A 26-year-old man was hit and killed by a car Monday night just blocks from his home, cops said. 

According to police, shortly before midnight last night cops responded to a 911 call reporting a pedestrian struck  in Queens.

Cops found Kaman Drummond, 26, who lived just two blocks away, severely injured on 208th Street near 109th Avenue.

Early reports stated that a woman driving a 1994 Honda Accord struck him with her car. The driver turned out to be Drummond’s girlfriend, 21-year-old Dunasha Payne. She was taken into custody at the scene.

The first 911 call described Drummond being chased by a car speeding northbound on 208th Street. Subsequent 911 callers said he ran from the corner of Hollis Avenue and 208th Street to 104-37 208th Street, where Payne’s Honda Accord slammed into him.

According to a law enforcement source, eyewitness accounts described an aggressive pursuit, stating that Drummond ducked for cover behind parked cars.

Eyewitnesses reportedly also told police that Payne attempted to maneuver around the cars, seemingly intent on running Drummond down.

After the car ran over Drummond, Payne reportedly attempted to back up and flee, but was stopped by one of the 911 callers.

EMS arrived on the scene to find Drummond in cardiac arrest. He was taken to Queens General Hospital with his torso crushed and abrasions on his head and back, and was pronounced dead at 12:36 a.m.

Payne reportedly told police that she was angry at Drummond because he was involved with another woman. She said a verbal argument quickly escalated to a car chase, but that her original intention was only to chase him and frighten him, not kill him.

A law enforcement source reported that by Payne’s account, she was traveling too fast and couldn’t stop. She reportedly explained that when she attempted to reverse and leave the scene, she was going to get help.

Cops are now charging Payne with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon.

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It took a Wilt Chamberlain-esque parade of women for Tiger Woods to figure it all out, but he and we now know that he has a type: white, blonde and athletic.

Woods and women’s downhill skiing champion Lindsey Vonn officially announced what has long been rumored: they are, in fact, dating. Woods announced his relationship status like most famed golfers turned sex fiends always have – on Facebook, at the exact same time as his new flame.

“This season has been great so far and I’m happy with my wins at Torrey and Doral,” Woods wrote. “Something nice that’s happened off the course was meeting Lindsey Vonn. Lindsey and I have been friends for some time, but over the last few months we have become very close and are now dating. We thank you for your support and for respecting our privacy. We want to continue our relationship, privately, as an ordinary couple and continue to compete as athletes.”

Vonn wrote:

“I guess it wasn’t a well-kept secret but yes, I am dating Tiger Woods. Our relationship evolved from a friendship into something moreover these past few months and it has made me very happy. I don’t plan on addressing this further as I would like to keep that part of my life between us, my family and close friends. Thank you for understanding and your continued support! xo LV”

Other than being world-class athletes, we also know that Woods and Vonn have this in common:

The 28-year-old Vonn made headlines just last month when she tore her ACL and MCL in a brutal crash in Austria. Woods tore his ACL in 2008 and hasn’t really been the same since (though that other set-back on Thanksgiving weekend of 2009 may have played a factor as well).

Follow Metro Boston sports editor and columnist Matt Burke on Twitter @BurkeMetroBOS

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Many, okay – two people, were worried about what Michael Phelps would be doing in his post-swimming career. Let’s face it, Phelps is downright boring outside the pool. Aside from crying when the Ravens won the Super Bowl, Phelps isn’t exactly an emotion factory. Still, models from across the globe seem to be drawn to the Olympic hero (this Olympic fame fades at some point, Michael, ask Kurt Angle … that’s right – WHO?!). According to multiple reports, Phelps is now dating 22-year-old waitress/model Sarah Herndon.

“‘Michael’s a good kisser. He’s very cuddly and kissy, which is cute. He’s charming and a gentleman,” Herndon told the Daily Mail. “’He’s got a great sculpted body. He’s obviously been a swimmer like forever.”

Sounds like they’re in it for the conversation.

In the past year, Phelps has been linked to Jasmine Waltz, Megan Rossee and Nicole Johnson – not a bow-wow in the bunch.

Hip-hop v. the NBA

Yesterday at PTF we touched on the rising hip-hop vs. NBA battle, highlighted by Lil’ Wayne saying that he had relations with Chris Bosh’s wife and having hundreds of people chant “F*** the NBA!” in a public forum.

Just hours later, in the Raptors-Wizards game, rapper Wale was well-prepared to do damage to Toronto announcers Matt Devlin and Sherman Hamilton. Devlin and Hamilton didn’t really know who Wale was (more than forgivable) and apparently Wale took offense after people took to Twitter and ratted out the Raptors broadcasters.

Best part of video 1: “Hey Wal-eh, I’m in Canada now, Eh?”

Best part of video two: The Raptors announcers try to play it off like they’ll be quick friends with the furious Wale. “We’ll ah, we’ll talk to him after the third quarter.”

Follow Metro Boston sports editor Matt Burke on Twitter @BurkeMetroBOS

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  Wale attacks Raptors announcers (Part 1)

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“Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs and walked across his bedroom before firing four shots through a locked bathroom door, killing his cowering girlfriend in cold blood, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Reeva Steenkamp, a 30-year-old law graduate and model, died after being hit by three rounds from a 9-mm pistol, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

Pistorius, 26, wept uncontrollably in court as Nel outlined details of a shooting that has stunned South Africa and the millions around the world who saw the double amputee’s track glory as the ultimate tale of triumph over adversity.

Later, in an affidavit read out by defense lawyer Barry Roux, Pistorius said he had been “deeply in love” with Steenkamp, whom he had been dating since November, and had no intention of killing her.

Having had previous death threats, Pistorius said he slept with a 9-mm pistol under his bed in his plush Pretoria home in the heart of a well-secured gated community.

He and Steenkamp went to sleep on Wednesday night – the eve of Valentine’s Day – shortly after 10 p.m., he said.

However, in the middle of the night, he awoke in pitch darkness and thought an intruder had climbed through the window of his bathroom, Pistorius said.

He climbed out of bed without putting on his prosthetic legs and went towards the closed bathroom door, not realizing Steenkamp was behind it, he said. He then fired several shots into the door, before shouting to Steenkamp to call the police.

Realizing she was not in bed, he grabbed a cricket bat to beat down the bathroom door and found her slumped on the floor.

“I am absolutely mortified at the death of my beloved Reeva,” he said in the affidavit. As Roux read the statement, Pistorius was crying uncontrollably, to the point magistrate Desmond Nair had to halt proceedings for several minutes.

“You need to concentrate on what’s going on,” he told him.

“AN ANGEL”

Nearly 1,000 km (600 miles) away, on South Africa’s windswept southern coast, scores of mourners gathered in the city of Port Elizabeth for Steenkamp’s funeral. Amid the grief, there was little sympathy for Pistorius.

“She was an angel. She was so soft, so innocent. Such a lovely person. It’s just sad that this could happen to somebody so good,” said Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked for Steenkamp’s father.

“I’m disgusted with what he did. He must be dealt with harshly,” he added, shortly before Steenkamp’s cremation in the windswept Victoria Park Crematorium.

“Without a doubt he’s a danger to the public. He’ll be a danger to witnesses. He must stay in jail.”

The case has drawn further attention to endemic violence against women in South Africa after the gang-rape, mutilation and murder of a 17-year-old near Cape Town this month.

Members of the Women’s League of the ruling African National Congress protested outside the Pretoria central magistrates court, waving placards saying: “No Bail for Pistorius” and “Rot in jail”.

Before Pistorius’ dramatic testimony, Nel, the lead prosecutor at the hearing, painted a picture of premeditated killing – a crime that carries a life sentence in South Africa.

“If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated,” he said. “The door is closed. There is no doubt. I walk seven meters and I kill.”

“The motive is ‘I want to kill’. That’s it,” he added. “This deceased was in a 1.4 by 1.14 meter little room. She could go nowhere. It must have been horrific.”

NIKE DROPS PISTORIUS

The arrest of Pistorius stunned the millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 meters in the London Olympics, running on high-technology carbon fiber ‘blades’.

But the impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who had transcended the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

His endorsements and sponsorships, which include sportswear giant Nike, British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler, are thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he earned 5.6 million rand ($630,500) a year, and owned properties worth nearly $1 million.

Nike said on Monday it had dropped Pistorius from any future advertising campaigns. Other sponsors have said they will make no decisions until the legal process has run its course.

Pistorius has cancelled scheduled track appearances in Australia, Brazil and Britain in the coming months to focus on his attempt to clear his name.

Born without a fibula in either leg, Pistorius had his lower legs amputated as an 11-month-old baby but became the highest-profile athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games.

Dressed in a dark suit, Pistorius arrived at the court in a police car shortly before 7 a.m. (0500 GMT). Proceedings were delayed as more than 100 journalists from around the world jostled to get into the dimly lit, brick-face courtroom.

After the hour-long private ceremony in the cream-colored hill-top church in Port Elizabeth, Steenkamp’s brother Adam and uncle Mike, fighting back tears, spoke briefly to reporters.

“There’s a space missing inside all the people that she knew that can’t be filled again,” Adam Steenkamp said. “We are going to keep all the positive things that we remember and know about my sister. We will miss her.”

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South African “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged on Thursday with shooting dead his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria.

Police said they had opened a murder case after a 30-year-old woman was found dead at the track star’s house after an incident in the upmarket Silverlakes gated complex on the outskirts of the capital.

“At this stage he is on his way to a district surgeon for medical examination,” police brigadier Denise Beukes told reporters outside the heavily guarded residential complex.

Pistorius and his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, had been the only people in the house at the time of the shooting, Beukes, said, and witnesses had been interviewed about the incident, which happened in the early hours of the morning.

“We are talking about neighbors and people that heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place,” she said. Earlier, police said a 9mm pistol had been found at the scene.

“When a person has been accused of a crime like murder they look at things like testing under the figure nails, taking a blood alcohol sample and all kinds of other test that are done. They are standard medical tests,” Beukes said.

Pistorius is due to appear in a Pretoria court after 1200 GMT.

Before the murder charge was announced, Johannesburg’s Talk Radio 702 said the 26-year-old may have mistaken Steenkamp for a burglar.

South Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, and many home owners have weapons to defend themselves against intruders, although Pistorius’ complex is surrounded by a three meter high wall and electric fence.

In 2004, Springbok rugby player Rudi Visagie shot dead his 19-year-old daughter after he mistakenly thought she was a robber trying to steal his car in the middle of the night.

VALENTINE’S DAY

Steenkamp, a model and regular on the South African party circuit, was reported to have been dating Pistorius for a year, and there had been little to suggest their relationship was in trouble.

In the social pages of last weekend’s Sunday Independent she described him as having “impeccable” taste.

“His gifts are always thoughtful,” she was quoted as saying.

Some of her last Twitter postings indicated she was looking forward to celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday with him.

“What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???” she posted.

However, Beukes said the police were aware of previous incidents at the house of a “domestic nature”, and recent media interviews with Pistorius revealed he kept an assortment of weapons in his home.

“Cricket and baseball bats lay behind the door, a pistol by his bed and a machine gun by a window,” Britain’s Daily Mail wrote in a profile published last year.

He was arrested in 2009 for assault after slamming a door on a woman and spent a night in police custody. Family and friends said it was just an accident and the charges were later dropped.

Steenkamp’s colleagues were distraught.

“We are all devastated. Her family is in shock,” Steenkamp’s agent, Sarita Tomlinson, told Reuters, in tears. “They did have a good relationship. Nobody actually knows what happened.”

TRACK STAR

Pistorius, who races wearing carbon fiber prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs, was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics and reached the 400 meter semi-finals in London 2012.

Respected worldwide for triumphing over his disabilities to compete on a level playing field with able-bodied athletes, his sponsorship deals are thought to be worth $2 million a year.

In last year’s Paralympics he suffered his first loss over 200 meters in nine years. After the race he questioned the legitimacy of Brazilian winner Alan Oliveira’s prosthetic blades, though he was quick to express his regret for the comments.

Pistorius is sponsored by British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley, sports apparel maker Nike and French designer Thierry Mugler.

“We are shocked by this terrible, tragic news. We await the outcome of the South African police investigation,” a BT spokeswoman said before Pistorius was charged.

A Nike spokesman in London said before hearing of the murder charge that the company was “saddened by the news, but we have no further comment to make at this stage”.

Pistorius also has a sponsorship deal with Icelandic prosthetics manufacturer Ossur.

“I can only say that our thoughts and prayers are with Oscar and the families involved in the tragedy,” Ossur CEO Jon Sigurdsson told Reuters. “It is completely premature to discuss or speculate on our business relationship with him.”

Neighbors expressed shock at the arrest of a “good guy”.

“It is difficult to imagine an intruder entering this community, but we live in a country where intruders can get in wherever they want to,” said one Silverlakes resident, who did not want to be named.

“Oscar is a good guy, an upstanding neighbor, and if he is innocent I feel for this guy deeply,” he said.

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