Toddler wrecks car

Toddler wrecks car
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A parked car put out of gear by a toddler crashed into a house and another parked car. Police said Austin Arnold, 2, was playing near his John Street home when he got into his mother's 1992 Mercury Sable and sent it sailing backward into the street. Police said the car hit a home at 827 East Pearl St., tearing off railings, a tree and then a parked car owned by Adrian Moyer of Oak Street. Moyer's 1998 Honda Accord had to be towed, they said. The child was not injured, according to police.
Police probe break-ins
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- City police are investigating a string of break-ins at downtown businesses. It is unclear if they are related. Police said they were called to an alarm at Rayanne's Beauty Salon, 367 E. Washington St. at 1:15 a.m. Sunday and found the back door had been forced open. Another alarm sounded at 3:18 a.m. Sunday at Reliable Lumber, 502 Sampson St. Police said the front door was pried open and the office ransacked. A third alarm at Marchelloni's Pizza, 418 W. Washington St., sounded at 3:39 a.m. Sunday. The business was also ransacked. On Monday, police said they were still trying to determine if anything of value had been taken from the businesses.
Accidentally shot in hand
SALEM -- A 16-year-old East State Street boy was treated at Salem Community Hospital for a hand injury he sustained by accidentally shooting himself with a BB gun Saturday afternoon. Police reports said the boy held his left hand over the gun barrel and pulled the trigger because he wanted to feel the air discharge. He didn't realize there was a BB in the chamber.
Bitten during dog's rescue
SALEM -- Russ Dillon of Fairview Court was bitten on the hand while trying to rescue a dog from his swimming pool Saturday. Dillon told police he saw the dog, which had no collar or tags, struggling to get out of his pool. When he got in and tried to lift the animal out, the dog bit him on the middle finger of his left hand. Dillon got the dog out of the pool but it immediately ran away.
Perjury charges dropped
BEAVER, Pa. (AP) -- The attorney general's office has dropped charges of perjury against a man in a Beaver County public corruption case. In exchange, Marvin Woods, 36, of Aliquippa, pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and was fined $50 last week.
Woods had been accused of talking with an inmate about a grand jury investigation and then denying the conversation when called to testify. Woods' attorney, James Ross of Ambridge, said his client entered the plea so he could save his job as a youth counselor at the maximum-security Youth Development Center in New Castle.
Seven others charged in the grand jury investigation are still awaiting trial. Arrests were made Feb. 4 in the slaying of an Aliquippa police officer nearly two years ago. Five were current or former law enforcement officers.
Library to host exhibit
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Community College of Allegheny County has been selected as one of 40 libraries in the country to host a traveling exhibit on Abraham Lincoln's role in ending slavery. The Musselman Library at Gettysburg College is the only other site in Pennsylvania that will host "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation."
The free exhibit features photographs, manuscripts and other historic materials exploring Lincoln's role in ending slavery during the Civil War. It is slated to run at CCAC next year from Oct. 27 to Dec. 10, then travel to Gettysburg College from Dec. 22 to Feb. 18, 2005.
The exhibit, sponsored by the Chicago-based American Library Association, kicks off this September in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Concerned about vests
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The piercing of an officer's bulletproof vest during an undercover drug buy has many police departments worried about the vests they're wearing. Forest Hills officer Ed Limbacher was wearing a vest manufactured by Central Creek, Mich.-based Second Chance Body Armor Inc. when he was shot in the abdomen. Limbacher, 33, remains in UPMC Presbyterian in guarded but stable condition.
Since the June 23 shooting, the Forest Hills Police Department has received hundreds of calls from other police departments using Second Chance Ultima, Forest Hills Sgt. Ed Hinchey said.
Hinchey said police will examine the residue from the bullet to determine whether it was a Teflon-coated bullet capable of piercing a bulletproof vest. A spokesman for Second Chance said the manufacturer will conduct its own investigation once it receives a report from local police.