A woman has been left unable to walk after a piano slipped and dropped on her while she was helping a friend move the instrument.
Danielle Drummond, 28, who had recently relocated from Cleveland, Ohio, to Oregon for a fresh start, is now hoping for a scientific breakthrough after the ordeal left her needing both a wheelchair and a carer.
She told Cleveland-based broadcaster 19 News she had tried to stabilise the piano when offering to help last month, but her friend lost her grip.
“She dropped like a whole upright grand piano on me, and it severed my spinal cord,” Ms Drummond said.
“Now, I’m paralysed from the waist down.”
Ms Drummond has no family in Eugene, the city in Oregon where she lives, and also needs to find a permanent home, having been living in a van with her dog, Lotus.
Image: Danielle Drummond. Pic: GoFundMe
Compounding her problems, she does not know how she would begin to move back to her family in Cleveland and transfer all her belongings and medical equipment.
Her sister has set up a fundraising page to “support future medical needs”, with the aim of raising $10,000 (£7,850).
“Our family thanks you for all your support, consideration, thoughts, love and prayers,” her sister Rosie Hayne wrote, describing Ms Drummond as “strong”, “wise”, and “down to earth”.
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In an update on the GoFundMe page, Ms Hayne added: “She wants to make it clear that she is not expecting to ever walk again.
“She has accepted the reality of her situation. But she has an amazing spirit and an overall positive outlook, focusing on what she can do.”
Ms Drummond told 19 News she hopes people going through similar circumstances “don’t give up”.
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Firefighters rescued 28 people who were stuck dangling 100ft upside down on a ride at an amusement park in Oregon.
One person with a pre-existing medical condition was taken to hospital as a precaution after the AtmosFEAR ride stopped, Oaks Amusement Park, in Portland, said in a statement posted on social media.
However, they said no one was injured in the incident.
Chris Ryan said he and his wife, who were at the park for his birthday were just about to go on the ride – which operates like a pendulum, with the capacity to swing riders completely upside down – when they saw it was stuck.
He heard people saying: “Oh my God, they are upside down.” He said they decided to walk away because of “how scary the situation was”.
Image: Pic: Tieanna Joseph Cade/AP
They eventually got on a Ferris wheel and heard a loudspeaker announcement that the park was closed and that people should evacuate.
Portland Fire and Rescue said on X that firefighters worked with engineers at Oaks Park, which first opened in 1905, to manually lower the ride, but that crews had been preparing to conduct a high-angle ropes rescue if necessary.
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The ride has been in operation since 2021 and has not had any prior incidents, the park said. It will remain closed until further notice.
The park said it would work with the ride’s manufacturer and state inspectors to determine the cause of the stoppage.
“We wish to express our deepest appreciation to the first responders and our staff for taking prompt action, leading to a positive outcome today, and to the rest of the park guests who swiftly followed directions to vacate the park to make way for the emergency responders to attend to the situation,” it said.
Oaks Park’s website says it offers a “uniquely Portland blend of modern thrills and turn-of-the-century charm on a midway that has delighted generations of Northwesterners”.
Musk may also face fresh lawsuits on the deal, which would be the largest in American corporate history.
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Shareholders had first approved the bumper pay packet in 2018.
“This thing is not over,” said Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School.
The Delaware judge will scrutinise the vote and require Tesla to prove the process was not coerced or improperly influenced by Musk, Professor Quinn said.
Image: A general view of the Tesla gigafactory in Austin, Texas, U.S., February 28, 2023 Pic: Reuters
The judge had criticised Tesla’s board fore being “beholden” to Musk, saying the plan was proposed by a “conflicted board” with “close personal and financial ties” to its top executive.
Shareholders also approved a proposal to move the company’s legal home to Texas from Delaware.
They also backed other proposals, including the re-election of two board members, Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Shareholders did increase the level of investor control by passing proposals in favour of shortening board terms to one year and lowering voting requirements for proposals to a simple majority, despite board opposition to both.
Tesla did not disclose the voting tallies, which are expected to be revealed in coming days.
At least a half-million viewers watched the meeting on the livestream on X, which Musk also owns, and about 40,000 watched on YouTube.
Tesla’s share price has dropped about 55% from its 2021 peak as electric vehicle sales have slowed.
The coroner in the inquest into the death of Harry Dunn has recommended better driver training for Americans at the RAF base near where the 19-year-old was killed.
Mr Dunn was hit by a Volvo driven by Anne Sacoolas in August 2019, after she drove on the wrong side of the B4031 in Northamptonshire while he was riding a motorbike.
He died in hospital the same day.
The coroner concluded Mr Dunn died as a result of a road traffic collision and issued three prevention of future death notices in a bid to stop similar tragedies occurring.
Two prevention of death notices were sent to the UK’s Department of Health over the drugs paramedics carry and overworked ambulance services.
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1:06
Sky News confronts Anne Sacoolas in 2022
A third notice was issued to the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence around driver training at RAF Croughton.
Sacoolas, a US government employee, had been based at the RAF station – which is also used by US forces – at the time the crash happened.
Northamptonshire coroner Anne Pember criticised the US government for a lack of training provided to Sacoolas before the crash.
Image: Harry Dunn (L) and his brother Niall, with their stepfather Bruce Charles. Pic: PA
Harry Dunn’s family responds
Neither Sacoolas nor representatives from the US embassy attended the inquest – prompting the Dunn family spokesperson Radd Seiger to say the US government’s position was that “lives of UK citizens like Harry ultimately do not matter”.
He said: “It was not enough for them to kill Harry. It wasn’t enough for them to then kick Harry’s family in their darkest hour and seek to deny and delay the justice that they were entitled to.”
Speaking to Sky News after the inquest, Harry’s mother Charlotte Charles said the family is “relieved”, “proud” and “tired”.
Asked if she thinks she will ever get to see Sacoolas face to face, Ms Charles said the American “hasn’t got it in her”.
“She’s just a coward,” she said. “Sadly, that’s the only word that I can sum up. We’re disgusted. Disappointed doesn’t come anywhere close.”
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1:21
‘Running away we can’t forgive’
Ms Charles criticised Sacoolas for “snubbing” not just Harry’s family, but the coroner too.
“It’s just extremelydifficult for me to get my head around with her being a mum of three herself,” she added.
“She really could have had the chance to redeemherself a little bit this week and show us that she really didcare.”
If she ever got the chance to have a conversation with Sacoolas, she said she would have wanted her to show remorse.
“We understand you madeone horrific error in your driving that night,” she said.
“Your driving, we can forgive… running away, we can’t forgive. I couldn’t have done that.”
Image: Harry Dunn’s family with spokesman Radd Seiger (centre)
Image: Harry Dunn’s dad, Tim, became emotional outside the inquest
Mr Seiger also said Labour, if they get into power, has promised the family a public inquiry into how Sacoolas was able to leave the country with diplomatic immunity after causing Harry’s death.
“We won’t let [the US government] get away with it and we look forward to working with the next government to establish this public inquiry,” he said.
“We were all horrified as a nation to see how the US government treated Harry’s family. This must never happen again.
“The American national anthem ends ‘land of the free, home of the brave’. They haven’t demonstrated an ounce of bravery at all preferring to run, hide and obstruct.”
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5:51
Dunn family ‘totally disgusted’
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Evidence and two witness statements from Sacoolas were read out during the inquest after the US government employee rejected the coroner’s invitation to attend in person.
In one of the statements Sacoolas apologised for the “tragic mistake” she made on the day of the crash and said it was something that would live with her “every single day for the rest of my life”.
Harry Dunn’s family still have questions over fatal crash
She said that when she turned out of RAF Croughton, taking a left turn, she instinctively moved to the right side of the road as she was “accustomed to driving in the US”.
She also told Northamptonshire Police in a voluntary interview two months after the crash that she was a “safe driver” but “drove like an American and drove on the American side of the road”.
Image: Harry was killed near the RAF Croughton base
The 45-year-old said she had not received any training on driving on UK roads after arriving in the country and after the crash “hysterically flagged down a motorist” and “begged her to get help”.
“There is not a single day that goes by that Harry is not on my mind, and I am deeply sorry for the pain that I have caused,” Sacoolas said in the statement.
Reacting to the statements, Mr Seiger said: “We have heard most of that before.
“Why on earth is Sacoolas not in court to answer the court’s and the family’s questions?”
Sacoolas left Britain 19 days after the crash after the US Department of State asserted diplomatic immunity on her behalf.
In December 2022, after a protracted battle for justice by the family, she appeared before a High Court judge at the Old Bailey via video link from the US, when she pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.
Sacoolas was advised against attending her sentencing hearing by the state department, which prompted the Dunn family to say they were “horrified” the American government was “actively interfering in our criminal justice system”.
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3:55
Harry Dunn’s twin’s tribute
The inquest also heard from Mr Dunn’s twin brother Niall who referred to him as “an amazing person” who helped him when he found life hard-going.
In a video played to the inquest, he said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better brother, but beyond that, just a better person to just be forced to know”.