they obviously do not want the do that. but they say that is allegedly what copeland did. he is now being charged with dwi and unauthorized use of a vehicle. eyewitness news was the only station there as bus driver alexander copeland returned to his home in medford, long island late this afternoon. he had nothing to say to us. the 52-year-old is charged with aggravated dwi. police say copeland was off duty yesterday when he took this bus from outside the mta depot in jamaica and drove it onto long island. >> that's dangerous and he have other people's life in danger and i don't think that he should be driving that way. >> reporter: police say they received calls from drivers on the northern state around exit 32 that an mta bussing was going -- bus was going erratically all over the road. police say copeland smelled of alcohol when they pulled him over. he had a blood alcohol content of .20.

>> that's crazy and, you know, i can lee he could -- like he could endanger people. >> reporter: the buses are often parked outside the depots because there isn't enough room inside but they maintain just because copeland got access to the bus, regular people cannot. a spokesperson telling eyewitness news we take all the proper protocols and precautions to make sure the general public cannot operate a >> he messed up. he shouldn't have been driving but -- >> reporter: you don't worry about it? >> of course not. it's not for everybody. >> reporter: the mta says they do have security guards at these depose at -- depots at all times but obviously if the buses are parked on the streets, that is a security concern. the mta says they are in the process of buying out nearby properties so they can put all these buses in one place and have the security guards keep a better eye on them. copeland is due back in court later on this month. we are live in jamaica, i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. metro north trains are back on schedule again after a

bicycle on the tracks caused major delays this morning. the bike did not have a rider when it was struck by a train near the fordham station in the bronx. authorities suspect someone threw the bike onto the tracks. the damage to the train and tracks caused delays on the harlem line for several hours. there were no injuries. criminal charges tonight against three dozen fraternity members in the death of a baruch college student during a hazing incident. 19-year-old michael dang died during a fraternity hazing ritual in the poconos back in 2013. five students have been charged with homicide, charges against the others include assault, hazing and criminal conspiracy. police say members of the pi delta si fraternity pushed dang during a hazing ritual while he was blindfolded and wearing a backpack of 20 pounds of sand. dang's family just released a statement saying fraternities and their members must be held accountable and this step by

one. with the pope's visit to week away, security tonight. the nypd held a major drill today not only for the pope's visit but also the start of the u.n. general assembly which will bring leaders from around york city. the police commissioner calls it the biggest security department. eyewitness news reporter jim tonight. jim. >> reporter: you know, when it comes to security, the nypd and the secret service, they hate to talk numbers, but consider that a week from this friday you're going to have both the pope and 90% of the world's leaders right here in the same town and that is going to require a level of security never seen before in new york. with the mayor and police commissioner present, nypd, secret service, office of emergency management, atf and

numerous other practice possible emergency scenarios that could disrupt the pope's visit. >> we have another ied explosion, 1592 broadway. >> reporter: today's tabletop scenarios covered everything from backpack explosions to active shooters to a collapsed building and train derailment. >> esu, boston explosive, traffic we need to get you out perimeter. >> reporter: in a city that has face unparalleled security challenges, the short visit by the pope next week is unmatched in the city's history. >> we will have available capacity on land, on sea and in the air, we will have thousands and thousands of officers and the advantage of tremendously effective surveillance technology including cameras, explosive, trace detection devices, radiation detective devices. >> reporter: in the short 40 hour visit the pope will go from one end of manhattan to the other, from the national

9/11 memorial to madison square garden, st. patrick's cathedral to a 12 block through central park in the pope mobile. the pope's desire to connect with the people running up his safety. >> we are very comfortable that we are going to be able to meet very safe event. >> reporter: the pope's visit will coincide with the visit of nations. it marks the two as a national special security event, which gives the lead role in court dating security to the secret service but it's the nypd that will provide the manpower and the equipment from chemical biological detection to radiation monitoring to rescue. >> the equipment that we have here will be utilized respond to anything that we may come in contact with, that is a direct threat against the holy father the city. >> reporter: now the pope is going to go right by this area

this is west drive. he's going to travel in the pope mobile from 72nd street down to 60th. it's expected that tens of thousands of people will line both sides of west drive and that could be perhaps the toughest security challenge facing the nypd and the secret service. jim hoffer, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> what an undertaking. thank you, jim. be sure to stay with eyewitness news leading up to the pope's visit and during his visit. we have an entire section on our website, abc7ny.com, where you can find his schedule and traffic information. politics now and in the race for president, donald trump plans his biggest rally yet in about an hour from now. tickets are sold out for his appearance at the american airlines center in dallas, which holds almost 20,000 people. this as a new abc news, washington post poll shows trump three points behind hillary clinton. dave evans here with a closer look at the numbers. >> the chairman of the republican party is now

predicting that in wednesday night's second big presidential debate he says elbows will certainly be thrown and kentucky's rand paul says somebody has to bring trump down. but the regular rules of politics don't seem to apply to donald trump and for hillary clinton and the democratic primary, it's another round of bad news today. bottom line, hillary clinton slipping and donald trump keeps climbing. trump is now up to 33%, ben carson is improving and jeb bush now down to 8%. trump keeps doing better regardless of who attacks him. >> i think donald trump is an entertainer and i think i am a leader. >> reporter: and when trump attacks, his poll numbers, they just climb some more. >> here's the headline, carly is surging, she has got 3%. i hear ben, he's surging, but he's way behind me. energy. >> reporter: construction is just about finished for wednesday's big republican debate. governor cuomo way down in the

-- governor christie today denied he needs a breakout performance then. >> i need to be myself. that's what i will do. i'll go out and wednesday, be myself, tell the truth as i see it. >> reporter: on the democratic side hillary clinton is still the front runner but her support has plummeted 21 points since july. bernie sanders is way up and joe biden not even in the race officially still gets 21%. so clinton is now trying to salvage support among women voters, since july she has lost half her support among women voters. >> republicans often say i'm playing the gender card. well if supporting women's health and women's rights is playing the gender card, deal me in because that is -- >> reporter: and clinton's main rival bernie sanders keeps plugging along in his unorthodoxed campaign. today he went to liberty university and lectured christian conservatives on morality and justice. >> there is no justice when so

few have so much and so many have so little. >> the vice president has lately indicated he may be shying away from a presidential run if he does not run, we assume most of biden's voters would probably go to the first debate for democrats joe. >> dave, thank you. still no break-through tonight in contract talks to avoid a possible school bus strike on long island. drivers for bus company bowman and sons are wages and threatening to walk off the job. federal mediators were brought into the negotiations last week. a strike would affect an estimated 15,000 students in both nassau and suffolk counties. take a quick look at wall street where stocks started the week lower and the dow lost 62 points. the nasdaq down 16 and the s&p 500 lost eight points. as we continue with eyewitness news at 6:00 on this monday night, it feels a little like fall but the allergy season is back with a vengeance.

what has so many people sneezing now? also ahead, using new technology to speed up your taxi ride through some of the most congested areas of new york city. plus the giants absolutely heart breaking loss to the cowboys. now the coach and eli manning face tough questions about the final minutes of the game. rob powers with their reaction in sports. you don't get much better than this, 74 degrees right now in midtown, clear skies, low humidity, a little bit of a breeze out there but the big weather story is a significant warmup. i'm meteorologist jeff smith in for lee goldberg.

your exclusive

o de new at 6:00, fall allergies, the weather today perfect for an evening walk in central park, but for people who struggle with argues, it's -- allergies, it's time again for sneezing, wheezing and watery eyes so how bad is the here's eyewitness news new jersey reporter toni yates in new brunswick. >> swelling and have a pale lining of your nose. >> reporter: this high school student has had a miserable year trying to fight allergies. >> i want to stay home and not even go to school and not go to work and not do anything but sit in my bed and sneeze and scratch my throat. >> reporter: she has come to the hospital's allergist for help. >> people already suffering already and there's a lot of pollen around but the potential is that it could get worse if

it keeps raining and gets heartier. culprits ragweed. it can be coming from as far as 100 miles away or its source can be there under your nose. have you ever seen the weeds on construction sites or along the river banks like this? here it is, here's your ragweed. when it releases its spores like all the other trees and glasses filling the air. >> i'm at school and sometimes they cut the grass and the window will be open and i will be sitting next to the windows and i'm sneezing and i'm coughing and they have to move me, take me out of the room. >> you want to close your windows, put your air- conditioning on and keep it on because it keeps the pollen outside. >> reporter: there are lots of over-the-counter medications for allergies but when it gets as bad as vanessa's it may be time to go to the doctor for skin tests and to see if her regimen of allergy shots designed specifically for you is needed. >> i know everybody talks about global warming and that is affecting our allergies because

as pollen seasons expand due to warm temperatures, plants are actually becoming heartier. >> reporter: in new brunswick, eyewitness news. new york city the main testing ground for ground breaking technology to make our roads safer and easier to navigate. federal transportation secretary anthony fox was in queens today to announce the project. he says the city will get up to $21 million to develop the connected vehicle technologies. a sensory device will be installed in up to 10,000 vehicles by 2017, including cabs and mta buses, all to warn drivers of impending dangers and congestion. a surprise discovery inside a park in new york city. just ahead on eyewitness news, how did the alligator get there and where has it gone? plus, jeff smith in for lee

goldberg with a ne the centers for medicare and medicaid services recently asked patients to rate the quality of over 3,500 hospitals. fewer than 10% received 5 stars. among them was cancer treatment centers of america in philadelphia. cancercenter.com/eastern.

way back when, in the neighborhoods of new york... the working people, the people who really make this city work-- the beat cops, nurses, teachers, and engineers had affordable health care thanks to an upstart mayor, and a couple of non-profits called ghi and hip-- now called emblemhealth. because emblemhealth believes that working new yorkers deserve quality care, so new moms and dads can breathe a little easier, and the young at heart can live healthy and strong. and today, emblemhealth is still doing what it did when it was ghi and hip, setting a national standard with neighborhood care-- not because of some new law, but because looking after your neighbors

is just right. emblemhealth: what care feels like... in the neighborhood. look at this, a creature is found in a queens lake clearly

not from around here. this alligator, yep, alligator, spotted this afternoon in flushing meadows corona park. the gator is nearly 2 feet long, long enough. and it's still swimming around. the park's department says it will continue to monitor it and attempt to capture the reptile using nets, snare poles, traps, whatever works. that will keep you on your toes for sure. >> it might have been confused because last week it felt like everglades weather around here. >> and seems like it still feels like that. >> the humidity won't be quite as bad as it was last week but we have a big warmup on the way after such a crisp and downright cool fall day today, especially with that breeze out there. we got into the 50s this morning for the first time since june the 27th. a classic look over toward gotham right now, right across the manhattan bridge, you see the empire state building sticking up there in the center. temperature is 74, that wind coming in from the west around 7 miles per hour. look at the humidity, down at 38%, even as we get temperatures well up into the upper 80s by later on in the week, the humidity won't be too

bad, it won't be oppressive like it was last week. the high today getting up to 77 after that morning low of 59. normally this time of year, this is how it should feel, we get up to about 76 for your average high in september the 14th, 93 was your record way back in 1931, the sun going down at 7:07. feeling more like mid summer, though, for the rest of the week as we get high temperatures again in the middle and upper 80s, more typical of what you would get during the months of july and august. fog possible each morning, mainly in outlying valley locations so especially up in the hudson valley north of new york city you can expect to wake up to a little bit of of mornings. next shot at a shower later on in the week, we definitely do still need rainfall even though we got significant amounts of rain in parts of the area during the past week. a lot of the area still four to 6 inches below average on the year and hence a moderate drought still going on. 72 right now sussex, 73 down the shore in belmar, low 70s on the island, just fair weather clouds off to the north and east of new york city, those clearing out on the backside of

the system that gave us much needed rainfall over the weekend we are getting a brisk northwesterly wind for the time being. that will calm down overnight and allow temperatures, especially well north and west to get down into the 70s, sussex potentially getting down to about 46, in the city 62 or so, upper 50s on the island. mid-50s down the jersey shore. look at the recovery tomorrow, up to 84 degrees in central park under a lot of sunshine, probably the warm spot in and around new york city lower 80s elsewhere. the big warmup continues, i think we go up a couple of degrees each day right through the end of the week. here's your accuweather forecast for tonight, clear, comfortable, we are down to 62, midtown 50s and most of the outlying areas plenty of sun, becoming warmer, the high getting up to 84. down to 66 tomorrow night, clear to partly cloudy skies. here's your accuweather forecast, 86 on wednesday, 88, the peak of the warmth on thursday and then cooling off back into the middle 80s friday into saturday, maybe ah shower or thunderstorm during the day

on -- a shower or thunderstorm during the day on sunday. that's very summerlike. >> a whole lot of warm in that forecast. thank you. >> you got it. rob powers up next with sports. >> we recap this opening sunday in the nfl. good win at home for the jets and a rough loss on the road for the giants straight ahead, a game they had in their big blue hands and it slipped through their fingers against the cowboys. we will talk about that. plus the mets bring back at

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tough way to kick off the season for big blue. that one hurt. >> mess in dallas. the quarterback said it was his fault, the coach said it's on him. rashad jennings said he was told not to get in the end zone by the quarterback who mixed up how many timeouts the cowboys had. all giants fans know right now is there's plenty of game to go around.

the giants were poised to win this one on the road and beat the cowboys for the first time in eight tries on opening day. instead the clock management bit big blue down the stretch, leading by three, driving through a touchdown, eli manning threw the ball away on third down. they kicked a field goal on fourth taking a sack there on third, that would have kept the clock running so the giants now have a six-point lead. the defense had a score but tony romo promptly drives the cowboys 72 yards in less than a minute 1/2, hit jason witten for six, add the p.a.t., the giants lose, 27-26. it went downhill so fast. >> we could have run the ball, the clock would have run, run, run, we line up, take a time- out, kick the field goal, that was a bad decision on my part. nobody else to blame but me. >> i should have definitely, you know, had an option to take the sack and run the 40 seconds off the clock, give them less time, so that's -- that's 100% on me and that can't happen. >> talking about that for a while. the jets with good news

yesterday, very good news today antonio cromartie's left knee is sprained. he did not suffer a season ending ligament tear. he has not been ruled out of next monday's game in indianapolis. yesterday the jets showed the browns and the rest of the nfl just what they could do, a big crowd watching chris ivory run for 91 years, two scores, brian fitzpatrick threw two touchdown passes. browns also had a dozen penalties while the jet defense was big, five takeaways, it's win one in week one, 31-10. the coach is a winner in his debut. >> it was important for the first game. we didn't look ahead or we don't look behind us. we try to win today. the day of the game was the day. we didn't look at tomorrow, didn't look at yesterday. going into the day we focused on getting the win and that's what we are trying to do every week. an update right now on what was a scary scene in the meadowlands yesterday. rookie linebacker out of the hospital after being diagnosed with a concussion. yesterday it looked like a head

and a neck injury. he fell face first into the turf and everybody was scared. the stadium was so quiet, we didn't know exactly what we were seeing but he was released from the hospital today. the mets magic carpet ride continues at home tonight against the marlins. the magic number to clench the nl east down to 11 games. the division lead up to 9 1/2 with 19 to play. for years fans wanted the mets to play meaningful games in september, much more of this in the games won't be meaningful because the mets are running away with this division. last night down by three runs in atlanta, two men on base, two outs in the top of the ninth, one strike on daniel murphy and murphy knocks out a three run home run also on cue. force extra innings. score on a throwing error in the 10th. the mets win their seventh street. >> it's just one of those things, streaks you get on there's no explanation for it. it just happens. i think it's a huge boost to not only the organization but to our fan base.

yankees and tampa tonight, cc sabathia pitches. tanaka serving notice he is the ace of this staff. snapped a five game yankee losing streak, win his 12th game of the year. yankees still 3 1/2 games back in the division, up on texas by three in the wild card, up four on the twins and going forward number 19, that's your guy. >> keep winning. thank you, rob. let's check in with sade to see what's going on tonight on eyewitness news at 11:00. >> thank you, joe. moviegoers giving them's down to a local theater tweeting out these pictures tonight of itchy bumps they say came from bedbugs. plus an aspirin a day to prevent cancer. the new recommendation from doctors but is it too good to be true? those stories and much more tonight on eyewitness news at 11:00. >> sade. thank you. that is our news for now. thanks for joining us. i'm joe torres. world news tonight with david muir is next. david is on the front lines of those deadly wildfires in california. eyewitness news returns tonight at 11:00.