Man’s ultimate Christmas regret

Competitive Christmas spirit ... Ryan Roche chugged the eggnog in record time. Picture: YouTube/Ryan Roche Source: Supplied

IT'S a Christmas challenge Yule never forget.

A sales manager nearly died after chugging one litre of eggnog so quickly, he inhaled some of the creamy beverage into his lungs.

Ryan Roche spent three days in hospital after downing the liquid in a record 12 seconds, shattering the previous record of 22 seconds, during a December 10 soiree.

The Utah man told New York Daily News he was about to leave the holiday party when organisers brought out the eggnog.

(Eggnog is a drink made from beaten eggs, cream and flavourings.)

Refusing to back away from a challenge, Mr Roche drank the carton in record time without taking a breath, winning a gift certificate for a steak dinner.

Struggling ... Ryan Roche had trouble breathing after downing the eggnog in record time. Picture: YouTube/Ryan Roche Source: Supplied

"When they said go, I just opened up the carton and pretty much just poured it down my throat," he told BuzzFeed. "I didn't take a breath of air."

Moments later, however, he began coughing and gasping, struggling to breathe.

He said a few hours later, still shaking and panting, a friend drove him to the hospital.

Doctors told him he had eggnog in his lungs, which caused an infection.

"Initially I felt very nauseous and pretty sick," he said. "After I was put on antibiotics and an IV I was no longer nauseous."

He was put on oxygen and antibiotics and released from the hospital after three days.

"The next few days my body would change from having a fever to shivering non-stop," he said. "It was like every hour on the hour it would change."

Roche says he recovered his strength after a week.

Paying for it ... Ryan Roche, pictured with friend Nick Duncan, spent three days in the hospital after his eggnog-drinking win. Picture: Ryan Roche Source: Supplied

Incredibly, Mr Roche said the experience hasn't turned him off eggnog.

"I was never a big fan of it to begin with," he said. "I could drink it again, but it's not my drink of choice."

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‘My dad gave me to Boko Haram’

The terrorist group Boko Haram has killed at least 33 people and kidnapped 185 more in an attack on a Nigerian village.

Unwilling bombers ... 'Zaharau' says she was given to terrorist organisation Boko Haram by her father, but refused to detonate her bomb. Source: Supplied Source: Supplied

A 13-YEAR-OLD girl says her father gave her to Boko Haram extremists and that she was arrested after refusing to explode a suicide bomb at a market in Kano, Nigeria's second largest city in the north.

Nigeria has suffered numerous suicide bombings in recent months carried out by girls and young women. That has raised fears that the insurgents are using kidnapped girls.

She says she told her captors she did not want to be a suicide bomber but allowed them to strap her into a vest primed with explosives because they threatened to bury her alive.

The girl, known only as Zaharau, told a news conference on Wednesday night that she saw many people being buried alive at the Boko Haram camp where her father took her in Bauchi state, east of Kano.

She said her captors asked if she wanted to go to paradise and, when she said yes, explained she would have to be a suicide bomber.

"When I was told I would have to die to enter paradise, that I would have to explode a bomb and die, I said I cannot do it," she said.

RELATED: Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram still missing

RELATED: Boko Haram kidnap 30 children in Nigeria's far northeast

Taken ... Nigeria's Boko Haram shared footage of the schoolgirls they abducted. Picture: AP Photo Source: AP

Scene ... more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from Chibok public school by Boko Haram Islamists on April 14. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

When they threatened to kill her, she allowed them to strap her into a vest primed with explosives, saying "I was afraid to be buried alive."

She says she was taken to Kano's textile market where two other girls detonated their bombs. Police said four people were killed and seven people — including Zaharau — in the December. 10 attack.

The girl says she then went to a hospital for treatment from injuries she sustained in the attack.

Police presented the girl at a news conference yesterday.

Protests ... a signboard bearing the name of one of the missing Chibok schoolgirls, Ruth Ngladar, is tied to a fence in Lagos. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

The West African nation's homegrown Boko Haram group attracted international condemnation when its fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in northeast Chibok town in April. Dozens escaped but 219 remain missing. Thousands of people have been killed and 1.6 million driven from their homes in the five-year-old uprising to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of 160 million people divided between mainly Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.

Police Superintendent Adenrele Shinaba said the girl was arrested in the hospital with a leg wound. A taxi driver took her to the hospital, and she said she left her suicide vest on the seat. The driver alerted police.

Shinaba said she will remain in custody while investigations continue. He said they had been unable to find her father, who the girl said belongs to Boko Haram.

Mother's heartbreak ... Martha Mark, the mother of kidnapped schoolgirl Monica Mark, cries for her daughter. Picture: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba Source: AP

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CCTV footage shows cop ‘ambush’

Black teen Antonio Martin was shot dead in Berkeley, Missouri, Tuesday night by the St Louis police. The shooting occurred five miles from where Mike Brown was shot in Ferguson, the heart of protest in America since August. The circumstances surrounding the death are unclear with police claiming that Martin was armed and drew a weapon. Witnesses at the scene claim that Martin was unarmed. He was reportedly with his girlfriend and another friend at the time of the shooting. Witnesses have claimed that Martin was still breathing at the time of being shot, but that medical assistance was not forthcoming. His mother Toni Martin was brought to the scene and watched from a distance as her son lay in the Mobil petrol station lot. The shooting has caused civil unrest, with four people reportedly arrested so far.

On the run ... Police try to control a crowd on the lot of a gas station following a shooting in Berkeley. Source: AP Source: AP

AMERICAN police have released new surveillance footage showing the violent confrontation which ended with a white police officer shooting dead an armed black teenager.

Antonio Martin was shot dead outside a petrol station about 11.15pm Tuesday local time in Berkeley, Missouri, a suburb near Ferguson where unarmed black teen Michael Brown was killed by a white cop in August.

RELATED: When 'warrior-cops' stalk the streets

RELATED: Antonio Martin shot dead by police in Missouri near Ferguson

Amid violent protests, St Louis County Police Department have released several angles of Tuesday's shooting from surveillance video.

The third and final video, released yesterday, shows the unidentified police officer retreating and running for cover after firing shots at Martin. Shoppers can be seen running for safety.

Officers said Martin was left out of frame out of respect for his grieving family.

The officer is seen top right hand corner, approaching Martin with an unidentified man. Source: Supplied

A shopper runs to her car for safety moments after the shooting. Source: Supplied

 

After the shot is fired, the officer is flung to the ground. Source: Supplied

The officer, seen in the bakcground, checks the scene. Source: Supplied

The officer retreats for safety as a witness hides for cover. Source: Supplied

The new footage comes after the lawyer for the 34-year-old St Louis-area police officer said his client may have been ambushed by Martin and a second man.

"Their behaviour is certainly bizarre, and it wouldn't surprise me at all, in the environment we are in, that's for sure," Brian Millikan told The St Louis Post-Dispatch.

The shooting happened a few kilometres from where unarmed teen Michael Brown was shot dead by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson in August. Berkeley, like Ferguson, is a predominately black St Louis suburb.

A crowd of about 300 people gathered at the petrol station where Martin was shot, throwing rocks, explosives and bricks in a scene reminiscent of the sometimes-violent protests that followed Brown's death.

Police said three explosive devices, perhaps fireworks, were tossed near gas pumps. One officer hit by a brick was treated for facial cuts, and another was treated for a leg injury sustained as he retreated from an explosive.

More than 50 police officers responded to protests, with Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall told KMOV-TV that six to eight people were arrested.

As protests continued into the night, about 100 people met at the petrol station for a vigil before marching to Interstate 170.

A closer angle shows Martin and the unidentified man talking to the officer. Source: Supplied

The clearest view of Martin pulling out a gun. Source: Supplied

Brushes with the law ... Police say Antonio Martin, 18, had been has been arrested numerous times in the last year. Police: St Louis County Police

Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins last night called for calm, insisting the shooting could not be compared to the killing of Michael Brown and the policeman involved did not go off "half-cocked".

"This was not the same as Ferguson," he told NBC News.

"Everybody don't die the same. Some people die because the policeman initiated. Some people die because they initiated it. And at this point, our review indicates that the police did not initiate this, like Ferguson."

He said that unlike the shooting of Brown which was not captured on video, surveillance footage appeared to show Martin pulling a gun on the officer who questioned him and another man about a theft at a convenience store. Brown, on the other hand, was unarmed.

CCTV shows the unidentified man running into the gas station. Source: Supplied

After the shot is fired, the unidentified man runs. Source: Supplied

Police scuffle with protesters on the lot of a gas station following the shooting in Berkeley, Mo. St. Louis. Source: AP Source: AP

"You couldn't even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York," Hoskins said, referring to the chokehold death of Eric Garner, another black man killed by a white police officer.

Hoskins, who is black, also noted that unlike in Ferguson — where a mostly white police force serves a mostly black community — more than half of the officers in his city of 9,000 are black, including top command staff.

However, police involved in the latest incident were not wearing the personal video camera gear they had been issued with, and some St Louis protesters have questioned whether the distant and blurry footage shows Martin holding a mobile phone — and not his gun.

A demonstrator holds her hands up during protest outside the Mobil On-The-Run gas and convenience store in Berkeley, Missouri. Source: AFP Source: AFP

SHOTS FIRED

The shooting happened after police were called to the petrol station for an alleged robbery.

St Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar did not provide details about the theft Martin was being asked about.

He said Martin pulled a loaded 9mm handgun and the officer fired three shots while stumbling backward. One hit Martin, who didn't fire his own gun. He died at the scene.

RELATED: Mother pen's emotive plea after 18-month old wounded by police

"I don't know why the guy didn't get a shot off, whether his gun jammed or he couldn't get the safety off," said attorney Brian Millikan, who is representing the officer.

He said that the officer, a six-year veteran of the police force, was lucky to be alive and certain he had no choice but to use lethal force.

Evidence assessed ... Police photograph a gun on the ground following a shooting at a gas station in Berkeley, St. Louis. Source: AP Source: AP

St Louis County police and the city of Berkeley are investigating the shooting of Martin, which Belmar called a tragedy for both Martin's family and the officer.

"He will carry the weight of this for the rest of his life, certainly for the rest of his career," Belmar said of the officer. "There are no winners here."

No surrender ... Protesters shut down an interstate at Airport Road in Berkeley for a second night after the shooting by a white police officer of a black 18-year-old. Source: AP Source: AP

Belmar said the officer wasn't wearing his body camera, and his cruiser's dashboard camera was not activated because the car's emergency lights were not on.

It is not clear if that was a deliberate choice.

Police released a photo of the weapon they recovered from the scene via Twitter.

Belmar said Martin had a criminal record that included three assault charges, plus charges of armed robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

Merry Christmas ... Heavily armed St. Louis Police officers guard the entrance to the Cathedral Basilica before Midnight Mass as protesters held a candlelight vigil. AP Source: AP

COMMUNITY GRIEF

Martin's mother, Toni Martin-Green, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Antonio was the oldest of four children.

"He's like any other kid who had dreams or hopes," she said. "We loved being around him. He'd push a smile out of you."

His was the third fatal shooting of a young black man by a white police officer in the St. Louis area since Brown was killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on August 9.

Kajieme Powell, 25, was killed August 19 after approaching St. Louis officers with a knife. Vonderrit Myers, 18, was fatally shot on October 8 after allegedly shooting at a St. Louis officer.

Each killing has led to protests, as did a grand jury's decision last month not to charge Wilson in Brown's death.

Do or die ... Demonstrators participate in a die-in protest outside the Mobil On-The-Run gas and convenience store in Berkeley. Source: AFP Source: AFP

Growing unrest ... A woman walks with police near the gas station where black 18-year-old Antonio Martin was killed by police. Source: AP Source: AP

DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES

State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat who has been critical of how police handled the Brown case, said the Martin shooting was far different than Brown's, noting that Martin pointed a weapon at the officer.

"That officer not only has an obligation to protect the community, but he also has a responsibility to protect himself," said the senator, who is black. "Because of the video, it is more than apparent that his life was in jeopardy."

But Taurean Russell, co-founder of Hands Up United, asked if police had any reason to question Martin in the first place. Mistrust of police remains high among blacks, many of whom are weary of harassment, said Russell, who is black.

Some protesters questioned why the officer couldn't use pepper spray or a stun gun.

"Frankly, that's unreasonable," Belmar said.

"When we had somebody pointing a gun at a police officer, there's not a lot of time."

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This is how celebs do Christmas

HOW do the rich and famous celebrate Christmas? Just like the rest of us ... unless it's a Kardashian.

Miley Cyrus dressed up as … well we don't know what but she posted plenty of photos to Instagram — some of them NSFW.

Beyonce and Jay-Z sipped champagne in a secret location only accessible by helicopter ... as you do!

The Jenner/Kardashian Klan held their annual Christmas Eve party which looked very OTT, as expected.

Some celebs definitely made the naughty list including Rita Ora and Adriana Lima.

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‘The time for peace has passed’

Explosive editorial ... Gordon Barnes has called for protesters to turn violent. Picture: LinkedIn Source: Supplied

A DISTURBING editorial in a City University of New York (CUNY) grad-student newspaper calls for rioters protesting the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown to arm themselves and wage violent war with cops.

"The time for peace has passed," says a revolutionary editorial titled In Support of Violence that was penned by editor-in-chief Gordon Barnes in the December 3 issue of The Advocate.

"The problem with the protesters' violence in Ferguson is that it is unorganised. If the violence was to be organised, and the protesters armed — more so than the few that sparingly are — then the brunt of social pressures would not be laid onto middling proprietors [of looted small businesses], but unto those deserving the most virulent response of an enraged populace," Barnes writes in the CUNY Grad Centre's publication.

"The acts of looting, destruction of property and violence directed towards state representatives is not only warranted, it is necessary," says Barnes, a doctoral student in history who once studied in Cuba.

POLICE KILL BLACK TEEN NEAR FERGUSON

The New York Post reports that the editorial — illustrated in the online version with the circled, capital A that symbolises anarchy — also urges rioters to emulate the Black Panthers and Malcolm X instead of Martin Luther King and other advocates of nonviolence — and hopes the unrest will morph into a revolution.

"The violence against property, that is destruction and theft, is only an unorganised form of something with the potential to be far more revolutionary and inspiring," says Barnes, who is paid from $10,000 to $20,000 a year as a graduate assistant and who also pockets an annual stipend of $24,000 as a Presidential MAGNET fellow, according to his LinkedIn page.

The screed was posted online the same day a grand jury declined to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in Garner's death, which is mentioned in an online note but not in the original editorial.

It also ran 11 days before CUNY Professor Eric Linsker was busted on assault and other charges for attacking cops at a protest on the Brooklyn Bridge, and 17 days before two NYPD officers were assassinated by a madman in Brooklyn seeking revenge for the Garner and Brown killings.

The 1861-word, densely written and jargon-filled diatribe ultimately issues a direct call for more violence in the streets.

"What is needed now is to take the next step from indiscriminate attacks to ones directly pointed at state power as well as at the lackeys and apologists who allow it to prosper," says Barnes, who also studied at Instituto de Filosofía de Cuba and is a graduate of the Valley Forge Military Academy and Temple and Rutgers universities, his LinkedIn page says.

The paper added a disclaimer at the end of the piece, saying the views are Barnes' only.

CUNY Grad Centre President Chase F. Robinson condemned the editorial.

"While freedom of speech must be protected, and the views expressed by the editor in chief of this student newspaper are stated as sole views, we deplore calls of any kind for violence. As Martin Luther King's birthday approaches, we should instead recommit ourselves to nonviolence as the true path to social justice," Robinson said.

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‘The Rock’ wins best Xmas card

TO CELEBRATE the festive season, Dwayne "The Rock " Johnson posted this amazing Christmas card on Instagram, which may be the best card of the year.

It reminds us of just how far The Rock has come since the days of his fanny packs, turtlenecks and actually having hair.

He appeared on American talk show Live! with Kelly and Michael in Karaoke Smackdown with host Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan in Christmas onesies and all.

Always happy to have a laugh, Johnson often posts photos poking fun at himself.

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How this mum feeds 34 kids at Christmas

Loving family ... Jeane Briggs (back row, centre) with some of her children at the beach. Picture: Courtesy of Jeane Briggs Source: Supplied

THINK Christmas is busy at your place? Spare a thought for Jeane and Paul Briggs who have 34 children — and two on the way.

Nine bedrooms, three vans, two swimming pools and an incredible $63,500 a year on groceries is what it takes to raise five biological and 29 adopted children.

But the Briggs wouldn't have it any other way.

"Not a lot of people get to do this, and I get offended if people call us an orphanage. We are a home. I take pride in providing a peaceful environment for my family. This is our calling," Mrs Briggs, 58, told News Corp Australia.

"These kids are my heroes. They endure so many health struggles but stay so positive. I want to wake up every morning like that."

Loving family ... the Briggs have adopted 29 children from around the world, with some pictured here. Picture: Courtesy of Jeane Briggs Source: Supplied

The Briggs have been married for 38 years, but together for 43 after meeting at a Christian camp as teenagers.

The deeply religious pair adopted their first child 29 years ago — and have no plans to stop.

Many of the children — aged between four and 35 and from countries such as Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and Ghana — have severe medical or learning disabilities including polio, cancer and autism. Most struggled to find families in their homelands.

With 24 of their children still living at home, the Briggs have the organisational skills of a drill sergeant and the patience of a saint.

Loving couple ... Paul and Jeane Briggs have been married for 43 years. Picture: Courtesy of Jeane Briggs Source: Supplied

The family home has nine bedrooms, five bathrooms, three food pantries and two sets of washers and dryers.

The two-acre property in rural West Virginia boasts two swimming pools, soccer goals, two trampolines and two jungle gyms.

The family gets around in three vans — two 15-seaters and one seven-seater.

Water babies ... in the summer months, the Briggs children spend their days splashing around in the family's two pools. Picture: Courtesy of Jeane Briggs Source: Supplied

Meal times are epic.

The Briggs spend about $US1000 ($1200) on groceries a week. Mrs Briggs divides her children into three teams (A, B and C) who plan the meals and help her shop.

These are some of the things they buy every week:

— 12-14 loaves of bread, 16 if sandwiches are on the menu

— 37 litres of milk

— 27kg of apples

— 6 or 7 bags of bananas

— 2.8kg of tomato sauce for pasta

— 1.88kg of tuna

— 3kg of fruit for jelly

— 9kg of potatoes

— 2.72kg of peanut butter

The children help to cook and plan meals which are served buffet-style and eaten at three huge tables with paper plates.

"We went to paper when we had 12 kids," Mrs Briggs, a grandmother, said.

Time to eat ... the Briggs sit down for three meals a day at the family home. Picture: Courtesy of Jeane Briggs Source: Supplied

The Briggs say they will always open their home to orphans and are in the process of adopting two baby boys from Ghana

"We don't take government money. We don't have savings, but do a have a trust fund for the kids who need care for their rest of their lives. My husband has a great job with excellent insurance," Mrs Briggs said.

"I always knew I wanted to adopt, but I never thought I would adopt this many children."

Loving home ... the Briggs have adopted 29 children. Picture: Courtesy of Jeane Briggs Source: Supplied

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IS shoot down plane, capture pilot

In the grip of terrorists ... This image posted by the Raqqa Media Centre of the Islamic State group shows the captured pilot, centre, wearing a white shirt in Raqqa, Syria. Picture: AP Source: AP

THE Islamic State group has shot down a warplane from the US-led coalition over northern Syria, with the Jordanian military confirming that one of its pilots has been captured.

"We have confirmed reports that IS members took a (non-Syrian) Arab pilot prisoner after shooting his plane down with an anti-aircraft missile near Raqa city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The IS branch in Raqa published photographs on jihadist websites purporting to show its fighters holding the captured pilot, with a caption identifying him as Jordanian and giving his name as Flight Lieutenant Moaz Youssef al-Kasasbeh.

Several photographs were released, including one showing the pilot, wearing only a white shirt, being carried from a body of water by four men.

Another showed him on land, surrounded by about a dozen armed men.

Jordanian pilot ... This image posted by the Raqqa Media Centre of the Islamic State group shows members of the Islamic State group with a captured pilot, centre. Picture: AP Source: AP

IS group's fighters inspect the wreckage of the warplane. Source: AFP

An IS fighter shows pieces of the warplane. Source: AFP

The jihadists claimed to have shot down the warplane with a heat-seeking missile.

Lt Kasasbeh's father, Youssef al-Kasasbeh, confirmed his son's plane had crashed in Syria in an interview with the Jordanian newspaper, Saraya.

Mr al-Kasasbeh made an appeal to IS leaders.

"May Allah plant mercy in your hearts and may you release my son," he said.

Jordan is among a number of countries that have joined the US-led alliance carrying out air strikes against IS after the jihadists seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.

A photograph of the Jordanian military identity card of the pilot, identifying him as Mu'ath Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh. Picture: Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group Source: AP

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain are taking part in the air strikes in Syria alongside the US.

Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France and The Netherlands have joined the raids in Iraq.

The Sunni extremist IS has committed widespread atrocities in areas under its control, including mass executions of captured soldiers and public beheadings of hostages including Western journalists and aid workers.

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NY cop’s widow pours heart out

Surveillance video released by New York City Police Department purports to show suspect before he allegedly killed two officers. Rough cut (no reporter narration)

THE newlywed widow of slain Officer Wenjian Liu wept while thanking the city for its support, as the family of his murdered partner focused on the two sons he left behind.

"This is a difficult time for both of our families,'' said Pei Xia Chen, who married Liu just two months ago in what neighbours described as a simple yet beautiful ceremony in their Brooklyn home.

"The Liu family would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the Police Department, our neighbours, the entire New York City community.

"We would also like to express our condolences to Officer [Rafael] Ramos' family,'' Chen said, referring to the policeman killed on Saturday with her husband in a Brooklyn ambush.

"We will stand together and get through this together,'' she said, wiping away tears as she stood outside her home next to a memorial strewn with flowers and candles.

Murdered ... NYPD officers Rafael Ramos, left, and Wenjian Liu. who were fatally shot in broad daylight as they ate lunch in a patrol car in Brooklyn. Picture: NYPD Source: AP

Liu's parents added in a heartbreaking statement how proud they were of their only child for becoming a police officer, a non-traditional career path in their Chinese community — and how he had been looking forward to raising a family with his new bride.

"He was a dedicated public servant who committed his life to helping others, and we will deeply miss him," they said.

Meanwhile, the Ramos family appeared focused on getting the slain cop's two teenage sons, Justin and Jaden, through the most difficult time of their lives.

Tribute ... retired police officer Henry Lallave kneels at a makeshift memorial near the site where Ramos and Liu were murdered in Brooklyn. Picture: AP Source: AP

As visitors stopped by their Brooklyn house throughout the day, the cop's younger child, Jaden, 13, sought a brief moment of normalcy when he tossed around a football with friends before being called indoors.

Firefighters from Ladder Co. 175 in East New York pulled up a truck outside the home and let Jaden and six other children climb into in and play with its siren and controls.

Later, a group of about 50 cops stopped by Ramos' house, some carrying blue flowers in tribute.

Grief ... a police officer wipes his eyes as he is comforted by colleagues at a makeshift memorial near were the two NYPD officers were killed. Picture: AP Source: AP

Mayor de Blasio called the cop's sons "impressive" for staying strong and said he told them during a meeting with the family on Monday morning that he was 18 when he lost his own father.

"You have two teenage young men, good, young men who no longer have a father because of an assassin," he told reporters.

"To hear them trying to put on a brave face, trying to make sense of a terrible situation ... they are impressive young men."

At a makeshift memorial at the Bedford-Stuyvesant scene where the officers were murdered, cops from around the country paid tribute to the fallen.

The youngest daughter of cop-chokehold victim Eric Garner lit a blue candle at the memorial before telling a crowd of more than 300 people that she visited Ramos' family after reading his son Jaden's touching tribute to his dad on Facebook.

Reaching out ... Emerald Snipes-Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, centre with blue candle, visits the makeshift memorial to Liu and Ramos. Picture: AP Source: AP

"It hit my heart because I know what it feels like with this upcoming season and you don't have your father around. I know first-hand what you're feeling," said Emerald Snipes-Garner, 22.

Authorities believe the cops' killer targeted them to avenge the deaths of Garner and black Ferguson, Missouri teen Michael Brown, both of whom died in confrontations with white cops.

Snipes-Garner urged protesters to be peaceful when marching in her father's name.

City divided ... people demonstrate against police violence in Grand Central Station on December 22 in New York City. The demonstration was held in response to the deaths of police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who met with Ramos' family on Sunday and Liu's on Monday, said both groups can't comprehend their murders.

Mr Cuomo said Liu's parents asked him, "Why? Why?"

They're now wondering how to pay for their mortgage and for his mom's medical treatments.

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‘When I saw it was him I started crying’

An eight-year-old boy has died after being injured on a building site in Sydney's south-west.

"WE RAN down there and when I saw it was my brother I just started crying."

The distraught brother of a 10-year-old boy who was crushed to death by a concrete slab has described in harrowing detail the events leading up to and after the accident.

Alalate Makafana said he heard one of the men "call out that someone was trapped", only to come to the shock realisation it was his younger brother, Erwin Makafana.

He was pronounced dead at Liverpool hospital after the ­accident in Sydney's southwest on ­George Rd, Leppington, about 1.30pm.

Erwin was described as a fun-loving youngster who ­''always had a smile on his face''.

Erwin Makafana died after becoming trapped under heavy concrete blocks at a construction site in Sydney's southwest. Source: Channel 9

Paramedics rush to the boy, who was fatally injured/ Source: Channel 9

The boy was playing among slabs stacked at the rear of the recently built five acre Sydney Tongan Adventist Church while his ­father and brother Alalate, 17, helped to construct a fence around the property.

Paramedics and police worked to free the boy, who was unconscious, and he was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.

Alalate said his brother was a bit of a joker who "never sat still" and loved sport. The family, from Macquarie Fields, were part of the parish and Erwin had spent a lot of time playing at the site while the church was being built.

Alalate Makafana who is the older brother of 10 yr old Erwin Makafana who was killed at a construction site in Leppinton where a concrete Slab fell on him. Picture Phil Rogers Source: DailyTelegraph

Alalate Makafana, the older brother of 10-year-old Erwin Makafana who was killed at a construction site. Picture Phil Rogers Source: DailyTelegraph

The construction site was closed off and an investigation will take place into the accident. Picture: Phil Rogers Source: DailyTelegraph

Meanwhile, the pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church property where the accident occurred has described his "devastation" by the "terrible" event.

As investigators inspected the site late yesterday, pastor Sitiveni Fine Teaupa said the parish was "in deep shock".

"I am devastated by this accident. Our whole community is heartbroken. There is nothing more precious to us than our children," he said.

Mr Teaupa assured News Corp the Church would "thoroughly investigate how this accident occurred" and confirmed all work on the site "has been ended until we complete the review".

"Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers. We are all in deep shock."

A view of the property where the accident occurred. Picture: Phil Rogers Source: DailyTelegraph

Originally published as 'When I saw it was him I started crying'

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