An ex-cop police officer faces up to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of using excessive force during a traffic stop in suburban Detroit. 

William Melendez was found guilty of misconduct in office and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. 

Floyd Dent, 58, was repeatedly punched, kicked and stunned in an incident caught on a police dashcam video. 

Dent was initially charged with driving on a suspended license, possession of cocaine and assaulting or resisting a police officer. But those charges were dropped. Dent has maintained police planted the cocaine on him.

A judge has ruled that Chicago police must release dashcam video said to show an officer fatally shooting a Chicago teen 16 times.

Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama told a packed courtroom Thursday the department must reveal the dashcam footage that captures the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014 at the hands of a white police officer. He added that he "spent a considerable amount of time" making his decision.

Valderrama said police must release the footage by Nov. 25. He denied the city's request for an immediate stay, but an appeal is expected in an effort to block the video's release.

The footage has been described as "disturbing" and so graphic that McDonald’s mother is concerned its release would prompt an uproar. Attorney Mike Robbins, who represents the McDonald family, said Thursday McDonald's mother "is not looking forward to the day this is released."

An attorney for McDonald's family said the video shows the teen holding a small knife and walking away from officers when one unexpectedly opens fire, spraying the the teen with more than a dozen bullets and continuing to fire as McDonald lies lifeless on the ground.

An autopsy confirmed McDonald was shot a total of 16 times and showed he had PCP in his system.

A city attorney who watched the video recommended a $5 million settlement for the victim’s family. 

The Illinois attorney general's office asked police to release the footage earlier this week.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed back, saying it would be premature to release the video because of an ongoing FBI investigation.

The video has been requested before. A journalist previously filed a public records request for the video, along with the Illinois attorney general’s office, but the city refused, alleging its release would hinder the investigation and prevent a fair trial.

In a letter released Wednesday, however, Asst. Attorney General Neil Olson said the police department failed to offer evidence that releasing the video would interfere with the investigation.

The Chicago police officer who shot McDonald has been placed on desk duty.

A San Diego woman accused of driving under the influence of methamphetamine and crashing into a group of bicyclists on Fiesta Island, leaving one cyclist paralyzed, will be sentenced Thursday.

Theresa Owens, 50, was found guilty last month in the crash that injured 10 cyclists on Aug. 12, 2014. She faced felony charges of driving under the influence causing injury for the wrong turn she made on a one-way route around Fiesta Island.

She faces up to 18 years in prison.

During Owens’ trial, many of the victims injured in the chaotic collision took the stand, recounting how the incident permanently scarred them – both physically and emotionally. Testimony included that of La Jolla father Juan Carlos Vinolo, who was struck and left paralyzed when Owens ran into his cycling group.

Vinolo testified the crash wrecked his life.

“My life is destroyed, everything is different,” he said.

According to prosecutors, lab results showed Owens tested positive for meth at the time of the collision. Prosecutors said that at the time of Owens’ arrest, police said they found a bag of meth hidden in her vagina.

Over the course of her trial, Owens’ attorney argued that although Owens had meth in her system, her driving was not impaired by the drug at the time of the crash.

After Owens’ guilty verdict was announced on Oct. 8, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Jessica Coto told NBC 7 she felt justice was served and called the jury’s decision a "step in the right direction" toward helping the victims of the crash begin healing.

Coto said the verdict also sent a strong message to drivers on San Diego's roadways.

“The public will not tolerate people getting high on drugs and getting behind the wheel of a car,” said Coto. “She changed lives forever, all because she wanted to get high.”

The crash prompted the city of San Diego to improve signs and road safety in the area to prevent another incident.

Police in Wolcott, Connecticut, arrested a woman on 59 counts of animal cruelty Thursday after finding dozens of cats living in "deplorable" conditions and one dead in the freezer, authorities said.

Officers went to the Finch Road home of Cheryl McMurray in October and found 59 cats living among feces and urine. Another was found dead in the freezer, police said.

The cats were suffering from various ailments including heart murmur, bad teeth, dehydration and upper respiratory issues, according to police. All were taken to local veterinarians to be checked. 

Animal control officers said they have been watching the home for about a year, and began receiving complaints from neighbors about the condition of the home in September. 

McMurray, 53, turned herself in to police on Thursday and was released on a promise to appear in court. A judge has ordered McMurray not to possess any cats or dogs.

She is expected to be arraigned on Nov. 30. Information on an attorney for McMurray was not immediately available.

Three north San Diego County residents convicted in the grisly, 2012 torture and slaying of a young military wife will be sentenced Thursday.

Former U.S. Marine staff sergeant Louis Perez, 49, along with Dorothy Grace Maraglino, 40, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 28, were convicted last month in the killing of Fallbrook resident Brittany Killgore, 22.
Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
At trial, prosecutors said the trio lived together in a home in Fallbrook where police discovered a sex dungeon with whips, ropes, sex apparatuses, spiked collars and a Taser, among other items, used in their lifestyle of bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism (BDSM).

Prosecutors contended Perez, Maraglino and Lopez killed Killgore "for their own sadistic pleasure," strangling her with the intention of dismembering her.

After deliberating for more than 18 hours over the course of three days, a jury announced its verdict in the trio’s trial on Oct. 21, convicting all three of murder, kidnapping, torture and sexual battery charges. The only charge tossed out by jurors was a conspiracy to kidnap charge against Lopez.

In April 2012, Killgore's body was found naked and strangled in a Riverside County ravine four days after she was reported missing.

According to prosecutors, one of the most chilling details of the case included Killgore’s last text message to a friend on April 13, 2012, in which she texted “Help” shortly after getting into Perez’s truck.

After the verdict was announced in this case, Killgore’s mother, Michelle Wrest, spoke with reporters and praised detectives and prosecutors.

Wrest said her daughter was a beautiful person who got mixed up with the wrong people.

“Our daughter was a beautiful woman inside and out. Unfortunately, she run (sic) across people who were monsters and took her life,” Wrest said. “She is going to be missed for the rest of our lives. We have a lot of family that have to deal with this on a daily basis.”

A North Texas man has dedicated the last year to getting healthy, so imagine his surprise when an insurance company denied him life insurance because of his weight loss.

Gary Roberts said he lost 40 pounds by walking more and eating less. He'd been walking by his wife's side for nearly 54 years and wanted to continue supporting her even when he's not around.

"If something did happen to me, I wanted my wife, Kathy, to be comfortable," he said. "I didn't want her to have to worry about anything."

So Roberts started shopping for an additional life insurance policy. At 73-years-old, he expected to pay a lot. One company did offer him a $50,000 policy, but he didn't take it because he thought the prices were too high.

"I really had gone in just asking for a $100,000 policy, which I didn't think was out of line," he said.

Roberts and his doctor never expected the next company's response, though.

"He was as flabbergasted as I was," Roberts said.

After an in-home medical exam in August, Prudential sent Roberts a denial letter last month that stated "I'm sorry to inform you that we will not be able to offer you a policy because of your weight loss over the last year."

In November of 2014, Roberts said he weighed 278 pounds.

"I now weigh 239 pounds," he said. "So nearly 40 pounds. And that's in about 10 months."

Doctors are telling Roberts he's healthier than ever, including a doctor in his family.

"You can look at those labs and see that that's a healthy individual," Roberts' son Dr. Stockton Roberts said. "You don't need to know his age. You need to look at those labs and say those labs show no tendency at all of a person that has cancer or metabolic problem that's going on that's caused that weight loss."

But the Texas Association of Life and Health Insurers said life insurance products can vary depending on the person's needs. And the Insurance Information Institute said it seems reasonable to reconsider him when they are certain the weight loss can be sustained and not related to a problematic health condition.

"It said in sixth months we will reconsider if your weight loss is not continuing," Roberts said of the denial letter.

So if Roberts doesn't lose any more weight by April, Prudential wrote they will reconsider his application. But for Roberts' family who've watched him change his bad habits, that option is frustrating. Roberts said he has no plans to change his new lifestyle.

"I'll be satisfied with myself that I know that I'm going to be better off whether they say I am or not," he said.

NBC 5's Ellen Bryan reached out to Prudential more than two weeks ago and they said they would look into Roberts' case. Prudential contacted Roberts Wednesday to say he's been approved for life insurance at a rate lower than he was originally quoted.

Discount grocer Aldi Inc. announced that its first San Diego County store is planned for 1750 University Ave. in Vista, though the retailer did not disclose an opening timetable.

Aldi plans to open approximately 25 Southern California stores between March 2016 and July 2016. It expects to be operating approximately 45 Southern California stores by the end of 2016.

With American headquarters in Illinois, Aldi is owned by a German-based family trust and is already well established in the Eastern U.S., operating 1,500 stores in 32 states. The retailer last year announced its plans to expand into California but has not announced specific San Diego County locations other than the Vista site.

Aldi is currently gearing up distribution operations in Moreno Valley in Riverside County, and is known to have submitted paperwork to the city of Escondido related to a potential store in that city.

A new raid was underway later Thursday in Charleville-Mezieres, a French town near the Belgium border around 145 miles northeast of Paris, according to French police. 

A witness told TV station France 3 they had heard explosions.

Authorities also conducted six raids overnight in Brussels, including in the impoverished Molenbeek neighborhood where the suspected Paris attacks leader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, grew up, a spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutor told NBC News.

The raided homes belonged to family and friends of Bilal Hadfi. The 20-year-old was one of three suicide bombers who attacked the Stade de France during a soccer game between France and Germany. One person was arrested, the spokesman said, adding that the operation was "ongoing."

The captain of the French commando unit which stormed the Bataclan concert hall Friday evening can't get memories of the "hell" they encountered there out of his mind — and has been working around the clock to foil further terror attacks, NBC News reported. 

Jeremy — who spoke to NBC News' Lester Holt on the condition his last name was not used — saw on television that "something was going on" and got "the call" at around 9:40 p.m. Within about a half-hour, he and his men were on the scene outside Bataclan, where terrorists had opened fired and seized hostages.

Uniformed police managed to shoot dead one terrorist, but two more remained inside along with what appeared to be hundreds of hostages. Jeremy's unit — the BRI — replaced those officers and took up positions.

"Then we discover like a hell on earth," he said. Glaring concert lights illuminated "blood everywhere" and people laying on the floor — but it was completely quiet, Jeremy recalled.

A helicopter pilot and his friend were killed after their chopper spun out of control and caught fire while landing at McClellan-Palomar Airport Wednesday in Carlsbad, California, officials confirmed.

The pilot was identified as Bruce Allen Erickson, 65, of Rancho Santa Fe. His passenger was identified as Wayne Frank Lewis, 60, of Cardiff by the Sea. Both were confirmed dead at the scene.

Authorities said the pair had been practicing landings when the helicopter's tail hit the ground,.

Video sent to NBC 7 showed the AS350 AStar helicopter after it touched down on the runway at 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday. As its blades continued rotating, the chopper spun round and round for more than a minute before the tail broke off and smoke engulfed it.

According to witnesses, the helicopter continued spinning for another five minutes. When it stopped, both people onboard were dead, Carlsbad Fire officials said.

The airport, located at 2198 Palomar Airport Road, was temporarily closed following the deadly accident. On Thursday morning, officials announced the airport had reopened for helicopter operations amid the NTSB investigation, but the runway remained closed until further notice.

Witness Marlena Niemann posted a video of the scene of the crash to Twitter.

A firefighter told NBC 7 the helicopter is a single-engine AStar, made by the French company Airbus. They are most frequently used in corporate settings.

The man flying the chopper was a new pilot, according to a helicopter instructor who said he knew the victim.

The pilot was trying to land on a helicopter landing cart when the crash occurred, he said. The cart is used to help tow aircrafts into hangars, but if pilots do not land on it correctly, the result can be catastrophic.

"Flying helicopters, what seemed odd is that the engine was still wide open it was traveling..so they didn't turn the throttle off. Why that happened is beyond me," said witness Mark Simo.

Carnell Chappelle, a recreational pilot, was planning to meet his wife and friends for an evening flight out of Palomar. He saw the emergency lights as he drove down the main road and pulled over to the scene.

He told NBC 7 weather would not have played a factor in the crash because winds are calm and skies are clear.

"I feel for the people that this has happened to and the fatalities," Chappelle said. "The flying community, every time we see this, our heart breaks because it's one of our family, one of our own that has perished in this."

The pilot also said because he could detect what smelled like gasoline in the air, it indicated the helicopter probably did not run out of fuel.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate to determine the crash's cause at first light Thursday. That's also when they'll begin removing the aircraft. Fire officials say the cause appears to be landing-related.

A close friend of one of the victims killed in a fiery helicopter crash at Palomar Airport said his friend had an immense passion for flying and died doing what he loved.

“He had a great love for helicopters,” said Marty Reed, referring to his late friend, Wayne Lewis. “He’d be the first one to tell you he was doing what he loved.

Lewis, 60, of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, was killed alongside friend Bruce Allen Erickson, 65, of Rancho Santa Fe, Wednesday when their helicopter spun out of control and caught fire while landing at McClellan Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, Calif., at around 4:20 p.m.

As the blades of the chopper continued to rotate, the aircraft spun for more than one minute before its tail broke off and smoke engulfed it.

Both men were confirmed dead at the scene of the fiery crash, their names released Thursday morning.

The wreckage remained in the runway at the airport Thursday as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continued its investigation into the deadly accident. Pieces of the aircraft were strewn about the runway.

NBC 7 spoke exclusively with Reed about his beloved friend killed in the crash. Tearful, Reed said the incident has left him and his family in a state of utter disbelief and denial.

“We’re numb. We’re in shock,” Reed said, holding back tears. “The world has changed for us.”

Reed said Lewis was like a brother to him and his wife – a man his children referred to as their uncle.

“Wayne was a family member to us. He was one of the people we care most about in the entire world,” Reed told NBC 7. “Wayne affected, in a positive way, the lives of so many people.”

Reed described Lewis as an adventurous, dependable man loved by many.

“He was always there for everyone. He was just a phenomenal person,” he said. “He was fun, positive, upbeat. He was the kind of guy that lit up the room wherever he went.”

Reed said his friend’s sudden death has left a huge hole in his heart, and in the hearts of so others who cared for him.

“He will be truly missed by everyone – just so many people,” Reed cried. “Rest in Peace, my brother.”

NTSB investigators said they will release a preliminary report about the chopper crash within the next 10 days. However, investigators said this is a complex aircraft, so a factual report could take much longer to complete, specifically anywhere from six to nine months.

USD starting quarterback Anthony Lawrence holds multiple school records at Grossmont high school. Now as a redshirt freshman with the Toreros, he's on pace to rewrite the history books at USD.

“This is definitely a quarterback-friendly offense as far as easier reads and easier plays," said Lawrence. "You really have set progressions and it makes it easy on me when they just install the game plan and I just have to pretty much lean off that.”

Lawrence is making it look easy. Through 10 games, he has tossed 21 touchdown passes and only 6 interceptions.

But he was not even supposed to be the starting quarterback this year.

“Well, Anthony is a big surprise (this season),” said USD head coach Dale Lindsey. “He was our backup quarterback going into the first game. Our starter got hurt and he showed right away that the (college) game wasn’t too big for him. And that was against a very good San Diego State team.”

“My coaches pushed me and really kept pushing me even when I wasn’t playing and I was just running the scout (team)," added Lawrence. "(Assistant) Coach (Tanner) Engstrand was saying “keep working on your stuff. Keep working on your fundamentals and you’re going to get an opportunity.”

In just a couple months, Lawrence and his teammates have already combined to post some eye-popping numbers.

He threw four TD passes in each of his first two starts and last month against Stetson, he racked up 453 passing yards in a road victory.

“It’s great having a guy like him. He’s a natural born leader,” said USD wide receiver and Rancho Bernardo HS alum Brian Riley. “He gets on the field and he takes control. He’s definitely not scared to throw the ball so it’s nice as a wide receiver to have a quarterback like that who can run the offense as well as he does.”

“He has the know-how to play quarterback and it’s something that you don’t teach,” added Lindsey. “You either have it or you don’t have it. They call it instincts – well, he’s got the QB instincts, and he’s a good competitor on top of it.”

Staying close to home, the La Mesa native remains motivated by the people closest to him.

“I really wanted to have my family watch me play because I know my family loves watching me play and I love their support so I really wanted to get out (on the field) in front of my family and friends again and play so they definitely kept pushing me to work hard.”

“So I was just really, really happy to get an opportunity and I felt blessed.”

USD is 8-and-1 since Lawrence assumed the starting job with the only blemish coming in a one-point loss to Dayton. He holds the school records for most passing yards and touchdown tosses at Grossmont High, so if he stays healthy, Lawrence has a chance to catch Mason Mills – who holds USD’s career record for most passing yards with 11,099. But let’s not look too far into the future.

The 8-and-2 Toreros are on a five-game winning streak and can finish the season with a perfect home record if they beat Butler Saturday.

The woman who blew herself up during an anti-terror police raid outside of Paris has been identified as a Moroccan immigrant named Hasna Aitboulahcen.

French authorities have not publicly identified her but the Associated Press cited three anonymous police officials. 

As police raided an apartment building in Saint-Denis to search for suspects responsible for planning the Paris massacre last week, the woman detonated a suicide vest.

The mayor of Creutzwalk, where Aitboulahcen lived for some time, told NBC News her family arrived in the region in 1973 before she was born in 1989. The mayor told the Associated Press that Aitboulahcen and her two brothers and sister spent some time in foster care.

Former neighbors told Reuters she'd been mistreated as a child, renounced Islam, and was seen drinking, smoking and doing drugs.
 

Donald Trump and John Kasich ended up in a Twitter fight Thursday after a super PAC backing the Ohio governor was launching an ad blitz against the billionaire Republican candidate, NBC News reported.

Pro-Kasich New Day for America PAC is planning to air radio, TV, mail and online ads in New Hampshire, where Trump has a wide lead.

The line of attack is one that hasn't yet been tried on Trump: Arguing he's inexperienced and unsuited for the demands of the White House. According to Politico, the group's first ad invokes the Paris attacks and ties Trump to President Obama, declaring, "On-the-job training for president does not work." The ads are sure to be hard-hitting since the man behind them, Fred Davis, is known for effective political spots.

Trump unleaded a dozen tweets dismissing Kasich because of his standing in the polls.

Trump’s general counsel also threatened to sue the Kasich campaign and New Day over the ads.
 

According to a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll, Donald Trump has the frontrunner spot to himself, with 28 percent support among Republican and independent voters who lean Republican.

Support for Ben Carson, who was tied with Trump in last month's online poll, has fallen off by 8 points and the former neurosurgeon is now tied with Ted Cruz at 18 percent. 

Trailing not too far behind is Marco Rubio, at 11percent. Jeb Bush polled at 4 percent and Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina each 3 had percent.

The NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll was conducted nationwide of 5,775 adults, including 2,440 Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Overall results have an error estimate of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points and the error estimate for the leaned Republican voters is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was released on parole in the United States after 30 years in prison, Reuters reported. 

He was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 1987 of passing reams of classified information to Israel, a case that caused a serious strain in relations between Israel and the U.S.

"The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard," Netanyahu said in a statement. "After three long and difficult decades, Jonathan has been reunited with his family."

A former U.S. Navy analyst, Pollard must remain in the United States for five years as part of conditions of his release. 

His release was announced by the Israeli government and confirmed early Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bernie Sanders has reached his highest level of support this year in the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll.

He is now the preferred candidate of 33 percent of Democratic and independent voters who lean Democratic. However, he still trails Hillary Clinton by 16 points, and his slight gain of 3 points since last month's poll is barely perceptible and within the poll's error estimate of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Martin O'Malley has struggled to make any kind of impact on Democratic voters, despite now having been on a national debate stage twice with his rivals.

The latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll was conducted Sunday through Tuesday among 5,755 adults nationwide, including 1,983 Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic. Overall results have an error estimate of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points and the error estimate for the leaned Democratic voters is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Hasna Aitboulahcen, the woman who is believed to have blown herself up with an explosive vest in a suburban Paris apartment during a police operation Wednesday, was far from the world's first female suicide bomber.

While most suicide bombers are men, Islamic militant groups have occasionally deployed women to carry out such attacks. Long before the rise of Islamic radicalism, female suicide bombers were used by separatist groups in the Arab world and beyond.

A look at female suicide bombers over the years:

LEBANON, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES AND ISRAEL

 During Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000, several women belonging to leftist groups blew themselves up while targeting Israeli forces.

Among those was Sanaa Mheidly, 17, who blew up a car rigged with explosives in an Israeli convoy in 1985, killing and wounding more than a dozen Israeli soldiers. She became the most prominent and the first to carry out such an attack in the Arab world.

In the Palestinian territories, about a dozen women have carried out suicide attacks against Israelis since 2002.

Wafa Idris, a 27-year-old Palestinian paramedic, blew herself up in downtown Jerusalem on Jan. 27, 2002. It was unclear if she planned to commit suicide or whether explosives she was carrying went off prematurely. An 81-year-old Israeli man also was killed in that incident.

___

AL-QAIDA IN IRAQ

A decade ago, al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi sent four members of his group — which would later morph into the Islamic State group — to carry out bombings in his home country of Jordan.

In that Nov. 9, 2005, assault, Sajida al-Rishawi and her newlywed husband, Ali al-Shamari, entered the ground-floor ballroom of Amman's Radisson SAS hotel where hundreds of people were celebrating a wedding. Al-Shamari set off his explosive belt in the crowd. Al-Rishawi fled.

Al-Zarqawi later claimed responsibility for the attack and mentioned a woman being involved, leading Jordanian officials to arrest al-Rishawi. Several days later, she appeared on Jordanian state television, opening a body-length overcoat to reveal two crude explosive belts.

Al-Rishawi was executed earlier this year after IS militants killed 1st Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, whose Jordanian warplane was shot down over Syria in December.

___

TURKEY

Kurdish women have carried out several suicide attacks in Turkey since the 1980s, as have female members of groups in their campaign against the government. The most recent attack occurred Jan. 6, when an outlawed group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at an Istanbul police station that killed an officer and wounded another. Authorities said the female bomber entered the building in the tourist district of Sultanahmet and blew herself up. In an online statement, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, said it carried out the attack.

___

RUSSIA

Female suicide bombers from Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus were common enough that they became known as "black widows" in Russia. Many were the wives of or otherwise related to Islamic militants killed by government forces in their effort to suppress the separatist movement. Two of those women were to blame for the 2010 bombings of the Moscow metro, which killed about 40 people.

___

NIGERIA

In Nigeria, suicide bombings blamed on the militant group Boko Haram increasingly have been carried out by women and girls, some as young as 10. Unlike many of the bombers used by IS in Iraq and Syria, however, there are concerns that the Nigerians are being deployed against their will. A military bomb-disposal expert has told The Associated Press that many of the explosives in those blasts are detonated remotely, suggesting that insurgents are strapping bombs to captive women who are sent to their deaths.

___

SRI LANKA AND INDIA

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels deployed multiple female suicide bombers as part of a more than two decade insurgency. Their bombing campaign against political, military and economic targets was aimed at creating an independent state for the ethnic minority Tamils. A Tamil woman blew herself up in 1991 in southern India, killing Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

___

AFGHANISTAN

Female suicide bombers are rare in Afghanistan, though one such attack was carried out by an elderly woman in Kunar province in 2010.

___

ISLAMIC STATE GROUP 

IS releases video and photos of men who carry out suicide missions, but they have never posted images of any such attacks by women. Female fighters are active in the group, however, and have a brigade known as Khansaa. In 2010, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who was then the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq group, said after a Shura Council meeting that women should not carry out suicide attacks. Current IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who replaced him, is believed to still abide by the rule.

Mia Bloom, a Georgia State University professor and author of "Bombshell: Women and Terrorism," said IS told women in October that they could blow themselves up if they are raided in their house. "She can detonate it without anyone's permission," Bloom said. 

Witnesses recalled watching a motorcyclist kick the door of a car before the driver struck and killed the rider in what prosecutors say was a fit of road rage.

The preliminary hearing for Darla Jackson, 26, revealed new details Thursday about what led up to the crash that killed U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Zachary Buob on May 28.

On the stand, witness Charmaine Ramilo described watching Buob on his red Ducati motorcycle as he moved into the fast lane of traffic, heading north on Interstate 5 in Chula Vista.

Ramilo testified that a dark-colored Nissan Altima, driven by Jackson, sped up and passed Buob in the same lane. Jackson veered onto the left shoulder to do it.

According to Ramilo, Jackson got within about two feet of Buob to pass him.

"The rider (Buob) kinda shook his head, and he was just shaking about like, ‘What was that about?’” Ramilo said. “And then he sped up in the 2nd lane, trying to catch up to her.”

Daniel Kenley was driving a couple cars back. According to his testimony, he saw the motorcyclist pull alongside the car and start shaking his pointer finger at Jackson in a “scolding manner.”

The Nissan swerved to the right in the motorcycle’s direction, so Buob veered right to avoid being hit, Kenley testified.

Buob then kicked the passenger side door with his left foot, multiple witnesses said, and darted off, with Jackson on his tail.

William Touch, another witness who was riding in the same car as Ramilo, told the court Thursday that Jackson swerved to hit Buob several times.

“The biker sped up to try to get back into the #1 lane in front of the car, but the car continued to speed up to try to make sure that didn’t happen,” said Touch.

Trying to reach the State Route 54 off-ramp, Buob cut across all lanes, and Jackson followed closely behind. Kenley said he had to take the SR-54 exit as well, so he followed the two.

“About 100 yards up ahead of me, I see a lot of brake lights and a big dust cloud,” he described.

Kenley did not see the impact between Buob and Jackson, but when he reached the crash site, he pulled over to see if he could help and give his statement to officials.

He described seeing Buob lying on the ground with one person doing chest compressions on him, another person holding his head and a third putting pressure on a leg wound.

He then saw Jackson “hysterical, pacing back and forth, walking around in circles,” Kenley testified. He said he may have heard Jackson say that she was just trying to get Buob’s license plate number.

CHP officials previously told NBC 7 Jackson had hit Buob from behind and ran him over. He died an hour later at a hospital.

At her arraignment, Jackson's attorney said his client and Buob accidentally collided when they ran into traffic. He said his client is sorry for what happened.

Jackson faces one count of murder in his death.

With as many as 100,000 Twitter accounts belonging to ISIS recruiters or supporters, the terrorist organization has created a virtual army. In response, the hacking community is arming itself to fight back.

“I think we could do a really good job at competing and in some cases preventing the stuff that’s happening in the U.S.,” said computer scientist and hacker Tim Newberry.

They won’t use guns, bombs or military, but it will take an army of soldiers who understand the power of 140 characters, the significance of a 60-second YouTube video and the reach of social media.

“It’s critical,” said Newberry, one of the founders of White Canvas Group, a technology solutions incubator. “That’s how they fundraise, how they recruit. That’s how they communicate their message.”

ISIS has used social media to its advantage more than any other terrorist group. ISIS recruiters use Facebook, Twitter and encrypted apps to lure young people from all over the world to join their growing army. It’s happened in Colorado, Virginia and here in Chicago.

“They start right in the open, right in front of our faces,” Newberry said. “We can watch them quickly transition, because they’re very smart, into a lot of actually highly encrypted communication.”

Newberry’s company developed software that identifies ISIS recruiters. His research has exposed hundreds of recruiting sites, some of which have already been shut down or altered by other organizations.

“It’s telling us with 95 to 100 percent accuracy,” he said. “This is a bad guy. This is a bad guy. This is a bad guy, in real time.”

Newberry hopes the hacking community will embrace the idea and help shut down the ISIS recruiting pipeline. The idea is not such a stretch.

After the recent terrorist attack in Paris, the hacktivist group Anonymous released videos in English, French and Italian declaring war on ISIS.

There’s also the controversial, patriotic hacker known only as the Jester. He claims to have taken down thousands of terrorist-run websites since 2010. During a rare online interview this week, he told NBC 5 Investigates that recruiters are using more encrypted apps and that he’s focusing on infiltrating those.

As for Newberry, he hopes to identify these recruiters before they go underground with encrypted apps.

“Once they transition from the open into that kind of closed world, you have no ability to communicate or even see their communication.

Newberry plans to release the software for free to the hacking community, in hopes it can do what the government has not been able to do - shut down the ISIS pipeline.