finally came down in a small town near muncy, pennsylvania, about 15 miles from aberdeen. tom roussey is following the story. he is live in the newsroom with the latest. tom: as you said, 150 miles. it's unbelievable how far the military blimp made it. for point of reference, this is d.c. this is baltimore. northeast of baltimore, aberdeen proving ground is where it broke free. it went all the way up here to the area of muncy, east of williamsport, pennsylvania. that is where finally it hit the ground. we have video from the ground. here it is. this came to the newsroom an hour ago. it wound up landing in trees finally. this military blimp has a tether that is supposed to keep it tethered to the ground at the aberdeen proving ground. we don't know why but it broke. i was in the air four hours going 150 miles before it finally did come down this afternoon. at one point we are told it was 16,000 feet in the air.

it came down and the tether started to rip power lines all over central pennsylvania leaving 27,000 customers without power. a woman talking about the excitement of the day. we will hear about an expert about how bad this is for ratheo in who made the military blimp. >> it came across my cousin's house, we were chasing it down to find it. probably just as we got, just before we got here is when we found here it had crashed here. >> how it broke free from the moorings is a mystery for pentagon and the ratheo officials. they brag about how the teth keruate stand wind speeds up to 100 knot -- tether can withstand wind speeds up to 100 knots. >> this is a picture that could be better of the video

of part of the blimp in the trees, on the ground, countryside east of muncy, pennsylvania. somebody nearby got the blimp in the air and then showed us the traffic lights. the lights as you can see are out because the blimp caused so many people their power. tom roussey, abc7 news. leon: thank you, tom. the u.s. military spent billions of dollars on the jlens project. blimps that are technically called aerostat go in the air and stay afloat for 30 days at a time. they are capable to track objects the area the size of texas to protect against cruise missile attacks. the stat sheet says the tether is unlikely to break. it is made of material designed to withstand 150-mile-per-hour winds as you heard tom report. stay with us for continuing coverage of the unusual story. we will bring you update as we learn them on air and on online at wjla.com. maureen: the other big story tonight.

storms gaining strength in the area. the storm watch weather team on severe weather alert. doug hill is tracking it all for us. doug? doug: right now we have cloudy skies outside the belfort furniture weather center in arlington. most areas seeing rain west of town. heavy rain. take a look at the live doppler radar. the area in orange and red. the heaviest cells of rain with the thunder and the lightning to go with it. all of that is drifting north. the area moving across the potomac river to frederick county, maryland. that is the area with the heaviest rain. we will monitor that. south and west, we have an area out of warrington. that will weaken a bit. even though we have widespread showers in the area. the area with the heaviest rain is pretty much located up over frederick county. over the next few hours we will have more showers. there have been 14 lightning strikes with the cells in the past 15 minutes. they will move northward.

a little after midnight, one more thunderstorm or two and clearing skies overnight. we have a look ahead for the next several days in a few minutes. leon: you got it. stay connected with the storm watch weather team wherever you are. connect with us on twitter. facebook. and you can download the storm watch weather app right on your smartphone. maureen: now to a developing story on capitol hill where within the hour, the u.s. house passed a bipartisan budget deal. the deal will head off any more fiscal cliffs for the rest of the obama administration. it extends the federal debt ceiling until march 2017 and includes $80 billion in new military and domestic spending. it also averts a possible social security disability trust shortfall. earlier in the day house republicans nominated wisconsin congressman paul ryan to become the next house speaker. full house is expected to elect ryan tomorrow. he will replace congressman john boehner who is re-signing. leon: we are now two hours away from the third republican

presidential debate. this time around, though, the tables are turned a little bit. the first debate where donald trump is not leading the latest national poll. that honor now goes to dr. ben carson. for what it might mean tonight we turn to the senior political reporter sco thuman live at the site of the debate in boulder, colorado. what do you expect to see and hear tonight? scott: well, leon, what you were referencing means a lot of pressure. especially on the front runner. dr. carson for example in the spin room this afternoon saying doctors know about the economy, too. well, he and the rest of the field respectively will prove that tonight. dollars and cents will be the focus of tonight's debate. there will be plenty of duking it out over what makes common sense. traditional politicians bank on the economy and the job talk to help them shine. but the washington outsiders with their business background say this is their wheel house.

hard to fault their confidence since they are outshining the counterparts in the recent poll. what about the fact three of the top five are, quote/unquote, outsiders? >> i think before it's over with people will want someone with experience. the last time we elected a novice was barack obama. scott: senator lindsey graham told us there is no need for he or others to quit on the low poll numbers. >> i think it will change. this is october. the more we talk, the more people get to know us the more likely it will change. scott: which is likely what jeb bush is counting on. today releasing a slick new attack ad focusing not on his republican foe but hillary clinton. >> which enemy are you most proud of? >> well, in addition to the n.r.a., probably the republicans. scott: it has been a bumpy road to boulder as he had to trim his staff and marco rubio was skewered by a florida newspaper saying he needs to re-sign. they claim he is too focused

on the white house to do his day job. >> we hardly ever see the senator in florida. he is so busy introducing himself to the nation. >> in many cases this is criticism they couldn't have predicted. how will they perform tonight? we have post debate analysis at 11:00. from boulder, colorado, scott thuman, abc7 news. leon: all right. thanks, scott. look forward to hearing from you later on. still ahead at 6:00, a d.c. police detective indicted. the accusation against him and why he spent years making a detective salary to act as receptionist. maureen: plus, thieves target a group that raise puppies for war veterans. what they stole. what police want you to know. leon: a woman attacked in a laundry room. the new image of her attackers. we have it next. maureen: storms across the area today. the tracks and when they will

be gone ahead in the full storm watch forecast. narrator: for state senanate, wo shares our values?

jeremy mcpike - supports school funding. thinks women should make their own health care decisions. and favors background checks on all gun sales. hal parrish? as mayor, he slashed education. fought to block women's health clinics. parrish gets an "a" from the gun lobby - they oppose background

checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. virginia extreme or mainstream? vote mcpike for virginia. feinblatt: everytown for gun safety action fund sponsored this ad. leon: "7 on your side" tonight with the composite sketch of a sexual assault suspect. the man looks like the person seen there attacked a woman in the laundry room at canterbury square apartments in alexandria last friday. the victim fought the man off

with an industrial vacuum, cutting his face. anyone who recognizes the suspect should call police immediately. maureen: the fate of charles severance will soon be in the hands of a fairfax county jury. prosecutors and defense attorneys gave closing arguments today. severance is charged with killing alexandria resident nancy dunning, ruthanne lodato and ron kirby. the prosecution says severance was angry over losing custody of his son. the defense said there is no physical evidence linking severance to the three murders. leon: from a distance this looks like a typical four-wheeler. you see the device to show you now. this one when you see it is special. this is special. but it's also missing. thieves stole it from the warrior canine connection in germantown over the weekend. that organization uses the vehicle to train puppies and service dogs for veterans. >> it was really steal from the charity that supporting those who have served and

sacrificed so much for our lifestyle in the country. it's the most. >> police say the thieves broke in a storage unit at the state park. maryland national resources police want anyone with information about the stolen a.t.v. to call in the information as soon as possible. maureen: next at 6:00 the d.c. police officer facing federal charges. the accusations ahead off the street -- that had him off the street for years. leon: the track of the storms moving across the area and what to expect when you head into work in the morning. >> i'm erin hawksworth. a busy night. this is playoff time for d.c. united. the caps return home and put a five-game winning streak on the line tonight against the penguins. this is all on the way when "abc7 news at 6:00" continues.

leon: he's been fired. those are the words from the south carolina sheriff in the case of a deputy caught on video throwing a teenager over a desk inside a classroom and

across that room as you see there. richland county sheriff leon lott says the video did show the student hitting the deputy but said that the ben fields used improper take-down techniques and should not have thrown the teenager. maureen: first on seven, a veteran d.c. detective indicted on federal fraud charges. he lied how much he worked to get thousands of dollars in overtime pay. side side investigator chris papst broke the -- "7 on your side" investigator chris papst broke the story and joins us what the i-team found. chris: the 24-year veteran of the d.c. police department who faces 12 felony charges for stealing taxpayer money. what really stood out to us about the case is how long the federal investigation took and what david dessin was doing in that time. detective dessin did not answer the door when abc7 knocked this morning. days ago the 48-year-old had

pleaded not guilty to 12 felony charges, including for theft of government funds. federal documents filed on october 22nd accuse dessin of forging his supervisor's signature and claiming more than $13,000 in overtime he did not work between 2010 and 2011. in one instance, a document say that he claimed to be performing surveillance in fort washington. but was actually at a mexican restaurant in arlington. dessin worked for the district's safe streets task force. due to the investigation into his o.t. in may of 2011, he was placed on noncontact. the item has learned for -- i-team has learned for the next four and a half years he worked behind the receptionist desk at m.p. d. patrol servicest bureau in northwest. yet district documents obtained by "7 on your side" show he kept collecting his full detective salary. upwards of $85,000.

we contacted u.s. district court to find out what took four and a half years to bring charges. taxpayers were paying full price for a detective that wasn't on the street. we were told no comment. we got that same response from dessin's attorney and the metropolitan police department. dessin has been released without bail. he will be back in court november 6. he has pleaded not guilty and is on paid administrative leave. chris papst, abc7 news. leon: thank you, chris. reward more than tripled for information leading to the person who killed a u.s. marine. corporal kyle farrell died in a hit-and-run crash last month. he stopped to help a stranded motorists along u.s. 15. the reward for information leading to an arrest is now at $6,500. maureen: update to an i-team investigation into a dash bus driver. alexandria transit must now pay $4 million to a woman hit by one of the transit buses.

our i-team investigation found thes but driver in the crash had -- bus driver in that crash had five preventible accidents on the job. despite that, she was allowed to stay behind the wheel. a judge previously awarded the victim sherry galoway $4.5 million. today that appeal was denied. leon: this time yesterday you were saying 100% chance of rain. maureen: here it is. doug: every now and then we make a bold statement. no-brainer there. maureen: lucky. doug: thank you for pointing that out. thunderstorms in the area, too. north and west of town. get to it. show you where the rain is. the area in orange on the left-hand side of the screen is the heaviest area of rain. there is lightning detected. lightning strikes 12 to 15 are showing up. that is where we are dealing with it. north of reston to potomac river up the pennsylvania line. there are other areas of the scatter showers but they are lighter in comparison. a break in the action over the district.

port to the north and south as well. so a little closeup. here is the lightning in the case right there north of leesburg. that is the heaviest area we'll see. that area through locustdale is moving over the eastern foothills of the blue ridge. this is powered along by hurricane patricia. the cold front is to the west. there is a light chance of more showers tonight and the isolated thunderstorm when the front passes by. the rainfall is noticeable. our future cast shows the line that is coming through tonight after midnight. again there could be lightning here. the winds are out of the south heading to the overnight

hours. clearing trend move from the rest. tomorrow we have the westerly winds. it will warm us up. cooler air behind the front is not coming in until tomorrow night. winds will gust up to 15 to 20 miles per hour at times. friday lower 60's. sunshine saturday we turn the clocks back an hour. a suggestion. not telling you, too. showers by sunday and monday. check of the forecast for the kids trick-or-treating. partly cloudy. temperatures in the 50's. ideal to go trick-or-treating. stay with us. erin will have sports next.

erin: we begin with john wall, bradley beal and the wizards opening up in orlando tonight. the roster is much-better suited to challenge teams like the atlanta hawks this year. there is a lot of pressure on washington to get past the second round. head coach randy wittman was asked if he thinks the wizards get the respect he thinks they deserve. >> it doesn't matter me what

other people think about us. as long as we are doing what we're supposed to do. my job is to get the guys to the next level. that is what we are trying to do. whether the team we are playing against believes we can get there or not. i don't care. erin: nine years ago d.c. united and new england revolution last met in the playoffs at r.f.k. stadium. but there were great playoff memories between the teams. r.f.k. will be soggy for tonight's match. weather really could be a factor. tonight's winner advances, the loser goes home. the last time united won an mls cup was in 2004. meantime, the capitals return to the verizon center tonight to build off the red hot 6-1 start. nothing gets the caps fans more fired up than a showdown between alex ovechkin and sydney crosby. they know what the rivalry means and with pittsburgh looking up to washington in the standings this is a great

chance for the caps to put pressure on the rivals. >> it's always fun to play against the guys. erin: i think he said how old are you? he didn't like the question very much. world series game two tonight. it will be the mets' degrom versus the royals' cueto. leon: after last night you might set your alarm clock. erin: exhausted watching that. maureen: rain is still falling. doug: for more showers through the evening. maybe another thunderstorm. the thunderstorm in frederick county, maryland. maybe more tonight. steve rudin will keep an eye on that and talk about warmer weather. maureen: "world news tonight" is next with breaking news on the run-away surveillance blimp. leon: see you at 1 is 1:00. have a good and a dry night.

see you then. narrator: for state senate, who shares our values? jeremy mcpike - supports school funding. thinks women should make their own health care decisions. and favors background checks on all gun sales. hal parrish? as mayor, he slashed education. fought to block women's healthlinics. parrish gets an "a" from the gun lobby - they oppose background checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. virginia extreme or mainstream? vote m mcpike for virginia.

feinblatt:verytown for gun safety action fund sponsored this ad.

tonight, the breaking developments. the f-16s scrambled. the military's runaway blimp, floating over america. >> it's going down. >> knocking out power to tens of thousands, drifting over schools. $175 million spent on that balloon. we're on the scene with the new warning at this hour. breaking developments in the case of the classroom takedown. the community outraged tonight. parents divided over who is really to blame. and this evening, the officer seen smiling before he was fired. his new statement. the high stakes showdown amid dropping poll numbers. donald trump saying to iowa voters, what are you doing to me? the big debate, and trump now says, he's ready. the dangerous commute at this hour. the storm stretching 1,200 miles, blinding rain up and down the east coast. a rough night ahead. and the first lady and the