12 hostages freed after botched robbery

12 hostages freedafter botched robbery
VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. -- Twelve employees were freed before dawn today after being held captive during a failed armed robbery at a Long Island Staples store, police said.
Armed bandits apparently took the hostages after an attempted robbery went awry, police spokesman Inspector Pete Matuza said.
Four people believed to be involved in the botched robbery attempt were arrested, authorities said.
Police said one suspect was arrested after pretending to be one of the freed hostages, another was picked up after police found her in a car in the store's parking lot, the third was found hiding in the store's ceiling and the fourth was also found in the store.
The store manager sustained leg injuries after being pushed down the stairs by one of the robbers, Matuza said. No other injuries were reported.
For one employee, the day marked his first on the job, and another had hidden in a first-floor closet, Matuza said.
Yates murder trial
HOUSTON -- Videotaped interviews with Andrea Yates show her emerging from psychosis in the months after she drowned her children in their bathtub, a psychiatrist testified.
In a tape played in court before the defense rested Wednesday, a disheveled Yates was asked to recall her thoughts and emotions the day of the drowning. Yates cried, rocked in her chair, paused and eventually said: "I don't remember."
In a second tape made last month, Yates looks well-groomed and bright-eyed, with a fuller face. "I'm a little more aware of what's going on," she's heard saying.
The stark difference from the first tape, made five weeks after the drownings, is due to the treatment Yates is receiving, said Dr. Lucy Puryear, who testified Yates was so sick June 20 that she was incapable of determining her actions were wrong.
NYC torture case
NEW YORK -- Three former police officers accused in the Abner Louima torture case could be tried in state court if federal authorities decide not to pursue further charges, a prosecutor said.
Last week, a federal appeals court threw out obstruction-of-justice convictions against the officers, but Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said Wednesday that he would consider filing state charges against the officers if federal authorities decide not to challenge the ruling.
Hynes said state law would allow him to charge the three with hindering an investigation.
"I have an obligation to be aggressive when there's a violation of state law," Hynes said.
Associated Press