REGIONAL BRIEFS: Report blames crew error for train collision

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From the Forum News Service

North Dakota

Man accused of stabbing after sexual threesome

FARGO – A stabbing reported by a naked man who called 911 from an alley in north Fargo early Friday was a case of a ménage a trois gone wrong, police allege in court records.

Ashley Hunter, 33, was charged Monday in Cass County District Court with a single count of aggravated assault after police say he stabbed Orlando DeWitt, a friend of his who was visiting him at his home, court records state.

According to police reports filed with the charges, Hunter joined DeWitt and a woman in a sexual act, DeWitt told police. When Hunter asked DeWitt to switch positions, he refused and the two men began arguing.

Hunter then reached into the couch and pulled out a knife. After hiding in the bathroom, DeWitt told police he “decided to run for the front door,” and as he did so he said he felt the knife cut his arm. DeWitt told police he grabbed the woman’s phone from the table as he ran out to call 911 from the alley.

(FF)

Crew camp company acquired

Target Logistics Management LLC, the company that runs some of the largest crew camps providing worker housing throughout western North Dakota, is merging with another company but officials say it won’t charge operations.

Algeco Scotsman, a global business services company focused on modular space and secure storage services, announced Tuesday it has signed an agreement to acquire Target Logistics in a transaction that is expected to close at the end of the month.

Target Logistics will continue to operate under its current brand and the management team will remain in place. Target Logistics operates 16 facilities in North Dakota, Arizona, Texas and Mexico with more than 5,000 beds.

(FNS)

Braun Intertec adding offices

DICKINSON , N.D. -- Drawn to western North Dakota by the oil boom that ended nearly 30 years ago, Minneapolis-based Braun Intertec is coming back in a big fashion.

The engineering and environmental consulting firm has had a presence in North Dakota since then, but offices in Bismarck and Fargo have carried most of the work until recently, CEO Jon Carlson said. By the end of 2012 the company had added offices in Dickinson and Minot and plans to open one in Williston in 2013.

The pull of oil and coal brought Braun to North Dakota, and when oil went bust, the company toned down its Bismarck operation to a handful of staffers, Carlson said.

“Now, when you include the people that we have working in Bismarck and out of Bismarck reaching out into Dickinson and Minot where we also have offices, now there’s over 150 people working out there,” he said. “It’s been tremendous growth in a very short period of time.”

(DP from Monday)

Minnesota

Report blames crew error for train collision

TWO HARBORS, Minn. -- The National Transportation Safety Board released its determination Tuesday that a head-on collision between two ore trains in 2010 north of Two Harbors was the result of crew error. The federal agency also said the Canadian National Railway Co. also deserves part of the blame for a lax policy on train right-of-way communication on a route without signals.

The NTSB said the Sept. 30, 2010, accident that injured five crew members from both trains was the fault of the southbound CN train carrying 116 rail cars full of ore. The crew left a siding and entered the main track before getting permission. It later collided with a CN train headed north out of Two Harbors with 118 empty rail cars.

Three locomotives and 14 rail cars derailed in the crash.

The NTSB said the crew on the southbound train was suffering from fatigue.

The NTSB recommended that CN use electronic equipment to better identify which trains have passed others on sidings. Relying on crew members to visually identify trains leads to assumptions about which one has the authority, the preliminary report stated.

Polk County resident ripped off in bank fraud

CROOKSTON, Minn. -- A bank fraud scheme appears to have lifted several hundred dollars from the account of a Polk County resident, according to Mike Norland, an investigator with the sheriff’s office.

The thief apparently used debit card information to take less than $1,000 from the account of the victim, who lives near Fosston, Norland said.

The victim made the complaint Monday. The sheriff’s office has not released the name of the victim or the bank involved.

Preliminary information makes it appear the theft was not done by anyone known to the victim, and did not involve the physical use of the victim’s debit card, Norland said.

Frauds of this kind, which can be carried out long-distance, even from another country, have become more common, he said. He said people should guard their bank data and should check bank statements for unusual transactions.

(GFH)

Tags: news, minnesota, crime