responsible for the runaway redline train. incident is in and he' s being ed: new at 6:00, newscenter 5' john atwater is live in s the reaction, john? john: investigators are blaming him for wrapping a cord around the throttle of the train. for the first time, the operator is responding. did you hear about this report yet that came out? it is blaming you. is there anything you want people to know? >> no, i' mm all set. john: it seems counterintuitive. >> a lot of things happened that day. john: david vasquez will say there is little about that day. he was forced to put his training to emergency bypass mode because of signal problems. to do that, he left the cabin, flip the switch underneath the front of the train but because he wrapped a microphone cord around the throttle, it took off the moment he hit the switch. you did see the report where the cord around the throttle -- john: and not engage the brake. >> i cannot talk about that. john: it went for more than five miles without an operator. and he lost his job the final report includes a statement after the episode. he said i was putting on my glo

john atwater wcvb newscenter 5. maria: the state says that this woman cracked the virus after having sexual contact with a man who recently traveled to the country where zika virus is more prominent. the swom not pregnant. >> no escape. tornado. >> a teacher's cell phone stolen by a student. why she's now being fired. >> big temperature differences fueling the storm that's approaching. it could be a colder storm late this week. maria: at this hour, we are watching the massachusetts put more fun in your day with ice-cream-flavored coffees at dunkin' donuts. go for delicious flavors like butter pecan, cookie dough, or new pistachio. enjoy one today. america runs on dunkin'. we're about to show you an incredibly low fare. like all our fares, you get two and zero change fees. because what's the point of an incredibly low fare if you're just going to stack fees on top of it? our sale fares have nothing up their sleeves. book them now at southwest.com low fares. nothing to hide. that's transfarency. sfx: clap, clap, ding

newscenter 5' s john atwater is live in braintree. john: this is the first time we are hearing from the operator since his train took off without him from this stopped last december. investigators say it was a simple rig, a microphone cord wrapped around the throttle of the train. it took the flip of a switch and the train took off at 25 miles per hour with nobody at the controls. they blame the operator, david vasquez, who lost his job after the frightening episode. did you hear about this report that came out? >> yes. john: is there anything you want people to know? >> no. john: it seems counterintuitive to wrap the court and flip the switch. >> of course it is. john: no signal problems prompted him to get approval to bypass mode which required him leaving the cad and flipping this switch under the front of the train. investigators recommend moving the switch to a safer spot inside the train but they point the finger squarely at him for wrapping the cord around the controls and not setting a brake. you did see that the cord was aroun

john atwater is live on the scene. john? reporter: well, turns out the melted plastic caused a scare here and denied a few dozen to the hospital for the level three hazmat that happened before 9:00 tonight. firefighters tell us, a hot plate was left on in a lab here at plastic container melted and the chemical in that conin saker appear stros dripped to the floor but the smoke that was caused by from all of this was harmless. it happened in a research building not near any patients aer at the hospital. thankfully, tonight, no one was hurt. live at children's john atwater, wcvb newscenter 5. >> and breaking news in rhode island tonight. police in cranston releasing this picture after attempted robbery ends with a shooting at gas station. it happened just after 8:00 at the which on park avenue. take a look. head. hospital. no word yet on his condition tonight. >> naked body on the front page of the new york post like they had put bars over. maria: tearful testimony from sportscaster erin andrews. the "dancing with the stars" j

john atwater, wcvb newscenter 5. ed: let' s take you live to west roxbury. two hours of voting left this super tuesday and that is a very active polling place. massachusetts could set some records, especially among republicans. heather: right now, there are seven candidates left. rubio and donald trump on the republican side, and hillary clinton and bernie sanders on the democratic side. ed: residents in 12 states and one territory are voting today. this is a delicate -- delegates game. 1460 delegates up for grabs. 865 for democrats, 595 for republicans. after today, 30% of gop delegates will be awarded. 24% for democrats. heather: that might not get any one candidate to the magic number needed to secure the nomination, but it usually pushes under-performers out. we have live team coverage beginning with newscenter 5' s janet wu in west roxbury. janet: secretary of state bill galvin is predicting a new record here in massachusetts. here in word 20, theris a nice healthy line of voters getting ready to vote. 1.8 million was a number of voters who voted in 200

john atwater with our sister station, wcvb, has the story. >> reporter: althis woman say so much in her years, but it was the 2016 election that made an impact. >> can you even believe people are voting for this man? >> reporter: in this year of polarizing personalities, shed one fear. >> he's teaching hate. what have we learned? >> reporter: so when she passed away her children made sure the world understood her dying wish. >> in lieu of flowers, her request would be that you do not vote for donald trump. >> reporter: it's an unusual addendum to a death notice, but in this year, political pitches are even showing up in obituaries. >> reporter: the family of an 81-year-old man would died used his obituary to ask people not to vote for hillary clinton. >> we just thought that was her last way to get her vote in. >> reporter: so as the candidates continue to stump for votes, they may be getting an unexpected boost from supporters who won't even be casting a vote. >> for her message to be heard is the best thing that could happen today. this is a dream come true for her. >>> in other news,

doug despite what david vazquez : told our john atwater the investigation found he left the train with a microphone cord wrapped around a throttle. he lost his job over the december incident. the internal safety report, also claiming vazquez had previously been cited for safety violations live in braintree, newscenter 5. randy: an elite special operations team has captured a key isis operative. defense officials tell the new york times the capture is a major blow to the islamic militant group. the special ops group arrived in iraq a few weeks ago. they are the first combat group on the ground since the end of the war in 2011. emily: these bellingham brothers are held on $100,000 bail accused of stealing from the home of a man who lay dead inside. police say steven and mark landry stole t-vs, prescriptions, and check books from edward gibson' s home. they' re accused of writing themselves checks totaling between 7000-8000 dollars. they were turned in by their landlord, after allegedly trying to pay rent with gibson' s checks. randy: health officials in new hampshire confirm the state' s