Posts Tagged Dave Weaver
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
A DuPage County judge dismissed charges Thursday against a freelance video journalist who was arrested while shooting footage of a crash along Interstate 88 near Naperville. After hearing testimony from the Illinois State Police trooper who arrested David Weaver, of Sugar Grove, Judge Joseph Bugos dismissed misdemeanor counts at the midpoint of Weaver’s bench trial.
Weaver’s attorney, Matthew Topic, argued that prosecutors had failed to meet their burden on misdemeanor counts of stopping in a roadway, walking improperly on a roadway and failure to yield to emergency vehicles. The judge agreed, halting the trial after the presentation of the prosecution case and dismissing the counts. In a pretrial ruling, the judge had dismissed a trespassing charge.
Weaver, who shoots video that he sells to area television stations, was arrested Aug. 11, 2018, as he was recording a fiery two-car crash on eastbound I-88 near the Illinois Route 59 ramp.
He said after the trial that he was not interfering with the emergency personnel and was on the other side of the median when he was arrested by the trooper.
His attorney, a specialist in free speech matters, said the case presented possible First Amendment issues. But Topic said they were able to prevail on more basic grounds that the state had failed to prove the legal elements of the statutes that Weaver was accused of violating.
“This didn’t end up being a First Amendment case, but we were prepared to go there,” Topic said.
This from Dave Weaver:
3/6/18 AURORA – HazMat Response for Diesel Spill into Fox River after Crash – According to the Aurora FD, at 10:23 a.m., they responded to the intersection of Galena Blvd. and Highland Ave. for a two-vehicle injury accident involving a passenger vehicle and a semi tanker truck. Upon arrival, firefighters found the truck leaking diesel fuel from one of its saddle tanks that was damaged when the crash occurred. The driver of the passenger vehicle, a 24-year-old Aurora man and his passenger, a 25-year-old Aurora woman, were transported to an area hospital for minor injuries. The truck driver, a 55-year-old man from Long Point, IL refused medical treatment.
Due to the amount of leaking diesel fuel, a Level II Hazardous Material Response was needed which brought specialized equipment and firefighters trained to handle hazardous material incidents to the scene. It was estimated that between 50-60 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the truck which then entered the storm sewer system before it could be fully contained. It was further estimated that approximately 40 gallons of fuel subsequently entered the storm sewer system and traveled to the Fox River at a discharge point in the 400 block of South River St., about one mile from the original crash site. The Aurora Water and Sewer Department was contacted and they were quickly able to determine the exact location where the fuel was entering the river. The Aurora FD Hazardous Material team responded to this location and was able to contain the fuel limiting the spread into the river. A private environmental cleanup contractor was contacted by the trucking company to clean the area where the crash occurred, the storm sewer, and section of the Fox River.
Due to the nature of the incident, the Aurora Emergency Management Agency, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Coast Guard were notified. The Montgomery FD and North Aurora FD assisted in the mitigation of the incident which was terminated at 12:48 p.m. Drinking water was not affected.
Video by Dave Weaver
This from Dave Weaver:
4/13/92 The Great Chicago Flood – The Great Chicago Flood was caused by a bridge piling construction project that created a breach in an abandoned coal tunnel beneath the North Branch of the Chicago River that was discovered the morning of Monday, April 13, 1992. This video is a compilation of video from Dave Weaver and other WGN TV News photographers.
This from Dave Weaver:
4/13/92 Great Chicago Flood Mutual Aid Response
Fire departments from MABAS Division 13 in Kane County were requested along with many other MABAS divisions to respond with pumps to Chicago (MABAS Div. 9) to help control the Great Chicago Flood. The flood was caused by a bridge piling construction project that created a breach in an abandoned coal tunnel beneath the North Branch of the Chicago River. It was discovered the morning of Monday, April 13, 1992. Companies from departments including Batavia, Geneva, Elburn, Hampshire, Maple Park, and North Aurora, rallied at the Kane County Sheriff’s Office which was located in Geneva. The task force departed around 4:30 PM based on the time shown on the overhead light board at the I-88 York Rd. toll plaza. The convoy traveled to the staging area at the Chicago Fire Academy. I was a member of the Marywood FPD and shot this historic response to assist Chicago. Other than some precautionary EMS responses from the 1995 heat wave disaster, this was one of just a few manpower related mutual aid fire requests that Chicago has made in modern history.
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the death of a 47-year-old West Dundee man who was killed Friday while installing a sign on a tower at Geneva Commons.
“A worker was crushed while he was in his aerial lift while he was working on a sign,” said OSHA spokesman Scott Allen. “We do have two OSHA compliance officers at the scene. We’re conducting interviews with potential witnesses, the employer and employees.”
Authorities said Donald J. Tentler, 47, was killed in the accident, which occurred at about 11:48 a.m. Friday. Tentler and another worker were at the top of the bell tower.
Firefighters found Tentler unconscious and unresponsive, and he was later pronounced dead at the scene. The other worker was able to walk down a fire truck ladder, but it took three hours to remove Tentler’s body from the bell tower.
“It seems to be some kind of mechanical malfunction. Whether it was human error or mechanical (failure), I don’t know,” Kane County Coroner Rob Russell said. “The worker was pinned by the lifting device.”
Fire agencies assisting Geneva at the scene included St. Charles, West Chicago, and Batavia.
This from Dave Weaver:
9/18/16 BATAVIA – Batavia FD 150th Anniversary Open House — at Batavia Fire Station 2 – Photos by Dave Weaver
This from Dave Weaver, radioman911.com:
8/23/16 CHICAGO – 4-Fatality 3-11 Alarm/EMS Plan 2 Apartment Fire 8114 S. Essex Ave. – (Englewood fire radio repeater traffic edited for major transmissions only and heavily time-condensed) Recording by Radioman911/Audio via Broadcastify
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
A 3-month-old baby, two girls 4 and 7, and a man died in an extra-alarm fire in an apartment building in the South Chicago neighborhood early Tuesday, and police said a man suspected of starting the fire after an argument is being held.
Officials said that the baby died after being found next to a man who had jumped from the three-story building in the 8100 block of South Essex Avenue at 1:39 a.m., the two girls were found in an apartment on the third floor, and the man was discovered in an apartment next door.
A police source said a man suspected of starting the fire has been taken into custody. He apparently had an argument with someone in the South Side building, and that person was able to escape the fire.
Deputy Fire Commissioner Arriel Gray said firefighters encountered heavy flames on the second and third floors. Both stairwells were compromised. Fire crews were unable to get inside the building because of the intensity of the fire and had to combat the blaze from the outside.
The fire was struck out at 5:39 a.m., according to Gray.
Witnesses said they saw several people jump from the building, which has about 32 apartments. Fire officials said they used ladders to rescue several people.
The 3-month-old was taken in critical condition to Comer Children’s Hospital and was pronounced dead at 2:40 a.m.
A 48-year-old man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition, and two other people were taken to South Shore Hospital, one in fair condition and the other in a good condition.
The bodies of a man and two children were found hours later as firefighters finally got access to the part of the building where the fire started.
People jumped from apartments on the second and third floors on the south side of the U-shaped apartment building.
The building, its apartments facing 81st Street and Essex Avenue, has failed every annual inspection dating to 2011, according to records from the Chicago Department of Buildings.
The most recent failed inspection was in November 2015. City officials were unable to access most of the apartments or the rear porches to fully investigate the conditions of the structure, records show. In the areas city officials were able to investigate, they found a porch that was improperly secured to the building, an interior stairwell missing pickets and mice droppings in a kitchen.
Among several violations listed in previous inspections were missing and non-functioning smoke detectors, non-functioning emergency lighting, fire extinguishers with expired tags, protruding nails on porches and rats inside a unit.
Police said they received reports around 1:35 a.m. that someone had set fire to the courtyard building. Responding firefighters called a 2-11 Alarm as the fire spread through the second and third floors. That was quickly followed by a 3-11 Alarm with an EMS Plan II, sending 10 ambulances and around 150 firefighters along with extra equipment to the fire.
This from Dave Weaver:
7/23/16 MILLBROOK – Little Rock-Fox FPD General Alarm house fire at 8700 Wilcox Ct. – Photos by Dave Weaver