Kare11
Hockey player regrets modifying neck guard before injury
A 14-year-old from Canada is advocating for wearing neck guards – and wearing them properly – after a skate to his neck nearly ended in tragedy.
ONTARIO, Canada — Despite 10 stiches still stretching across his throat, a 14 year old hockey player from Ontario, Canada isn’t letting it stop him from speaking out about the importance of wearing a neck guard… and wearing it properly.
“I have a second chance at life,” said Brandon, whose last name KARE 11 is not disclosing due to his age. “I don’t think other people – if this happens to them – will have another chance.”
Brandon says the incident happened immediately after a faceoff during a Hockey Eastern Ontario U16AAA game last week. While chasing down the puck, he says a teammate skating next to him tripped.
“I was looking down at the puck and then I saw his foot come up and it happened so fast,” Brandon said. “I didn’t have any time to react.”
Looking in the mirror today, he knows how lucky he was that it wasn’t worse, but at the time, he says he had no idea.
Brandon: “I didn’t feel anything happen. I could have literally finished my shift. I didn’t feel it until I felt this warm liquid crawling down my neck, so I touched my glove (to my neck) and there was blood.”
Kent Erdahl: “So on the ice, nothing really happened? Nothing stopped?”
Brandon: “No the play just kept going. The ref didn’t even notice or anything. When I got on the bench I took my neck guard off and I looked at my teammates and then I saw my teammates eyes open really wide, like oh Sh**. Everyone started to panic and we all ran around to find something to put pressure on it. At certain points I thought I was going to die because of what happened to the guy in Minnesota.”
Brandon is talking about Hibbing native, Adam Johnson, who died after taking a skate to the neck during a game in England just a few weeks prior.
In Brandon’s case, he was wearing a neck guard, something that has been mandated throughout his time playing in Ontario.
But even though Hockey Eastern Canada credited the guard for helping to save his life, he admits that he’s not completely sure what role it played. That’s because he, like many other players his age, modified his neck guard.
“I taped it up so (it would be smaller),” he said. “I found when I taped it I could really move my head a lot and I felt like it wasn’t there, so I wasn’t wearing it like I was supposed to.”
“I didn’t know how bad it was modified,” said Brandon’s mother, Stephany Rockwell. “I learned, obviously, after the fact. Did the neck guard help? We’ll never know. Unfortunately, at that arena they don’t have cameras, but – for sure – there was someone above watching over him.”
Whether or not the neck guard helped deflect the blade, Rockwell says it was soon very clear how lucky he was. Somehow, his trachea and carotid arteries were spared.
“The doctor said he was a centimeter away (from the arteries) left or right, and one millimeter away (from the trachea) if it would have been deeper,” Rockwell said. “It could have been a totally different situation.”
Once his stitches are removed in the coming days, Brandon should be cleared to play hockey again. He says he won’t hesitate to rejoin his team, but he’ll also be sure to be wearing a shirt with a neck guard built in.
“Wear them how you’re supposed to wear them and make sure they fit,” he said. “I’m never going to modify mine again. I’m going to wear it properly, how it’s supposed to be worn.”
“Everyone who has skates on their feet, they should have a neck guard,” Rockwell said. “I don’t care how old you are, I don’t care which country you’re in, wear your neck guard and when you do wear it, wear it properly.”
Watch the latest reports from the KARE 11 sports team in our YouTube playlist:
Oakland County Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan was removed from her docket on Aug. 27 for unspecified misconduct.
PONTIAC, Mich. — A suburban Detroit judge is no longer handling cases after a court official turned over recordings of her making anti-gay insults and referring to Black people as lazy.
Oakland County Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan was removed from her docket on Aug. 27 for unspecified misconduct. Now the court’s administrator has stepped forward to say he blew the whistle on her, secretly recording their phone calls.
“I just want to make it right. … I want to keep my job and do it in peace,” Edward Hutton told WXYZ-TV. “And I want the people in Oakland County that come to court to get a fair shake, to have their day in court, to have an unbiased trier of fact.”
The judge didn’t talk to the TV station, but her attorneys, Gerald Gleeson and Thomas Cranmer, said: “We look forward to vindicating Judge Ryan in the appropriate forum.”
Probate judges in Michigan handle wills and estates, guardianships and cases that involve the state’s mental health laws.
In the phone recordings, Ryan uses an anti-gay slur against David Coulter, the county’s highest elected official, who is gay. She also referred to Blacks in the U.S. as lazy.
“I’m not systemically racist. I’m a new racist,” said Ryan, who was first elected in 2010.
It is legal to record phone calls in Michigan if one party consents. In this matter, it was Hutton, who said Ryan had called him at work and after-hours for years.
Hutton said he sent the recordings in August to Coulter, the chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark then suspended her, with pay, while she’s investigated by a judiciary watchdog, the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.
Her father, James Ryan, was a state and federal judge. A brother, Daniel Ryan, was also a judge.
A picture circulating on social media reporting a 3-year-old girl found wandering alone is not credible, police said.
RICHFIELD, Minn — Richfield police said a post circulating about a missing 3-year-old girl found alone walking behind a home is false.
The picture, seen on Ring Neighborhood in Richfield, said a child named “Mila” was found walking behind a home in Richfield and taken to the police station by “Deputy Sara Thomas.”
KARE 11 contacted the law enforcement agencies mentioned in the post, but both the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Richfield dispatch said they did not respond to a call about a missing child.
Richfield police said a similar post had circulated through the community’s social media pages several weeks ago. Posts like this have also been shared across the country, including this one from KARE 11’s sister station in North Carolina.
It’s easy to get caught by scammers, especially with a subject as emotionally charged as a missing child. Before you share a post about a missing child, an easy way to check if it is true or not is to visit the social media pages of the police departments mentioned.
You can also take a look at the profile that first shared the post. If the account has few to no friends or was created recently, that’s a sign the post could be fake.
According to the CDC, the eggs were distributed in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan through retail stores and food service distributors.
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin health officials initiated a recall of eggs following an outbreak of salmonella infections among 65 people in nine states that originated on a Wisconsin farm.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said in a statement Friday that among those infected by salmonella are 42 people in Wisconsin, where the eggs are believed to have been sold.
“The eggs were distributed in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan through retail stores and food service distributors,” the department said. “The recall includes all egg types such as conventional cage-free, organic, and non-GMO, carton sizes, and expiration dates in containers labeled with ‘Milo’s Poultry Farms’ or ‘Tony’s Fresh Market.’”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed in a statement on its website that 65 people in nine states were infected by a strain of salmonella, with 24 hospitalizations and no deaths as of Friday. The states include Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Virginia, Colorado, Utah and California, the agency said.
The egg recall was undertaken by Milo’s Poultry Farms LLC of Bonduel, Wisconsin, the CDC said.
“Anyone who purchased the recalled eggs is advised to not eat them or cook with them and to throw them away. Restaurants should not sell or serve recalled eggs,” the Wisconsin health department said.
The department advised anyone who ate the eggs and is experiencing symptoms to contact a healthcare provider. Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and vomiting lasting for several days, the statement said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in July announced new measures to limit salmonella in poultry products. The proposed directive included requiring poultry companies to keep salmonella levels under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six particularly sickening forms of the bacteria, three found in turkey and three in chicken.
Bacteria exceeding the proposed standard and identification of any of the strains would prevent poultry sales and leave the products subject to recall.
The CDC estimates salmonella causes 1.35 million infections annually, most through food, and about 420 deaths. The Agriculture Department estimates there are 125,000 infections from chicken and 43,000 from turkey each year.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings