swiping p we're looking for lasting positive impact on the city and on the police force. >> his wrongful arrest could now be a powerful catalyst for change of the nypd. former tennis player james blake meeting with the mayor and police commissioner and tonight a proposal to identify and stop so called problem cops. >> getting ready.

pandemonium days away. traffic will be a nightmare. the 411 you need to know about how to get around manhattan when pope francis is here at the end of the week. good evening at 11:00. i'm bill ritter. >> and i'm sade baderinwa. the pope arrives in the u.s. tomorrow. tonight he's missing with bishops in santiago, cuba and praying at the shrine of our lady of charity. >> he'll meet with families at the cathedral of our lady of the assumption. then he'll leave for washington, d.c. about 4:00 in the afternoon. the folks there tonight getting ready. >> here in new york security preparations are in high gear, but for most of us our main worry, just how will we all get around? eyewitness news reporter josh einiger is at penn station with details. >> with difficulty is the basic answer. when the nypd takes the enormous cement blocks and shuts down vehicular traffic on 7th avenue. they tell us tonight for the first time they're going

to leave the entrance to penn station open, the main entrance there on 7th, meaning even when the pope is celebrating mass in the garden you should still be able to get to your train but it will still be anything but easy in a part of the city where getting around is no picnic on a regular day. >> reporter: there was nothing out of the ordinary about this 7th. it wasn't a holiday, not a gridlock alert day. known for the thousands of commuters running a gauntlet of thousands just like them on their rush home, for them, it really was just monday. just wait till friday. >> what do you think it will be like on friday? >> i don't know, what's happening friday? >> reporter: on friday at 6 p.m. pope francis will celebrate mass with nearly 20,000 people at madison square garden. >> the garden. oh, it will be fun here. >> reporter: which conveniently right on top of penn station. >> how are you going to move? how are you

going to do this? >> reporter: all day nypd will freeze the streets throughout the neighborhood but they say commuters will still be able to get around. while city officials are urging the use of mass transit, mayor de blasio also offered this advice. >> if someone has the option to work from home, that's a great choice too. >> if that sounds familiar -- >> if you don't have to go to work, you can telecommute. >> reporter: it's what he said while preparing for a blizzard back in january. in fact, this is the calm before a different kind of storm, frozen zones, this week so much worse. take the section of crosstown traffic. it's not like you'll be able to divert north to go through the park. friday's papal mass there will close every acre from 79th street south. that means traffic will crawl to the transverses at 86th and 96th. back in midtown this evening -- >> they're saying you'll be okay if you walk. [ laughter ] >> reporter: seasoned commuters really didn't know what they'll do. >> we've seen all kinds of things in new york city. we'll manage it and we'll go on.

>> that being said, when i posted with the penn station on my facebook page tonight, one guy commented i'm glad i work on the east side. don't be so sure because if you're near the u.n. or st. patrick's cathedral, things won't be much better. as for crosstown buses, the mta says it has a plan for bus service disruptions and they'll be putting that out tomorrow. we'll keep you posted as you try to figure out how to get around if you can't just get out of the city. we're live at penn station, josh einiger, channel 7 eyewitness news. from a challenging commute to the biggest security challenge new york city has ever faced. months of planning being put in to action tonight. massive barricades in place outside the upper east side townhouse where the pope will be staying during his visit. with all eyes on the u.n. general assembly and the pope's motorcade, the real challenge could be keeping the rest of the city safe. briefed today by the

>> the pope's visit will not interfere at all with any of the coverage we have in our various precincts. >> the fbi, secret service, and nypd spent the last few weeks doing worst case scenario drills in order to be prepared for every situation. the nypd not only the ones putting finishing touches on everything tonight. >> i'm just going to go around and make sure everything is okay, i've got a couple rehearsals myself for some of the masses, the vespers at the cathedral, the prayer and worship. i want to make sure we have everything right. >> timothy dolan checking all the final details. we've got you covered this week. for a list of the road closures, check out our special section at abc7ny.com/pope. in northern california, two suspects are dead. two officers are wounded. a wild shootout in

the parking lot. authorities in the town of san city say the officers were trying to serve a warrant to a man outside a target store. that's where the gun fight broke out. the officers have nonlife-threatening injuries and are expected to make a full recovery. a cop on long island charged tonight with hitting a motorcyclist with his car and then taking off. thomas o'nealturning himself in today. police in suffolk county say o'neal was off duty when he hit him. in addition to the criminal charges, o'neal has been suspended without pay. so called problem cops at the nypd should be the targets of an early intervention system. that proposal tonight by the city council in the wake of that violent police takedown of former tennis star, james blake. earlier tonight blake meeting with mayor de blasio and police commissioner bratton. jim dolan

>> mr. blake could sue the city and he'd win some money. he probably won't sue. he's hoping if he plays this just right, the video of his wrongful and violent arrest could spur the nypd to change. >> reporter: retired tennis star james blake left his city police commissioner determined to use his violent encounter with an nypd officer as a force for change. >> we're talking about lasting quick lawsuit. we're not looking for anything that's solution. we're looking for city. and on the police force. >> reporter: on september 9th, blake was forcefully arrested and handcuffed by a veteran nypd officer who was acting on a tip about some stolen credit cards phones. blake, a wealthy retired tennis player, was not involved in the crime and neither was the person the person mistook blake for. blake requested today's meeting.

>> the general theme was accountability, making sure we focused on that with the police officers. i feel like we made a lot of progress and we're all presently surprised. >> very positive meeting. >> reporter: the mayor did not elaborate but the city council is considering a proposal to create an early intervention system that will track officers who demonstrate a tendency toward excessive force. let's monitor it and make sure the nypd has a plan to address it, a statement from the council said. blake said the world might not know about his case if he wasn't in the public eye. >> i don't know if i would have had the same voice. i don't know if i would have been on good morning america. i don't know if i would have had those kinds of situations. try to react to it in a positive manner and make a difference. >> that officer has been reassigned and his gun and shield taken away and that will last through the investigation. blake says he was satisfied with today's meeting but he is going to continue this and there will be further meetings in the future. he is hoping for lasting change.

reporting live from midtown, jim dolan, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> appears he might get it. fune ral services announced today for carey gabay, an innocent victim caught in a gang shooting the night before the west indian day were -- parade. saturday a private funeral service. gabay was removed from life support by his family last week. so far no arrests in the shooting. happening tomorrow, disgraced former new york congressman michael grimm spends his first night in federal prison. grimm is scheduled to begin an eight-month sentence. the republican from staten island resigned last year after pleading guilty to filing a false tax return. he could have faced up to three years in prison. a ruckus protest tonight over poultry in brooklyn. demonstrators calling to an end

chickens during a jewish ritual. police in crown heights trying to separate demonstrators from the orthodox jews taking part in the ritual. they say it's inhumane to slaughter chickens during the rituals. two days before yom kippur, which starts tomorrow before sundown. the islanders took to the ice at the new home in brooklyn. the isles tweeting out this photo of their newly finished locker rooms. fans were eager to break in the new digs at tonight's preseason opener against philadelphia flyers. rob powers will have all the highlights coming up in sports. as we continue on this monday night, a man stealing packages right off the front porch steps in a local neighborhood. tonight one victim describes what the thief took and what he left behind. >> plus a million stories in new york city and millions of rats. did you hear the one about the rat and the pizza? >> i'm meteorologist lee

goldberg. something we're just not used to in september. normal temperatures in the lower 70s. right now still a pretty nice evening under cloudy skies. 68 degrees.

take a close look at crystal clear surveillance video, a thief stealing packages. one of the items he stole was a book, which he tossed in to a neighbor's trash. what did he keep? oh, that's part of the story. here's n.j. burkett. >> reporter: cecelia leon was

shocked at how easy it was. police say this is the thief, stepping through cecelia's front gate and helping himself to two packages just delivered to her doorstep. he stuffs them in to a bag and calmly walks away. >> i was kind of outraged. i thought who is this guy? and how comfortable he looked doing this, he was very at ease just going house to house and taking stuff. >> reporter: she says a neighbor later saw the thief opening the packages and dump ing one of them containing a book in to a trash can. the other package was a bathing suit. >> he apparently saw this guy walking down the house to house looking for packages to steal. >> kept your bathing suit and threw away the book. >> yes. >> reporter: cecelia is hoping someone recognizes the thief, the sooner the better. when we showed the video to her next door neighbor, she recognized the man right away.

i was walking my dog. i saw him coming up the block. he saw me look at him and turned right back and went toward the avenue. >> reporter: monty attard says it's appalling and a wake-up call for everyone on the block. >> he just walks in like he owns the place. now i'm worried i'm missing things. >> reporter: another resident told us she's seen the man wandering the neighborhood every day for the past four months. of course anybody with information that could help identify him is urged tonight to call the nypd. in astoria, queens, n.j. burkett, channel 7 eyewitness news. abc news exclusive tonight. kim davis, the kentucky clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples because of her christian beliefs is speaking out. davis believes she's been victimized. >> i've been called hitler. i've been called a hypocrite. i've been called

-- homeophobe. i've been called things and those names don't hurt me. >> you can watch the full interview with kim davis tomorrow on good morning america. the apple watch tonight credited with saving the life of a high school football player. 17-year-old paul says the heart rate monitor on his watch alerted him something was wrong. the watch showed his resting heart rate was more than double his average. >> to feel my heart pounding, so after practice i went to take a nap. my heart rate was still like 145. >> i can remember when the apple watch was coming out, i said there's no way i'm ever buying one. i went out on saturday and purchased an apple watch for my wife and for myself. >> went to the hospital where he learned he had heart, liver, and kidney failure. so he can't play football, at least not yet, but he's looking forward to an internship with apple coming up next summer. >> i think he has a strong chance of that one.

great food especially for a good cause. the top women chefs say new york city cooked it up at the 12th annual second helping of life supporting share, an organization helping women with breast and ovarian cancer and once again, served as a sou chef. today's event raised half a million dollars. >> so nice of you to bring some back. >> you were serving with a smile. i thought your technique was outstanding. >> thank you. whatever you're doing with this weather, keep it coming. >> not bad. today wasn't necessarily fitting of the end of summer here. we've had such a gorgeous stretch here. it's been such long extended warmth and finally back to normal today. a little touch of autumn today and tomorrow before we warm it up again. empire state building is in green for climate week new york city. it's 68 degrees but the air is really

dry. mustered up a couple sprinkles and light rain showers around. the high, 73 degrees. that's right on target. but this is a month where it's set up to be one of the warmest septembers of all time. we've been in the 80s for the most part. sunset and sunrise for your tuesday. a lot of clouds around. feels like fall for summer send-off. as we get in to the first couple days of autumn, feels like summer again with a couple 80-degree days. we have a close call this weekend. still mixed signals as to whether rain is going to stay to our south. 54, monticello. 59 in king ston. we all love the cloud cover. clouds are a little thinner in the hudson valley. 63, islip. 64 in belmar. 68 in west orange. a couple sprink les around tomorrow. probably not enough to have the umbrella. then mostly cloudy skies through the day. better brightening off to the north and west. we clear things off tomorrow night. looks like these showers are

widespread in the area. most of the rain off to the south, high pressure really fending off most of this rainfall. right be a window through first half of the day tomorrow. we will have to watch these disturbances all week long. eventually they may work together, organize and try to drift up the coast. i'm confident they get to the midatlantic. it's questionable whether they get to philly or new york city. obviously that has big implications on the pope's visit. right now i think it's staying to the south. we have a cold front that comes through thursday night and friday morning. it's been really warm. it's in the 80s near 90 in the upper midwest. 70 separating 40. it will cool off as we head in to the upcoming weekend. there's your spinkles on the futurecast. low 70s. as we go in to wednesday morning, first morning of fall feels the part. the papal visit, looking at thursday. 80 degrees, partly sunny skies and friday, 76. absolutely perfect

there. here's your 7-day accuweather forecast. mainly cloudy at 7 a.m. 62. couple sprinkles around . tomorrow, 74. mostly cloudy. brighter north and west. couple sprinkles. tomorrow night the clouds will be moving out. 40s north and west. first day of fall, pump it up to 80 degrees. 80 on thursday as well. 76 on friday. right now keep ing the weekend dry and keeping the rain to the south. high clouds on sunday. we'll be watch ing that for you. bill evans will have an update tomorrow morning. coming up next, are e-cigarettes more healthy for you? important new health information tonight. >> and the rack, everyone in new york city talking about video going viral. >> first let's check in with our pal jimmy kimmel. >> thanks, bill. tonight bill o'reilly, kermit the frog, miss piggy, music from robin thicke. an all new live

conventional wisdom is that there's one rat for every person in new york city. 8 million stories of the city, tonight the story of one rat and one slice of pizza. this video lighting up our website and social media. 1.3 million views on our facebook page. a rat last night hauling a slice down the stairs

station. in tonight's health alert, e-cigarettes, are they less harmful or just as bad as smoking tobacco? surgeon general says there's not enough evidence to conclude they're a healthy alternative, nor is there evidence to confirm they can help kick the habit. the health risks of e-cigarettes are completely unclear. tomorrow governor cuomo's girlfriend sandra lee talking to good morning america about her physical and emotional struggle after breast cancer. on her facebook page today she said with her supporters she's going in to fall stronger, wiser, and better. first public appearance since her double mastectomy, last night at the emmys. you can see it at 7 a.m. here on channel 7. rob powers up next with sports. >> that time of the year where the sports season has all come together. the jets playing the monday nighter. we'll update that score from indy. also talk baseball. the mets have a

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we shall see right now. they've got to do well in this series. they took 2-3 in the subway series, look to make it count in these next three games, down 2 and a half, 14 to play. they start playing tonight at first place toronto. huge series for both teams. david price, look out. first batter of the game. jacoby ellsbury right back at them. adam ward gave up three runs in the 1st inning. justin smoak smokes an rbi double. yankees load the bases. alex rodriguez the batter. yanks lose 4-2.

they are now down by three and a half games. now to the mets at home, back at it against the braves. first place lead was six games, 13 to play. they got to beat the teams they're supposed to beat. that would include the braves who have lost 90 games this year. michael conforto named the minor league player of the year before the game. 2-0, 2nd inning. jon niese struggled lately but he was in control tonight. three hits in six innings. 7th inning, big hit daniel murphy. two-run double. mets shut out the braves 4-0. washington was rained out so the lead is up to six and a half games. magic number down to 7. 45 years ago tonight the jets played the browns in the very first monday night football game and tonight they played the latest at indianapolis with a chance to get to 2-0. 17-7 jets in the 4th quarter. fitzpatrick has found both his big receivers decker and marshall for touchdowns.

the jet defense has five takeaways. 17-7 jets late. the nhl regular season opens october 7th, just a couple weeks away. preseason games open tonight. rangers, devils at the garden. the ice is down. the skates are laced and they are playing hockey. didn't take long. a minute 20 seconds in to the game, brian gibbons scores on the turnover. rangers lead. devils get on the later. the rangers do pull away. chris kreider scores as well with the quick wrister. 6-3 rangers double up the devils at the garden. the islanders and the flyers. this is the game in allentown,p.a. 2nd period, 2-1 philly. allen klein scores on the power play. isles would tie. justin scores. that's the final goal of the night for the isles. philly wins 5-3 in the preseason opener. the islanders ended up playing what amounted to a split squad game to the flyers. lost the one in p.a.

but won the one in barclays center 3-2. the liberty resume their wnba playoff series against the washington mystic. best of three, tied at one each. liberty won the second by 20. now they bring the series back home with a chance to advance. >> everybody is energized, pumped. can't wait to give the fans a great show. >> that first game was definitely a wake-up call. great to have that type of game early so we can make sure we're on our feet and toes at all time and we're prepared for anything.

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that's it for us for now. thanks for watching. ritter. jimmy kimmel is next. eyewitness news returns tomorrow morning at have a great night and