold new ideas to make our local communities stronger.
To see stories featuring last year’s grant recipients, please click here.
A Montgomery County woman has been charged in the drug overdose death of her boyfriend.
Carly Stevenson, 26, of Hatboro, was arrested Tuesday night after police say she gave heroin to her boyfriend, 19-year-old Brandon Cron, which later resulted in his death.
On September 29, Stevenson called police from an apartment on the 100 block of North York Road and reported that Cron was unresponsive. Stevenson told police Cron was blue in the lips, cold to touch and was not breathing. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy and toxicology results revealed that Cron died from an adverse reaction to heroin.
Police say further investigation revealed that Stevenson bought three bags of heroin behind the "Scoops" Ice Cream store. She then allegedly gave the heroin to Cron the day before his death.
After Cron overdosed, Stevenson allegedly tried to get rid of evidence before police arrived at the scene. Police later found syringes and blue wax paper bags stamped with “I’ma Boss” and “Primetime” outside the apartment in a trash can.
Stevenson was arrested and charged with drug delivery resulting in death. She was committed to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post $100,000 cash bail.
“We are facing a growing problem of epidemic proportions with the scourge of heroin in our community,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. “The legislature has provided us with a powerful tool to deal with drug suppliers, who provide illegal substances, that after use, cause death. After conviction of the Drug Delivery Resulting in Death statute, the defendant faces up to 40 years in jail.”
"People should be on notice that as a result of delivering drugs, if someone dies because of it, you are on the hook for their death," said Assistant D.A. Kevin Steele.
Police are investigating a car crash in Manchester Township that killed a man and injured two women.
Police say a 1999 green Dodge Caravan was traveling east on Route 70 near Manchester Boulevard in the Whiting section of the town when it crossed the double yellow center line, struck the side of a 2005, black Dodge Grand Caravan which was traveling westbound and then collided head-on with a 2002 Ford Taurus which was also traveling westbound.
The driver of the green Caravan, identified as 50-year-old Calvin Cossaboon Jr. of Cape May Court House, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Ford Taurus, identified as 64-year-old Maureen Cullinane of Whiting and her passenger, 58-year-old Evelyn Randall of Newark, were both injured in the crash. They were flown via helicopter to the Jersey Shore Medical Center. Cullinane is currently in critical condition while Randall is stable.
The driver of the black Dodge Grand Caravan was not hurt.
Police are currently investigating the crash.
