elevator accident injures two and a minor mishap makes a big mess on a center city sidewalk. that's next. s. 12 seconds. that's the power of fiber optics. and right now you can get 100 meg internet with equal upload and dowloads speeds, tv and phone for just $69.99 per month online. cable can't offer internet speeds this fast at a price this good. only fios can. a sheriff's deputy is critically injured at the criminal justice center in philadelphia today. but not by a suspect or a courtroom outbreak. an elevator went haywire and a lawman was not the only one hurt

in today's freak mechanical accident. thursday night, jim is off. i'm monica malpass. and the big story on "action news" tonight is the investigation into exactly what went wrong. it was so violent. witnesses thought that something had exploded. "action news" reporter dann cuellar live in hahnemann university hospital. dann, you're learning more about that sheriff's deputy who's laying in a hospital bed right now, aren't you? >> reporter: that's right, monica. the sheriff's department sergeant remains in critical -- he's in very bad shape. he had been in surgery for most of the evening. and a court clerk had since been treated and released. meanwhile, investigators say one of the two elevators involved in the mishap did something it was not supposed to do and they want to know why. this is 48-year-old sheriff sergeant paul owens. he was the one who took the brunt of the injuries. >> he's in pretty bad shape. several broken bones in his back. >> reporter: beverly smith, a court clerk, was released from

the hospital, giving reporters a thumb's up and waving. she suffered only minor injuries in this morning's alarming elevator malfunction at the criminal justice center that some at first mistakenly thought was caused by an explosion. >> no one told us anything, but we were on another floor and we heard a loud commotion, a loud boom. >> very loud, like a -- >> reporter: investigators explained the bizarre chain of events this way. sergeant owens was in the car on the left and it breached the shaft's concrete ceiling. a heavy structure that is part of the elevator's machine room. heavy debris rained down on to the right-hand elevator in which court clerk smith was riding forcing that car down. the question is, what triggered the event? >> the operation or the malfunction of the elevator is something that we're not clear, so we're calling for the experts to look into it. >> reporter: the incident caused widespread chaos at philadelphia's center of criminal justice. not only was the building shut down for the rest of the day but will remain closed friday.

>> we will be letting witnesses, jurors, defendants who have been evacuated know of a reschedule of any trials or cases that they're involved in. >> reporter: meanwhile, sergeant owen's father tells "action news" he often worried for his son's safety but he never expected anything hike this to happen. owen's colleagues are also concerned. >> everybody is overly concerned and want to know what they can do and right now it's about friends and family support. >> reporter: finally, we have learned that the elevate in -- elevator in question had last been inspected in june. clearly, there will be a lot of the questions asked about that inspection and the subsequent events that followed. live here at hahnemann, dann -- dann cuellar "channel 6 action news." >> thanks, dann. two residents are facing a cluster of charges including rioting stemming from this food fight in a wawa last friday. members of this family started trashing the store after an argument with an employee. they allegedly chased customers,

kicked and punched a good samaritan who tried to break it up. 43-year-old barbara bayonnea and 20-year-old jonathan rodriguez were both arrested today. that melee caused $700 in damage. call it fire bombing fraud. a delaware man has been arrested for allegedly paying someone to set his ca car ablaze in an insurance scam but authorities say the defendant should have known better. hhe is a wilmington belief. bob brooks is on the story. >> reporter: monica, good evening. i have the court documents in my hand and they paint the story of a cop who went crooked for that car insurance money and thought he could get away with it. this is ahmard reddick, a veteran detective of eight years, but his career in law enforcement is done for now. he's been arrested, placed on administrative leave. court documents state he paid someone $100 to light his car on

fire for insurance money. the documents state things first started here inside the pd when ahmard asked a colleague for the phone number of a certain subject. the subject is a man who has a history with the cops. reddick called the subject on monday, and they met here at the penn cinema imax. the subject is quoted in court documents stating detective reddick advised he needed him to do something for him the following night. so they met back here at the theater on tuesday. documents state "reddick told him he needed his vehicle totaled by fire." the two agreed on a sum of $100. so from the theater, detectives say reddick drove the subject here to a nearby gas station. investigators say the subject is caught on video filling up two gatorade bottles full of gas. then from the station, it was to the parking lot of the liquor store where the subject was told what to do. documents state detective reddick gave specific

instructions for him to enter the vehicle, pour the gasoline, and light the vehicle on fire. on top of being caught on camera at the gas station, detectives say the two were spotted on camera at the theater and the liquor store. reddick faces charges of arson, and criminal solicitation amongst others. back live here. why in the world would a veteran policpolice officer jeopardize s career over something like this? well, according to the documents, again, it states that he owed someone a large amount money and this was the plan it that he came up with. reporting live in wilmington, bob brooks, "channel 6 action news." monica? >> thank you, bob. a notorious mob boss is back behind bars tonight despite saying he had given up his life of crime. joey merlino was arrested and indicted by federal agents today along with four other dozen suspects. prosecutors say the suspects committed crimes from florida where merlino now lives. two philadelphia, new york, and

even massachusetts. they are charged with gambling, loan sharking, extortion, racketeering and, arson and trafficking guns. a member of the genovese crime family is among them. merlino already served 12 years for racketeering. pennsylvania authorities are touting their success in busting an international cocaine ring, and keeping $23 million worth of drugs off the streets. this is what that kind of seizure looks like. piles of cocaine and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. attorney general kathleen cane said it started with some vehicle stops on monday. that led investigators to a warehouse here in the 200 block of west cambria street it & a total haul of 240 kilos of cocaine. >> this seizure as many an amount of cocaine that did not hit the streets of philadelphia that did not infect our children and our families that did not bring over $23 million in cash back to the drug trafficking organizations.

>> authorities allege the drug trafficking ring was smuggling coke from puerto rico and the dominican republic. two cities in the u.s. coming through american ports. six people have been arrested including one suspect from philadelphia and another from the lehigh valley. the billionaire owner of the trump taj mahal calls the ongoing union strike the last nail in the coffin that sealed the fate of that casino. karl icahn issued an open letter to 3,000 employees who will lose their jobs explaining his decision to shut down the taj after labor day. he claims he has lost $100 million already in the past year and a half. "it is one thing to fund losses when a path to profitability exists but to burn tens of millions of dollar when there is no hope is foolish." the strike has been the latest and final nail. local 54 of the union is in the midst of its longest strike ever in atlantic city protesting for health insurance and pension ben

bits that were wiped out when the taj went bankrupt. many apple iphone users are known to complain when their screen glass breaks but check this out. tonight is the center city apple store dealing with shattered glass. the huge door is lying near the 1600 block of walnut street leaving a big hole inn't fro of the store. fortunately, the reinforced glass did not break into pieces when a man in a motorized wheelchair crashed into it tonight. he was taken to the hospital but no one else was hurt. a former church official will face a third trial on charges that he cover up child sex abuse by a priest. today, a judge set may 1st next year as the trial date for lynn. lynn was the first american church official ever convicted for how he handled molestation complaints. he was released from prison on monday after his conviction was overturned for the second time. lynn will remain free until the next trial. there are fears tonight that a serial rapist is targeting

women in philadelphia. surveillance video captured this image of a man police think sexually assaulted a woman in kensington last month. the woman was beaten and choked. police are concerned this may be connected to other attacks across the city and possibly the murder of a woman on east cumberland street. they say the m.o. is the same. if you recognize the man in this picpicture, please, police wanto hear from you. $18,000 worth of gift cards that is what evesham police say an identity theft suspect racked up recently from a single victim, and this is a surveillance photo of the suspect def detectives say stole a woman's wallet from the promenade shopping center in marlton. 18 grabbed in gift cards were charged to her credit ard at -- card at five different storeles. police are asking for your help identifying that suspect. in the vote for 2016 tonight, 6abc's polling with

franklin marshall college shows hillary clinton pulling away from donald trump in pennsylvania. she now leads by an 11-point margin here, 49-38 in the head-to-head matchup. including third parties, clinton is up 13% with libertarian gary jns, taking 7% support jill stein of the green party with 3%. protesters interrupted hillary clinton today at a rally in las vegas. secret service agents had to rush to protect clinton when some animal rights activists approached her. clinton looked around nervously until one agent whispered to her that she was okay and to keep talking. it is the first time agents from her own detail had had to rush the stage. clinton was criticizing trump for his overseas manufacturing. protesters also interrupted donald trump here in portland, maine. three groups of protesters voiced opposition held up those pocket u.s. constitutions like the one the khan family held up last week at the democratic

national convention criticizing trump. the republican nominee has been in a warp of words with mr. khan ever since. private security officials today led one group out and tried to grab those small books. president obama responded today to donald trump's claims that the election will be rigged. in a word, mr. obama says it's ridiculous. the president said he's never heard somebody complaining about being cheated even before the game was over. and he noted that elections are run by state and local municipalities. >> if mr. trump is suggesting that there is a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country, that's ridiculous. that doesn't make any sense. on a separate matter, obama said that isis militants will continue to be a threat even after being ousted from strongholds in iraq and syria. the president met with his national security team at the pentagon today. he is set to head to martha's vineyard for a birthday vacation this week pend.

the president, by the way, turned 55 today. and remember to download our free 6abc app to stay on top of all the developments in the presidential race. you'll get breaking news alerts from the campaign trail as well as live results on election night. still to come on "action news," we are hearing the 911 call in a bizarre incident involving the man who tried to kill trayvon martin and why george zimmerman says he came under attack this time. plus, progress in the fight against zika. we'll tell you what is finally working against the mosquitoes in the miami area. cecily? >> we're in the comfort zone right now but this surge of humidity is heading our way along with heat and a chance of some storms. i'll have details on what to expect. all right. plus, ducis rodgers with the conclusion to the phillies-giants series and some injuries at eagles camp. all that when "action news" continues tonight.

authorities have now identified a florida woman as the american fatality stabbed in a knife attack in london

yesterday. 64-year-old darlene horton was in london with her husband, a peripheral teaching a summer session there. police say a teenager with mental health issues went on a rampage in london's russell square stabbing six people. horton was the only fatality. she and her husband were scheduled to return home today. the head of the centers for disease control and prevention says aerial spray something killing many of the mosquitoes in a miami neighborhood where 15 people have been diagnosed with zika. miami's infections are limited to a 500-square-foot area known as the wynnewood neighborhood. medical experts have tested a ten-block parcel of the neighborhood and now say that section is free of infection. florida's governor has requested 10,000 zika testing kits for pregnant women. another prisoner attacked that was suspected in the charleston church shooting, dylann roof is underway this morning. roof is the man accused of killing nine african-american parishioners last summer. today's prison fight was broken

up by detention officers. an inmate attacked roof. the sheriff is still trying to figure out how he managed to get through a cell door in the high-security unit to reach roof. but it may have been an electronic malfunction. the man who shot and killed unarmed teenager trayvon martin said he was punched in the face in a restaurant in florida over the weekend. witnesses say zimmerman was bragging about killing martin. a man overheard him, walked up and said, "you're bragging about that?" punched him and took off. >> he told me he was going to kill me. he told me he was [ bleep ] shoot me. >> okay. >> punch me in the face. >> zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder 4 killing martin in 2012. he claimed it was self-defense. zimmerman has had several run-s in with the law since then. the result of the rio water test by abc news today confirmed fears about how contaminated the water still is there on the eve of the olympic games opening tomorrow. samples taken from guanabara bay and the world famous copacabana

beach where swimming and beach volleyball will take place found the water is in fact teeming with infectious organisms. the results would force many american beams to close if it happened here. fecal bacteria is more than 40 times the limit of some u.s. states. on "healthcheck" at 11:00, a new report reveals how many children are hurt by products that we use to clean our homes. more than 28,000 kids sustained chemical burns to their eyes between 2010 and 2013. according to researchers. toddlers between the ages of 1 and 2 were most likely to damage their eyes. that's because many of the household cleaning products from ammonia to bleach to bathroom and kitchen sprays are stored at floor level. that's accessible right under the sink. the consequences of these chemical burns are severe pain and scarring in the short term to a higher risk of glaucoma

long term into adulthood. this basketball game in north philadelphia is aimed at promoting peace as the new school year approaches. the game at the martin luther king community center is a way to bring together young people from a neighborhood for some friendly competition. it took place a block away from where a bullet struck a passerby yesterday. talk about that accuweather forecast which has been pretty terrific for about 40 hours now. >> yeah, and we have another beautiful day tomorrow. and then kind of a bump in the road on saturday. but tonight's very comfortable. >> very. >> stormtracker 6 showing dry conditions out there tonight. and i got another night of beautiful sunsets posted on my facebook page. i want to share this one with you. this is from sue, sea isle city, and she took this right after sunset. and you can see the colors of the sunset. if you look at the middle of your screen, you can also see just that little crescent, the waxing crescent moon, 5% illuminated, and that was right before the moon set tonight and really not a cloud in the sky

there. and temperatures very comfortable, 72 degrees in philadelphia right now, down from our high of 86, which is one degree below normal, so all four days so far this month temperatures below normal. allentown, 75. trenton, 69. millville, 65. cape may down to 64. and wilmington, 71. satellite 6 along with action radar showing the system i'm tracking for saturday, it's a cold front. there's a line of some showers and thunderstorms. what will happen ahead of this front, we get a surge of winds out of the southwest. so that will bring us a one-day return to heat and humidity. but it doesn't arrive until saturday. tomorrow, a pretty nice day. mixture of clouds and sunshine. kind of in between systems. 87 degrees, which is seasonable. it will be slightly more humid than today, but dew points in the low 60s, which for august standards is actually pretty comfortable and tomorrow night, if you're heading to bethlehem for the first night of musikfest, it will be a nice night. 6:00, 81 degrees. by 7:00, 80.

8:00, you'll notice the humidity beginning to rise. 77 degrees. and then by 10:00, temperatures dropping down into the mid-70s. but that humidity really gets oppressive on saturday. dew points in the 70s. the high 91. you factor in the humidity, the heat index, close to 100 on saturday, so it's going to be a bit of a shock to the system after the weather we've had lately. and then that front rolling through will bring us a broken line of some showers and thunderstorms late in the day and early in the evening. but what happens behind this system, another area of high pressure builds in, and this will bring us a beautiful, comfortable start to next week. so if you're lucky enough to be down the shore tomorrow, enjoy it. the ocean temperature, 77. air temperature, 80. loads of sunshine. saturday, warm and humid. some late-day thunderstorms, 87. and sunday, the humidity will be dropping. the sunshine's back, 85. in the mountains tomorrow, mostly sunny skies, a high of 77. saturday, showers and thunderstorms anytime after lunchtime, with a high of 80. and sunday, sunny and president apartment, 76. so the exclusive accuweather

seven-day forecast, sun with a few clouds tomorrow, 87 degrees. saturday is when it gets hot and humid with afternoon thunderstorms. future tracker showing around 2:00, could see a broken line of storms crossing i-95 corridor and then behind that system, sunshine's back. humidity dropping. dew points back in the 50s on sunday. 87 degrees. and we start the week very comfortable, 85 degrees. by wednesday and thursday, it gets hot and humid again with the possibility of some late-day thunderstorms. and a high of 90. so enjoy one more comfortable day. get steamy and stormy on saturday but then back to the comfort zone on sunday. >> all right. thank you, cecily. soulful music at the delis tonight from quintessential performers frankie beverly and maze. the performers have a powerful sound. it's resonated fore30 years -- for 30 years now. they are one of the most

influential groups in modern history and, of course, philadelphians showed their passion for the artists tonight. ♪ it's a pretty simple question: is pat toomey's agenda your agenda? toomey voted seven times to defund planned parenthood.

he even tried to shut down the federal government in order to eliminate funding for planned parenthood. and toomey's against a woman's right to choose and supports overturning roe v. wade which would allow states to criminalize abortion. pat toomey: he's focused on his own agenda, not us. majority forward is responsible for the content of this advertising.

fios is not cable. we're wired differently, which means we can fix things differently. thanks for calling fios. this is ryan. you can't tell me this cord isn't in.

i know it's in. it's in, but it's not working. i'm sending you a link to the my fios app that going to let me see what you're seeing. really? yes, mr. mcenroe... see that cord? just plug it into the connector on the right. so you can clearly see what's in and what's out? oh absolutely. i like that. tech support that lets your technician see the problem over your smartphone. only from fios. the phills dropped one tonight. >> yeah, but they showed some fight today. they don't win today but they do come away with -- from their series with a moral victory. first inning, phills in a 1-0 hole. aaron altherr. on a mission since he came off the disabled list. hernandez. game tied at 1-1. altherr with six rbi in the

series. giants threatening. two men on. brandon belt to center. altherr is there. for the second straight game, the teams go to extra innings. gonzalez gives up that homer to denard span. the phills lose 3-2. they take two out of the three from the giants. >> we feel like we play pretty good baseball. hopefully, they can carry us throughout the road trip and hopefully make a little playoff push. >> it shows that we can hang with the best teams. it's just a matter of doing it game by game basis, putting together months of good baseball, not just series of good baseball. >> we'll soon get a look at the phillies' future. jake thompson will make his debut in san diego. he has gone 8-0 in his last 11 starts. some injuries out at eagles camp today tackle jason peters and safety malcolm jenkins left

practice early. peters has a quadriceps issue. jenkins is dealing with a hamstring injury. the quarterback. sam bradford knows it's not an offense that everyone will learn overnight. >> it takes time. it's not like you're going to come out the first day and you're going to know exactly where everyone's going to be. it's one thing to talk about it and talk about it on paper, but to come out here and to really get a feel for how everyone is seeing concepts and seeing route form. i think we've had a few times where there should have been completions but we're not quite on the same page yet. the union continue to reshape the roster. they have acquired charles davies for first and third round pick in 2018 and allocation money. he had 14 goals and 8 assists. still ahead, allen iverson is back in town.

we'll hear from a him on his upcoming charity event. i approve this message.

donald trump: i could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? and you can tell them to go f--- themselves! you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever... you gotta see this guy. ahh, i don't know what i said, ahh. "i don't remember." he's going like "i don't remember!"

where things come from? how they get here? what they're packed in? it's a lot of stuff. and these things add up. that's why we recycle. [vo:]it's nice to know that raymour and flanigan is proud to be a leading recycler- 17 million pounds of recyclable materials every year. turned from trash into treasure. so in the future, we will all have a more beautiful world. ♪ ♪ 4 by 4 by land, 4 by 4 by sea ♪ ♪ 4 by 4 by air - 'cause i like to fly free ♪ ♪ 4 my country and how it all started out ♪ ♪ 4 the brave and every boy scout ♪ ♪ 4 doin' it yourself cuz you want it done right ♪ ♪ 4 by 4 the top down - stars keep ya up at night ♪ ♪ 4 by 4 every one of our seventy-five years ♪ ♪ 4 by 4 the wave - that's how we say 'cheers' ♪ ♪ that's how we live ♪ 4 by 4ever

the sixers have made jim o'brien's hire official. the former nba coach as an -- joins brown's staff as an assistant. allen iverson was in society hill tonight. the former superstar will host a celebrity basketball game tomorrow night. a portion of the proceeds will go to charity. a.i. is looking out for others. >> if i can touch one kid's life and impact one kid's life in a positive way, then i did my job. you know what i mean? i did god's will. you know what i mean? i might not touch everybody. but as long as one kid get it or even an adult, you know what i mean? if somebody get a positive message from me, i'm cool with it. >> you can see a.i. on the court tomorrow night at 7:30 at the

liacouras center. tonight, fans had a chance to get an up-close look at the championship trophy won by those villanova wildcats. fans posed with the trophy as well as the mascot. and there was even a visit from one champion to another, tennis icon billie jean king stopped by. she co-owns the freedom which plays next week. "jimmy kimmel live" is next on channel 6 followed by "nightline." jimmy's guest tonight morgan freeman and music from young ma. for. for cecily, ducis, jim gardner, the entire "action news" team, i'm monica malpass. make it a good night tonight.

♪ >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live"! tonight, morgan freeman! cooking with steve martorano. this week in unnecessary censorship. and music from young the giant. with cleto and the cletones. and now, pace yourselves, here's jimmy kimmel! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> jimmy: very nice. i'm jimmy. i'm the host. thanks for watching. thank you for coming. i'm glad we could be together.