Man electrocuted on T's Orange Line

A man was electrocuted last night when he made contact with the third rail after walking into the MBTA's Orange Line tunnel between North Station and Community College, said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. An MBTA crew spotted the man inside the tunnel at about 10:30 p.m and brought an approaching train to a halt, Pesaturo said. The man then crawled under the train and was killed when he touched the electrified third rail, Pesaturo said. Service was temporarily halted between Wellington and Haymarket stations.

A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to conspiring to smuggle illegal Brazilian immigrants from Mexico to various locations in the United States, including Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C. Edson Faustino, 47, of Pompano Beach, Fla., admitted that he served as a debt collector for the ring, which charged immigrants $10,000 to bring them to the United States. Faustino was arrested last year after collecting a fee through a middle man from a Brazilian man who was transported by van to Cambridge. Faustino is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 17. Another man charged with serving as a debt collector for the ring, Jose Marcos Silva, of Medford, is scheduled to go to trial in federal court in October.

ATTLEBORO

An Attleboro police officer shot a man in the arm early yesterday morning after authorities said he led police on a 4-mile chase in a stolen sport utility vehicle and rammed a cruiser. John J. Peters, 44, was expected to be released from Rhode Island Hospital yesterday or today and will face several charges, according to Captain George G. Bussiere of the Attleboro Police Department. Joyce Sumpter, 45, a passenger in the SUV, was also arrested and charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, a Jeep Grand Wagoneer taken in Paris, Maine. At 12:20 a.m. yesterday, police said, an officer on patrol saw Peters speeding. After police chased him on several local roads, Peters turned onto East Street and hit a dead end. An officer used his cruiser to block the dead end and got out of his car, Bussiere said. Peters drove at the officer, who jumped out of the way, Bussiere said. The officer drew his gun and fired several shots, hitting Peters once in the arm, Bussiere said. Peters rammed the cruiser and drove into a tree. Police did not release the name of the officer who fired his gun. Following department protocol, the officer was placed on administrative leave while the shooting is reviewed.

HYANNISPORT

A 10-year-old granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy told police that she was frightened at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday when two men offered her a ride in their van as she was walking from a private tennis club about a half-mile from the Kennedy family's compound in Hyannisport, police say. Barnstable police said they are investigating the report. The girl, whom police would not identify by name because she is a minor, described the two men as white and in their 50s and said the van was white with no markings. She said she ran when they offered her a ride, police said. "They didn't try to physically take her," said Barnstable Sergeant Ben Baxter, adding that police had added more patrols in the area.

HALIFAX

Team practices, the classic car shows in the Wal-Mart parking lot, and other organized outdoor activities must end by 6 p.m., say Halifax health officials, who are concerned that people could contract a mosquito-borne illness. The ban will remain in effect until further notice. Health Agent Cathleen Drinan said Halifax is in one of three areas in Southeastern Massachusetts warned by the state that they are at a high risk for human cases of West Nile virus or Eastern equine encephalitis.

WENHAM

Gordon College has received a $60 million endowment gift from a California couple with two grandchildren enrolled at the school, the largest gift in the history of the Christian liberal arts college. The donation comes from a real estate developer and his wife and nearly triples the Wenham school's current endowment of $33 million. Gordon College will officially rename its campus the Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler Campus, after the donors. The school, founded in 1889, has about 1,700 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students. (AP)