Baseball team's charter bus catches fire in Iowa; no one is hurt

A charter bus caught fire early Friday as it was transporting a professional baseball team from Iowa to a game in a Chicago suburb.

Members of the Sioux City Explorers made it off the bus safely, although several lost their gloves when the overhead bins melted.

The fire started as the bus approached the 1,400-person town of Earlham, Iowa, about a third of the way into its 490-mile drive to Geneva, Illinois, where the game was being played. Earlham Fire & Rescue blamed a mechanical issue for sparking the fire, which rapidly spread from the engine to the passenger area, where many of the players were sound asleep.

“I was woken up to guys walking past me saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get off the bus. There’s smoke back here,'" said J.D. Scholten, a 44-year-old pitcher who also serves in the Iowa Legislature.

The flames broke the windows of the bus, but firefighters were called around 2:45 a.m. and quickly extinguished the blaze, volunteer firefighter Blake Boyle said.

He said the driver, realizing something was wrong, had gotten off the interstate and was heading toward town on a smaller highway. The bus left a a trail of oil.

“It was probably spraying oil all over the motor," Boyle said. “And then once they stopped it, it caught fire.”

Another charter bus was able to pick up the team, which arrived at their hotel around 11 a.m. — about three hours later than expected, Scholten said.

Batting practice was canceled. But the team, which is a member of an independent league called the American Association of Professional Baseball, was proceeding with the game scheduled for Friday evening against the Kane County Cougars in Geneva, Illinois.

Scholten lost only a couple hats, a pillow and a water bottle because most of his gear was stowed in the relatively undamaged bins below the bus. He said he didn't know what his teammates whose gloves were destroyed were going to do.

“We’re just kind of playing it by ear,” he explained, as a group text pinged his phone. Teammates were off to Target and wanted to know if anyone needed anything.

The blaze came during a season that has been full of surprises. After going years without touching a ball, Scholten started obsessing over YouTube videos on pitching mechanics in the early days of the pandemic. Then he bought a dozen balls and a net.

Last month, the team had a pitching emergency. There was a music festival that day and Scholten had already drank a beer. But he pitched anyway and got the win. Now he is part of the rotation, sometimes throwing to a catcher half his age.

“That’s part of, minor league baseball is there’s always weird things that happen," Scholten said. "Notorious bus issues. But this kind of takes the cake when it comes to all of that.”

In this photo provided by J.D. Scholten, a bus carrying the Sioux City Explorers to a baseball game in Illinois caught fire early on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, near Earlham, Iowa. State Rep. J.D. Scholten, who is a pitcher for the team, wrote in a Facebook post that he was grateful no one was hurt. (J.D. Scholten via AP)

In this photo provided by J.D. Scholten, a bus carrying the Sioux City Explorers to a baseball game in Illinois caught fire early on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, near Earlham, Iowa. State Rep. J.D. Scholten, who is a pitcher for the team, wrote in a Facebook post that he was grateful no one was hurt. (J.D. Scholten via AP)

In this photo provided by J.D. Scholten, a bus carrying the Sioux City Explorers to a baseball game in Illinois caught fire early on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, near Earlham, Iowa. State Rep. J.D. Scholten, who is a pitcher for the team, wrote in a Facebook post that he was grateful no one was hurt. (J.D. Scholten via AP)

In this photo provided by J.D. Scholten, a bus carrying the Sioux City Explorers to a baseball game in Illinois caught fire early on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024 near Earlham, Iowa. State Rep. J.D. Scholten, who is a pitcher for the team, wrote in a Facebook post that he was grateful no one was hurt. (J.D. Scholten via AP)

In this photo provided by J.D. Scholten, a bus carrying the Sioux City Explorers to a baseball game in Illinois caught fire early on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, near Earlham, Iowa. State Rep. J.D. Scholten, who is a pitcher for the team, wrote in a Facebook post that he was grateful no one was hurt. (J.D. Scholten via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy" Combs was arrested late Monday in New York, where he faces a sealed criminal indictment, prosecutors announced late Monday.

Details of the charges weren't immediately announced by prosecutors, but the hip-hop mogul has faced a stream of allegations by women in recent months who accused him of sexual assault.

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Damian Williams, said in a statement that federal agents arrested Combs. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, issued a statement saying: “We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

He added that Combs had gone to New York last week in anticipation of the charges being brought.

“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said.

Combs was arrested in a Manhattan hotel lobby and is in federal custody, said a person familiar with the arrest who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The criminal charges are a major but not unexpected takedown of one of the most prominent producers and most famous names in the history of hip-hop.

The federal investigation of the 58-year-old Combs was revealed when Homeland Security Investigations agents served simultaneous search warrants and raided Combs' mansions in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25.

His defense attorney Aaron Dyer the day after the raids called them “a gross use of military-level force,” said the allegations were “meritless,” and said Combs was “innocent and will continue to fight" to clear his name.

Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, was at the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop battles of the 1990s as the partner and producer of the Notorious B.I.G., who was shot and killed in 1997. But like many of those who survived the era, his public image had softened with age into a genteel host of parties in Hollywood and the Hamptons, a fashion-forward businessman, and a doting father who spoiled his kids, some of whom lost their mother in 2018.

But a different image began emerging in November, when his former protege and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, became the first of several people to sue him for sexual abuse with stories of a steady stream of sex workers in drug-fueled settings where some of those involved were coerced or cajoled into sex.

In her November lawsuit, Cassie alleged years of abuse, including beatings and rape. Her suit also alleged Combs engaged in sex trafficking by “requiring her to engage in forced sexual acts in multiple jurisdictions” and by engaging in “harboring and transportation of Plaintiff for purposes of sex induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”

It also said he compelled her to help him traffic male sex workers Combs would force Cassie to have sex with while he filmed.

The suit was settled settled the following day, but its reverberations would last far longer. Combs lost lingering allies, supporters and those reserving judgment when CNN in May aired a leaked video of him punching Cassie, kicking her and throwing her on the floor in a hotel hallway.

The following day, in his first real acknowledgement of wrongdoing since the stream of allegations began, Combs posted a social media video apologizing, saying “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now.” Cassie’s lawsuit was followed by at least a half-dozen others in the ensuing months.

In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17.

Another woman who filed a lawsuit, April Lampos, said she was a college student in 1994 when she met Combs and a series of “terrifying sexual encounters” with Combs and those around him began that lasted for years.

Combs and his attorneys denied nearly all of the lawsuits’ allegations.

While authorities did not publicly say that the lawsuits set off the criminal investigation, Dyer said when the warrants were served that the case was based on “meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Cassie and Lampros did.

As the founder of Bad Boy Records, Combs became one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades Along with the Notorious B.I.G. he worked with a slew of top-tier artists including Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.

Combs’ roles in his businesses beyond music — including lucrative private-label spirits, a media company and the Sean John Fashion line — took major hits when the allegations arose.

The consequences were even greater when the leaked beating video emerged. Howard University cut ties with him, and he returned his key to the city of New York at the request of the mayor.

Dalton reported from Los Angeles.

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)