in pleasanton, i'm leslie brinkley, abc7 news. >> okay, leslie, thank you. >>> there is heavy traffic through the altamont pass because of a grass fire that burned right up to 580. the fire broke out about 3:15 near greenville road in livermore. all westbound lanes of 580 are closed. two have reopened. you can see from sky 7 a big back up. >>> a wildfire in the hills of fremont last night may have been the result of a domestic dispute between a man and a woman. fremont police tell abc7 news they don't think it was started by illegal fireworks or a homeless camp: the fire was near mission boulevard in the niles area and forced people to evacuate from a dozen homes. it burned about 15 acres. no one was hurt and no buildings were damaged. >> concern about the summer fire season is growing in lafayette, specifically in the happy valley neighborhood that has seen trials and tribulations over fire station 16. >> the fire station was closed in 2013 because of the city's tough financial situation at that time. it was scheduled to reopen this past april. that's now been delayed until august, a

. >> i'm leslie brinkley with new tt of hairhat'shae t way cing u. >> announcer: now news to build a better bay area, from abc7. ♪ ♪ >>> today thousands of friends, family, coworkers and ordinary community members gathered together to remember and honor officer tara o'sullivan, the sacramento police officer and east bay native was killed in the line of duty last week. >> the service today took place at a church in roseville. close to 3,000 people attended. some had to watch a video feed in an overflow room. >> officer o'sullivan was in the final day of her field training when she was killed. >> evil showed its face in our city. >> family and friends say officer o'sullivan already knew she wanted to be a police officer by the time she enrolled at college park high school in pleasanton. they describe her as single-minded, fog used and driven. >> she was one of those rare people who devoured life, doing so well, somehow maintaining both strength and kindness in equal measure. >> an official page has been set up for the officer tara o'sullivan memorial fund. if you'd like to donate we ha

today abc7 news reporter leslie brinkley spoke with espinosa's mother and her friend who was with her at the scene of the accident. >> it was friday afternoon when stephanie espinosa was enjoying the view 150 feet up above emerald bay at lake tahoe. at the top of eagle falls, she waded in one of the pools when she reached for a branch and lost her footing. she vanished over the falls. rescue and dive teams later found her body. initial reports indicated she might have been taking photos, but her family says that was not the case. >> stephanie didn't even have her phone on her when she fell. she was trying to enjoy the moment. >> she gave so much of herself physically, spiritually, emotionally to other people that it was not uncommon for stephanie to just take off and go into nature. >> espinosa's business partner and best friend was kayaking with her this weekend at lake tahoe. >> my daughter was the most beautiful, free-spirited person you would ever want to meet. she is simply amazing. she raised her two boys. she has raised marissa. she has raised my own daughter. >> espinosa worke

abc 7 news reporter leslie brinkley was in court. >> reporter: defendant max harris was faced with email after email the prosecution projected on a screen in court in which he called himself executive director of ghost ship. he previously testified he was simply a volunteer with no leadership role. harris admitted using the title was a misrepresentation. it's not true he said. the d.a. asked him about representing himself as an arts mnager on the tinlder dating app. harris said i was just trying to get a date. >> the best the prosecution trying to get a date and exaggerated his role. >> reporter: the prosecution drilled into ghost ship defendant max harris during cross examination today telling him you lied. deputy d.a. james got harris to define a lie. he said a lie is telling an untruth then that he replayed a body cam video in which harris told an officer who asked him if he lived at the warehouse, no, no, it's a 24-hour art studio he said when he actually lived there. harris' aunt from seattle sat in court today listening to his testimony accompanied by harris' friends. >> the prosec

abc 7 leslie brinkley with m on his side of the story. >> reporter: as max harris took the stand today, the judge set up an overflow room so scores of families with an emotional connection to the case could hear the testimony. >> he's been in custody for two years waiting to tell his story. waiting to connect with the jury and waiting to tell the truth. >> reporter: harris facing 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter wore a suit as he calmly addressed the jury. he testified that the prosecution's photo evidence did not accurately represent the arrangement of furniture the night of the fire. >> when he recognized it, he was shouting fire, ran to his space in the warehouse, got the fire extinguisher, ran towards the flames. shot the fire extinguisher towards the flames and realized it was an effort. continued to shout, got on the phone with 911. >> prosecution witnesses described harris has having a leadership role at the ghost ship in charge of collecting rent and organizing events, but harris testified he really did cleanup duties in the warehouse including scrubbing toilets in exchang

abc 7 news reporter leslie brinkley explains the connection and is live with us tonight. >> reporter: that's right, dan. 36 horses hastily moved overnight to here, the pleasanton fairgrounds after their trainer was banned from the golden gate field track and also from santa anita in southern california. that's the track where 30 horses have mysteriously died in the last seven months. i spoke to the san francisco chronicles horse racing correspondent to get his take on this blame game. >> the management there has tried to deflect blame every other direction than their mismanagement of the racing surface and by making jerry a scrape goat. >> a horse trained by jerry hwa euthanized over the weekend after a workout on the santa anita track. within hours, the group issued a statement saying we regret that mr. hollendorfer's record at santa anaita and golden gate fields does not match what we demand. he is no longer welcome to stable, race or train his horses at any of our facilities. i was a harsh punishment for the story trainer who won over 7,000 races and lives in richmond and did not r

. >> leslie brinkley gives us a look at this eye-catching art and introduces us to the man who painted >> a blazing wave of blue, and it's oscar grant's favorite color, framed in gold set against the oakland sky line. oscar grant died here at the hands of a bart police officer ten years ago and now the dove ascends from the platform and the cosmos. >> people are already pausing to take pictures and find inspiration in it. the official unveiling is saturday at noon. the street in front of the station will also be imnahhed oscar grant way. >> it's an iconography of this agency coming to terms with the brutal murder of oscar grant and its collaboration with his family and community. >> this mural is the first long-term project under bart's art in trapsinsit program they d a local muralist to paint on this highly uneven exterior concrete wall and it was a really tough job. >> not as tough as facing police terrorism. >> reefa one put his heart and soul into the project. >> i hope the mural soaps up more dialogue and action to end the chal thinkes we face as the black community. >> i also ho

leslie brinkley is live from campus with new information on this tonight. leslie? >> reporter: that is right, happy atmosphere as everyone behind me crowds into the graduation ceremony on the football field. but it was this morning that an urgent call came in from a santa rosa high school resource officer at around 10:41 a.m. students reported seeing a 15-year-old armed with a handgun and more ominously than that, they saw him whack the slide -- rack the slide on that weapon. >> two other students saw the 15-year-old withdraw what appeared to be a handgun a from a backpack. >> my phone is blowing up. >> reporter: worried parents flock to the school and as they circle it they text their children on lockdown inside. the graduation ceremony in ridgeway high school next door was interrupted with the lockdown. many students unable to walk and get their diplomas. >> it was pretty tense. >> it was scary. we didn't know what was going on. i know some people were having panic attacks and we're all in the dark. a bunch of people were passing around a picture of the kid on so

leslie brinkley gives us a look at the eye-catching mural and introduces us to the artist who painteding wave of blue hits you as you walk up to the west side of the station and it's oscar grant's favorite color framed in gold and west african emblems set against the ocean skyline. oscar grant died at the hands of a bart police officer ten years ago, and the dove ascends from the platform and the cosmos. >> people are pausing to take pictures and find inspiration in it. the official unveiling is saturday at noon and the street will be named oscar grant way. >> it's an iconography of this agency coming to terms with the brutal murder of oscar grant and its collaboration with his family and community. >> this mural is the first long term project under bart's art and transit program. they paid a local muralist $38,000 to paint on this highly uneven exterior concrete wall. it was a really tough job.sin police terrorism. >> this well known oakland artist known as reefa one put his heart and soul into the project. >> i hope the mural opens up more dialogue and action to end the challenges w

today abc7 news reporter leslie brinkley spoke with the woman's mother and a friend who was with her at the scene of the tragedy. >> this is a picture of 35-year-old stephanie espinosa kayaking at lake tahoe just a few days ago. it was friday afternoon when stephanie espinosa was enjoying the view 150 feet up above emerald bay at lake tahoe. at the top of eagle falls. she waded in one of the pools when she reached for a branch and lost her footing. she vanished over the falls. rescue and dive teams found her body. initial reports indicated she might have been taking photos, but their family says that was not the case. >> stephanie didn't even have her phone on her when she fell. she was trying to enjoy the moment. >> she gave so much of herself physically, spiritually, emotionally to other people that it was not uncommon for stephanie to just take off and go into nature because that's how she recharged. >> espinosa's business partner and best friend was with her at lake tahoe this weekend and witnessed the accident that she didn't want to relive in this interview. she says she's been

abc 7 news reporter leslie brinkley gives us a look at the eye-catching mural and introduces us to theted it. >> reporter: a blazing wave of blue hits you as you walk up to the west of the station and it's oscar grant set against the skyline. he died at the hands of a bart police officer 10 years ago, now a dove ascends to the platform and the cosmos. >> people are already pausing to take pictures and find inspiration in it. the official unveiling is saturday at noon. the street in front of the station will also be named oscar grant way. >> it's an iconography of this agency coming to terms with the brutal murder of oscar grant and its collaboration with his family and community. >> this mural is the first long term project under bart's art and transit program. they paid a local muralist $38,000 to paint on this highly uneven exterior concrete wall. >> not as tough as it is facing police terrorism. >> this well known local artist known as reefa one. >> i hope the mural opens more dialogue and action to the challenges we face as a black community. i hope it brings a sense of peace and j

abc7 news reporter leslie brinkley shared this update on the bay area woman who died at a lake tahoe water fall over the weekend. leslie learned the woman ran a spa business in benicia. >>> there has been another big data breach. answer world news sent out that quest diagnostics had their financial information potentially exposed. as the memorial grows for the virginia beach shooting victims, more people are. cog forward with their stories of survival. abc7 news reporter trevor ault shares them with us. >> today we're hearing incredible stories of heroism from survivors who were in the building during that bloody rampage that friday afternoon. christy dewer says her coworker gave his life trying to protect her and several others. >> knowing keith and the person he was, i believe that he was trying to diffuse dewayne's emotional outrage. >> keith sacrificed one of so many tragedies n in thy. several of the victims and the accused shooter were regulars at his restaurant. >> it's really sad, yeah. seeing these people all the time. >> the suspect, 40-year-old dewayne craddock was a 15-yea

in oakland, i'm leslie brinkley, abc7 news. >> leslie, thank you. in san francisco, a man is reported to be in critical condition after being pulled out of san francisco bay. abc7 news was along the embarcadero as crews coming back from a drill on the water tried to rescue the person near the bay bridge. a witness reported seeing a man in the bay at about 12:15 p.m. officials are not sure why the man was in the water. first responders were seen doing cpr and he was rushed to the hospital. >> three kids are spending their summer break in their van after their parents were duped out of $10,000. they thought they were renting a house in south san francisco, but three days after moving in, they were evicted by the actual landlord. abc7 news reporter luz pena is live with the story you'll see only on abc7 news. luz? >> reporter: dan, no savings means no back up plan. $10,000 is everything this family had saved. they tell me they are calling friends and family members to use their bathroom, to shower. but when it comes to sleeping, their van is all they'v

abc7 news reporter leslie brinkley was in the courtroom today as the ghost ship fire defendant max harrisfied. leslie says harris down braid his title as the warehouse's artistic director saying, that was a joke. >>> "world news tonight" tweeted out video of the volcano exploding to life this morning south of mexico city. the plume of smoke went several miles into the air. >>> a family that had guns drawn on them and says they were roughed up by phoenix police over allegations of shoplifting have announced new claims of abuse. abc news reporter with the family's demands. >> gout of the [ bleep ] car. >> reporter: an arizona family says with the officers involved now on desk duty they want them held accountable. >> the officers are still working. it's basically a slap in the face. >> reporter: they filed a notice of intent to sue the city of phoenix for $10 million, alleging police officers used excessive force. the family claiming an officer threw aisha harpur, six months pregnant, into a police cruiser. >> it shouldn't have happened over a babydoll. >> reporter: 22-year-old and his partn

leslie brinkley, abc 7 news. >>> the president of bart's board of directors came to abc 7 today as a guest on "midday live" and asked about the relationship between fare evasion and other issues. >> i see the link between fare evasion and crime numbers going up. is there anything to prove that link or is that a hunch? >> i mean, obviously everyone who fare evades isn't committing a crime but the perception of riders is that people who are committing crimes are not paying their fare and one of the things you can do is discourage people who are going to do bad things or looking for opportunities to steal a phone or do things of that sort and make it much more difficult for them. >> during that interview on "midday live" a poll was running at abc7news.com/vote. check out the results. the majority of people voted not good almost a quarter said bart angers me, more than 10% of responders don't even ride bart. >> abc 7 news devoted a week to covering part as part of a commitment to building a better bay area. we rode trains all day long and talked to riders and the people in charge. you ca