The longtime police chief of Davie, Florida is outta work ... he quit his post after allegedly blaming a sheriff's deputy's COVID-19 related death on the guy being gay.
Dale Engle, who'd been on the force 22 years, resigned this week in a letter to his staff, saying he was proud of the town he'd served and the work he'd done -- but his departure comes on the heels of him getting placed on administrative leave.
Three months ago a police union accused Chief Engle of saying a Broward County Sheriff's Deputy who'd died from complications due to COVID had no one to blame but himself.
Specifically, the union claimed Engle flew off of the handle when some officers complained about a lack of safety measures to protect them from the coronavirus. During his rant, the union alleges Engle said BSO Deputy Shannon Bennett -- a 12-year vet himself -- contracted the virus and died as a result because he was a “homosexual who attended homosexual 'sexual' events."
Bennett's fiance, Jonathan Frey, has called Engle's alleged comments false, hateful and defamatory.
A woman climbed into an alligator pit with her young son, who wandered freely near dozens of gators while she tried to fetch her wallet ... and a bunch of kids watched in horror.
The wild scene played out at Safari North Wildlife Park in Brainerd, Minn. with stunned onlookers watching the mother and son risk life and limb. As you can see, the woman's wallet was floating Saturday in the middle of a small pond, chock full of gators ... and her daring son was dangerously gung ho to get it back.
The kid came up empty, but momma stormed in to make the rescue -- and about the only smart move she made was figuring out a way to distract the sharp-toothed animals long enough to grab her floating wallet.
Fortunately, mother and son survived, so we can all have a good laugh now about someone else's kid yelling "s*** happens" to sum up the adventure.
The zoo's not laughing though.
Sources close to the wildlife park tell us staffers did not know about the incident until the video started going viral, and park honchos are very disturbed. We're told the zoo wants to press charges against the woman for child endangerment, if she's identified.
One particular thing ruffling the zoo's feathers -- we're told the park has fences and signs not only to protect guests, but also the animals.
Kanye West is already switching up his campaign -- saying he wants Jay-Z to get on the ticket with him as his VEEP ... despite having already named a running mate.
Ye made the revelation Sunday before his attention-grabbing rally in South Carolina, telling a local blogger how he realized Jay should be his VP. There are, of course, a couple of big hurdles to this pairing becoming reality ... and candidate West addressed them.
First off, Michelle Tidball ... the Wyoming preacher who is currently his running mate. Kanye says she told him she'd be down to take another position in his cabinet if he found a different running mate.
Secondly -- and Ye says it himself in the interview -- he hasn't spoken to Jay in a long while now but in his eyes ... that's a good thing because it proves they're really "brothers" and bonded for life. Unclear if Jay-Z has responded to the request, but Kanye says he's put it out there.
Now, as for how KW landed on Hov as someone to tap in the first place ... he says he was getting signs. Listen carefully ... sounds like it came down to a coincidence about initials.
Whether Jay-Z would seriously accept or not remains to be seen, but after Sunday's off-the-wall rally -- which resulted in tears shed and personal business spilled, not to mention other controversial remarks -- we wouldn't bank on it.
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Especially if Jay's feeling at all like Trey Songz is at the moment. The singer openly bashed Kanye online after seeing his wild South Carolina appearance.
Jennifer Aniston wants people to know that coronavirus is real and dangerous, and the way she's relaying the message is with an incredibly powerful photo of a friend.
The actress posted a personal anecdote Sunday about a friend of both hers and Courteney Cox who contracted COVID-19 earlier this year, and was hospitalized as a result. It looks like the guy was in the ICU ... he's hooked up, and not in a good way.
Jen writes, "This is our friend Kevin. Perfectly healthy, not one underlying health issue. This is Covid. This is real. We can't be so naive to think we can outrun this...if we want this to end, and we do, right? The one step we can take is PLEASE #wearadamnmask."
She also posted a photo of her and Courteney wearing masks, adding ... "Just think about those who've already suffered through this horrible virus. Do it for your family. And most of all yourself. Covid effects all ages."
BTW, Kevin's story luckily has a happy ending. Jen says the photo she put up was taken in April, explaining ... "PS this photo was taken in early April. Thank god he has almost recovered now. Thank you all for your prayers 🙏🏼❤️"
Still, a powerful cautionary tale no doubt. Here's hoping people listen up, but the reality is ... there's been plenty of evidence for months, but the anti-sciencers just don't give 2 f****.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters is like the Sheriff to the Sheriff, because she just happened on a traffic stop involving a black man and stopped to make sure cops stayed in line.
The legendary representative was driving in her district this weekend when she saw an L.A. County Sheriff patrol car. She saw the officers in the process of detaining a black man and that's all the info she needed. MW hit the brakes and jumped out.
Apparently, she was not particularly well-received, because the Congresswoman says the deputies told her she parked illegally, so she was in danger of getting a ticket.
Looks like Sheriff Waters was effective. Otherwise, there'd be video to the contrary.
A volcano in Italy known for blowing its lid every now and then just did it again -- only this time, it was captured on camera at night ... which made for some scary fireworks.
This went down early Sunday morning on the Italian island of Stromboli, which has a very active volcano right in the middle of it that erupts from time to time -- sometimes killing a person or two, at least of late, but mostly just wakes people up and freaks 'em out.
Fortunately, this latest explosion was more of the latter ... the volcano starting going off around 3 AM, but didn't cause any injuries and/or deaths, and no significant damage either. Looks like most of the activity stayed closer to the crater and vent (the peak, basically).
However, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology's observatory near Mt. Etna -- there appeared to be some debris and lava seeping down the slope ... where hikers sometimes visit during the day. So, yeah ... it could've been bad.
In any case, it's crazy to see the thing blowing up and throwing out lava bombs on camera -- webcams that are set up near the top of the volcano caught some of the action. According to reports, the whole thing lasted about four minutes before things settled down.
Scientists say that Sunday's eruption was strong, but not nearly as strong as a couple that happened last summer, which killed one person and sent other tourists running for the sea.
First a pandemic, 7.1 earthquakes, and now this ... when are the locusts coming?
11:44 AM PT -- A new angle of the black bear run-in proves one thing ... the lady who was nearest to the creature has ice in her veins, 'cause she fired off a selfie when Bongo here was too close for comfort.
Check it out ... the bear gets up on its hind legs and is pretty much right up against the woman, who doesn't fret ... in fact, she calmly whips out her phone and snaps a shot, almost like they were hiking buddies or something. Meanwhile, a man filming from a distance is trying to shoo the bear away like it was a household pet. Looks like it worked -- the bear eventually got back and down and crept away slowly.
This may be the scariest video of the month ... a super curious bear spotted a few women, approached them, sniffed them, got on its hind legs and seemingly hugged them, and they lived to tell about it!!!
It went down Saturday in Mexico at the Chipinque Ecological Park. You see the bear at one point putting its paw on one of the women, almost nuzzling her.
As most people know, bears often attack when people panic or run, and how can you not when a bear is all over you?!!?
Well, these folks are amazing. They remain clam -- and pretty much still -- as 2 men in the background try to scare the bear away by talking loudly.
The bear eventually has had enough and leaves, and boy ... you can only imaging the heart rate of those women.
So here's what authorities say about black bears that get too close ... "Stay calm, never stand between a baby and its mother, do not go near or feed them, take shelter and watch it, avoid photographing it or taking selfies."
This is really disgusting ... a California woman blocked a landscaper from doing his job as she refused to move out of his way until he produced papers showing he was in the U.S. legally.
She just stands there, repeating her demand that he show her his papers.
The landscaper, Juan Andrade, claims she's harassed him before, allegedly telling him to go back to his country. He says this time he wanted to get it all on video ... and he did just that.
Juan was trying to mow the lawn at the Rancho Mirage apartment building ... just outside of Palm Springs. He's been a landscaper there for 10 years, but that didn't matter to Karen, who planted herself firmly and refused to move, all the while asking him to show proof he was in this country legally.
Again ... Karen knew she was being recorded, but that didn't stop her one bit from acting like a rogue ICE agent.
Juan thinks Karen won't apologize because he believes in her head, she did nothing wrong.
There was a violent confrontation between police and protesters in Chicago Friday, all centered around a statue of Christopher Columbus.
It went down at Buckingham Fountain, where Black Lives Matter protesters attempted to take down the statue of Columbus -- a rapist and racist. Demonstrators tied ropes to the statue to dislodge it.
As cops created a human barrier, protesters threw bottles, rocks and a few threw firecrackers at them, injuring several of them. Police then pepper sprayed the crowd with hoses. At least 4 protesters were injured and taken to hospitals.
Twelve protesters were arrested for battery on a police officer.
As for the statue ... it's still there, but there's a move in many cities to take Columbus statues down and put them in museums with context on what he really did in America.
A Haitian woman was told by a Palm Beach resident, "This is the f***ing United States of America," as he demanded to know why she was in his gated community, and he ended up calling the cops, insinuating the woman was a criminal.
It went down in a gated community in Palm Beach, where the woman was cycling on a bike path when she was confronted by the man who said she had no business in the community. He assumed she was not a resident because he hadn't seen her before. After telling him she didn't have to answer his questions, she said she was indeed a resident.
The man threatened to call the Palm Beach County Sheriff, and the woman encouraged him to do so.
He made good on his threat and called the sheriff, saying she was "looking for open garages."
A flippin' awesome mako shark gloriously leaping out of the water barely avoided a crash landing in a passing boat ... then carried on with its sick jumps.
The crazy scene played out in Australia, naturally, where a group of friends were fishing off the coast of Queensland when they noticed the mako -- also known as a blue pointer -- putting on a spectacular show ... beyond SeaWorld-level stuff.
One of the guys began filming after the shark had already breached the water a few times -- getting several feet of air with each leap -- but fortunately, it was just getting started.
On the shark's third jump in the video, it damn near hit a fishing boat, but landed in the water right beside it. Then it swam on for a couple more stunts.
Makos are the world’s fastest sharks -- reaching top speeds of nearly 50 mph. They often jump in this manner to escape fishing hooks, but are also known to go free-jumping just because.
Looks like this was a case of the latter ... which makes it way flippin' better.
The Pennsylvania cop who appeared on video to put his knee on a man's neck didn't commit a crime ... this according to the Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin.
The D.A. concluded Friday the cop did NOT put his knee on the man's neck during an incident that sparked outrage last weekend. The D.A. insists the cop in question put his knee on the man's head ... not his neck.
Martin said, "Based upon my review and the totality of the circumstances surrounding this event, I have concluded that there is absolutely no evidence to support filing criminal charges against either of the Allentown police officers involved in this incident."
He went on to say, "I am satisfied that given Mr. Borrero's obvious intoxication and his actions, he was clearly a danger to himself and potentially to others."
Martin said he assigned several detectives to investigate. He says the detectives interviewed the man and he revealed he was a heroin addict who ingested powder cocaine and did so just hours before the altercation.
As we reported ... a man was driving in Allentown Saturday when he saw cops trying to subdue the man. A few seconds into the video, the officer seems to employ the type of neck restraint that killed George Floyd. The police department had recently banned the use of chokeholds and other neck restraints.
Allentown PD had said the man yelled, screamed and spit at officers and hospital staff before they were finally able to restrain him.
The 3 men charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery entered not guilty pleas in court and one of the defendants wants potential jurors to be asked probing questions in a private setting.
Gregory and Travis McMichael, along with William "Roddie" Bryan, all pled not guilty Friday in court. Bryan's attorney also requested bond for Bryan, but the judge denied the request citing a slew of concerns, including a sex crimes investigation by the GBI at the request of the Glynn County Police Department. That investigation is active and ongoing.
Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, and Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery Sr., gave statements requesting the court deny bond.
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Bryan's attorney had brought up the coronavirus pandemic as another reason why his client should get bond ... claiming Bryan's in the high-risk category. Prosecutors countered saying the Sheriff's doing his part keeping things safe behind bars. The hearing's currently in a recess.
Bryan's attorney also filed a motion to submit certain questions to potential jurors in an attempt to weed out biases.
According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Bryan's attorney submitted a list of more than 50 questions for potential jurors to answer ... including: "What in your opinion is the principal cause of crime in America today?"
Another question ... "What steps do you think people who are frightened about crime should take to protect themselves?" as well as "Have you ever heard the statement, he looks like a cirminal? If yes, do you think that if someone 'looks like a criminal' they are probably guilty if they are arrested for a crime? Why/why not?"
Bryan's attorney wants everyone examined separately and privately, claiming there are "sensitive and potentially embarrassing questions exploring the prospective juror's bias and prejudice, especially with respect to matters of race."
Then there's this ... Bryan's attorneys also want to inspect all of Arbery's probation docs, any medical or mental health records, any juvenile court records, any DCFS records and any board of education records.
The issue of citizens arrest was also brought up in docs ... Bryan's attorney claims there was enough evidence to establish probable cause that Arbery had committed the offense of criminal attempt to commit burglary. According to the docs, this allowed McMichael to attempt a citizens arrest and then, when Arbery fought back, to defend himself.
Bryan's attorney also argues someone running in an attempted burglary case allows you to presume criminal intent ... and he notes that Arbery was running. Bryan's attorney also claims Arbery knew he was a convicted felon on probation for shoplifting ... so an objective observer would have reason to believe he was trying to commit a burglary when he ran from the house.
As we reported ... the men were all indicted by a grand jury for Arbery's murder on June 24. They are each facing 9 felony charges -- 1 count of malice murder, 4 counts felony murder, 2 counts aggravated assault, 1 count false imprisonment and 1 count criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
The 3 defendants have been in custody since their arrests in May, and last appeared in court in early June for a probable cause hearing ... where a judge concluded there's enough evidence to move forward with the case.
During that hearing, a GBI detective testified he found no evidence Arbery stole anything from the construction site he walked through before he was shot and killed. Gregory McMichael had claimed Arbery matched the description of a burglary suspect, which is why they were after him.
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Gregory's son, Travis, fired the fatal shots during a struggle with Ahmaud on February 23. The GBI detective also testified Bryan told cops he heard Travis refer to Arbery as a "f***ing n*****" right after he shot him.
Travis and Gregory were arrested and charged with murder on May 8. Authorities allege Bryan -- who recorded the incident -- was working with the McMichaels to trap Arbery. He was arrested and charged 14 days later.
The #FreeBritney movement has re-emerged in a big way, with lots of people spinning conspiracy theories that she's being held against her will ... but they got the story wrong.
Folks on social media have been alarmed by Britney Spears posting a gaggle of dance and fashion show videos. They're odd, to say the least ... she's dancing, pacing back and forth and looking not quite put together.
So then, fans started sending Britney secret messages -- "wear black if you need help," and "wear pink if you are in trouble." Well, she wore pink shorts with black polka dots in a dance video, and that's all she wrote.
She also crossed her arms in an "X" fashion and folks interpreted that as saying, "I'm not okay." Well, people went nuts online, again suggesting her conservatorship -- led by Britney's dad, Jamie -- was holding her against her will.
Here's the reality. We've reported for the last 2 years ... Britney is struggling. Her meds stopped working and doctors were having trouble finding the right combination. Sources with direct knowledge tell us she's not been easy to deal with ... she sometimes complains she wants more freedom. Short story -- she hasn't been especially stable managing her mental illness.
There's collateral damage in all of this ... Kevin Federline has had their 2 kids considerably more than Britney -- and it all relates back to her mental state.
The conservatorship has been around for 12 years -- an incredibly unusual amount of time for a conservatorship to last, but this one's different. Our sources have said for years ... Britney's mental illness requires this conservatorship -- probably for life.
Lots of people think this is all Jamie lording over his daughter, but it's not the case. There is a slew of people involved in the conservatorship -- doctors, lawyers, therapists and a judge. There is no way Jamie could go rogue without one of the others taking it to the judge.
As one source very close to Britney told TMZ ... "These people who are screaming for the conservatorship to end, well if that happened and she hurt herself or died 2 weeks after would these people utter a peep? No way."
Caitlyn Jenner wants Kanye West to keep his presidential bid in the family ... and she's already positioning herself to be Yeezy's vice president!!!
Caitlyn was walking back to her car after grabbing some Starbucks in Westlake Village, CA when she was asked if she'd be voting Kanye for Prez in the 2020 election.
It's pretty funny ... Caitlyn says she's already texted Kanye about being his running mate!!!
Caitlyn thinks they'd make a pretty awesome combination on the Birthday Party ticket ... and while it sounds like she's joking about being Ye's veep, ya can't exactly rule it out, not with the way Kanye's entered the race at the last minute.
We broke the story ... Yeezy filed a second set of docs Thursday with the Federal Election Commission -- a Statement of Candidacy, which shows he's spent or raised over $5,000 in campaign-related expenses, officially elevating him to candidacy status under the federal campaign law.
Ye previously filed legal docs qualifying him to get on the ballot in Oklahoma, though he missed Wednesday's deadline in Florida, a battleground state.
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Kanye tabbed Michelle Tidball to be his running mate in his instantly infamous interview with Forbes, but she comes with a lot of baggage and has yet to formally accept the invitation.
Caitlyn's seizing the opening and shooting her shot ... and now the ball's in Kanye's court.
The protesters arrested and charged with a felony for protesting Breonna Taylor's death made sure residents in the neighborhood knew they came in peace.
The demonstration outside the Louisville home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron was completelynon-violent and peaceful, and protesters made sure to touch base with neighbors beforehand ... according to Jeanette Thomas, who lives on Cameron's block.
Jeanette says the protesters assured neighbors they were only there to demand justice for Breonna and weren't there to start trouble ... and they peacefully protested by chanting Taylor's name, and remained calm even when police started arresting them.
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As we reported ... the 87 people arrested and booked on a felony charge of intimidating a participant in a legal process -- that participant being AG Cameron -- included 'RHOA' star Porsha Williams, 'L&HH' star Yandy Smith, NFL player Kenny Stills and activist Tamika Mallory. Opinion -- frickin' ridiculous ... that citizens of a State are not allowed to stage a protest against an elected official.
Yandy and Tamika told us they find it ironic they now how have a felony charge to fight, while the police officers who killed Breonna still roam free.
Nicole Hayden of @FriendsofNicole via TMX.news
Jeanette says the protesters told her they knew they would be arrested and vowed not to resist ... and explains why residents weren't scared in the slightest.
And, get this ... Jeanette tells us protesters even showed concern for the safety of her and her daughter as police started to move in, and says demonstrators sent her flowers the next day as a thank you for letting them park in her driveway.
