Tuesday, August 9, 2011

** California EMT sentenced to decade in jail for drunk driving death

** US military medic killed in Navy Seal crash in Afghanistan

UNITED STATES NEWS

** Ten years in jail is the sentence handed down Friday to a former Corona, California EMT who killed a fellow driver while in a drunken haze. The Southwest Riverside News Network (August 5) said Elva Diaz, 32, must also pay the family of Rachel Amaris Elliott, 18,  $57,815. Diaz, however, is appealing the restitution order and will present arguments in court next Friday. According to the newspaper, Diaz, who was convicted July 1 of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit Elliott on February 20, 2008. She had spent the hours before the crash drinking with her detective boyfriend at an area bar.

AFGHANISTAN NEWS

** More information is beginning to filter out about the US Navy Seal Team 6 members killed in Friday’s alleged Taliban shoot down of a Chinook helicopter. CBS News (August 8) said among the 22 was military paramedic John Brown who hailed from Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Brown, who was an athlete who managed university on a swimming scholarship, joined the military after seeing a special tactical unit training video.