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tv   Caught on Camera  MSNBC  April 20, 2015 12:00am-1:01am PDT

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>> all right. we are not doing that. >> we'll be back next week to discuss everybody's age because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." they patrol our streets, our highways, our borders, where anything can happen. >> we're having a baby. >> from birth to death. >> it was, like, a tremendous explosion. >> and everything in between. >> stop the car! >> i'm, like, i've got to do something. i've got to do something quick. >> officers of the law see it all. >> a very young male driver. and i'm talking young. >> and so do their cameras. >> there's gonna be a killing tonight. >> the eyewitnesses that never lie. >> i got the police report and i was, like, lie.
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hello. welcome to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. highway patrol officers know to expect the unexpected whenever they stop a vehicle. our first story pits an armed felony suspect against u.s. border patrol agents. the tense situation at the mexican border grows worse when officers make a crucial discovery about who else is in the car. a burglary suspect speeds toward the mexican border with a 1-year-old child as a hostage. >> he was holding the baby to his chest and the knife to the baby's neck. he told me they were not going to get him alive. >> one lane, 89 miles an hour. >> monday morning, april 20, 1998. a car tears down interstate 5 south of los angeles, hitting speeds up to 95 miles per hour.
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>> okay. they're passing eltoro now. >> as it hurdles toward the sex kan mexican border, officials get a heads-up. >> we got a phone call probably from the california highway patrol letting us know there was a southbound pursuit. >> probably heading for the border. >> the suspect, eddie price, is fleeing from l.a. police who tried to arrest him for burglary. he's armed and dangerous, and he's not alone in the car. he's got a baby on board. officials at the border, including u.s. customs inspector alfredo morales and supervisor charmaine rodriguez brace themselves. >> at the port of entry, if something's going to happen, it's going to happen here. >> they know that chases that head toward the border have a way of ending there. >> there generally is a bottleneck of traffic there so the state and local police departments often use that scenario to help them stop vehicles. >> and that's exactly what happens on this day. price snakes through stalled traffic, but finally he can go
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no further. >> he had to just slam on the brakes and come to an abrupt stop, and he didn't want to get out of his car. he was surrounded by law enforcement from various federal and state and local agencies. >> price locks himself in. the windows are up, but officers can see the suspect and the baby in the back seat. their first thought is to save the child. >> we were all yelling at him to open the windows and to get out of the car and to let the baby go. >> our officers were trying to get in the car, but it was difficult. eventually, they started trying to break through the window. >> as one officer bashes in the window, price leaps into the back seat, and morales can see that he has a knife. >> he pulled the knife and stuck it to the baby. to the baby's neck. >> as the violence threatens to escalate, morales makes a startling choice.
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>> everybody had their weapons drawn, even me. i knew he was not able to shoot with a knife so i holster my weapon. >> morales has no training as a negotiator, but his instincts kick in. the suspect calms slightly and listens as morales tries to reason with him. >> i talked to him about the baby. and i made him realize that he had the knife to the baby and, you know, i guess he realized it and he took it away from the baby and put it on himself. >> morales has made a connection with price. he urges the crowds of armed officers to back off so he can continue talking to the agitated suspect. >> he had the conversation through the broken window. i convinced him to get out of the car. >> clutching the baby with the knife on his own neck, the suspect climbs out. but a moment later he gets pepper-sprayed and retreats.
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>> of course i made him mad and he went back into the car. >> just went back in the car! >> i tried to talk to him and tell him, you know, to give himself up, that nobody was hurt yet and that nobody needed to be hurt. >> morales starts to bargain. >> we wanted to create sort of the idea that he might be able to get away so he felt like he had an option. >> i told him, well, if they let you go to mexico, give me the baby. >> supervisor morales took a situation that was very escalated, and he calmed him down. >> finally, it seems morales has gotten through to the distraught suspect. >> he says, well, if you let me go to mexico, i'll give you the baby. >> price agrees. he gets out of the car but edges toward the border. >> i tried to grab the baby, and, you know, he pulled away. i said, you told me. and when that was happening, he threw the baby at me and started running.
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>> literally threw the baby to officer morales, and officer morales caught him. >> the baby's safe. a border policeman maces the suspect who keeps going. >> there was a mob of people and they all just waited for him. so he wasn't going to go anywhere. >> price is tackled by the mexican police. >> they got him, captured him going across the border. >> morales hands the child to charmaine rodriguez waiting nearby to rush the baby to safety. >> i grabbed the baby, and i ran into the building. >> fortunately, the toddler is unharmed. officials are stunned to learn the baby is eddie price's own son justin. >> what a terrible situation. this was going to cause a little baby to be without a father and certainly things weren't going to go well for his father. >> things go badly indeed for the father who winds up with a six-year prison term for burglary, evading arrest and child endangerment.
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>> we were just there, and we did what we had to do. >> for the border police whose crucial decisions and split-second timing were carried out in front of multiple cameras, it's an event they'll never forget. >> it was a big experience. i was, thank god, able to talk to this gentleman and convince him to turn the baby over to us. >> the child is involved, endangered at the hands of their own parent, that's the thing that makes it really gut-wrenching. that is the most memorable experience i've had on the job in 21 years. coming up -- a dui turns into a serious threat. >> don't get back in the car. >> don't touch me. a trooper's dui stop begins
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>> don't touch me. a trooper's dui stop begins
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with defiance. >> why are you messing with me? you better get off of me. >> and ends with a death threat. >> killing? >> spartanburg, south carolina, december 17, 2005, 2:00 a.m. deputy keith gibbs is patrolling a quiet highway when he sees a driver in trouble. >> i met the vehicle coming towards me in the opposite lane with no headlights on. they were just creeping about five miles an hour. >> only the brake lights are lit. >> creeping with no lights are can mean many things. could mean that they're so impaired they can't operate the vehicle. i followed this car as it merged onto the highway, and it failed to follow the curve around and almost hit the guardrail. as they were making a left turn into a parking lot, i went ahead and did a traffic stop.
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as i approached the car and got within a few feet of it, i could smell alcohol coming from the car. hi there. >> i got no license, no i.d. >> where are you going? stay in the car for me, okay? >> oh, i'm sorry. >> i stopped you because you're driving without your lights. >> i know. i can't find the lights. >> so the driver has no license, no i.d., and no idea where the lights are. >> whose car is this? >> mine. >> my niece. >> whoops. the car smells like booze and the passengers don't have their stories together. time for a sobriety test. >> go ahead and step out of the car for me. not both of you. just one of you. you sit down in the car. >> me? >> yeah. step to the back right there. >> i have to fix my clothes. >> you're fixing your clothes? >> yes, sir. >> i smell a lot of alcohol coming from the car.
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i'm going to have you perform some field sobriety tests, okay? >> okay. >> i'm going to advise you that you're on camera. i'll read you your miranda warnings. >> the entire time he reads her her rights she's putting herself to rights. at last, she's ready for her close-up. >> first thing i want to do is look at your eyes. >> i can't do that. i'm bow-legged. >> that's okay. just as well as you can. just as close as you can. can you see the tip of my pen? >> yes, sir. >> while keeping your head still, follow the tip of my pen with your eyes only. >> she has trouble with the first test so he goes on to the next. >> do you think you can walk along that line right there? >> this line? yeah. >> put your left foot on the line. >> nobody can do that. >> lots of people can do it. >> nobody can do that. >> ain't nobody in the world can walk like this. >> after failing the first two tests, not even being able to attempt them, she started to get a little bit more hostile. >> her anger mounts as deputy
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gibbs calmly offers a third test. >> just stand there like that. we're going to try a one-leg stand, okay? don't lean on the car. come over here. >> i can't believe you are sitting there harassing me. >> i'm not harassing you. >> he tries to press ahead with the test. >> watch the tip of your toe and start counting. >> i'm not going to do these. >> you're not going to do it? >> no. >> she refuses to continue and deputy gibbs suspects she's about to make a break for it. >> i got a feeling that she was wanting to get back in the car. she was right at the rear bumper. she had been touching it. i'm evaluating your ability to drive right now. what does the other person have to do? >> you just want to mess with me. >> turn around and put your hands behind your back. >> you just want to mess with me. >> ma'am, you're under arrest. put your hands behind your back. don't get back in the car. >> don't touch me. >> she makes a dive to escape and gibbs has got to stop her before she gets back in her car.
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>> ow! >> she managed to get the door open, but i managed to get one hand off the door and pull hard enough that she let go before she closed her hand in the door. turn around. >> she outweighs him. deputy gibbs has his hands full. >> you better get off of me. >> she was 234 pounds and i was 180. just mass to mass she had me by just a little bit. >> you better get off of me. you better get the [ bleep ] off of me. >> that effective move is called a straight arm bar takedown. >> straight arm bar takedown is essentially straightening someone's arm and twisting it underneath so you gain the leverage over that arm. >> but just when he thinks he has things under control, another possible threat emerges. >> stay in that car! do not get out of that car! >> deputy gibbs has one uncooperative woman on the ground and another who's about
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to get involved. >> i just held that position and requested backup because i couldn't turn around. i had to keep eyes on the passenger who was starting to get out of the car. she had both feet on the ground and she was watching me. >> no! momma! >> deputy gibbs' backup arrives. when they put the dui suspect into the car, she seems to simmer down. but on the way to jail, she starts getting worked up again. then suddenly from the back seat deputy gibbs hears a chilling threat. >> there's going to be some killings tonight. >> killings? why? why is there going to be some killing? >> why is there going to be some killing? >> yeah. >> because you arrested me for nothing. >> that's a death threat. this unfortunate woman has just added another charge to the total she's facing for tonight's escapade.
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>> she was charged with driving under suspension, resisting her arrest and threatening a public official. >> she was convicted of all the charges, served jail time and was fined. it was a shocking moment caught on dash cam, a reminder that for an officer any traffic stop can be a matter of life or death. >> that's a rarity when somebody will just calmly tell you that there's going to be a killing tonight. it's unusual. that hasn't happened to me prior to that or since. coming up -- a trooper risks his life trying to prevent a tragedy. >> i noticed a vehicle, and this thing wasn't doing anything but coming at us.
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as a trooper tries to stop him, a wrong-way driver speeds toward oncoming traffic on a major u.s. interstate. >> you're watching cars swerve, semis lock up their brakes. oh, crap, it's going to be ugly. >> january 25, 2002, 1:30 p.m.
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state trooper mike val verde is west of albuquerque, new mexico, patrolling i-40, the most heavily traveled highway in the state. suddenly, he gets a shock. there's a white truck going the wrong way on the divided highway, and it's headed straight for him. >> it actually was in the fast lane, and this thing wasn't doing anything but coming at us. >> val verde yanks his car to the right to avoid a collision and hits his lights. >> initiated my emergency equipment, which is what activates my camera. >> the driver sails by, oblivious, at 70 miles an hour. val verde knows he must try to stop him before he kills someone. the officer calls for backup and makes a violent u-turn, just managing to avoid hitting an oncoming car. >> i pursue the vehicle in the westbound lanes of traffic so i'm going the correct flow of traffic and i'm watching him go against traffic.
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>> it's traffic chaos. cars and trucks swerve to avoid the wrong-way driver. >> they're doing everything in their power to avoid being struck by this vehicle. >> with lights and siren going, val verde pulls alongside the driver trying to get his attention. but the driver never even looks in his direction. >> just straight ahead, stone-faced, forward, like i'm not even there, like those cars are supposed to be in a two-lane road and they're going by him. he has no concept of what's going on. >> could he be ill, drunk or on drugs? the trooper realizes he has to do something drastic to stop this out-of-control truck. >> i attempted several times to go through the median to gain his attention. i even at one point was looking at an opportunity where i could take his vehicle out. >> val verde plans a daring move, an across the median p.i.t. stop to use his own car to stop the truck and knock it into a safe zone. >> you're authorized to use deadly force, and with your vehicle hitting another vehicle,
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that is a deadly force situation. so i could have used my vehicle to stop his vehicle. >> but at high speed this is extremely dangerous. and the risky maneuver needs careful timing. first val verde speeds up to get ahead of the wrong-way driver. then he tries to drive across the bumpy median. >> i was going about 75 miles an hour. the median is not the best place to try and drive a vehicle through. it's rough. there's rocks. there's holes. i lost control of my vehicle. >> to regain control, val verde is forced to pull back onto the highway. he's lost speed, and the wrong-way driver is way out ahead of him. so val verde stomps on the accelerator again. >> there was also a highway department truck who was also going westbound who had his lights on to help attract the attention of the oncoming motorists. >> val verde passes the wrong-way driver again, but time is running out.
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then he sees what he's been dreading, an oncoming car straight in the path of the wrong-way driver. >> it was a cadillac, just two couples. again, i saw the driver just lean over and was making a comment to the passenger. and that's the last thing i saw. >> he's heart sick, powerless to prevent a collision. >> i saw the impact of the vehicles in my rear view mirror, and it was like a tremendous explosion. the impact of two vehicles at 75 miles an hour is like 17 sticks of dynamite. >> calling for emergency vehicles, val verde turns and races to the scene. >> i pulled through the median and i pulled up on the vehicles. and i went to the white truck first. the air bag was deployed. the individual was facedown in the air bag. >> incredibly, the driver is alive, but just barely. and val verde notices a telltale aroma.
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>> there was a strong odor of alcohol coming from inside the white pickup. >> next, val verde turns to examine the smashed cadillac and its four passengers. >> there was no way i could even get into the passenger's side front or rear area of the vehicle. it didn't look very good. i presumed that all four of them were deceased. >> all four people in the cadillac are dead. val verde learns they are two couples, the bellars and the raymakers, lifelong friends. they were on vacation together. >> they were definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. these people were doing nothing wrong. they were obeying the law. and they were just driving on a nice, sunny afternoon in the state of new mexico. >> the driver of the truck that killed them turns out to be lloyd larson, a man with nine prior duis. >> when we took his blood that
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night, it was 0.28, which was over two times the legal limit. he's serving 20 years for four counts of vehicular homicide. >> this desperate chase is all caught on camera, but it need not be played for val verde to remember. the awful event is seared in his mind and probably will be for the rest of his life. >> like nothing i've ever experienced. you can be doing nothing wrong, just driving down the highway, minding your own business, and something like this pops out of nowhere, and your life is taken. driving is probably the most dangerous thing that we do every day. coming up -- a driver has a mysterious car accident. >> what are the chances that a cat jumps out the window and you're rear-ended by a cop? >> but it's what the cops do about it that's shocking. afte.
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welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. a dashboard camera is a powerful witness, its record can back up an officer's testimony, saving court time and keeping everyone honest. but, in our next story, some officers forget the camera is on while they engage in what appears to be a shocking distortion of the truth.
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it's a drama straight from hollywood. hollywood, florida, that is. >> andre, come here a minute. >> heard on camera, four police officers and a civilian staffer appear to conspire to frame a young woman for an accident one of them caused. >> i'm going to put words in his mouth. she went to accelerate, a cat jumped out. >> midnight, february 17, 2009. this "caught on camera" catastrophe starts with a cat. after having a few beers with friends, 23-year-old alexandra torrence vilas has just rescued a stray. >> i went over my friend's house who lives on 95 and sheridan street. he had a cat that he was going to surrender. and i said, no, no, i'll take the cat home with me. >> but driving home the georgetown university student leaves the car window down.
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she says as she pulls away from the stop light the cat leaps out into the street. >> the cat's dodging cars, it's about to get hit. so i try to pull over out of the street quick enough and go rescue the cat. >> she says she stops, puts her hazard lights on, and runs after the cat, which disappears into the night. then she says she hears a crash. >> it's a cop car. >> the policeman who has hit her, joel francisco, calls another officer. >> dewey presley is a dui traffic homicide investigator and on the dui task force with the hollywood police department. >> dewey presley is soon joined by three other police employees. and what happens next is caught on officer presley's dash cam. >> stand here for me, please. there's two things going on here. >> i'm sorry. >> number one, you were with involved in a minor crash. >> but if she wasn't in the car when it was hit, how was she involved in the crash? >> number two, in the course of
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me speaking with you, there's an odor of alcohol coming off your breath. you're a little lethargic and you may or may not be driving impaired. >> before administering sobriety tests, presley reads alexandra her rights and questions her about the accident. >> you're accelerating from a stop. you got to about 30 miles an hour, then you all of a sudden -- this cat jumped out, and you slammed on the brakes. >> i do. >> so someone behind you who's also just starting to accelerate forward -- >> yeah. >> there would be no reason why -- >> they would think that -- >> that you're going to abruptly slam on the brakes. >> exactly. >> alexandra doesn't realize where this is going. >> pretty naively, i thought he was being sympathetic to my situation. >> alexandra admits she had been drinking earlier. >> what type of drink are we talking about here? >> just beer. >> then presley puts alexandra through the roadside sobriety test. >> now -- >> you have no idea how nervous you are, by the way, when you're
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in that situation. >> okay. stop, stop, stop. >> nervous or not, officer presley decides she's flunked the tests. >> you're under arrest for driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage. >> it's when alexandra is put in the patrol car to go to the station for a breathalyzer test that she gets a real surprise. >> what about my car? >> we'll take care of it. >> can i -- >> it's not drivable right now anyway. >> not drivable? but the officer calls it a minor accident. >> she's walking along the driver's side of the car and out in front of her car and can't really see the extent of the damage. >> at the station she gets an even bigger shock when she hears the charges. >> dui, 500. dui with property damage, 1,000. >> property damage? that means she's being charged with causing the accident. >> i got the police report. oh, and you see it says, okay, officer approached the car and
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finds the person inside the car. i was, like, lie! >> but how can she prove it? she hires a lawyer who obtains officer presley's dash cam video, and they watch it together. when they get to the end, they are stunned at what they hear. >> the lead investigator for her dui case leaves the microphone on. >> unbelievably, the officers have forgotten that dewey presley's mike is still recording every word as the officer appears to concoct a story. >> as far as i'm concerned? i'm going to put words in his mouth. she went to accelerate, a cat jumped out the window, at which time he thought could have been a pedestrian, which distracted him because he was concerned. and that's normal and before he comes to a stop, boom! >> the officer seems to spin the accident to make it appear to be alexandra's fault. perhaps that was his plan from the very first.
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>> i nailed her on video. i hung her out to dry on that. >> now he appears to describe how he will take care of the accident report. >> i'll write the narrative out for you and you can -- yeah. i'll tell you exactly how to word it so we can get him off the hook. >> presley also has instructions for the guy who does the crash drawings, kareem thomas. >> kareem, come here, man. yeah, i'm going to show you something. we're going to bend this a little bit because she's drunk so it is what it is. i don't lie and make things up ever. it's wrong. but if i need to protect a cop -- >> i hear you, man. >> you see the angle of her car? >> yeah. >> see it's like this? as far as i'm concerned, i'm going to word it that she's in the left-hand lane. >> okay. >> when the cat jumped out, she abruptly got over into this lane and slammed on the brakes. >> okay. >> next, presley enlists the help of a technician. >> andre, come here a minute. trying to protect a cop.
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it wouldn't matter because she's drunk anyway. she was in this lane and cut over into this lane. >> you're astonished. >> watching the video, meltzer and alexandra can scarcely believe their ears. >> first of all, i mean, to be honest you don't really think an officer could be that stupid. second of all, you are happy for your client because you've just won their case because their entire case is based upon a fraud. >> for alexandra, finally everything made sense. >> i felt redeemed, you know, that what i was saying from the beginning was true. >> i'd really rather not comment any further at this time. thank you. >> after an investigation, the four officers and the civilian are fired. but why would officers of the law go so far as to bend the truth in a police report to help a buddy? meltzer has a hunch. >> officer joel francisco had been involved in several accidents involving his police
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cruiser, and ultimately he did not want to be disciplined more severely. >> you're driving impaired, under the influence of an alcoholic beverage. >> for the sake of covering up a minor mishap, five careers have been ruined. >> integrity. that's involved in every criminal investigation no matter how big or how small. writing reports, swearing under oath, is part of their job. and they have just jeopardized every case that they have ever been a part of. >> all charges against alexandra have been dropped, and, once again, the dash cam has done its job. helping to keep it real. coming up -- a traffic stop turns an suv into a roadside delivery room for a baby that couldn't wait. >> open your legs. oh, boy!
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a speeding stop leads to an unexpected outcome. >> what's going on? >> november 5, 2007, davis county, utah, 4:15 a.m. cory cox has been a deputy sheriff for seven years. he's spent a lot of late nights cruising the utah roads with one eye out for emergencies, for drunks or for speeders like this one. >> i saw this vehicle approaching me, you know. it looked like it was going really fast. so i turned my radar on and got it on radar at 95 miles an hour in a 55-mile-an-hour zone. i was thinking that this is going to be a drunk driver, somebody trying to get home, somebody just trying to have fun. >> deputy cox quickly turns
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around and starts to chase the speeder, practically burning up the highway. >> it was a dangerous pursuit. they were going so fast and by the time i got up to speed i could barely see them. >> they're racing toward the county line so cox calls weber county for backup. >> so i called to the next county ahead and had officers waiting for them. and then they hit a hill and i was able to catch up to them. >> finally, the pursued vehicle slows, stops. as deputy cox approaches the waiting car, he realizes someone in the car is either terrified or in horrible pain. >> i could hear yelling and screaming. as i walked up to the car i said, what's going on? >> dude, we're having a baby! >> is she having it right now? >> yeah. we're going to have a baby right now. we're headed to the hospital right now. >> okay. i can't have you going 100 miles an hour. how far along is she? >> the contractions are every two minutes right now. >> the husband seemed to be very
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grateful that the traffic stop did take place because it was almost like a load got taken off of his shoulders that there was help there. >> fortunately, deputy cox is a trained paramedic in davis county it's a requirement for his job. but he wonders if they need an ambulance. >> please! >> does she have an urge to push? can she feel the baby coming out? >> yes, i can feel it! >> the deputy moves to the other side of the car to examine the wife. >> she was in the front passenger's seat, and the husband was driving. and in the back seat was her mother that was visiting from out of town, and they also had their little 3-year-old boy in the back seat. i positioned her so i could take a look, and i could see the top of the baby's head. okay. is the baby's head out? >> i don't know. >> okay. has your water broke? >> yeah. >> all of their questions that they were answering was indicating that this baby is coming out right now.
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do you feel like you can get up to the hospital okay, or do you want an ambulance? there's an ambulance right here. >> oh, please, yes. >> do you want an ambulance? >> deputy cox calls an ambulance, but he suspects that this baby is going to get here faster than anything on wheels. it's a critical moment. he'll have to deliver this baby himself. fortunately, he has a birth kit in his truck for such emergencies. >> okay. let me go get my bag. hold on. don't leave. >> don't leave? she's unlikely to be going anywhere right now. >> i went and got my paramedic gear. this was 32 degrees. i didn't have any light. i didn't have any help. >> how far is the hospital? >> if you feel like you have to push, you go ahead and push. this event was taking place so fast i actually didn't have time to get the gear out. i had just enough time to put on my latex exam gloves. >> three minutes after he made the stop, the backup he had called for gets to the scene.
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>> i was able to commandeer them and have them shine some flashlights on to the working area that we were in inside of the car. >> she's, like, ready to go. i was trying to catch her since farmington. >> racing against time, cory positions the wife in the front seat while the husband holds her shoulders and coaches her breathing. the wife's mother decides to get a better view. >> got out of the driver's side passenger door. she got out of the rear passenger door and ran around and watched the actual delivery itself. >> let's turn her. >> mike! he's gonna need some stuff out of his bag. >> get up here real quick. >> mike methodically goes through the delivery bag. >> we've got blankets, little hoodies for the new baby. we've got clamps for the umbilical cord and we've also got a little bulb suction syringe. open your legs.
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open. okay. >> seven minutes after the traffic stop, the baby is here. >> we need suction. right after the baby was delivered, we need to suction out the baby's airway. and you can hear right after we do the baby starts to cry. oh, boy! >> just as the baby emerges, the ambulance pulls up. but deputy cox has got everything under control. >> oh, boy. baby's delivered. >> you've got the blankets? >> yep. we've got the blankets. >> one last step remains, cutting the umbilical cord. but no one has scissors. >> we just have a straight scalpel to cut the umbilical cord so i cut it for them, and i don't think that they minded at that point in time. okay. we're free. all right. we're going to get you going in
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the ambulance with your baby. we're going to go to the hospital, okay? all right. >> the ecstatic husband seems to be doing a victory lap. >> he wanted to see the baby, see his wife. he just wanted to be everywhere. he was just a very proud dad at that point. >> after everything is done, mom and baby are loaded into the ambulance. >> on a daily basis we come across events maybe not quite like this. it's a gorgeous little girl, and everybody's healthy now. >> this is one on-camera traffic stop that neither deputy cox nor the family he pulled over will ever forget. and, for the family "caught on camera," this is a unique birth video. >> that was a night! coming up -- more kids, but this time they're driving. >> i could see it was a very young male driver. and i'm talking young. and then -- >> the little boy's eyes were just huge, and it was one of
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those nonverbal cues of, please help us. >> daddy, wake up!
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july 26, 2009. it's 9:00 a.m. deputy steve haney is just starting his shift in plain city, utah. >> the day was sunday. and not a lot was going on. it was pretty quiet. it was a nice sunny day. >> but deputy haney's day is about to take a turn. he's responding to a call from his dispatcher. his car is driving slowly but very erratically. even with deputy haney's lights flashing and siren blaring, the reckless driver won't pull over. as this car weaves between lanes and blows stop signs, it's becoming increasingly apparent
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this scene is anything but ordinary. >> i could not see somebody behind the steering wheel. at this point we weren't really sure what was going to happen. >> all haney can do is try to prevent this bad situation from getting worse. >> i kept getting in the oncoming traffic lane to let people know we were coming. i wanted to try to do anything could i to try to get this vehicle stopped. called out on my p.a. system asking him to just pull over, just stop the vehicle, basically pleading with him to end this right here and right now. >> deputy haney wants to know who he's dealing with so he speeds up, trying to pull alongside the evasive motorist. that's when he gets his first big surprise. >> the vehicle took a right-hand turn. at this time, i could see it was a very young male driver. i'm talking young. >> with an underage driver at the wheel, the deputy dares not try to stop the car by ramming it.
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so he continues to plow ahead, barreling toward the busy intersection in town. >> that was the most dangerous part about this entire incident since that is a blind corner coming southbound. if something was going to happen, it was probably going to happen there. >> deputy haney does what he can to clear the intersection and hopes for the best. >> he ran the stop sign. crossed my fingers. luckily, there was very little cars on the roadway. he got through there. i got back behind him. >> dispatch gives haney a clue where this car might be headed. the vehicle is registered to a house a few blocks away. haney hopes this end soon. >> the vehicle started pulling into a driveway. i radioed to dispatch the address where we were pulling into. they immediately told me that's where it was registered to. the vehicle came to a stop halfway up the driveway. >> the driver's side door pops open and deputy haney finally gets a glimpse of the driver
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who's been ignoring him for more than a mile. >> i got to tell you i was quite taken back. i saw a young, very young, more than i even imagined, driver jump out of this vehicle. >> the boy, tearing off toward his house is 7-year-old preston scarborough. later he tells haney that he took the car because he didn't want to go to church with his parents. the video is released to the media, and a few days later on the "today" show, his parents are still in shock. >> we could be sitting here for a lot different reason right now. we're happy it turned out okay. >> preston's parents punish him. no tv and video games for a while. but the law doesn't. >> preston didn't fully understand the dangers. being he was 7 years old, we didn't feel like he was culpable and that has an understanding of an intent to commit the crime and he didn't fully understand that with his age. >> you going to get behind the wheel of a car again? >> huh-hu. while a child driver is punished by his parents in utah,
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another one is praised by police in north platte, nebraska. why? it it's a different story caught on the dash board camera of investigator roth frees, on may 17, 2009. >> call was a subject driving rather erratically. >> a dark pickup weaving toward him in the middle lane. it appears to be leading a parade. >> had several vehicles behind it. one of the vehicles had its flashers on like it was trying to warn other motorists. i noticed the vehicle continued to come towards my lane of travel head-on towards me but it was moving rather slowly. >> this erratic vehicle belongs to restaurant owner philip mains. just a few minutes earlier, he was driving home with his two young sons in the back seat. >> joe passed the mall. it was roughly about 6:15, 6:20 and actually, that was the last thing i remember. >> and then mains, a diabetic, fainted behind the wheel.
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>> what caused me to pass out is my sugar had dropped. >> when i got close enough to see inside the vehicle, i noticed a male subject with his head laying back. it appeared as though he was unconscious. then i noticed a small child, looked like he was leaning over the front seat, and had his hands on the steering wheel and was trying to drive the vehicle. we've got a kid trying to drive. the guy looks like he may have passed out. >> that kid is 6-year-old tustin mains. >> tustin had taken over the steering wheel of the avalanche and driven it through town roughly a mile, mile and a half, and turned it around north of town, and he had come back into town. >> as he passes the vehicle, frees realizes the situation is desperate. >> the little boy's eyes were just huge, and it was one of those nonverbal cues of, please help us. so i'm, like, i've got to do something, got to do something quick. >> 440. >> i turned around and the other vehicle slowed down to let me in front of him.
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the pickup hit the guardrail of the bridge and bounce off. then it started accelerating again away from me heading towards the oncoming traffic. so i just got as close as i could to it, parked, jumped out, and i just ran. i'm, like, i've got to catch them no matter what. >> he ran up to the side of the truck. >> get to the driver's door, i notice the subject and his eyes are barely open and his head is slumped to the side. and he just wasn't responsive at all. >> stop the car. hit the -- stop the car. brake. stop the car. i was able to jump up through the window of the driver's door and grab the gear shifter and put it into park. the little boy just was frantic at that point yelling at his dad to wake up. what's wrong with you, buddy? >> he won't wake up. >> he won't wake up? then i realized that this could have been really bad because not only was the 6-year-old in there but his 3-year-old brother was in the back seat of the pickup, as well.
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>> but thanks to a child's amazing feat and an officer's quick-thinking bravery, all ends well. >> tustin seemed to be relieved once i got there because he was the one taking care of his family, protecting his family, until more help could get there. >> philip mains is revived by emergency medical services. but it isn't until he sees that dash cam video that he fully appreciates what has happened. >> i'm very thankful that tustin was able to do what he did. but to actually see an officer go up on the side of a moving vehicle, you're just thankful that people are willing to risk their own lives to save somebody. >> as the cameras show us, an officer's job is far from routine. so if you're pulled over for a violation, try being polite. remember, the trooper could have just been dealing with a drunk, a felon. or a child. if you have a video you'd like to send to us, you can logon to our website, caught on camera.msnbc.com. i'm contessa brewer.
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that's it for this edition of "caught on camera." this sunday off and running. republicans in new hampshire taking on hillary. >> when hillary clinton travels, there needs to be two planes. one for her and her entourage and one for her baggage. >> clinton trying to prove she still can't stop thinking about tomorrow. >> we need to be, we have to be number one again. >> but is yesterday really gone? >> and could we see a presidential announcement right here on the show? >> plus breaking through the noise. that gyrocopter incident, the flying mailman certainly got people talking, just not about what he wanted to be talking about. >> a l

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