“The indestructible kid - msnbc.com” plus 1 more

Posted: 24 May 2010 09:16 PM PDT

DANA POINT -- Would she make it?

Joseph Cope was pacing the halls of a hospital, worried sick about his little girl.

Tabitha Louise Cope was getting just half as much oxygen she needed to survive in her mother's womb.

It took several days for doctors to stabilize Tabitha and her mother. Pregnancy complications at 30 weeks caused a scare. Then, two weeks later, Tabitha was born, prematurely but in good health.

That was in 2002. This year, on May 10, less than two weeks before Tabitha's eighth birthday, Joseph Cope found himself pacing the hallways of a different hospital -- worried sick, again, about his little girl. This time, he was joined by his wife, Renee, and their three other children -- some of them stained with Tabitha's blood.

All were asking, in some form or another, the same question:

Would she make it?

It was a beautiful Monday evening, just before 6:30.

Joseph Cope suggested the family drive to Salt Creek Beach after dinner to watch the sunset.

He was proud of the four-bedroom townhome he had found for his family in Dana Point -- a spacious, second-story unit with an ocean view. They'd been living there since April 1, when the family had relocated from Hilton Head, S.C., so that Joseph could take a job as a regional manager for a fire sprinkler installer. And they made use of their proximity to the Pacific.

Also, almost instantly after they moved in, the parking lot below the townhome on Silver Lantern Street and La Paz Avenue became a magnet for neighborhood kids. More than a dozen flock there each day to skate and play dodge ball or just hang out.

Zechariah Cope, 15, was a regular. So were his siblings, Hannah, 13, and Benjamin, 11.

And, of course, so was Tabitha.

A blonde with a fast smile, Tabitha has some princess in her. She sleeps under a turquoise canopy with dangling jewels.

But she's also something of a warrior. She climbs trees and, though new to Southern California, she's already taken an avid interest in skateboarding and surfing.

"She's not a Snow White," Renee Cope says. "She's more of a Jasmine, from 'Aladdin' -- rough and tumble."

That evening, as her mother and father discussed plans for dinner and the sunset, Tabitha decided to test out her brother's new $200 skateboard.

She placed one knee on it and used her other leg to kick.

Tabitha always looks both ways before crossing the street, according to her parents.

When she pushed off the curb to cross La Paz Avenue, almost directly across from her house, a parked car may have obscured her view.

She was just a few feet away from the curb when she was hit by the truck.

The truck, which did not have to stop at the intersection, kept going after hitting Tabitha -- it didn't even break, according to witnesses and police, who found no skid marks.

Tabitha's body, which had been low to the ground, avoided the wheels as the truck passed over her. One of the wheels ran over the skateboard, reducing it to splinters.

A 6-year-old witness told police the truck involved in the hit-and-run was a light colored, raised pickup truck or military-style vehicle with a blue stripe.

The driver still is at large.

As soon as Tabitha went down, a kid started yelling for help. And Hannah Cope, who had been sitting in her father's parked Silverado truck, heard the scream.

She ran to the intersection and found Tabitha trying to crawl back to the curb, blood covering her shorts and purple Tinker Bell shirt.

Hannah swooped up her sister in her arms and ran the short but steep distance to the house. Benjamin got there first.

"Tabby's been hit by a car!" she screamed.

Joseph Cope and his wife shifted into crisis mode.

He told Zechariah to prepare an ice pack; a huge bump had formed on Tabitha's forehead.

On the way to the nearest hospital, in Laguna Beach, Renee cradled Tabitha in her lap. Tabitha complained of difficulty breathing.

In about 15 minutes, they were in the emergency room. A half-dozen doctors and nurses swarmed around, hooking Tabitha up to intravenous tubes and securing her neck in a brace.

Because of the severity of her injuries, Tabitha was transferred to CHOC Children's at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo -- conscious, but in critical condition.

"Papa, don't leave me," she told her father.

"I won't."

Tabitha's liver was sliced.

Several ribs on both sides were broken.

Her collarbone was broken.

A tooth was knocked out and two others were broken.

Her shoulder and sternum swelled up.

It took doctors three to four days to determine Tabitha's liver didn't need to be removed -- that the laceration would heal.

By the sixth day in the hospital, Tabitha's blood count was stable enough to avoid a blood transfusion.

She was released from the hospital after eight days. The family celebrated by going out for pizza.

Tabitha, her head buried in a coloring book, says she doesn't remember much about the accident.

She's shy talking about the ordeal.

Asked if she thinks anything should happen to the driver who hit her, she shrugs.

"Nah," she says.

Tabitha is due for a CT scan in two or three weeks so doctors can make sure her liver is healing properly. She's expected to fully recover.

"I think it's a miracle she's come back like this," says a neighbor, Chun Rim.

Tabitha is restricted from physical activity for two months. On a trip to the beach Thursday, she had to settle with making sandcastles instead of swimming.

Tabitha wanted a small surfboard for her birthday Sunday, but her parents told her she'd have to wait.

Joseph Cope, 39, believes there's a reason Tabitha was spared death -- once eight years ago, and again two weeks ago.

"God has to have a plan for her," he says.

"She shouldn't be here."

The Orange County Sheriff's Department continues to look for the hit-and-run driver who struck Tabitha Cope. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-866-TIP-OCSD.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3764 or

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Sexual Predator Enters Plea in Attempted Kidnapping - San Diego 6

Posted: 24 May 2010 04:36 PM PDT

Girl Evades Kidnapper

NATIONAL CITY - National City Police have caught a convicted sex offender who tried to kidnap a 13-year-old girl at knife-point.

Leonard Earl Scroggins, 32, was spotted by an alert National City police officer Wednesday night who recognized the suspect's Nissan Quest as it drove past him at 18th and Highland. The officer chased Scroggins to Kimball Park where the suspect abandoned his car and tried to flee on foot before being caught near a skateboard park.

Scroggins was the subject of a manhunt after being identified as the suspect in several crimes. About 9 p.m. Tuesday, Scroggins allegedly confronted a 17-year-old girl in the 500 block of Oxford Street in Chula Vista and demanded money, CVPD Capt. Gary Wedge said. The victim "sidestepped" the would-be robber and ran off, according to Wedge.

Less than an hour later, a knife-wielding man matching Scroggins' description approached a woman in the 500 block of Anita Street in Chula Vista, grabbed her and tried to pull her into a vehicle. The victim resisted, prompting a struggle during which the assailant stabbed her at least once in the arm, the captain said.

The woman broke free and fled. She was treated at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego for non-life-threatening wounds.

Shortly before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Scroggins allegedly stole a young woman's purse in the area of East 30th Street and B Avenue in National City, then fled in a silver Nissan Quest.

About 90 minutes later, a man grabbed 13-year-old Guadalupe Perez from behind and put a knife to her throat near Q Avenue and East 16th Street in National City. The girl, who suffered a cut finger in the assault, managed to elbow the abductor and run to a nearby relative's home.

Guadalupe told San Diego 6, "I was walking home from school, and I felt this man grab me from behind."

Police say the eighth-grader fought off the six-foot, 245 pound convicted sex offender from Napa county.

Guadalupe Perez bravely talked about her frightening ordeal as she walked home after school. "He told me get in the car or he's going to cut me."

Scroggins put a knife to the girl's throat. The blood on her hands shows the cut she took.

"I kind of grabbed it like this with my hand, so I could get it far away from me as possible. So, I threw it like that -- so, I hit him with my elbow...and I yelled...and he left," Perez explained.

National City police say Scroggins is a wanted parolee, and there's an open case againist him in Napa. On the Meghan's Law website. it shows Scroggins was convicted of rape by force.

Lt. Keith Fifield with National City Police said Scroggins was supposed to be wearing an ankle bracelet. "He did have a GPS on him last night which he has apparently cut off and removed."

The victim of the purse-snatching was able to give the police Scroggin's license plate number which led to his arrest.

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Girl's Skateboard

Monday, May 24, 2010