i'm contessa brewer. how well do you think you know yourself? in this show we pose the question, what would you do? in situations that are dangerous and even life threatening. some are ethical questions. some are questions of judgment and others are uncomfortable. but briefly put yourself in the plays of these people and ask yourself, did they right the might choice? what would you decide? a car with its hazards on runs a red light and pulls into this hospital parking lot with police in hot pursuit. the driver is nfl running back ryan moats. earlier that the evening his wife gets an urgent phone call from a nurse telling them to come to the hospital. her mother, sick with cancer is very close to death. >> get in there. get in there. let me see your hands. get in there. put your hands on the car. >> officer robert powell gets out of his car, gun drawn as ta-moesha moats tries to explain. >> he has a cold look in his eye, letting me know that he doesn't care. i was walking toward a hostile cop with a gun. >

i'm contessa brewer. there are no retakes, special effects or quick edits with police dashboard cameras, still the footage can be more compelling than any action movie. and it couldn't have gotten any more dramatic for the officers in our first video who have a violent confrontation in broad daylight. a peaceful town in ohio is turned upside down when two brothers, admitted white supremacists with criminal records, roll into town with guns blazing. february 15th, 1997, wilmington, ohio. state police trooper john harker is on highway patrol. with 11 years on the force's drug interdiction unit, harker has been involved in some of the riskiest and most high-profile arrests in the state. >> we worked in southwestern ohio with the intention of apprehending folks engaged in criminal activities, felony activities, drugs, stolen property, that type of enforcement. >> trooper harker's day starts like any other, with a traffic stop. he pulls over a driver going under the speed limit and whose 1977 blue chevy suburb

i'm contessa brewer. just going through our daily routines, we can be surrounded by dangerous materials and equipment and not even be aware of it. usually we have nothing to worry about because compressed gases, high-powered machines and blasting materials are safe when used and stored properly. but if one little thing goes wrong, the consequences can be disastrous. a firebreaks out at southwest industrial gases in dallas, texas, on july 25th, 2007. this is no ordinary fire. on the lot are several hundred tanks, filled with compressed gas, including oxygen, helium, and one of the hottest burning gases of all, acetylene. >> acetylene burns at about 3400 degrees. it's used as far as what the common person knows mostly in welding and cutting. >> local tv cameras record the blaze as it burns out of control. >> we didn't, of course, realize the scope of what the fire was going to be. >> the fire begins during a delivery of tanks to the refilling station. >> the delivery driver comes running in and says hey, ma

i'm contessa brewer.hboard cameras are an important policing tool that can bear witness to details missed by the human eye and reveal invaluable lessons for law enforcement. in this hour you'll see compelling situations caught on dashboard cameras from getaways gone awry to ruthless gunmen firing at will. a routine traffic stop turns into a roadside shootout when troopers unknowingly pull over an armed and dangerous escaped prisoner. >> i'm thinking already i shouldn't have stopped this car. >> october 26, 1998. tyler, texas. trooper barry goins an 18-year veteran of the force is assigned to train trooper jasmine andreesen, a rookie six months out of the academy. >> barry was not my fto, he was not my training officer. i was riding with him that night because my fto had other arrangements and had something else to do that night. >> no. no, we don't go out with a rookie very often. >> they're at the tail end of a particularly busy night when they decide to look for an easy way to finish their shift. i went

i'm contessa brewer. these days, it seems like everyone has a video camera and is eager to share their private moments online. but the video you're about to watch was never meant to be shared. it's a video that wound up as evidence only by chance. and it's a good thing. the scene it recorded is disturbing and illegal. >> you want to smoke? >> no! >> i just couldn't believe somebody could do that. >> it was pretty shocking. i've seen a lot of things, but that was a first for me. i couldn't believe that this would happen, especially here in pa tass kohl la. >> it's a small city in ohio about 20 miles east of columbus. the population, less than 15,000, but it suffers from an unusually high crime rate. >> you know, we get this small town feel, but we have big-town problems here. >> but even the most jaded residents here can't believe their eyes in april of 2008 when this shocking video surfaces. it shows two teens forcing a toddler to smoke marijuana. >> people were outraged about the video. they just -- nobo

i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." surveillance cameras are everywhere. in this hour, we'll show you criminals they've captured in the act. some of what you see may leave you stunned, like the tough grandmother you're about to meet who fends off a violent attacker in a hotel lobby. this hotel clerk knew working the night shift might mean dealing with some strange characters. >> i had an elderly gentleman try to convince me the invisible mafia was after him. >> but she wasn't prepared to wrestle thieves with machete-sized knives. a harrowing experience caught on camera. kent, washington. tamarine jones is working the night shift at the days inn. one of the shuttle drivers dropped off a purse that a guest left in his van. >> i went to look up her room number. not more than 30 seconds later, someone said excuse me. can you tell me where a certain room is? i told him, it's on the second floor all the way down. then i went back to the phone, looked back down at the phone, dialed the room numbe

i'm contessa brewer. how well do you think you know yourself? in this show, we pose the question, what would you do? in situations that are confusing, dangerous, and even life threatening. some present ethical questions. some are questions of judgment. and others are uncomfortable. but briefly put yourself in the place of the people in these stories and ask yourself, did they make the right choice? and what would you decide? a car with its hazards on runs a red light and pulls into this hospital parking lot. with police in hot pursuit. the driver is nfl running back brian moats. earlier that evening, his wife gets an urgent phone call from a nurse telling them to come to the hospital. her mother, sick with cancer, is very close to death. >> get in there. get in there. let me see your hands. >> excuse me. my mom -- >> get in there. put your hands on the car. >> his mom is dying. >> officer robert powell gets out of his car, gun drawn, as she tries to explain. >> his mom is dying. >> do you understand? >> as i turned around, he has a gun pointed a

i'm contessa brewer. sometimes all it takes is for one tiny detail to be off. and in a split second, a routine event can escalate into a life or death drama leaving folks to wonder what went wrong. it can happen at work or play or as these people found out during a leisurely day during a horse show. an official at a horse competition gets tramped by an out of control horse. may 2nd, 2001. springfield, illinois. at the arabian breed regionals, drivers move their horses into a ring to compete in a class called country pleasure driving. individual yog refer is there to capture the driving. >> it's supposed to be a pleasure. it should look like a pleasure to drive. >> one of the drivers to tweet on this day is paul heimen. >> you sit on the horse in the saddle and reins. you control the horse with your legs and arms. it's much easier to control him that way. when you drive, you only have reins. and the horse is way up in front, so you really don't control as much as when you are riding. >> the competition beg

i'm contessa brewer.en everyday people willing to risk their own lives to save a stranger. we've seen neglect toward a dying woman recorded by surveillance cameras in a psychiatric emergency room. in the next story, people in a pizza parlour are unexpectedly faced with another daunting decision to test their decision to step up when they see something bad going down. it is perhaps one of the most unexpected and brutal knockout punches ever caught on camera outside a boxing ring. >> got the concussion right when he hit me the first time. >> but what is even more shocking may be what happens next. july 31, 2004. da vinci's pizza parlor. akron ohio. it's 2:00 in the morning, and joseph scarpino, the man in the striped shirt, is about to have a really bad day. it begins slowly when ms. pristina sims enters and cuts in line. >> when she entered the pizzeria, she went to the front. i wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. >> joseph gets a call from his wife, waving in the car outside. >> my wife was ask

i'm contessa brewer.timated 40 million people suffer from phobias and one of the most common is claustrophobia. fear of enclosed spaces. in this hour we'll bring you the stories of people trapped in some of the scariest most confined spaces possible. an airtagt safe, a sinking car and an elevator. the fear of death in these situations is all too real so it is up to the rescuers putting their own lives on the line to help those in danger get out alive. it's 9:30 a.m. in phuket, thailand. a fire rages in the kitchen on the first floor of the royal jontian hotel and quickly spreads. but 16 floors above, american rochelle stimey knows nothing about the blazing inferno below. no alarm, no phone call, no notice at all. her husband is in china away on business, and she's in her hotel room with her 7-year-old daughter sona, when something catches sona's eye outside their window. >> i noticed some smoke. then i noticed it was coming from straight down below the window. and then i heard people screaming. >> rochell

i'm contessa brewer.  >>> they are young women and girls who imagined america as a place of endless opportunity. >> people are being held against their will and being raped in essence, a dozen plus times a day. >> but dreams of upward mobility meant be being trapped in a life of abuse and exploitation. incredibly, many of these trafficked girls were first victimized by their own parents. >> the vast, vast majority have been sexually abused as kids. >> both my mother and my father trafficked me. >> tonight on sex slaves, we travel to california for a haunting tale. >>> i think what i'd like for people to know is that trafficking happens more than they think it does. >> min who is a 25 year old berkley graduate wants people to think twice about the girls they see working in massage parlors or advertised in online sex ads. >> people tend to think it's a choice. and in my experience, it's never a choice. and the reason why i was trafficked, and i think many women are trafficked is because they are vulnerable and sexually abused, most of the time by their own parents or family

i'm contessa brewer.  >>> they are young women and girls who imagined america as a placeopportunity. >> people are being held against their will and being raped in essence, a dozen plus times a day. >> but dreams of upward mobility meant be being trapped in a life of abuse and exploitation. incredibly, many of these trafficked girls were first victimized by their own parents. >> the vast, vast majority have been sexually abused as kids. >> both my mother and my father trafficked me. >> tonight on sex slaves, we travel to california

i'm contessa brewer. that's all for this edition of caught on camera. >>> oh my god. >> where is your clothes at? stay in the seat until i get your clothes. >> they go hand and glover. section for sale, and drug addiction. >> we arrest hundreds and hundreds of girls involved in prostitution. only a handful are not involved with a narcotic. >> all across america, more and more women are turning to drugs like crack and heroin to kill the pain that comes with being bought and sold. msnbc goes under cover with michigan's human trafficking task force for a sobering look at the overwhelming power of drug addiction in the business of sex for sale. >> i thought that i could just do it once and stop. >> it's a growing epidemic that can touch anyone, even the all american girl next door. >> this is going to sound crazy, but it's not that hard to go from using drugs from point a to point b of selling yourself. how will you get that much daily when your addiction is out of control and you're using so much of it. how

i'm contessa brewer. that is this t.ht on camera." ♪ >>> a horrific slashing. >> i didn't even see the razor in his hand he did is so fast. >> married 21 years almost. twin boys. >> a case of road rage results in a murder charge for a software engineer. >> life was good. >> now, after two years in jail the jury will

i'm contessa brewer. that's all for this edition of "caught on camera." >>> a good time can turn ugly in a hurry. >> i looked up, and i see a tv coming out the window. >> thousands of people. no way out. panic in a chicago nightclub packed to four times capacity. >> they started running down the stairs. and somebody fell, and then somebody fell on top of them. >> a soccer game goes from confrontation to total chaos. >> we had 10 dead, 16 dead. >> what happens then is a shock even to the players. >> he said i'm telling you now we're going to play this football match. >> a concert lets out, and the crowd is trapped in a suffocating crush. >> i thought that they must be dying. >> there was absolute chaos. it was very much your worst nightmare. "caught on camera -- crowd control." streams of people enter a popular chicago nightclub. what happens inside sends them all running for the exit. >> the fear that pervaded the whole place was the overriding emotion. it was panic. it was panic turning to fear. >> febru

i'm contessa brewer  >>> this sunday, the president seeks to ignite a new conversation aboutamerica. >> trayvon martin could have been me 35 years ago. >> the president's deeply personal remarks about the aftereffects of the george zimmerman trial add to the debate about the stand your ground laws, racial profiling and the plight of african-american boys in the criminal justice system and our society. >> if trayvon martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? >> this morning a special discussion about race relations and the impact of the president's remarks on the black community and beyond. with us, the president of the national urban league, marc morial, chairman of the congressional black

i'm contessa brewer  >>> this sunday, the president seeks to ignite a new conversation about race in america. >> trayvon martin could have been me 35 years ago. >> the president's deeply personal remarks about the aftereffects of the george zimmerman trial add to the debate about the stand your ground laws, racial profiling and the plight of african-american boys in the criminal justice system and our society. >> if trayvon martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? >> this morning a special discussion about race relations and the impact of the president's remarks on the black community and beyond. with us, the president of the national urban league, marc morial, chairman of the congressional black caucus, congresswoman marcia fudge. author and pbs host tavis smiley, former chairman of the rnc, michael steele, and harvard law professor, charles ogletree. plus, the remarkable financial collapse of a major american city. detroit files for bankruptcy. what's next for its residents including thousands of city employees and retirees. and what doe