news4's scott mcfarland is live on the scene with the latest. scott? >> reporter: barbara, a very violent crash in a sensitive area. we're south of the u.s. capitol. you can see what remains of the silver bmw. the crash happened about 3:00 this morning. the car hit not one but two trees and ended up in that condition. let me show you the trees. the trees are laying in pieces before us, a trail of destruction from this car. it wasn't the trees to stop the car, though. it wasn't the police barricades here. it was this huge flower planter, which is actually made to deter cars from coming up the road. it's in shambles here. police won't say if speed was a factor, but all indications are speed played some role in the violence of this crash. let me give you images from earlier. the car did go vertical on a tree. they had to remove it. it took a few hours to do so. the driver is a male. they won't say how old he is or give us backstory on his condition, other than to say he's been transported to a local hospital. no sign of an accident nearby. no sign of a po

the casino craze is growing, and the i-team's scott mcfarland so are the number of people tempted bylots. >> reporter: the casino craze spreading in maryland. the lights, the excitement too hard for some to resist. new year's eve amid the lights and the roar inside maryland live casino anne arundel county. police arrested 24-year-old alicia brown. they say brown left her 4-year-old child alone in the car outside for eight hours. while she went inside to gamble. police say the child was found hungry, cold, and crying. brown was charged with child abuse. >> when we heard what happened that day here in maryland live casino, the i-team started digging, checking court records, checking state gaming documents as well and found it happened several times. statewide and nationwide. watch this surveillance footage. two moms walk on a sunday evening, eventually gambling, their four children left alone locked outside in the car. one of the woman told police she had only gone inside to use the bathroom. but -- >> the both of you were inside gambling. you checked in at the players club and started

the news4 i-team's scott mcfarland look flood how many drivers have been assaulted.a new effort by metro to protect men and women behind the wheel. just before afternoon rush, anacostia bus station on howard road, southeast d.c. >> last stop. last stop. >> reporter: a man that walked in front of a bus stop has words for the bus driver. he walks towards the door with a rock and charges at the driver before he is knocked away. the attacker yelled, "i just want to hit him one good time." a few weeks earlier alabama southeast a passenger struck a female driver with a closed fist. lacerated the driver's lip and then fled. in february a 26-year-old passenger charged with assault after she doused the driver with pepper spray. a mother and young child stood in the doorway. a public records request found out it was one of 170 assaults on metro bus drivers since 2011. so many of the assaults triggered by disputes over bus fares. >> an operator maybe challenge as customer and reminds them what the proper fare is and that sometimes upsets the customer and resort to violence. >>

our news 4 iteam and several of our reporters are digging into this right now and learning from scott mcfarland that the police department in cumberland,maryland, was contacted by the fbi and by alexandria police and asked to help them with locating charles severance early yesterday morning. they believed that he may have had some connections, some previous ties to the cumberland, maryland, community and they were asked to make that search. they did not find him as a result of that. we are continuing to dig into this with several reporters working this story. as soon as we get more information we will bring that to you. >> thanks. >>> and rescue crews are using sound devices and telescopic cameras searching the pile of rubble from a gas explosion in manhattan. officials there say they are still hoping to find some survivors from this blast that brought two apartment buildings down on wednesday. crews found the eighth body last night. at least five people are still missing. more than 60 people were hurt in that blast that happened on wednesday in the harlem section of manhattan. >>> the search a