Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 09.13.24 | DUI Driver Drags Girl Under Car for 1/2 Mile

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

Drunk driver hits a 9-year-old riding her bike, drags her under car for 1/2 mile. Suspected drunk driver tries to switch seats after minor crash.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert. I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Ashley Escalante, 9, and a friend ride their bikes ahead of Escalante's family for a quick trip to the convenience store. As the family crosses the street, a Hummer speeds through the intersection, plows into the 9-year-old, and keeps driving, dragging the little girl under the wheels. Ashley's caught under Jeffrey Atkinson's car for half a mile before finally becoming dislodged. EMTs find her with serious injuries, her leg missing below the knee. Nancy's surveillance footage captured Ashley's father chasing down the Hummer with one of her twin baby brothers in his

arms. Cops believe Ashley was dislodged from the truck when her left leg ripped off. Her other leg was also terribly mangled. Jeffrey Atkinson was driving to the bar he owns and never realized he hit someone. When cops ask Atkinson to submit to a breath test, he initially tells them it isn't worth it. He's, quote, too drunk to pass. Jeffrey Atkinson, 55, blows a.34 blood alcohol, now charged with aggravated vehicular assault, child endangering, and operating a vehicle while under the influence. Lance Green, 59, knows he's had too much to drink on a night out with his wife, but he gets behind the wheel of his Ram truck anyway. On the way back to their Florida home, Green rear-ends the Ford truck in front of him. As cops arrive,

they see passenger Susan Green crawling over Lance Green to switch seats, making it appear she was the one driving. Green shows visual signs of impairment and refuses to cooperate with cops, of course. He eventually gets out of the car and he's taken straight to jail for DUI and resisting. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Lindley. In the wake of a deadly shooting at Appalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, troubling details are still emerging. We hear more now from Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. The mother of Colt Gray, the 14-year-old charged with killing two students and two teachers,

reportedly contacted the school with an urgent warning before the attack. A relative, Annie Brown, told our friends with the Washington Post that Gray's mother reached out to a school counselor, describing the situation as an extreme emergency and urging staff to locate her son immediately. Brown provided text messages to the newspaper showing the conversation with her sister. Additionally, phone records indicate that a call was made to the school about half an hour before the deadly shooting began. Colt Gray, who has been charged with multiple counts of murder, allegedly used a semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle in the attack. His father, Colin Gray, now faces charges of second-degree murder for providing the weapon.

The pair made their first court appearance, during which their attorneys opted not to seek bail. Last week's shooting follows a year-old investigation into an online threat involving Colt Gray. At the time, Jackson County authorities decided not to press charges, citing insufficient evidence to connect him to the threat posted on the social media platform Discord. That investigation provided a glimpse into a young boy grappling with his parents' separation and bullying at school. Despite the earlier concerns, Colt's father, Colin Gray, had reassured investigators that his son wasn't prone to violence, claiming the teen had stopped using Discord and had even suggested his account was hacked. Now to New York, as federal authorities arrest a 20-year-old man in Canada plotting a mass shooting targeting a Jewish center in Brooklyn. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. The suspect, Mohammed Shahzad Khan, was taken into custody on September 4th. Officials say Khan aimed to carry out the attack in the name of ISIS,

timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that escalated the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed that Khan, a resident of Canada, had plans to cross the border and, quote, slaughter as many Jewish people as possible. Khan has been charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq, in Al-Sham. The charges stem from a series of communications starting in November 2022 when Khan began posting ISIS propaganda and expressing his support for the terrorist group online. Authorities say Khan discussed his plans with two undercover officers, outlining a strategy to form an ISIS offline cell in the U.S.

His targets reportedly included Jewish centers, specifically Chabad locations, which he identified as a potential site for mass violence. According to the Justice Department, Khan and a U.S.-based accomplice sought AR-style rifles, ammunition, and other weapons for the attack. On August 20, Khan informed undercover officers that he had chosen New York as the location due to its large Jewish population. He allegedly sent a photograph of the Jewish center he intended to target, which authorities described as a prominent site for the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Kahn's attempt to travel to New York was intercepted when his car was stopped in Quebec, just 12 minutes from the U.S. border. Federal officials have charged Kahn with multiple offenses,

including attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization. Thanks, John. Louis Sellum, 73, heads out for errands, telling family he'll be right back. Louis heads to his bank in Warm Springs, Oregon, and stops by the grocery, but never makes it home. His family reports him missing. A few days later, his Toyota Celica found stuck in the snow on his route home. The car is locked and abandoned. Inside, they find a hat he wears frequently and the groceries he bought the day he disappeared. Louis, or Louie, is Native American, white hair usually tied in a ponytail, a mustache, brown eyes. He wears reading glasses and has a

tattoo of the letter L on his left hand. Lewis Sellum, now missing two years. If you have info on Lewis Sellum, call Warm Springs, Oregon PD, 541-553-3273. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. And please join us for our daily podcast, Crime Stories. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.