the former police officer in the shooting and killing of oscar grant is back in court today in a civil case. that's our top story. good afternoon. i'm tori campbell. johannes mehserle was back in a bay area courtroom this morning. >> the former b.a.r.t. police officer's facing a lawsuit that has nothing to could -- to do with the shooting death of oscar grant. allie rasmus joins us live in san francisco to explain what's happened in court so far. >> reporter: well, jury selection is still going on in

this civil jury trial. right now everyone is on a break. you will recall johannes mehserle is the former b.a.r.t. police officer who was convicted of shooting and killing b.a.r.t. passenger oscar grant. as you mentioned, tori, this lawsuit has nothing to do with the oscar grant case, except for the fact that johannes mehserle is listed as a defendant here. another b.a.r.t. passenger named kenneth carruthers is suing johannes mehserle and four other b.a.r.t. police officers. in this complaint, carruthers says he was arrested after making comments in front of five b.a.r.t. police officers that imbied they were "lazy and incompetent." carruthers alleged it was those comments alone that provoked the five officers to arrest him and during that arrest he was kicked and punched and had to go to the hospital for treatment. carruthers is suing for excessish force. the officers' attorneys will make the case in court, that's not what happened, that carruthers was about to become physically aggressive with police and that's why he was

arrested. this whole episode -- during the jury selection today, the judge reminded jurors that this suit has nothing to do with the case. however, jurors were asked during the process about how much they knew about the oscar grant case and what they thought about johannes mehserle's sentencing and conviction. most jurors answered they were aware of his involvement in the oscar grant shooting but said it would not affect their judgment. now, johannes mehserle was in court for the jury selection process. he was taking note thes -- notes. i've always been informed that some medicals of oscar grant were in court. johannes mehserle says his family will be in court for the duration of the trial. allie rasmus, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, allie. an arraignment is fet for 1:30 this afternoon for -- set for 1:30 this afternoon for a fairfield man, henry albert

smith junior, accused of fatally shooting officer james capoot last thursday. police say smith just robbed a bank and was being chased by police. court papers show that smith was in financial trouble. if convicted, he could get the death penalty. hundreds gathered at a candlelight vigil last night in vallejo to mourn the officer, the husband and father of three, he served nearly 20 years on vallejo's police force. he was also the beloved coach of vallejo high's girls' basketball team and many say he was -- say he was a positive influence on countless young lives. the pepper spray incident at uc davis is still causing repercussion on the campus and throughout the uc system. ken pritchard is live where a rally is just getting underway. ken? >> reporter: well, in just the

last half-hour, the crowd went from several hundred to several thousand. these are students and faculty all here to protest what they call police violence. as seen in this video, seen around the world. two officers were put on paid leave after pepper spraying students friday in this same open campus area of the quad, the students were aligned with the occupy wall street movement and were protesting higher student fees and tuition. now, this morning, a uc davis chancellor announced that the police chief was also mayed on administrative leave. the can -- placed on administrative leave. many students here are not satisfied with the investigation. some blame the chancellor for allowing police to crack down on students. >> i saw the videos. it's the human rights violations. what happened was disgusting. i dent think it was necessary

at all -- i didn't think it was necessary at all. >> students with angry and they want justice. >> reporter: what we have happening here right now, beyond this crowd, there is a stage. several people are making speeches but the one that we're looking forward to is the chancellor herself a spokesperson with uc davis says the chancellor will be here any minute now to address this crowd many of them upset with her about what happened here on campus friday. in davis, ken pritchard, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, ken. for the first time in almost a month, oakland does not have any occupy camps. police cleared out the snow endamage piments at midnight. officers gave the protesters time to pick up their belongings and reeve or -- leave or face getting arrested and cited. protesters say this morning's raid avoided any conflict because treated them fairly and

with respect. >> they asked us politely with no harassment, thank god. they just gathered together in groups and they offered to help us get our stuff and make sure we could see. >> city crews brought in three pickup trucks to help pick up 0 belongings. all of the tents are gone. there are still protesters there. a south san francisco man is under arrest after police say he shot and wounded a sister while holding family members hostage. alvin baja lieu ways was taken into -- lewis was taken into custody. his family tried to escape, police say lewis fired a shot at his sister, she was hit in the hand. no one else was hurt. police say he was upset about family issues and may have been under the influence of drugs. a special ceremony at an art gallery in san francisco just wrapped you.

it involved a public -- picasso drawing stolen from the public last summer. kraig debro joins us live to explain what's happening with that suspect today and also what's going on at the gallery. good afternoon, kraig. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. i guess a little bit of irony going on here as well as coincidence. we're at the gallery. there it is. it's back on the wall once again after several months of not being here. it didn't used to be one of picasso's favorite art, but now it could be. whether or not that turns out to be true "head of a woman" is hear to stay. >> there's a metal there, where you couldn't pull it off. >> reporter: the gallery said he little.-- probably won't ever sell the painting and because of the metal and sheetrock, it probably won't be

stolen. there's surveillance video of lugo walking down the street with the drawing. lugo was arrested within days. >> we have visitors every day who walk in from all over the world, that have been asking whether picasso is -- where picasso is and they would even want to see where it was stolen from. >> reporter: mark lugo was in a san francisco courtroom this morning ready to be spenced -- sentenced on three felonies. the judge gave him time served. and now he faces calls of other -- charges of other stolen art. weinstein says it's being offered at $200,000 more, the painting is. >> we did get an offer for about $375,000 a week after this happened. so certainly it didn't hurt the value of the painting because

it was stolen. >> reporter: the drawing you are seeing right here is only up for our purposes. it will be put bag in a -- put back in a safe place. and then they will fasten it to the wall so hopefully it doesn't get stolen again. by the way, the gallery has a big showing down the street from here. kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. police in new york city say they stopped a terror suspect just as he was about to carry out an attack. 27-year-old jose -- john was -- 27-year-old jose pimentel, investigators say, was planning to bomb police cars, u.s. post offices and u.s. troops returning home. police say he's an al qaeda sympathizer. >> he talked about it changing his -- about changing his name to osama hussein, who celebrate his heroes, osama bin laden and saddam hussein. >> new york police say they had

been watching pimentel since may of 2009 after an informant tipped them off. police say they when they arrested him on saturday, he was in the process of building a pipe bomb. the board of trust es of penn state university has recruited some big-name help in its investigation of child abuse charges of former assistant football coach jersey sandusky. the trustee anounsed that louie free will take part in the investigation as will the 1964 penn state graduate. free is also a former federal prosecutor and judge. sandusky has denied the charges against him. when we come back -- violence for the third day in a row as a nation struggles to keep is political revolution on

track. and today's quiet in the bay area weather. but rosemary says major changes are coming as we get near thanksgiving. how a group of samaritans and a police officer used this and a pocketknife in order to free a man trapped inside of a burning car. ush

after three days in cairo, egypt state television just reported in the last hour, the cabinet has submitted its resignation to the ruling military council but will stay on to run the nation's day-to- day affairs until a decision is made on the future of the egyptian government. the government is gonna come under criticism from across the political spectrum since it came into office in march for its perceived efficiency or insub borety dation -- uninsubordination. 23 people have died. members of the super committee are expected to announce today they've failed to reach an agreement the committee of six republicans and six democrats have been meeting for months but have been unable to reach on -- decide on making cuts versus

cutting taxes. that's supposed to trigger spending cuts. there are already hints that congress might find a way around them. congress says that may lead to a downgrade. president obama this morning signed legislation that gives tax credits to businesses that hire military veteran -- veterans who are unemployed or disabled. the first lady was also at the ceremony in the executive office building as mr. obama signed the bill. it's the only part of the president's larger jobs bill that's received bipartisan support. the new law gives employers tax credits up to $6500 who have been unemployed locker than -- longer than six months and as much as 9600 for hiring long unemployed veterans. a two-block air -- a two- block area around an historic building will be closed. a five-alarm fire has forced police to shut down telegraph avenue between chaning. flames shot out of the building

late friday night. inspectors are worried the place might be structurally unsound. while no one was hurt, the fire destroyed the billing which included a famous cafe and bar. investigators may never know what caused the fire because it's so dangerous to enter the building. the reno wildfire is now fully contained. the 9500 evacuees are starting to return home. officials say the fire officially destroyed 32 homes and scorched 1,935 acres. crews are monitoring hot spots and repairing hillside damaged by bulldozers in an effort to prevent mudslide, investigators believe 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts knocked down power lines in the -- and sparked the fire. a fury crash involving a chp car is under investigation. the chp says the officer lost control last night on northbound 10 is and -- 101 and

sauce leta. his -- sauce sausalito. the officers closed down the lanes. the officer -- was taken to the hospital it's believed he's okay. firefighters are praising good samaritans who jumped into action to save those trapped inside a burning car. it happened early on san francisco between 12:and 13th. tara moriarty spoke to witnesses who say it was a -- 12th and 13th. tara moriarty spoke to witnesses who say it was a scene. [ sirens ] >> reporter: rescuers worked taught to dag dark together to free a man. >> a -- worked together to free a man. >> the sparks, you could see the gasoline. >> reporter: police say a driver heading eastbound on fulton between 12th and 13th slammed into a light post.

>> the flames got bigger and bicker and bigger -- bigger and bigger and bigger. >> reporter: police say a taximan and two others than to help -- ran to help. police -- police say they used this pole. this pole is extremely heavy. >> doing my job, that's all. did what any other person would have done. >> without the intervention of the citizens, that -- that first -- that person would have parished in the fire. i think it's heroic. i think it's risky. and explosion could happen at any time and they still stayed with it. police say the driver is a 35-year-old man. he was taken to sf general where he is expected to

survive. on his release, investigators say he will be arrested on suspicion of dui. in san francisco, tara orie artie, ktvu channel 2 news. pg&e says a malfunction led to an -- led to an emergency inside a manhole in san francisco. this was at larkin and golden gate gate. fire officials say -- officials sale ktvu four responded to the scene. a pg&e spokesman says the spokesman was caused by a glitch that supplies power to a traffic signal. 42million americans tra on -- 42 million americans plan to travel. one reason for the decline may be increasing airfares. the cost of trips to the most popular destinations now averages 373. that's up 11% since last year. according to the travel website orbit. you can always go to ktvu.com

to keep track of airline travels and weather conditions around the nation even as you travel. click on the thanksgiving headlines at the top of the pain. good afternoon to you. we return to dry weather at least for now, giving you a look outside the doors doors. the combination of sun and clouds. quite a bit of moisture from the storm. so we're seeing the clouds move through and break apart as they two. heading outside your doors, we have winds generally light coming in from. east. temperatures a lot chillier but beginning to make up the difference. 53 in -- 53 in san francisco. 56 in livermore. outside your door, santa rosa/napa in the low 50s at this time. notice a few high clouds to the north and this storm track now pushed to the north. not very far. we're looking at showers down to eureka and areas right around kidnap men so dino for at least of the next -- cape

mendocino for at least the next few days. we'll be deal withing -- the rest of us will be dealing with dry weather. notice the clouds here, moving east to west. so we do have a ridge of high pressure building in. it's fairly week. i want to show you the forecast here picking it up for the afternoon. we are looking at partly cloudy skies. not bad at all. tomorrow morning, though, some of these clouds sinking down. notice the rain staying to the north. quite a bit of cloud cover there and then by tomorrow night, high clouds pea ginning to roll through but it's not until wednesday afternoon this system begins to approach the north bay and then slide south in the overnight hours. thursday morning it looks like we wake up fairly dry. scattered showers will be in the forecast. so for today and tomorrow, morning clouds, patchy fog, wednesday, thursday, expect the rain to develop by late afternoon wednesday and last through thursday. afternoon highs, here and now, in the 50s, slightly warmer

than yesterday, but it's coming along with more sunshine. so that should feel pretty good. 59 expected for saratoga, along the peninsula, upper 50s low 60s and the extended forecast here. again, j to sum it up for you. the best traveling time is gonna be the first half of wednesday if you are heading to the sierra again. otherwise, thursday, friday, be prepared for some winter weather driving. thank you. >> sure. a -- ahead -- mixed news on u.s. home sales and how sandals -- vandals are targeting some bay area banks. is the perfect choice for holiday gatherings. martinelli's is non-alcoholic, festive like champagne, and tastes great! martinelli's: since 1868. you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm?

[ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] we know you've got a lot on your plate at thanksgiving. which is why safeway has everything you need to get it all done. right now, get a safeway frozen turkey up to 12 lbs, for just $5 each. cook your thanksgiving turkey perfectly with our free chef assistant app. it's foolproof. safeway. ingredients for life.

from 20 leading brands, including barista prima. it's the way to brew everyone's favorite cup in under a minute. way to brew.

investors unloading stocks today due to concern about the debt both acrowd and -- both abroad and here in the u.s. right now, the dow currently down, 234. the nasdaq is down 46. s&p is dunn 21. out this morning, the existing home sales report for october, the number of americans who bought briefly occupied homes rose by 1.4% due to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million. that's below the 6 million that economists reflects -- say reflect a unhealthy housing market. someone is targeting contra costa county banks, vandals scrawled "foreclosed" on the

bank of america on citrus and oak grove road. an a.t.m. was covered in spray paint. also a picture of the anonymous fate mask was chained to a chair. officials in southern california say a coastal road that washed out over the weekend is most likelier repairable. these are new pictures of casa delmar in san pedro outside of los angeles. a techtion dash a section. roadway fell into the ocean during heavy rain yesterday. the geological study is now underway. coming up tonight at 5:00, you might call it gang wars in the ocean. porpoises are washing up. now scientists say they have resolved this marin mystery. that will do it for us. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. we'll see you the next time news breaks.

we're always here for you on ktvu.com and mobile ktvu. if i can take classes year round

on campus, online, or both and earn my bachelor's degree in 3 years you can, too. [ male announcer ] at devry university, whether you study at one of our 4 bay area locations, online or both, you can prepare for a career in a growing field... and with year round class offerings, you can even do it in as few as three years. if i can let nothing nothing...stand in my way you can too. [ male announcer ] classes start january 3. learn more at devry.edu