>> let knee go to south africa real quick. breaking news in america this morning, protesters clashing with police. [ crowd chanting ] crowds demanding justice for george floyd an unarmed black man seen pinned down by an officer. >> please, please, i can't breathe. >> police firing tear gas as some protesters throw rocks and break windows. new video showing the moments leading up to floyd's arrest. a possible turning point in re-opening america. more hard hit areas lifting restrictions today as cases rise in other areas. former vice president joe biden calling president trump a fool for his comments on wearing a mask. taking on twitter. the social media giant for the first time labels president trump's tweets with a fact check. how trump is now responding. new video as floodwaters submerge cars in florida while

twin funnel clouds are spotted in the heartland. hairy situation. one boy's close call with a bear. and the high-stakes launch at kennedy space center today set to make history. a closer look at the major risk involved. good wednesday morning, everyone. we do begin with that death of an unarmed black man in police custody sparking a tense standoff overnight between protesters and police in minneapolis. >> officers in riot gear fired tear gas at demonstrators who are demanding justice for george floyd. he died after an officer was seen kneeling on his neck. >> several officers involved have now been fired. we want to warn you the video you're about to see is hard to watch. overnight growing outrage in minneapolis over the death of a black man in police custody. [ crowd chanting ] thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets blocking

intersections as police use tear gas to push back the crowds. >> stop it! >> reporter: some people were seen throwing objects back at officers vandalizing a police vehicle and smashing the front window of a police precinct. so many others marching peacefully chanting "i can't breathe" while demanding justice for george floyd. >> please, please, i can't breathe. please, man. please. >> reporter: a video camera captured the final moments of floyd's life monday night. he was seen on the ground in handcuffs with a police officer's knee on his neck. >> his nose is bleeding. >> reporter: about five minutes into the video floyd appears to lose consciousness. emts arrive on the scene and check for a pulse while the officer's knee remains on his neck. an ambulance then takes him to the hospital where he's pronounced dead. >> they could have tased him. they could have maced him but instead they stuck his

knee on his neck and sat on him and carried on. >> we need justice for my brother. they need to be convicted of murder. i'm not going to take my foot off these folk's neck for doing what they done. >> reporter: police say floyd was unarmed and suspected of trying to pass a forged check while under the alcohol of alcohol or drugs adding he resisted officers. they handcuffed him and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. >> bottom line, the reasonable restrictions or whatever you call it, the force used was unreasonable last night. >> reporter: the fbi is investigating the case and four police officers involved in the incident have been fired. >> being black in america should not be a death sentence. this officer failed in the most basic human sense. >> he was always carefree. he was always helpful. >> reporter: floyd's longtime roommate found out he was dead when he saw it on social media. >> i recognized his voice and then i heard -- recognized his

features and stuff like that so i was kind of shocked. >> reporter: floyd worked as a security guard at a minneapolis restaurant. his employer called him a kind man. >> floyd was someone that i love him like a brother, you know, someone i know for a long time. how could we prevent this from happening again? we can't have -- i mean, this is not the first time this happened. that's why so many people are upset. >> i can't breathe. >> reporter: those words from floyd "i can't breathe" reminiscent of the eric garner case. >> i can't breathe. >> reporter: in 2014 garner said the same words and died after an arrest that set off nationwide protests. a medical examiner testified an officer's chokehold triggered his fatal asthma attack. it was ruled a side. none of the officers in the case was charged. the officer seen putting him in the chokehold was fired five years later. as for george floyd his roommate says he has many unanswered questions about what played out in that disturbing video. in those overnight protests in

minneapolis at least one officer was injured. authorities have not confirmed the names of the officers fired. meanwhile, nba star lebron james posted this on instagram. an image of george lloyd next to colin kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem. lebron acking, do you understand now? today marks a possible turning point in the coronavirus pandemic as some of the hardest hit areas of the country begin re-opening. a model that has been cited by the white house now projects 132,000 deaths in the u.s. by august. 11,000 fewer than recently predicted. meanwhile, growing concern along the southern border. mexico just reported its highest daily increase of covid-19 cases, and in massachusetts, 92 people have now died at one veterans home, 76 tested positive for the virus. but today the focus in most states is getting back to business. this morning, new freedoms in california. >> we made modifications on retail so it's no longer curbside pickup. >> reporter: the governor easing restrictions allowing in-person

shopping and haircuts in most counties with precaution. >> it will be a relief, yes, but it won't be complete until everybody is back in their chairs. >> reporter: outside new york city long island begins re-opening today. one day after a slow re-opening in the nearby town of new rochelle where the first containment zone was established nearly two months ago. >> i have two children. they got to eat. we still have bills and nothing changed. >> reporter: and now the first definitive time line for the return of a pro sports league. >> we will not do anything until we are assured that it is safe and prudent to do so. >> reporter: the nhl announcing plans to start the season this summer playing all games in two so-called hub cities that have yet to be chosen and reducing the number of teams that will play. this morning, at least 14 states are now seeing a growing number of covid-19 cases including alabama. two counties outside of the state capital, montgomery, are among the fastest growing hot spots in the country.

>> we have to make sure that we are being guided by the data and not the dollars. >> reporter: it comes as president trump and former vice president joe biden butt heads over wearing a mask after biden wore one in public monday, something the president has yet to do. >> he was standing outside with his wife, perfect conditions, perfect weather. they're inside they don't wear masks, and so i thought it was very unusual he had one on. >> he is a fool, an absolute fool to talk that way. i mean, every leading doc in the world is saying we should wear a mask when you're in a crowd. this macho stuff, for a guy -- i shouldn't get going, but it just is -- it's cost people's lives. >> reporter: the president also stepping up his attacks on north carolina slamming the governor for possible restrictions on the summer's republican national convention. >> we have a governor that doesn't want to open up the state. >> i will say that it's okay for political conventions to be political, but pandemic response

cannot be. >> reporter: the president now giving north carolina one week to decide whether convention plans can move forward. in the meantime, florida and georgia are now offering to host the event. all this while democrats take a very different path. they're considering a possible virtual convention. meanwhile, in nevada the governor says he is confident casinos could reopen june 4th and in florida today disney is set to announce its re-opening plans. president trump is accusing twitter of interfering in the 2020 election. it comes after the site put fact checked labels on some of his tweets. abc's ines de la cuetara has more. >> reporter: overnight, president trump escalating his feud with twitter. the president's blasted the social media platform for attaching fact checked warnings to some of his tweets for the first time labeling them as potentially mislabeling when he claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread fraud. underneath the tweets a

link added by twitter saying get the facts about mail-in ballots. president trump sounded off accusing twitter of interfering in the 2020 presidential election adding, they are saying my statement on mail-in ballots which will lead to massive corruption and fraud is incorrect. twitter is completely stifling free speech and i, as president, will not allow it to happen. experts say there is no evidence that voter fraud is a widespread problem in the u.s. as state election officials scramble to find safe ways for people to vote amid the coronavirus pandemic. california governor gavin newsom recently required each of the state's 58 counties to send in mail-in ballots to all registered voters. >> i think that it's pretty clear by the republican leader's actions, not just in california, but around the country, they really don't want people to be voting. >> reporter: on tuesday afternoon president trump who voted by mail in florida's primary election in march again spoke out against the expansion of mail-in voting. >> you're asking for fraud.

people steal them out of mailboxes. people print them and then they sign them and they give them in and people don't even know or they're double counted. >> reporter: and trump defended his use of mail-in ballots saying his job kept him away from his legal residence in florida. kenneth and mona? >> ines, thank you. turning to the weather, heavy rain drenched south florida for a third straight day turning streets into rivers. up to three inches of rain per hour fell in the miami area. now let's take a closer look at your wednesday morning weather. on the radar storms are moving across the south and the midwest right now. texas could also be hit with severe thunderstorms from waco to san antonio. that system spawned at least one toward for a second straight day near des moines, iowa. one of the twisters was caught on camera before the warning sirens could even go off. minor damage reported. looking at today's high temperatures, 70s and 80s in the northeast where it will be dry.

70s in minneapolis and more heat on the west coast, 82 in l.a. 103 in phoenix. coming up, a landmark being turned into a drive-in movie theater. but first the history making launch at kennedy space center planned just hours from now. the major risk involved. we hear from the astronauts. and later new fallout for the woman who called police on a black man who was bird watching in central park.

♪music) back now with the case of alleged police brutality in michigan. a sheriff's deputy is accused of punching a black woman in the face and tasing her husband. investigators say the couple was refusing to leave a shooting scene in ypsilanti, and the local sheriff calls the video

disturbing. the deputies involved are on leave pending the investigation. forecasters say there is a 60% chance that the weather will be good enough for today's historic launch at kennedy space center. it will be the first time in a decade that astronauts will head into space from u.s. soil. abc's megan tevrizian has more on the risk involved. >> reporter: this morning it's mission countdown. >> three, two, one, ignition, liftoff. >> reporter: spacex ready to make history launching its dragon space capsule with two nasa astronauts inside. the goal, prove private companies like spacex can deliver astronauts too the international space station. >> it's certainly an honor to be part of it. >> reporter: nasa astronauts bob behnken and doug hurley will be on board. >> i think continuing to push into space challenges us as americans, challenges us as scientists and engineers, and i think that continued push is important. >> reporter: if the mission succeeds, it will be the first time in nearly a decade that american astronauts will be free

from paying another country for a ticket to space. until now the only way to get to the space station was to pay russia at a price tag of nearly $90 million. >> this is huge. okay, it is huge for nasa. it is huge for our country. >> reporter: but spacex has had its troubles in the past. >> coming back shows vehicle on course on track. >> reporter: losing a falcon 9 in 2015 and another rocket in 2016 and just over a year ago an explosion destroyed a spacex dragon capsule like the one scheduled to launch today. nasa putting the odds of catastrophic failure at 1 in 270. >> there is risk with going to space. space is hard, but we understand the risk. spacex understands the risk. so we'll be ready. >> reporter: nasa and spacex are targeting the launch for just after 4:30 p.m. eastern time today, weather permitting. kelly clarkson will sing the national anthem before takeoff. mona, kenneth.

>> megan, thank you. abc news will have live coverage beginning at 3:00 p.m. eastern on our streaming channel weather permitting. coming up, important news if you're in the market for a new car. also ahead, the shocking video of a bear walking behind this boy and what happened next. s can leave you holding your breath. ♪ but bristol myers squibb is working to change things. by researching new kinds of medicines that could help you live longer. including options that are chemo-free. because we're committed to bringing new hope into lung cancer care. this moment right now... this is our commencement. no, we'll not get a diploma or a degree of any kind. but we are entering a new chapter in our lives.

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crest. i'm going to tell them there's an african-american man threatening my life. >> please tell them whatever you like. >> that racially charged confrontation erupted in central park after a black man who was bird watching asked a white woman to put her dog on a leash in accordance with park rules. the woman threatened to call police when the man refused to stop recording. after the video went viral, she apologized but she's now been fired from her job, her employer saying they do not tolerate racism. and now to the coronavirus and a new warning from the cdc that says antibody tests are wrong up to 50% of the time. meanwhile, the drug company merck says it's developing an antiviral treatment for the virus. earlier i spoke with dr. ryan

ribeiro about several topics beginning with that new guidance on antibody testing. >> it's not just that these tests in particular are horrible or anything like that. this is a problem any time you're testing broadly for a rare condition, and it has to do with something called specificity, so if a test has 95% specificity, it means 95% of people who are negative will actually test negative and 5% will test positive and might not sound like a lot but in a population of 100 negative five little show up positive. if a disease is rare and only five in that have that condition you have five false positives, five real positives and 50/50 situation in there. one of the takeaways if you've not had a positive coronavirus test before and all is this one positive serum antibody, you should not be confident you have immunity. >> merck is working on an antiviral drug that could eventually be a treatment. your thoughts on a time line for

antiviral treatments? are they our best hope for fighting this thing? >> the problem with antivirals unlike antibiotics they tend not to be very effective. viruses are very simple which actually makes them harder to kill. they mutate a lot faster so you'll see the antivirals that we use in medicine for hiv, shingles, for the flu tend to really reduce the severity of symptoms or barely contain the virus rather than cure it. i think in general vaccines are much more likely to get us out of this. >> because of this pandemic, other health issues have popped up or been ignored. concerns about a rise in heart disease and cancer cases because people are not getting the routine checkups or in some cases they're afraid to go into hospitals. now the cdc is in canada is warning about a surge in stds because people are not getting tested. should people still be concerned about going to the doctor's office especially if that doctor is in a hospital? >> so, absolutely, positively if you need medical care, you should go. i will say honestly i feel in some respects safer going to the hospital than i do going to the grocery store because, you know,

at the hospital we really know how to disinfect things. everybody is wearing a mask. everyone is socially distancing. >> our thanks to dr. ribeiro. coming up, burger king's regal idea for social distancing. plus, the plan for what could be in the largest drive-in movie theater in the country is next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the first and only full prescription strength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel available over-the-counter. new voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel.

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drive-in movie theater in the country. >> hard rock stadium where the miami dolphins play is being converted into a drive-in. 230 cars can fit into the stadium and onto the floor there. no word yet on when the first movie will be shown but will there be a line to get out of there also like a concert? >> it will be ace ventura, get the reference? >> you'll have to tell me about that one later. check out the new social distancing plan at burger king. restaurants in germany have created large crowds to keep people apart. a bar in ocean city has come up with bumper tables and tested them over the weekend. the city's mayor is calling for restaurants to be allowed to re-open. a family's hike in the mountains of italy nearly turned tragic. that 12-year-old boy was collecting pinecones when he encountered a large brown bear. his stepfather told him to stay calm and walk away. the boy was heard saying, this is so cool. not what you expect but he says bears are his favorite animals. eventually that bear ran away. >> what is your ace ventura

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building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc7 news. making news right now at 4:27, the road map to reopening. the bay area choosing to hold back when it comes to haircuts and nail salons except for one county. and racial unrest exploding in the streets of minneapolis. police in riot gear launching tear gas at protesters outraged over the recorded death of a black man in custody. and handling a heat wave we know is tough as it is but now with coronavirus closing most cool spots and potential for pg&e power outages, it is even worse. all right. good morning, everybody. it is wednesday, march 27th. a lot we are talking about today and especially we're talking about this heat that we're expecting today checking in with meteorologist mike nicco. >> good morning, kumasi.

i have a little bit of good news the closer you are to the coast. not quite as warm as it was yesterday but inland areas record highs possible, once again. the heat advisory continues through tomorrow at 7:00 and why that heat warning continues through solano county. today i'm thinking about three or four record highs places like santa rosa at 92 and livermore at 103. 84 in oakland and 96 in san jose. another reason why the records won't be as easily attained today, they're much remember waw warmer than they were the last couple days. a couple thunderstorms coming up in the weekend forecast. kumasi. as mike just mentioned, we are expecting more extreme heat and that could potentially mean power outages. amy hollyfield in walnut creek with this warning from pg&e. good morning, amy.

>> such a tough time right now to get cool. this pool here at heather farms in walnut creek would be the perfect place to escape the heat, but, of course, it is closed because of the pandemic. not many places to cool off. not many places available. movie theaters are closed. malls are closed. same for libraries and even cooling centers that usually offer a break to senior citizens on extraordinarily hot days like we're seeing right now. even ice cream shops are closed. county fl os say they are getting a lot of worried phone calls. >> we're asking them to stay home, hydrate, as you know older adults tend to become dehydrated easier. >> masks that are required in public, they just add to the issue. many people say they find them very hot and say it makes it tough to breathe. so, not a lot of options out here but to stay home. parks and recs departments in the east bay say they're in

talks with community partners about where to go from here. reporting live in walnut creek, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. one place to keep cool in the south bay today san jose is opening five cooling centers. today and tomorrow starting at 1:00 p.m. they will be at the may fair roosevelt and cypress community centers and capacity will be limited to keep people socially distanced and masks are required. also happening today, another path on our back to our new normal. governor gavin newsom will expect new information on reopening child care centers and camps. most of the bay area is hanging back. >> the reality is, this pandemic has just begun. it hasn't ended. and while we are moving forward because of stabilization, by no stretch of the imagination is this virus behind us. >> newsom's update allows barbershops and hair salons to