you can read much new tonight-- the "harnett county sheriff" -- is 'responding' to a 'federal lawsuit' -- filed against his agency. the lawsuit 'claims' -- deputies engaged in a "pattern of abuse". the 'plaintiffs' -- include the family of 'john livingston'. ....he's the man who was 'shot and killed' -- by deputy "nicholas - kehagias" -- 'last' november. also 'named' in the suit -- four deputies..... the 'former sheriff'..... and the 'current sheriff' wayne coats. the 'plaintiffs claim' -- they suffered 'bodily injury'... and 'wrongful arrest'. 'sheriff coats' issued this statement today saying in part: "w everyone -- that the harnett county sheriff's office team -- is dedicated to supporting and defending the constitution of the united states -- and of this state..... and to fully.... faithfully and fairly 'enforcing the laws' of north carolina." 'coats' also says -- he's reviewing the "training and education programs" -- 'in' the harnett county sheriff's office. the day after the election -- the owner of jc's kitchen found the words -- "black lives don't matter and neither does your

plus--the harnett county sheriff's office hit with a federal lawsuit. why some are claiming deputies violated civil rights. and 'how' -- the 'fires' -- burning in the 'north carolina mountains' -- could affect 'you' -- here in the triangle this weekend. eyewitness news starts right now. 'right now' on eyewitness news.... 'right now' on eyewitness news.... ...educators 'mourning' -- a "wake county school board member" -- who died 'unexpectedly' today. good evening - i'm steve daniels. and i'm tisha powell. zora felton passed away at the age of 65 today. she was absent from last night's school board meeting after falling ill. angelica alvarez is live outside sanderson high school in raleigh--with more on the sudden passing. this is where it she graduated from sanderson high... started teaching here in 1973. she's a mother... she's a grandmother... and for so many... her death comes as a shock. missing from last night's wake county school board meeting... board member zora felton had said she wasn't feeling well. "she had a bad headache is what she had tol

around 10 p.m., investigators with the harnett county sheriff's office began blocking the three-story building is an all boys dorm. the victim's family has been notified. the vice president of student affairs here at campbell university says that they are traumatized by the tragedy and saddened, they will have counselors here for students and faculty members and will continue to have counselors through next week. bill and lena? >> mikaya thurmond, thank you. >>> authorities in are investigating after a car struck and killed an old girl. it happened on old us-1. the girl was crossing the street when she was struck before 5:30 yesterday evening. the girl was just 3 years old and the father had just purchased toys for his daughter and two other children in the family. the friend says he was setting up a game that he bought and did not notice the girl was behind him in the yard when she no word on charges. >>> clayton police are responding to a call about a man beaten ended up arresting that man and two others. deputies found a man beaten up at a gas station unfamiliar church road. he was

. >>> members of the harnett county sheriff'sffice are facing a lawsuit. the plaintiffs are residents including a family member representi a man who was shot and killed by harnett county deputy last year. bill leslie joins us now from the newsroom with the basis for the suit.>> the case of 33-year- old john livingston is at the center of this lawsuit filed in district court. the 33-year-old was shot on the november last year. deputies arrived at the house on everett street to investigate a reported assa livingston refused to allow deputies to search hihome around 3 am. livingston became combative and that is when he was shot. and jury decided not to indict the deputy involved in the case and nichas to haig's. he along with sherry rollins and wayne coates and other depies arnamed in the lawsuit. the plaintiffs allege the harnett county sheriff has a lawsdeuit tails numerous instances of the accusation cling use of pepper spray and intimidating tactics. the plaintiffs in the lawsuit say supervisors knew of the deputy's misnduct and did nothing about it. othe

harnett county high school is working with law enforcement to find out who posted it. we rep it call for students to wear white in support of white supremacy. hash tag trump 2016. students we spoke with called the tweet offensive and say it does not represent their school.>>> when it comes to this, it is controversial. we work our hardest and except pretty much everybody in our school. >> a spokeswoman said the school system is working with law enforcement to find out who >>> they are known for giving scholarships and helping wounded warriors and now a group of soldiers needs your help. almost every building of the special forces association compound in fayetteville were flooded during hurricane matthew. the organization salvage what it could a lot of structural repairs are needed. so far they set up a flood recovery fund for their website. fema and state disaster recovery center in edged and county closed today. this is to the center in rocky mount follow -- hurricane have decreased. they will relocate resources to other counties. >>> more about a possible cause of a

harnett county, sing a sprinkle into johnston county as well. we had rain earlier along the i- 95 corridor but it is pretty much over. a little bit of sprinkling from falcon over to dunn. roads are still damp in places but this is nothing that will cause an issue for your commute this morning. 59 in durham, temperatures overnight have been mild. and 50s in roxboro, mid-60s in fayetteville and that cool air will come spinning down from quickly after the sun sets down into the 50s. >>> brian is here with a look at areas that are starting to slow down. >> 40 westbound is still sluggish heading off of garner through south raleigh into rtp. because of the slowdowns westbound away from raleigh out toward the airport, we are seeing heavy traffic on outbound wade avenue. pretty slow from 440 out toward the i-40 merge on the west side of raleigh. one trend in the past few clearing up pretty well. so that is improving and we will watch that traffic sort of ease on down toward us-1 and wade avenue before it wraps up the morning commute in about 30 or 40 mi

harnett county investigators are still trying to figure out how a campbell university student fell out a window and freshman from stokes county. he was studying golf management. thursday night, he fell out of the 3rd floor window of his dorm room. we are told two or three friends were in the room with him at the time. investigators are trying to determine if the fall was accidental or intentional. the university is planning a memorial service for goldbach sometime this week. no charges will be filed in a crash that killed a 3-year-old girl. the highway patrol says miliah banos- ruiz-coats ran into the southbound side of old u-s 1 in new hill thursday night. she was hit by a jeep and died at the scene. a factor. a family friend says the little girl's father was setting up a new game in the front yard.. when she ran into the street. it was a packed house at fayetteville state friday afternoon. thousands turned out to see president obama campaign for hillary clinton. the president's appearance at the historically black university was designed to get out the black vote. the president remin

recovery centers for hurricane matthew storm victims are closing at the end of the week include the harnett county common area in lillington, the rehberg civic center and the health department in beaufort county. all close at 6 pm tomorrow. nash schools announce their plans. three out of the five days missed will be forgiven and make of days for the other two are december 19 and december 20. officer's home during a recent break and that has officers concerned about your safety. >>> it is 10 after 7. a warning after someone stole apartment uniforms from an officer's home. investigators say the theft was discovered during a break and call. which was all term officers carry. if you have any information about this break and call police. >>> authorities are looking for clues that can help them find a north carolina man who disappeared nine years ago. kyle fleishman vanished in 2007. elon graduate went to a standup comedy act at the bobcats arena and then to the buckhead saloon in charlotte where he was last seen. video shows him leaving the bar around 2:20 am and detective say fleshman left his

triton high is in erwin in harnett county. a tweet posted said everyone wear white tomorrow to continue to show their supp football team. that's not the disturbing tweet. it was the one that came after it overnight. that one reads, don't forget to wear white to remember show your support for #whitesupremacy, #trump2016. again this, tweet has been deleted. we are reaching out from the school and the district to find out who runs the could and what, if any, oversight the school has over it. dollar proposal will provide a 1-stop resource center. >>> duke energy officials issued a warning on twitter about a recent scam. the company's official account posted that scammers are targeting people by phone last week alone received scam calls. they were able to steal $8700 this way, and duke energy reminds you it will never demand a payment by credit card over the phone. >>> a plan to turn an empty building on wilmington street into a one-stop resource center for refreshments, job training, showers, and laundry facilities. it was chosen

also on tap, kathleen harnett white. and trump still has a number of decisions to make, including his next secretary of state. christine and miguel. >> thank you. one of his top advisers claims the loyal supporters would feel betrayed if mitt romney is picked as secretary of state. kellyanne conway describes the anti-romney sentiment among trump backers as breath taking in scope and intensity. >> i know there are other candidates considered apart from the one s covered more commonly in the media. apart from that, governor romney in the last four years, has he been around the globe doing something on behalf of the united states which we are unaware? i'm all for party unity. i'm not sure we have to pay with that for the secretary of state position. let me repeat. what donald trump decides, kellyanne conway and everybody else will respect. i hear from people who say my parents died penniless, but i gave $216 to trump's campaign. i would feel betrayed. >> romney and giuliani are widely considered the frontrunners for the top

he along with former harnett county sheriff and current sheriff coats and two other deputies are named in that suit. the plaintiffs althoughed -- details it. including the use of pepper spray. maintained supervisors knew of the deputy's misconduct and did nothing about it. seeking punitive and tk-blgs. we have a lawsuit on the home page of wral.com. well you can read why three deputies named in the lawsuit refer to themselves as kkk. >> ken smith? our news room, thank you. >>> a raleigh woman is accused of abandoning her two children in a neighborhood. witnesses tell the police the the children unattended on the sidewalk. the girls aged 2 and 3. the woman later returned to get the children but the police caught up to her. 23-year-old mcclain was arrested contributing to a sheriff's office say a woman was detained. she was stopped by a dark suv with a single blue light. the deputies have not identified the driver or located the vehicle. remember, if you have concerns about being approached by an unmarked vehicle call 911. >>> a large explosion rocked a neighborhood in illinois tonight.

. >> reporter: harnett owns missile tree christmas tree and lost about one tho of them. >> we had a lot of drought damage in trees that we thought we could sell because they turned yellow on the inside we couldn't. >> reporter: his farm is not alone. the massachusetts christmas tree association says most of the affected farms are in the eastern and central part of the state like abbott tree farm in charlton. it posted that it's closed for the because of the cloud. thanks in large part to a plan b. >> what we're doing this year specifically is supplementing with a lot more precut trees from farms >> reporter: the drout is not only impacting his farm now but years down the road with as well. in six years those of are going to have fewer trees. >> reporter: and despite the drought the department of agriculture says christmas industry season adds hundreds of jobs across the state like this one and adds more than $1.5 million a year to economy. >>> it's not christmas in copley square without the annual tree lighting. 3, 2, 1. >> mayor marty walsh lit the christmas tree tonight with some help