tonight on "nightline," bears gone wild. a summer of deadly grizzly attacks from ohio -- >> i think he's got a collapsed lung, that's my fear. they're coming, brent, they're coming. >> to yellowstone. >> we have someone that's been attacked and bit pretty badly by a bear. >> what sets these giant animals off? and why officials are warning about a new wave of bad news bears. talk show host glenn beck is staging a massive rally in washington this weekend, brazenly tied to martin luther king jr.'s famous march, an dr. king's niece will join him. is this man really america's new civil rights hero? and big easy blues. the ugly crimes committed by

new orleans police in the aftermath of hurricane katrina, and the new top cop brought into a city still gripped by scandal and violence. can he make it right? >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 27th, 2010. "g" evening, i'm terry moran, and we begin tonight with the surgeon report's this summer of deadly bear attacks. a camper killed in his tent. a hiker mauled near yellowstone and a grizzly handler in ohio killed in his animal farm. and there's rocky, the who grizzly who killed a trainer in 2008. we called to rocky's handler, who explains what sets these animals off. we want you to be forewarned that our report includes material that some viewer may find disturbing.

brian rooney has the report. >> come up, up, up. >> reporter: this is animal trainer randy miller, with his 7-year-old grizzly bear rocky. >> good. >> reporter: rocky has been a working bear in movies and commercials. >> that looked like my fish. >> reporter: when a few bears in the world train to wrestle with a human being. >> stand up. come here. you know, it looks like he's coming at you aggressive, but it's staged. and then we engage. and we rest. >> reporter: rocky was the bear in the scene from the 2008 movie, "semi pro." randy miller was the stand-in for will ferrell, wrestling the bear. he was born in captivity and he's well trained. but a trained bear is still a wild bear. and we had to shoot pictures of him from inside a cage. >> turn around. turn around. >> reporter: two years ago, rocky killed a man who was getting ready to wrestle. what is the line of danger

working with rocky? >> okay, what makes these animals dangerous is they're very large and strong, okay? even if you do know how to read them, it can go quick. >> when a 150-pound bear attack attacked -- >> officials trapped a grizzly and cubs. >> reporter: captive or wild, the power and unpredictability of bears has made news all summer. >> ohio officials say a bear has killed -- >> reporter: most recently, when a bear in ohio killed a caretaker. >> we're going to miss him a lot. >> reporter: back in june, a lone hiker outside yellowstone was mauled and killed. >> one man is dead, another woman recovering in the hospital. >> reporter: and also in julie, in yellowstone, a bear attacked three sleeping came persons and killed one of them. >> i felt the tent just fly, two, three feet. >> you have to play dead or you are dead. so i did. >> reporter: usually when a bear

kills a human, the bear is put down, because authorities don't want loose bears with a taste for human flesh. even the famed animal conservator jack hanna was backed to a wall and used pepper spray to ward off a bear cub in glacier national park. he recently made this public service announcement. >> glacier national park officials enkaurg all campers and hikers to carry pepper spray. >> reporter: the population of western grizzlies has nearly tripled in the last 35 years. some wildlife authorities warn that this year, with a shortage of food at higher elevations, hungry and potentially dangerous bears will be scouring lower areas. bear attacks are the result of anything from surprise to hunger, curiosity and misplaced playfulness. wildlife conservationist chris servine says playing is closely linked to attacking. >> they do a lot of play with each other as they grow up and that's how they're learning skills, just like puppies. they are trying to get their buddy down and get him by the throat. >> reporter: brady barr traveled

to alaska to show you don't want to surprise a bear in the woods. >> walking towards us. a second bear just came out of the woods. see it? >> yeah. >> it's a baby. it's a cub. >> reporter: back in the lower 48, barr strapped himself into a cage to demonstrate the carnivorous power of a 1,500-pound bear. >> no, no! he's just doing that on purpose! oh! >> reporter: bears are very smart. he's just curious. we're standing here, we're talking. >> he's being very curious. >> reporter: he wants to be part of the conversation. >> what could make him dangerous real quick is if he gets possessive over something, he could become more dangerous. more dangerous than he was the day this happened with stevie. >> reporter: stevie was miller's cousin, stefan miller. steve had experience training wild animals than day he was shooting a video to promote a new social networking website. the idea was that he would ignore the danger of the bear before the two of them wrestled.

rocky seemed to be hitting all his marks and having fun until -- >> that's great. >> release him! >> i >> is he bleeding? >> yes, he is. he's bleeding. >> reporter: moments after stumbling out of the camera's view, miller collapsed and died. >> he was my, like, young brother, you know? i raised him. he looked up to me. just die in your arms like that, there's no greater pain on earth, man. >> reporter: and afterwards, rocky was in immediate danger, too. wildlife authorities considered having him killed, but decided in the end, it was an accident. >> it was a split, one-tenth of a second where we made the decision to grab him. so, yeah, if you want to say he made a mistake, but he was doing what he was trained to do.

>> reporter: when bears play rough, they can be right on the fine line of killing. remember that scene in the will ferrell movie? >> when we started the scene, i let him have the whip. i knew what was going to happen. he got it and he grabbed it. hard. and he shook me. and he shook me. and it was out of control for 30 seconds. >> reporter: rocky has been restricted from working in films and commercials and he can't be exposed to anyone other than his trainers. national geographic was there the first time rocky was brought out since the fatal incident. >> stay on that mark. stay! i had him sort of lunging forward, like he was trained to do for "semi pro" with his mouth open. >> good, good, good, good. and i did that two or three times, and the last time i did that, he, like, leaped. caught me off-guard. >> reporter: miller knows that

what happened to his cousin could happen to anyone close to a bear in a bad moment. >> this is what i love to do. i don't want to see the animals put down. but also, i'm realistic. >> reporter: he hopes to get permission from wildlife authorities to take rocky back to work. rocky can do things like hang a cane on his forearm. >> there we go. >> reporter: and miller is trying to get him to handle a football like a running back. >> he popped the first one. we gave him a guitar and he trashed that, too. >> reporter: is it really fair to ask this of a creature like a bear? to have such fine distinctions of behavior? >> well, you know, i have a will, and i've put in my will that if anything were to ever happen to me with one of my animals, not to blame my animals and not put that animal down. >> reporter: because one thing you can never train a bear to do is stop being a bear. this is brian rooney for "nightline" in big bear, california. >> magnificent and wild animals.

watch the national geographic channel this sunday for the premiere of "grizzly, face to face." and next friday for the premiere of "dangerous encounters." alaska's bear country and beyond. thanks to brian rooney for that report. and when we come back, we'll turn to beck-a-palooza. the talk show host prepares to stage a rally in washington on the anniversary of martin luther king jr.'s famous march. nighttime nasal congestion meant, i couldn't breathe right. i couldn't sleep right.

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crowds are descending tonight and tomorrow morning on

the washington mall as glenn beck prepares to stage a massive rally of his followers. civil rights groups are up in arms that this event falls on the anniversary of martin luther king jr.'s historic march on washington. king jr.'s historic march on washington. tonight, we speak with a descendant of king, who is a supporter of beck's rally. vicki mabrey reports. >> we are doing something amazing on saturday. i've been examining the problems of this country and i've been trying to come up with ways out. >> it's time to restore america. restore the world. it's time to believe again. >> reporter: he'll be sharing that dream tomorrow with his followers. 100,000 of them are expected. some started claiming the good seats early this morning. >> we kind of losing the family, the basic morals, basic values that we had. >> i just feel that, you know, families are so fractured and children seem to be raised with no direction. >> when confronted by the oppression of fear, and conventional wisdom. >> reporter: a promo for the rally highlights some of america's greatest leaders and thinkerings. lincoln, douglas, and king. in fact, beck is holding his rally at the same place on the same day where 47 years ago, martin luther king jr. delivered his most famous speech. >> i have a dream. >> reporter: beck claims it's a coincidence. >> wow, so he didn't realize that was an important day in african-american history? i find that totally plausible. i find that totally plausible. >> reporter: late night comedians like jon stewart aren't the only critics of beck's timing. >> beck is now martin luther king. >> blacks don't own martin luther king. >> reporter: civil rights lea r leaders say beck's an thety big government message couldn't be more different than that preached by dr. king. >> they have the right to rally. but what they don't have the right to do is distort what dr. king's dream was about. his speech says, clearly, that he wanted to see a nation where the federal government protects us from those in states that would not uphold our civil rights. >> reporter: but dr. king's legacy will live on on that stage tomorrow in the form of his niece. do you think that your uncle would appreciate or approve of glenn beck standing in the exact spot that he spoke in 47 years ago? >> i can only imagine that my uncle, if he were here today, he would say, we are the human family. and we must love each other. he always said, if we didn't learn to love each other, as brothers, we would perish as fools. he said, we have to learn to get along. >> reporter: alvita king was just 18 when her uncle was assassinated. we caught up with her today. >> he and my dad, brothers who grew up together and worked together in the civil rights movement. my dad was killed the next year. >> reporter: she's one of a few black conservatives who support the beck rally. you got to know that people are surprised to find the niece of martin luther king at a glenn beck rally. >> my family has been full of surprises. dr. king surprised people all the time. and following in his footsteps, remembering what he really said, he had a dream that black people and white people would join together, that there would be unity. and so, now that glenn says, faith, hope and charity, and honor, those are things that my uncle supported and believed in. >> reporter: what do you think your uncle would make of glenn beck? >> my uncle would love glenn beck. he would love anybody. he would say, love your neighbors. glenn lives in america. my uncle lived in america. my uncle would love him. >> reporter: would he agree with the message? >> i can't say that. >> reporter: what do dr. king's children make of you? >> they love me. and i love them. >> reporter: do they agree with you? >> not all the time. >> reporter: do they agree with you being here? >> they know i'm here. they didn't call and say, what you are doing there? and i haven't called my cousin martin. we didn't do that. >> reporter: do you think you're being used by glenn beck? >> i think i'm being used by god. >> reporter: do you think you're being used by the tea party? >> i believe i'm being used by god. >> reporter: king says she, too, has a dream. >> i have a dream, and it's in my genes, and dr. king desired that all people love each other and not fight and contend. there's too much fighting in america. there's too much polarization. there's too much division. dr. king would have loved president barack obama and he would have loved glenn beck. i know that with a certainty. >> reporter: a belief that many of dr. king's followers may be doubting tonight.

assassinated.

>> i think i'm being used by

this is vicki mabrey for "nightline" in washington. >> and people are preparing to spend the night on the mall as we speak. thanks to vicki mabrey for that report. up next, we've got allegations of deep corruptions continuing to plague the new orleans police department, five years after katrina. can a new chief restore faith in the force? so, how are you liking the taste of that diet mountain dew?

it's great, unexpected. in fact, since i've been drinking it, i went and got this. whoa! i know what you mean. since i tasted it, i went and got this. whoa. [ bottle fizzes ] [ gulping ] [ screeches ] [ glass shattering ] [ chirps ] [ male announcer ] the taste of diet mountain dew is a powerful thing. diet tastes better on the mountain. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> after katrina, the new

orleans police force fell apart, hundreds of officers abandoned their post. some who stayed are charged with committing ghastly crimes. five years later, the force has yet to win back the public's trust. so, can a new chief make good on his vow to clean up the force? bob woodruff reports. ♪ >> reporter: they call it the big easy. but life on the streets of new orleans can be pretty hard. in the city that has already suffered so much, a heartbreaking epidemic of drug use and guns. there is a homicide here every other day. the highest murder rate in the country. and sadly, a police force in a downyard spiral. accused of deep corruption and unimaginable acts of violence. >> i had no idea what to expect. all we had was what was on the local radio station. >> reporter: the story really

started in the chaotic days following the storm. >> we had no police communications at all. we knew it was bad. >> reporter: on patrol in the french quarter, mike fields remembers what it was like just after katrina hit. when the police department struggled to maintain order. >> we want help! >> reporter: i happened that wednesday to drive down convention center boulevard and saw the people out there. >> you see the people who are dying? >> it was frustration. and people started turning on the police. police were being accused of all kinds of things. >> do we or do we not have a state of martial law? >> we do. >> reporter: this is "nightline's" ted koppel with then police chief eddie come pass. >> what does that mean? >> individual does not want to leave, we can use reasonable force, whatever force necessary to make an individual lead. >> reporter: hundreds of officers abandoned their posts and for those who remain,

serious confusion about what the rules were, or if the rules still applied. >> police super p intendant say martial law. that means to me, i can use deadly force. >> no, that's not what we're talking about -- >> reporter: that >> that's what that means. >> we haven't had any instances where innocent civilians were shot. >> reporter: we know now that police officers opened fire on innocent civilians. >> these police officers took oaths to protect the citizens of new orleans. and, instead, as alleged in the indictment, they killed two people and wounded four others. >> reporter: four officers are now charged with civil rights violations, in connection with those murders. five others have pled guilty to covering up those crimes. how many bad apples were here? >> i don't know yet. you had examples of hundreds of people abandoning their reports.

that's a serious concern and question. we obviously have nine different federal investigations of civil rights violations during and right before katrina. i think the bad apple count is not in yet. >> reporter: ron serpas has been brought in, and he's only three months into the job. >> i was embarrassed for every single police officer's family in america who had to read and see what those people have admitted to doing. >> reporter: the mayor, who hired serpas, has asked for help. what do you think of the mayor calling the department of justice to try to fix, to clean up the police of new orleans, your police. >> in a word, perfect. that's exactly what needed to happen. let me say this perfectly clear. for the first time in the new orleans police department history, on september 1st, forward, if you lie, you die.

>> reporter: what do you mean, if you lie, you die? >> when our department, if you lie, you die, which means, you lose your job. if your word cannot be trusted because at work you decided not to tell the truth, how do we know you're telling the truth about where you found the dope? how do we know? >> reporter: he told me his top priority is rebuilding the community's faith in its police force. do they get away with lying like that before you came? >> right now, the disciplinary process allows on a first offense, a three to a ten-day suspension. that's not acceptable anymore. >> reporter: no more? one chance? >> you don't get any chance. you got to tell it right all the time. >> reporter: what the cops we met seem to want mostly was to move on and put the past behind them. >> it's a black eye on our department. i feel sorry for what everybody's gone through, both the victims, all of their families and the police officers, but hopefully justice will prevail.

>> reporter: they, along with the rest of new orleans, seem ready to place faith in the new chief. but this city, steeped in loss, disappointment and scandal for so long, is waiting to see if serpas can really turn things around. do you think that new orleans will ever get back to the way you were before katrina? >> absolutely. i believe we're going to make new orleans better. we're going to make at this time greatest city in america, i don't have any doubt in my mind. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm bob woodruff in new orleans. >> good luck to them, and thanks to bob for that report. when we come back, tonight's closing argument. firs first, jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next. >> thanks. tonight, eva mendes, callan mcom tonight, eva mendes, callan mcom south of laredo, there's a place... gotta cross an ocean of scorpion-covered earth. so hot, rattlesnakes... combust, spontaneously.

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