Dolphins’ player arrested after allegedly touching women

Mugshot shows Derrick Shelby with eyes partially closed and a busted lip

Derrick Shelby, 25, a defensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins was arrested Saturday outside a nightclub in Fort Lauderdale for resisting arrest without violence and trespassing. Shelby had allegedly been touching women in the club without their consent resulting in security asking him to leave. Once outside, he refused to leave the premises and according to a police officer, asked, “What are you going to do about it?” then proceeded to photograph and film the officer.

After asking Shelby refused to leave after being asked again, authorities arrested him for trespassing. According to the affidavit, “Upon attempting to place Shelby into custody he began pushing away from officers and took an aggressive fighting stance.” Shelby was then ‘placed’ on the ground where he continued to actively resist being put into custody.

A supplemental report stated that Shelby was ‘overpowering officials’ so a stun gun was used to make it possible to put him in custody. The way the prongs hit his back had no effect. He was stunned a second time on his shoulder which was ‘temporarily effective’ but he immediately continued resisting and trying to free his other hand. After being stunned a third time, he was taken to a local hospital and then transported to Broward Sheriff’s Office Jail.

Head Coach Joe Philbin said, “Based on my conversations with Derrick and the information we have thus far, Derrick will be placed on Indefinite Club Suspension. When we have completed all of the necessary diligence, we will make a final determination on his discipline.”

Shelby’s attorney says that the Dolphins lineman is innocent and intends to plead “not guilty.”

The NFL and Russell Wilson are doing everything in their power to fix their players’ reputations of behavioral problems but for every step forward there are two steps back. The allegations of Derrick Shelby could have been avoided if he had left the premises of the nightclub; however, his lack of cooperation and resistance to arrest led to yet another issue for the NFL.

Long Island teen suffers from the dangers of football

Tom Cutinella, Demario Harris, and Isaiah Langston all passed away last week while playing football

Tom Cutinella, a junior at Shorham-Wading River High School died last Thursday after sustaining a severe head injury during a game. In the days following, parents and students all over the country have been taking another look at the dangers of high school football. Cutinella reportedly suffered a serious head injury and was rushed to the hospital. After emergency surgery was performed, the student did not survive. This was one of three deaths in high school football in a week; however, only Cutinella’s injury is known to be contact related.

Football players have a 75% chance of getting a concussion during their career and players that sustain one concussion are more likely to receive a second according to the Sports Concussion Institute. In the past five years, high school football participation has dropped 2% and Pop Warner Youth Football participation has dropped 9.5% according to a ESPN/Associated Press GFK poll.

John Furjanic of Chicago, and former high school and Ivy League football player at Yale said, “I have had over 10 concussions playing football. No coaching technique can result in safety when the point of playing defense is to play with reckless abandon. The kids today call it blowing people up. The game is violent, and people get hurt in violent games.”

However, on the other side are parents like Ben Smith, CEO of Wanderful Media, whose 8th grader plays contact football and after considering the risks, the new training programs and the new ways players are being taught to tackle through the Heads Up Football Program has given him the confidence to let his son continue to play.

Based on the website, the Heads Up Football Program is geared toward younger players. Amanda Rodriguez, a mother in Maryland, says that her 9-year-old son is more passionate about football than almost anything else and her 6-year-old son just started playing.

“I think that it’s something you can definitely see in how the younger kids are playing versus how the older boys are playing football because it’s a whole different way of playing. So I feel safer knowing that my kids are playing in a league that is doing something proactive about their safety,” said Rodriguez.

Football is among several other dangerous sports popular among children. Soccer players, gymnasts, and horseback riders are all at risk for injuries as well, but these sports do not usually get as much publicity.

Abandoned iconic phone booths put to use

Carl Court via Getty Images

The red London phone booths that had made countless appearances on Instagram feeds, Facebook profile pictures, and movie sets, have become an icon of the city; however, they were abandoned until recently when Solarbox, a green company focused on improving the environment, decided to keep these London icons out of waste dumps and convert them to solar charge stations.

The 8,000 unused phone booths will be converted into charging stations free to use but will show advertisements to users as they charge up. Conversions have already begun along Tottenham Court Road.

“In our modern world, where hardly any Londoner is complete without a raft of personal gizmos in hand, it’s about time our iconic boxes were update for the 21st Century, to be useful, more sustainable,” Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said.

This step into the future will likely raise concern seeing that Solarbox is not preserving the historical red exterior of the phone booths. Although the solar charging stations are very convenient and provide carbon-free energy to the city, London citizens and tourists will likely still be searching for the red phone booth photo opportunity.

NFL Goes to Lengths to Advocate Against Domestic Violence

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

If I’m not mistaken, it wasn’t until the Ray Rice was tangled in up in the domestic violence scandal with his then fiancé, Janay Palmer, that the NFL players and employees started to look to fans for help and support. But is the $1.43 billion company asking for support to fuel a PR campaign in response to the scandals or is this a long-term commitment that the NFL sees worthy of supporting?

Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback, has embraced ending ending domestic violence on the platform that he “used to beat people up.” This showed the world that Wilson, a “goody-two-shoes” in the sports world, wasn’t perfect either and instantly became more likable and relatable. Derek Jeter also nominated him as a senior editor of his new website, ThePlayersTribune.com.

Wilson also started the Why Not You Foundation which launched the campaign, “Pass the Peace” to raise funds and awareness for victims of domestic abuse.

So is this all a Public Relations stunt or is this genuine? Who is behind this? Will we see a long-term commitment to this issue or are Roger Goodell and the NFL just trying to dig themselves out of a hole?

9 Weird Things Celebrities Have Been Doing

1. Taylor Swift invites 90 strangers to a pizza party at her NYC apartment That’s right…Taylor Swift, the American Pop Country singer/songwriter hosted a pizza party for 90 hand-picked fans. This celebration followed her live-stream announcement of her new album, 1989, and the debut of her hit music video “Shake it Off.”

DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/LP5/GETTY IMAGES FOR TAS

2. Kimye Dolls for North As if naming your daughter after a compass reading isn’t weird enough, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West gave their daughter dolls to match the celebrity couple’s appearances according to Khloe Kardashian’s Instagram feed.

Credit: Khloe Kardashian

3. Miley Cyrus at the VMAs Miley’s scandalous performance at the VMAs in 2013 is old news. This year, she rocked an edgy-chic look and kept it on throughout the night. But her date, who accepted her award, was a homeless man who spoke about “My Friend’s Place” in Los Angeles, accepted Miley’s award, and later turned himself in in his hometown of Salem, Oregon for violating his probation several times.

Christopher Polk/MTV1415

4. “I’m not famous anymore” Shia LaBeouf wore a paper bag to the premiere of his film “Nymphomaniac” in Berlin on February 9th in response to being caught plagiarizing parts of his short film Howard Cantour from Daniel Clowes‘ 2007 novel Justin M. Damiano. After apologizing, LaBeouf announced his retirement from the industry. 5. Lil Kim‘s new face Lil Kim’s purple pasty appearance at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards was shocking back then, but the rapper’s appearance then and now is even more alarming. Comparing her face from her stardom days to her mommy days will raise an eyebrow…or her face.

1999 and 2014

6. Taylor Swift makes fun of herself Swift’s new hit single “Shake it Off” is a great way to motivate girls to disregard what other people think of them. It is good to know that not every popular song today has to be about sex, love, money, and drugs. Weird.

Credit: Big Machine Records

7. Crowdfunding to keep Nickelback OUT of London The Alternative Press reported that a campaign has been launched by Craig Mandall, an avid Nickelback hater, to keep the band from performing in London. This has taken crowd funding to the next (weird) level. 8. Kim Kardashian allegedly forgets her baby The evidence would suggest that this is true, but it is not confirmed. From the video footage, it looks like Kim expected Baby North to find her way out of the hotel on her own. Weird, a 1-year-old can’t make her way out of a Parisian hotel and into a luxury bus?

Credit: Splash News

9. James Franco and Seth Rogan naked in the wilderness Were the two best friends really trying to survive or was it a spoof on the new reality TV show “Naked and Afraid?” Either way, the Instagram coverage took it a little too far.

Credit: @jamesfrancotv

Mexico closes in on most wanted drug lord

Hector Beltran Leyva, head of a leading Mexican drug cartel, was captured Wednesday

On Wednesday, October 1st, Mexican troops closed in on one of Mexico’s most wanted drug lords at a seafood restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico after 11 months of investigation and intelligence officers tracing his steps, Tomas Zeron de Lucio, the director of criminal investigation for Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, said. No shots were fired in the capture of Hector Beltran Leyva according to officials.

Prior to the capture, Mexican authorities were offering an award of more than $2 million for information aiding in the capture of Beltran Leyva. The United States Narcotics Awards program was offering as much as $5 million.

Beltran Leyva was leading a low-profile life in Mexico’s Queretaro state giving up many luxuries to blend into society as a simple businessman, Zeron said. In reality, Beltran Leyva was one of the leaders of drug trafficking in Mexico.

Beltran Leyva rose to power after his brother was killed in a 2009 raid by Mexican marines. This event was described as a “crippling blow to one of the most violent cartels in the world” according to the head of the DEA. After the raid, the cartel reestablished itself under the control of Beltran Leyva, also known as “The Engineer” or “The H,” and formed alliances with the Zetas and the Juarez Cartel.

The cartel transported weapons and ammunition from the United States to Mexico, and trafficking in cocaine, marijuana, heroine and methamphetamine, according to the State Department.

“Tar Baby” Rescued

Source: Youtube

A five-month-old dog fell into hot tar spilled at a construction site in northern India. He was rescued by loving volunteers from Animal Aid Unlimited after four hours of massaging vegetable oil into his fur to release the tar.

Claire Abrams from the animal welfare group said they had received a call from a passerby in Udaipur, Rajasthan They rushed to the scene immediately to find the dog motionless and his hardened body stuck to the ground. “There was no way he could have come out of his own, without any intervention,” Abrams said. The group used vegetable oil to help remove the tar from his body instead of kerosene because of its known harsh effects on the skin.

After four hours, the group was able to remove his body from the tar and bring him to the animal shelter. It took several more days to clear his body of tar but now he is affectionately known as tar baby and has been vaccinated.

Based in Udaipur, Animal Aid Unlimited is home to a number of dogs, cows, donkeys and pigs. The charity provides emergency assistance and shelter to street animals, responding to calls made to their dedicated helpline.

Still Looking for Answers in Realtor Case

On Thursday, Carl Carter, husband of Beverly Carter, the realtor murdered in Scott, Arkansas, reported his wife missing after she failed to contact him after showing a house to an unknown person. Her body was discovered early Tuesday in a “shallow grave” and the current suspect, Aaron Lewis, 33, has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and capital murder. When asked, “Why Beverly?” by a reporter, Lewis responded, “Because she was just a woman who worked alone, a rich broker.”

Beverly’s son, also named Carl, wrote on Facebook, “I feel like I’m in a fog, or a horrible nightmare from which I can’t awaken,” before her body was located. The family also released a statement that seemed to pin the blame on Lewis:

“We are devastated at the loss of our precious Beverly. There is now a hole in our hearts that will never be filled. Mr. Lewis robbed us of an amazing wife, loving mother and grandmother. Her grandkids will never get to know the magnitude of her greatness. We draw some comfort in knowing that she is now in the arms of Jesus. God bless you all.”

On Sunday, before Lewis was under arrest, he was involved in a traffic accident that resulted in his car on top of a concrete culvert. Lewis claimed that a car he could not describe ran him off the road. However, according to witnesses, Lewis was excessively speeding and one witness saw his car “fishtail” around the curve and into the “ditch.” Lewis was arrested later that day and charged with kidnapping.

After her disappearance on Thursday, Beverly Carter’s phone continued to show activity described as text messages but there was no elaboration on the nature of the texts.

Wal-Mart Points Finger at Victim

Tracy Morgan
Andrew H. Walker/Getty

On June 7th, 2014, Tracy Morgan was involved in a dangerous motor vehicle accident when his luxury van was overturned by a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike. The collision killed James McNair and injured comic, Ardie Fuqua, and Morgan’s assistant, Jeffrey Millea. Morgan’s sustained rib, leg, and brain injuries that he is still in rehabilitation for after almost four months. The car crash was a result of an allegedly fatigued driver who, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, was going 65 mph in a 45 mph work zone and slammed into Morgan’s limo bus.

Prosecutors have charged Kevin Roper, the truck driver, with vehicular homicide and claimed that he had not slept in 24 hours prior to the accident. Wal-mart pleaded, “not guilty” to the allegations and their lawyers responded with the following:

“By failing to exercise ordinary care in making use of available seatbelts, upon information and belief, plaintiffs acted unreasonably and in disregard of plaintiffs’ own best interests. Accordingly, all or a portion of the injuries could have been diminished or minimized by the exercise of reasonable conduct in using the available seatbelts.”

In response, Benedict Morelli, a lawyer representing Morgan, stated, “When a tractor-trailer hits your vehicle, at a dead stop, at 65 miles an hour, seatbelts have nothing to do with it.”

Morgan is still undergoing treatment for injuries to his brain, including daily speech, cognitive, vocational and physical therapies according to a Daily Mail article. In response to the retail giant’s claim to share the blame, Morgan stated, “I can’t believe Wal-Mart is blaming me for an accident that they caused. My friends and I were doing nothing wrong.”

‘Electric Lady’ loses spark at the end of her performance

David Malkiewich displays a dollar bill he got signed by Matt and Kim at Hofstra University’s Fall Fest. Photo Credit: David Malkiewich

Saturday, September 20th was Hofstra University‘s annual Fall Fest celebration. Each year, famous artists are hired put on a show for students and their families as a part of the university’s homecoming weekend. Performers at this year’s concert included Matt and Kim, TLC, 80’s cover band Rubix Kube, and headliner, Janelle Monae. Every year, Hofstra encourages students to enter their name in a lottery to win meet-and-greet opportunities with the performers. This gives students a chance to speak with the artist briefly and get their photos taken with the artist by a professional photographer. I won the opportunity to meet the headline act, Janelle Monae; and senior, David Malkiewich, won the chance to meet Matt and Kim; however, the two experiences had little to nothing in common.

Janelle Monae’s performance was impeccable. She did a cover of Jackson 5 in addition to many of her own songs including one of her hits, Electric Lady. She was engaging, talented, inspiring, emotional, and a very genuine person. I was moved by her…I was not a fan before the concert because I was not familiar with her music, but after watching her perform, I knew she would be an artist I’d listen to and support in the future. With every song she belted and every word she preached to the audience, I was more and more excited to meet this astonishing woman.

At 7:50 pm, right before the end of Janelle Monae’s performance, students who won the meet-and-greet were told to check-in at a specific location. We were led to a tent behind the stage when Janelle was finished with her set to take photos. Everyone was raving about her performance while we anxiously waited to meet her. The woman escorting the group informed us that Janelle Monae wanted to take photos with students two-at-a-time so we paired up with complete strangers to share this rare experience.

We stood in line in the backstage tent and after a few minutes Monae walked through the door, halfheartedly shook hands with the first two students, struck a pose, and dismissed them with spiritless goodbyes. I was next and her lackluster demeanor made the encounter meaningless. It was like posing with a statue in Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. I left disappointed alongside my partner for the photo. I could not believe that such an exquisite performer would be such a disappointing representation of herself backstage with so many eyes watching. I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect Monae, a well-paid performer and advocate for social change, to have the same spark and charm backstage as she displays in her performances.

After my experience, I was curious to find out what other students felt like during their encounters.

“Matt and Kim onstage was the exact same Matt and Kim offstage. They love what they do, and they don’t let it get to their heads. They give back to fans tenfold what fans have given to them,” said David Malkiewich, student at Hofstra University and winner of the meet-and-greet experience with Matt and Kim, “After meeting them, I will support them exponentially until the day I die.”

What may seem like such a minimal event for performers such as Janelle Monae or Matt and Kim, can make a huge impact in the eyes of a fan.