Category: Daily Caller
Florida man armed to the teeth issues ‘dirty bomb’ warning after he crashes car, triggering lockdown
Police responded to a car crash at a grocery store late last week only to encounter a Florida man armed to the teeth, who warned he had a “dirty bomb,” according to authorities. The alarming dirty bomb remark triggered a lockdown of the area, police said.
Late Friday night, officers with the Haines City Police Department responded to reports of a vehicle crash at a Publix grocery store in Davenport.
‘Officers located a yellow plastic container secured with chains and locks with a radioactive warning label and immediately repositioned to a safe distance, shut down roadways, and requested assistance from the Bureau of Fire, Arson, and Explosives.’
Police said officers made contact with 43-year-old Benjamin Donald Johnson — a driver allegedly involved in the car accident.
Police said in a statement, “Officers were ultimately required to physically remove Johnson from the truck, at which point multiple firearms were observed in plain view.”
Police said while the suspect was being detained in the back of a patrol vehicle, an officer heard Johnson saying that there was a “dirty bomb” in his Chevrolet Silverado truck.
Police stated, “Officers located a yellow plastic container secured with chains and locks with a radioactive warning label and immediately repositioned to a safe distance, shut down roadways, and requested assistance from the Bureau of Fire, Arson, and Explosives.”
Police imposed a lockdown of the area near the vehicle in question for several hours “out of an abundance of caution” and to “ensure the safety” of anyone nearby.
Before the bomb squad arrived, a Florida State Fire Investigator at the crime scene confirmed the container was “emitting positive radioactivity,” according to police.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and an FBI bomb technician launched an investigation into the possible dirty bomb.
According to police, investigators said a device was inside the yellow container. The investigators allegedly determined it was a moisture density gauge, which is “commonly used for soil testing, and contained less radioactivity than a medical X-ray.”
The statement said the container was transported to the Haines City Police Department, where it will be “further inspected” by members of the Florida Bureau of Radioactive Material.
Officers conducted a search of Johnson’s truck, and police said they found a “multitude of firearms and ammunition, firearm magazine speed loaders, thermal scopes, knives, a battering ram, night vision goggles, cannabis, and gummies, which tested positive for THC.”
Johnson told investigators he was in the area for work and had been living out of his pickup truck with his dog, police said.
The dog was transferred to a local animal control service.
Jail records from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office show that Johnson was arrested and charged with hoax weapon of mass destruction, false report concerning a bomb or explosive, resisting an officer without violence, unlawful possession of cannabis resin, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and use of a firearm under the influence of alcohol.
Police noted that Johnson’s prior criminal history revealed he had been arrested for possession of marijuana in Tennessee.
Police said the case remains under investigation.
The Haines City Police Department and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.
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Black male stabs white male. But victim uses racial slur AFTER stabbing — and Portland jury issues ‘inconceivable’ verdict.
A black male recently admitted in court that he stabbed a white male over the summer, but a Portland jury acquitted the black male after learning the victim uttered a racial slur — and spoke the word following the stabbing.
Gary Edwards was charged with second-degree assault for knifing Gregory Howard Jr. on Northwest 5th Avenue in Portland’s Old Town neighborhood on the morning of July 7, OregonLive reported last week.
‘Beyond inconceivable.’
A conviction could have handed Edwards a sentence of five years and 10 months in state prison, OregonLive said.
However, even though Edwards admitted on the witness stand to the stabbing, he said it was self-defense due to Howard’s aggression, the outlet said.
Edwards testified that Howard yelled the racist slur as soon as he saw him, the outlet reported, adding that Howard denied the claim.
More from OregonLive:
Transit cameras showed Edwards, a fixed-blade knife clasped at his side, approaching Howard from behind as he sat on a bench. The video has no sound, but Howard springs up and pushes Edwards as soon as he sees him. The duo scuffle against a wall for a brief moment, ending with Edwards stabbing Howard in the shoulder.
Defense attorney Daniel Small said the most relevant evidence was recorded later when security officers heard the wounded man shouting the racist slur and captured it on their body cameras as he described the incident.
Small added that Edwards, 43, was just approaching Howard, also 43, and offering a simple trade: his knife for cigarettes, the outlet said.
“What other than racism could explain why Mr. Howard perceived hatred, animosity, and aggression from a complete stranger?” Small asked the jury on Oct. 30, the outlet reported.
Prosecutor Katherine Williams countered that what Howard said after the knifing was irrelevant and that Edwards was always “in control” during the altercation, OregonLive said.
“The defendant is not scared for his life. He didn’t retreat; he sauntered up — and he sauntered away after he stabbed someone,” Williams told the jury, according to the outlet. “The defendant created the situation.”
Despite the prosecutor’s argument, the jury soon acquitted Edwards, OregonLive said.
More from the outlet:
Edwards, who declined to comment through his attorney, spent about three months in custody before the trial, after prosecutors successfully argued he shouldn’t be released.
Their memo noted that Edwards was convicted of attempted second-degree assault in 2021 and was sentenced to three years in prison for another stabbing at the Skidmore Fountain MAX platform in May 2020. He was accused of fourth-degree assault for fighting with a clerk at Old Town’s Helen’s Market, but the case was dismissed in June because no public defender was available to take his case.
Howard, meanwhile, has been arrested several times in recent years and was convicted of felony rape of a child in Washington’s Kitsap County in 1997, records show. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
The New York Post’s Facebook entry about the acquittal generated well over 1,000 comments — and they’re the exact kinds of reactions you would expect. The following are a few of them:
- “Always remember if you’re shot or stabbed, you must give some type of positive affirmation to your attacker so you don’t sound hateful,” one commenter wrote. “Otherwise your attacker will be acquitted.”
- “It was probably a mostly peaceful stabbing,” another user quipped.
- “That’s wild. So let me get this right … He got attacked then said the N word, and the attacker got away with it cause he said it after he was already attacked?” another commenter asked. “That makes no sense.”
- “Beyond inconceivable,” another user stated.
- “What a funny world we live in,” another commenter observed.
- “Staying out of Portland …” another user shared.
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‘Low IQ traitor’: Trump torches MTG after she claims he ‘directly fueled’ death threats against her
President Donald Trump torched Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia on social media after her highly anticipated “60 Minutes” interview aired on Sunday.
For years, Greene was Trump’s biggest cheerleader in Congress, coming to bat for the president on nearly every political cause. Their unique alliance crumbled in November after Trump made a shocking move to withdraw his endorsement of Greene.
‘Her new views are those of a very dumb person.’
Greene maintained that the split was due to her demand for the unconditional release of the Epstein files, while other reports suggest she wanted to pursue higher office and Trump discouraged her from doing so, leaving the Georgia Republican jaded. Greene promptly announced that she was resigning from Congress and stepping down in January.
While Trump continues to harshly criticize his former ally, Greene has been making the rounds in various outlets with which she has been combative in the past. Her appearance on “60 Minutes” on CBS garnered even more backlash from Trump and his supporters.
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
During the interview with host Lesley Stahl, Greene remarked on the increase in death threats against her and her family, saying they were “directly fueled by President Trump.”
Trump said the real reason Greene and the MAGA movement parted ways was because she was “jilted.”
“Too much work, not enough time, and her ideas are, NOW, really BAD – She sort of reminds me of a Rotten Apple!” Trump wrote in a Monday Truth Social post. “Marjorie is not AMERICA FIRST or MAGA, because nobody could have changed her views so fast, and her new views are those of a very dumb person.”
Greene’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene calls it quits after ‘traitor’ branding by Trump
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Trump described Greene as “a very poorly prepared Traitor, who in her confusion made many really stupid statements” to Stahl.
Trump went on to criticize the new ownership of the “60 Minutes” program and to demand an apology from “Trump hating” Stahl for her contentious interview with him during his first term, just before the 2020 presidential election.
“Stahl … still owes me an apology from when she attacked me on the show (with serious conviction!), that Hunter Biden’s LAPTOP FROM HELL was produced by Russia, not Hunter himself (TOTALLY PROVEN WRONG!),” Trump wrote.
“My real problem with the show, however, wasn’t the low IQ traitor,” Trump continued, referring to Greene, “it was that the new ownership of 60 Minutes, Paramount, would allow a show like this to air.”
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Can presidents fire all federal bureaucrats at will? Supreme Court to hear case with major implications
President Donald Trump’s work to dismantle the administrative state has reached a tipping point that could have major implications for the future. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments that will determine President Trump’s firing power at federal agencies, specifically at the Federal Trade Commission.
On Monday, the court will hear arguments that will challenge a 90-year-old precedent from Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.
A Supreme Court decision in President Trump’s favor could rewrite the bounds of presidential power over the administrative state.
The case before the court came after President Trump fired Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter over email in March. Trump did not cite any legal reasoning for Slaughter’s firing, even though Humphrey’s Executor states that an FTC commissioner may be fired only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images
Trump has also fired employees at the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Trump has been challenged on other high-profile firings in recent months, including those of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and a copyright official at the Library of Congress, Shira Perlmutter. They have both successfully avoided losing their positions thus far.
Though the FTC is likely to be treated differently because of the precedent, a Supreme Court decision in President Trump’s favor could rewrite the bounds of presidential power over the administrative state.
The court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority. Three of the justices were appointed during Trump’s first term.
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