>> on the new tampa bay, we have got all things gasparilla. park, and the one thing that people want you to leave at home this year. plus, a powerful reminder. >> it's horrible. >> it changes every minute of your life. and your family's. what happened to her and her daughter could be anyone tomorrow. her warning for all of you celebrating. and what's with all of the star fish washing up in florida? it's 4:00 and this is the now. we begin with breaking news right now. a pinellas county deputy

the sheriff's department saying that timothy verdin had no reason to shoot a handcuffed man during a dui investigation last month. clifton french joins us live from the sheriff's office. clifton, the sheriff came out with surprising details this afternoon. >> reporter: yeah. i guess the gist of this was he was saying that this deputy, deputy verdin simply lied. that dash cam video that he gave us, also testimony from another deputy showed exactly what happened, just uncovering the truth there. we have some video of that deputy from 2003 when he worked for st. pete pd. we also have dash cam video from the incident on december 30th. the two were arresting dylan thompkins holmes.

but he was sitting in the back of the cop car. he was shot twice. on the morning of the shooting. 100%. is possible. >> if what he said happened but he lied. you can -- you can have a situation where people are handcuffed and can do things. but not in this case. and once we were able to look at the video, look at the audio, hear everything, talk to randall and get the other information, which took days and weeks, theit was -- it was a totally different context and a totally different light. >> reporter: now, the sheriff went on to say if the deputy's story was true, it still would not have mattered. he still should not have shot the handcuffed man in the back

>> is this deputy still in jail? >> reporter: we just learned that he turned himself into jail earlier this morning. the sheriff actually contacted the deputy's attorney. but the deputy did bail out of jail later on, a few hours after he had been booked. >> thank you, clifton. now to tampa's biggest event of the year, gasparilla. the adult parade is tomorrow. in just about an hour, a kick- off party will take place with live music. carson chambers joins us live from south tampa. carson, i'm from the area. but really compared to you, i'm a rookie. what have you got? >> reporter: i spent many gasparilla at this corner. fair warning, tampa police will start to ticket the cars parked illegally in the area and then they will start towing the cars.

year, i went into the command center for the tampa police department. it's parked off of platt street. they all feed into this command center to be monitored by officers. officers reminding party goers to pay attention to the wet zones, the areas where alcohol is allowed. they also have a new warning this year. >> if you got a drone for christmas, leave it at home. we don't need any drones out here. we tried to make it clear to people. number one, it's illegal. we're near an airport. and number two, we don't neat that includedderring up the -- we don't need that cluttering up the skies. >> reporter: law enforcement will be on the parade route as well. we met police from oklahoma, memphis and kansas to see how

you will hear more from them at 5:00. i'm carson chambers. back to you. >> bayshore boulevard will be shutting down in just a couple hours. if you plan on driving to the parade, here are ideas to help you plan ahead. the city has some maps showing some south tampa neighborhoods -- see, look at them on the left hand side of the screen. it shows you around the parade routes there and where you can and cannot park. you can go to abcactionnews.com. there you will find a full list of parking garage options with everything that you need to know, including how much each garage will cost you. that includes garages outside of south tampa. places like ebor. one option that you can try is parking and taking the trolley in. if you can't figure it out, we posted everything that you need to know with all of the links on our website. just search the new tampa bay on our facebook page.

will be a lot of trash that is left behind during the parade, things like beads, bottles and cigarette butts are among some of the most littered items. to avoid being part of the problem, try to use the trash and recycling bins along the route. and if you want to help with the clean-up and the inevitable mess that is left behind, join keep tampa bay beautiful on sunday. guess what, they still need volunteers to pick up the trash. if you want to help, fill out the form on their website and they will e-mail you about all of the information about where you need to go and we have that posted on our facebook page. just search the new tampa bay. one and a half tons? that's a lot of trash. >> that's a lot of trash. >> that means a lot of people will have a good time. otherwise you wouldn't have that much trash. but we need to clean up after. are you going to gasparilla? you must be. >> i am not going. i have been a couple years.

have to go. i can't wait. let's take a look outside. the weather is going to cooperate. over the last couple of days at this time i have been showing you not that kind of sky. overcast, drizzly and of course at times torrential downpours. right now, all is quiet. titan doppler radar showing just that. the cloud cover associated with the front down to the south. you see high clouds. they don't precipitate -- well, they do, but it evaporating before it hits the ground. we will have milky sunshine over the next couple of days. we're in good shape. temperatures this morning behind the front, 40s, you felt that. temperatures in the 40s and 50s as well. we had dew points in the 60s and low 70s. now we're back to where we should be this time of year.

we're going to break down what will happen this weekend as far as the timing, what the temperatures will look like throughout gasparilla. i will be back with the extended forecast coming up. >> thank you, ivan. a man that we told you about last week doing creepy things to women in model homes has been caught. the bad news is that he has since bonded out. at least we have a name and a face to show you. surveillance pictures show him here with a gray hat and sunglasses there. now, we're told that he would act like he is interested in a home and get uncomfortably close to realtors, looking down their shirts, even smelling them. and in one case, he rubbed himself on an agent's hand as she was trying to show him a map. well, coming up, a flamingo sighting in florida doesn't seem unusual. but why people are being told to stay away from this particular bird.

stop the spread of the zika virus and how close we are to it becoming a reality. but before we go, a sunday is your last chance to sign up for health insurance or you will have to pay a penalty. and this year, the deadline might need some patience. the number of people trying to enroll on the federal health marketplace jumped 50% just a week ago. we will be back in three

>> right now, some good news zika virus. doctors say they could have a vaccine ready for emergency use before the end of the year. the virus is spread mainly by a right now there is no vaccine or treatment. scientists think they could be as august. again, it would only be used in emergency.

thinks there could be 4 million cases of zika virus in north, central and south america this year. and abc action news anchor serena joins us now. >> take a look at the map. there are 30 people in a dozen states and washington, d.c. diagnosed with the zika virus. hawaii is the only state that you can't see here that has it as well. here in florida, we have had three cases. a man in hillsborough and two cases out of miami-dade. all got the disease outside of the u.s. the cdc says there are no cases of people getting the virus from mosquitoes that are here. the type of mosquito that transmits the virus is not common in the u.s. so how exactly is the virus getting here. there was information gathered from all of the state

this map. it gives us a clear picture of where people traveled to to contract the virus since 2007. contracted the virus. and the red dot shows where majority of the people have central america. a warning today for people trying to get a glimpse of a rare bird near fort myers. take a look. this is an american flamingo. that's different than the ones at busch gardens. people are getting too close to these birds trying to get a dramatic picture of the bird. it could be dangerous for the bird. >> if too many people mob a bird and the bird gets stressed, it can actually cause health problems. the same as in humans. when we have stress, we put off stress hormones and the same

>> visitors are now being asked at the preserve to respect the bird by using binoculars or a camera with a zoom lens. there have been other sightings in the past and as north as the tampa bay area. well, social media helps us connect with a wide range of people. but are all of your facebook friends? the now's andy choi shows you why you might not like what researchers found. >> reporter: even lisa admits some. >> there are a couple actually that are in here and i'm like -- >> well, i have about 2700. so maybe about a thousand might be real friends. >> reporter: good guess. steep. according to a new study

those facebook friends are real friends. >> i would like to think they're my real friends. maybe they aren't. i don't know. >> reporter: out of the average facebook user's 150 friends, thed it efound only 14 would show sympathy in real life and only five would be considered true friends. five friends. that's barely enough friends to hang out on one couch. so no one told you that life was going to be this way >> that tends to be a much smaller group of people that are there for you. >> reporter: denver psych professor randy smith says all those friends are more like resources unless you make the effort to connect. >> you have lots of people in your big network. people that you can call by name and say hi to. having lots of friends on facebook is fine as long as you're not devoting too much time to facebook at the expense of your real life relationships. >> we should call amy. >> we should.

back to my friends, lisa and shandra. friends i haven't seen in years. >> we have been facebook friends since 2011. >> we're coming up on our five- year anniversary. >> wow. in this is 2007. >> yeah. >> it's been nine years. >> you were in my wedding. >> i'm such a bad friend. >> you didn't care. >> sorry for being such a bad friend. >> me too. >> it's good to see you. >> reporter: it may take years for some of us to figure it out. but real friends need a lot up. for the now, i'm andy choi. >> well, a facebook study out of oxford university analyzed and surveyed more than 3300 facebook users between the ages of 18 and 65. now to a cool space note for tonight. the international space station for exactly 3 minutes. and that will take place at 7:27 p.m. and a bonus reminder, now is

planets, these five right here, and the moon. that's something that we haven't seen in ten years. so st. pete college has an observatory where you can catch shows at 7:00 and 8:15. our partners at newsy shows us a new discovery that shows how far astronomy may go. >> reporter: a sophisticated method for tracking jupiter moving across the scheme a researcher came across a tablet that matched up with four other tablets. they all depicted the same shape that represents the speed that jupiter moves across the sky over a 60-day period. the line represents time and the vertical line represents velocity. the slanted top line shows how

it's a big deal because it was previously believed that this technique wasn't invented until a thousand years later in oxford and paris. so why jupiter? the city of babylon had a god that is often associated with jupiter. it is believed the tablets were created by priests in the temple that were pulling double duty as astronomers. >> pretty cool stuff there, ivan. >> absolutely. look up at the sky. it will fly by. only three minutes. it's cool when you see it. you know that scott kelly is up there and the thing is flying by. >> scott kelly is up there. >> a year in space. let's take a look outside and show you what is going on. a lot of clear sky. what a shot there. no rain. just high clouds.

spectacularly later on this evening. a few more minutes away. we were cold this morning. the rain well down to our south. my goodness, totals here, two and a half to as much as -- close to three inches in some areas here. anywhere that you see the blue, fell. the rain was a two-day event for us and it was intense in some spots. cover. those are the clouds that you widen this out. you can see the tropical jet that normally isn't here unless we certainly have that. look at the moisture streaming the gulf and through florida and connecting to the low that brought us the rainfall here. that cloud cover will not bother us with rain. it will just filter sunshine for the next couple of days. like we saw more on the cam there that we saw.

of a low cloud they're, a cumulus cloud. that will moderate temperatures as well. another cool night tonight. in the upper 40s. and the 60s tomorrow once again. >> thank you, ivan. coming up, what's in the works right now that could help women getting closer to making the same as men. you don't want to get behind this monster sink hole. we will not just tell you how deep it is. we're going to show you. well, ivan is. don't miss it. the new tampa bay will be back

>> well, there is a new effort today to make sure that women get equal pay.

with 100 employees or more to report how much they pay based on gender, race and ethnicity. and in 2014, women made 79 cents for every dollar a man earned. the president also wants to make sure that women are not facing discrimination. >> we still have to make sure that women are not penalized or held back in the workplace simply for starting a family. guys, we're -- we're responsible for the family thing too. [laughter] >> and they're already doing more work than we are in getting that thing going. they shouldn't be penalized twice or three times. >> the white house will hold a special summit in may called the united state of women, focusing how far women have come in the workplace and the >> all right.

before, sarah, in our city. nothing like this. this is drone video of a monster sink hole in the oregon coast. transportation crews don't know how big but at least 60 feet deep. it is actually two sink holes combined and wiped out the highway. the area of course we have been talking about a lot of rainfall. and that is likely what triggered the sink hole. we're very visual here on the now. we wanted to give you an idea how deep the sink hole is. i climbed up to the second floor of the news room. we are about 20 feet up. you can imagine this sink hole is three times as deep. sarah, that is what we call math. back to you. >> yeah. pretty crazy, ivan. good demonstration. i liked it. check this out. this is a first for lego. the company just unveiling these little figures here. and they're unveiling it at a toy fair in germany. it's a boy in a wheelchair. it's all part of the fun at the

out in june. this new figure comes after an online petition calling for lego to make a more diverse set of figures. >> the greatest heroes ever assembled are back. >> i really missed you guys. >> they're going to lego land. >> this is so cool. >> lego land. and today at lego land in winter haven, you can see the world premiere of the new lego 4d movie debuting here first. you can only see it at the theme park there in winter haven. coming up next, the fbi releases surveillance video from the shooting death of one of the oregon militia men. and later, a monkey may be the only witness to a suspicious crime in north port. what it may have witnessed

>> breaking right now, a live picture from california where one of the men who has been on the run for a week after making a daring escape from jail is now in custody. well, he actually gave up. he stopped someone on the street telling them who he was and that he wanted to turn himself in. but the other two men who escaped with him are still out there right now. take a look at their pictures. we're also learning more about a teacher who is now accused of helping them get out. she taught english as a second language to the inmate being called hannibal lector. they had a close relationship. >> all i can tell you is that they feel strongly it was personal. it wasn't the relationship that we would expect between the teacher and an inmate. >> well, investigators believe the teacher gave one of those

they are also looking into ether she gave them tools to get out as well. authorities say the inmates cut through a metal grate behind their bunks and crawled through tunnels and repealed down the roof using sheets. again, one of the men is now in custody. right now on the new tampa bay, we are getting you caught up on the headlines of the day. we are starting out in pinellas county where a deputy was arrested and fired for attempted manslaughter. the sheriff called a press conference saying today that deputy virden had no reason to shoot a handcuffed man on december 30th. now he said that the deputy lied, that's the deputy right there, but dash cam video and audio uncovered the truth. right now a bizarre discovery at a hotel room where

police are now investigating the scene at a budget inn. they say the death is suspicious. take a look inside the cage. a monkey. two were found in the room. wildlife officials removed the monkeys while police questioned one person. i'm here with ivan with something that everyone wants to know about, the gasparilla forecast. >> yes. i'm so glad this is not one of the forecasts where it may rain or may not rain. pretty sure it will be a nice one. this will be looking good as we check out the forecast for tomorrow. by the way, yes, the parade itself, you are interested in that i'm sure, 2:00 to 5:30 along bayshore boulevard. i have front row seats for that. temperatures holding in the 60s. we may top off at 70 but mainly through the day we will stay in the 60s. milky sunshine and high clouds but nothing that will bother us.

thing going on this weekend. families and anyone who loves to eat check out pig fest. morning. it is going on right now up until 10:00 tonight and all day tomorrow, 10:00 to 5:00. now, this is its 20th year. and you can get feel-good food and load up on the ribs and protein right there because it is raising money in lakeland. sponsor. both. pig fest tonight and gasparilla tomorrow. temperatures dropping back into the 50s. you will need a jacket because it's cooler behind the front that brought us the rainfall. i will be back in a few minutes with the extended forecast. there are changes early next week. a developing story right now. fighting off what it says a lot of wrong information being spread online. the fbi released this surveillance video showing the

oregon militia men after he ran from police. the now's todd walker breaks down what happened. >> reporter: the fbi had a surveillance plane tracking the vehicle that finicum was in. now the dramatic video has been released along with with a timeline. the video was captured around 4:30 tuesday afternoon in oregon as two vehicles left the wildlife refuge. the black jeep that bundy and two other people were in was stopped and they were taken into custody without incident. the white truck took off. watch as it heads towards a roadblock. you can see it run off the road hitting an fbi agent. finicum gets out of the truck with his hands up but he starts pocket. been armed. at that point, he was shot. we are not showing you that part of the videoest the fib pocket. special agent in charge tells

as possible. >> i think five years ago maybe that would not have been released. but now so much can happen on social media and make it happen instantly and many, many times it's inaccurate and incorrect. so i think you're going to see more from law enforcement. >> reporter: right now the fbi believes there are still some people inside the refuge. they are being offered a way to exit through check points. several have already taken that opposite. for the now, i'm todd walker. the men arrested so far have been charged with one count of conspiracy to impede an officer that has a maximum penalty of six years in prison. still ahead, star fish washing up by the thousands on florida beaches. big question is why. can anything be done to help them survive?

>> welcome back. could o.j. simpson have a brain disease now associated with football? the doctor who first discovered chronic traumatic enselfpathy says he would bet his medical license on it. he can tell because of simpson's profile. it has been found in the brains of dozen of footballs but only diagnosed after someone dies. simpson considered using that defense in an armed robbery and kidnapping case in las vegas which he is now in prison for. he says concussions during his more than a decade in the nfl could have played a role in the crime. ivan. >> you know what, we're going to learn a little bit about star fish. wildlife officials blaming cold

thousands of dead star fish are washing up on the shore. video coming from port st. joe. people that live there say they're basically seeing this for weeks now. florida fish and wildlife say the star fish congregate in masses in cold weather and then the high tides or storms wash them on shore. and back here in the bay area, we are looking at a sick manatee here that has been rescued. the manatee has been in the river oaks wastewater treatment plant in town and country for about a week now. they say it looks like a younger manatee and they think it's basically swimming in too cold of water temperature and it may be sick. they planned to move it further up the river or rehab it if necessary. >> oh, manatee. how happy and healthy do you think our state it, ivan?

the well being across the nation is okay. we ranked 12th out of 50 states. and we had one of the largest jumps from last year, moves up 14 places. it actually shows that our outlook is improving as a whole since gallup starting asking us about it in 2008 it includes your sense of economic security, taking pride in your community and maintaining and health. no surprise what state comes in first. hawaii. west virginia and kentucky rank last for health and happiness. there are some overall trends nationwide. we are feeling better about our finances. more of us have insurance. not as many of us are smoking. and more of us are exercising. despite this, obesity rates continue to go up. a lot of people are still having a hard time getting a full-time job. well, can you guess what all these people here are

they're lining up for gasparilla. it is a huge drinking party. but it's not always fun. >> people don't tend to think that, yes, overdrinking can kill me but it can. the one thing that this mom who lost her daughter to alcohol wants you not to do if you or a friend has too much to drink.

>> take a good look at these fur babies. many are strays. animal services tell us if you rock your family pet, you can always come out and reclaim your pet. maybe you would like to gift a pet. all of these dogs are up for adoption. the pasco animal shelter. let's face it we have been talking about gasparilla today. for many people gasparilla is as much about the booze as it is the beads. and the new tampa bay's christie post has a warning that one mom is sending to everyone planning on partying. >> reporter: whether celebrating by land or water. >> the invasion.

>> reporter: gasparilla is known to be a party. >> should have got rum. that's more of the pirate spirit. >> reporter: right now people are stocking up on booze. and this is the check outline. the liquor store gets so busy they have to restock the shelves every five minutes. that is why angie is issuing a warning before the drinking starts. >> people don't tend to think that overdrinking can kill me but it can. >> reporter: and she knows. her daughter molly died from alcohol poisoning five years ago during spring break. she was only 19. >> it's horrible. i mean, it changes every -- i ever minute of your life and your family's. you're never the same. >> reporter: the mistake that cost molly her life, her mom is telling to save yours. >> when a friend has had too much to drink, you have to keep

if they start to just fall asleep and basically pass out, you have got to get help for them. >> reporter: last year 11 people went to the hospital during gasparilla for alcohol poisoning. and liquor isn't the only problem. tampa police arrested several people for having cocaine. if the festivities are at home or in the streets, just know the decisions you make could have a lifetime of consequences. >> just because it happened to a 19-year-old doesn't mean that it couldn't happen to a 29-year- old or a 34-year-old. alcohol poisoning kills 27,000 people every year in this country. >> reporter: for the now, i'm christie post. >> well, we went over all of the parking and where the roads will be shut down earlier in the show. all of that will be starting tonight, the roads that are shut down. you can find all of that information on abcactionnews.com. we will also be streaming the parade live tomorrow so you can watch it online if you miss it. >> i won't miss it.

you need to catch it. your first time. >> absolutely. i won't miss it. >> we're talking about look at this spectacular stuff. >> cool clouds. >> yeah. a giant cloud headed towards the milky way. first we were told that it was moving away but now they believe it's coming back. it would take about 30 million years to reach our galaxy. what iphone do you think we will be on by then? that's a long time from now. astronomers think it formed a new star formation that will create 2 million suns. spectacular. all right. how about our sun right now. the one, the one that will keep us nice and warm this weekend with a trend that i think you're going to like as far as temperatures over the next few days. first things first, let's take you into the evening. perhaps you're heading out to the pig fest. temperatures holding into the 50.

because of how dry the air is. of year. back into the upper 40s. we will do that with mostly clear skies. clouds up there. what that will do is a filtered no rain. 69 by the afternoon. and we will do that with plenty of sunshine. by the way, in the next few days as i mentioned that moderating trend, look at the temperatures with the southeast wind. low 70s by sunday. fantastic weekend. get yourself out there even if you're not headed to gasparilla. sunday, 73. between monday and tuesday, temperatures between 77 and 80 degrees. it is -- when was the last time that we had 80 degrees? i think it was back in december. that won't last. another storm system is coming in. denis will fill you in on that in the next hour. >> thank you, ivan. new details in the flint,

what state officials might have known. the e-mails showing as early as january of 2015 a flint state office building arranged to install purified water coolers for workers. the notice saying that those coolers would stay as long as the flint water didn't meet treatment requirements. state lawmakers say this happened as flint residents were told that the water was safe. >> this goes to show that they have been disingenuous in the way that they have delivered the information to the public. it's not transparent and they don't deserve the trust that we have afforded them in the past. >> well, it was not until the fall of 2015 where residents were told not to drink the water. a spokesperson for the state says the move for water coolers began when flint failed drinking water standard that's were different from the lead issues that we all know about. the pentagon is setting up for a uniform standard when it comes to maternity leave.

two branches of the military, third branch. mothers in the army and in the air force previously received six weeks of leave. they will now get 12. mothers serving in the navy will see their leave drop from 18 weeks to 12. carter did not take the decision lightly but it had to be made. carter says he will ask authorities to increase paternity leave from 10 to 14 days. breast feeding could save lives of 800,000 babies every year. well, that is according to one of the most comprehensive medical reviews to date. the now's anne mcnamara reports it protects moms from cancer. >> reporter: toddler yoga is all about bonding between mother and child. these moms say it's an extension of the relationship they first developed while nursing. >> the breast feeding relationship even comes into

>> reporter: here at mamahood breast feed has long been supported on and off the map. even they are surprised to hear how many lives it could save if everyone breast fed. a review of the studies said it's 800,000 babies every single year, preventing 13% of deaths in children under 5. respiratory infections and diarrhea could be avoided entirely. the risk of sudden infant death could go down by a third. >> the pathogen count in breast milk would decrease initially when it's left sitting out because of the live activity going on in the milk. >> reporter: the benefits are two fold, helping moms stay healthy too. reducing the overall risks of breast and ovarian cancers.

close bond and connection, being able to nourish my babies, to be able to support their growth. we are one. >> reporter: growth of sound body and mind gets us all thinking a little deeper about the long-lasting effects. >> that's where the conversation starts and that's where understanding comes from. >> reporter: for the now, i'm anne mcnamara. >> well, pretty soon children will have a harder time getting into liquid nicotine bottles used in e-cigarettes. the president has signed a child nicotine poisoning prevention act. florida's surgeon general wrote a letter of concern and warning on this very topic. liquid nicotine makers will have to use child resistant packages. since 2011 the number of children poisoned after drinking the liquid jumped from 300 cases to at least 1500 last year. it's rare, but it's

the cdc says two to four out of every 10,000 babies are born in the u.s. with deformities to their arms and legs. the now's tanya rogers talks to a doctor who spent 30 years making sure that that doesn't define who those children are and his efforts have spread across the world. >> reporter: 3-year-old sasha does things that most toddlers enjoy, reading with mom and playing. but because sasha was born with a deformed leg, she has a hard time running or standing for long periods of time. >> it's a congenital issue. so that's why her ankle was unstable. >> reporter: her mother wanted hadder to have a better life. >> our local doctor told us about dr. bailey when she was two weeks old. >> reporter: the doctor has started a series of surgeries to help sasha. >> i don't amputate the legs. i don't take the easy road.

very deficient and deformed bones and joints is not easy. i've developed more than a hundred different surgical procedures over the 30 years and these kids are the beneficiaries. i don't give up on them. >> reporter: each of these pins represents the patients who have traveled for this type of surgery. now, sasha is from russia but she is not the only one who has traveled that far. hundreds of patients have come from all over the world. >> yesterday i operated on a girl from australia. another lady from poland. this morning i'm operating on a child from poland. earlier in the week one from saudi arabia. hope. >> that's what makes me go to work every day and brings a smile to my face and warms my heart is all of these kids around the world. some of them are adults, to look at. restrictions. and do everything normal child

tanya rogers. well, the institute where the surgeries takes place has a foundation that helps families that can't afford the complete cost of the surgeries. the cdc says children with limb defects may not only have difficulties with normal can also impact them emotionally and socially because of how they look. that you've been waiting for. your chance to win the daytona 500 prize pack. that includes tickets to four races, including the daytona 500. here is how it works. you have heard it before on the show. all you have to do to answer is go to our facebook and like either the new tampa bay, ivan's page or abc action news and correctly answer a multiple choice trivia question. here is today's question. i'm going to tell you the answer. listen up. when was the inaugural daytona 500? the correct answer is february 22nd, 1959.

now and enter the correct answer for your chance to win. good luck. well, more offices are nixing the old 9:00 to 5:00 schedule. a new study found that 51% of bosses expect workers to arrive on time. what happens when they don't? we would have run this story sooner but the now's andy choi was running a little behind. >> reporter: oh, shoot. i'm sorry, guys. i'm running late today. i'm not the only one. career builder found one in four workers are actually late at least once a month. so what is our excuse? it depends. sometimes you have to get creative. >> have you ever bent the truth a little bit? >> no. >> reporter: come on. we've all done it. a white lie to save face in the office. thinks happen before we're even on the clock. you never know what might disrupt the morning commute. >> aren't you going to work. >> i'm late for a call.

that's crazy. late for work. >> reporter: if you think the lame excuses are beneath you, 41% of employers have actually fired someone for being late. a good excuse might save your job. >> my dog is sick. can't make it in. >> the car broke down and the traffic was stopped. >> yeah. >> i hurt my leg. i can't come to work. >> so then had you to go to the that's the normal thing. >> the er. >> i think it was tendinitis or i had a cram expect it was super bad and it just shot up my whole body so i had to stay home. >> tend to litis. >> reporter: i was drunk and forgot what waffle house i marked my car next to. >> that could work. >> reporter: applicable in your life. >> yeah. >> reporter: i knocked myself out in the shower. i had to wait for the judge to set my bail. >> i had to bail him out. >> reporter: that's a nice boss. what is the chance that your boss might be watching?

but if you are, i'm sorry. >> reporter: his leg was not hurt. i'm not making you late, am i. >> kind of. >> reporter: now you have an excuse. >> i don't have an excuse. >> reporter: you are being interviewed for the news. >> reporter: for all of the bosses that heard the i got interviewed excuse today, here is your proof. for all of the hardworking employees, happy friday. >> i hope your leg feels better. >> reporter: for the now, i'm andy choi. i ruined the punch line there but you get the point. that's it for the new tampa bay abc amount news at 5:00 starts right now. >> getting ready for gasparilla. tomorrow people from all over the bay area will channel their inner pirate. tonight we will tell you what you need to know before you head down to the parade route. plus this. >> assuming the deputy's version which is not possible, there's no way. >> a pinellas county deputy on