. this is "nightline." tonight, body of evidence. with tensions boiling in ferguson, missouri, police across the country using a new tactic to keep everyone on their best behavior, body mounted video cameras. they can record every interaction. we're on patrol with them to find out, does it help or hurt. plus, in the hot seat. she says the airbag that was supposed to protect her maimed her instead. >> i had a massive strike on my right side. >> sure, they've been recalled but millions are still on the road. we found some used car dealers who seem willing to sell them, too. tonight, our undercover investigation. and "people" magazine's new sexiest man alive is officially a god among men.

chris hemsworth saved the world and won our hearts as thor. tonight he's not above a mortal honor. but first a "nightline" five. >> we used to have so many empty rolls. that's why we switched to char minute ultra mega roll. you can use less with every go.

good evening. a state of emergency had been

declared in ferguson, missouri as the nation awaits a grand jury decision on whether to indict the police officer in the michael brown case. police are employing a new tactic that could eliminate accounts about what happened. body-mounted video cameras. >> reporter: texas, dash cam footage of an arrest that suddenly goes bad. the police officer tackling the suspect. >> you don't want to do this. >> reporter: for no apparent reason, except when you see it from the officer's point of view. here's that same arrest. this time filmed on a body camera worn by the officer. the suspect at first appears to be compliant. then in a flash he appears to sucker punch the cop, provoking that overpowering response. two cameras, same scene.

two very different accounts. that old saying, the camera never lies has provoked some uncomfortable questions in recent years. the nypd on the defensive after a citizen's cell phone captured officers in staten island, allegedly choking eric garner to death this summer. the california highway patrol -- >> my gosh, why? >> reporter: paying out $1.5 million to this woman seen on camera being beaten by a chp officer. in ferguson, missouri, it's the absence of pictures that's the problem. police there hard pressed to refute allegations officer darren wilson used excessive force when he shot michael brown. was brown trying to surrender, hands in the air as some witnesses say, or did brown attack wilson, thereby

justifying the use of force. there's no video, we don't know. that's why many departments are investing in body cameras. >> select the screen and you can see what my camera is seeing. >> this camera here? >> correct. >> are you recording this now? are you recording me? >> i am now. >> reporter: l.a. police chief charlie beck wears his on his chest. the l.a.p.d. of course still haunted by these images, one of the most notorious police beatings ever on camera. >> part of it is to prevent another rodney king. >> reporter: to get a sense of how body cameras have the potential to change daily police work, we rode along with the l.a. county sheriff's department. >> how are you doing today? >> reporter: the deputy is part of the pilot program, testing how these devices work in the field. >> do you like wearing the

camera? >> yeah. it makes you a little bit more aware of what's going on in the area and your interactions with the community. >> reporter: he pulls over one driver for making an illegal u-turn. >> ma'am, stay in your car for one second. >> reporter: susan daniels has a missouri driver's license, a recent transplant to careful. turns out, she's from ferguson. >> i actually live in ferguson. >> what do you make of what's going on there now and how could cameras change the equation? >> it would be a totally different story. then we would know exactly what happened. >> reporter: the deputy lets her off with a warning. >> thank you. >> reporter: for now body cameras are a novelty but charlie beck believes in a few year's time they'll be standard issue across the country. >> i think this is something that will help the officers and it's a huge deterrent towards somebody that might step out of line. >> reporter: but there are concerns about it, too. peter beebring is a lyer for

the aclu. >> people behavior better, officers are less likely to initiate force and apparently initiate conduct that might draw complaints if they're wearing body cameras, but we do think that there are privacy concerns. >> reporter: for instance, what if an officer pulls over a celebrity like justin bieber in florida this year, suspected but not charged, with driving under the influence? >> is part of the concern here the idea that this footage could end up on tmz? >> yeah, absolutely. if you don't have strict policies in place to prevent videos from getting out, they will get out. that's why we believe there have to be policies in place to protect people's privacy. >> reporter: in lancaster, celebrities aren't really the issue, but following the deputy for the day could easily be a reality tv show. >> what's this right here? >> a syringe. >> i was going to handcuff you

for my safety, okay? >> okay. >> you got a syringe on you, okay. >> reporter: out on the corner, an interested by stander is already filming the encounter with his cell phone. >> how are you doing? >> just being nosey, man, being truthful. >> reporter: what he's not able to see is caught on the police officer's body cameras, potentially protecting them down the road. >> is that heroin? >> reporter: inside the garage officers find what appears to be drug paraphernalia. >> what's that? a little meth? >> reporter: the homeless man is going to jail for two weeks, eventually getting out after a plea agreement. >> do you tell people that you're recording? >> i don't. i wear it right here on my chest. >> but it doesn't necessarily look like a camera. >> no, sometimes you can't tell. >> reporter: indeed, that's what happens at our next stop. a traffic incident across town.

as soon as we arrive -- >> what happened? >> the best i can tell is we were both running a red light, but she was running it and moved -- >> the witnesses say that guy who just admitted to running a red light was at fault. >> she was making the left-hand turn and he ran the ready. >> reporter: when we go back to him and break the news that his first admission was caught on camera? >> i didn't realize i didn't run a red light but i'm also a human being. i don't remember running a red light. >> by the time i sat with him on the curb he was already changing his story. it's harder to change your story when there's a camera. >> hard to change the story when it's captured on video. >> reporter: next time you get stopped, assume you're on candid camera, somebody watching your behavior and the police officer's, too. i'm david wright for "nightline" in lancaster, california. next, mass recalls of airbags that may not be

protecting you from a potential danger in your car. and later on "nightline," just call him super sexy. he's a hero in the avengers and now chris hemsworth is "people" magazine's sexiest man alive. me! wait for me! there it is. ah! hurry up. you're heavy. are you sure these letters will get to santa? yes, of course. hold still. almost there. a little bit higher. i can't hold you up much longer. ah! whoa! [ all giggle ] ♪ hi, fellas. hi, virginia. why are you on the floor? [ female announcer ] bring your letter to santa into macy's and we'll donate to the make-a-wish® foundation. together, we'll collect a million reasons to believe. and we'll donate to the make-a-wish® foundation. but i've managed.e crohn's disease is tough, except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease.

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you're about to meet a woman who says the airbag meant to protect her sent her to a hospital instead. now the government is calling for a national recall of these potentially deadly devices. some vehicles that have already been recalled are up for sale at your local used car dealership.

are the dealers disclosing that important information? here's gio benitez. >> reporter: a cash can happen in the blink of an eye. the last thing you want to think about is will the car's safety features work properly? 19-year-old american hero, stephanie erdman, a lieutenant for the air force says she will always carry a reminder that her airbag may have been defective. >> it's supposed to help me, not cause more damage. >> reporter: it was her very first car, a 2002 honda civic she bought used in 2006. >> my dad liked it because it was safe and affordable. >> reporter: but she was never made aware that the airbags were recalled a few years later. september of 2013 erdman got into an excellent and the airbag deployed. this is the piece of twisted metal that she says shot out of the airbag and into her face. >> i had a massive strike on my

right side and i just blinded out on that side. >> reporter: erdman is now suing the honda and the maker of the airbag. both deny responsibility. her makeup call, part of the 8 million subject to an airbag recall, ten auto makers in total. there's no federal law stopping used car dealers from selling cars with open recalls or requiring them to check for them, so we wondered, what are used car dealers saying about the cars for sale on their lots with potentially dangerous táy abc news taking you undercover to see what sales people say about specific cars we know have open airbag recalls. only one dealer checked on the spot. >> a customer was just wanting to know if it had any recalls. >> reporter: some other places didn't check. >> you can tell me there's no recall. >> no. >> not for the airbags. >> not for the airbags. >> reporter: wrong. in fact, this location selling three other cars on the lot with

the same airbag recall issue. so i joined producer jerry when he made a return visit. >> roberto, hi, gio benitez with abc news. you told jerry that this didn't have a recall. but it does. >> it does? >> yeah. >> reporter: roberto says it's not his fault. it's the manufacturer's. >> do you feel responsibility for the cars that you're telling? >> of course, yes. we need somebody to let us know and that person is the company, the manufacturer. >> reporter: the problem is recall letters go out at the time of the recall to the registered owner, sometimes never again. the owner of the dealership telling abc news they hadn't registered the suv and that, quote, we are not required by recall law to check for recalls. we don't have time to check for open recalls. even though, roberto telling us he's going to start checking online for recalls and even take note of the special government website to do so. >> all right, you're going to write it down.

safercar.gov. >> reporter: three other used car lots told us there were no recalls on we knew had open airbag recalls. >> it doesn't have a recall for it, no, not that i know of. >> this car doesn't have a recall? >> no. >> reporter: when we checked online, this 2005 honda civic does have a recall. but the car lot's manager later told us they were not notified about the recall and they usually don't check the vin. another dealer in new jersey we inquired about this 2003 path finder which was also recalled for airbag problems. >> there's none coming from the path finder. i got a pontiac recall, a saturn, another pontiac. that has zero recalls. >> zero recalls? >> no recalls at all. >> reporter: the dealer later told us that even though he had registered the suv, he was never notified. he also told us that he would have run the car's vin number through car fax before selling it and that he would have sent the car to a dealership to get

fixed. >> sporty looking car. >> reporter: at this dealership on long island, we repeatedly asked the sales person about the recall. >> has airbags, right? >> absolutely. >> and i heard a weird thing on the news about these airbags that were recalled or anything. is there any recall on that? >> no. they're on the new ones. >> reporter: but that 2002 honda accord does have an airbag recall. we went back to ask the salesman about why he assured us that it didn't have one? >> why did you assure me there was no recall? >> i did not. i said if there was a recall we would take care of it. >> why didn't you put the vin into a database? >> there's no legal responsibility for me to have to do that. >> there's a moral one and we would not have delivered the car to you with that recall not being handled. >> reporter: stephanie's lawyer feels more needs to be done to

protect consumers from open recalls. >> what would be ideal is for there to be a statute before you transfer the title that any open recalls have been thoroughly disclosed to the customer. and police officer bllefr blee >> reporter: the department of transportation has proposed a law to make it illegal to sell a car without fixing them. >> when i think of somebody buying a used car that has not been fixed after a recall has been issued, that's a real problem. >> reporter: erdman says she's a living reminder of what can happen when you don't know your car has been recalled. >> everyone should be angry that this is going on. people should be valuing your safety, and that's not going on. >> reporter: of the nine car lots we visited with our hidden cameras, four told us there were no recalls. five said they bottom line, it's up to the consumer to check. for "nightline," i'm gio benitez in new york.

coming up on "nightline," the secret is out. chris hemsworth is "people" magazine's new sexiest man alive. so what did he have to say about his new title? curling up in bed with a favorite book is nice. but i think women would rather curl up with their favorite man. but here's the thing: about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. and remember, you only take it when you need it. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra.

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"people" magazine's new sexiest man alive didn't even make the list last time to the horror of women worldwide. they complained loudly. chris hemsworth, 2014 is your year. >> are you chris hemsworth?

>> yes. >> yes! >> reporter: minutes ago jimmy kimmel crowned the new god of sexy, and it turns out he's a superhero. >> you dare threaten me. >> chris hemsworth famous for his sculpted physique in thor, and rush and that's not the only reason the 31-year-old aussie is people's sexiest man alive. hemsworth stands tall at 6'3". he's got piercing blue eyes, and he's not afraid to show some skin. but ladies, he's not single. he's a doting husband and a loving father of three. meanwhile, little brother liam could be gaining ground. he's busy fighting his own battles in the "hunger games." but for the next year at least, we think chris gets bragging rights. >> is there anyone you would like to thank for this honor?

>> my parents, i guess, for putting this together. >> reporter: for "nightline," reena ninan in new york. from people's latest sex symbol to the original bombshell, abc's chris conley was lucky enough to sit down with sophia lore ren, beautiful as ever as 80 years old although her new memoir reveals her complicated life was far from picture perfect. >> reporter: it was nearly a wardrobe malfunction. instead this photo became infamous. >> what do you remember about that jayne mansfield photograph? >> it was bending too much and maybe something would have happened. fortunately, it didn't. >> reporter: ever since, all eyes have been on see fee ya lore enwho became an oscar winning act tes and who at the age of 73 posed for the racy

perelli calendar. >> all naked. >> reporter: she began as an international sex symbol and became an oscar winning actress. her new memoir revealing both her triumphs and the struggles as a youth in italy. >> for me it was very difficult because -- it was hard. i went through a lot with my family of course, a lot of miseries. >> reporter: her local movie theatre was a safe haven as her own dream took shape. >> i saw beautiful actresses living in wonderful palaces and wearing wonderful clothes. >> is there anyone whose work you especially liked to watch? >> as actors? >> yes. >> daniel day lewis. >> she would act with him in nine and cast members such as kate hudson would sing her

praises. >> i was putting on makeup and she looked at me and went, more blush. >> reporter: now 80, a grandmother of four, she's still looking ahead and remains radiant. >> if you have the luck to look well even at 80 years old, then you can be happy. >> reporter: i'm chris conley for "nightline" in los angeles. >> and she looks very well. thanks for watching abc news. tune in to "good morning america" tomorrow. as always, we're online at abcnews.com. good night. i think you did a good thing bringing stefania here. oh, thank you, frank. we should do like a foign exchange -- she comes here, you go there. oh, robbie! hello, son! what's wrong?

what do you mean, dear? the happiness -- what gives? what, we can't be happy toee you? historically, no. you funny bunny. come on, sit down. am i dying? [ doorbell rings ] why don't you get the door, robbie? no.. come on, idiot. do it. why do you want me to get it? get the door! [ yelling ] come on! trust me, robert it's okay. marie: come on... you know, robbie -- robbie, i know that you've been lonely and in need of some company,