William Desmond Junior, 57, was arrested a year ago Monday, after a standoff at the Lofton Oaks Mobile Home Park where he lived.

The Navy veteran has been in jail ever since, unable to post a $100,000 bond.

It all started after his ex-girlfriend told police that she spoke to him over the phone and she thought he might try to kill himself.

Desmond denies all the allegations and believes police used excessive force during his arrest.

The first time Desmond was in court, jurors deadlocked and were unable to make up their mind of whether he was guilty or not.

This time he hopes that he can show them that he wasn't threatening anyone and wasn't pointing a gun at SWAT officers.

Cellphone video, shot by a neighbor at the end of the 18-hour standoff, shows the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office SWAT team using tear gas as Desmond is in his motor home.

He then walks out and falls to the ground.

While on the ground tactical officers shoot him with nonlethal sponge rounds and then use a Taser.

Desmond told News4Jax last month in an exclusive interview that it shows he wasn't a threat. However, the jurors can't see footage.

Last week, after a motion from the prosecutor, Judge Robert Foster said the video wasn't allowed as evidence during the trial. The judge has also issued a gag order, prohibiting those involved in the case to speak about it outside of the courtroom.

Several of the officers who responded, both from Nassau County and Jacksonville, testified today.

One of the officers, who is not being identified because he works undercover, says he was in an armored vehicle when he saw Desmond point a handgun at him.

That's when police said the situation escalated from a wellness check on someone with mental health issues to a crime against a law enforcement.

But Desmond said he wasn't dangerous or suicidal, and told News4Jax that he had every right to stay inside his own home with the guns he legally owned and never pointed a gun at anyone.

Desmond's sister, who sat behind him in court, hopes the jury believes him and he soon will be a free man.

“He doesn't ever, you know he likes police. He's not anti-police, he's not anything against the government so it just doesn't make any sense. It's being made out to look like he's against police and it's not, he's fighting for his personal rights,” said Dee Dee Desmond Snyder, his sister.

She says Desmond is facing 15 years in prison but that they will continue to support him as a family.

The first day of the trial ended at about 4:30 p.m. on Monday and will reconvene on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. where Desmond is supposed to testify.

According to his family, the State Attorney’s office has offered Desmond a plea agreement four times.

He would plead guilty and be able to walk out of jail on time served, but doesn't want to lose his rights as a convicted felon.

He said he is standing up for what is right and he won't back down because he didn't do anything wrong.

On June 27, 2014, the body of 20-year-old Andrew Sadek, a promising electrical student at the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) in Wahpeton, North Dakota, was pulled from the Red River bordering North Dakota and Minnesota.

Missing for two months, the young man was found shot in the head, wearing a backpack filled with rocks.

The grisly death of a college student in one of the safest towns in the state, where violent crime is extremely rare, did not lead to a sweeping investigation. In fact, police immediately said they did not suspect foul play.

Such a supposition strains credulity as it is, but what would be slowly revealed over the following months is that Andrew had been working as a confidential informant for the police, and that his school knew that authorities were busting its students and using them as bait to catch drug dealers.

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Shot. Wearing the backpack filled with rocks. Not wearing the clothes he was last seen in. Without his wallet. An autopsy proved inconclusive in determining suicide or homicide, and no weapon has yet been found.

But according to the Sadeks, Sgt. Steve Helgeson of the NDSCS Campus Police, the lead officer in charge of the investigation, tried to convince them that their son put on the rock-filled backpack, shot himself in the head, and somehow propelled himself into the river.

Tammy says Sgt. Helgeson told her "That's what kids do in that area, they commit suicide," referring to the golf court bridge over the river that connects the Bois de Sioux golf course.

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What the police knew but continued to keep from the Sadeks, was that Andrew had been working as a confidential informant for the Southeast Multi-County Agency (SEMCA), a drug task force answerable only to its own board, a 12 person committee made up of local senior police officers and elected officials.

Andrew first came into contact with SEMCA in April 2013, after he twice sold marijuana, a total of 4.5 grams or $80 worth, to a confidential informant. Shortly thereafter, a police raid on Andrew's dorm room turned up nothing but a small plastic grinder and some marijuana residue.

But the grinder, plus the two sales to SEMCA's informant in a "school zone," which in North Dakota includes colleges, was enough for authorities to threaten Andrew with two Class A felony charges, each carrying a possible 20 year sentence. Or, he could "voluntarily" agree to work as a confidential informant.

Upon enrolling at NDSCS, Andrew signed a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) waiver obligating the school to inform his parents of any disciplinary issues, but the school never notified the Sadeks following the raid on his dorm room, or any time thereafter.

Faced with the prospect of spending the bulk of his life in prison, and without consulting a lawyer or his parents, Andrew chose to become an informant, agreeing to make two controlled buys from each of three SEMCA-targeted drug dealers.

When Andrew was last seen leaving his dorm building on May 1, 2014, he still owed SEMCA one last controlled buy.

Refusing to accept authorities' speculation that Andrew had committed suicide, the Sadeks hired a private investigator, who discovered a significant amount of water in the wheel wells of Andrew's car, suggesting that someone may have driven Andrew's car to the banks of the river where his body was found, before returning it to the campus parking lot.

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Because Andrew's body was found on the Minnesota side of the river, the NDSCS campus police claimed the case was not in their jurisdiction, which the North Dakota Attorney General's office confirmed. But the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told Valley News Live, a newscast in Fargo, North Dakota, that they have nothing to do with it. For all the agencies involved with busting Andrew Sadek for selling a small amount of pot, no agency is willing to take the lead in solving his violent death.

Valley News Live reporter Nicole Johnson told Reason TV, "It took a long time to get the results of the autopsy. So I called (Sgt.) Steve Helgeson, the officer in charge of this case, and he told me it was not a top priority." Johnson adds that no one who has directly worked on the case has answered a question of theirs since Andrew was found in June 2014.

Finding no help from the local authorities, the Sadeks' demanded a state-wide investigation, which culminated in a report from the North Dakota Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, released in January 2015.

The report revealed for the first time that Andrew had been working as a confidential informant for SEMCA.

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When the police aggressively prosecute young people unfamiliar with the criminal justice system and then use them as confidential informants, they assume a certain amount of responsibility for their safety. But the lack of interest by the agencies that ensnared Andrew Sadek in vigorously investigating his death as potential murder suggests they wish the case would just go away.

Which only begs the question, why?

Why are the authorities not investigating this case with the same aggressive zeal they continue to use on the campus of NDSCS busting small-time drug sellers?

The heartbroken Sadek family searches for justice for their son, though they are not confident that any law enforcement agency will continue to investigate Andrew's death. Tammy hopes that Andrew's death can serve as a cautionary tale to other young people who get in over their heads and feel they have no other choice but to work as an informant.

"I don't want other kids to end up in this situation," Tammy says. "Talk to your parents. Talk to a lawyer. Don't do the police's job for them."

Detectives began an investigation when tickets were found in a service shredder box. The tickets in the books that should have to be given to the person being ticketed were still attached. The tickets were logged with the courts and counted as police statistics, but were never handed out.

The investigation included talking to some of the people named in the tickets, and all of those tickets have since been withdrawn, the chief said.

"The service will take every step possible to ensure that people named on the tickets are not negatively affected," police said in a release.

De Caire said the charges do not reflect on the ACTION strategy, which is a five-year-old effort focused on curbing downtown crime.

The officers often work with marginalized populations, including people with addiction and mental health issues. De Caire said the team is still doing good work.

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​A 2014 report said the team has issued more than 23,000 offence notices since 2010. There are five ACTION teams, and each has seven constables and a sergeant.

In Newton, New Jersey, young men allegedly got a little more than what they asked for when they were pulled over for traffic offenses by an officer.

Officer Jason Miller, a patrolman for 14 years, was suspended by Newton Police without pay and turned himself in to the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office last week.

Miller allegedly unzipped his pants and exposed himself during a number of traffic stops.

The acts were caught on police dashcam video.

On Monday, Miller appeared in Sussex County Superior Court and pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence.

He also was charged with two counts of official misconduct, one count of a pattern of official misconduct, and one count of lewdness.

Newton Police were tipped off by anonymous tipsters in October, which led to the investigation.

Miller is accused of exposing his genitals to motorists he had pulled over for traffic violations then letting them leave without issuing tickets or summonses. These incidents occurred between March and October 2014.

Sentencing is set for early August.

From a NJ.com account that quotes prosecutor Marc LeMieux:

At around 11:30 a.m., Asbury Park police officers ... saw a 2012 black Volkswagen Jetta being driven by Tamara Seidle turn onto Sewall Avenue. Behind it, LeMieux said, was Phillip Seidle in a 2005 Honda Pilot.

The couple's 7-year-old daughter was in Phillip Seidle's passenger seat, he said.

Tamara Seidle crashed her Jetta into an unoccupied green Ford Focus, LeMieux said. At that time, LeMieux said, Phillip Seidle got out of his car, took out his .40- caliber Glock service handgun and fired "several" shots into Tamara's Seidle's car.

LeMieux said that Seidle fired again at his wife after his daughter was taken away by fellow officers, and confirmed the accounts of witnesses who told the Asbury Park Press that no attempt was made to use force against Seidle as he fired this second round of shots:

Officers on the scene recognized Seidle, LeMieux said. When asked by the Asbury Park Press why no police force was used to stop Seidle from firing his weapon a second time, LeMieux responded by saying "that is under investigation."

Tamara Seidle suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died.

Like a lot of little boys, 7-year-old Wyatt Caylor sometimes wants to be a policeman. It’s something his father, Nathaniel, says he encourages.

He doesn’t tell his son that the man who once tried to kill him was a cop.

Nathaniel Caylor has a face full of screws, metal plates and bone grafts after Seattle police Officer Eugene Schubeck’s bullet left him spitting out teeth and pieces of his jaw following an incident in which police were called to Caylor’s Greenwood apartment in May 2009 after a family member thought he was suicidal. Caylor’s son, who was 20 months old at the time, witnessed the shooting.

Caylor, now 35, sued Schubeck and another officer, Don Leslie, in federal court, alleging excessive use of force and outrage, and accused the department of conducting a negligent investigation into the shooting that resulted in his son being taken away from him for a year.

On Tuesday, the city confirmed that it has settled Caylor’s lawsuit for $1.975 million, believed to be the largest police-abuse settlement in city history. Most of that will go to Caylor, though some will go to Wyatt, according to court records.

The city has also paid another roughly $524,000 in defense costs, including outside attorney’s fees, for the two officers, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

The settlement is awaiting final approval by a federal judge.

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Schubeck, a 14-year department veteran, is listed in Seattle payroll databases as a patrol officer and hostage negotiator.

Court records show he was among more than 100 officers who unsuccessfully sued the department over the federal reforms, arguing that new use-of-force policies were restrictive and placed officers in danger.

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A tense standoff ensued, with Caylor telling officers that he had his son in the apartment and warning them that the child might be injured if they forced their way in. Some officers reported they heard what they thought was a shotgun being cocked behind the door, and Caylor told officers that he had an old 20-gauge shotgun in the apartment.

Schubeck had taken up a position on a landing overlooking Caylor’s patio, and spoke with him at least twice. Schubeck said he was concerned about the safety of the child and decided that, if Caylor came out of the apartment again, he would not let him re-enter.

At one point, Caylor appeared on the patio with the child, who was playing with an electric screwdriver, according to statements and court records. Schubeck acknowledged the child seemed fine, the court records said.

Caylor and the boy eventually went back inside.

According to court documents, Schubeck told the nearby Leslie that he intended to shoot Caylor if he tried to go back inside.

Leslie responded, “Don’t miss.”


Caylor walked out of the apartment a second time when Schubeck called for him. He then yelled at Schubeck for pointing his gun at him.

When Caylor turned to go back inside, where his son was crawling out of his highchair, according to reports and documents, Schubeck shot him in the facewithout warning.

Schubeck’s actions took other officers at the scene by surprise.

Leslie testified in a sworn deposition that he was “shocked” when Schubeck fired and that he “didn’t think he was serious” when Schubeck announced his intention to shoot Caylor.

Caylor, likewise, said he “never in a million years” thought Schubeck would shoot him. He thought the officer’s drawn gun “was just a power play.”

The video was at the center of a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the three injured teenagers against the City of Chicago, Officer Proano and two of his colleagues.
The two sides in the lawsuit reached a tentative $360,000 settlement back in March, but the City Council still has to approve the payment.

At the request of city attorneys, a federal judge barred plaintiffs and defendants in the lawsuit from releasing the dashcam video, but the ban did not apply to Judge Berman.

According to the Chicago Reporter, Officer Proano, who had a history of complaints against him dating back to 2011, may have violated the Chicago Policy Department’s policy that prohibits cops from 'firing at or into a moving vehicle when the vehicle is the only force used against the sworn member or another person.'

The departmental policy was revised in February, 14 months after the shooting.
Proano has been taken off the streets and assigned to desk duty, but according to the Chicago Reporter, he has not been disciplined in connection to the case.

One of the dozen and a half complaints filed against the officer between 2011 and 2015 involved excessive force, but he was cleared in each case.

Judge Berman said he released the dashcam video hoping that it will force the department to hold Marco Proano accountable for his actions.

‘He shouldn’t be allowed to be out there with a gun,’ Berman said. ‘He has shown callous disregard for human life.’

A year and a half after seizing $33,000 from a small-business owner who supposedly deposited the cash incorrectly, the Internal Revenue Service has reluctantly agreed to give the Iowa woman her money back.

The IRS seized Carole Hinders' cash through civil forfeiture, which lets the government take money it believes was illicitly obtained even if its owner hasn't been convicted of a crime or even charged with one.

Hinders, owner of an Iowa restaurant called Mrs. Lady's Mexican Food, caught the IRS' attention last year because she made frequent large deposits of less than $10,000 from her cash-only restaurant. Banks that get deposits of more than $10,000 have to report them to the federal government, and anybody who purposely tries to avoid those reporting requirements is guilty of a crime called structuring.

However, Hinders says she'd never heard of structuring before the cash seizure, and that she's just trying to run an honest cash business. With the help of a public-interest law firm called the Institute for Justice, Hinders has been fighting for over a year to get the money back. On Friday lawyers from the Justice Department finally submitted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that it had filed in order to keep the money. (In civil forfeiture cases, the government must file lawsuits "against" property or cash in order to keep it. This one was called United States of America v. $32,820.56 in United States Currency.)

The government asked the court to dismiss the case "without prejudice" — meaning it can file another action in the future to get Hinders' money if the court grants its motion. The government also reiterated that it was justified in filing the case in the first place.

Hinders had shown a "clear pattern of manipulating bank deposits below $10,000 in order to avoid the reporting requirements," the government said in its motion to dismiss. However, the government added that "allocating its limited resources elsewhere would better serve justice in this case."

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The officer approached Kristine’s home and knocked on the door but received no answer. It turns out Kristine had been napping inside at the time.

Rather than calling Kristine or coming back at a better time, the officer took it upon himself to intrude into Kristine’s backyard without permission.

When the officer entered the yard, Sarge became frightened that an intruder had gained access.

Sarge then did what most loyal dogs would naturally do to defend their owners and property — he bit the officer.

The bite was not even remotely life-threatening, was very quick, and was more of a warning bite, many are saying.

The bite occurred on the officer’s leg.

That is when the officer began shooting Sarge with a taser gun, and called it in.

Kristine at no point in time gave the officer permission to enter her fenced-in back yard, but he did anyway, according to reports.

It is important to note that Sarge was fenced-in his own backyard at the time all of this occurred.

Now here’s where things become extremely twisted.

When police found out what happened to the officer, Sarge was taken to Animal Control.

It turns out that this was the second officer Sarge has bitten.

Back in August of 2013, police and paramedics were at Kristine’s property responding to a suicide committed by a tenant who had lived there at the time.

Sarge nipped an officer in the hand, but no further action was taken.

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Now that Sarge is trapped by Animal Control, he is literally on death row, scheduled to be “put down” after biting the officers — both of whom were on Kristine’s property.

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After months of litigation against the United States government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen West moved to dismiss the case earlier this month, meaning the Bednars will get their money back.

However, the government refused to cover the Bednars’ $25,000 in legal fees, which the couple is entitled to under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act. Though the fight to get their $115,000 back is now over, the family is continuing to push to have their expenses covered.

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According to a warrant filed by Special Agent Terry Tate of the U.S. Secret Service, who worked in the agency’s Raleigh, N.C., office, the Bednars had committed structuring violations by withdrawing just under $10,000 in cash from their account on 28 different occasions between Jan. 6, 2014 and May 29, 2014.

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Bednar contended that he had always been told not to deposit or withdraw more than $10,000 because insurance policies rarely cover more than that amount. Additionally, because many of Marla Enterprises’ customers deal in cash, it was normal for the couple to deposit and withdraw cash frequently.

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks must report deposits or withdrawals of more than $10,000 to the Treasury Department. Depositing or withdrawing money under $10,000 to avoid those reporting requirements, though, is known as structuring—a felony.

A jury on Wednesday ordered the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to pay $125,000 in damages over the drunk-driving arrest of a sober man. Harrison Orr sued after the August 6, 2013 incident left him battered and bruised.

Orr was on his way to Sacramento on Interstate 80 that day when Officer Jay Brame saw his gray 2005 Toyota and decided it was traveling too slowly. He signaled the Toyota to pull over, and Orr complied.

Orr had suffered a stroke in 2006 that left him with slurred speech and facial droop. Officer Brame assumed from these symptoms that Orr must be drunk. He ordered the 76-year-old man out of the Toyota to perform the horizontal gaze nystagmus and balance test, both of which Orr failed because of his neurological condition. Orr's car had a handicapped license plate, but the officer refused to believe any explanation for the symptoms other than that Orr was drunk.

"I couldn't take his word as gospel," Officer Brame explained. "I had to obviously do my investigation to figure that out."

So Officer Terry Plumb was called and asked to bring a portable breathalyzer to the scene. Orr passed with a blood alcohol reading of zero, but Officers Plumb and Brame decided to arrest him anyway. When they said that he would have to be handcuffed, Orr informed the officers that he would not be able to balance if they put those on, as Orr could only walk with a cane. So Officer Plumb punched the 76-year-old man in the ribs, knocking him to the ground. He was then handcuffed and thrown in the back of a squad car.

At the police station, a technician ruled out the possibility that Orr was on drugs. He concluded that Orr's symptoms were the result of his medical condition while confirming that Orr was "polite and cooperative." So the officers booked Orr in the Sacramento County Jail for resisting arrest. He was not released until 1am the next day after being in custody for over fourteen hours.

A jury was empaneled to sort out the disputed versions of events between the officers and Orr. They sided with Orr on Wednesday. Throughout the proceedings, the California Highway Patrol resisted requests for documents and other evidence, incurring the wrath of US District Judge William B. Shubb who imposed sanctions after catching the government's lawyers instructing the officers not to answer legitimate questions.

A Truth or Consequences police officer shot a family's dog seven times.

The owner of the dog shot cell phone video documenting the scene after it happened.
Christina Sims says she was in the shower at her home in Truth or Consequences when she heard gunshots. She says she ran into the kitchen to find her dog lying in blood.
"Choking on his blood, and all I could do was tell him, 'I'm sorry,' and, 'it's okay to go, it's okay to go,' and I held him until he stopped breathing," Sims said.

The police chief says his officer approached an open door on the side of the home Friday evening to inquire about a man wanted for outstanding warrants when the large bull mastiff attacked him.

"The officer fires two rounds from his duty weapon. The dog failed to release.
Ultimately, seven rounds were fired into the dog. The dog finally released. The dog retreated back into the residence. And the officer went out front," Chief Lee Alirez said.

Sims says the woman who may have known the suspect they were looking for doesn't even live there anymore. She also doesn't understand why the officer shot her dog so many times.

"That's something that is going to be in my mind forever. He wasn't just a dog, he was my baby," Sims said.

Chief Alirez says his officer had to go to the hospital for his bite wounds from the dog. He also says there was no signage on the gate or the home warning about the dog.

More than two years ago, the IRS used a controversial policy known as civil forfeiture to empty the bank account of a small business owned by three Long Island brothers.

The brothers, Jeff, Mitch, and Rich Hirsch, haven't even been charged with a crime. But the IRS is holding their $446,651 hostage while they struggle to run their convenience-store distribution business without that cash.

"We're very angry about this," Jeff, 55, said recently over the phone. "I think it's wrong, especially when you do nothing wrong, and you can prove you've done nothing wrong, and they still have your money."

The process of civil forfeiture allows the government — often the police, but in this case, the IRS — to seize money thought to have been obtained illegally. The IRS has been seizing funds it believes were deposited in an illegal way. Banks must report deposits of over $10,000 to the federal government. Anybody who makes repeated deposits of just under $10,000 specifically to avoid this requirement is guilty of a crime called restructuring (also known as "smurfing").

The problem is local businesses often have legitimate reasons for making large cash deposits — including the Hirsches' business, Bi-County Distributors, which deals with bodegas (convenience stores) that pay them in cash. Jeff Hirsch had never heard the term "restructuring" before a Monday in May 2012 when his brother tried to make a deposit in the business' account.

"My brother went to the bank with the deposit, and the teller said, 'I don’t know if you want to make the bank deposit today because it looks like your account is frozen,” Jeff said.

That very day, the Hirsches had to open up a new account so they had somewhere to deposit their money. After 60 days, the IRS drained the nearly $447,000 from the first account.

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A Fatal Shooting, Step-By-Step

On Feb. 14, 2013, Indio Police Officer Alex Franco fired six times at a fleeing cyclist, Alejandro Rendon, hitting him twice. Click the start button below for a step-by-step breakdown of how the shooting occurred, according to law enforcement and federal court documents.

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The Desert Sun's analysis also includes hundreds of pages of documents from a lawsuit filed by the Rendon family, who successfully sued the city of Indio for $1.9 million in 2014. Lawsuit documents reveal that Franco was caught lying on a polygraph test while interviewing for a job with the Indio Police Department in 2007, and that he was previously denied employment by numerous other California police agencies. Attorneys used this information to argue that Franco is untrustworthy.

The DA's office cleared Franco in the Rendon shooting.

Columbus police confirmed a child was hit by a stray bullet Friday afternoon in Whitehall. The officer was executing an arrest warrant for a hit skip and heard cries for help from a home in the 4100 block of Chandler Drive, police said.

According to a news release, a woman was suffering from self-inflicted wounds in the home. When the officer entered the home and tried to help an injured woman, a mixed-breed dog charged at him. He fired one shot, missed and hit the 4-year-old girl in the right leg. The dog weighs about 40 pounds.

Neighbor Cole Baker said he was upset when he heard the news, because he has children living in his home. He said his own dogs are trained to protect his family, and would have probably been aggressive if an officer came into their home.

"Dogs don't know the difference between a police officer or not," he said. "They don't know a uniform. Dogs see a strange man that doesn't belong in the house."

"We don't want anyone to get shot especially an innocent victim," said Denise Bouzounis, public information officer for Columbus Police.

The girl was taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital and is expected to recover. The injured woman was taken to Grant Medical Center for her injuries.