• Mom on bus caught on cell phone video: 'I didn't toss my baby'

    View more videos at: http://nbcconnecticut.com.

    By Debra Bogstie, NBCConnecticut.com

    A mother caught on cell phone video apparently throwing her baby across the aisle of a bus, prompting a police investigation, says she didn't do it.

    "I didn't toss my baby. I set her down," said the woman when NBC Connecticut confronted her at her Hartford home.

    The startling scene was caught on tape by a concerned passenger during a bus ride on Albany Avenue Wednesday morning. It's since gone viral with internet postings on YouTube, Facebook, and elsewhere.

    The two minute video shows a woman screaming obscenities at another passenger, as her baby sits on her lap at times holding her little ears.

    The woman repeatedly asks other passengers to take her child so she can fight the woman. "I will thrash you. Somebody grab my baby. I'm going to beat the... of you on this bus," she's heard saying in the video. Then, it gets worse.

    The woman is seen throwing the baby across the aisle into the arms of another passenger. Then, she heads up front and gets into a fist fight.

    Read more stories on NBCConnecticut.com

    The bus driver pulled over to the side of the road and opened the doors, according to CT Transit. As he called for help, the woman retrieved her baby and left the bus. So did the other passenger involved in the fight.

    When NBC Connecticut arrived at her home Friday night, police and child welfare workers were inside talking to her. After they left, we knocked on the door and the woman answered.

    When asked if she had any comment on the situation, the woman said, "No. Connecticut Transit, get the full video. I didn't toss my baby. Get the full video."

    She then closed the door, only to open it once again.

    "I never tossed my baby," she said. "Get the full video from Connecticut Transit. I didn't toss my baby. I set her down."

    The video was so shocking that an NBC Connecticut viewer brought it to our attention. We asked Hartford police if they knew about it, and they launched an investigation.

    Hartford police have not filed any charges in the case.

    As part of their ongoing investigation, they're reviewing a second cell phone video from a different angle. The camera on board the bus was not working at the time of the incident, so there is no surveillance video available from CT Transit.

  • 3 teens charged in beating death of disabled man posted on Facebook

    By Lauren Petty, NBCChicago.com

    Two more teens have been charged in the beating death of a 62-year-old disabled man that Chicago police said was recorded on a cell phone and posted to Facebook.


    Police said a 16-year-old gang member punched Delfino Mora, father to 12 children and a grandfather to 23, last Tuesday in an alley in the 6300 block of North Artesian. Mora's devastated family told NBC Chicago that Mora was on his regular route of collecting cans that he sells for cash when the teens confronted him.

    Nicholas Ayala, 17, and Anthony Malcolm, 18, were both charged with first-degree murder and robbery.

    Malik Jones, 16, the Latin Kings member accused of striking Mora, was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bail Sunday by Judge Adam Bourgeois.

    Police said Jones handed his friends his cell phone to start filming, then demanded money from Mora and punched him in the jaw. Ayala and Malcolm are accused of taking turns filming the video, which allegedly showed Mora's head smashing into the concrete.

    Mora was found unconscious and died one day later.

    Read original story on NBCChicago.com

    Police said the video was posted to Jones' Facebook page. He was arrested after police found out about the video.

    "If I had them face-to-face, I would tell them I hope they regret it," said Leo Plata, Mora's grandson. "You don't do that to anybody, you don't just go around jumping people for fun."

    Jones was charged as an adult and is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Monday. Ayala and Malcolm are expected to appear Monday in bond court.

    The attack marks the third time in the past year a Chicago attack has been filmed and the video has led to an arrest. 

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


  • Man who admitted jamming cell phones: 'A lot of people are extremely loud'

    View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

    By NBCPhiladelphia.com

     

    Frustrated with fellow bus riders incessantly talking on their cell phones, a Philadelphia man began jamming the cell reception to silence their conversations. 

    The NBC10 Investigators tracked down the cell phone zapper who targets talkers on a SEPTA bus route. Not only does he admit doing it, he thinks it’s a good thing.

    For story, video, visit Philadelphia's NBC10.com

    The man, who calls himself Eric, told the NBC10 Investigators, “I guess I’m taking the law into my own hands and quite frankly, I’m proud of it.”

    Eric says he doesn’t want to hear people talking on their cell phones in public.

    “It’s still pretty irritating and quite frankly it’s pretty rude,” said Eric.

    Eric says he’s firing up a cell phone jammer that he bought online to shut down conversations he doesn’t want to hear.

    “A lot of people are extremely loud, no sense of just privacy or anything, when it becomes a bother, that’s when I screw on the antenna and flip the switch,” said Eric.

    An NBC10 employee, whom the NBC10 Investigators are calling “Marie,” says she freaked out when she saw the man jamming passengers’ cell phones on her bus ride to work.

    “He’s blatantly holding this device that looks like a walkie-talkie with four very thick antennae. I started to watch him and any time somebody started talking on the phone, he would start pressing the button on the side of the device,” said Marie.

    Marie tipped off the NBC10 Investigators who went undercover to catch the cell phone vigilante with a hidden camera.

    Within minutes of boarding the 44 bus, the NBC10 Investigators spotted Eric jamming cell phones. A couple of weeks later, they caught up with him as he got off the bus, they informed Eric that the cell phone jammer device is illegal.

    “It is my understanding it is more of a gray area. It is my understanding that it’s illegal to, you know, stop a television signal, a radio signal. You know, it’s my understanding according to the FCC that it’s not illegal to disrupt a cell phone signal,” Eric said.

    But according to federal law, it is illegal to use, own, buy or sell cell phone jammers. The Feds say breaking the law could result in jail time and up to a $16,000 fine. Cell phone jammers are illegal because of the public safety concerns.

    Drexel University's Dr. Rob D’Ovidio works with cell phone forensics and electronic crime. D’Ovidio says some cell phone jammers can stop GPS, two-way radios and can even block police radio if they’re close enough.

    “With cell phone jammers you are limiting all types of communication tools that use the radio frequencies. You have the potential to cause a public safety disaster. Cutting off communication by not only our public officials to their dispatch centers but also cutting off the public’s communication to 911 can be a dangerous thing,” said Dr. D’Ovidio.

    What about emergency calls?
    The NBC10 Investigators asked Eric if he was concerned about disrupting someone who is trying to get emergency help.

    “Well, of course if there were such a situation on the bus, I imagine I would be right in the middle of it. And I would imagine that would be a very different situation of course, I’d imagine I’d be dialing 911 myself, “ Eric said.

    SEPTA officials say they have been getting a lot of complaints from riders on the 44 bus route about lost calls. But SEPTA insists that riders are safe.

    SEPTA says all buses have a panic button. Drivers can also alert police with the digital destination sign on the front of the bus. The transportation authority says it has tested its two-way radio communication and insists cell phone jammers will not affect it. But that doesn’t make Marie feel any better.

    “Every time I see this guy on the bus, I have a mixture of fear and anger. Part of me wants to go up to him and say, ‘Stop doing this, how dare you,’” said Marie.

    Just hours after the NBC10 Investigators told Eric that the cell phone jamming device was illegal, he called to say he did more research and discovered what they told him was true and said he would dispose of the device.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News