tv News 4 at 5 NBC December 26, 2011 5:03pm-6:00pm EST
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fled. her husband returned from a nearby service station and called police. officers set out on a manhunt looking for the suspect. >> i had to knock on the neighbor's door. came rushing out to see what was happening. then i saw the cops. the neighbor down here at the corner house got attacked by two men. >> reporter: this is a quiet neighborhood built five years ago where kids play outdoors and residents walk their dogs. this home invasion took the neighborhood by surprise. >> pretty alarming, for the most part. i have been a resident of this community for over four years. to my knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened. >> it's a tragedy. i cannot believe this nice neighborhood we have here that something like this could happen. >> reporter: what, if anything, are you doing or telling your wife? >> i'm always telling my wife,
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look through the peephole and make sure you don't open the door unless you know the people. >> reporter: police say they do not believe that this community is in danger. that's because police believe this was not a random robbery. that means the attackers probably targeted this victim because they knew her. live in haymarket, virginia. back to you. >> thank you, chris. a man accused in the death of two new yorkers is being held. they arrested 24-year-old jerry lewis in maryland. he's accused of killing a woman and her 2-year-old son in long island. they were discovered friday inside a basement apartment. police in north texas are searching for answers to determine how a christmas get together turned deadly. seven people found shot to death inside an apartment yesterday
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morning. tammy has more on how the murder-suicide rattled the community. >> reporter: neighbor pam lyon in a state of shock as she found out four women and three men shot to death early this christmas morning only a few feet away. >> i feel very, very sorry for i don't know who was involved but i can't -- i can't fathom that. >> reporter: police got a 911 call from inside this lincoln vineyard apartment. when no one responded to the operator. grapevine police rushed to the scene. >> anytime we have a call like that, we have to investigate it further as to the reason why 911 was called. it's why officers made an entry into the apartment. >> reporter: they found seven victims inside ranging from 15 to 58 years old in the kitchen
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all dead from gunshot wounds. police say this crime is shocking, even to them. >> i have been with this police department for 12 years. this is probably the most tragic thing i have been involved in. >> reporter: abdul found this crime tape on his balcony. >> lived here the last four years. the neighborhood is very good, very quiet. didn't have a problem. >> it doesn't matter what day of the year it is, never should this sort of thing happen. >> police in grapevine, texas, a suburb of ft. worth, say the shooter who killed six of his extended family members and himself was dressed up as santa claus. >> it's really nice out there, starting to feel like winter, chuck, what do you think? >> a beautiful evening out there right now after what has been a stretch of wonderful weather here in washington the last couple days.
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temperatures running a couple degrees warmer than average. a bit of a northwesterly breeze out there help putting extra chill in the december air. temperatures back down to 46 now at national airport. 48 degrees in manassas, virginia this evening. 45 in leesburg and ashburg. in maryland, 45 degrees in waldorf now. 48 in annapolis. 46 near honeytown. no rain on the radar, yet. not on local doppler. as you look to the south, plenty of rain stretching from st. louis to memphis down toward the gulf coast. the moisture is racing in our direction. the the first drops could be here in 12 to 24 hours. just in time for the morning commute for folks. as you make plans for your monday evening, nothing to worry about. clouds moving in during the overnight hours. rain drops are likely tomorrow by noon, if not sooner for those
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of you south and west of washington. rain could be heavy at times tomorrow afternoon. is there any cold air in sight? we'll talk about that with the seven day forecast in a couple minutes. back to you. >> thanks, chuck. did you see any of those games yesterday? there were a bunch of them. a couple of them were good, it seems. nba is back. the wizards are back on the court at the verizon center. we are back in the news room with more on this. >> there were good games. wizards fans get a belated christmas present. they tipped off with five nba christmas day games. based on the tv ratings, nba fans seem more excited about the shortened season than bitter about the lockout that caused it. the wizards welcome back their fans at the verizon center tonight. they will open the season without their first draft pick. he's feeling pain in his right hip despite resting the injury since last wednesday.
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but, the show will go on. tip offset for 7:00 p.m. the wizards are one of the nbas youngest teams this year. they rely on second year guard wall. reacquiring roger mason, 2011-2012 season was a long time coming. >> i was waiting a long time to get back on the court and we are happy to be back play iing for e fans, for our teams. i should be fine. >> there's anticipation of the opening night and going out and playing when opening night comes december 26th. i think everyone is anxious to go out and play. i'meningious to see how our players go out and play each other. i'm more interested to see us play than anything else. >> we're anxious to see it, too.
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an a prooprooe prooebbreviated . we'll have more on the nbas return coming up later on news 4 at 5:00. pat? jim? >> thank you, looking forward to it. still ahead tonight, the wife of a maryland man detained in cuba holds a vigil. we'll tell you how to jump start your exercise routine before the new year. >> and one lucky person in maryland hit the jackpot on christmas day. we'll show you where somebody bought a $125 million power ball tick
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if you haven't had much of the christmas spirit lately, you are not alone. studies show 5% of americans suffer from seasonal affective disorder or s.a.d. feelings are fatigue and hopelessness and trouble concentrating. light therapy helps most people. some need antidepressants. you ate like a pig yesterday, didn't you? now you are thinking i have to get to the gym. you know that studies show january is usually when people work out the least? that's what they say.
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experts say it's in part, at least, because of the cold weather. that's what they said. erica edwards has a way of winterizing your work out. >> reporter: this is not how most want to burn their calories away. there are a lot of exercises to do without leaving your heated home. >> empty bottle, put water or sand in it. do lightweights. >> reporter: or you can add new meaning to work while at the office. >> every office building in the world has a great exercise facility nobody uses, it's called stairs. >> reporter: he works at the mayo clinic in snowy, rochester, minnesota. vigorous exercise for ten minutes at least three times a week will significantly lower
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your risk of heart attack. it adds up to 30 minutes a week thachlt half hour isn't meant to be a walk in the park. >> intervals, go hard for a couple minutes. hard now that you say i can't do this more than a couple minutes. back off, don't give up, back off, get your breath back and do it again. >> reporter: if you choose to brave the winter weather and exercise outdoors, wear lots of layers. shield your extremities with heavy socks, gloves and a cap and stay hydrated or do a combination of both. work up a sweat getting snow off your car, then go to the gym. >> if you eat a small stack -- not pancakes, if you eat a small snack a half hour before you work out, it could generate more heat. your body is working on digesting the food you just ate.
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if you eat three kiwi's a day, it may keep your blood pressure down. researchers found patients who ate it three times a day had a lower blood pressure as opposed to those who ate an apple a dachlt it's because it contained gluten. >> what does it taste like? >> it's sweet. >> mangoish, i guess. >> i was going to say lemony. it's good. tough try one. >> what are we looking at? >> not bad today. lots of sunshine. temperatures back above average today. there's been some unsettled weather across parts of the country. man oh man, we have struggled around here to have anything in the way of cold or winter like conditions. the upside to this is we all save a ton of money on our
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heating bills for the month of december. right now, mostly clear skies out there. temperatures on their way back down for a monday evening. 46 at the airport. the winds eased up. the northwesterly breeze is up in the 10 to 20-mile-an-hour range for most of the afternoon with gusts up to 20 miles per hour. now, it's 9-mile-per-hour northwesterly breeze. the wind will continue to lay down a bit now that the sun has gone down. college park and silver spring, laurel all in the mid-40s now. mid to upper 40s in fauquier county. the blue ridge is a touch cooler. for your evening plans, just a few clouds coming in as our skies get closer and closer to midnight. temperatures in the upper 30s to near 40 by 11:00 p.m. no rain for monday evening plans. rain is a big part of your tuesday forecast tomorrow. these highlighted counties have high wind advisories. the high wind spots of north carolina and eastern tennessee,
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we may see wind advisors in our mountains toward tuesday night and into the day wednesday. heavy rain across most of arkansas. they have had their wettest year on record in many cities in the mid south. the last thing they need is rain. we are more than seven inches ahead in rainfall as well. we don't need the rain, but rain we will be getting. it will arrive here shortly after the morning commute begins tomorrow. folks to the south and west, you'll get the rain drops first. clear skies. clouds come back in place late tonight. tomorrow, by 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 in the morning rain over the area. the heaviest at lunchtime and sunset tomorrow. after the sun goes down between 5:00 and 8:00 in the evening is when most of the rain should be ending as the front pushes through. a very stiff west to northwesterly breeze makes for sunshine around here on your wednesday. so, for the rest of your evening and the overnight hours, clouds
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on the increase. seasonably chilly out there. certainly not cold by december standards. start-off temperatures in the low 30s to near 40 along the bay. cloudy and wet. rain likely if not before lunch, everybody should be wet by noontime and there after. a very soggy and sloppy day coming up for your tuesday afternoon. the afternoon commute could be messier. windy, windy, windy. sunshine and breeze thursday. a few clouds in for friday for the shortened workweek. new year's eve and new year's day, rain chances may hold off until monday. that would leave us high and dry for the new year's weekend. it's good news for the rebelers who like to go around town at midnight. >> thank you, chuck. if you want tax write offs before the end of the year, you certainly better hurry up.
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outside firm because of cheating on standardized tests. the firm will review questionable scores from the year 2011. they will look for irregulari irregularities including a large number of answers that were erased and changed from wrong to right. back in may, city officials invalidated scores from three classrooms because of cheating and back in march, usa today reported more than 100 d.c. schools had unusually high rates of erase sures. county officials are looking to bring more bike sharing programs to residents there. county officials applied for a $1 million grant from the state's department of transportation. 29 stations would open in bethesda, silver springs. capital bike share is set to open next year in rockville and
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shady grove. tonight on "rock center" a story about a sleeping pill that wakes its patients up from a vegetative state. sarah jennings reports of a woman's quest to help her fiance speak again. >> reporter: 23-year-old sam was full of life. >> oh, that was great. >> reporter: suddenly and without any warning, sam suffered catastrophic stroke. his parents, john and leslie. how many strokes? >> eight strokes. >> reporter: eight strokes. >> two were massive. >> they happened over his brain and it was as severe as it could have been. >> reporter: his brain damage was so extensive he would never fully recover. he could no longer speak, just moan. his fiance, sally. >> they had no help for him. >> reporter: did they use the words vegetable?
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>> they did. >> reporter: she refused to believe there was no help. she read a sleeping pill may wake him up from a vegetative state. when she gave it to him, everything changed. suddenly, he could talk again. his speech is slurred. hi, sam. it's great to hear you talk. it was remarkable. awakened from a vegetative state by a sleeping pill. sarah james, nbc news. >> you can watch the full story tonight at 10:00 on "rock center" right here on nbc 4. today marks the start of kwanzaa, the seven day celebration is rooted in self-determination and cultural reaffirmation. each day, followers focus on one of seven principles believed to be pillars of the african-american community up colluding family, creativity and faith. it dates back to 1966.
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we'll fast 4ward through the headlines now. police are looking for two men who broke into a house and assaulted a woman in haymarket, virginia. the man snatched the victim's necklace and then fled. the suspect fled. the victim may have known her attacker. across the country, shoppers are, once again, out at the ma mall. many are out there spending those gift cards or using they will. others are hoping to return the presents that aren't what they were looking for. by the end of the holiday shopping season, americans will spend $469 billion. it's an increase of 4% from last year. basketball is back in washington tonight. the wizards hit the hardwood after a long nba lockout. the wiz's take on the nets at 7:00 at the verizon center.
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let's fast 4ward to the weather. >> thanks pat. temperatures up near 50 degrees earlier this afternoon. we are back to the mid-40s. with a clear sky and fading breeze, it's going to be a chilly evening. temperatures mid to upper 40s now. back to the low 40s by 7:00. upper 30s by 11:00 p.m. overnight lows in the mid-30s around town. near 40 by the bay side. for tomorrow, clouds and p rain. get the umbrella. if santa brought you an umbrella for christmas he was a very, very smart and perspective man. you will need it. >> 100 protesters got together on 16th street in the district today. they are call iing for the relee of a local man held in cuba. he is a humanitarian. the government says he is a swi. derrick ward has more on that. derrick? >> the recent release of 2900 prisoners from cuba, some
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political and some foreigners gave the family of alan gross that their loved one would be home by year's end. it appears now that is not the case. they are not anticastro. this protest outside the cuban interest on 16th street is apolitical. they can be described as propeace and proalan grove. >> we feel he is been mistreated. >> reporter: he's been in prison for 753 days of charges of espionage. he went to the nation to provide internet access to the jewish community. now, his wife says he's a broken man. >> i'm getting hopeless. he's a strong man. to see him like this, nobody could believe that he has been affected the way he has. >> reporter: those who have known him the longest say he would never engage in regime changing or spying.
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it was solely humanitarian. >> he thinks he can help people. >> it is not about alan's religion. it is not about where alan is. it is about the injustice that is taking place in cuba. >> reporter: a few people watched quietly from across 16th street, there was no response from within. there's no flag or outward sign of the purpose. some feel he's a happenless victim of decades of bad relations with cuba. there's been a sign of warmings of the relations for humanitarian causes. we would like to see improved relations rather than people say it's a risk for an ordinary person to go there. >> he was sentenced to 15 years. his family made overages to congress and the white house to help with his release. the cuban government stated he
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was jailed for covert activities. coming up, there was one person in the crowd of the protest with firsthand experience being a prisoner in cuba. just moments ago, police in virginia caught up with a man whom they say killed two people on christmas eve and abducted a toddler trying to run from police. the 27-year-old was arrested an hour ago in richmond. he had been on the run since christmas eve. he shot and killed two people and stole a car to use as a get away vehicle. in the car was a 2-year-old toddler. the toddler was found just after midnight on christmas day and returned to his family unharmed. the motive appears to be robbery. clemens is expected to be charged with that as well as abduction and murder. in prince george's county, police are looking for three gunmen who robbed a burger king.
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it happened earlier this month around 10:50 in the morning. a man pointed a handgun and demanded money from the cashier. two of them jumped over the county, took an undetermined about of money. all three of them ran away. the power ball mystery continues in maryland. someone bought a winning ticket in upton. $125 million richer. but, that lucky person has yet to cash in. news 4's darcy spencer has more. >> reporter: someone hit the power ball jackpot. they bought their ticket here at this store from this machine. now, all they have to do is come forward and claim their cash. the ticket was sold here at the liquor store and restaurant. the sale was at 3:13 p.m. on christmas eve. >> people believe if you sell one winning ticket, it's a hot
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store. >> reporter: the winner has not come forward. employees say a man called the store on christmas day saying he was holding the winning ticket but he was going to wait a couple days before coming forward to claim the money. >> we'll wait for him to come in. >> reporter: what would you like to say to him? >> congratulations, good luck. don't throw it all away. >> reporter: it's a family yoned store that's been in business since 1951. >> what do you think the person who won should do with all that money? >> have a good time. enjoy yourself. forget everything in the world. >> reporter: if the winner chooses a lump sum, it's $79 million or $52 million after taxes. what kind of person are you hoping won the money? >> someone that needed it, facing foreclosure or someone who really needed it. >> reporter: whoever that lucky
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winner is, won't have to share any of the money. only one person is holding the $125 million ticket. in maryland, darcy spencer, news 4. >> now the store gets $25,000 for selling that ticket. store workers checked the security camera video but couldn't make out the faces of customers in the store at the time the ticket was bought. coming up tonight, an update on the royal family. the world record santa set as he
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the royal family was missing a key member during their christmas celebration over the weekend. prince phillip is in the hospital. he's been there since friday night when he underwent emergency heart surgery. they all visited prince phillip after christmas day celebrations. he's expected to be home from the hospital soon. no exact date has been given just yet. >> this is expected to be one of the busiest weeks of the year for aaa. that organization expects to help out 800,000 motorists during the final week of the year. that will include retrieving more than 100,000 sets of keys locked in cars. aaa says towing is the service it provides most often.
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guess when you thought santa couldn't get more popular. norad says 2011 was his biggest year yet. they fielded a record number of phone calls this year from children asking where santa was. they got 102,000 calls. it's up from 80,000 last year. the rise in popularity probably stems from his bigger social media presence this year. they have been tracking santa for children since 1955. still to come tonight, what you need to do before the end of the year that could safe you money in taxes. what to look for in the
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more people are ditching their cameras and using their smartphones to take pictures. cell phones seem to be replacing point and shoot cameras. one reason for the jump is your smartphone is always with you. as a result, sales of traditional cameras are down 7%. camcorder sales fell off to 13%. the holiday weekend is over. now, there's another deadline approaching, tax deadline, not too far away. if you would like to take certain deductions on your taxes, there's only a few days left to do that. bob has the report. >> reporter: you have all year to take advantage of certain tax breaks and deductions. the year is running out. >> people wait until april 15th. for certain deductions, you have to take advantage of those before january 1st.
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>> reporter: tax experts say the time is now if you want to sneak in tax breaks. >> you will have to wait until 2012 and we don't file those until 2013. >> reporter: the most common, charitable donations. many want to write off their donations. the stores are ready to help you do it from clothes to cars to computers. >> make sure you have proof you made the contribution. >> reporter: make sure you are donating to a legitimate charity. when you have a lot of money going out, con artists are out there trying to find ways to take it in. >> reporter: watch for sound alike charity that is want to pressure you or come to your home. >> make sure they have a hard address to send money to. >> reporter: some of the tax deductions you have this year may not be around next year.
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>> in the law, there are several deductions they may expire depending on what congress does to act on them. today, act now. before the year ends take advantage of them. >> reporter: a few include writing off sales taxes on large ticket items like cars. out of pocket expenses and treating medical reportage insurance as a payment. it's time to get serious about your taxes. >> it's something you should always do. take a look now to save a few bucks before the year ends. >> in order to get credit this year, mail your contribution before december 31st as we just heard. just writing it on the check is not enough. it needs to be postmarked for this year. also, pledges are not deductible. it is the payment that you write off that you can deduct. >> let's get a look at the unchristmas like weather here in
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december. chuck? >> yeah, pat and jim, it's been a mild stretch around here. it's one of the warmest decembers on record around here. the warmest december we have had was december, 1889. we may break the record before the month is done. as you look live into downtown washington, the old executive office building to the west of the white house. beautiful evening. temperatures mid to low 40s. 37 in winchester. a cold night toward the blue ridge and shenandoah valley with temperatures near freezing by tomorrow morning. if you are going to get out and enjoy this december 26th evening, it will be dry. clouds on the increase late this evening and overnight. no chance for rain between now and midnight. rain chances sneak up as we get into tomorrow and widen out the storm 4 doppler here, looking at all the rain from st. louis to the gulf coast of florida. it's moving in our direction.
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it is going to be a wet day around here for tomorrow. there's the satellite picture. what a beautiful, clear day we had. you can see the cloud cover moving into parts of western virginia. it's not more than a couple hours before the clouds arrive here and rain drops are behind that. here's the future weather into the day tomorrow. 9:00 a.m. tuesday morning. to the southwest of town, can't rule out a little bit of light, frozen precipitation to the shenandoah valley, early, early tomorrow morning as the early on set of this next rain and precipitation event. it will be all rain, all the time, everywhere. the heaviest rolling through about lunchtime and dinner time tomorrow. by 6:30, the rain should be tapering off and generally dry from there going forward. for your forecast tomorrow, cloudy and wet. rain likely especially lunchtime and later. might take much of the morning to get everybody wet.
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we will all need the umbrellas tomorrow. windy on wednesday with highs in the mid-40s and sunshine back from thursday and friday. relatively good weather for new year's eve weekend. back to you guys. >> thank you, chuck. >> thanks, chuck. we are hoping the wizards would do better when the regular season kicked off than the preseason. >> i heard you. 0-2. 0-2 in the preseason. the nba season kicked off christmas day with five games played around the league. tonight, it all goes down for the wizards at 7:00 at verizon center. they welcome the new jersey nets to town. yes, kris humphreys will be there. he's such a celebrity now. his soon-to-be ex-wire will not be there. zach has more. >> watching a documentry the other day about the founder of
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the ferrari race car company. he was the first race car owner and driver to get rid of the rear-view mirror on the car. when they asked him why, he said i don't want anyone looking back. i want my drivers only looking forward. >> reporter: there he was on the eve of a new season. it made perfect sense for the struggling club. >> i'm more concerned with process right now than output although we are here to win. >> reporter: recently they made more news for off the court transgressions than on the court. >> a great camp for us.
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we worked hard. the guys are ready. >> reporter: the team has taken a new approach, putting a premium on building a winning culture from the ground up. >> the washington wizards select john wall from the university of kentucky. >> reporter: much of what the team accomplishes will hinge on the sophomore campaign of john wall. >> what i told them we were doing is we are not going to go half way. we are going to deconstruct the team totally and build it around you. >> they understand how hard i'm working, what i'm trying to do and get them better. get myself better at the same time. they are already listening to me. >> he's been dunking on people, going to the basket. he's been a lot more explosive in his jump shots improved drastically. >> reporter: players under the age of 23. this year's team is able to
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produce more wins than last year. it could benefit the 66-game season. >> i think it could help us. we are a young team. playing five games in one day. it could be tough at times. a young team. >> reporter: here we are, ready for a new season. the lockout in our distant memories, the only thing that matters now are wins and losses. >> it's up to us to bring out the best in the players. it's not just up to them, it's up to us to develop them, counsel them and let them meet their aspirations. >> so the owner not looking back. game time set for 7:00 tonight. don't expect to see wizards first round pick tonight. he did not practice over the weekend because of a sore hip. according to flip saunders, he's unlikely to play against the nets tonight. i like that, don't look in the
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a south florida couple is lucky to be alive tonight. this is supposed to be a relaxing day at the beach but it turned into a lot more than that after a truck ran over them as they were sunbathing. we have the story. >> reporter: for this cupping, it was a perfect sunday for sunbathing. the kind of day that inspired them to pick worry free south beach as their neighborhood. >> get out of the norm. experience something different. >> reporter: they did experience something different. unexpected and horrifying while laying under the sun. >> i remember waking up and it
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was over our bodies, over our head. i started to panic. i was like we just got ran over. >> reporter: what were you thinking then and there? >> i was petrified. i was worried he was going to move forward or backward. i didn't know. i was in shock. >> reporter: they were stuck under a ford f-150. the wheels just missing their body. >> i thought she was actually dead. i kept on screaming at her and she, for a couple seconds, seemed like minutes, she wasn't responding. >> reporter: police say in early november, the driver was collecting equipment to close shop when he failed to see the couple. the truck was covering half their body. >> we heard a woman screaming. >> reporter: they were rescued, rushed to the hospital. he got five stitches in his head
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and required an emergency root canal. denise has a gash on her forehead. she suffers from back aches and headaches. >> we were where we needed to be. he was being careless. >> reporter: for that, the man was charged with careless driving. you don't think it was snuff? >> it wasn't enough. >> reporter: meanwhile, denise in orlando hopes they will enforce stricter regulations. >> putting trash cans across the beach as a mark line. it's just not enough. >> reporter: back at the beach for the first time since the accident -- >> it's ser arena now, when you think what happened. you think it's an accident. >> they are lucky to be alive. that's it for news 4 at 5:00.
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news 4 at 6:00 starts right now. family and friends getting together to demand a release of a man in maryland held in jail in cuba for more than two years. bold and brazen how neighbors describe a crime. somebody is $25 million richer tonight. good evening, i'm jim vance. >> i'm aaron gill crest, doreen has the night off. backseat to work for the republican candidates. there are eight days until the all-important iowa caucuses. a lot of people hitting the air waves and picking up votes. jennifer johnson is live with more on the last minute campaign push. jennifer? >> a quick christmas break for the candidates. the iowa caucuses are coming up january 3rd. the candidates are back in iowa
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