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Two-year-old who shot himself at Clive hotel expected to be released from hospital

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Police have released the names of the parents of a child who shot himself at a hotel in a Des Moines suburb this weekend.

Clive police say the parents of the two-year-old are 29-year-old Jonathan Hauser and 28-year-old Kylie Harvey of Council Bluffs. The investigation determined the child found a .45 caliber handgun in a piece of luggage and shot himself through the upper chest and neck Sunday morning. Police say the child’s condition is improving and he is expected to be released from the hospital soon.

Clive police say Hauser, the boy’s father,  has a permit to carry the gun from Pottawattamie County. Detectives are working with the Department of Human Services and the Polk County Attorney and say they will make a determination on any charges once the instigation is complete.

 

U.S. Attorney General critical of travel ban ruling in Des Moines speech

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Jeff Sessions (file photo)

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in Iowa today, criticizing the trend of just one federal judge issuing nationwide orders that have blocked President Trump from governing “as the voters elected him to do.”

Sessions criticized the judge who issued a nationwide order preventing the president’s travel ban from taking effect. He accused the judge of “psychoanalyzing” a speech President Trump made on the campaign trail. Sessions says Trump has a government to run and “it is not the duty of the courts to manage this government or pass judgment” on every Executive Branch policy. Sessions also praised President Trump for keeping a campaign promise and nominating “faithful, restrained judges” to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sessions called nominee Brett Kavanaugh a “truly great” future justice. Justice Neil Gorsuch also spoke at the conference for federal judges and prosecutors. No broadcast recording was permitted, but reporters were allowed to take notes and the attorney general’s prepared remarks were sent out via email.

Sessions also spoke early this morning at the Des Moines Rotary Club. In prepared remarks released via email, Sessions touted the stock market results since Trump became president and told the Rotarians the country was “getting back on track” in fighting crime. Sessions said the country has “to get serious about illegal immigration” and he indicated there are 40,000 “illegal aliens” living in Iowa — nearly equal to the population of Cedar Falls.

Sessions also warned the crowd voter fraud exists and he cited a case from Hampton in which “an illegal alien” from Mexico stole the identity of somebody from Puerto Rico and voted in 2012.

 

Remains found near La Porte City that could be Jake Wilson

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Blackhawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson and La Porte City Police Chief Chris Brecher stand next to Jake Wilson’s mother and step-father while updating the media.

La Porte City Police Chief Chris Brecher struggled to keep his composure Thursday afternoon, as he opened a news conference by announcing human remains found in a creek this week are likely that of a teenager who’s been missing for over four months.

“We are confident that we are on the right path. We have had confirmation,” Brecher said in a shaky voice. “What has been found is consistent with what we had been looking for.”

It’s believed the remains are that of Jake Wilson, the 16-year-old autistic boy from La Porte City who disappeared on the evening of April 7. His step-father reported Jake went for a walk to Wolf Creek and failed to return home.

The remains were found on Tuesday by kayakers in an area downstream of La Porte City — an area search teams had combed many times.

“We’ve been in a position where the weather has allowed the creek to recede substantially over the last couple of months. We believe this is what allowed the kayakers that were out on the water to locate this,” Brecher said. According to Brecher, it could take a couple of weeks for DNA testing to confirm what was found. He refused to speculate if Jake’s apparent death was an accident or something else.

“We’re not in a position right now to make comment on any possibility of foul play,” Brecher said. At the close of the news conference, Jake’s biological father attacked the boy’s step-father. The incident was witnessed by several reporters and Brecher helped break-up the two men. Mike Wilson was then charged with two counts of simple assault.

(Elwin Huffman contributed to this story)

 

La Porte City police plan news conference for update on search for Jake Wilson

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Jake Wilson

Authorities leading the investigation into the disappearance of an autistic La Porte City teenager are planning to give an update on the search later today.

Officials have scheduled a 4 P.M. news conference at the La Porte City Fire Station. In a morning press release from the Black Hawk County sheriff’s department announcing the news conference, authorities said they “will be doing a significant update on the Jake Wilson case.”

La Porte City Police Chief Chris Brecher and Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson have been leading the investigation into Wilson’s disappearance, but neither has indicated what information is being released at the briefing. The 16-year-old Wilson has been missing since April 7th, when he went for a walk to nearby Wolf Creek and didn’t return home. Since then, investigators have been trying to find out what happened to him.

(By Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Oelwein)

 

Man injured in Ottumwa shooting

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Ottumwa Police are investigating an early morning shooting that landed a man in the hospital.

Officers were called to a home on the northwest side of Ottumwa (at 1029 W. 2nd) shortly after 1 a.m. today and found the resident, 61-year-old Clifford Collett, Senior, with a gunshot wound to the chest.

Police say Collett was taken to an Ottumwa hospital and was reported in stable condition. There’s no word of any arrests in the case. Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact Ottumwa Police (at 641-683-0661).

 

State plan for Volkswagen settlement will upgrade or replace engines in vehicles

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The state has completed its plan for spending millions of dollars from the settlement with Volkswagen after the company rigged some vehicles to show they were emitting less pollution into the air.

The funds were approved in 2016 and the DOT’s Angela Poole says Iowa has been getting input and spent several months putting together a plan. “In the settlement Volkswagen was required to put $2.9 billion into an environmental mitigation trust. And out of that trust, Iowa is going to receive 21 million dollars,” Poole says. “And we can’t just spend it on anything we’d like — they actually have 21 mitigation actions.”

Iowa’s plan includes upgrading or replacing a wide variety of vehicles with engines that release less nitrous oxide (NOx) into the environment. School and transit buses are one category in the plan. “Looking at older diesel engines and replacing the engines or the actual vehicle itself,” Poole says.

Other parts of the plan would target delivery trucks, train locomotives, fork lifts and even tug boats that operate on Iowa rivers. “We actually have some strong interest in helping replace those (tugboat) engines,” Poole says. “They are very expensive, so this opens up an opportunity for those operators.” Poole says the money will be awarded in a competitive grant system, and they recipients will also be required to provide some funding.

“We’re going to put out a request for applications, most likely later this fall,” according to Poole. “We are going to have three funding cycles. We’re going to have ten years to spend the money — so the first year we are going to start asking for applications this fall and we are only going to spend a third of the money.” She says they will then spend one third of the remaining money in each of the other two more cycles. There is no requirement for the amount of emissions they must reduce when spending the money — but Poole says they will be placing some priorities when scoring the grant applications.

“We’re going to look at counties that have higher NOx emission measurements based on the E-P-A’s national emissions inventory. We’ll score projects higher if they are in counties where we had an excess of those VW vehicles So, if there is a county that had more of those vehicles in there, then we are going to mitigate what those vehicles did within that county,” she explains. “We are also going to be looking at vulnerable populations — people that are located within more industrialized urban areas.” Poole says they will combine this money with some other similar programs and they are excited about the wide range of vehicles and areas where they can help reduce emissions.

“It’s going to be fun to see how this all plays out,” Poole says. Poole says the guidelines allow a percentage of the money to be spent in administering the program, but they have decided to not use that and put all the money toward the mitigation programs. You can find out more about the program by going to the Iowa’s Volkswagen settlement website at: www.iowadot.gov/vwsettlement.

 

Former Missouri trooper involved in Iowa man’s death wants license back

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Brandon Ellingson.

The former Missouri State Trooper who was driving a boat when a handcuffed Iowa man fell out and drowned is not giving up a fight to regain his peace officers’ license.

Anthony Piercy is suing the Missouri Department of Public Safety and the agency’s director to get back his license. Twenty-year-old Brandon Ellingson of Clive (Iowa) died at the Lake of the Ozarks in 2014 after falling out of Piercy’s patrol boat. Craig Ellingson is Brandon’s father.

“You know, seriously, he should be in prison. He’s lucky he’s not,” Ellingson told Radio Iowa. “If (he) was a civilian, (he’d) probably be in prison.” Piercy was sentenced last September to 10 days in jail and community service after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of negligent operation of a vessel. Craig Ellingson says he’s “fed up” and thought Piercy would “go away” once his license was revoked.

“The Trooper’s Association in Missouri is protecting him and the Missouri Highway Patrol…I just don’t get it,” Ellingson said. “They just don’t remember – they killed my son and that guy does not deserve to be a cop.” In June, a Cole County (Missouri) judge ruled the patrol’s leader did NOT have the authority to fire Piercy. According to Ellingson, Piercy has shown “no remorse” for what happened four years ago.

“None at all, he’s acting like he’s the victim,” Ellingson said. Brandon Ellingson was arrested on suspicion of drunken boating. An investigation found Piercy placed an already-buckled life vest over Ellingson, who’s hands were cuffed behind his back.

The vest fell off as Ellingson entered the lake, when the boat — traveling at speeds up to 46 miles-an-hour — hit a wave. A special prosecutor charged Piercy with involuntary manslaughter, but he later pleaded guilty to negligent boating.

 

Waterloo man allegedly threatened to set wife’s car on fire

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Patrick McGrane’s Black Hawk County Jail photo.

A Waterloo man was arrested early this morning for pouring gasoline on his wife’s car while she and her sister were inside.

Waterloo Police say 28-year-old Patrick McGrane is charged with first-degree arson after he poured a can of gasoline on the windshield of the car and threatened to light it on fire. McGrane’s wife told police he also struck the back passenger window with a shovel while she and her sister were in the car.

McGrane is being held in the Black Hawk County Jail on a $150,000 bond.

 

Transportation Commission cuts out rules governing traffic cameras

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Speed cameras in Cedar Rapids.

The Department of Transportation rules governing speed cameras that led to a lawsuit against the state are now off the books.

DOT Director of Traffic and Safety Steve Gent says the Transportation Commission took action at its meeting Tuesday. “The commission approved rescinding the automated traffic enforcement rules that the DOT worked with the Iowa Legislature to get in place to provide some oversight on the automated cameras around the state,” Gent says.

TheDOT  had ordered some cameras turned off under the rules issued in 2015. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on April 27th of this year that the doesn’t have the authority to stop cities from using traffic cameras along interstates. Gent says the commission took action to comply with the ruling.

“This is really just the paperwork of trying to rescind those rules once we got that ruling,” he says. The said the traffic cameras rules were designed to ensure the highways were safe — and that goal hasn’t changed.

“Going forward we’ll gladly work with any city or county that wants to put automated enforcement cameras out on the primary highway system,” Gent says. “Certainly they’ll be some minor things…we’ll make sure the roadway is safe, make sure when they are implementing a system putting devices on a system that they are using proper traffic control. Some of those general things to keep everybody safe.”

He says the cameras that hange over the roadway don’t create much concern after they are installed because they don’t move. The moveable cameras raise more safety concerns. “It’s either a vehicle with a camera in it or a trailer. But we’ll accommodate either type of those,” Gent says. Gent says any change in the regulation of the cameras is now up to lawmakers to decide.

“That is totally up to legislators. The Iowa DOT, we are always available to answer questions — but we will absolutely not take any proposals to the legislature,” according to Gent. Iowa Lawmakers have tried for several years to pass a ban or other types of regulation on the traffic cameras without any success.

 

Teens arrested and charged with sabotaging Wabash Trace Nature Trail, injuring bikers

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Bicyclist shows injury from Wabash Trail sabotage.

Bicyclists are feeling a lot safer on a popular trail in southwest Iowa following the arrests of three teenagers.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s deputies believe the juveniles were trying to injure cyclists on the Wabash Trace Nature Trail. Greg Losh, vice president of the group (Southwest Iowa Nature Trails) that manages the 62-mile long trail between Council Bluffs and Blanchard, says the incidents began in late June.

“There was a log in the trail, some juveniles were throwing large stones…and hit a man in the face right by his eye socket, and we discovered some twine (across) the trail at different times,” Losh said. The debris was often placed on the trail on Thursday nights when up to 2,000 cyclists participate in what’s called the “Taco Ride” from Council Bluffs to Mineola.

Two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old were arrested during last Thursday’s ride.

“So, it’s been a relief and the officers involved have been great with their undercover work on this,” Losh said. According to Losh, the deputies caught the teens preparing something that could’ve critically injured a cyclist.

“They kind of knew what they were looking for and I think they hid and watched the youth starting to put some fishing line across the trail when they made the arrests,” Losh said. The trail is dark in the area where the teens were allegedly placing obstructions. Losh said one cyclist badly skinned his elbow, knee, and hand in early July when he was thrown from his bike after hitting a log placed over the trail.

“They probably thought it was a funny prank, but when people get hurt bad, it’s really not funny,” Losh said. The teens are charged with simple misdemeanors. Their names are not being released.

(Photo courtesy of Greg Losh)