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Late for flight, McHenry creates own parking spot
An N.C. congressman dashing to catch a plane left his SUV improperly parked at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.
The Gaston Gazette reported that Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry parked his Ford Explorer straddling a curb in an airport parking lot on Sunday.
The front tires were on the curb. The back tires jutted out into the flow of traffic in the parking lot, one resting atop a yellow speed bump.
McHenry spokesman Brock McCleary said the congressman was running late and couldn't find a parking spot.
He says McHenry made a mistake by not parking properly, and the car has been moved.
McHenry is serving his third term in the U.S. House. -- Associated Press
Regional briefs
North Carolina
Greensboro
A major N.C. hospital is pitching tents to battle the spread of swine flu.
The Greensboro News & Record reported Wednesday that two tents in the Moses Cone Hospital parking lot are the first stop for patients seeking treatment for flu symptoms.
The idea is to cut the spread of the H1N1 flu virus by isolating those infected and taking the load off the hospital's emergency room.
Hospital officials say the tents are heated and cooled and would have medical equipment and emergency room staff. Patients will be evaluated there and admitted to the hospital if necessary.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 1 million Americans have been infected with swine flu, and many are suffering mild cases that were never reported. -- Associated Press
Police digest
Mecklenburg County
Charlotte
Two people were killed in a head-on collision that blocked traffic at Pineville-Matthews and Johnston roads in South Charlotte for hours Wednesday afternoon.
Police identified the dead as Ralph Edward Herrick, 71, and Henry Clark Holliday, 48.
According to police, Herrick was headed eastbound on Pineville-Matthews Road around 3:30 p.m. when his 2005 Kia Optima suddenly veered into the westbound lane, colliding with Holliday's 1989 Toyota Camry.
Both men died at the scene. A passenger in Holliday's car was taken to the hospital with injuries; authorities have not released that person's name.
Police are still investigating the wreck, and it was still unclear what caused Herrick's car to swerve. WCNC-TV, the Observer's news partner reported that Herrick may have had some sort of medical emergency. -- Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
A man robbed a SunTrust Bank on Park Road in south Charlotte Wednesday morning, according to the FBI.
Police say the robbery happened about 9:30 a.m., and no injuries were reported.
The man ran off toward Park Road Shopping Center, and no arrests have been made, according to police.
The FBI describes the robber as a black male, about 5-foot-7, in his 20s. The man had a goatee and a tattoo on the left side of his neck.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to call the Charlotte FBI office, 704-377-9200, or Crime Stoppers, 704-334-1600. -- Steve Lyttle
Police have charged two more people in connection with the July killing of Kelvin Bell.
Benjamin Watkins, 25, was arrested on an outstanding assault with a gun warrant Wednesday and was charged with murder. Nikiala Merritt, 22, came to police headquarters to be interviewed and was later charged with murder.
The arrests of Watkins and Merritt come a day after two other suspects in Bell's killing were arrested.
On Tuesday, the police department's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested Demarius Derron Massey, 29.
Also charged with murder Tuesday was Treshina Monique Everett, 24.
Around 9:30 p.m. July 30, police say two men and two women broke into a unit at the Wellington Farms apartments, in the 4700 block of Twisted Oaks Road, off North Sharon Amity Road.
One of them shot the victim, 34-year-old Kelvin Emanuel Bell. Paramedics rushed him to Carolinas Medical Center, where he died. -- Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
A second man has been arrested in connection with the death of a 19-year-old man early Sunday at a fast food restaurant in west Charlotte, police say.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say Robert Foster Knotts, 20, has been charged with murder in the case. Knotts was taken into custody by members of CMPD's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team about 10 p.m. Tuesday in the 800 block of Marble Street, according to police reports.
Damine Russell Fair, 19, was arrested early Tuesday in the case and charged with murder.
Both Fair and Knotts are being held without bond in a Mecklenburg County jail.
They are charged in connection with the death of James Demarel Hardrick II, who was shot to death about 1:30 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant in the 2700 block of Freedom Drive. Police say they believe the shooting was the result of an ongoing dispute between the victim and the suspects. -- Steve Lyttle
Gaston County
Gastonia
As crimes go, it wasn't much. But Gastonia police are probably shaking their heads over why someone would steal a metal post covered with cement.
It happened around midday Tuesday, in the 1100 block of Rankin Avenue, according to a police report.
A 23-year-old resident told police that she put cement in the ground and then placed a mailbox post in the cement. Before the cement had dried, the woman said, someone drove up and removed the post, driving off with it.
The steel tube's value is $30, police say. -- Steve Lyttle
North Carolina Morganton
A Morganton man drowned Tuesday when his canoe capsized on a hunting trip in Burke County, authorities say.
The victim was identified as 79-year-old John Collins. Don McGalliard, 71, of Newton, suffered minor injuries in the incident, which happened about 3:30 p.m. when the two men were hunting squirrels along the Johns River.
According to the Burke County Sheriff's Office, the boat capsized about two miles south of the Corpening Bridge, in the northeast part of the county. The Burke County Rescue Squad, the Eastern Burke County Rescue Squad and crews from three eastern Burke County fire departments were involved in the rescue and recovery. -- Steve Lyttle
South Carolina
Conway
An S.C. man has been sentenced to three years in prison for having sex with a horse.
Rodell Vereen was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty. A judge also ordered Vereen to get counseling and stay away from the Lazy B stables when he's released.
Authorities charged Vereen after a woman set up a surveillance camera and caught him on tape having sex with her horse in July.
Horse owner Barbara Kenley says she staked out the stable and caught Vereen sneaking into the barn days later, then held him at shotgun point until police arrived.
Kenley had seen Vereen before. He pleaded guilty last year to having sex with the same horse and was put on probation and ordered to register as a sex offender. -- Associated Press
