A National Transportation Safety Board report offers new details into the fatal collision between an airplane and a car traveling on Interstate 15 a year ago this month.

One person was crushed to death and five were injured when the single-engine, two-seat Lancair IV crashed into a car on I-15 near State Route 76 on April 2, 2016.

The collision happened on a Saturday morning just after 9 a.m. on the highway 50 miles north of downtown San Diego.

Dennis Hogge, 62, of Jamul and his wife Celeste Hogge suffered serious injuries in the crash. The couple had just taken off from Gillespie Field and were headed to French Valley Airport in the Murrieta/Temecula area.

After taking off everything was good and then Dennis Hogge told her “’This is not looking good,’” Celest told investigators according to documents released by the NTSB.

“I put my left arm around his shoulder and say, ‘We can do this baby,’” she told investigators

Dennis Hogge wrote in the preliminary accident report that the couple was heading to breakfast when the “engine stopped” moments after taking off.

He said he had “no memory” of the day of the crash but told investigators it appears he tried to land gear up to avoid running off the runway and flipping the plane.

However, he made a decision to land on the nearby highway.

“There were lots of people at field, so decided to land on freeway to avoid people on airstrip,” he wrote in the report.

When the plane made contact with the ground, the landing gear retracted, investigators said.

“The airplane slid for 272 feet, and there were no scars for another 308 feet until the airplane impacted the car. The two vehicles then moved another 100 feet together as a merged unit,” the NTSB report states.

Investigators said the probably cause for the plane's loss of engine power "could not be determined because examination of the airplane did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation," according to the report.

At the time, California Highway Patrol officers said they learned from one witness that they didn't hear the engine of the plane.

Antoinette Frances Isbelle, 38, was sitting in the back passenger seat of a vehicle that had stopped on the shoulder of I-15. Isbelle was crushed to death at impact.

The driver of the vehicle had pulled over to sync his Bluetooth when the plane crash landed in the fourth lane of the freeway. The driver and two passengers were injured in the collision as well.

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly was officially pushed out at the network. This comes after O'Reilly had paid out more than $13 million to five different women over allegations of sexual harassment. In a statement, 21st Century Fox said, "After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel." O'Reilly has denied any wrongdoing.

Authorities are investigating an alleged stalker who showed up at Malia Obama's workplace in Manhattan on three separate days earlier this month with a sign proposing marriage, law enforcement sources said. 

Jair Nilton Cardoso appeared at locations where the elder daughter of the 44th president was interning on April 10, 11 and 12, the sources said. In the first instance he even slipped past security at a building in Tribeca, got to the fourth floor and begged Malia to marry him, according to the sources.

He reportedly wanted to marry Malia so he could get to former President Barack Obama and ask for some kind of help for his country, sources said. He hasn't made any verbal threats to her, according to sources, but the frequent run-ins have raised concerns. 

The Secret Service detained Cardoso and took him to the NYPD's First Precinct, which in turn referred him to Kings County Hospital for evaluation, according to the sources. No charges were pending against him Wednesday evening, sources said. 

Malia Obama still qualifies for Secret Service protection under a recently signed executive order. 

Former NYPD sergeant and FBI special agent Manny Gomez said there is reasonable fear for Malia's safety and that is the classification of stalking under New York State law. 

"I'm sure an order of protection will be served in the not so distance future," Gomez said. 

It was not immediately clear where Cardoso was as of late afternoon Wednesday. The NYPD referred inquiries to the Secret Service, who said "we don't discuss our protective operations." 

The Manhattan district attorney's office declined comment.

There were media reports that Cardoso was known to the Secret Service from previous appearances at the White House during the Obama administration, though he has no record of arrests, according to court information, in Washington, D.C.

Facebook on Wednesday unveiled a research project that will allow people to type using their thoughts, or hear through their skin, NBC News reported.

Such a product could allow the deaf and blind to communicate more easily — or allow everyone else "to type five times faster than you can on a smartphone," according to Regina Dugan, the head of Facebook's Building 8 research.

These efforts raise hard questions related to patient privacy, as any brain-to-text system will essentially read a person's unspoken thoughts.

Dugan, speaking at the company's annual developer conference in San Jose, California, acknowledged some of these issues in her talk, which was laced with terms more akin to a science fiction movie or a conversation among physicists.

A San Diego woman accused in the 2011 hanging death of her millionaire ex-husband's girlfriend at a California mansion was seen on surveillance video at the time of the murder, an attorney representing the plaintiffs said Wednesday.

Dina Shacknai spoke with NBC 7 two years ago and said the lawsuit accusing her of murder "makes no sense.”

Shacknai spoke exclusively to NBC 7 about the deaths of her son Max Shacknai and Rebecca Zahau at the Spreckels Coronado mansion. The child and his father's girlfriend died within hours of each other in July 2011.

The medical examiner ruled Zahau's death a suicide and Max's death an accident as a result of a fall from a staircase in the home. Zahau was the only person home at the time of the child's fall.

In a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit, Zahau's family claimed Max's mother, his aunt Nina Romano and his uncle Adam Shacknai, his father's brother, conspired to kill Zahau.

NBC 7 Investigates obtained video from Attorney Greer, who got it from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department after several years of trying he says. It shows Dina Shacknai was inside Rady Children's Hospital when Zahau died.

Attorney Greer says the video changed his mind about the death of Rebecca Zahau.

"Previously we had an eye witness who was adamant putting Dina at the scene of the murder,” Greer said.

Greer said it took him years to get the security camera footage from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, which investigated Zahau's death, and called it a suicide.

“When these pictures came out, you can't refute them," he said.

While he is still adamant Zahau was murdered, he now says Dina Shacknai was not the killer.

Greer also dropped Dina's sister, Nina Romano, from the lawsuit, after she provided information he says cleared her.

The amended lawsuit now names just one suspect, in Zahau's death: Max's uncle.

“That leaves one defendant Adam Shacknai,” Greer said.

In his first court filings, attorney Greer claimed Adam Shacknai hanged Zahau's naked body over the mansion's balcony.

“We now allege he's the one that confronted Rebecca, he's the one that made her scream for help and he's the one who hit her on the back of the head knocking her unconscious,” Greer said.

Adam Shacknai and the other defendants in this wrongful death lawsuit have vehemently denied any involvement in Zahau's death.

But Zahau's family won't stop looking for evidence to show Rebecca would never kill herself.

“They want us to find and expose the killer and I think that's we are going to do in this trial," Greer said.

Max, 6, died following a fall inside his father Jonah Shacknai's Coronado mansion on July 11, 2011.

The only person there at the time was Rebecca Zahau, Jonah's girlfriend who, just two days after Max's fall, was found nude, bound and hanging from the mansion's second-story balcony.

When it comes to pot, the puns are endless.

Thursday’s official marijuana holiday, dubbed 420 by enthusiasts, is reaching new highs (get it?) this year. Cannabis advocates have vowed to pass marijuana cigarettes and voluntarily get arrested on the nation’s capital during their first annual "JointSession."

Advocacy group DCMJ, which spearheaded legalization of cannabis in D.C., will be leading the free giveaway. They will be offering joints to members of Congress, staffers, journalists, interns and Capitol Hill workers 21 years of age and older. Basically anyone with a valid congressional ID can get free weed.

The twist?

Depending on where the advocates are standing, this action could be completely legal because they will not be charging for the goods. D.C.’s Initiative 71 legalized possession of the plant but not its sale. People living in the District can grow up to six plants inside their home or purchase medical marijuana if they have a qualifying condition. Money cannot be exchanged for recreational cannabis.

Organizers of the JointSession are calling on House Speaker Paul Ryan to reauthorize the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prohibits the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency from using funds to interfere with D.C. and state medical marijuana laws. The measure is set to expire April 28.

DCMJ is also asking Congress to end the federal prohibition against marijuana and allow states to determine their own laws moving forward.

“Congressional inaction and leaving harmful laws on the books isn’t any way to run a government. It is irresponsible,” said Adam Eidinger, DCMJ cofounder. “If these members of Congress ask themselves who has the most to lose from ending the war on cannabis, it isn’t the American people.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has expressed his opposition to legalized marijuana, saying "I'm not sure we're going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana sold at every corner grocery store."

The so-called JointSession will take place Thursday from noon to 4:20 p.m.

Philadelphia's 420 celebrations likely won't be as high profile. There are events planned at One Art Community Center in West Philadelphia, a pipe exhibit at Creep House Records in Northern Liberties and a High Times dance party at Coda in Center City. 

This isn't the first time DCMJ is giving away free marijuana. The organization handed out thousands of free joints in D.C. on Jan. 20 for President Donald Trump's inauguration day.

Court proceedings were postponed Wednesday for the U.S. Navy sailor accused of driving drunk and crashing into a crowded park beneath the Coronado Bridge in San Diego last fall, killing four people.

A preliminary hearing for Richard Anthony Sepolio, 25, was set to take place but the San Diego County District Attorney's Office confirmed the proceedings would be continued to another date.

Sepolio, an active duty service member stationed in Coronado, has been jailed since October 2016. In early November 2016, a San Diego judge rejected a request from Sepolio's attorney to release the suspect into the care of the U.S. military, ordering him to stay in jail. That day, the judge set Sepolio's bail at $2 million.

On Oct. 15, 2016, Sepolio was behind the wheel of his truck when his vehicle plunged 60 feet off the Coronado Bridge transition ramp, landing on a large crowd below in Chicano Park. 

Four people were killed in the fiery, chaotic crash: Cruz Elias Contreras, 52; AnnaMarie Contreras, 50; Andre Christopher Banks, 49; Francine Denise Jimenez, 46.

The victims were part of a large group attending the La Raza Ride motorcycle festival being held at Chicano Park that day.

Sepolio was seriously hurt in the crash, suffering injuries to his back, ribs and hands.

Prosecutors said his injuries prevented officials from performing an accurate breathalyzer test and that blood drawn later provided a more accurate measurement. An hour after the initial tests, a blood sample was drawn and Sepolio's BAC was measured at .08. Prosecutors have also said Sepolio was distracted behind the wheel, sending a text message on his cellphone.

Sepolio's defense, San Diego attorney Paul Pfingst, known for his work on high-profile cases, has argued that his client was not drunk and was not texting.

"The breath tests that were taken shortly after the accident show that his blood alcohol level was below the legal limit,” Pfingst said in court last year.

The defense attorney also said Sepolio took his cellphone out after he crashed to call for help but he was not texting prior to that.

Sepolio pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to the fatal crash, including four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and counts of driving under the influence causing injury or death.

Pfingst said that prior to this, Sepolio had no criminal record and had been proudly serving his country. The attorney has argued that Sepolio was "forced off the bridge by another vehicle," which ultimately led to the tragic crash.

However, in prior court proceedings, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office maintained there is no evidence the defendant was forced off the bridge.

If convicted on all counts, Sepolio could face a maximum sentence of 23 years and eight months in prison.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles office in San Ysidro sustained "considerable" damage to equipment and the building after someone broke in to the office early Wednesday.

Officers carrying non-lethal weapons surrounded the building on Business Center Court just after 5 a.m. The location, considered one of the busiest DMV locations in the state, is less than five miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

When law enforcement officers first arrived, glass in the front door was shattered and the security alarm was activated.

San Diego California Highway Patrol Officer Armando Casas said units observed a suspect inside the office, there was movement so they secured the building.

The man was spraying a fire extinguisher in the direction of the officers, Casas said.

Officers set up a perimeter and armed themselves with non-lethal weapons.

“Because we had time on our side we were able to prepare for not only non-lethal force but less deadly source,” Casas said. “It’s not a split-second decision so we have time to prep for a better outcome.”

Approximately 30 minutes later, officers were about to enter and the suspect opened the rear door and the officers were able to take him into custody at that time.

There was no use of force, Casas said.

No one was injured and the building was cleared.

One employee went inside with CHP officers to identify any items that may have been moved, damaged or missing.

CHP will conduct the investigation since it is a state building.

The DMV released the following statement:

"The San Ysidro DMV field office remains closed to the public. However, the only two services being offered outside the building include drive tests for customers that had appointments. (Drive tests require appointments). The second service is vehicle verifications. Otherwise, the office remains closed to the public while CHP and DMV investigators assess the situation. DMV staff has been deployed to nearby DMV offices in Chula Vista and San Diego Clairemont."

Approximately 20 units of various law enforcement agencies responded to the call.

The DMV office is located north of Interstate 905 and east of Interstate 805. It's less than two miles east of several schools.

The families and victims seriously hurt in an intentional 2016 Pacific Beach hit-and-run faced the man who ran them over, forgiving him for what he did. 

"Omar, I forgive you, because I am a mother, but let's not forget I could have been walking in here today as a mother who lost a child because of a callous decision you made," said Marcie Thomas, the mother of one of the victims, in court. 

Omar Gutierrez, 24, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for felony hit-and-run in connection with a fall 2016 hit-and-run in Pacific Beach. 

Prosecutors said Gutierrez got into a fight with J'Ron Erby, 23, a recent college graduate and an intern for the San Diego Chargers, and his roommates as they were returning from celebrating a birthday. 

He then tracked them down in his car and ran them over. The defense attorney for Gutierrez said his client was suffering from a concussion caused by an altercation between the whole group of defendants and victims at the time when he made the decision to run over three people.

The crash left Erby comatose and brain damaged. During the sentencing, Erby told the court he still struggles to this day to find words for basic everyday things. 

During the sentencing, Erby spoke about how hard it was to lose everything when his lift was on a perfect trajectory. 

"Imagine waking up and you can't walk," Erby said in court. "Not figuratively, and you literally can't use your legs. You want to ask for help but there's a tube in your throats so you can't talk."

Erby's mother, a former police officer and a current mental health professional, told the court she had to pour everything she learned in school into pulling Erby out of a deep depression. 

"My baby couldn't talk," she said in the emotional victim impact statement. "He couldn't walk and he looked like he was just going to give up."

Despite all he had to overcome, Erby said, he found it in his heart to forgive his aggressor, Gutierrez. Other victims and family members stunned Judge Timothy Walsh Wednesday, giving similar messages.

Walsh said it was a testament to the family's character, that they used their time in court to offer words of forgiveness to Gutierrez. 

"I'm confident that I've never had a victim before me that I have more confidence that he's going to be the competitor he's always been and overcome this. He's an impressive impressive young man," he said in court.

The Navy and the Marine Corps have officially banned service members from distributing intimate photos without the consent of the person depicted — a move that comes in the wake of a nude photo scandal that rocked the military last month, NBC News reported.

The Navy Times, which first reported the story, said the revision was made public in an all-Navy message on Tuesday. The revision was dated Monday.

The images cannot be distributed with the intention to "realize personal gain," humiliate or harass the person depicted, or with "reckless disregard" to whether the person would be humiliated or harmed, according to the revision.

The Navy told NBC News that the article adds a potential charge for "failure to obey order or regulation" to the charges that can be used against an alleged suspect.

A federal lawsuit brought by a so-called "Dreamer" deported to Mexico has been assigned to District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the jurist famously attacked last year by President Donald Trump.

Juan Manuel Montes, 23, filed a complaint Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging the government did not provide any documentation explaining the legality of sending him back to Mexico.

The suit seeks documents related to his case, NBC News reported.

The case was assigned at random to Curiel, the Indiana-born judge whose impartiality during the Trump University case was called into question by Trump   due to what the then-candidate called Curiel's "Mexican heritage."

The deployment of the Carl Vinson Strike Group will be extended for at least 30 days as the ship heads to the Korean Peninsula. 

Rear Admiral Jim Kilby, Commander, Carrier Strike Group One made the announcement public on the carrier’s Facebook page.

The letter reads, in part: "Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the Waters off the Korean Peninsula. While all of us look forward to being connected with our friends and families, our nation requires us to be its flexible force."

Families of those deployed aboard the Vinson tell NBC7 they are a bit concerned.

One Navy spouse and mother, Merrill, whose husband is deployed with the strike group, said she tries to focus on the positive. 

"They're just out there, doing their jobs, and I know that they all know what they have to do and are very well trained, so I try not to get too nervous," she said. 

President Trump made it sound as if the carrier strike group was moving immediately to the Korean Peninsula in an interview last week following increased tensions with North Korea. 

However, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis did not quite characterize it that way, 

"The Vinson, as I said on the record, was operating up-and-down the western Pacific and we're doing exactly what we said, and that is we are shifting her instead of continuing one direction as she pulled out of Singapore,” he told reporters overseas in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

"The bottom line is in our effort to always be open about what we're doing, we said that we were going to change the Vinson's upcoming schedule," Mattis said.  

A man, suspected in a fatal hit and run in Lincoln Park pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday.

Darius Runnells, 22, is facing felony hit and run charges causing a death.

Runnells turned himself in Tue., April 11 around 1:45 p.m., San Diego Police (SDPD) said.

He is accused of being behind the wheel during a hit and run on the 1200 block of South 47th Street on April 5, which resulted in the death of 57-year-old Ruben Meza.

Police said Meza had just parked his car and was heading to his apartment nearby where he lived with his wife when he was hit.

Last week, NBC 7 learned Runnells' driving privileges had been suspended more than a year ago for driving without a license, traffic infraction and failure to appear in court, according to records from the Department of Motor Vehicle.

Police said at the time of the fatal crash, Runnells' had been driving a Toyota Corolla registered to his mother, who lives just around the block from where Meza was killed.

Two days after the incident, the car was discovered a mile away in the Valencia Park neighborhood.

Runnells' bail was set at $50,000. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.

Two teenagers were arrested after they allegedly assaulted a 7-Eleven clerk in Chula Vista during a robbery Wednesday night.

According to the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD), the incident occurred around 7 p.m. inside a 7-Eleven on 4th Avenue and H Street.

Three teenagers went into the store and stole a 12-pack of beer. The suspects also assaulted the clerk, police said.

Officers located two of the suspects near the courthouse on 3rd Avenue and H Street. After a struggle, the two teens ran away but were eventually arrested in separate locations nearby.

The clerk was not seriously injured, police said.

No other information was available.

A Ramona man was sentenced to eight and half years in federal prison on Monday for tax evasion and fleeing on the eve of a trial, the U.S. Attorney's office confirmed.

Louis Joseph Vadino, 75, was convicted of tax evasion and making false statements to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigators. He had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of passport fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, conspiracy and failure to appear in court.

In 2006, after a tax audit, the IRS demanded $1.2 million in additional taxes relating to Vadino's 1999 tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. But Vadino did not pay the taxes and hid his assets for IRS special agents using offshore accounts.

“While repeatedly telling the IRS that he had no money to pay his outstanding tax liability, he was buying cars, expensive model airplanes, and a nearly million-dollar home," Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra R. Brown said in a statement.

Vadino was indicted on tax evasion charges in 2012.

On the eve of his trial in 2013, he cut off his ankle bracelet and ran away. He was taken into custody a year later, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

"While pending trial on the tax charges, he engaged in a series of calculated acts designed to avoid justice, which included obtaining a birth certificate, military discharge papers and a Veteran Affairs identification card to conceal his true identity," Brown said.

Vadino was found to own the IRS $4.7 million, including the $1.2 million from his 1999 tax return.

He was sentenced to 102 months in prison.

Steven Ness, a 45-year-old Long Beach resident was also sentenced to more than four months in prison for helping Vadino.

If you’ve been out hiking recently, this won’t surprise you: San Diego County is seeing a near record spring for rattlesnake sightings, according to numbers released Wednesday.

Already this year, the County's Department of Animal Services responded to 305 snake calls, most of them from around homes and businesses. It's the second most calls they've had during this same time period over the past 17 years.

The only other peak year came in 2015, when county officials received 310 calls between January and April of that year.

And it’s not just the deserts that are experiencing an influx in slithering sightings. Just this week, a couple hiking Torrey Pines captured video of a large rattlesnake they encountered on the trail.

“They’re there,” said local resident Karen Moreland. “We’ve seen them before on many trails, but you just want to be sure you’re walking, being aware, listening because usually you’re going to hear them before you see them.

Animal Services officials say the best thing wary homeowners can do is to make sure their property is clear of mice and rats, which of course attract hungry snakes.

So why this year? Officials couldn't pinpoint an exact reason, though they believe an increasing number of snake sightings is correlated to the growing number of homes built in snake territory.

Officials also believe there will be even more snake calls next year. Here’s why: this year’s extra rain will bring more grass and food for mice and rats. More mice and rats will mean predators will reproduce at a larger number.

An investigation into a toxic plume in an El Cajon neighborhood has been turned over to California's Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC).

A spokesperson for DTSC confirmed the transition to NBC 7 on Wednesday.

In Oct. 2016, the San Diego Water Board informed residents living on the 700 block of Greenfield Drive of voluntary testing for possible contaminants in the air and groundwater.

Read that notice here.

According to DTSC, the contaminants came from Ketema/AMETEK, an aerospace manufacturing facility that has been operating since the 1950s on Greenfield Drive.

The contamination was discovered after testing in 1987--environmental agencies have been monitoring the soil and groundwater since and have been taking steps to clean up the contamination.

AMETEK has installed a groundwater remediation system at the facility on Greenfield Drive to reduce the concentration of chemicals in the water.

On Wednesday, DTSC informed NBC 7, the investigation, done by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), was in the transition process to their agency.

According to the spokesperson, DTSC has "more specialized resources (staff) to deal with the contamination from the site" and will take over.

At this point, it is unknown the number of properties impacted by the toxic plume.

In a statement, the spokesperson said:

Investigation of the soil vapor plume began at the fence line between Magnolia Elementary School and the surrounding community in September 2016 under the oversight of the RWQCB, and has been extended since then to the West and North, which is the direction of groundwater and contaminant flow. Additional investigation has included soil vapor sampling further to the North and West, and indoor air sampling at some residences of the mobile home parks. The future extent of soil vapor and indoor air testing will be determined based on sampling results, which are under review by DTSC. The Department is in the process of communicating the results of the preliminary investigations with the property owners and residents of the area.

Danger.

Uncertainty.

Stress.

They go with the territory for first responders.

That’s up-front.

What often comes later, unexpectedly, are mental health issues.

“You’re dealing with traumatic stuff and the worst days of people’s lives over and over and over again,” says Detective Jack Schaeffer, vice president of the San Diego Police Officers Assn. “And you feel it.”

Do first responders come forward with their troubling memories? Do enough get help? Or do they just keep to themselves, rather than be thought of as weak?

Public safety jobs can take quite a toll on people -- mentally as well as physically.

Sometimes the mental toll really doesn't get accounted for.

For police officers and sheriff's deputies, lifeguards, medics and nurses, there's no shortage of events that can leave impressions that are hard on the heart and mind.

There's a risk to letting them fester.

"I think that a lot of us just learn how to compartmentalize things, put things away,” Schaeffer told NBC 7 in an interview Wednesday. “You have to deal with things in the moment. You have to react and respond to crises and stuff."

But down the road, what can't be compartmentalized -- or hasn't been -- may get in the way of long-term coping.

In a just-released, nationwide Harris Poll survey of more than 2,000 first responders, commissioned by the University of Phoenix, 85 percent reported mental health symptoms.

One-third reported actual diagnoses of depression or PTSD.

Seven out of ten said mental health services are "seldom or never utilized" by their organizations.

Four out of ten cited "repercussions for seeking help at work".

That's hard to imagine among big-city law enforcement departments, where "wellness" programs are common -- and confidential.

But it's not hard to imagine that some first responders don't want it widely known that they have gone into counseling.

Mental health professionals see that as plainly unhealthy.

They prescribe treatment before problems lead to deep depression or destructive behavior.

“It's really to be expected that you're going to need some kind of intervention,” says psychologist Barbara Burt, social sciences director at the University of Phoenix’s San Diego campus.

“After all, when somebody has ongoing physical trauma, you send them to a physical therapist or a physician, and they get some help."

San Diego's police and fire departments are praised for doing more with fewer people than other big cities put in the field.

But the rank-and-file first responders who have spoken with NBC 7 over the years say understaffing adds to stress levels -- and the number of traumatic incidents they deal with.

A driver, getting a ticket from a San Diego police parking enforcement officer, rammed the officer's vehicle and knocked it over.

The officer was injured in the confrontation that happened on Prospect Street near Eads Avenue in La Jolla just after noon Wednesday.

San Diego Police Officer Billy Hernandez told NBC 7 the parking enforcement officer was issuing a ticket when the person getting the ticket got angry and struck the officer's vehicle with their own vehicle.

The driver was identified as 42-year-old Peter Dreier.

The impact caused the parking officer's vehicle to flip over on its side while the he was still inside. 

Police said the Dreier's vehicle, a red Saab, was parked in a commercial loading zone.

Dreier ran from the scene but returned to the scene and turned himself into officers, Hernandez said.

People who work in the area told NBC 7, they often hear drivers yell at the parking enforcement officer but Wednesday, someone took their frustration a step further.

"I see [the officer] every day. I work in La Jolla almost every other day so he's the ticket guy," said witness Ingolf Duerr. "I know there's a chalk mark there so I got to move my vehicle, so I'm very aware of him and he's just doing his job."

Duerr said it took the officer about four to five minutes to crawl out of his vehicle.

"I've seen people argue with him before it's sad that he's got to deal with all that and then have an unstable vehicle," Duerr added.

The incident is under investigation.

Police said the officer was taken to a doctor and suffered minor injuries.

Dreier is facing an assault with a deadly weapon charge.

No other information was available.

A body found Tuesday afternoon in Mission Valley, off Interstate 805, has been identified as a missing North Park man and Lyft driver. 

David Bernal-Medina, 32, was last heard from two weeks ago on Wednesday, April 5, according to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD). 

Shortly after he was reported missing, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) found his red 2016 GMC Terrain SUV on the Interstate 8 offramp at Jackson Drive in La Mesa. 

Police said the SUV has been involved in some sort of crash, but they found no sign of Medina. 

On Monday afternoon, police responded to a call of a body found on the freeway embankment adjacent to the start of the on ramp from westbound I-8 to northbound I-805. 

The body was recovered by the Medical Examiner and later identified by police as Medina, a missing North Park man and Lyft driver. Police confirmed Medina was not driving for Lyft the night of April 5.

Medina also worked as a manager at the Blow Pop hair salons in downtown San Diego and UTC. When the salons closed, friends say, Medina worked various jobs, including driving for Lyft. 

Police said Medina is believed to have gotten out of his car and ran northeast off the freeway. Once off the freeway, he apparently fell down the embankment and suffered major upper body trauma. 

Police said they do not believe foul play is involved in his death. 

The Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.