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Police officer Troy Brungs, 35, of Circleville, Ohio, was reassigned to a desk job in January pending a hearing on a DUI charge; in the previous five years Brungs had received three suspensions and seven written reprimands and crashed his patrol car three times. And two convicted killers nearly managed to escape from death row at a prison in Mansfield, Ohio, in February, even though an official was tipped off about the plan twice in the two weeks before the attempt and told the prison’s security chief both times. The convicts’ cells–where they were hiding a homemade fence-breaking tool and provisions they’d hoarded–were never searched following the tips; instead, one convict was promoted to a job giving him greater freedom to move around the death row unit.
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In January millions of Muslim pilgrims in Mina, Saudi Arabia, began this year’s Feast of Sacrifice with the ritual of “stoning the devil,” in which they throw pebbles at tall stone pillars. Hoping to avoid the extreme congestion that has in the past led to fatal stampedes (almost 250 were killed last year), Saudi officials improved access to the stoning area and built larger pillars, meaning pebble throwers could stand farther away. In the same week about 300 Hindu pilgrims were killed in a stampede when a fire broke out near a temple in Maharashtra State, India. One report attributed the fire to a short circuit at a roadside stall, but some witnesses said it was started by worshippers who grew frustrated with the slow pace of the procession.
