for now, live in downtown brooklyn, kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> kristin, thank you. >>> and we are going to show you this live look again from revolution plaza in havana, cuba, where the pope is celebrating mass. he made his way through the crowd, and he jumped out to kiss kids and bless people, and he said cubans are people with a taste for parties, and that's for friendship and beautiful things, and it's the people who march with songs of phrase, that from the pope. >> his common touch is amazing, and it's always on display. it's a very different kind of experienced. big trip for him, and that could be big here next week. channel 7 as you covered now until next saturday when he leaves new york, and we will bring you that live as well on the weekend morning news, and a lot going on. fasten your seat belts, and it will be a great historic week, and hopefully the weather will cooperate. >> looking great at this point. the 2nd half of the weekend a few clouds to start off. temperatures will be cooler this afternoon, but it's a terrific afternoon, and so even though we

kristin thorne is live outside of kings county hospital where the suspect is recovering this morning. hi, kristin. >> reporter: hi there, rob. gerald harris is recovering here after being shot in the leg, and police say he is responsible for starting just this wild shootout that resulted in officers firing off some 70 shots, and police say that harris was first wanted for shooting a man who was simply loading up his car, and police say harris was hiding in the man's trunk, and when the man opened his trunk, apparently harris was trying to steal his car. the man opened his trunk and harry shot him. the victim was able to give it was early friday morning in bushwick, harris opened fire on officers, and officers returned fire. harris fled, running into two officers who he allegedly shot at, and they returned fire. we spoke with people who live in the neighborhood there in buckwish -- in bushwick, and they said they have never heard so much fire. >> it samed like -- it seemed like it was coming right outside of our bed, and it it was. >> it just wouldn't end. >> reporter: police say harri

live in downtown brooklyn, kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. kristin, thank you. >>> hundreds of refugees made to the hungarian border, but hungary is accusing crotia of sending them into the border without the proper work done. >>> a boat explosion left three children badly burned. a 3-year-old is in critical condition this morning at the hospital and an 8-year-old and 9-year-old were also hurt. at the time of the blast. eyewitnesses heard a large boom and debris blew into the air. all five made it back to shore. >>> a 22-year-old woman told detectives she was attacked on 125th street inest harlem. she was sleeping on the street when she awoke to the man sexually abusing her. >>> in new jersey a41-year-old father and his 3-year-old son remain in critical condition after a near drowning incident. they were found at the bottom >>> the wing of a plane clipped a fence at jfk yesterday. virgin atlantic was forced to cancel the night. the airline got the passengers on other flights. >>> a story that will get a lot of folks talking or talking more. th

kristin thorne is live in east flatbush with the latest. kristin? >> reporter: rob and toni, 27- year-old gerald harris is recovering here after being shot in the leg, and police say he shot times during a confrontation friday morning in bushwick. harris tried to steal someone's car and allegedly shot at the victim before running away. police say because they had a good description of harris from the victim, they were able to track him down quickly. he ran behind a car, opening fire on eight officers that were there, around jefferson avenue. the officers, of course, returned fire. harrison ran away, shooting at other officers. they opened fire, and eventually harris was shot in the leg. he's being charged with four counts of attempted murder on a police officer. six officers were taken to the hospital with ringing in their ears, but they are expected to be okay. i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> kristin, thank you. >>> new york city park officials will be in bryant park inspecting a tree that suddenly snapped in half yesterday aftern

kristin thorne, channel 7, >> thank you. we invite you to stay here for continuing coverage of the pope's final day here in the u.s. he takes off at about 7:00 tonight back to rome. i am sure he is delighted by what he experienced here but he's gotta be tired. >> he's probably good. >> he is like, i have seen aretha. i can go. >> there is nothing better. >>> coming up, a high school football team and new jersey community is in shock mourning the loss of their star quarterback after he took a possibly fatal hit during a game. to the hospital after wrecking ava and i needed a little vacay. but we needed to watch our spending. meaning i needed to watch nikki. she's the spender. i'm the saver. so, mobile banking from td bank helps me keep track... for both of us. we gotta go. i'm ava. and we bank human at td bank. what? the centers for medicare and medicaid services recently asked patients to rate the quality of over 3,500 hospitals. fewer than 10% received 5 stars. among them was cancer treatment centers of america in philadelp

eyewitness news reporter kristin thorne at the courthouse in hempstead in long island with the latest. kristin. >> reporter: alexander copeland tells me simply he doesn't remember anything that happened that day including going from his home in suffolk county to the bus depot in queens on a day he wasn't even supposed to be working. >> don't remember the trip in, don't remember being at the depot, don't remember leaving with a bus. don't remember the stops. >> reporter: alexander copeland says all he knows about what happened the afternoon of sunday, september 13th, is what his coworkers tell him. >> i was told i showed up at work, said what day it was, was told it was a different day, but there was two runs available, i was going to be given the first one but somebody else took that run so i was going to get the second run so i was waiting for my time to do the second run which was when during that time when i fell and hit my head. >> reporter: he says he doesn't remember taking this bus from the mta depot in jamaica and driving it onto the northern state parkway. police received sev

kristin thorne is in farmingdale with the story. kristin. >> reporter: well, bill, right now federal mediators are meeting with members of the school bus union and members of the school bus company right now inside teamster headquarters. the uni don't know says that -- union says they are not able to reach an agreement tonight, there will be a strike tomorrow. >> i hope they can come to an agreement. >> reporter: so do hundreds of other parents on long island keeping that bauman and sons bus company and teamsters 105 reach and agreement tonight. if not, it's plan b for tons of parents. >> who is driving them? >> you are. >> daddy. >> reporter: the bus union is demanding higher wages, more medical benefits and pensions for the 1200 members. negotiations with the bus company since may have not proved fruitful. >> our own members cannot put food on their table. they are unable to provide medical care for themselves and their children. >> reporter: if a strike happens tomorrow, it would affect students in the middle country school distri

here is long island reporter kristin thorne. >> i have a 45 minute class, home room. then i got lunch. that's it. i didn't come here to eat. >> >> reporter: frustrated students at hempstead high school. imagine if this was your schedule, a blank sheet. >> i am trying to graduate. this is bad for me. >> reporter: the head of the teacher's association says the school switched to a new schedule, a block schedule but didn't leave enough time to deal with the complicated computer tear rised system. in -- computerized system. some students were signed up for a few classes or registered for classes they have completed. hundreds have spent the last few days packed in the school's auditorium up to five hours eventually being sent home. >> everybody was in the auditorium, didn't have nowhere to go and didn't have a schedule. now some people are getting a schedule. >> reporter: the middle of the school day, these kids are hanging around, leaving early. is this acceptable. >> no. it shouldn't be like this. it's not educationally sound for these children. >> i'm very disappointed.

in southampton, i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> just ahead on eyewitness news at 6:00, amazon making changes to its prime delivery schedule. we will tell you what it all means for customers next. >>> and lee says we are not quite done with our heatwave, quite yet, or the hot weather. his accuweather forecast coming . >>> the list of benefits of amazon's popular prime membership could be getting smaller depending on where you live. the online retailer now allowing some sellers to pick about they want -- where they want to provide free two day shipping. most prime items shipped directly from an amazon warehouse and are not affected by the program. >> not very happy about that, are you? >> i don't have it. my wife does so i go onto her account. she buys me stuff -- >> not the same household account. >> this one happened. she >> look at you smiling. he's in trouble, i know he is. >> last week she is like, where did this phone case come from? >> i don't know. >> they just sent it to me. >> thank you. >>> outside we go this afternoon where we have what is a hazy sky as we

that put one of the two lirr tracks out of service for the evening rush. >> long island reporter kristin thorne is at the scene tonight with our lead story. kristin. >> reporter: liz and bill, crews are here on the scene, you can probably hear them right now trying to remove this train from the tracks but that is going to take all night, so, yes, eastbound customers on the port jefferson and ronkonkoma branches are facing 30 to 40 minute delays. it happened around 1:00 this afternoon, two cars of this new york and atlantic railway freight train derailed. it was just west of the hicksville train station. >> i heard the screeching of brakes and originally i didn't think much about it and then a few minutes later i had realized that like the train [000:59:58;00]

for now we are live in farmingdale, i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you, kristin. >>> cardinal timothy dolan today investigate a -- visiting a unique school in newburgh. the cardinal blessed san miguel academy. it is a faith based school for low income middle school boys who are considered at risk. there's no tuition there and cardinal dolan says the school symbolizes the goals of catholic education. >> what you're looking at here is something daring, what you're looking at here is something innovative. what you're looking at is something creative. there's something exciting. >> well, this year 68 students will attend san miguel, 22 students from the first two classes are now enrolled in college. >>> con ed has reached a big settlement over allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. the company has agreed to set aside $3.8 million for 300 female employees who filed a lawsuit. the state attorney general and the eeoc launched investigations back in 2007 complaints. in a statement today con ed says it does not tolerate discrimination in any form in t

long island reporter kristin thorne is in centereach. kristin? >> reporter: sade, we are at deliver's tat -- cliff's tattoos. he explained the new ink is harder to get in the skin. so you can only imagine what that means. the legislation was introduced several years ago after a hepatitis outbreak in rockland county. tattoo artists know how to deal with the bottles of ink. they are trained to know how not to cross contaminate it. they say what happened in rockland county was those getting tattoos in garages. >> we have a client in the chair. we explain this is your ink. this is your tablet. we dispense it in there. >> reporter: beginning december 12th, tattoo artists in new york state have to use these single use packets of ink. they say they are more expensive, lower quality and harder to get in the skin. >> a lot of us have taken thousands of dollars invested in our business to get the right inks and colors and the ones we like to work with. i will have to essentially throw it all out. >> reporter: bridget started this petition on change.org to

. >> kristin thorne is live in farmingdale with more. kristin? >> reporter: shirleen and dave, we are outside the teacher's headquarters. this is where members of the union will meet with federal mediators around 2:00 to reach an agreement to avert this strike. the union says that they want to strike because the 1200 members are not being paid or are being paid poverty wages. the union says they have been trying for months to reach an agreement with bauman and sons. on top of getting ready for back to school this week, they are trying to come up with contingency arrival and dismissal procedures for parents. the union president says he doesn't want to see a strike but if they can't reach an agreement, so be it. >> many of our own members have children on the buses. the last thing we want to see is a strike. but the owners of these companies who are multimillionaires are more interested in taking care of their thoroughbreds on their horse farm in pennsylvania than providing a dignified wage for the people that do this important work. >> again, the

. >> kristin thorn is in jamaica. >> reporter: police say alexander copeland took this bus from outside of the depot in queens. it was parked on the street on south road. he allegedly took it for a drunk enjoy ride in nassau county. he has been suspended without pay and could face more disciplinary action. this is video we got half an hour ago. the only tv station of video to get copeland returning home in long island. he had nothing to say to us. the 52-year-old has been working with the nta since 1998. yesterday afternoon police received a number of calls from drivers on the parkway reporting this bus was driving erratic around exit 32 in west bury. a state trooper pulled him over and found him drunk. he had a.20 blood alcohol content. we have been talking to people this afternoon who routinely use the buses. are they concerned about this? they told us no. >> no. that was just one person. i don't really mind he was drinking. he got caught. that's his problem. i don't think every bus driver is like that. >> reporter: what are the issues here? this bus he allegedly took was parked outsi

kristin thorne has the exclusive interview. >> reporter: alexander copeland tells me simply he doesn't remember anything that happened that day. he said before he took the bus, he apparently suffered a concussion and he doesn't remember anything before or after that happened. morning as copeland went before a judge in hempstead on aggravated dbi charges. he went into work from his home in suffolk county only to find out he didn't have to work that day. he tells me he fell at the bus depot in queens and doesn't remember anything. later on that afternoon, drivers called 911 reporting seeing an mta bus swerving erratically all over the northern state parkway around exit 32. a trooper pulled over copeland, gave him a breathalyzer that registered a .20 blood alcohol content. copeland tells me he didn't drink that day and he is happy he didn't hurt anyone. >> i don't remember the trip in. i don't remember being at the depo. i don't remember leaving with a bus. i don't remember the stop. >> reporter: his attorney says that copeland is on a number of medications so they are trying to figure ou

we are live in hempstead, i'm kristin thorne channel 7 >> thank you. mother of the girl whose body was found inside a trash bag on a boston harbor island is being arraigned along with her boyfriend, and among those in court for the arraignment is the biological father of the baby doe. abc's marci gonzalez joins us now with more. >> a difficult day for him and other loved ones who were in that courtroom listening as prosecutors shared how they believe the little girl was killed and what happened next. >> the horrific details of little bella bond's death laid out today in court. an emotional outburst as bella's mother rachelle stood wincing behind a glass partition charged with accessory to murder after the fact. her boyfriend michael mccarthy stoic charged with first degree murder. the prosecutor claiming mccarthy punched bella in the stomach for being unruly at bedtime, then reportedly called the girl a demon saying it was her time to die. >> when ms. bond looked at bella her head appeared to her to be swollen, and her face was gray. she knew her daugh

long island reporter kristin thorne is live with the story. kristin? >> reporter: dave, we just spoke to peter williams that helped rescue the pilot. he was sleeping in his bedroom around 6:45 and saw a plane looking like it was having difficulty and saw it crash. he jumped into his boat over here, went out into the great south bay and at that point the plane was about a thousand feet offshore. this is video williams took himself during the rescue. you can see the pilot, joseph canazaro sitting on top of the plane that just flipped over. according to the registration, this is a homemade plane. we spoke to other witnesses as well who told us they saw him put the plane into the water on a small beach in bay port and then just take off on the water. again, this was around the great south bay around 6:30 this morning. then witnesses tell us they spotted the plane basically tipping over, crashing down. suffolk marine bureau a seven- day forecast in bringing the plane to shore. it was no easy task. >> quite windy. it wasn't easy. the wind was taking more of

. >> kristin thorne is live with the story. what is the latest? >> reporter: well, dave and shirleen, esther adler o'keefe became the video. she told a young man she is leaving him in the house for the weekend to behave himself then comes back looking at drugs on the counter, scantily clad women on the couches and giving the young man a disapproving look. they are aware of the video and discuss whether any disciplinary action has been taken or will be taken. the woman with southampton assistant principal esther adler o'keefe. the men are rappers tray songs and j.r. the video features plenty of sex, drugs and alcohol. the video has become quite the talk of southampton. >> at first i don't believe it was her. >> reporter: both students and parents are standing behind the educator. >> esther is awesome. she is absolutely awesome, as a amazing woman. she has the best interest of the kids at heart. >> reporter: the southampton superintendent tells eyewitness news they are aware of the video. superintendent scott ferina says it show cases behaviors and

we are live in hampton bay, kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> kristin, thank you. >>> in new jersey, two people are dead following a single vehicle crash on route 18 this morning. newscopter 7 was over the seen in colts neck as police investigated. officials say a truck veered off the roadway and overturned into the median. three people were ejected. two of them were pronounced dead at the scene. a third is now in the hospital. >>> police in brooklyn searching for the man that they say tried to rape a woman after choking her with a cord. it happened after they walked together to a cobble hill store yesterday morning. the suspect offered to buy the victim soda and cigarettes. when they walked out of the store, police say he attacked her with a cord and tried to cut off her clothes with a knife. police say he ran off when the woman screamed. >>> comedian jon stewart is on capitol hill lobbying congress to extend funding to first responders who became sick working at ground zero after 9/11. >> why is it incumbent upon our first responders to have to consistently push to get

live in southampton, kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. >>> new at noon, police in new jersey are looking for help finding someone in a sexual assault case. they say a 15-year-old boy was alone at his home in wayne on august 18th when someone, the person in this picture, knocked on the front door. the teenager says which he answered the door, the man forced his way inside and tried to kiss him and take off his clothes. he fought the man off and he left in an extended cab pickup truck. >>> now a deadly police shooting. an unarmed texas man shot and killed. it appears his hands were in the air. video. marci gonzales is here with why the sheriff's department is marci? >> reporter: they are upset the video was released. they claim the man was resisting arrest, that officers tried using nonlethal force to subdue him before they opened fire but it doesn't fully explain what you are about to see. this video raising serious questions in san antonio. two sheriff's deputies shown shooting and killing a man who appears to have his hands up. >> he put his hands in the air an

now he's telling his story for the first time to long island reporter kristin thorne. she is outside the courthouse in hempstead with the exclusive interview. kristin. >> reporter: well, liz, alexander copeland tells me he doesn't remember anything that happened that day. he says while he was at the bus depot in queens, he fell, hit his head and he doesn't remember anything before or after that. eyewitness news was the only station there as he went before morning on aggravated dwi charges. copeland's attorney says they have statement from two doctors that copeland did suffer a concussion that day. it was sunday, september 13th when police say copeland took a bus from the mta depot in queens and drove drunk on the northern state parkway. drivers called 911 to report seeing this mta bus swerving erratically around exit 32 when troopers pulled over coped land -- copeland, they say he had a blood alcohol content of .20, nearly two times the legal limit. copeland tells me he didn't drink that day, doesn't remember leaving his home in suffolk county and going to the depot on

. >> long island reporter kristin thorne joins us with the search to find the rock thrower. >> reporter: he was driving on rosalyn road about to get to the overpass when he saw a small rock come down. he looked up through the roof and saw a hand over the bridge and larger rock come down. it was about this size. approaching the overpass, doing 15, 20 miles per hour when chris said someone hurled two rocks over an overpass causing this damage to the back >> my son, 3-year-old has his car seat in the back. when it hit and i saw the glass god forbid he was in the car. >> reporter: it happened as he was leaving work heading south on rosalyn road approaching the overpass around locust when he saw -- >> a rock fall. i was about this close. it hit the front. i looked up through the sun roof and saw someone lob the rock over the side, smashed in my rear windshield. >> he said he immediately pulled over his car here to the side street, ran up the hill to try to find the person but it was too late. they were gone. >> the police walked up there to take a look, he said there were a bunch of these up

here is kristin thorne. >> these people are in crisis. they need assistance. that is a vulnerable time. if they don't get the help they need they might be back on the street using. >> reporter: instead, people who overdose on heroin, in nassau county can go from the emergency room to mary haven new hope crisis center in freeport 24-7 free of charge. >> i lost my son three years ago. undoubtedly new hope will save lives in that crucial time after an overdose. >> reporter: crisis center workers will use these advance to pick up patients at hospitals or agencies and bring them to mary haven to undergo withdrawal treatment, counseling and get them in a long-term rehab program. the center can hold 30 patients at a time. >> this is a big step in being able to realize treatment on demand and connecting people with the help that they need. >> reporter: where is the money coming from to do this? acting district attorney says she has committed $585,000 from the county's criminal asset forfeiture funds to fund the program now through the next year. long-term funding is e

long island reporter kristin thorne is in riverhead with more on what these families want to happen now. >> reporter: these parents simply want their children in another school district because they say the riverhead school district has proved they cannot provide for them. they say school district officials have been giving them the runaround for the last year and their children are the ones suffering. 7-year-old tristan fleming hasn't been in school for a year. what did you not like about that school? >> they were mean. >> reporter: tristan has autism and tourette's. his parents say the problems began at the elementary school last fall. his parents say staff ignored tristan's ticks and at least one smacked his hands to get his attention. tristan developed so much anxiety, he could no longer go back to school. >> he would vomit, rip off his clothes. >> the doctors got involved, they said that that is the school that, you know, caused all this disrupt in his life and caused the ticks to be worse so they definitely don't want him back there. >> reporter: the riverhead school district said

long island reporter kristin thorne is in south hampton this afternoon outside the daycare center. kristin? >> reporter: liz, side by side, daycare center here in south hampton has been open all day. in fact we've just spoke with a parent fully defending this center. she thinks these allegations are just rumors from an angry co-workers, police say they received calls from a few parents about the alleged abuse. these are the two workers who have been arrested. 33-year-old kathleen culver and 23-year-old sarah dawber, both are being charged with endangering the welfare of a wild. police say -- child. police say they force fed the child until the child vomited and also accused of pushing children and shoving them to the grounds. they were arrested last friday at the facility in south hampton. only days after police received these complaints. again they say from a few parents. the new york state office of children and family services is continuing their investigation into this center. but again, we just spoke with the mother who has been sending her children here for quite some time. sh

long island reporter kristin thorne talked to the driver who says his 3-year-old could have easily been injured. she is in rosalynn heights -- roslyn heights today. kristin. >> reporter: that's because chris' 3-year-old son usually sits right in his car seat where all this glass shattered. let me show he where he says he was driving. he says he was heading south here on roslyn road until he got to this lirr overpass. he says he saw a small rock come down, hit the ground, hit his license plate. he looked up, he says he saw a hand toss another rock which completely smashed his back windshield. these are some pictures that he shared with us which show the aftermath. chris longeto says this happened monday around 6:00 as he was leaving work in port worth heading to his -- port washington heading to his home in selden. just as he got to the overpass over locust street is when it all happened, the four of four tells me with the first rock he thought maybe it was just a fluke but then quickly realized it wasn't. >> i thought that with the first one, i didn't know if maybe it was a piece of con

we are live in westbury, i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> fingers crossed they do. kristin, thank you. >>> eyewitness news has learned mayor de blasio will unveil a major new education initiative tomorrow. it includes everything from improving reading skills of elementary school children to offering more college level classes in high schools. the mayor spoke exclusively this afternoon to our political reporter dave evans. dave is in the morrisania section of the bronx tonight. david. >> reporter: the mayor and i talked about how much things have changed since we were all in high school and how much you could have not a college degree back then and still have great success in life but so much has changed since then. the question now according to the mayor is do new york city schools get our kids ready for college and for life? for the most part, the answer has been these last two years no but mayor de blasio is trying to change that. mayor de blasio is embarking on a radically different agenda for our schools. he unveils it tomorrow. crews are getting ready for his bi

we are live in jamaica, i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. >>> metro north trains are back on schedule again after a bicycle on the tracks caused major delays this morning. the bike did not have a rider when it was struck by a train near the fordham station in the bronx. authorities suspect someone threw the bike onto the tracks. the damage to the train and tracks caused delays on the harlem line for several hours. there were no injuries. >>> criminal charges tonight against three dozen fraternity members in the death of a baruch college student during a hazing incident. 19-year-old michael dang died during a fraternity hazing ritual in the poconos back in 2013. five students have been charged with homicide, charges against the others include assault, hazing and criminal conspiracy. police say members of the pi delta si fraternity pushed dang during a hazing ritual while he was blindfolded and wearing a backpack of 20 pounds of sand. dang's family just released a statement saying fraternities and their members must be held accountable and this step by one. >

kristin thorne has more. >> these people are in crisis, and they need assistance. it's a very vulnerable time. if they don't get the help they need, they may be back on the street using. >> reporter: instead, people who overdose on heroin in nassau county, if they want can go straight from the emergency room to mary haven's new hope crisis center. >> i lost my son 3 years ago, and new hope will help in that crucial time after an overdose. >> reporter: workers will use these vans to pick up patients and bring them right here to undergo withdrawal treatment, counseling, and get them into a long-term treatment program. they can hold 30 patients at a time. >> this is a bilge step in realizing treatment on demand and connecting people with the help they need. >> reporter: where is the money coming from to do this? >> madeline singa has committed $585,000 from the criminal's asset forfeitture funds to fund the program from now until next year. the long-term funding will come through a state medicaid program. >> the office's funding will allow new hope to hire medical and

long island reporter kristin thorne is live in stony brook. kristin? >> reporter: shirleen, charles giardinello was in a medically induced coma but he was taken out a short time ago. the 40-year-old was riding his motorcycle in ronkonkoma sunday night when he struck a pickup truck, police say. behind the police say, was off-duty police officer thomas o'neill. investigators say o'neill fled the scene but turned himself in to authorities yesterday. o'neill has been suspended without pay and is being charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving a serious injury which is a felony. o'neill did submit to a drug test. they will do the drug tests and look at that blood for remnants of alcohol and drugs. giardinello's family expect him to make a full recovery but he has a long road ahead of him. live in stony brook, kristin >> kristin, thank you. >>> on long island also, new video of a violent car crash. a driver lost control of a maserati in west islip about 10:30 last night. surveillance video shows the car crashing into a bagel shop. the sports ca

. >> kristin thorne is in hicksville with much more. >> reporter: nassau police tell me they believe the same person is responsible for doing this, that is something the owner of these cars also believes. look, you can see one of the cars here that was set on fire early this morning. if you look there. this is -- these two cars are the family's only two cars. a neighbor tells us that she saw someone pouring gasoline over these cars early this morning. we obtained this exclusive cell phone video which shows the cars on fire. this happened on morgan street in hicksville around 2:00 this morning. a local fire department did have to respond to put the flames out. neighbors tell me they did see a suspicious person around the neighborhood yesterday, the day leading up to this just before this happened. a family tells me, again, they think they were targeted but they just don't know why. >> i think they knew what they were doing because it was specific my cars. >> why would someone do that to you? >> no idea. no idea because my husband, he, you know, he's a landscaper and i stay with my kid

kristin thorne has more. >> reporter: >> reporter: diana, esther adler o'keefe is a well loved principal high school. a lot of students are defending her saying she did nothing wrong but some day appearing in the video is inexcusable. in the beginning, esther leaves her home to a young man for the weekend. in the end she comes back and finds drugs and scantily clad women. it's what happens in the middle that has people shocked. there is a party complete with sex, drugs and alcohol. >> obviously it's not appropriate for the children of the school to be watching seeing their assistant principal do this. >> reporter: it's unclear when and where she filmed the video or became associated with the artists. parents say it's really wonderful he had equator. >> esther is awesome. she is absolutely awesome as a person, administrator, amazing woman. she halls the best interest of the kids at heart. >> she is a good principal. she cares about the kids but people in the snap of a moment sometimes do something that they are going to regret for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: we attempted to spea

eyewitness news reporter kristin thorne in jamaica/queens with our lead story. chris tick. >> reporter: joe, police say alexander copeland simply took the bus from outside the bus depot here because it was parked on the street. the mta will not discuss how its bus drivers get onto their [000:59:57;00]

for now live in west bury, i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> thank you. now to breaking news. a shooting near a daycare center in westchester county. police say the shots were fired between two cars on clinton avenue in new rochelle. eyewitness news reporter marcus solis on the scene with the very latest. marcus what can you till us? >> reporter: dave, this is the intersection right there. you can see is the daycare center which says this happened during nap time. it's unclear whether or not the kids had any idea what was going on. a late update from police, a possible road rage incident to an incident that happened between individuals that knew each other. but not much cooperation. they are still trying to connect the dots. this happened at the intersection of thomas place and clinton avenue new rochelle just 56 1:00 this afternoon. -- after 1:00 this afternoon. two vehicles involved and several shots were fired. it will glass of at least one of the cars shot out and there was still glass in the street. now the vehicles took off and a short time later, a