From the L.A. Daily News

Pedestrians distracted by phones, texts, music, video games stumble into danger

Fortunately there were no trains approaching the Philadelphia-area station at that moment, because it took the man several minutes to recover enough to climb out of danger. But the incident, captured last year by a security camera and provided to The Associated Press, underscores the risks of what government officials and safety experts say is a growing problem: distracted walking.

On city streets, in suburban parking lots and in shopping centers, there is usually someone strolling while talking on a phone, texting with his head down, listening to music, or playing a video game. The problem isn't as widely discussed as distracted driving, but the danger is real.

Reports of injuries to distracted walkers treated at hospital emergency rooms have more than quadrupled in the past seven years and are almost certainly underreported. There has been a spike in pedestrians killed and injured in traffic accidents, but there is no reliable data on how many were distracted by electronics.

"We are where we were with cellphone use in cars 10 years or so ago. We knew it was a problem, but we didn't have the data," said Jonathan Akins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety offices.

State and local officials are struggling to figure out how to respond, and in some cases asking how far government should go in trying to protect people from themselves.

In Delaware, highway safety officials opted for a public education campaign, placing decals on crosswalks and sidewalks at busy intersections urging pedestrians to "Look up. Drivers aren't always looking out for you."

Philadelphia officials are drafting a safety campaign that will be aimed in part at pedestrians who are looking at their devices instead of where they're going. "One of the messages will certainly be 'pick your head up' - I want to say 'nitwit,' but I probably shouldn't call them names," said Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities.

As an April Fool's Day joke with a serious message, Philadelphia officials taped off an "e-lane" for distracted pedestrians on a sidewalk outside downtown office buildings.

Some didn't get that it was a joke.

"The sad part is we had people who, once they realized we were going to take the e-lane away, got mad because they thought it was really helpful to not have people get in their way while they were walking and texting," Cutler said.

When the Utah Transit Authority adopted an ordinance barring pedestrians from using cellphones, headphones or other distracting electronic devices while crossing the tracks of its light rail system on the streets of Salt Lake City, subject to a $50 fine, the Legislature refused to make it a statewide law.

"Look, I get distracted all the time," bristled Utah State Rep. Craig Frank, a Republican who opposed the proposal. "I have a smartphone, too. Walking on sidewalks, in stores and malls, and maybe in a crosswalk sometimes I'm using my cellphone. But I try to stay connected to my environment. I never thought the government needed to cite me for using my cellphone in a reasonable manner."

Distracted walking bills in the Arkansas, Illinois and New York legislatures also went nowhere.

"It sounds very ridiculous," said Tia Little, a pedestrian in downtown Washington. "I mean, it's our phone. We should be able to use it and walk and talk if we choose to, walk and text or whatever."

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which provided the video of the man who fell onto the train tracks, has received reports from bus drivers and train engineers who say they nearly hit pedestrians who didn't appear to hear them sound their horns because they were distracted by their electronic devices, said Jim Fox, the agency's director of system safety and risk management.

He said there have been several cases of people hit and killed by the authority's trains in which it appears they were wearing headphones or using cellphones while trespassing on tracks.

A University of Maryland study found 116 cases over six years in which pedestrians were killed or seriously injured while wearing headphones. In two-thirds of the cases the victims were men under age 30. Half the cases involved trains. In a third of the incidents, a warning horn was sounded just before the accident.

"With the smartphone technology these days and everything at your fingertips, it's almost getting to be an obsession or a compulsion with people," Fox said. "You see it in airports or train stations or malls - if there's any kind of downtime, they're jumping right to that phone."

About 1,152 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms in the U.S. last year for injuries suffered while walking and using a cellphone or some other electronic device, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which receives annual data from 100 emergency rooms and extrapolates the information into a national estimate. But that's likely an underestimate because patients may not mention they were using a cellphone or other device at the time at the time they were injured, or the doctor or nurse may neglect to include the information in their report, said Tom Schroeder, director of the commission's data systems.

The cases include a 24-year-old woman who walked into a telephone pole while texting; a 28-year-old man who was walking along a road when he fell into a ditch while talking on a cellphone; a 12-year-old boy who was looking at a video game when he was clipped by a pickup truck as he crossed the street; and a 53-year-old woman who fell off a curb while texting and lacerated her face.

One 67-year-old man walking along the side of a road was hit a by a bicyclist who was talking on a cellphone as he rode. The pedestrian injured a knee.

Though overall traffic deaths were lower in 2010 than the year before, pedestrian fatalities rose by 4.2 percent and injuries by 19 percent, according to the latest data available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It's not clear how many of the pedestrian deaths and injuries involved cellphones and other electronics because police often don't collect that information.

Even without better data, the Internet yields a wealth of anecdotal evidence of the power of electronics to distract pedestrians.

A woman texting while she walked through in a suburban Philadelphia shopping mall this year tumbled into a large fountain directly in front of her. Security camera video of the incident went viral, generating millions of hits.

A man texting a message to his boss nearly strolled into the path of a black bear that had wandered into a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood. He was only a few feet away when he looked up, saw the bear, and ran. A KTLA news helicopter tracking the bear recorded the April incident.

Researchers say they're not surprised that multi-tasking pedestrians run into trouble.

Psychological studies that show most people can't focus on two things at once. Rather, their attention shifts rapidly back and forth between tasks, and performance suffers. But like a lot of drivers who use cellphones behind the wheel, pedestrians often think they're in control and that it's all the other fools on their phones who aren't watching what they're doing.

"I see students as soon as they break from a class, they have their cellphones out and they're texting to one another. They're walking through the door and bumping into one another," said Jack Nasar, an Ohio State University professor and expert on environmental psychology. "People think they can do it, that they are somehow better."

A study Nasar conducted at intersections on campus found that people talking on cellphones were significantly more likely to walk in front of cars than pedestrians not using phones.

A study by researchers at Stony Brook University in New York compared the performance of people asked to walk across a room to a target - a piece of paper taped to the floor - without distractions and then again next day while talking on a cellphone or texting. The group that talked on the cellphone walked slightly slower and veered off course a bit more than previously, but the texting group walked slower, veered off course 61 percent more and overshot the target 13 percent more.

"People really need to be aware that they are impacting their safety by texting or talking on the cellphone" while walking, Eric Lamberg, an associate physical therapy professor who conducted the study, said. "I think the risk is there."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21193698/pedestrians-distracted-by-phones-texts-music-video-games

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James Holmes faces 142 counts, including 24 of first-degree murder

Holmes, 24, was formally charged with a total of 142 criminal counts — including two separate allegations of murder for each of the 12 people who died in the July 20 attack at the Century Aurora 16.

The two murder charges are based on different legal theories.

Prosecutors similarly filed two counts of attempted murder for each of the 58 people who were injured in the attack, carried out during an early morning premiere of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."

All told, Holmes faces 141 felonies:

In the murder and attempted-murder charges, Holmes was accused in half the counts of committing the crimes after deliberation and in the other half with committing them with extreme indifference.

Denver attorney Daniel Recht said the different counts are an advantage to prosecutors because if a jury were to acquit Holmes under one theory, it could still convict him under the other theory. Extreme indifference, Recht wrote in an e-mail, is "arguably a much easier mental state for the prosecution to prove."

If convicted of any of the murder charges, Holmes could face execution, though prosecutors have not yet said whether they will pursue the death penalty.

The most lenient sentence Holmes could receive if convicted of the murder counts is life in prison without parole.

In a statement issued after the hearing on behalf of the family of shooting victim Jonathan Blunk, his cousin Jessica Watts said Blunk's family has faith the district attorney's office will "pursue all applicable charges" against Holmes.

"He will be held accountable for his actions and we, Jonny's family, will continue to mourn the hole we now have in our lives," Watts said in the statement.

In a charging document unsealed after the hearing, prosecutors accuse Holmes of one count of murder after deliberation and one count of murder with extreme indifference for each of the 12 victims who died.

The attempted-murder charges follow a similar pattern — officials have said 58 people were wounded in the shootings but have not released a list of names. The charging document muddies the picture somewhat.

The document listed wounded survivor Bonnie Kate Pourciau twice, in two charges naming a victim Bonnie Kate and in another two charges naming a victim as Bonnie Pourciau. Officials at the District Attorney's office said they could not clear up the confusion, citing a judge's order limiting publicity.

"Because of the gag order, our office is unable to interpret the charging document at this time," said Casimir Spencer, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Carol Chambers.

The charging document also included the names of several shooting survivors who were not physically injured and did not include the names of some of those who were wounded and survived.

Recht, the Denver attorney, said attempted murder is a valid charge in cases where people are shot at but not hit. He said prosecutors likely made their charging decision after talking to victims and ensuring they were comfortable with being included in the case. More so, Recht said, prosecutors likely didn't want to charge Holmes with every possible crime he could be charged with, such as aggravated assault.

"Clearly the prosecution decided they needed to keep this to the most serious charges," Recht said. "They wanted to keep the jury from getting confused with potentially hundreds of counts."

The charges can be amended in the future.

It was Holmes' second court appearance — at a preliminary advisement hearing July 23, he looked dazed and drowsy. Monday, Holmes appeared more composed. His hair, still dyed a Kool-Aid orange and red, was combed flat.

For much of the hearing, he appeared to be paying attention, often looking at Judge William Sylvester as he spoke. When Sylvester asked Holmes a question — whether he would agree to waive his right to a preliminary hearing within 35 days — Holmes answered with a muffled, "Yes."

Media cameras, which had been allowed for Holmes' first appearance, were not allowed in the courtroom during Monday's hearing.

In the audience, dozens of shooting survivors and family members of victims looked on, at times leaning forward to listen as Sylvester spoke and at other times craning their necks to look at Holmes.

Shooting survivor Rita Paulina, whose wrist, arm and leg were wrapped in bandages, fidgeted with the gauze and rested her arm awkwardly on the seat.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled Aug. 9, when attorneys will debate a motion from 20 news media organizations to unseal the case file. After that, on Aug. 16, Sylvester plans to hear arguments from the prosecution and the defense over a notebook Holmes allegedly mailed to his psychiatrist. Holmes' attorneys have asserted that the notebook is privileged doctor-patient communication.

The next major hearing in Holmes' case will likely be a preliminary hearing, at which the judge will listen to testimony to determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial. That hearing could provide the public with significant new information about the events of July 20. But the hearing, which Holmes' attorneys said could take a week, isn't scheduled until Nov. 13.

Even that date could be optimistic, said Denver defense attorney Pete Hedeen.

Given potential mental health issues hinted at publicly, Holmes' defense team is likely to raise issues of competency to determine whether he is able to participate in his own defense.

Once competency is raised, it stops the clock on the trial while defendants typically undergo at least two rounds of psychological evaluation. A judge makes the final determination, but even a fast-tracked process can take three to five months, Hedeen said.

"Certainly the indications are that this guy is seriously mentally ill," Hedeen said. "It'll be interesting at what point will they raise the competency issue."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21191265/hearing-underway-man-suspected-killing-12-aurora-theater

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From Google News

After saga lasting years, Drew Peterson trial to start with opening statements, testimony

The 58-year-old Peterson's day in court comes nearly a decade after his third wife was found dead in a bathtub, and five years after his much younger fourth wife vanished without a trace.

The real-life drama inspired a TV movie and a national spotlight was put on the case, with speculation about whether Peterson used his law-enforcement expertise in a bid to get away with the 2004 murder of Kathleen Savio, 40, and to make 23-year-old Stacy Peterson disappear in 2007.

Those who have observed major criminal trials for years say the outcome of this one is especially hard to predict.

“I think it will be a close case,” said Kathleen Zellner, a leading Chicago-area defense attorney.

Tuesday's openings in Joliet pit the dry but dogged James Glasgow, Will County's state's attorney, against flamboyant defense lawyer Joel Brodsky, both of whom have staked at least part of their reputations on the final result.

Peterson's attorney says he will tell jurors, who include a part-time poet, a letter carrier and a research technician whose favorite TV show is “Criminal Minds,” the life story of his client and Savio.

Peterson, a former police sergeant in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, was charged with first-degree murder in Savio's death only after Stacy Peterson went missing. He is a suspect in her disappearance but hasn't been charged.

“I'll tell a story from the beginning to the end so they can understand what's going on,” Brodsky said about his planned Tuesday opening. “Until now, everything has been told just in slices.”

The defense has described Savio's death as a tragic accident, and they have said Stacy Peterson, whose body has never been found, may have run off with another man.

Glasgow may face the greater challenge.

A botched initial investigation into Savio's death left prosecutors with scant to no physical evidence, forcing them to rely heavily on hearsay evidence — statements not heard directly by a witness — which is normally barred at trials.

Glasgow has said previously that Savio and Stacy Peterson will effectively speak to jurors through witnesses who can describe how Drew Peterson allegedly told his wives he could murder them and make it look like an accident.

But Judge Edward Burmila has said he would decide what hearsay statements to admit only as testimony proceeds, so Glasgow will have to decide whether to risk mentioning statements to jurors that the judge might later prohibit.

“The last thing you want to do is make an opening about what jurors will hear, telling them the case hinges on what they'll hear — and then they don't hear it,” Chicago-based attorney Michael Helfand said.

By presenting what they regard as overwhelming hearsay and circumstantial evidence, Zellner said prosecutors will want to show jurors the only possible explanation for Savio's death is that Peterson killed her.

In the case of Stacy Peterson, Burmila has warned prosecutors they can't tell jurors Drew Peterson is responsible for her disappearance or refer to authorities' belief that she is dead.

Attorneys on both sides will have to find the right terminology in talking about the missing fourth wife, said Brodsky, who added that the sides might be able to use the awkward phrase “she is no longer available.”

Prosecutors say Peterson killed Savio because he feared their pending divorce settlement would wipe him out financially. And they believe he killed Stacy, in part, because she knew about Savio's death.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/after-saga-lasting-years-drew-peterson-trial-to-start-with-opening-statements-testimony/2012/07/31/gJQAtSS5LX_story.html

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Ohio

Kent State student accused of tweeting plan to 'shoot up' campus

William Koberna, 19, of Brunswick, Ohio, pleaded not guilty Monday to a felony charge of inducing panic and a misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing, university spokesman Eric Mansfield told the Los Angeles Times.

The alleged threat comes as the nation is already on edge in the wake of the July 20 shooting in which a gunman opened fire during a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises," killing 12 and injuring 58. Moreover, Kent State is a campus with a unique history: Four students were killed and nine others injured on May 4, 1970, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students and others protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.

Koberna's Twitter account has since been disabled. But Mansfield told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that his tweet included profanities, made reference to the university president, and concluded by saying "I'm shooting up your school."

"You can imagine that got everyone's attention really fast," Mansfield said. He said that there was no indication that Koberna had any access to weapons, or even an obvious motive. But authorities said they were not taking any chances.

"We're not playing," Mansfield said. "Threats of violence are going to be taken very seriously."

Police arrested Koberna at his parents' home late Sunday afternoon, and took him into custody without incident, according to WEWS-TV.

Koberna, a sophomore, also faces university hearings that can result in his suspension or dismissal.

"Any threat to our campus community is taken seriously and immediately investigated," Kent State University President Lester A. Lefton said in a statement. "Our students, employees, and all those who come to campus should know that their safety is our top priority."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-kent-state-student-arrested-alleged-twitter-threat-20120730,0,3389322.story

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Community Over Crime: What Anaheim Can Learn From L.A.

Last week's police shooting of an unarmed alleged gang member in Anaheim sparked protests, fires, rock-throwing, arrests, and a potential FBI investigation. Our sister city to the south, best known for baseball, hockey, and Disneyland, is being torn apart.

Here in Los Angeles, we're certainly no stranger to tension between local communities and law enforcement (see: MacArthur Park, 2007; South Los Angeles, 1992; Watts 1965), but things have been getting better. Crime has plummeted in recent years, and relations between the police and the public—especially in minority communities—are warmer than they have been in decades. The Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater L.A.'s Community Safety Scorecard, which measures neighborhood safety, gives a picture of where we are today. Below are some things that have worked here and could help Anaheim.

Redefine the “Gang Problem”
Los Angeles is where modern gang culture was born, bred, and exported, but it is also where innovative solutions are being practiced and proven. Many community-based programs are getting good results by treating violence as a public health issue, a disease that can be prevented. Rather than blaming young people for poor choices, these programs instead focus on the factors that push young people into gang life in the first place. The City's Gang Reduction and Youth Development takes a comprehensive, family-based approach to reducing gang violence. GRYD's Summer Night Lights program, for instance, gives young people a place to play sports and socialize safely by keeping parks open with programming into the evenings during summer, a time when violence tends to escalate.

Get Police to Work With — Not Against — Communities
Both Police Chief Beck and Sheriff Baca emphasize that arrest and incarceration are not the answers to stopping youth violence. Law enforcement, they recognize, is most effective when it is seen as a partner with community. Some officials in Anaheim seem to get that: Ironically, the city was applauded in a 2009 report by the US Department of Justice for its community policing efforts. But they obviously have a long way to go, as seen by the department's strong-arm response to the community uprising after the initial shooting. In contrast, current LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has created the first community policing unit that will promote officers based on how they help families prevent kids from being arrested in the first place. Leadership in law enforcement makes a difference, setting a tone for the entire department, and promoting a culture that works with, instead of against, communities.

Empower Local Communities
Community stakeholders and residents often outlast any elected official or assigned officer. Empowering local voices means that in times of tension, there is a partner who can represent local concerns, and can help ensure the community's hurt and anger are channeled constructively. Los Angeles has a wealth of strong voices that come from the faith community, from our strong nonprofits, and from youth organizations. One of the most inspiring efforts over recent years has been the Dignity in Schools campaign, in which a coalition of organizations worked tirelessly to educate community members, law enforcement, and policymakers around the devastating impact of Zero Tolerance policies in schools. As a result, Los Angeles has had some success in changing school policies, a step in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, and is leading the state-wide effort for change. This in turn keeps more kids in school, instead of creating more young people and parents who are angry, frustrated, and blocked from opportunity. In other words, it's an example of creating positive alternatives, rather than taking a punishment-only approach.

Another level of empowerment involves political representation. Los Angeles elects its City Council by district, and our representatives live in (and often grew up in) the districts they represent. As a result, the community members have someone to bring grievances, challenges, concerns, and ideas to . In contrast, Anaheim has only at-large elected councilmembers. Without local representation, there can be no local accountability.

Redefine How We Talk About Violence
Violence is the second leading cause of death among our young people (ages 14-25). If a disease were killing our children at that rate, we wouldn't be blaming those children for getting sick. We'd be investing in research, testing potential cures, and trying to get at the root causes of the illness. Violence is, in fact, an epidemic. And that means we need to invest heavily in preventing its outbreaks, not just treating its symptoms. We all know the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, yet when it comes to violence, we too often put our money mainly into dubious “cures:” more police, heavier sentencing, and more prisons. This “mis-investment” often comes at the expense of money for schools, after-school programming, and safe parks. Los Angeles has had some innovative, model programming that has worked at reducing crime and violence, but it remains in constant jeopardy as budgets tighten.

Invest in Prevention; Demand Results
It's so important it's worth saying again: Prevention matters. According to the latest Children's Defense Fund report, incarceration costs nearly three times investing in education. Cutting early education increases the chance that a boy will go to prison by 39%. And that doesn't include the lost tax revenue from an employed person, or the human capital lost. People released from incarceration in California are re-arrested at a rate of 70%. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that our current prison system is a terrible investment, and one that does little to improve public safety. But we continue to invest and support it without accountability for results.

Violence—including police violence—is not something that can be resolved through more violence or by locking people up. By seeing violence as a public health issue, something to be prevented rather than suppressed, and by creating systems that support positive rather than negative behavior choices for individuals, law enforcement, and elected officials, we may actually be able to achieve safer communities, in Los Angeles, and in Anaheim.

Kaile Shilling is the Coalition Director of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles.

http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10409073

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