tv Caught on Camera MSNBC July 26, 2015 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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♪ when you need to find out what really happened -- >> oh, my god. no! >> -- a camera can mean the difference between knowing and not knowing. >> if it wasn't for this videotape, we would have never really been able to uncover the truth. >> key evidence. >> it helped that everything was caught on camera. >> recorded -- >> oh, [ bleep ]. oh, [ bleep ]. >> -- and reviewed. >> i do believe that there is always somebody watching. >> the attack on it was very aggressive. kind of disturbing how
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aggressive it was. >> images with the power to reveal the truth -- >> hey! >> i felt like i needed to capture this incident. >> what we saw on that video was exactly what occurred on that platform. >> he just shot him! >> "caught on camera: proof." transit police detain a group of men on a train platform. >> hey. >> several bystanders are recording the scene when unexpectedly, one of the officers draws his gun and pulls the trigger. >> you could clearly hear everyone at the same time gasp. >> you just shot him! >> and, you know, we knew oscar was shot. >> where did he shoot him?
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>> january 1st, 2009. oakland, california. it's just after 2:00 in the morning when a bay area rapid transit train, known as b.a.r.t., pulls into the fruitvale station and the doors open. a b.a.r.t. police officer tells five men who step off the train to wait on the platform. two of them defy the instruction and get back on the train. >> out of nowhere i heard "get off the train, get off the train." and some curse words after that. >> like many of the train passengers, tommy cross is on his way home from seeing the new year's eve fireworks show in san francisco when he sees the officer entering the train car. >> i thought he was coming for me for a second, but he went right past me and grabbed the young man who just walked on the train. >> the b.a.r.t. police officer, tony peroni, is responding to a report of a fight on the train that the conductor called in. >> the lead car, no weapons, all black clothing.
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a group of bms is all we have. >> the transmission was bm. a group of bms which represented black males. >> cephus johnson's nephew, oscar grant, is one of a group of men involved in the altercation just moments before. >> oscar and his friend was on the train. an old friend of his they used to know had some issues in the past, and they saw each other. next thing you know, they grabbed each other and starting tussling. >> the scuffle comes to an end as the train pulls into the station. >> they squashed it, they went about their business and then the train, of course, as you know, came to the fruitvale b.a.r.t. station. >> office err peroni orders grant and his friend off the train. >> he says, i saw you two get on the train, get off my f-ing train. so oscar comes off the train and he says, you go stand against the wall with your friends. >> on the station platform officer peroni places one of the men in handcuffs, seen on the bottom left of the screen. while his partner, officer
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marysol domenici, watches the others lined up against the wall. several people on the train including tommy cross begin recording the incident. >> i felt like i needed to capture this incident was because of the aggressive behavior by the officers that night. >> one camera catches officer peroni approaches oscar grant, standing in the middle, and striking him. >> you can see in the video he actually punches oscar. he punches oscar, then of course all his friends go like, wow, what's going on? hey? we're going to sue you. this is wrong. you know, what is going on? >> the police were overly aggressive, with no reason whatsoever to be as aggressive as they were. these men weren't trying to wrestle them, they weren't trying to fight them. >> officer peroni aims his taser at the detained men. grant puts up his hands. other officers arrive and block off the area.
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grant is on his cell phone with his girlfriend and takes a picture of another officer, johannes mehserle, pointing a taser at him. >> he was speaking into his phone like "they're beating us up, they're hitting us." he was exchanging words with the officers at the same time. >> grant tries to stand up. officers push him back down. >> [ bleep ]. >> hey! hey! >> hey! >> [ bleep ]. >> it seems like it went from the officers controlling the situation -- >> really? that's highly unnecessary. >> -- to them becoming the perpetrators. the attackers. the aggressors. >> come on, now. protect and serve. >> and oscar and his group, the victim. >> then grant gets on his knees and says something to officer peroni. >> really? >> from behind, officer mehserle forces grant onto his stomach as officer peroni kneels on grant's neck. >> hey! >> officer mehserle, in the
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back, begins to place handcuffs on grant. but then draws his gun, stands up, and fires. >> i hear, you know, and see the gun go off. bam. it was one of the most sobering experiences that i've ever felt in my life. [ gunshot ] >> he just shot him! >> everything in my mind went blank for a second. my body felt numb. >> where did he shoot him? >> his gun went off. in his back. >> i was trying to make sense of what was going on. what happened. >> eyewitnesses are stunned. another video shows officer mehserle appearing shocked as well. >> mehserle, right after the shooting, he looked up and his face looked very dumbfounded, like he couldn't believe what he just did.
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i heard him say "oh, my god" a couple of times. >> officer mehserle finishes placing grant's hands in cuffs. seconds later, the doors on the train close and it leaves the station. >> hey! >> grant is brought to the hospital where hours later his mother learns that her son has died. >> i was praying to god, i said, god, to save him. i say god to, you know, help the doctors find a way to stop the building. i would say, oscar, you can't die on me, you can't die. you're supposed to be burying me, but you can't die on me. >> 22-year-old oscar grant leaves behind his girlfriend, their 4-year-old daughter, and a family desperate for answers. >> after i found out and saw the video of what happened after the facts was revealed, i was very angry. >> as the investigation into the shooting begins, videos recorded by several bystanders ricochet around the world.
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[ gunshot ] shining an intense spotlight on officer mehserle and raising questions of police brutality with racial overtones. >> the police is getting away with murder, and out on the streets they talk about they serve and protect us. they don't serve and protect us. they kill us. >> officer mehserle refuses to be interviewed by investigators. and six days after the incident he quits his job without giving a statement about the shooting. a protest demanding officer mehserle be brought to justice turns violent in downtown oakland. with rioting, looting, and vandalism. prompting more than 100 arrests. a week later officer mehserle is arrested and charged with murder. he pleads not guilty, and the eyewitness videos take center stage during his trial. >> what we saw in that video was exactly what occurred on that platform. there's no way we can get around
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that. >> mehserle takes the stand and testifies that he thought grant was going for a gun. grant was unarmed. mehserle also says he believed he was using his taser when he pulled the trigger. after a month-long trial, a jury finds johannes mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter. out of a maximum of 14 years, the judge sentences the former officer to the minimum, two years in prison, including time served. grant's family doesn't believe the punishment fits the crime. >> i believe he should still be in jail. he is trained to be an officer. he is trained on how to use a firearm. he is trained how to deal with hostile situations. >> two b.a.r.t. officers, tony peroni and marysol domenici, are fired following an independent review of the investigation into the shooting. domenici is reinstated on appeal.
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on june 13th, 2011, after 11 months behind bars, mehserle is released. his lawyer calls the shooting a tragic accident and certainly not a crime. and a written statement from a b.a.r.t. spokesman given to msnbc says "b.a.r.t. has always taken responsibility as a civil matter for the terrible tragedy that occurred on the platform of the fruitvale b.a.r.t. station on the morning of january 1st, 2009." the statement goes on to say that steps are being taken to improve police oversight and training. even though wanda johnson is disappointed in the length of the sentence, she credits the videos for proving what really happened that early new year's day. >> if we would not have had those videos, the truth would never have been exposed. >> let him go. [ gunshot ] coming up, what's the real story behind this violent confrontation?
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>> if it wasn't for this videotape, we would have never been able to uncover the truth. and later -- [ shriek ] >> when "caught on camera: proof" continues. i found her wandering miles from home. when the phone rang at 5am, i knew it was about mom. i see how hard it's been on her at work and i want to help. for the 5 million americans living with alzheimer's, and millions more who feel its effects.
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a police officer violently shoves a student into a locker. as he tries to get up, the officer hits him in the face and wrestles him to the ground. >> this was a 15-year-old kid that weighed about 140 pounds. this police officer was a very big man. over 200 pounds. fully grown adult. >> may 20th, 2009. dolton, illinois, just south of chicago. 15-year-old marshawn pitts attends a special education high school called the academy for learning. attorney ed manske says the trouble begins when a police
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officer notices that marshawn's shirt is not tucked in, which is against school policy. >> marshawn said he was actually about to tuck it in, but the tone that the officer spoke with turned him off and so he decided he wasn't going to tuck it in. and he then proceeded to walk away from the officer. >> school security footage shows the interaction from two angles. the school later obscures some images to protect the identity of minors. the officer, christopher lloyd, is a member of the dolton police department who stops at the school regularly as part of his patrol. marshawn and officer lloyd start yelling at each other. >> other witnesses have said there was a heated exchange, that their voices were loud. another member of the school staff, she stops. very briefly touches his wrist in her attempt apparently to calm gown the situation. >> marshawn keeps walking down the hallway.
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>> the police officer is just maybe a step or two behind marshawn. he puts his coffee mug down, takes another step or two, then from the side and slightly behind with two hands he shoves marshawn without any warning into a locker. >> marshawn is caught off guard. >> you can tell from the videotape that he is pushed really hard into that locker. >> before marshawn can get back up, officer lloyd punches him. >> the officer attacks him again with a closed fist and hits him in the face. after that, he is brought down onto the ground, face first. >> three school staff members try to intervene. >> they're essentially just trying to get marshawn to calm down. to stop trying to fight the officer. >> officer lloyd handcuffs marshawn with his hands behind his back. >> marshawn was injured. his mouth was all cut up. he had large cuts inside of his mouth. but the biggest injury was this fracture to his nose.
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>> marshawn is arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer. >> the officer essentially said that marshawn turned in that hallway to face the officer with a raised arm as if he was going to attack the officer. and that was just complete fabrication. you know, who's going to believe the kid if the police officer is swearing that this kid assaulted him? >> marshawn denies that he attacked officer lloyd. marshawn's mother believes her son. she contacts manske for legal help. >> she said, look, my son's been arrested for assaulting a police officer. he swears he did not do this. i know my son. he's not the type of kid that would try and attack a police officer. >> marshawn's mother also tells manske she believes a video of the incident exists, but the school hasn't let her see it. >> that reluctance by the school to give her the videotape made me think, hey, really, there might be something here.
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>> manske helps marshawn's family get a copy of the video. >> the first time i saw the video, i was really in shock. it's very rare that you get video evidence of something that you believe happened to somebody, that proves it, that establishes without a doubt that this kid's story was true. >> after the police view the video, the charges against marshawn are dropped. officer lloyd receives a five-day work suspension and later resigns. >> if it wasn't for this videotape, we would have never really been able to uncover the truth. >> lloyd is not charged with any crime. manske files a lawsuit on behalf of the pitts against lloyd and the village of dolton. the lawsuit is settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. the defendants do not admit any wrongdoing. no charges are filed against the academy for learning and the school considers the case closed.
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christopher lloyd told msnbc on advice of counsel he will not comment, but referred us to the police report. the report states in part that pitts initiated physical contact and was "verbally and physically combative." the report does not mention the videotape, which manske says contradicts lloyd's account. of who initiated physical contact. the new dolton police chief, john franklin, appointed in spring 2013 says he's appalled at what he saw in the video. the school incident isn't the first time officer lloyd has exhibited violent behavior. 15 months earlier lloyd shot and killed his ex-wife's husband. >> officer lloyd claimed that he was threatened and he was using self-defense. he was never charged for the shooting death of that man. >> and four months after the
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incident with marshawn lloyd is arrested for sexual assault. he pleads guilty to criminal confinement, a felony, and is given a suspended sentence. >> this was just a really bad apple. this was obviously something out of the norm, you know, most of those officers out there do great work and are great people. coming up, sometimes it's not what you see -- >> oh! [ bleep ]. oh, [ bleep ]. >> it's what you don't see. >> there's the question that everyone wants to know. >> oh. >> where is the pelican in the video? you know, everyone loves a scandal. >> when "caught on camera: proof" continues. look, jamie, maybe we weren't the lowest rate this time. but when you show people their progressive direct rate and our competitors' rates, you can't win them all. the important part is, you helped them save. thanks, flo. okay, let's go get you an ice cream cone, champ.
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that's why i got a subaru impreza. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. a $1 million sports car ends up in the drink. >> oh. oh, he wrecked. oh, [ bleep ]. oh, [ bleep ]. >> right as i was about to stop filming it, the car just veers off the road. the first thing that came to my mind was absolute shock. >> the video goes viral, and ends up as evidence proving what really happened. >> oh, [ bleep ]. >> november 11th, 2009.
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galveston, texas. joe garza and a friend are driving north on i-45 when they spot a flashy sports car on the frontage road parallel to them. >> it just looked so sleek and aerodynamic. i was just like, wow, i have to get a picture of this and show my lady. >> garza pulls out his phone and begins recording. >> that will be mine one day. >> the guys don't know it, but the car is a bugatti veyron. it's one of the world's fastest and most expensive cars, capable of reaching 250 miles per hour. there are fewer than 100 in the world. >> it looked like one of a kind, and that's what prompted me to want to record it for a little bit. >> but then, the unthinkable happens. >> oh. oh, he wrecked -- oh, [ bleep ]. oh, [ bleep ]. >> then, boom, with a huge flash, it dives into the saltwater marsh. >> garza and his friends are shocked. they call 911 to report the incident. >> oh, [ bleep ]. >> and then continue on to their
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destination. police and a tow truck quickly arrive. so does galveston county daily news reporter chris paschenko, acting on a tip. >> when i arrived, i saw what i believed to be the exhaust bubbling out of the water. the vehicle was in about two feet deep of saltwater at that time. >> paschenko approaches the driver, andy house, who buys and sells high-performance cars through his lufkin, texas business, performance auto sales. >> andy told me that he was distracted by a low-flying pelican. i think he then said that caused him to drop his cell phone. >> house says that he reached down to get his cell phone and when he looked back up the car was in the marsh. jessica cooley is a crime and court reporter at the "lufkin daily news." she and other journalists discovered when house purchased the 2006 bugatti for a little more than $1 million, he insured it for more than double that, $2.2 million. just three weeks after the
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policy goes into effect, the bugatti lands in the water. philadelphia indemnity insurance investigators are suspicious of house's claim. >> it went from, you know, the quote/unquote soggy bugatti to maybe something larger going on here with the insurance fraud. >> the insurance company notes that house put 1,200 miles on the car in just 3 weeks and he leaves the engine running for more than 15 minutes after the crash, causing unnecessary damage. but it's garza's video, widely circulated by the press and online, that becomes the lynchpin of the insurance company's argument. when philadelphia indemnity reviews the footage, it claims house's story of the pelican rings false. >> there's the question that everyone wants to know. where is the pelican? >> i don't see a pelican, but it was a cell phone video. maybe the pelican was a bit higher and out of focus.
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had to have been a lot higher. >> i never saw any type of low-flying object, bird, plane, what have you, and neither did my friend sitting next to me. >> the insurance company accuses house of intentionally driving the bugatti into the lagoon to destroy the car and collect insurance worth $2.2 million. house denies the allegations and countersues to collect the insurance. the matter is not resolved. while the court of public opinion devours the story, garza's video racks up millions of views. >> oh, [ bleep ]. oh, [ bleep ]. oh, [ bleep ]. a dashboard camera captures a dramatic attack. a man on the hood of a vehicle attempting to break the windshield using a baseball bat. [ shriek ] august 30th, 2011. taiwan. about an hour outside taipei. a woman and her daughter are driving down a narrow street
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when they encounter a car going in the opposite direction. there's no room to pull over, so the woman starts backing up slowly. then two men appearing angry start banging on the green toyota. one of the men has a baseball bat. the man with the bat gets in front of the toyota and the driver starts backing up. the woman in the car, with the dashcam, continues to try to remove herself from the escalating situation. but just as the green toyota is almost out of view, it begins accelerating right toward the woman and her daughter. the man with the bat is kneeling on the hood and pounding the windshield. [ scream ] after the crash, the furious man lunges at the vehicle again, trying to break the glass with his bat.
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the driver in the green car trying to flee rams his car forward again. the woman can't move her car. it's been disabled by the collision. the attacker walks away from the green car as it backs up. the woman and her daughter get out to check the damage, revealing to the camera she's pregnant. the toyota driver gets away, but police quickly track him down. according to police and local reports, the confrontation begins when the toyota driver hits an 8-year-old boy on the side of the road. when the boy's father approaches the vehicle, the driver gets out, swinging a stick, then gets back in and tries to escape. the father then gets a baseball bat and chases down the driver. a passerby who witnesses the hit joins in to help the father.
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the boy has very minor injuries. no one else is hurt. there are no arrests, but the toyota driver gets a fine and his license is revoked. due to the hit-and-run, he's barred from getting his license reinstated for three years. the woman with the dashcam has a healthy baby girl two months later. coming up, a plane pushed beyond its limits. >> i saw a complete loss of control. that should have been preventable. >> holy [ bleep ]. oh, my god! no! >> oh, my god. and politics, lies and videotape. >> now there's evidence. and until that moment we did not know for sure who it was. >> when "caught on camera: proof" continues. ♪ to steady betty. to steady betty. fire it up! ♪
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hour's top stories. gas prices have dropped one cent to an average of $2.82 a gallon. analysts saying this is because of speculation congress will prove the iran nuclear deal and more crude oil will start flowing from iran when sanctions are lifted. police in milwaukee are on high alert after an animal believed to be a lion was spotted for a second time yesterday. the mystery has been making headlines since a woman captured cell phone video of the animal in her neighbor's yard on monday. now back to "caught on camera." an air show stunt goes terribly wrong when the pilot pushes a b-52 bomber to the edge. >> i saw a complete loss of control that should have been prevented. >> i just knew probably five second before impact that it was
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not going to make it out of the turn. >> the nose started pitching down and they started losing altitude. >> holy, [ bleep ]. oh, my god. no! >> june 24th, 1994. fairchild air force base, washington state. four expert pilots are rehearsing for an air show. the 130-ton b-52 bomber roars by overhead. its awesome capabilities on display. now retired, instructor pilot clem countess iii was on duty at fairchild base that summer day watching from the ground. >> for people to be able to see the b-52 do some of the approved air show maneuvers we had, it was just an amazing thing to see. >> since its debut in the 1950s, boeing's b-52 airplane has been the powerhouse of the united states air force. >> it's the most versatile weapons delivery system the air
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force has. high altitude, low altitude. it can deliver missiles. short range, long range. >> the pilots' friends and family members are also watching. >> what the animals look like. yeah. we've got the gang up here. >> among them is teenager pat mcgeehan. his father, lieutenant colonel mark mcgeehan is in the pilot's seat. >> my mother and i, along with my younger brother, brendan, were watching from our front yard. i was waving at the plane thinking maybe my father might be able to see us down there. >> lieutenant colonel arthur "bud" holland is the lead pilot. holland is skilled and experienced with thousands of hours in the b-52. but he's known to take risks in violation of air force safety regulations. >> bud having a reputation of knowing the aircraft very well, i think that that's kind of how he saw the boundaries, was if he could, you know, make it do something it had a new boundary. >> the air show flight plan calls for a complicated serious of low-altitude passes. 60-degree banked turns. a steep climb.
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and a touch-and-go runway landing. everything is going well until the crew nears the final sequence. the bomber sweeps in low above the runway, and holland enters into a tight, steeply banked turn. >> that's fantastic. look at this. >> as spectators look on, the airplane banks past 90 degrees >> holy [ bleep ]. oh, my god! no! >> oh, my god. >> the b-52 nose dives and explodes. >> my mom collapsed next to me and just kind of couldn't take the shock of the moment. >> oh, my god. >> but the only thing i could think of was run toward the crash and run towards dad. >> an enormous cloud of smoke and fire billows into the air above the crash site which is just 50 yards from the base's nuclear weapons storage area. >> there was no secret that
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there were weapons there. you don't want to crash a b-52 into a nuclear weapons storage facility. >> it's a major disaster narrowly averted, and a personal tragedy. all four men on board the czar 52 die on impact. >> and when i saw the fireball explode over the trees, at that moment i knew my father was gone. >> crash images reveal the heartbreaking fact that mcgeehan attempted to escape from the airplane in the final desperate seconds. >> my dad initiated his ejection sequence. you could see the hatch below right before impact. but there just wasn't enough time for him to make it out. and the aircraft nosed into the ground. >> mcgeehan's good friend, now retired three-star lieutenant general richard newton iii, is
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near disbelief when he learns of the crash. >> you never go beyond the edge. you're very calculated in how you go about flying the aircraft, employing the aircraft in this case, but you also understand what the limitations are. >> there's no black box on board to learn what happened inside the b-52 cockpit. so the crash footage is essential proof during the investigation. investigators determine that holland alone pushed the b-52 beyond its operational safety limits and that he had done so on many previous occasions without reprimand. footage from the early '90s shows holland showboating for photographers and flying below operational safety limits. >> those videos should have been enough evidence to ensure that bud never had the opportunity to fly unsupervised and be in command of an airplane of that. >> but senior command reportedly looked the other way. the investigation also reveals that months before the crash, mcgeehan asked his superior
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officer to ground holland for reckless flying. mcgeehan's request was denied. >> the only thing my father, after he could not successfully ground colonel holland, was to order all of his men under his command not to fly with colonel holland. >> on the day of the fatal crash, pat mcgeehan says his dad was flying co-pilot in order to protect his officers. >> i'm very proud of my dad for sticking to principle to the end. >> in the wake of the accident the air force takes action. mcgeehan's superior officer is court-martialed for not removing holland from flight duty when the officer learned holland broke safety rules. the air force makes it easier for complaints to go up the chain of command and starts using the video for training purposes. but the emotional scars still hurt. >> i can't imagine, you know, my daughter witnessing, you know,
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her father crashing. >> i still have nightmares about it to this day. i never got to speak with him that morning, and i never got to say good-bye. >> oh, my god! no! >> oh, my god. coming up, a sting to catch a slasher. >> we decided at that moment that we needed to get some cameras up. and the camera as eyewitness. >> it helped that everything was caught on camera. the jury, everybody could see what actually occurred. >> when "caught on camera: proof" continues. it took serena williams years to master the two handed backhand. but only one shot to master the chase mobile app. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank.
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humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work. a truck stop security camera catches a police officer approaching a possible kidnapping suspect when the man suddenly attacks. >> that's when i saw the knife. i was afraid for my life. i thought i was going to be stabbed. >> june 15th, 2010. albuquerque, new mexico. just past midnight, a 911
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operator answers a caller who seems to be talking to someone else. >> how much gas are we going to put in, dave? i don't want to be in this truck anymore. >> she wasn't speaking to the operator. she was speaking to a third party. >> the operator suspects the woman is in danger and dispatches police. security footage at the flying-j truck stop shows officer aaron zwicky pulling in behind a parked car just as a man and woman are getting back into it. officer zwicky decides to act quickly before they leave. zwicky asks the man to step out of the vehicle. >> he asked me, what did i do wrong? i told him, i need to speak to you. >> they walked to the trunk, where officer zwicky asks the man about a strange substance he's noticed on the bumper. >> he stayed calm. he said he didn't know what the substance was. after i heard somebody pounding on the inside of the trunk, i told him to open the trunk and he turned like he was going
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towards the lock to open the trunk. >> the man makes a move toward the trunk. officer zwicky tells the woman to stay put. suddenly the man lunges. >> that's when he started coming toward me and that's when i saw the knife. >> officer zwicky barely has time to react. >> he spun around and hit me on the left side of my neck. i pushed him away and started backpedaling away from him. i was able to draw my firearm and i fired five shots at him. just happened so quickly. >> the attacker lies motionless on the ground. other patrol cars arrive and officers release a battered woman from the trunk. >> looked like she'd been in a physical altercation. >> the other woman on the ground is uninjured, but the man dies at the scene. his name is julian calbert, and police say he has an extensive criminal record, including a rape conviction. it turns out the woman in the trunk is calbert's wife.
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police say calbert kidnapped her and a friend from a hospital parking lot at knifepoint because he was angry she had filed a domestic violence complaint against him. according to the police report, calbert beat his wife and locked her in the trunk. she dialed 911 using a cell phone calbert didn't know she had on her and left the line open so the dispatcher would hear their location. >> we're at flying-j's? how much gas are you going to put in? dave-i don't want to be in this trunk anymore. >> the security footage from the flying-j truck stop plays a key role in the grand jury investigation into the shooting. >> it helped that everything was caught on camera. that way the jury, everybody could see what actually occurred. it's not just my word or my backup saying what they saw. >> the jury determines that the killing of julian calbert by albuquerque police officer aaron zwicky was justified under new
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mexico law. >> it was a weight off my shoulders. i don't think any officer wants to be put in the position where they have to make a decision whether or not to use deadly force. a congressional election takes an odd turn when surveillance video reveals the identity of a vandal who slashes a candidate's tires. >> until i saw him on the video, i think that was the first time that i really was afraid. >> december 2012. albuquerque, new mexico. state representative janice arnold jones is running in the republican primary for a u.s. congressional seat when a strange incident gets her attention. >> our friend, frank ruvolo, conducts a republican friday morning breakfast and we all attend. he walked outside and all of his tires were flat. we thought, well, this is odd. >> it turns out it's not an isolated incident. >> i got up to go to a meeting, and i'm rushing out the door at 10 till 9:00, and every tire on
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our vehicles were absolutely flat. and in our driveway. >> after replacing all of the flat tires, arnold-jones and her husband, john, take action. >> we decided at that moment that we needed to get some cameras up. >> they install security cameras above the driveway and wait. within days they find more slashed tires. eager to find out who did it, the couple watches the footage. >> took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get to the spot that i thought was the incident, and it took our breath away. >> sure enough, the perpetrator appears in view on the screen. he creeps around the car methodically puncturing and slicing the tires with an ice pick. and oblivious to the security cameras recording him. >> it appears he actually broke a tool and steps away, and comes back and he's kind of looking at the camera, fixing the tool before he finishes stabbing all the tires, which was kind of
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odd. >> after studying the video, there is a shocking revolution. arnold-jones recognizes the vandal and tells police she knows who he is. the police aren't convinced, but she has proof caught on camera. >> they were reasonably skeptical. they said, are you sure? but because it was from two different angles and we had this facial view, there was no doubt in our mind. >> arnold-jones identifies the tire slasher as gary smith, one of the 2012 gop congressional hopefuls who wanted to run against her in the primaries. arnold-jones has a theory about smith's motive. >> i took gary to court to get him off of the ballot for the primary. the reason i did that was it was very clear that he did not have enough signatures. he did not qualify. >> when police take smith in for questioning, he denies the accusation. >> according to the arrest warrant, you're being arrested because you were slashing janice arnold-jones's tires. did you do it? >> no.
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no, not at all. >> a judge releases smith on bail with a warning to stay away from arnold-jones. smith defies the order and drives by her home. >> john walked outside to get the newspaper and he heard a noise and he walked to the curb and there was gary smith. and the backup is that our cameras also caught this. >> smith lands back in custody where he faces additional tire slashing allegations from his former campaign manager. >> accused tire slasher gary smith was back in court again today. this is now the fourth time he has faced a judge in just the past week. he was arraigned on aggravated stalking charges unrelated to the case surrounding his former campaign manager. we talked with reed story, who says smith has slashed more than 50 of his tires. smith's bond is set at $75,000 cash only on this particular case. >> when the tire slashing video
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makes national news, smith's former neighbor, kenneth props in el paso, texas, contacts albuquerque police with a tire slashing video of his own. props tells police that smith terrorized his family for years, allegedly slashing tires, attempting to burn down the house, and trying to poison their dog. >> when i saw their footage, it took my breath away because it was identical. it was like a practiced motion. like somebody who was a good athlete does something the same way each time. >> smith faces aggravated stalking, criminal trespass, and harassment charges in new mexico. in addition to outstanding warrants from the allegations in texas. he denies the allegations. arnold-jones loses the election for the seat in congress and is later appointed to the albuquerque city council. she says her family sleeps better at night knowing smith is behind bars awaiting trial, unable to make bail.
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>> that's the difference with video is now there's evidence. and until that moment, we did not know for sure who it was. and, of course, the moment he is put in jail, the incidents stop. coming up, a couple of grinches try to take the air out of christmas. >> without the video of frosty getting stabbed, we probably would have not known who was doing this. >> when "caught on camera: proof" continues. yeah, give me a problem and i've got the solution. well, we have 30 years of customer records. our cloud can keep them safe and accessible anywhere. my drivers don't have time to fill out forms. tablets. keep them all digital. we're looking to double our deliveries. our fleet apps will find the fastest route. oh, and your boysenberyy apple scones smell about done. ahh, you're good. i like to bake. with at&t get up to $400 dollars in total savings on tools to manage your business.
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they have the most free on demand tv shows and movies on all my devices. it's perfect for me because my kids are costing me a fortune. i'm going to cabo! [ music plays ] don't settle for u-verse. xfinity is perfect for people who want more entertainment for their money. an unprovoked and cold-blooded attack on an inflatable snowman leaves it slumped on the ground. >> the attack on it was very aggressive. it was kind of disturbing how aggressive it was. >> it kind of scared me a bit. knowing that these boys would do this to just an inflatable snowman. >> december 17th, 2006.
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colrain township, ohio. it's christmastime in this quiet suburb of cincinnati, and matt and debby wilicet have decked out their house for the holidays. >> everybody always said our yard kind of looked like a clark griswold kind of setup. >> the centerpiece of the decorations is a 12-foot-tall inflatable snowman. >> our neighbors couldn't believe they actually made a frosty inflatable snowman that tall. and the children really enjoyed looking at it. >> two weeks after they put up the snowman, they come home from dinner to find it deflated. >> the first time that it was vandalized, we had no idea it was a true vandalization. we thought just the weather had torn it and fell down because we had severe winds in that area. >> matt repairs the snowman with tape, and it's back on display in a few days. >> i took extra effort to make sure he was anchored properly, so i didn't expect it to happen another time. >> but a week later, frosty goes down again. >> i didn't know what was
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happening. the second time that it happened it was during the day. so i kind of wonder who would vandalize something in broad daylight in a very small neighborhood? lots of people around. >> matt repairs the snowman again and this time finds clues of foul play. >> i brought it in the garage, noticed the footprints, found the screwdriver inside, and we contacted police just to get it on record. >> undeterred, matt and debby put the snowman back up but this time they place frosty under surveillance. >> we decided we were going to take action and try to catch whatever was happening to frosty with the wireless camera that we mounted in a tree. >> sure enough, a week later the snowman is attacked a third time, and it's caught on camera. >> so i was kind of shocked and i was kind of amazed that my plan worked to actually catch somebody in the act. >> the video shows the assailants violently slashing
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their helpless victim and quickly running away. >> i felt a little angry when i first saw it. but at the same time i kind of wondered what type of person would have the guts to come and do this in broad daylight and then do it three times. >> determined to get their man, they give the video to the media. >> they actually played the clips in the morning news stations, and got it in front of people and see if anybody could identify who the two kids were in the video. >> within days, two local 18-year-olds are identified and arrested. they both plead no contest to criminal damaging and receive a suspended sentence with 40 hours of community service and a fine. >> without the video of frosty getting stabbed, we probably would have not known who was doing this. >> after the snowmen slayers are arrested, they put frosty back up without any further incidents. >> after the attacks on frosty, we did have a merry christmas.
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drop the gun! >> police caught in the crosshairs. >> he was in attack mode. >> and the tables can turn in an instant. >> okay, okay, do not. >> their dashboard cameras capturing real crime in realtime. >> that's when i saw a weapon coming across the back of the seat. >> moments of horror. >> i remember the back tire running over my leg. >> heroism -- >> we were able to both get in at the same time and all of a sudden, he moved.
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