Hurricane Florence, mauled child, nursing home abuse make up memorable videos on WRAL.com

View The Original Article Here

The most memorable on WRAL.com throughout 2018 told stories of devastation, tragedy and human perception.

The most viewed videos were about Hurricane Florence, which hit North Carolina in December and took homes, land and lives in its path.

In one video, WRAL anchor and reporter Brad Johansen explained how he and a WRAL photojournalist, Chad Flowers, were shot at when they found a group of people raiding a Family Dollar in Wilmington.

In October, 1-year-old Triniti Harrell was attacked by her family’s dog. She later died. Neighbors recounted hearing the horrifying attack.

Prentis Robinson, 55, was fatally shot in February near the Wingate police station after being approached by someone who fired four shots with a long gun.

Video captured a patient at Universal Healthcare North Raleigh slipping off a bed and calling for help, lying on the floor for more than an hour. When staff members arrive, they berate him and say he’s done something wrong in his life because he had a stroke.

Multiple Raleigh police officers were filmed holding a man down before punching and kicking his upper body and head while trying to arrest him. A witness said, although officers used fists and batons and forced Frederick Darnell Hall to the ground, “the officers handled it as well as they could, since it seemed like nothing was going to take that guy down.”

Raleigh police arrested Brianna Ashanti Lofton after video circulated on Facebook of her 1-year-old child smoking marijuana.

Raleigh mom Amber Petersen learned in June that on Roblox, a top gaming site for kids, avatars were depicted sexually assaulting her daughter’s avatar.

Before the year began, Pope Francis prayed at a Christmas Mass for unity and peace. The Mass came after tensions grew in Israel and Palestine.

In sunnier news, a Myrtle Beach visitor caught video of a Blacktip Shark swimming close to shore in June.

And the lightest popular video was a viral question of human hearing: Do you hear Yanny or Laurel?