Friday, February 4, 2011
** Hawaii based combat medic to face court martial and murder trial
** Female UK medic hospitalized with multiple injuries after ambulance/truck collision
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Court martial proceedings against a Honolulu based combat medic, accused of murdering a civilian contractor in Iraq in 2009, are set to begin February 14. That is the word from the Honolulu Star Advertiser (February 3) which said Spc. Beyshee O. Velez, who has been held in the Ford Island brig since returning from overseas, is also facing a separate murder trial date yet to be set. According to the newspaper, Velez allegedly shot Lucas Trent Vinson, 27, Â with an M-4 carbine on September 13, 2009 while at Contingency Operating Base Speicher. Velez lawyer Philip D. Cave said he was not mentally stable at the time. Although an Army medical fitness board concurred, saying the shooting occurred during a short psychotic episode, Velez has been cleared to stand trial. Charges include murder, assault, and eluding Air Force security forces. If convicted on the murder charges, he would be dishonorably discharged and put in prison for life. A guilty verdict on the assault charges, meanwhile, would also promote dishonorable discharge and eight years confinement. A veteran of three tours in Iraq, Velez has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** A female Staffordshire paramedic is recovering in hospital with head, leg, chest, and pelvic injuries after a Thursday ambulance/truck accident. The Skegness Standard (February 3) said the West Midlands Ambulance Service medic, who was behind the wheel at the time of the 11 a.m. crash, was extricated and then airlifted by military chopper to hospital. A male colleague was also medevaced, but has been since treated and released. The unit was not loaded with a patient at the time. There is no word yet on what caused the accident.
