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An Asian man was attacked in Seattle by a guy who slapped, shoved and spit on him ... and it was all out of revenge over the coronavirus, and now cops are on the hunt.

As awful as it is, it's actually even worse because cops say the culprit has been threatening Asian residents all over the City.

The man allegedly told the Asian couple "it's all your fault" ... clearly referring to the coronavirus pandemic and the fact it originated in China and the government was hyper-secretive.
Cops say this is the same guy who was harassing Asians at Golden Gardens Park.

In one attack, police say the man approached an Asian woman in her car, knocked on her window, asking, "Where are you from? Where is your ID?" Cops say the man was also taking pictures of the victim's car and yelling, "Chinese disease ... they bring it here!"

The lawyer for Ahmaud Arbery's family says the federal authorities met with them last week and said they have launched a criminal investigation into the conduct of 2 district attorneys and members of the police department that allegedly covered up Ahmaud's killing.

Lee Merritt appeared Monday on "TMZ Live" and said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia informed the family they were looking at both civil and criminal action against the officials.

Merritt also talked about the text message the police sent to a homeowner, telling him if there was "action" on his doorbell he should call Gregory McMichael, one of the accused murderers.

Merritt worries the police conduct may have effectively deputized the elder McMichael, such that the citizen's arrest laws don't apply and he would be treated as a law enforcement officer. As you know, McMichael's son, Travis, is the one who fired the shots, but Merritt says it could still be a problem given what the police did.

Queen's guitarist, Brian May, got a double shot of "Another One Bites the Dust" ... first with an agonizing crushed nerve, followed by a heart attack.

Luckily, Brian lived to tell the tale himself, but he says for a good week he was in absolute "agony" -- and that was before his heart nearly stopped pumping.

The rock icon says he thought he tore a muscle while gardening -- not very rock 'n' roll, we know, but he's 72. Brian says he tried to treat himself with ice for a week, but when he finally got an MRI it revealed he had a compressed sciatic nerve.

While struggling to recover from that he got the double whammy -- heart attack!!! Brian says he was at home when he felt the tightness in his chest and got his doctor to drive him to a hospital.

Brian calls it a "small" heart attack, but consider this ... doctors had to implant three stents to clear blocked arteries. So, it doesn't sound all that small.

As his buddy, the late great Freddie Mercury put it ... "Sends shivers down my spine ... body aching all the time."

Denzel Washington did a good deed for someone in need Thursday ... helping a homeless man who was clearly in distress.

Denzel was driving in WeHo at around 1 PM when he saw the man in the street ... in some peril with oncoming traffic.

Denzel got out of his car, talked to the man and brought him to safety on the sidewalk. Denzel was wearing a protective mask, but the man he was helping was not. Despite the risk, he needed help and DW was the man for the job.

Video of Ahmaud Arbery getting frisked and patted down by cops in 2017 might say a lot about Glynn County PD's attitude toward black people ... keeping in mind Gregory McMichael was once a member of that force.

The video shows 2 officers questioning Ahmaud after finding him alone in his car, in a Brunswick, GA park in November 2017. The officers asked to search his car, and the scene got intense when he said no and stepped toward his car. The officers immediately told him to stop and get his hands out of his pockets.

Despite the fact Ahmaud immediately obeyed their orders -- and had his hands in the air -- one officer pulled his taser and fired it. Now, the weapon malfunctioned, but Ahmaud was already getting down on the ground anyway.

About two minutes earlier, the officers had asked for ID, and Ahmaud complied and explained he'd been rapping in his car on his day off. When the officer came back with his license, Ahmaud said, "I ain't got s**t on me. What the f**k you f**king with me for?"

The officer told him the area was known for drug activity and then proceeded to frisk Ahmaud for weapons. He had nothing on him, and there was nothing illegal about him parking in the area.

Still, the officer wanted to search his car ... and that's when the attempted-tasing went down ... despite the fact, they already knew he had no weapon on him.

He was not arrested or cited for anything.

The question now ... is the video, first obtained by the Guardian, relevant to Ahmaud's murder? You could argue it shows the Glynn County PD harassing a young black man who was guilty of nothing more than sitting in his car.

Of course, one of his accused murderers, Gregory McMichael, is a retired detective with GCPD, who we know now told police to have at least one resident contact him directly if there was any sign of an intruder.

On the other hand, this police stop -- harassment or not -- is a completely different situation from what Ahmaud faced on February 23 ... when 2 armed white men, Gregory and his son, Travis McMichael, ambushed him in the middle of a road.

A Siberian Husky walked away with the top prize at this year's Beverly Hills Dog Show -- and with one look at him, it's easy to see why.

The doggo's name is Nick, and he took top honors at the 4th-annual pet competition that aired Sunday night on NBC -- this after being trotted out a handful of times by his owner, Michelle Scott. It marks his 60th dog show win in total, which has gotta make this pup a real G.O.A.T -- even Jordan and Brady can't touch those stats!!!

This year's contest featured celeb judges like Olivia Culpo and Bo Derek, but let's take a look at Nick's competition, 'cause there were lots of pups who could've also taken it. We had Piper the bloodhound, Joan the Chinese Shar-Pei, Luna the Cairn terrier, McConnaughey the English Springer Spaniel (no relation to Matt) and Conrad the Shetland sheepdog.

In the end, though, it was sturdy Nick who came out on top. BTW, not only that, but he also won the Working Group category in a field of 27 breeds. Very impressive!

Also of note .. this was actually shot back in late February (before the nationwide pandemic shutdowns). So, no -- there wasn't quite the proper social distancing happening ... but no harm, no foul.

Besides, cut a Nick a break. He's a really good boy.

A group of brave Los Angeles firefighters were hospitalized after they were caught in a massive fireball while fleeing an exploding building ... and it's all on wild video.

The scary moment went down Saturday evening in Downtown L.A., where LAFD crew members were responding to a structure fire at a warehouse-type building near Little Tokyo, which quickly escalated into a dangerous situation that required everyone to get out.

LAFD says smoke started rising way too quickly and the inside was getting hotter by the second. Suddenly ... an explosion rang out and the building was starting to become engulfed in flames. While trying to safely exit, a group of about 7 firefighters had to climb down their firetruck ladder from a window -- and cross the red hot flames in the process.

About 3 to 4 of them were actually set completely ablaze as they were making their way down -- becoming fully engulfed in the fire ball all around them that was raging like crazy. Parts of their helmets melted, and their jackets caught on fire too. Even some of the firetruck's seats began to burn as a result ... according to LAFD spokesman Erik Scott.

The footage of the moment when a handful of them were caught in the blaze is insane to watch -- it was even caught from a couple different angles, including drone footage you can see here. Scott described it as directly walking through a 30-foot blowtorch. Yikes ...

At least eleven firefighters were hospitalized as a result, and 4 of them are in the ICU in critical condition. Fortunately, all of them are expected to survive ... which is truly a miracle.

As for how the fire started, the official cause is still under investigation. However, it's reported that the warehouse in question was a local supplier for those who manufacture butane honey oil ... which is highly flammable. Multiple buildings caught fire, and it took hundreds of firefighters to finally temper the flames into the night.

Ahmaud Arbery's mother believes his murder shows more than the existence of racism in America -- she feels it's spreading like wildfire in small towns ... where people think they can get away with it.

Wanda Cooper-Jones tells TMZ ... her son's death is shining a light on a huge problem in the U.S., particularly in smaller towns in the south that she claims are racist and riddled with corruption.

She says what happened to her son in Glynn County, Georgia is Exhibit A right now. As you know ... Ahmaud was ambushed and killed by Gregory and Travis McMichael back in February, but no arrests were made until last week after video of the slaying leaked, and the case drew national attention and outrage.

Wanda tells us during the gap between her son's death and the arrests, she felt hopeless and feared there would be no justice ... but she's encouraged things are heading in the right direction now.

Still, she feels there's a long way to go. As we first told you, Ahmaud's family and legal team want everyone involved in his death to be convicted and "appropriately sentenced." For the McMichaels, at least, Wanda believes that means the death penalty.

The man who recorded the video of Ahmaud Arbery's slaying says he had zero involvement in what went down and is now in fear for his life.

William "Roddie" Bryan and his fiancee spoke to Action News in Jacksonville, and he says he and his family have been receiving death threats since the video leaked online last week.

Bryan, who was speaking out for the first time, doesn't explain why he was recording the vid ... which shows Travis McMichael -- with his father Gregory in tow -- shoot Ahmaud during a struggle back in February. Bryan says he's in "complete shock" because he's "never been involved in anything like that before."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Bryan and his video are under investigation. He was initially named in the police report as trying to block Ahmaud during the controversial chase but Bryan claims he had no involvement. As we've reported ... Georgia's Attorney General is asking the Justice Department to step in and help get to the bottom of all of this.

Bryan told Action News, “I had nothing to do with it. I'm trying to get my life back to normal, and it’s been smeared for the last week. I was told I was a witness and I’m not sure what I am, other than receiving a bunch of threats.”

A man who got stuck in a vortex of water while hiking has one resourceful officer of the law to thank for saving his life -- a moment that was captured on WILD video.

The 24-year-old Fresno-area man -- who has not been identified -- was hiking the Angel Falls crossing along the Willow Creek Trail near Bass Lake in Central Cali this weekend, when for some reason -- he ended up off the beaten path and right in the middle of a whirlpool.

Fortunately for him, an off-duty CHP officer named Brent Donley was hiking nearby and he rushed over to help. He was quick on his feet and MacGyvered a contraption that ended up rescuing the dude. Donley tied his backpack strap to a branch, tossed it to the kid, and with the help of others, safely yanked him to the edge of the rocks he was plopped on.

It's a pretty incredible scene -- and the best part is that Donley is actually trained for this type of thing ... he's been described as a search and rescue CHP officer, so literally the perfect man for the job.

CHP Fresno and the Madera County Sheriff's Office were obviously proud, posting videos of the actual rescue and the aftermath too -- showing they even got the guy's bag out of the water.

A California beach has been abruptly closed, but not because of coronavirus ... it's because a surfer was killed by a shark.

A 26-year-old man was surfing in the Santa Cruz area Saturday, around Monterey Bay, when the attack occurred. As for what type of shark ... so far, authorities don't know, saying it was an "unknown shark species."

The surfer was pronounced dead on the scene.

Authorities immediately closed a 1-mile stretch of beach for at least 5 days. They will presumably monitor shark activity in the area before reopening. Interestingly, officials are not banning water sports -- like jet skiing or kayaking -- but they are "highly discouraged."

A photog for KRON-TV in the Bay Area says he's been seeing lots of great whites swimming near shore. On the day of the attack, he says he spotted 15 great whites while boating.

The feathers were flying in Canada when a rogue goose took its frustrations out on an unsuspecting customer, and the video is .... well, hilarious.

You wouldn't think a goose is that aggressive, or at least most people wouldn't, but this goose was out for bear as shopper exited a store and walked to the parking lot waiting for her ride to roll up.

That's when she noticed a goose was on the loose, but who'd think it would go after her.  Well, it did ... repeatedly, as her ride approached.

The shopper runs around the car as the goose gives chase!!! She jettisons the bag and hops inside the car ... but guess who follows her in?

The driver is blindsided as the feathers fly and then jumps out of the car and falls on the pavement. The shopper somehow gets the goose out of the vehicle.

Mother's Day was brutal in Hong Kong, after riot police went wild on protesters at a shopping mall ... mercilessly pinning a child on the ground.

It was supposed to be a protest against human rights violations, with organizers calling for independence. They're also demanding the city's leader step down.

A gaggle of cops descended on the mall and broke up the crowd, but it got very intense and very physical. The most shocking image ... a small child held down on the ground with what appears to be significant pressure.

Authorities denied an application for the protest a few days ago, citing concerns over coronavirus.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back in a hospital bed ... but she's still working her day job on the Supreme Court.

RBG was hospitalized Tuesday due to an infection caused by gallstones ... this according to the Supreme Court, adding the 87-year-old is resting comfortably and should be released from the hospital in a day or two.

According to a SCOTUS official ... Ruth underwent a non-surgical treatment for a benign gallbladder condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She originally sought medical care Monday, when the gallstone was discovered.

The procedure and hospitalization didn't keep RBG from her notorious work ethic ... she participated in telephone arguments Monday and Tuesday, and plans to do so again Wednesday -- the Justices are hearing arguments by phone due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As you know ... Ruth has been treated for cancer 4 times, but she keeps on chugging.

Stay healthy, RBG!!!

Originally Published -- 5/5 6:17 PM PT