Mountain lion bites 4-year-old on popular Olympic National Park trail, injuring child
PORT ANGELES, Wash.— A mountain lion bit a 4-year-old who was walking with their family over the weekend on a popular trail in Olympic National Park in Washington state, park officials said Monday.
The child was injured during Sunday's attack and flown to a trauma center in Seattle for treatment, according to a statement from the National Park Service.
The attack by a mountain lion fitted with a tracking collar was near an overlook on Hurricane Ridge, a popular mountain area with expansive views.
The attack was reported to rangers around 3:15 p.m. on Sunday and paramedics and park staff traveled to the injured child, according to the National Park Service.
Rangers immediately started searching for the cougar and by Monday, park staff had 'dispatched the animal,' the statement said using a term that generally refers to killing an animal.
'There are no current threats to the public,' the statement said.
Officials said they would not be releasing any identifying information about the child to protect their identity.
The Associated Press
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CBC
41 minutes ago
- CBC
Court worked as it's designed to in the Hockey Canada case. That's the problem, survivors and lawyers say
Social Sharing WARNING: This article references alleged sexual assault and might affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected. In the course of her daily work, Alexa Barkley meets with people who debate whether to go to police after being sexually assaulted. Barkley walks them through their options, careful to lay out the facts without pressuring them to choosing one over the other. She's delicate, until it's time to warn them about what they'll be up against if their case makes it to court. "I have to explain what they're going to be up against in engaging the system and how traumatic it can be," said Barkley, 45, a survivor of sexual assault and advocate with End Violence Everywhere. "I wish I had better news for them, quite frankly." Barkley is among survivors, advocates and lawyers who argue the trial for five former Hockey Canada athletes again underscores how the traditional Canadian court system is fundamentally ill equipped to settle cases of sexual assault in a way that balances the rights of the accused while protecting complainants' well-being. They say there is no one-size-fits-all alternative because different survivors will define justice differently. They said successful models used elsewhere need to be explored in Canada because, under the current system, someone always loses something — even when complainants "win." Case a high-profile example Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia cleared all five ex-world junior players — Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote and Carter Hart — on sexual assault charges. She found the Crown didn't prove its case and E.M., the complainant, was an unreliable witness who had at times consented to group sexual activity in 2018. Four of the five men declined to testify in their own defence during the trial, and E.M. was in the witness box for nine days. WATCH | How the Hockey Canada trial could affect future sexual assault cases: In cross-examination, defence lawyers questioned the complainant on discrepancies between her statements to police in 2018 and her statements during Hockey Canada's own investigation in 2022. They asked whether she was actually as drunk as she claimed, pointing to videos of E.M. being steady on her feet in black high heels. They suggested she was the one who wanted a "wild night" and adopted a "porn star" persona as she encouraged the men to have sex and mocked them if they declined. They said she only came forward to police because she wanted to keep the undisclosed amount of money from a settlement with Hockey Canada and to save face with her boyfriend, friends and family. On Thursday, defence lawyers called the ruling a "vindication" and "exoneration," but not after their clients endured a one-sided trial in the court of public opinion for the better part of a decade. "The Crown attorney's office did not have to take this case to trial. Instead of pursuing restorative justice, the Crown forced a distressing and unfair trial to the detriment of Mr. Hart, his co-accused, the complainant and the Canadian public," said Megan Savard, lawyer for Hart. E.M. told the court she would've preferred to resolve the issue by having police speak to the men about their actions, but felt she had no choice but to pursue criminal charges after police told her in 2018 that the men could not be forced into a conversation. (In her ruling, Carroccia said she found the cross-examination "entirely appropriate" for the case.) WATCH | Player's lawyer says he would've engaged in restorative justice to resolve case: Lawyer for Carter Hart says trial's outcome was 'not just predictable, but predicted' 1 day ago Megan Savard said Thursday the decision in the Hockey Canada trial was vindication for her client, Carter Hart. She says her client would have been willing to engage in restorative justice process had it been offered, rather than go through what she called a distressing and unnecessary trial. Survivors need variety of options to choose from, experts agree Few people report sexual assault to the police and only a fraction those who do end up securing charges and criminal convictions. Statistics Canada data shows only 36 per cent of police-reported sexual assaults ended in charges between 2015 and 2019, and fewer than half of those ended in a guilty verdict. Most complainants want to resolve their cases with accountability, prevention and the healing opportunity to have their experience heard and acknowledged. Like E.M., Tanya Couch felt she had no alternative but to pursue some form of justice in the criminal system. Her former commanding officer was charged with sexual assault in 2021, but charges were stayed at Couch's request two years later because defence counsel requested access to her counselling records and personal journals. "There are no other options," Couch said of going to court. "I do think that that should be an option for victims to decide — the victim knows what's best for them." There is no universally agreed alternative to the court system because sexual violence is a complex offence and the definition of "justice" varies between survivors. Research from North America and Europe over the years has shown blended approaches, with a combination of trauma-informed practices, community accountability and legal reform being most effective. There is consensus that survivors need to be properly informed and supported as they choose between a range of options. The European Forum for Restorative Justice last year conducted eight interviews with eight survivors who met with the perpetrator who sexually assaulted them, from childhood abuse to incest to stranger assault. No two meetings were the same and survivor's said a sense of agency was key. "It was recognized that in many cases, it is the process, not the outcome, that makes for successful restorative justice. Success is achieved when, at the end, the person harmed feels listened to and satisfied [with the process], because the process was needs-led," authors wrote. E.M.'s lawyer, Karen Bellehumeur, a former Crown prosecutor with Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General, has pushed for confidential, trauma-informed legal representation for all victims to better protect their rights throughout the process. Toronto-based lawyer Joseph Neuberger, who for decades has represented sexual assault complainants and suspects, said such cases should be removed "entirely from the criminal justice system." He said the country needs a separate regime where trained professionals — not necessarily police — guide complainants and accused individuals through a dispute resolution-type process, if the former has no interest in court. "That may give a complainant far more satisfaction than going through a trial and having an acquittal or some conviction, which at the end of the day may seem to be like a Pyrrhic victory because of the emotional destruction they've gone through," said Neuberger, referring to an achievement not worth winning because the cost is so high. "A more satisfactory outcome is not defined by wins, or losses or convictions. It's defined by how we solve problems, how we solve a societal problem," he continued. "How do we make better judgments? How do we understand each other's dynamics? How do we understand consent? How do we understand mutual respect? This can be dealt with in a non-criminal setting." Canada has tried its hand at reform Following the public outcry over the Jian Ghomeshi case, changes were made to the Criminal Code to prevent defence lawyers from surprising complainants at trial with past emails or text messages with the defendant. A long-awaited bill requiring new judges to undergo training on sexual assault became law in 2023, though it doesn't include existing ones. There is a patchwork of restorative justice options available in some provinces, but nothing nationwide. "We have to find other ways ... but it's difficult because so much of our culture is based on the idea that, 'If somebody does something wrong and hurts another person, you have to charge them and they go to jail.' But it doesn't work like that," said Judy Rebick, a writer and feminist who has been advocating for a better approach since Canada's rape shield laws reached the nation's highest court in the early 1990s. The experts, including E.M.'s lawyer, said they hoped the case would be the wake-up call they've wanted. Barkley agreed. If there's any silver lining, she said it's that the case has made the criminal justice's shortcomings difficult to ignore. "When I'm telling survivors about my experience or the experience of other advocates, they're thinking, 'OK, well, maybe, maybe this won't happen to me. Maybe this is not normal what you've experienced.' Now, they're getting it from multiple sources. Now they can see in the news how bad it is ... they can see how egregious their treatment will be," Barkley said in an interview from her Mississauga, Ont., home. "With the Hockey Canada trial, it's dragged it all out into the open."
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Lori Vallow Daybell receives additional life sentences in Arizona, ending legal saga
Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jury's verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, May 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Kyle Green) PHOENIX — Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in prison Friday on two murder conspiracy convictions in Arizona, marking an end to a winding legal saga for the mother with doomsday religious beliefs who claimed people in her life had been possessed by evil spirits. Vallow Daybell, already serving life sentences in Idaho in the killings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, was convicted at separate trials this spring in Phoenix of conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, and her niece's ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux. Vallow Daybell, who chose to represent herself in both Arizona cases even though she isn't a lawyer, used her final testimony to complain about jail conditions and the legal system. 'If I were accountable for these crimes, I would acknowledge and let you know how sorry I was,' she said. Judge says Vallow Daybell should never be released Judge Justin Beresky said Vallow Daybell has 'shown blatant disregard for humanity,' and he refuted her claim that she didn't get a fair trial in Arizona. 'You should never be released from prison,' Beresky said before handing down the sentence. 'Eventually, the camera that you seek out, the media requests, will lessen over time and you will fade into obscurity.' Authorities say Vallow Daybell carried out the plots with her brother Alex Cox, who acknowledged killing Vallow in July 2019 and was identified by prosecutors as the person who fired at Boudreaux months later but missed. Prosecutors said Vallow Daybell conspired to kill Vallow so she could collect on his $1 million life insurance policy and marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author of religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world. They said Boudreaux suspected Vallow Daybell and Cox were responsible for Vallow's death. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the trial was a long but necessary process to get justice for Vallow, Boudreaux and their families. Vallow Daybell will return to Idaho 'knowing she didn't get away with her crimes committed in Maricopa County,' Mitchell told reporters after the hearing. Nearly two years ago, Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for killing her children, 7-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to murder Daybell's wife, Tammy. The children went missing for several months before their bodies were found buried on Daybell's property in rural Idaho. Daybell was sentenced to death for the gruesome murders of his wife, Tylee and JJ. Victims' family members shed tears during Friday's hearing Vallow Daybell appeared in court Friday in an orange jail uniform as family members called her 'evil,' 'greedy' and a 'monster' while describing their grief. The victims' family members sat in the jury box, passing around tissues. Vallow Daybell's only surviving child — her adult son Colby Ryan — described how he 'had to fight to stay alive after the pain' of losing his siblings and Vallow, his stepfather who he referred to as his dad. Testifying by remote link, Ryan zeroed in on his mother, who has claimed the Arizona cases were family tragedies that shouldn't have ended up in court. 'I believe that Lori Vallow herself is the family tragedy,' Ryan said. Vallow's brother, Gerry Vallow, lobbed scathing comments at Vallow Daybell. 'She wrote her own make-believe story, and she wrote it in blood,' he said. 'And she tried to kill Brandon when he started looking like the next available dollar sign.' Charles Vallow was fatally shot in 2019 Vallow filed for divorce four months before he died. He said Vallow Daybell became infatuated with near-death experiences and claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets. He told police she threatened to kill him and he was concerned for his children. Vallow was shot when he went to pick up his son at Vallow Daybell's home outside Phoenix, police said. Vallow Daybell's daughter, Tylee, told police the sound of yelling woke her up, and she confronted Vallow with a baseball bat that he managed to take from her. Cox told police he shot Vallow after he refused to drop the bat and came after him. Cox died five months later from a blood clot in his lungs. His self-defense claim was later called into question, with investigators saying Cox and Vallow Daybell waited more than 40 minutes before calling 911. Just before his death, Vallow and his wife's other brother, Adam Cox, planned an intervention to try to bring Vallow Daybell back into the mainstream of their shared faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Adam Cox, a witness for the prosecution, testified earlier in the trial that his sister told people Vallow was no longer living and that a zombie was inside her estranged husband's body. Prosecutor Treena Kay said Vallow Daybell twisted religion to justify her actions and dodged questions from Vallow's sons about how he died after informing them via text message. Someone shot at Brandon Boudreaux months later Almost three months after Vallow died, someone fired a shot at Boudreaux from an open window of a Jeep as he was driving up to his home in Gilbert, another Phoenix suburb. It narrowly missed Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell's niece, Melani Pawlowski. Pawlowski had been attending religious meetings with her aunt and suggested to her husband that they stockpile food for the end of the world, Boudreaux said earlier in the trial. Boudreaux described in court Friday how the attempt on his life caused immense stress and made him fear for his family's safety. His sisters told the judge that their brother went into hiding with his children after the attack. Prosecutors tied the Jeep to Vallow Daybell and said she loaned it to Cox. The two bought a burner phone used to carry out the attack and tried to concoct an alibi for Cox to make it seem like he was in Idaho at the time, prosecutors said. 'No one deserves to live a life of fear and trauma,' Boudreaux said tearfully. He said he has forgiven Vallow Daybell so he can be a better person and father but that he wouldn't feel safe if she had freedom. After the sentencing, Boudreaux told reporters he's grateful that the justice system worked. ByJacques Billeaud And Hannah Schoenbaum. Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.
Toronto Sun
2 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Chuck E. Cheese employee arrested in iconic mouse mask for using stolen credit card, police say
Published Jul 25, 2025 • 1 minute read A Chuck E. Cheese restaurant is shown in San Bruno, Calif., June 25, 2020. Photo by Jeff Chiu / AP TALLAHASSEE (AP) — Wearing the furry mask of the iconic Chuck E. Cheese mascot mouse, an employee of the popular children's birthday destination was arrested for using a stolen credit card at one of the chain's Florida restaurants, police said. 'Chuck E, come with me Chuck E,' a police officer in Tallahassee told the suspect, 'stop resisting, you are being detained.' The arrest occurred Wednesday, according to the probable cause report from police, while photos from bystanders showed an officer removing the man's rodent mask — with its gray fur, exaggerated ears and perpetual smile — and placing it atop a Tallahassee Police Department vehicle. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The investigation began when a woman called police to report that someone was using her child support Visa debit card, which she hadn't seen since a visit Chuck E. Cheese in late June, police records stated. Charges to the card were made at a smoke shop, grocery store and a Whataburger. The woman tracked down the suspect by going to the grocery store and viewing surveillance footage from the time her card was used, police records state. She recognized the man from the Chuck E. Cheese. When police officers arrived at the restaurant, one of them entered first to verify that the suspect was there. He was — and he wasn't wearing the mask. The suspect 'looked very nervous, he gazed at me with wide eyes and squared shoulders in a tensed demeanour,' a police officer later wrote in the probable cause report. The officer and another officer soon returned to the Chuck E. Cheese, where the suspect had since donned the rodent mask, police records stated. The officers asked another employee if the suspect was in the mouse suit. 'She shook her head up and down indicating yes,' the officer wrote. Columnists Toronto & GTA Hockey Sports Toronto Blue Jays
