latest. brian? >> reporter: three men and one women are dead tonight after that crash as family members and friends mourn their loss, agency members are trying to figure out how it all happened. friends and family have been gathered at frederick-based advanced helicopter concepts all afternoon. some to console the families. others to get the victims' personal belongings and vehicles. dead are kim felix and neil booth, george tudor of westminster and jeffrey nordis of columbia. families norrer the helicopter company did not want to seek speak what drivers saw on i-70 late last night. >> witnesses reported that the aircraft was flying very low, that they saw sparks flying before the aircraft hit the ground. and then there was a post crash fire that substantially damaged the aircraft. >> reporter: the ntsb says the robin's r-44 chopper was on its way back from hagerstown to

frederick when it crashed. the agency says the company has been running flights all day to help raise money for a youth program set up by the company owner to help troubled teens. the pilot two, other instructors and a friend were on their way back to the frederick airfield. the ntsb says the pilot did not have to file a flight plan for this route. it was performed by visual which could have been challenging with last night's weather. >> there were thunderstorms and a lot of weather. he waited for a couple of hours for the weather to clear. and that's, again, we're really dealing at this point in very early information. >> reporter: now the ntsb says the pilot had 630 hours of flight experience. the agency will examine that experience, interview witnesses, and first responders as well as look at the weather radar to determine exactly how this all happened. brian kuebler, abc 2 news. tonight city police are

investigating an attempted rape. the baltimore sun reports it happened saturday morning in front of the baltimore convention center. according to the newspaper, the woman was walking in the 300 block of sharp street near pratt around 6:30 a.m. when she was approached by a man who grabbed her from behind and began choking her. she says the man pulled her underwear off and then called for someone to pick them up. she didn't see anyone else, but the suspect took off when a vehicle approached. police are investigating several church burglaries in baltimore county. the latest happened between monday night and tuesday morning. someone broke into st. thomas episcopal church on providence road an stole coins. st. stephens episcopal church was also hit. someone hit there and made off with five bottleles of wine. last weekend three cockeysville churches were burglarize. anyone with information is asked to call 410-887-1820. efforts to keep towson catholic high school open have

been shot down. a judge today rejected a motion that would have blocked the archdiocese from baltimore from closing the school. >> it's a 50-50 chance. but i really thought because of the community and the alumni and the support and all the media that, you know, it was on our side. and it was wrong. it was totally wrong. >> dwindling funds and low enrollment prompted the decision. despite lawmakers saying they'll explore other options and the continue protest and rallies from students and alumni, it appears the school will now closed as planned. a smoke alarm being credited for saving the life of a baltimore county man and his dog. shortly after 8 this morning, fire crews were called to a two- alarm fire in jacksonville. about 50 firefighters worked to put out the flames. the man in the house was treated for smoke inhalation, but we're told he is expected to be okay. investigators are still working to pinpoint the cause of that fire.

a maryland democrat has introduced a bill calling for federal oversight of subway systems. senator barbara mikulski's bill was prompted by last month's deadly collision between two d.c. metro trains. nine people were killed in the crash, making it the worst accident in the history of the rail system. there are federal safety standards for buses, trains, and airplanes, but not for subways. there is word tonight of another swine flu-related death in our state. this is the fourth person to die from the virus in maryland. health officials say the victim is an adult from the eastern shore with no apparent underlying medical conditions or risk factors. authorities say no other details will be released in order to protect the privacy of that family. the centers for disease control has confirmed 766 swine flu cases statewide. results of michael jackson's autopsy will reportedly be made public next week. but police are investigating his death of apparently already

reached an important conclusion. abc's carla wohl with the latest. >> reporter: los angeles police have more questions for dr. conrad murray, michael jackson's personal physician, who was with him when he died. we now know investigators believe there is probable cause he committed manslaughter. search warrants for his houston office show authorities took a copy of his computer hard drive, a suspension notice from a hospital, a receipt for an untraceable cell phone, and a powerful anxiety drug. but none of the potent sedative propofol investigators found in jackson's home. >> they're trying to find evidence that would establish dr. murray really had no business administering a drug like propofol to michael jackson. >> reporter: officers also raided dr. dr. murray's storage ma settlement. a general manager says two woman who worked in dr. murray's office went into the unit the day jackson died. >> they were a few boxes like

reams of paper. they were putting those in the become of the car. >> reporter: what was in those boxes, and what role dr. murray played in michael jackson's death should become clear next week, if as expected, the coroner releases the autopsy results tmz reports the cause of death will almost certainly be homicide. lethal experts say proving murder could be difficult since michael jackson was known to see many different doctors who proscribed him drugs. carla wohl, abc news, los angeles. noted author e. lynn harris has died. his publicist says harris became ill last night at a hotel in beverly hills. he was reportedly taken to cedars-sinai medical center where he passed away. laura gilmore says harris, who lived in atlanta, fell ill on a train to los angeles a few days ago, but blacked out for a few minutes, but seemed fine after that. the cause of death has not been determined. harris has written more than a

dozen books including basketball jones, and just too good to be true. he was 54 years old. president obama didn't exactly say he is sorry, but he did admit today that his remarks on the arrest of a black harvard professor heightened what he called a media frenzy, one that is distracting from his political agenda. timmon bradley has details. >> reporter: president obama today tried to put to bed the controversy over his comments about the arrest of harvard professor dr. henry louis gates, junior. >> to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, i think that was unfortunate. >> reporter: earlier this week, the president was asked about the arrest, which happened outside of gates' own home. the president said he thought cambridge police acted stupidly. today mr. obama spoke with phone by mr. james crowley. >> my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man. and that was confirmed in the

phone conversation. and i told him that. >> reporter: the president attempted to diffuse the situation came less than two hours after several massachusetts police officers standing next to sergeant youly criticized him for getting involved in a situation they say he knew little about. >> in our view, there was nothing stupid about what happened. what happened to produce a different outcome was directly under the control of dr. gates. >> reporter: an investigation sundays way to determine what happened when gates was arrested for disorderly conduct. one of the officers at the scene today gave his own account of what he saw. >> i heard him saying this is how a black man is treated in america. and a white woman calls the police and i'm locked up. >> reporter: president obama also called professor gates today to say he would like to meet with both him and officer youly at the white house over a beer. timmon bradley, abc news, new york. cash for clunkers in coming up, find out if your vehicle qualifies for the government

program. plus, a consumer group that is suing denny's. why the activists say the restaurant chain is serving up trouble. and a dramatic rescue is caught on tape. how a quick-thinking good samaritan saved a young girl's life. first, we'll head outside and get a check on weather conditions at anne arundel community college where the current temperature is 83 degrees. fios guy! where ya headed?

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you're watching baltimore's station that works for you. now abc 2 news at 5. john mcdonald says he thinks most people would do what he did. but imagine, reaching into a burning car that could explode at any second. rob mcmillin has more on the brave heroics of this good samaritan. >> reporter: what are you thinking as this is happening? >> oh god. that's the first thing that came to my mind.

and he was there. >> reporter: this was the scene yesterday in el monte on the san bernardino freeway. this red suv engulfed in flames. linda lozano was the driver. >> i told my daughter to take off her seatbelt and i told her to get out. and she got out, i leaned over and tried to get my granddaughter out. so i couldn't, so i looked behind and this man was coming. i jumped out and screamed please help my granddaughter. >> reporter: the good samaritan john mcdonald waste nod time at all. watch the video as he climbs out of the car after rescuing the 3-year-old girl. >> she was upside down. it took me a while to figure out how to unhook the seatbelt. then i sort of got my wits about me. i popped it and managed to drag her out. >> reporter: what is going through your mind? >> i thought we were both going to die. >> reporter: it wasn't the kind of afternoon mcdonald was expecting. he owns a cabinet business was on his way to a job in venice

when he came upon the accident. he said it was all instincts, and finds being called a good samaritan a little embarrassing. >> the attention is nice, but that's obviously not why anybody does this. it could have been a lot worse. obviously for both of us and for the mother and the daughter, luckily they were all wearing their seatbelts. honestly, i don't think about that too much. it just happened. i think most people would have done it if they were in my position, i hope. >> reporter: the occupants of the car are all just fine, only minor injuries. but the chula vista says things could have been much worse if not for john mcdonald. >> he really tries to downplay what he did. but, you know, he is a hero. and like i said, we're very fortunate to have him in the right place at the right time. >> reporter: this is rob mcmillan for abc news. >> oh, boy, great story. did you hear the thunder last night? some nasty weather moved across the region. no serious problems, though. but just take a look to our

north. severe storms that started rumbling through last night. fortunately no injuries were reported, but emergency crews responded to a number of water rescues. now the forecast certified baltimore's most accurate. here is meteorologist emily gracey and maryland's most powerful doppler radar. >> and of course a lot of people headed downtown to big game tonight. they're wondering if the weather -- >> if the storms are going to impact them. absolutely. we do have is more storms we're watching on radar. they're not in the baltimore right now. but there is a good possibility throughout much of the evening that not just wet weather, but storms too. we'll be keeping an eye on those. let's take a live look over the inner harbor right now. no rain out there yet. in fact, still seeing some sunshine out there this evening. temperatures have been warm today. the humidity has been high. and we have seen plenty of sunshine, 85 degrees right now from bwi. winds are out of the west southwest at 5 miles an hour. and the humidity is at 42%.

today we did see a few clouds pop up adegrees area. we're seeing them here on a time lapse camera from parkville middle school where the clouds did build up as the afternoon went on. the heating really caused a lot of the cumulus clouds to build up. that's also what causes the storms to build up going in towards this evening. so that's where that severe weather potential comes from. 86 right now from parkville middle school. it was a warm day there, reaching a high of 87 degrees. and winds have been light and out of the northwest at 2 miles an hour. so looking at the radar right now, as you can see, right around baltimore staying pretty dry right now. but off to the north seeing is some nasty weather up there. right now a lot of lightning strikes all through the southern pennsylvania area, from chambersburg, up to around york, a lot of wet weather. a lot of lightning strikes there. a severe weather potential as we have seen warnings up here all across southern pennsylvania. so if your in the york area, lancaster, you're seeing some wet weather. heavy downpours. small hail is going to be a potential with this storm as well, and many of the storms

may start to work their way down in towards maryland, and more storms are going to be popping up in the maryland area over the next couple hours. so we'll be keeping an eye on maryland's most powerful radar and update you if we do see any warnings in our area. 85 right now from bwi. 78 in hagerstown, where that wet weather has moved through. we're seeing quite a cooldown into york. the upper-level disturbance is pushing through the area right now. and that's where the storms have going to be coming into play by this weekend we are going to be looking at the possibility of more storms. in fact, whole week is looking pretty wet. warm weather in our forecast as well. and while today felt warm out there, in the mid-80s, we're looking at the 90s as we head on through the next couple days. so here is what is going on. we do have a upper-level trough working its way through the atmosphere right now and towards maryland. severe storms in southern pennsylvania. many of the storms will start working their way down in towards maryland as well. we'll be keeping an eye on those over the next couple hours. we'll see a lot of clouds this

even. but by later on tonight, we are going to see a lot of the clouds break apart and expect partly cloudy skies during the overnight hours, although the warm temperatures aren't going any. pretty humid and warm throughout much of the evening and through tomorrow morning. the reason for the warm air is the high pressure that has been sitting off the coast. it's the bermuda high bringing in a lot of southerly winds just in our area. so we'll be dealing with this warm weather. in fact, we're going to stay in the pattern of warm weather all the way through until next week. so expect 90s for the next couple of days. and this will continue all the way through towards the end of next week. for tonight, we're going to see the potential severe weather early. but later on tonight, we are going to dry out and see partly cloudy skies. like i said, they're staying humid all the way through the overnight hours. for tomorrow 90 degrees for the afternoon high. and there is that slight chance of an isolated storm later on tomorrow afternoon. for weekend, we'll finish up with a hey of 87 and the potential of some wet weather sunday night as the cold front passes through. 88 for monday. staying in the upper 80s all the way lew the workweek.

and this potential for some thunderstorms all the way through until friday. >> all right, thanks, emily. there is word tonight that denny's could face a class action lawsuit because of what some are calling dangerously high levels of sodium in some of its meals. abc 2 news caroline lighters has details. >> reporter: the doors are always open at denny's, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. >> a bacon cheddar burger. >> i had a garden salad with a t-bone steak on the side. >> peppers and onions. >> reporter: it's greasy. it's salty. and according to one consumer watchdog group, it may also be deadly. >> it's mind-boggling. yet industry has not lowered sodium. >> reporter: the center for signs in the public interest recommends people consume no more than 1500 milligrams of sodium per day. too much can lead to heart attacks and strokes. but denny's spicy buffalo chicken melt with a side of

chicken noodle soup contain morse than 6,000-milligrams of sodium. >> people would be shocked to know that denny's is selling individual sandwiches that have two days worth of sodium. >> reporter: so it's suing, calling pour the restaurant chain to disclose sodium content on its menus, and place a warning about its dangers. do you know how much sodium? >> well, no, because they don't put that on the menu. >> reporter: outside denny's in alexandria, some customers had no idea how much sodium they were eating. >> wow, i'll just go eat lettuce for the rest of the day. >> reporter: some supported the idea. overs said they would not know. >> you eat what you want to eat. >> reporter: the center says it agrees. it just wants people to know what they're eating as well. >> denny's calls the lawsuit frivolous. it says it will fight it aggressively in court. the restaurant chain also reminds customers they can find nutrition information on their website. an emotional farewell for a fallen hero. friends, family, and complete strangers pay their last

respects to an officer killed in the line of duty. walking down the beach, and we see this huge crowd of people. so we walk down there, and we just stand there. and commotion off the north carolina coast. what attracted a whole lot of gawkers. watch abc 2 news any time on channel 1 with comcast on demand. fios guy! where ya headed?

uh, just installed fios in the whole building. now everyone has the fastest upload speeds, and we're giving them a mini netbook. well, i'm sticking with cable. so is ted. (ted) no i'm not! he's just goofing. (ted) no i'm not. ted has betrayed me... okay... (announcer) unlike cable, fios brings 100% fiber optics straight to your home. switch now, and get a free compaq mini netbook computer. just pay shipping, handling and taxes. with fios, you'll get razor-sharp tv, america's top rated internet - now even faster, and crystal-clear phone service, all for just... call the verizon center for customers with disabilities

at 800-974-6006 tty/v today and for a limited time, get an incredible compaq mini, to get the most out of your fios internet. get this great offer on fios tv, internet and phone plus a free compaq mini netbook computer. just pay shipping, handling and taxes. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v today before time runs out on this astonishing offer. and here is a look at what we're working on new at 5:30. looking to get rid of your old car? the government's cash for clunkers program is starting. find out if you qualify. and a former eevangelist convicted of taking girls across state lines for sex. the possible punishment he now faces. all that and emily's weekend forecast straight ahead on abc 2 news at 5:30. our look at news around the

nation now takes us to new jersey. that's where a somber final farewell was held today for an officer killed in the line of duty. officers stood at attention as officer mark dinardo's coffin arrived at church escorted by police and the bagpipe band. the 37-year-old father of three was shot in the face, storming an apartment on july 16th. four other officers were wounded in the gun battle, and two armed robbery suspects were killed. >> i felt he died for my city and for me. and i think because it hit so close to home because i work like right around the corner from reed street. and he was a customer of ours. and i don't know. it's just respect. respect. and especially for his kids, because i'm a mom. and it's just like they're not going to be able to see their daddy anymore. >> his family walked the route, holding each other arm and arm as they followed the hearse. an explosive find in mesa, arizona this morning. a worker spotted a hand grenade

lying next to a retaining wall on u.s. 60. no word on how the device got there. a bomb squad was called in, and technicians placed sandbags around the grenade before detonating it remotely. a truck diver is hospitalized after a freight train crashed into his trailer. it happened this morning in dallas, texas. according to the police, the driver was crossing the tracks when the crossing arm came down on the cab of his truck. the driver got out the lift the arm. that's when he saw the train coming and scrambled to move the truck. but he didn't move fast enough. the train struck the trailer, which was loaded with cinder blocks and dragged the load several hundred feet down the tracks. the driver was injured by the impact and flying debee brie. no word tonight what caused a two-alarm fire at a con edison substation in queens, new york. a helicopter flew over the scene and captured this video. the fire sent a large plume of smoke that could be seen for

miles, we're told. fortunately no one was hurt. the utility spokesperson says there were no outages because of that incident. an unwelcome visitor at a north carolina beach, and it's drawing a lot of gawkers. >> he is about four or five feet long, kind of brown. not very big. i mean, about the size of me. >> he is talking about an alligator that was spotted body surfing in the waves at top tail beach. but if you've got a vacation planned there, no need to worry. police arrested the gator and held it until wildlife officials could take it away. whitney houston returns to the spotlight after a seven- year break. find out what she has been doing on abc 2 news at 6. fiber one. i'm looking for some fiber.

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