police report

Kavan Markwood wakes up in pain every day and has no feeling in two of his fingers.

Still, the 20-year-old McKeesport, Pa., resident knows it could be much worse.

“I don’t know how I’m alive,” Markwood told “Inside Edition” this week, more than four months after he fell 21 feet from the stands to the field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during a game between the Pirates and Chicago Cubs.

Video footage from the April 30 game shows Markwood falling headfirst over the railing above the Clemente Wall in right field. He appears to flip head over heals multiple times before landing on the warning track.

Play was stopped for several minutes as the training staffs for both teams tended to Markwood. He eventually was carted off and taken to Allegheny General Hospital in critical condition. According to “Inside Edition,” Markwood broke his back, neck, every rib and punctured a lung.

“I’m doing better than what I was, that’s for sure,” said Markwood, who was shown during the interview walking around outside PNC Park wearing a cast on his left forearm.

Markwood told “Inside Edition” that he had jumped out of his seat to cheer and came down awkwardly on the railing and careened off of it. Although Pittsburgh Public Safety has labeled the incident an accident, 21-year-old McKeesport resident Ethan Kirkwood has been arrested for allegedly providing alcohol to Markwood at the game.

Kirkwood faces two misdemeanor counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Sept. 29. A police report viewed by WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh indicates that Markwood’s girlfriend told police that he hadn’t had anything to drink before arriving to the stadium and had two beers while there.

“I feel terrible because it wasn’t his fault,” Markwood said of Kirkwood, who can be seen on the footage from the accident climbing over the railing from a section closer to field level and jumping onto the ground to help his friend.

Markwood added that alcohol had nothing to do with what happened. It was, he said, “a tragic accident.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brent Hinds, who sang and played guitar in the Grammy-winning metal band Mastodon until he left the group this year, died Wednesday night in a motorcycle crash in Atlanta. He was 51.

His death was reported by Atlanta’s WANF, which cited a police report that said Hinds was riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he was struck by an SUV whose driver had failed to yield while making a turn. Hinds was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

In an Instagram post, Hinds’ former bandmates said they were “in a state of unfathomable sadness and grief” and that they were “still trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we’ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many.”

Known for its complicated riffs and its high-concept storytelling, Mastodon built a large and devoted audience with intricately plotted albums about illness, suicide and “Moby-Dick.” The band’s music drew clear inspiration from Black Sabbath and Slayer and influenced subsequent metal acts like Baroness and Pallbearer.

Yet Bill Kelliher, Mastodon’s other guitarist, said, “We’re not really a metal band,” during an interview with The Times in 2017. “I feel we’re more like a really heavy, groovy rock band with some prog elements and some pretty deep emotional lyrics. They’re loosely based on tragedy and things that really shake up human beings in real life.”

Mastodon formed in 2000 and made two albums for the respected indie label Relapse Records — including 2004’s “Moby-Dick”-steeped “Leviathan,” which Hinds told the New York Times allegorized “the struggle between man and music” — before signing to the Warner Music imprint Reprise for 2006’s “Blood Mountain,” which earned a Grammy nomination for best metal performance.

The band — in which Hinds, bassist Troy Sanders and drummer Brann Dailor took turns as lead singer — made five more LPs for Reprise; “Sultan’s Curse,” from 2017’s “Emperor of Sand,” won a Grammy for best metal performance. Mastodon’s most recent album, “Hushed and Grim,” came out in 2021.

Hinds grew up in Birmingham, Ala., where he learned to play the banjo before turning to guitar. In a 2009 interview with the Guardian, he described his younger self as “a total hellion” and said he was “very dysfunctional at school.” He added that he would “take LSD and come to class still tripping. I was too creative, never doing my homework, just filling my notepad up with drawings of skulls.”

He met Sanders when the latter came to Birmingham to play with an earlier band; Hinds soon moved to Atlanta to make music with Sanders, then the two formed Mastodon with Kelliher and Dailor. In 2009, Mastodon played the Coachella festival and toured with Metallica; six years later, Hinds appeared as an extra in an episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

In March, Mastodon announced that Hinds had left the band in a statement that said they’d “mutually decided to part ways.” Yet Hinds later wrote on Instagram that his former bandmates, whom he called “horrible humans,” had fired him “for embarrassing them for being who I am.” He went on to accuse them of using Auto-Tune in the studio and said he had “never met three people that were so full of themselves.”

Information on Hinds’ survivors wasn’t immediately available.

Busta Rhymes is rejecting claims leveled against him in a lawsuit filed this week by a former assistant, calling it an “attempted shake-down.”

Dashiel Gables, who filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is accusing Rhymes — real name Trevor Smith Jr. — of wage and hour violations as well as assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“I have been made aware of the claims made by Dashiel Gables, and I completely and categorically deny these allegations,” Rhymes said in a statement to The Times. “For a very brief period, Dashiel assisted me, but it did not work out. Apparently, Dashiel has decided to respond to being let go by manufacturing claims against me in an attempt to attack and damage my reputation.”

Rhymes, 53, said he is preparing a countersuit and is “confident [it] will expose this for what it is — an attempted shake-down by a disgruntled former assistant.”

In the lawsuit, which was reviewed by The Times, Gables alleges that Rhymes repeatedly called him a slur related to sexuality and mocked his poor hearing by telling him to “get a hearing aid.” He also says he was improperly categorized as a salaried employee and wasn’t paid overtime despite allegedly being required to work 15-, 16- and 18-hour shifts regularly for a flat $200 a day.

The lawsuit says he was required to perform “menial tasks,” including fetching cigars for the rapper.

The suit says Gables, 44, accompanied Rhymes on tour from early July to early September of last year, seven days a week, without being paid travel time or overtime, then worked for him from 2 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. daily without pay over his day rate from Sept. 3, 2024, until Jan. 10.

On that last day, the lawsuit alleges, Rhymes “constructively terminated” Gables’ employment “by repeatedly punching him in the face” after first raging at his assistant for not promptly bringing a “catering-size” pan of chicken in from the rapper’s car, then chewing Gables out for sending a text to his minor daughter during work hours.

Gables “tolerated a great deal of abuse while working for Busta Rhymes, he could not tolerate the repeated physical assault and was unable to return to work,” the complaint says, adding that Gables went to the hospital for treatment of bruising and swelling and filed a police report regarding the alleged assault. He did not return to work.

After Gables filed the police report he was “frozen out of the hip-hop music industry,” the complaint alleges. He is seeking back pay as well as compensatory and punitive damages and is asking for a jury trial.

Ridgemont High, give way to a suburban school near Fort Worth. That’s where the fast times will be this year.

Cooper Lutkenhaus, an incoming junior at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas, was so impressive in setting an age-group world record at the U.S. Track & Field Championships on Sunday that a respected distance running coach and author declared it was “the most impressive athletic feat in history.”

In a social media post, Steve Magness, who wrote “The Science of Running,” said Lutkenhaus’ performance that included passing three of the nation’s fastest men in an electrifying stretch run “makes high school LeBron look like nobody.

“Cooper Lutkenhaus, take a bow.”

Current Lakers star LeBron James, of course, was a prodigy on the basketball court at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, and went straight to the NBA upon graduating in 2003.

Lutkenhaus, 16, won’t be in school for long, either. He will become the youngest American to compete in the World Athletics Championships when he travels to Tokyo on Sept. 13-21. This time he’ll have no age-group restriction, not after posting the fourth-best time in U.S. history (1:42.27) and nearly catching 800-meter champion Donavan Brazier (1:42.16).

In the waning seconds, Lutkenhaus turned on the jets, going from seventh to second place while passing reigning indoor 800 meter world champion Josh Hoey as well as Olympians Brandon Miller and Bryce Hoppel, all of whom were clustered with Brazier at the front.

Lutkenhaus’ time was the fastest ever for a runner under 18.

“I saw someone coming up and I was like, ‘Dang, this could be the high schooler,’ ” Brazier told reporters. “This kid’s phenomenal. I’m glad that I’m 28 and maybe have a few more years left in me, hopefully won’t have to deal with him in his prime because that dude is definitely special.”

Does wunderkind describe Lutkenhaus? He’s only been running track for three years, and he said his strategy of accelerating over the last quarter of the race was crafted in middle school.

“I’ve always kind of had a natural spot with 200 [meters] to go,” Lutkenhaus told reporters. “Ever since middle school that’s kind of been the spot I’ve really pushed from. Kind of just decided to go back to middle school tactics with 200 to go and really just give everything I had left.”

Less surprising was a late surge by Noah Lyles in the 200 meters that enabled him to pass Kenny Bednarek en route to a world-leading time of 19.63. Lyles might have challenged his personal best American record of 19.31, but as he passed Bednarek with five meters remaining he turned his head and stared down his competitor.

Bednarek retaliated, giving Lyles a shove before they shook hands. Afterward, Bednarek shrugged and chalked up the incident to “Noah is gonna be Noah.”

“If he wants to stare me down, that’s fine,” Bednarek said. “I’m very confident I can beat him. What he said doesn’t matter. It’s just what he did. It’s unsportsmanlike [crap] and I don’t deal with that.”

More drama occurred before championships when Sha’Carri Richardson was arrested and charged with fourth-degree domestic violence a week ago at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to a police report.

The reigning 100-meter world champion was charged with assaulting her boyfriend, sprinter Christian Coleman, as the couple were going through security. A police officer reviewed camera footage and observed Richardson grab Coleman’s backpack and yank it away, the report said.

Coleman tried to step around Richardson and she pushed him into a wall. Later she appeared to throw headphones at him.

In the report, however, the officer indicated that Colemen “did not want to participate any further in the investigation and declined to be a victim.”

Coleman defended Richardson when asked about the incident at the championships.

“She just has a lot of things going on, a lot of emotions and forces going on inside of her that not only I can’t understand, but nobody can,” he said. “Because she’s one of one.… I know that it’s been a tough journey for her this year. But she’s going to bounce back.

“Like I said, I see it every day. She’s the best female athlete in the world, and she’s going to be just fine. She’s going to be good. I’m going to be good, too.”

Once the racing took place, attention turned to Lutkenhaus. His time bettered the the U18 world record — set by Timothy Kitum of Kenya at the 2012 London Olympics — by 1.1 seconds.

“It is the most mind blowing HS performance in history,” Magness wrote on X. “Any high school phenom in history you can think of? This kid is better. I never thought we’d supplant Jim Ryun as the HS runner GOAT, but a sophomore in HS just did.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Jim Irsay, the Indianapolis Colts’ owner who leveraged the popularity of Peyton Manning into a new stadium and a Super Bowl title, died Wednesday at age 65.

Pete Ward, Irsay’s longtime right-hand man and the team’s chief operating officer, made the announcement in a statement from the team. He said Irsay died peacefully in his sleep.

“Jim’s dedication and passion for the Indianapolis Colts in addition to his generosity, commitment to the community, and most importantly, his love for his family were unsurpassed,” Ward said. “Our deepest sympathies go to his daughters, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt, Kalen Jackson, and his entire family as we grieve with them.”

Irsay had a profound impact on the franchise.

With Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian, Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy and Manning, Irsay helped turn the Colts from a laughingstock into a perennial title contender.

He also collected guitars, befriended musicians and often found inspiration in rock ’n’ roll lyrics.

A drum set played by Ringo Starr of the Beatles is part of the Jim Irsay Collection of rock ‘n’ roll artifacts that was on a national tour.

(Courtesy of Jim Irsay Collection)

Irsay had battled health problems in recent years and became less visible following a fall at his home. Police officers from Carmel, Ind., a northern suburb of Indianapolis, responded to a 911 call from Irsay’s home Dec. 8. According to the police report, the officers found Irsay breathing but unresponsive and with a bluish skin tone.

Ward, the report said, told officers that he was worried Irsay was suffering from congestive heart failure and that Irsay’s nurse had said Irsay’s oxygen level was low, his breathing was labored and he was “mostly” unconscious.

A month later, he was diagnosed with a respiratory illness.

During his annual training camp news conference last summer, Irsay told reporters he was continuing to rehab from two surgeries — though he remained seated in his golf cart. Irsay did not speak during the recent NFL draft as he typically did.

He had also battled addictions to alcohol and painkillers.

Irsay began his football life as a ball boy after his late father, Robert, acquired the team in a trade with the late Carroll Rosenbloom, who took over the Los Angeles Rams. The younger Irsay then worked his way up, becoming the youngest general manager in NFL history at age 24. He succeeded his father as owner in early 1997.