HYATTSVILLE, Maryland - April 2, 2008 - A 12-year-old boy fatally slashed a man who was attacking his mother at the boarding house where they lived, authorities said.

Salomon Noubissie, 64, died at a hospital after he was slashed across the neck Monday night in a home in the Landover area.

Cpl. Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman for Prince George's County police, said Wednesday that authorities hadn't decided whether the boy would be charged with anything. They were reviewing the case with the state's attorney's office.

The boy said he had been playing a video game Monday night when he heard his mother, Cheryl Stamp, scream. He found her on the kitchen floor, straddled by a fellow resident who was choking her.

"I kept saying, 'Stop! Stop! Stop!'" the boy told The Washington Post, which published his account without giving his name. "But he just ignored me. He didn't stop. He just kept hurting her."

The boy said he took a knife and swung at the man. Police say they found Noubissie with a knife wound to the upper body.

Stamp said she didn't fully realize at first what her son had done. "He didn't say anything," she said. "But I knew when I looked in his eyes. I said, 'Oh, Lord.'"

Rarely is a 12-year-old implicated in a homicide, and even less often does a child that age kill someone to protect his mother.

"In Maryland, there can be a legitimate defense of third parties in the event of a violent attack," State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey told the newspaper. "That is a possibility in this case."

Stamp said she and Noubissie, a Cameroonian immigrant, had moved into the boarding house within days of each other three months ago and had become friends. Stamp said Noubissie had told her he was studying to be a psychiatrist.

But on Monday night, she said, he was acting differently. He started to yell at her and grab her hair.

"He threw me down and started choking me. I think that's when my son came in. ... He protected me," she said, adding that Noubissie was combative with officers when they arrived, even though he was bleeding heavily.

The boy said he was not happy with what happened but felt he had no choice.

"I told God that I had stabbed him because he was killing my mother. I know he understands, and I think he will keep us safe now."

ORLANDO, Florida - March 31, 2008 - Video showing a woman being pushed down some stairs by a police officer that led to a battery charge against the woman has prompted calls for charges against the officer.

Local 6 showed video of Officer Fernando Trinidad, who was working off-duty last April.

Trinidad was caught on tape pushing Jessica Asprilla, 27, down some steps at the now-defunct Club Paris in downtown Orlando.

"He was rushing me out of the club," Asprilla said. "I was going down the stairs and the next thing I knew, he pushed me and I was on the floor."

Asprilla was charged with battery on the officer after she was pushed, Local 6 reported.

Asprilla admitted to giving Trinidad some "lip" at the club but that's it, Local 6's Tony Pipitone reported.

"But he swore you spat twice in his face," Pipitone said.

"I didn't spit in his face," Asprilla said.

"And if he swears to that under oath?" Pipitone asked. "Then, that would be a lie," she said.

Trinidad did swear to it and also swore that Asprilla "lost her footing" when he tried to grab her.

Local 6 showed the video of the incident and it showed the woman being shoved down the stairs.

As for the alleged spitting, when asked why Trinidad did not wipe any spit off, he told an internal investigator, "I've had worse than saliva in my face."

Aspirlla said she lost her job over the arrest and her place in graduate school. She said it also shattered her dreams for a career in social work, where background checks would reveal the arrest.

"And they'll see battery on a law enforcement officer?" Pipitone asked. "Yes," Asprilla said.

"What do you see?" Pipitone asked. "I see I was battered by a law enforcement officer," she said.

Asprilla said she owes thousands of dollars in medical bills from her ankle injury in connection with the incident.

However, she most feared Trinidad's sworn testimony that would have put her in prison for years.

"I didn't know how I would be able to prove my innocence," Asprilla said. "Everyone always believes the word of a police officer."

Asprilla's attorney then learned of the video.

"Had you not had the video?" Pipitone asked.

"Then, I would have probably gone to jail for battery on the police officer," Asprilla said.

When prosecutors saw the tape, they dropped the charges, Local 6 reported.

Now, Asprilla's attorney wants Trinidad prosecuted for battery and perjury, Pipitone said.

"It's unbelievable," attorney Adam Sudbury said. "It's a police officer just taking out a private citizen at a club."

"You see a crime on that tape?" Pipitone asked.

"Absolutely," Sudbury said.

An Orlando police investigation found Trinidad did push the woman, causing her ankle injury -- though they could not say it was intentional.

Also, investigators said Trinidad entered "inaccurate, false or improper information" in his report.

But in January, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings issued only an eight-hour suspension for Trinidad's conduct.

Trinidad refused requests for comment concerning the incident.

He continues to patrol Orlando streets.

CHEYENNE, Wyoming - March 7, 2008 - Gov. Dave Freudenthal on Friday signed into law a bill that prohibits government officials from confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens.

Sponsor Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman, has said House Bill 57 was prompted by the confiscation of guns by police in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Freudenthal said afterward that he was pleased to sign the bill, although he didn't think it addressed any real problem.

But Freudenthal, an avid hunter who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in his re-election campaign in 2006, said he can understand why supporters want the bill enacted here.

"It's not understandable on the basis that anybody around here is going to be confiscating anybody's firearms, because first of all we ain't going to allow anybody to do it," Freudenthal said.

Freudenthal said he intends to scrutinize a separate self-defense bill, HB 137, that has cleared the Legislature and is awaiting his action.

The so-called "castle doctrine" bill would specify that citizens are legally entitled to assume that any people who break into their homes mean to do them harm. It would also give people who kill others in self-defense immunity from lawsuits

Supporters say the bill would offer citizens legal protection if they use deadly force against intruders. They say the bill is named after the English common-law concept that a man's home is his castle, and that he's not obligated to try to retreat before using deadly force to defend it.

The NRA has made passing such "castle doctrine" legislation a priority nationwide.

Freudenthal said he has asked Attorney General Bruce Salzburg to review the "castle doctrine" bill.

LOS ANGELES - March 27, 2008 - A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.