A 14-year-old girl is spending Sunday morning recovering in a Philadelphia hospital after police say a dog attacked her in West Philadelphia late Saturday night.
Police said the teen was visiting at a house on Pemberton Street near 57th when the family’s bulldog bit her in the face, arms and feet about 11:20 p.m. Other children who were in the house at the time of the attack called 9-1-1, police said.
The girl was rushed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and remained there Sunday morning in stable condition.
When officers arrived at the house, police said, the dog lunged at them, and an officer shot the animal dead.
A man died from his injuries following a shooting in Camden, New Jersey Sunday.
The unidentified man, who was in his early 20s, was on the 1600 block of Mt. Ephraim Avenue when a gunman opened fire. The man was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
No arrests have been made. Police continue to investigate.
It’s never too late to learn how to make a quality quilt, even if you’re one of Burlington City’s finest.
Police were called to Olde City Quilts on High Street in Burlington, New Jersey Sunday for a medical emergency after a student in a quilt-making class fell ill. The officers arrived and determined the student was okay. A few of the officers then decided to show off their quilt-making skills, a moment that was captured on video and later shared on Facebook.
“My grandmom taught me how to do this when I was 12,” one officer said. “I was a professional quilter and then I became a cop."
The second officer in the video wasn’t quite as confident and asked the teachers for help before he started sewing. Both Olde City Quilts and Burlington City Police shared the video on their Facebook pages.
“We encourage community oriented interactions with the community,” a Burlington Police spokesperson said.
Take a look at the clip in the video embedded above.
A man is fighting for his life after he was beaten by his own son inside his home in Ventnor, New Jersey, according to police.
Ventnor City Police responded to a home on N. Derby Avenue where they found 60-year-old Michael Nelson on the floor in his living room with injuries to his head and body. Nelson was taken to the hospital where he is being treated for life-threatening injuries. He underwent surgery and is currently in the Intensive Care Unit.
Investigators determined Nelson’s son, 30-year-old Thomas Nelson, had attacked his father. Thomas Nelson was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and criminal mischief. He was lodged in the Atlantic County Justice Facility on $50,000 bail.
No one starts with a needle in his or her arm.
Hidden within addiction is mental instability. We know that addicts do not just become users on a whim; there is a trigger caused by mental illness.
Something triggered Derik, my younger brother, into the dark path of addiction. We never truly understood his trigger, which made the cycle of addiction worse for my family and me. Addiction took hold of Derik when he was just a young teen, trying the “small stuff” and loving the way it made him feel. It wasn’t until his adult years, when he was prescribed an opiate for pain management, that he got his first taste of a true high. The painkiller, a gateway drug, opened the door for Derik to try heroin – and boy, did it have its grip on him after he was introduced to it, the monster that would take control of his mind, body and soul.
As angry as I am, I now understand that Derik’s addiction was a mental illness, and he could not choose the sober path. His body and warped mind chose heroin over sobriety, chose heroin over his daughter, Scarlet, and over the rest of us whom he left behind, now mourning the loss of a soul too young to depart.
Derik suffered on a daily basis for two and a half years with his demon, heroin. He loved his family and his daughter, but did not love his life. Heroin helped Derik escape his reality; it put him into a daze that allowed him to forget. He truly tried with all his might to tell his body that the fixes were not worth it, but his body and mind outweighed his heart each time he took the needle. My brother did try to get help by entering rehabilitation facilities at least five times, yet nothing changed.
Rehabilitation facilities are just the initial stage of treatment. These facilities start with detoxification and medically managed withdrawal. But that alone does not address the psychological, social and behavioral problems associated with addiction and therefore, does not typically produce lasting behavioral changes necessary for recovery.
My brother needed further behavioral treatment for full recovery; he thought of rehab as more of a vacation from his disease rather than treatment to help subdue the urges. These treatments include long- and short-term residential treatment, outpatient treatment programs, and individual and group counseling – all designed to help patients engage in the recovery process, modify their attitudes and behaviors related to drug abuse, and increase healthy life skills. There are programs that enhance the effectiveness of medications and help people stay in treatment longer, yet funding for them is limited, and insurance does not cover everything. So what hope was there for Derik?
I had already prepared my heart for the inevitable phone call, so when it came, I was ready. The nightmare began with a simple text in the morning: My brother had not come home last night, and some gullible girl had taken him to Philly. Derik said, “I will be 20 minutes,” but he never came back. I reassured my mom that he would be back; he always resurfaced. But I had a feeling deep down that this time was different. I braced myself for reality. Heroin had its grip on him.
Derik lost his battle with addiction on May 7, 2015. On that night, my brother was deceptively given fentanyl rather than his drug of choice. He slipped into a deep sleep, his body forgetting to breathe. For an entire day, he was lost, unclaimed, and thrown away like trash to rot in the elements of a wooded alley in Kensington. His body was not found until late on May 8. My insides ache to think that his body wasted away in the scorching heat for an entire day in that alley, alone, waiting for someone to claim him as Derik M. Lawley, a brother, a son, and father.
When the funeral home called and asked me to identify Derik’s body so that they could process him and make his body look like Derik again, I immediately said yes. Being who I am, I told myself that I could do it alone. I thought the image of his lifeless body should be the burden that only I carried.
I opened the door to the funeral home, remembering greeting the many visitors for my grandfather’s funeral two years prior in that very same spot. The funeral director asked, "Are you ready?” and I probably gave her a look of discontentment. Of course I am not ready. Up to this point, it was all a dream. It might not have been Derik. It could have been a mistake, and he could have been just walking the streets of Philly.
I walked with her and turned the corner to what would be one of the most heart-wrenching sights I would ever see: Derik lying dead. My hands trembled, my mouth let out a small whimper, and I felt like I could faint. I whispered, “That's him and I'm sorry,” the words running together. I was warned not to touch him due to the extensive autopsy injuries and his body not being embalmed, but all I wanted to do was hug him and slap him at the same time.
The next morning, my family made the decision of where Derik’s final resting place would be. Valley Forge Park is peaceful – trees, flowers, and the chirping of birds. A place safe from Derik’s demons, from himself, and from the judgment of others. Mom, Dad, and I picked the niche in the columbarium where he would be interred. It was almost like choosing a new house not only for Derik, but for my grandparents, my parents, and my husband and me. We chose for him to be in the middle so that he would not be alone. Our grandparents will join the niche next to him when God decides to take them into the light, and Mom and Dad will join him on the other side. A sandwich of love. I pondered to myself for a moment there; I thought I heard Derik’s laugh in the wind.
The peace I felt as we picked Derik’s niche was gone the moment I saw him in his cremation box waiting for the flames. He was dressed in the clothes I picked out for him: a gray button-down shirt he wore often and black pants. I could see more of Derik since the sheet laid at his waist. To me, it was not his face. There were no dimples, no smile, but the sleeping eyes and hair were Derik’s. I watched Mom and Dad say their final goodbyes, kissing Derik’s forehead and whispering sweet nothings. They placed pictures of Scarlet and Derik’s Disney trip to bring to the afterlife for comfort as God and our departed family embraced him. After, it was my turn. Our parents left the room so I could talk to him behind closed doors.
I walked up to Derik, nervous that he would not want me to say goodbye in this manner. But, dear brother, I had to. The image of him alone was causing an ache in my heart; nightmares replaced happy memories of him. I needed to see him safe, to make sure he was not alone as the flames engulfed him, to burn the images of his lifeless body in the wooded alley out of my mind. I placed a picture of the family happy at Christmas in those goofy poses I made everyone do, our pictures of all four siblings last Mother's Day, of Scarlet loving her daddy, and of Mom and Dad smiling. I whispered, ‘I am so sorry,’ over and over, feeling his hand on my shoulder. I stopped. I kissed Derik’s forehead and motioned to the director and henchman to put his lid back on. I pushed the box myself into the kiln, and the doors shut. I kissed my palm and spread my hand on the door and I said goodbye. He was free.
My heart died the moment Derik took his last breath. His body lies in ashes as mine dies slowly from within. The darkness lingers and the nightmares loom into the light. The pain of losing Derik is unbearable, and I am living in the ninth circle of hell, my treachery being called an addict’s sister. Siblings love each other regardless of their paths; they guide each other when they have fallen and are each other’s shoulder to lean on. But I distanced myself from Derik’s addiction; it made him a wicked man. I should have been there for Derik, to wipe the sweat of addiction off his brow when the wickedness came upon him time and time again. Or in the least, I should have called, wrote, or sent Derik love in a care package. But I ignored him, gave him the cold shoulder, and did not see the real person within his eyes. I practiced tough love when I should have just shown him compassion. That is my burden, my guilt, my pain to bear all the days of my life.
According to the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association report, there were at least 2,489 drug-related deaths in 2014 and 800 heroin-related overdoses in the state, with fentanyl poisoning also rising in numbers. My brother, Derik M. Lawley, is now part of the 2015 statistics, and the numbers are rising at an alarming rate.
But Derik wasn’t a statistic. He wasn’t just a number on a spreadsheet. He was a son, a father and a brother. The stigma of the stereotype is that addicts are deviants and don’t engage in society – that they’re unemployed, dropouts, victims of poor upbringings, users in dark, dirty alleyways, robbers of the innocent – and are without love and kindness in their lives, confined to poorer areas of the big city, those without morals. This could not be further from the truth. Heroin and other opioid overdose are now a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and addiction affects all walks of life across Pennsylvania: rich, poor, middle class, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and siblings. My brother suffered from a mental illness, not a moral failing. Addiction is a crisis that has hit hard in our local Bucks County and Montgomery County communities.
Derik's death was preventable. If funding for a new initiative to combat heroin and opioid addiction was available, our communities would not be suffering like this. My 3-year-old niece would not be asking, “When is daddy coming back from heaven?” My parents would not be mourning the loss of a son. And my sister, brother, and I would not be suffering the loss of a sibling. Parents across Pennsylvania would not be mourning the loss of their children who are fighting battles with addiction. Parents would not be searching for missing children who are living on the streets, fighting their own demons because insurance companies would not pay for additional, much-needed rehab treatment. Parents would not be planning funerals for their children who departed this world too soon.
Pennsylvania’s legislation needs to allocate funds to increase access to lifesaving therapies and give Pennsylvanians, like my brother, access to the treatment they need. Measures need to be in place to prevent these needless deaths. We need funding for new initiatives to combat the heroin and opioid addiction epidemic.
Many legislators have called for aggressive, community-based, non-punitive measures to combat the scourge of heroin in their communities, however they fail to pass a budget that would add additional funding four human services and mental-health treatment – funding that could have prevented the death of my brother and so many others. Derik’s Jedi Project, an organization named for him, is calling for a Pennsylvania budget that would include funds used to provide mental health and drug and alcohol treatment, funds that could help with the growing number of addicts who previously failed to get treatment due to budget cuts. Funds that could prevent deaths.
Until then, Derik's Jedi Project, created in honor of my brother, will continue to help the addicted living on the streets of Philadelphia who are waiting for someone to give them hope and compassion, by letting someone know they are alive, getting them the much-needed help, putting them in contact with those who can help. We travel weekly to Philadelphia and provide any and all people struggling with addiction we can find with a meal, water, hygiene supplies, a way to get help, and an ear to listen. Through social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, we are giving families of addicts and recovering addicts a way to voice their concerns and seek help when it’s needed. We are asking Pennsylvania citizens to open their eyes to the War on Drugs and consider new revenue streams for funds to provide mental health and drug and alcohol treatment.
We can help prevent more deaths. We can show compassion and understanding of a disease that plagues thousands, and we can show the masses that the stigma attached to addiction is not true. I hope you consider empathizing with the countless number of people who are plagued with addiction, to look in their eyes and know that addiction is a disease, not a choice, and to lend a hand rather than push them further down the rabbit hole. It just might help save one life from being ended and another family from experiencing the despair mine has.
This is my brother, Derik. My brother is no different than you or yours. He had a disease that he did not ask to own. Please remember he was a human being, his addictive self an alter ego he so desperately wanted to be without. Derik was a beautiful soul lost at the tender young age of 25. He had a love of movies, dimples that would melt any heart, and a love for his family that shined brightly in the smile he gave each and every one of us. The look he gave to his daughter as she said, “Daddy,” was one of pure love. Addiction and deceitfulness might have taken him from me, but forgotten he will never be. We know that he is dancing in the sky, and we will not let him die in vain. His story will be known, our story will be heard, and there will be a change in the hearts who those who will listen.
Remember these words: “We are all addicted to something that takes away the pain.” I will not hide my brother’s struggle behind shame and disgrace. Hello, my name is Tara and you have met your match. I am the sister of an addict, and I will not rest until you have learned of the affliction.
Stay tuned: A Generation Addicted, an NBC10 digital exclusive report exploring the tragic world of heroin and opiate addiction in our area and beyond, is coming March 21.
Three boys were rushed to the hospital Sunday afternoon after they fell through ice into a frozen pond in Bucks County.
Witnesses told NBC10 the boys, who range in age from 11 to 12, were riding their bikes and skateboards on a frozen pond off of Pipers Place in Chalfont, New Britain Township around 2 p.m.
"They were trying to get us to go on," said Ryder Stuart, one of the witnesses.
Suddenly the thin ice cracked.
"Then they just fell right through," Stuart said. "They tried to get up but they couldn't."
David Bennett, who was sitting on his porch, ran towards the three boys who were underwater and clinging to the ice. One of the boys in the water didn't know how to swim.
"I got over and just threw everything out of my pockets and jumped in to try to get to them," Bennett said. "I got an extension cord and a rope so we were able to swing it out to them."
Neighbors pulled one of the boys out while the other two grabbed a drainage gate. Rescue crews then arrived and got the other two kids out.
All three boys were taken to the hospital where they are being treated for hypothermia. While officials have not yet revealed their conditions they say they are all expected to survive.
Health officials identified and interviewed two men who rescued a young girl who was being attacked by a rabid raccoon in Gladwyne Thursday.
The young girl was walking home from school Thursday around 4 p.m. through a wooded area on the Bridlewild Trail near Dodds Lane when a raccoon began to attack her. James Myers and Rick Turnbull, both of North Philadelphia, happened to in the area at the time. Both men ran towards the girl.
“One apparently stood on the animal’s tail while the other beat the raccoon with a hockey stick until it let go of the girl’s leg,” said Julie Paoline, director of the Montgomery County Health Department’s Division of Communicable Disease Control.
After rescuing the girl, the men drove her home to her parents before letting anyone know their identity. The girl was taken to the hospital that night and received rabies shots.
The raccoon was later captured by Lower Merion animal control officers and tested positive for rabies. Health officials then used social media and media outlets to reach out to the two men, fearing that they may have been exposed to rabies. Myers came forward and spoke with health officials Saturday while Turnbull spoke with them Sunday. Both men confirmed they never came in contact with the animal’s saliva, making them safe from contracting rabies.
Three Philadelphia and two Delaware County parishes will take part in the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Pastoral Planning Initiative this year.
The Archdiocese announced Sunday the following parishes will enter the Initiative:
Delaware County
Philadelphia
The Pastoral Planning Initiative, which was launched in 2010, is a process in which the Philadelphia Archdiocese examines whether a parish possesses the “necessary resources to remain a vibrant and sustainable faith community."
Under the Initiative, a parish could remain open with no change, merge with two or more churches to form a new parish or partner with another parish, a new model in which both churches remain open with their own finances but are both led by one pastor, pastoral council and staff.
Snow, coastal flooding and bitter cold temperatures are set to hit our area this week. A large but disorganized storm will bring periods of mainly light snow through the area with up to four inches expected in Philadelphia and up to half a foot in parts of Chester County. A Winter Storm Warning will be in effect from midnight tonight to 6 a.m. Wednesday for coastal Cape May, coastal Atlantic, eastern Montgomery, and lower Bucks counties.
ESTIMATED SNOW TOTALS
Southern Chester County, Northern New Castle County - 4 to 6 inches
Philadelphia, North and West suburbs - 2 to 4 inches
Jersey Shore, Coastal Delaware - Coating to 2 inches
The storm will be drawn out with the first round moving in Monday night and accumulating Tuesday morning while the rest will come in between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
TIMELINE
Monday
8 p.m. to Midnight - Light snow starts and melts
Tuesday
Midnight to 4 a.m. - Light snow, mainly melts
4 a.m. to 8 a.m. - Snow, slick spots on untreated surfaces
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. - Periods of snow, mainly melts
Tuesday night-Wednesday morning - Snow continues
Wednesday morning - Snow clears
A BIG, DISORGANIZED MESS
In a way, the storm is the opposite of our recent blizzard and the current one hitting parts of New England. They were big, well-organized storms that even a 2nd grader could see on satellite pictures. Those types of storms are usually easier to predict, and snowfall is more evenly spread across the area.
But not this one. As I said on-air this morning, it’s a big, disorganized mess. Take a look for yourself.
And this shows just the first half of the storm. It stretches all the way westward to Nebraska, southward to Alabama, and northward into Canada.
THE COMPUTER MODELS
There is a general agreement among the computer models that some snow falls, but most show up to a few inches. And again, some of it melts as it falls. The “snowiest” model is the American model (GFS), and it’s been pretty consistent. It shows a small area of LOW pressure developing near our coast, and it’s just cold enough for a small but significant area of snow:
At the time of the map (7 p.m. Tuesday), snow would be falling from Philadelphia northward, with rain to the south and east. But as the LOW moves offshore, that rain should change to snow.
Temperatures will be marginal, not only for snow to fall, but regarding whether it will stick or melt on roads. Untreated surfaces may get slippery when the snow is heaviest OR Tuesday night, when it’s colder. When the snow is light, it will mainly melt.
This is the type of storm that can result in narrow bands of heavy snow at times. In cases like this, big differences in snow totals can occur over just a few miles. This is what makes these types of storms especially tricky.
COASTAL FLOODING
Moderate coastal flooding occurred this morning in parts of the Jersey Shore, and more is coming. The new moon adds to whatever the storm is doing, making it easier to flood. The huge ocean storm that just missed us this morning caused the seas to rise so much and so fast that it led to the coastal flooding. The wind is diminishing, but is still onshore. There will be some flooding again at the next high tide (7-8 p.m. Monday), but not as bad as the morning. The next high tide (7:30-8:30 a.m. Tuesday) may cause moderate flooding again. Those times are for the ocean side. Back bays peak an hour or two later.
DON’T FORGET THE ARCTIC BLAST
While the snow amounts are not huge, the Arctic blast that will follow later in the week WILL be a big one. Temperatures over the weekend may not get above 25, with lows in the single digits, and wind chills below zero possible at times. It won’t stay that cold very long, but it’s likely to be the coldest weekend of the winter. Here's the forecast for the rest of the week after the snow leaves:
Wed: Mostly cloudy, windy and cold. High 39
Thu: Partly sunny and much colder. High 31
Fri: Partly sunny and very cold. High 29
Sat: Partly sunny and frigid. High 16
Sun: Sunny but frigid. High 19
Stay with NBC10.com throughout the week for the latest weather updates.
A police chase in Chester, Delaware County, ended with an officer-involved shooting that left one person dead and one person injured early Monday morning.
Details were scant early Monday, but police said the incident happened about 2:15 a.m. Officers chased two men in an SUV to the 1200 block of Keystone Road, where the chase ended in a police-involved shooting, according to authorities.
It was unclear early Monday exactly what led to the chase and shooting, and officials with the Delaware County District Attorney's Office said they were investigating.
A woman at the scene, Asmira Trusty, told NBC10's Matt DeLucia that she was on the phone with her brother, whom she said is the man who survived the shooting, when she heard several shots ring out. She said her cousin died in the shooting.
Police have not released the names of the people shot or any additional details.
"Then next thing you know, they tell me they love me again, then you hear over 100 shots ring out," Asmira Trusty said.
A heavy police presence remained at the scene later Monday morning. Crime-scene investigators seemed to be focusing much of their attention on an SUV crashed onto the sidewalk on the block, and blood and a pair of sneakers marked the pavement.
