Mecklenburg Police are continuing their investigation into the disappearance last week of Bianca Richardson Tanner of Charlotte. On Sunday, members of the department’s Homicide and Missing Persons Unit planned to knock on doors in the 1000 block of Druid Circle, off Stateville Avenue, where she was last seen a week ago. Detectives had planned a 2 p.m. meeting at the intersection of Double Oaks Road and Newland Road, across from the Double Oaks Pool. A $5,000 reward is being offered in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Stoppers tip-line at 704-334-1600 or visit CrimeStoppers on the web, http://charlottecrimestoppers.com/.
DRIVER CHARGED AFTER FATAL WRECK
A Charlotte driver has been charged after a wreck Saturday morning that killed a motorcyclist on Providence Road. Police say 53-year-old James Junior Johnson had a green light as he headed west on his motorcycle on South Wendover Road. A 50-year-old woman was eastbound on South Wendover with a flashing yellow turn arrow when she turned her BMW SUV onto Providence and into Johnson’s path. The collision threw him from the motorcycle and he ended up under two other vehicles. He died at the scene. Police charged with woman with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.
MAN FOUND INNOCENT OF MURDER
A jury in Charlotte Friday found a man not guilty of shoving another man into the path of a car that killed him after a fight at a Charlotte bar two years ago. A jury on Friday found 25-year-old Kenan Gay not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Robert Kingston of Columbus, Ohio. Investigators say the two men fought at Ed's Tavern on Park Road in 2012, then Gay shoved Kingston into the road, in front of a BMW. The driver called police and wasn't charged. Prosecutors said Gay was angry that Kingston had been making unwanted advances toward Gay's girlfriend. Gay's attorneys argued he was only trying to protect the woman.
SC GETS GRANT TO HIRE FIREFIGHTERS
South Carolina is getting a federal grant to hire 900 new firefighters across the state. The South Carolina State Firefighters' Association says it has received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The money has been allocated under the Staffing for Adequate Fire Management Response Program. The funds go directly to local departments to help them increase or maintain the number of front-line firefighters.
REPORT SUGGEST CAUSE OF NEWTON PLANE CRASH
Federal investigators say a pilot may have been doing tricks just before a fatal plane crash in Catawba County last month. The National Transportation Safety Board says in a recent report that 55-year-old pilot James Thomas of Denver died when his plane crashed May 25 near Newton. Investigators talked to a flight instructor who had given Thomas a lesson in turns and spins, but determined the pilot didn't have the skill to do the tricks. The home-made plane crashed in a wheat field about 20 minutes after Thomas took off.
COUNSELOR DIES IN CAMP ACCIDENT
A camp counselor died Thursday in the North Carolina mountains after his sailboat hit power lines and he was electrocuted. The accident happened Thursday morning at Camp Mondamin on Lake Summit, in Zirconia, south of Flat Rock. The camp’s director said counselor Simon Everett was helping pull a sailboat out of the lake when the metal mast accidentally touched a main power line. It was the second death on the lake in a week. An 18-year-old died a week ago in a swimming accident.
COMMISSION OKs LAKE SWIMMING AREA
Mecklenburg County moved another step closer last week to the return of public swimming to Lake Norman. The county banned swimming in the 1970s after a series of drownings. Our news partner CorneliusNews.net reported last week that the Lake Norman Marine Commission unanimously endorsed the county’s plan to construct a half-acre swimming beach at Ramsey Creek Park, off West Catawba Avenue in Cornelius. Officials said the beach could be open for swimming in summer 2016.
