they save lives here. a rampaging elephant. >> i probably should have died that day. >> a runaway cadillac. >> i thought somebody put a bomb through the front door. >> and a terrifying earthquake. >> i'm thinking i don't know if i'll get to the bottom of the stairwell. >> on the job nightmares caught on camera. >> watch out for the chimney. >> some end with a crash. others are blown away. and sometimes broadcast on live tv. >> i didn't know what to do. >> but hey, it's no use crying over spilled wine bottles. nine to fivers who weather the

storm. >> they're having a great time, as you can see. >> and live to tell the tale. >> this isn't happening. it was just so unbelievable. >> that was a bad idea. "caught on camera, labor pain." hello, i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." we all had bad days at work, stressful deadlines, demanding bosses, boring paperwork. but for the people we meet in this hour the daily grind becomes a once in a lifetime nightmare, earthquakes, runaway cars and armed robbers turn nine to five into run for your life! and while you might think your co-workers are grumpy, it could be worse. at least you don't work with an angry elephant. i hope.

>> a zoo keeper crosses paths with a 10,000-pound rampaging elephant. and finds himself fighting for his life. it's january 31st, 1989, at san diego wild animal park. and young keeper david salmarcus is preparing to clean up the elephant enclosure. for david, then 20 years old, working with elephants is a dream job. >> it was a really good feeling when you would come in to the barn in the morning to greet the elephants, and they greeted you back. it made you feel great. you can call them by name and they would walk over to you and rub against you. and they were so gentle, many of them. it was like having your own pet dog but 10,000 pounds. >> his work as an elephant keeper brings him up close and personal with the normally gentle giants, feeding them, bathing them, even riding them in the twice daily shows put on for tourists.

>> when i would come out into a full audience and you would hear the crowd clap, it gave me goosebumps. >> but despite the excitement, david knows that working with the world's largest land animals is inherently risky. david is warned about one elephant in particular. >> cindy had a lot of crazy behaviors with other keepers in the past. >> a known danger to humans, only keepers who had trained cindy when she arrived from a tacoma, washington, zoo are allowed to get close to the animal. newcomers always use the matriarch elephant, nita as a shield. for two years he keeps his distance from cindy. but on that day in january, he notices she's a little too close for comfort. >> cindy was next to the gate. i needed to get her moved. in the process i opened the gate and should have closed the gate behind me. >> but david doesn't close the gate. a mistake that will almost cost him his life.

just moments later he senses he's in trouble. >> i just had a feeling that she was going to come after me. so i yelled for help. hey bob! and right when i yelled hey bob, she ran after me. she knew the terror in my voice. >> with 10,000 pounds of angry elephant heading straight for him, david lunges for the quickest escape route. >> the fastest way was diving underneath the belly of another elephant so i could have a buffer in between me and her. i did that, she hit the side of that elephant and i was able to go through the fence. >> at this moment, david makes a fateful decision. he turns back to close the gate. >> it was really just instinct. it wasn't like i was trying to be a hero and try to save the public. i saw the gate open, i knew what my job was. i was trying to contain the situation. >> but cindy is too quick, she pushes the gate with her enormous head as this tourist

catches it all on camera. >> he's thrown against the side of the block wall building. and then she comes after him. >> and i looked up and saw cindy running right at me. and that will never leave my mind. that was terrifying. >> he couldn't get away from her. i thought she would kill him. >> hearing david's screams, the other keepers rush to the rescue yelling cindy's name. eventually the elephant backs away. and david difz into a moat howling in agony. >> while i was laying in the moat, i realized i was alive, the adrenaline wore off and the pain kicked in, then i could really feel horrendous pain. i felt like everything in my body was broken. i damaged five disks in my lower back and broke my classify cal and lost a half inch in my arm. my knees were cut down to the bone pretty good. >> despite his injuries, in one sense david is lucky. she sends him flying with her

trunk before her head hits the 2500 pound steel gate. >> the most amazing thing is had her trunk not come through that fence and her head just hit the gate, i could have easily died because the gate would have hit me square in the head. >> david spends eight days in the hospital and undergoes seven months of rehab. eventually he's able to return to the zoo, but not to the elephants. >> after my rehabilitation, i was offered a job back with the elephants, and i thought i'd give it a try. so i went out into the field and i walked around the elephants and i greeted them. but once i heard the shuffling of the feet of the elephants, my heart started palpitating. i knew that wasn't going to be the right environment for me to be in. >> as for cindy -- >> after my attack, is very next day she went after and tried to attack another keeper. he was able to get through the fence. and cindy took it out on his wheelbarrow and she flattened it like a pancake.

>> cindy is soon returned to her former home in tacoma, where she remains until her death. it's been more than two decades since david was attacked by cindy, but when it comes to remembering that terrifying day, his memory is like an elephant's. he'll never forget. >> it's with me every day. it's made me look at life and realize how precious it is. i probably should have died that day. coming up, selling bikes is no easy ride when a car smashes into the store. [ kristal ] we're just taking a sample

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[ male announcer ] transformers. the ride. ride it at universal studios hollywood. caught on a security camera, a pharmacist gives these armed robbers a taste of their own medicine when he pulls a weapon on the intruders. when you think of dangerous jobs, a pharmacist may not be the first occupation that comes

to mind, but it's becoming more common to see security camera footage of drugstores held up at gunpoint as robbers go after supplies of highly addictive narcotic drugs. most robberies end without injury, but not always. in june, 2011, a man intent on stealing prescription drugs murders four people including the pharmacist and his assistant in a drugstore in suburban new york. only one month before this brutal attack michigan pharmacist jeremy hovan is caught on security cameras coming face to face with an armed robber. he makes a decision that may save his life, but will hurt his career. he'll later use the security camera footage to try to win public support for his fight against a new adversary, his former employer. it's about 4:30 a.m. on may 8th, 2011. security cameras capture the empty aisles at the benton

harbor walgreens. hovan is at work when two masked gunmen rush through the doors and seize one of the assistant managers. >> one of the managers ran across an aisle holding a piece of shelving and headed directly to the stock room. this frightened me and i suddenly realized that something was wrong. seconds later i saw another manager with a gunman in the pharmacy area. the gunman saw me. and i saw him. >> hovan moves back to call 911 but the gunman hurtles over the counter. hovan draws the handgun he legally carries in a concealed holster during every shift. the robber appears to fire his weapon, although it doesn't go off. >> the gunman repeatedly attempted to fire upon me. i feared for my life. and in self-defense, i fired my weapon as i continued to move from him. >> he shoots three times missing the robber who drops his weapon and flees with his accomplice.

another employee picks up the dropped gun. if hovan expects praise for his vigilante actions, he doesn't get it from his employer. instead he's fired. walgreens says hovan violated its workplace violence policy which prohibits employees from possessing firearms on company property. hovan obtained his concealed weapons permit after being held up in a 2007 robbery at the same store. he admits he did not notify his employer, and he says he was unaware of its policy. hovan is now suing walgreens for unfair dismissal. walgreens has denied his claims and said in a statement its employees receive comprehensive training on how to react and respond to a potential robbery situation and that law enforcement strongly advises against confronting crime suspects. still, hovan's lawyer says he did the right thing. >> he was exercising his reasonable right of self-defense in the face of a gunman who

attempted to pull a trigger three times and shoot him. he saved himself and he saved the lives of potentially three other people in that store. >> our next story is another shocking store invasion, but this time the intruder is a speeding cadillac. the out-of-control automobile smashes through a bike store window. >> i heard glass breaking, and then what just sounded like explosion after explosion. it was terrifying. >> leaving a trail of shattered nerves and devastation in its rear view mirror. >> i saw the customers at the register, but once the car passed, i couldn't see them any more. >> it's september 15th, 2011, a seemingly typical tuesday for sales associate ethan mcculty and his manager john bain at rock 'n road cycle shop. in california. >> we have a great team here. everybody is friendly and we get

along well. >> the store has just reopened after an eight-week remodel. $250,000 worth of upgrades. as seen on the store security video, a few customers are milling around including one woman on crutches. >> the store was kind of quiet and all of a sudden i heard the loudest noise i think i ever heard. i initially thought it was someone threw a bomb through the front door. >> it is not a bomb but a car crashing into the store, tearing through glass and merchandise and narrowly missing two customers. >> it hit every rack from here to the wall, so you can hear the sound of successive every couple seconds. >> it was absolute chaos. everyone was running around not knowing what happened. it was like a war zone. >> i was in shock not believing what i'm seeing. but the woman had her foot on the gas. so she's in the wall and burning rubber on the floor. >> his first instinct is to check on the people inside the car. he discovers the driver is an elderly woman accompanied by her granddaughter.

he also notices something alarming. >> i saw fluid and i had to unclip her seatbelt and drag her out of the car to make sure the car doesn't explode. >> miraculously, the people in the car are unharmed. however, that's not the case for the customer on crutches who is forced to leap out of the path of the runaway car. >> she left on a stretcher. she just had surgery done to her knee. apparently she had to go back in and have her surgery redone again a couple days after the incident. >> employees assess the the condition of both of driver and the customers, then turn their attention to the store. the damage is hard to believe. >> i looked at all the glass on the floor and realized that she'd taken out the whole whole door, saw six or seven destroyed racks, the wall had been knocked down, that the car was halfway in the fitting room. never seen a mess like that before. >> when the cadillac came through the shop, the handicap pole, the sign was flattened like a toothpick. >> it turns out, according to the police report, the grandmother meant to park the

car but hit the wrong pedal. >> when she pulled into the spot, she was probably going about 5 miles per hour. then she confused the brake with the accelerator which caused the car to basically peel out. >> no charges are filed and no further action is taken against the driver. she never comments on the accident. >> they didn't apologize. i just feel that that's wrong. >> despite an unusual and frightening day on the job, rock 'n road bike shop opens its doors the next morning thankful they'd steered clear of total disaster. >> i'd rather go through all the work of getting our store back up and running than visit a co-worker in a hospital or having to go to a funeral. coming up, flipping out. a reporter's day takes a turn for the worse. then later a christmas tree installation goes horribly wrong. ♪

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they're having a great time as you can see. >> ambushed. a reporter gets caught in a snowball storm. >> i'm going to actually grab on here and hold myself in position. >> weather reporting can be hazardous for a tv correspondent. just ask al roker. during a "today" show report on hurricane wilma in 2005, a colleague has to hold him down to keep him from blowing away. >> i can hear you now, matt, just for a brief moment. the winds are -- this is how i'm staying out here. mike, our camera guy, is holding on. >> it doesn't work. our truck operator tom bare said, don't you wish you had your weight back. right about now i do. >> are you okay? >> we're okay. we're okay. we're coming inside. >> good idea. one that brian williams should have considered in 2003's hurricane is is a bell. >> we can get 70-mile-per-hour wind effect.

>> during a live report, brian discovers what hurricane force really means when he calls over a weather channel colleague to take a wind speed reading. >> allow me to introduce you to mike seidel of the weather channel. what's your reading? >> we're kind of protected here -- >> it's not just hurricanes that have sent mike seidel flying. he's also found snow and ice on the ground can turn a weather report into a major slipup. >> is what happens -- ow, geez. oh, gosh. >> and there's another hazard when reporting on extreme weather. the kids are out of school. >> the children seem to be having the most fun of all of us here. they're all loaded up, as you can see, with snow. that probably wasn't the best idea i've had this weekend. >> no, it isn't. and the attack isn't over. >> they're having a great time,

as you can see. >> and even when a reporter is expecting snow day fun -- >> it looks like rubin is in the lead and here comes ali -- >> he can still get taken for a spin. >> that was a bad idea. at riverside park, rob leff. global news. >> clearly reporting on weather in the outside is no walk in the park, but surely a reporter is safe inside the studio. not always. as idaho falls anchors justine bouvier and tommy can tell you. for two years they co-host the morning news program on channel 3. usually a warm and fuzzy place to be. >> every single morning we just had a blast. a part of us butted heads sometimes because we were really different people, yet we were different people who got along so well together. >> but on october 12th, 2010, a cold front moves in over the anchor desk. >> taking action for you,

channel 3 eyewitness news, starts now. >> as soon as the show starts, it's clear something is wrong. >> there we are. sorry about that. >> that's better. >> what is going on with weather and things like that, but we're here. >> and you'll be seeing the weather again shortly, a little less cluttered. >> we'll be seeing it again shortly all right. justine begins to read a story about a multicar pileup. >> near the road underpass, a loading ramp fell off of a trailer headed northbound on i-15. >> but trouble is piling up in the studio. >> when the other vehicles hit the ramp. >> even though the car crash is the opposite of a funny story, she can't stop laughing. >> unfortunately, this happened during very serious stories. no newscast wants to have weather graphics pop up and their anchors laughing during a serious story like this. >> the driver of the toyota and the passenger were both transported to the hospital. the driver of the jeep and a

pedestrian crossing the street were not hurt. sorry, this is a serious story, folks. this is crazy. they kept going. after two minutes we went to commercial break. >> the out of control graphics are the result of a computer malfunction. >> i was the weather anchor and also the news anchor. right before the show started the weather computer completely crashed. i had to run back and reload everything. that's when the graphics started popping up on the screen. >> and the laughing? well, that's an understandable human error. they swear it's nothing to do with the incident, but tommy and justine both leave the station shortly after that blooper-filled morning. justine goes to michigan to study for a master's degree. and tommy heads to dallas to be a reporter at cw 33. perhaps not surprisingly, he's no longer in charge of the weather. coming up, a park ranger is caught in a rare earthquake. >> i felt very, very, very terrified. very scared thinking that i may

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here's what's happening, president obama spoke at the start of a nato summit today in chicago saying he looks forward to meeting with those who have been critical of nato and asks leaders to work together during these difficult times. it was met by thousands of protesters in the streets of chicago, the issues ran from the war in afghanistan, even workers rights with some of the demonstrators calling for nato to be dissolved. now back to "caught on camera." welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. working as a park ranger on the national mall means preparing for all sorts of challenges. inaugurations, protest marches, even the threat of a terrorist attack, but when a magnitude 5.8

quake rattles the washington monument, that's not surprising the ranger on duty at the top is a little shaken. a rare earthquake jolts a national monument, and a park ranger faces the test of her life. >> i felt very, very, very terrified, very scared. thinking that i may not get out of the building. >> then while inspecting the damage, an engineer is taken for a hair-raising ride. nicolette williams has worked as a park ranger at the national mall in washington, d.c., for two years. she enjoys interacting with tourists from all over the globe. >> every single day, we work at our different memorials and provide historical tours for visitors. >> on august 23rd, 2011, she's assigned to the washington monument. >> it's 500 feet up and we have windows on all four sides. you can see very far into maryland, virginia, about 30, 35

miles at least. >> security camera footage from just before 2:00 p.m. shows nicolette on the observation level as high up in the monument as visitors can go. she's waiting to take a group of about 20 tourists down in the elevator. >> as i'm sitting there, the elevator actually starts to make noise. >> she realizes immediately something unusual is happening. >> i know the elevator's noises and these are loud banging sounds, then the walls of the elevator begin to vibrate. >> the monument begins to shake dramatically, nicolette doesn't know what is happening, but she knows staying on the observation level is probably not a good idea. >> we're 500 feet up in the air. the windows don't open. the only way to go is down. so i jump off the ledge, i run down that stairwell. and that next level, there's an emergency exit for the stairs. i open the door to get the visitors down. >> debris rains down on the fleeing tourists. the building is rocking so violently, it almost knocks the ranger off her feet.

>> i'm terrified. i'm thinking, i don't know if i'm going to get to the bottom of this stairwell, i really think there's going to be something to knock the whole monument over. >> once she's opened the emergency door one flight down, nicolette knows she can't run down to the ground level. the ranger must always be the last one to leave. >> i'm standing at the emergency exit, debating this thought, looking at the stairwell as debris is coming down the stairs. i decide i have to go back up, but i'm going to run as fast as i possibly can. >> she sprints up to make sure the floor is clear. >> i'm running around that top level. there's a lot of debris that has fallen now. i go back down, but as i'm going back down the other stairwell, a father has run up from the floor below. he was crying his son's name over and over, so i knew that his son was already down because there was nobody else up there. i go down to the next level but then i stay and yell at him to come down the stairwell. until he does, i won't leave. >> nicolette begins the 900-step descent to ground level. it's slow going as she's helping

an elderly visitor with bad knees. partway down she hears that a 5.8 magnitude earthquake has struck the washington area. until that moment, nicolette believes it's a terrorist attack. >> we work at the icons and our training revolves around attacks like that. that is the first thought that comes into your mind. >> it makes sense she doesn't consider an earthquake. this is the first large quake to hit the region in more than a century, but nicolette knows enough to realize the danger isn't over. >> i let out a sigh of relief initially but then i realized there are aftershocks and i'm still 350 feet in the air and i still need to move as fast as i can to get the last visitor out. >> ten long minutes before nicolette makes it to solid ground, but everyone is safe. it will be many months before she can go back inside the monument again. the earthquake has damaged the 127-year-old structure. to find out the extent of the

destruction, the park service calls in the experts. >> i got to come out and hike the monument with everybody and be one of the first ones up on top to really take a look at what's going on up there. >> eric is a senior associate with wje, the company assigned the complicated task of assessing the damage to the monument. once the interior has been inspected, it's time to see what's happened to the exterior. and there's only one way to do that quickly. >> we're a part of the society of rope access technicians. >> this means engineers who have spider-man-like skills and can scale the side of washington's tallest structure suspended only on hopes and a harness. even for these experienced climber, stepping out on to the monument for the first time isn't easy. >> as you're getting out through the window, you're feeling a little nervousness. once you're out there, it's the awe of realizing that you're sitting on ropes, that there's

nobody up there with you except for the three on the other side and that you're on the national washington monument. nobody gets to be up there. that's just an awe-inspiring moment. >> they have a rare bird's eye view of the nation's capital. >> one thing we got to watch was the president flying through. we all waved at him. i don't know if he was waiving back or not. >> but eric and his colleagues don't have many time for sight-seeing. they have work to do. >> they examine the marble blocks using ipads to compare it with a survey of the monument done in 1999. down below tourists and assembled media can't stop staring at the climbers. >> it must take a lot of guts. >> amazing, fascinating, a piece of history. >> the onlookers witness an alarming moment when eric is caught by the wind and slammed 30 feet off the wall banging into the hard surface of the monument. >> a gust that came out of nowhere. it was so fast. you didn't have any thought of what was going on. i was trying to keep my ropes from slicing around the side of the building.

>> he's no worse for the wear. for his wild ride. >> i wouldn't say that we're daredevils at all. we've done enough of this work that we're very comfortable with it. it's very safe. >> after six days the engineers finish their inventory and they've done initial repairs removing any loose flakes of marble that could cause a hazard below. >> the majority of the damage was up at the level. >> they say the monument is structurally sound, but it remains closed to the public until it's fully repaired. as far as park ranger williams is concerned, they can take as long as they need to reopen the monument. she's in no rush to go back up there. >> i will probably be a little nervous. so the more time that passes, though, the better and better i feel. coming up, a helicopter pilot smashes to earth. >> it was an enormous pop, and a mighty thump as the helicopter hit the ground. ♪

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a helicopter pilot installing holiday decorations comes within inches of his life. it's november 23rd, 2011, in auckland, new zealand. chopper pilot greg grible is helping erect a giant christmas tree. suddenly -- >> there was an enormous pop, which was obviously the blades exploding, and then an almighty thump as the helicopter hit the ground. >> the crash happens when the rotor blade catches on a cable sending the chopper into a tailspin. local news crews capture the disaster.

and it's soon broadcast across the world. at first people on the ground run for cover, but a moment later, they dash back to check on the pilot. incredibly, greg is not only alive, he's able to climb out and walk away. >> because it happened so quick, it was like a dream really. it was just like bang and the next thing i know -- >> nobody on the ground is injured but the helicopter is smashed beyond repair. the next day greg surveys the damage. >> i don't know whether that was my head that actually hit that. >> he credits his survival to the fact that he's wearing a seat belt which stops him from being thrown out of the side of the chopper. >> that's the main belt attached to the floor of the aircraft. if i wasn't wearing that it would have been all over. >> in our next story, it's a swimming pool that crashes to earth.

when a crane takes a dive into a garage. for electrician peter krause there's nothing unusual about a job wiring up a suburban swimming pool. he's done dozens of them in the six years he's worked for a minnesota electrical company. but on june 10th, 2011, he works on a pool installation that's far from ordinary. >> it's not every day that you install a continuous motion pool. they're not very common. and it's not every day that a crane lifts it up over the house. >> peter pulls out his phone to catch the process on camera. >> the main reason was just to show my son the clip. i thought that he would get a kick out of it. >> at first everything goes swimmingly. but as the crane operator is guiding the pool over the garage, peter can't help but call out a warning. >> watch out for the chimney. >> it looked like he was getting really close to the chimney.

he couldn't hear me call anything out to him. the machine itself is really loud. i just had an inkling or some kind of feeling that something might happen. >> peter's right. something will happen, but it's not the pool hitting the chimney. the crane operator maneuvers it safely past that obstacle, but as he starts to lower the pool into the yard, look out. >> holy -- i heard a loud pop, then i heard the crane operator scream and i knew to run at that point. there really wasn't much else to do. then the crane operator starts screaming, it's time to clear out. >> when peter turns to look at the crane, it's an amazing sight. >> the back of it is probably like, i don't know, 15, 20 feet, it was up in the air, a pretty substantial vehicle that completely up-ended. >> the crane operator is stuck in the cab screaming in

frustration. >> he's just really upset and kind of sounds like homer simpson, like really mad, ah! i can't believe what happened. >> peter turns off the camera to help. >> he was laying forward on the controls, and basically had to get him a ladder so he could crawl out of the cab of the crane, get him down on the ground. he was just shaking. >> amazingly nobody's injured in the crash, but the damage to the house is extensive. >> the crane landed on top of the garage, crushed in the roof, completely destroyed the chimney. all the bricks fell down on top of the motors and the blowers and the heater and everything for this pool and that setup was pretty much destroyed. >> but on the bright side, the pool did make it into the yard. the crane company covers the cost of the damage. they say the accident was the operator's fault. he no longer works for the company and could not be reached to see if he agrees with that assessment.

>> if i was a crane operator, that would probably be the worst day ever. >> but for peter, an early start to the weekend. >> as far as bad days go, that was nothing. it wasn't my accident. it wasn't my fault. it didn't have anything to do with our company. it was friday, so it was an early friday. >> the work day may have been a washout but the job is not over. the pool itself has only minor damage. a few days later peter is able to complete the installation. he still can't believe what he saw that day. >> i've seen accidents, but like being right there when it happened, i've never seen anything like that in person in my life before. >> peter may have had a hair raising experience watching a crane on the job, but for these workers, stranded on a church steeple in new jersey, a crane is, dare we say it, a god send? at first pastor neal tollboom of the united methodist church

in moorstown, new jersey, believes fixing his church's steeple will be a relatively simple mission. >> steeple's been around for about 140 years. we hired a company to go up and take a look at the condition of the steeple. >> the work which is still in progress two weeks later begins november 3rd, 2011. it's about 1:30 in the afternoon when the worker's bucket becomes wedged against the steeple. they're stuck 122 feet in the air. church officials call the morristown fire department, who raise up their own ladder, but it's too short. next they try the neighboring town's ladder truck. >> second ladder was -- had maybe another 3 to 4 feet of reach above what the original ladder was because of our positioning and our angle, but it still wasn't close enough. >> the pressure is on. a crowd has gathered and word is out to the local new york city news media. a police helicopter arrives, but

it's too dangerous for it to get close to the bucket. so rescue from above is out. and rescue from below is impossible. the firefighters really need a miracle. eventually they decide to bring in a 150-foot crane. >> we had toyed with the idea of just using it as a high point to set up ropes to try to lift them up and drop them into a basket. >> but a rope rescue is also too dangerous. finally they come up with a solution that just might work. a man cage. >> so they put two of the firefighters, the rescue people in the cage, and they pulled it up almost 150 feet, then they lowers it down to where the guys were. >> the next step is risky, moving from one basket to another 12 stories in the air. >> the biggest concern was the wind and the sway. they were already tethered to their platform. so we carried that tether over to the man basket and they got locked into there and stepped across.

>> it takes less than two minutes for the crane to lower the somewhat embarrassed construction workers to the ground. it's been more than three hours since they got stuck. >> when they came down, the emts looked at them. i remember one of the guys looking at me and he said, i need a rest room a couple slices of pizza and a coke. i was very happy they came down and didn't have any ill effects from being up in the air for so long. >> amen to that. coming up, oops. a rare antique shatters on live tv. and there's nothing to celebrate when champagne flows in this liquor store. i stood there with my mouth open just in awe. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going.

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wipeout.

6800 bottles of wine smashed to the ground, and a salesman runs for his life. >> wine was flowing like a tidal wave everywhere through the store. >> i stood there with my mouth open just in awe. >> 2011. let's just say it's not a good year for the wine at superior discount liquors in sheboygan, wisconsin. for peter gusky, general manager of the family-run business wednesday, july 6th starts like every other day. >> it was early morning, just after 8:00, the store had just opened. i was running around doing typical things. >> salesman nick hain seen here on the store security cameras has just finished restocking the shelves. >> we like to clean up our mess, which we had a lot of empty boxes around. i was walking right down the aisle over there, and i pretty much just bent over and was picking up empty boxes. >> a moment later the peace and quiet of the morning routine is shattered. >> i heard a shift and i saw the shelves starting to slowly tip

and as soon as i saw that first section start to move, i turned could out of there. >> the end of the shelving started pulling away from wall, from the front of the store to the back of the store. >> in just under ten seconds, 68 feet of shelving holding almost 7,000 bottles of wine crumples to the ground unleashing a tsunami of the finest merlot. >> smashed bottles everywhere, glass shards laying on the ground, wine just flowing. directly after, you could hear champagne bottles actually popping because they were so shook up that the tops were coming right off. it was just so unbelievable. there was anywhere from one to two inches of wine flowing out the front door into the back rooms and out the back door. it's something you cannot fathom. >> peter's father richard gusky is the owner of the store. he hears the crash from his office.

>> i stood up and looked and i saw the shelving tumbling. and i saw the wine running all over. >> richard immediately focuses on cleaning up the mess although at first he underestimates just what a huge task it will be. >> i said to my son, get a mop, but a mop wasn't something we needed. we needed something to suck up all the wine. >> every inch of the store needed to be wiped down. stock in the back rooms, that sits on the floor, so that was all wet, the cardboard cases were soaked with wine. so we needed to pick them up. and clean underneath them. of course, those boxes were all ruined. they were soggy. >> with the help of a professional cleaning crew and almost all the employees, the work is completed in less than 24 hours. the store remains open throughout the entire ordeal. >> we never shut down. somebody came in the front door, we stopped them and asked them what they wanted and got their product.

>> nick hain is just happy he escaped with his life and his reputation. >> thank god the surveillance video was there. that was my evidence that i didn't demolish a whole shelf. >> as for why the shelf collapsed, that's as mysterious as the qualities of a fine wine. >> there was nobody standing near the shelf, nobody physically stocking it. it just fell on its own inexplicably. i just think it was one of those things, it's a one-time thing. in all the years we've never had a disaster like this happen. >> it could be worse. at least only security cameras are rolling in the wine shop. our next big break happens on live tv. >> this is a one of a kind piece. >> it's a jaw dropping moment for a show host when an ir replaceable antique smashes to pieces. >> oh. >> you can't do that. i can't do that. you can't do that. how can you do that.

>> it's the day after christmas 2002 and 29-year-old tech tv host chris perillo is in the middle of an 18-hour live programming stunt. the marathon call-in show has been going smoothly, especially considering this is chris' first time being on air so long. but when he interviews this hard drive expert, things fall apart. >> he brought a handful of devices and recording apparatus mechanisms to show off. something that would be good for tv. >> this is the world's first rotating media. you can see it's an edison record. they were made one at a time. >> as the guest shows him an antique recording cylinder. >> there's no other one like this particular one in the world. >> chris notices something's amiss. >> when the camera zoomed in on his hands, you can see that he was shaking. >> just moments later, disaster. >> see these pieces just scatter

like millions of pieces. >> followed by a huge tv no-no. >> [ bleep ]. >> as he was forming the sound, i started to get nervous. he went from that into the s-word. i guess if you're going to change up swear words, that's a better way of going. >> stunned, chris tries to move past the accident. >> that does happen every once in a while. that can't be good. now, are you done with that then? >> yeah, i'm done with that. >> it's an awkward moment to say the least. >> i didn't know what to do. i couldn't walk over and hug him, i mean, that's not really the -- i don't think that's the social gesture for when someone brakes breaks a priceless artifact. >> chris may have moved on to the next topic, but almost immediately the show and tell moment becomes an online treasure. >> two days after this live event, i was sitting in a cafe

and a gentleman walked by and looked at me. he said, i just saw you in a video on the internet. it was you and an old guy and then he breaks it and he cusses. this was back in 2002 before youtube. >> the cylinder breaking isn't the only segment from the telethon that will catch fire on the internet. several hours later it's chris' self-control that shatters. hey, what's so funny? [ burps ] excuse you. >> i need more peptol bismol i haven't opened it yet. i was eating my nuts. all right. anyway, almonds, folks. >> after 15 hours on the air it seems chris is unable to pick up the pieces. >> i was ready to answer a question. i have no idea what the hell you're going to ask. >> that's okay.

i can forgive you for that. >> what the hell? i was laughing so hard i couldn't see. the only thing -- have you ever laughed so hard you're squinting, you're laughing so hard. i remember seeing the camera coming close, the closer it got, it was just like i can't do this. held up my hands. i can't. i got -- pause, pause. but you can't pause live tv, you just got to keep going with it. >> what can i help you with? >> it may not have been his most dignified moment, but chris recovers and finishes the telethon. just goes to show that unlike rare antiques, tv hosts are unbreakable. >> i never had a stronger sense of accomplishment than i did at the end of that day. whether they survived an on camera embarrassment or a life threatening elephant attack, one thing is certain, these workers will no doubt look forward to a boring day on the job. here's hoping your work is as interesting but maybe not quite as hair raising.