Charlottesville, Virginia, police have issued an arrest warrant on charges of reckless driving for a man they call a "person of interest" in the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.

Police have not charged Jesse Matthew in Graham's disappearance, but Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said he believes Matthew was the last person to see Graham.

“I believe Jesse Matthew is the last person she was seen with before she vanished off the face off the earth,” Longo said at a media briefing on Sunday. "But somebody knows where she is. And we want to know who that person or persons are.”

Longo said Matthew arrived at police headquarters on Saturday and asked for a lawyer. After speaking to the lawyer, Matthew left the station without talking to detectives.

Longo said after Matthew left, he was being overtly followed by state and federal officials. Matthew then sped away from police at a high rate of speed.

Longo said the speed was so great that police disengaged from the pursuit.

Hannah’s father, John Graham, spoke publicly for the first time Sunday, appealing to anyone with information to come forward.

“Who saw Hannah?” asked John Graham, during the press conference, with his wife, Sue, standing next to him. “Somebody knows what happened to Hannah.”

The father expressed gratitude to more than 1,000 volunteers who combed Charlottesville where Graham was last seen, on Saturday and Sunday.

“We have been utterly overwhelmed by the generosity of the spirit of all the people we’ve met,” he said. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare. We need to find out what happened to her so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Graham expressed hope that his daughter would be found alive.

"'Hannah is brilliant, resilient, determined and loves life more than anybody else I know."

He read an email from Hannah's former teacher, who wrotte: “If anybody could get through this, it is Hannah."

The chief, in an emotional statement, said Sunday that Matthew was the person seen in surveillance video walking with Graham before she disappeared more than a week ago.

He wants anyone who saw Graham or Matthew that evening to contact police as soon as possible.

Longo thanked people who were involved in the search this weekend as well as those who emailed him from all over the country, saying “you rose to the occasion, you stepped up to the plate.”

Virginia Department of Emergency Management’s Mark Eggeman said nearly 2,000 people searched for clues into Graham’s disappearance. Eggeman said he spent his daughter’s birthday with searchers, saying, “No place I’d rather be.”

Hannah Graham has been missing since early on September 13. She was seen in surveillance video along the city's Downtown Mall.

A man, who police believe is Matthew, is later seen wrapping his arm around Graham's waist. Police say the two then entered a Charlottesville restaurant during the early morning hours of September 13, where the man bought alcohol and later left in a burnt-orange car.

"We have every reason to believe Ms. Graham was in that vehicle," said Detective Sgt. Jim Mooney of Charlotteville police.

Police searched the man's apartment and car and even talked to him -- but stopped short at calling him a suspect. When asked if the man had a criminal history, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said he has "had contact with police."

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

WATCH: Steel Drum Party on I-76

A group of motorists stranded on I-76 in Pennsylvania turned the headache of the standstill traffic into a communal steel drum and limbo party on the highway. A car flipped over in the I-76 eastbound lanes about a mile from the King of Prussia exit Saturday afternoon.

Motorists emerged from their bumper-to-bumper parked vehicles and gave new meaning to a traffic jam.

"It was better than being stuck in a snowstorm," said Justin Berk of Baltimore, who was en route to the Philadelphia Half Marathon. "I've been stuck in a lot of traffic jams and got out and people started talking to each other."

The result was a chance meeting of Berk and David Gettes of Trinidad North Steel Drum Band & Company. Gettes and percussionist Paul Downie were traveling from the Muhlenberg International Festival in Reading to Media when they got stuck.

Just after 2 p.m., Gettes pulled out his steel drum and played a pop-up set of island sounds for 15 minutes as motorists danced in a limbo line.

"We were struck in the traffic. We saw people around us frustrated. I know the magic of the (steel drum) instrument. It was not taking any toll on me to do that so why not," said Gettes.

Berk pulled out his camera to record the fun. He said the stranded motorists worked together to make the best of a bad situation.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

Philip Rivers threw two touchdown passes to Eddie Royal in leading the San Diego Chargers to a 22-10 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Malcom Floyd had two catches for 98 yards, and the Chargers overcame the loss of running back Danny Woodhead, who left the game with an ankle injury after just one carry. He didn't return the rest of the day.

Donald Brown got the brunt of the workload on the ground, but had just 62 yards on 31 carries. He also had five catches for 27 yards. Undrafted rookie Branden Oliver saw his first NFL action, rushing three times for 11 yards.

Rivers was 18 of 25 for 256 yards. He didn't throw an interception for the second straight game. In fact, neither team committed a turnover the entire day.

Royal's second touchdonw catch came midway through the third quarter. It capped a 14-play drive that took up nearly 7 1/2 minutes.

The Chargers are off to a 2-1 start for the third time in four years. They built on the momentum of last week's 30-21 home win over the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

Fred Jackson scored on an 11-yard catch for Buffalo (2-1), which blew an opportunity to get off to a 3-0 start for only the third time since 1993.

The Bolts capped the scoring with a safety late in the fourth quarter when Bills quarterback EJ Manuel was called for an intentional grounding penalty in his own end zone.

A tour bus overturned in Delaware late Sunday afternoon leaving two women dead and nearly 50 people hurt.

The first woman, 54-year-old Hua'y Chen of New York City, died at the scene of the crash. The second woman, 30-year-old Idil Bahsi of Istanbul, Turkey, died Sunday night at the hospital.

The 1996 Setra Touring Coach bus, which had a driver and 49 passengers on board, was traveling southbound on state Route 1 and exiting onto the off-ramp to US-13 northbound in New Castle around 4:20 p.m.

As the driver, identified as 56-year-old Jinli Zhao of Flushing, New York, tried to turn on the ramp, the vehicle went off the roadway and overturned onto its roof, according to investigators.

The bus slid on its roof and traveled down a grassy embankment and rotated on its left side until it came to a final rest, according to police.

Chen, who was a passenger on the bus, was ejected from the vehicle and then pinned underneath it. Medics pronounced her dead at the scene.

"I guess she was trapped underneath the bus," said Elvis D'cruz, a 19-year-old college student from New Castle, Delaware. "One man was saying, 'my wife, my wife, my life.' That keeps replaying in my mind."

D'cruz tells NBC10 he was driving home with a friend when he spotted the overturned bus. The two quickly got out of their vehicle to help the victims.

"It must've been within five minutes of the crash," D'cruz said. "There were about two to three other civilians there helping out. The bus had flipped over onto its side and some people were still underneath it. The bus was completely in a ditch. We tried to help them get out, as much as we could. We went to the car, got first aid equipment and passed out gauze and bandages, whatever we could to comfort people." 

• 4 Kids Killed in Pa. Crash Weren't Restrained

D'cruz described the crash scene as total chaos.

"It just made me feel how fragile life is at times," D'cruz said while in tears. "It was hard seeing that little boy in the middle of the crash scene. What I really can't forget is all of the screaming and the smell of blood in the air. People didn't know what to do. There was no one else at the scene. Within 15 minutes, State Police arrived."

Zhao and the 48 other passengers -- some children -- were all injured in the crash. They were transported by a Delaware State Police helicopter to several local hospitals, including the Christiana Hospital Trauma Center, Wilmington Hospital, Saint Francis Hospital, Middletown Emergency Department and the Alfred I DuPont Hospital for Children.

• Man Sentenced for Carjacking, High-Speed Chase

Of the dozens of people who were hurt, at least three of them were critically injured, including Bahsi. She died from her injuries at Christiana Hospital around 10:45 p.m. Sunday. Nearly two dozen patients remained at the hospital Monday morning including one person in critical condition and 10 in serious condition.

"The injuries vary widely," said Dr. Rob Rosenbaum, an Emergency Room physician at Christiana Care. "Some patients have head injuries. Some have injuries to their torso, ribs, abdomen and fractures."

Zhao, who was properly restrained, suffered minor injuries.

• Rifle Carried by Ambush Suspect Found: Police

Officials say the bus is owned by Am USA Express Incorporated, a regional bus transportation company based in Chinatown, New York. The passengers were part of a sightseeing group sponsored by E World Travel and Tours based in New York City, according to police. Investigators say their three-day trip began Friday when they traveled from New York to Washington, DC. The group was traveling from DC back to New York at the time of the crash.

D'cruz says the passengers appeared to be foreigners.

"They were mixed in race," he said. "There were a few people speaking Mandarin and a few people speaking Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish."

According to D'cruz, the Route 13 off-ramp has a history of accidents.

"They're used to be a guard rail," he said. "People would go highway speeds on it even though you're supposed to slow down. People kept on slamming into the guard rail but it would stop them from flipping. They later on removed the guard rail and put flags up." 

The ramp from Route 1 southbound to US-13 northbound was closed for approximately six hours before it was finally reopened.

The Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit continue to investigate the accident.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

A cleanup effort by multiple agencies is underway for an oil spill from a World War II-era ship that now serves as a tourist attraction in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

The United States Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating the fuel spill that occurred Saturday near Pier 45.

Coast Guard personnel received a report at 10:56 a.m. that an undetermined amount of oil spilled into the bay from the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a fully functional World War II Liberty Ship. The Coast Guard said that it immediately dispatched a pollution response crew to assess the spill and recover the discharged fuel.

The Coast Guard told NBC Bay Area that a barrel of crude oil ruptured causing the fuel to go overboard. No more than 50 gallons made it into the bay, officials said. The ship is currently closed to tourists. There is currently 6,000 feet of boom around the ship, the Coast Guard said.

According to the Coast Guard, the fuel spill's source has been secured. A Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter and a small boat investigating the spill found a 100-by-150-yard sheen in the area of the spill. Vaccum trucks and skimming vessels carried out recovery operations Sunday, officials said.

"On-scene coordinators are working diligently with Wish and Wildlife to ensure the SS Jeremiah O'Brien is taking every action necessary to achieve a prompt and satisfactory cleanup effort," the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The cause of the fuel spill remains under investigation.

OSPR at #SFBay spill near SS Jeremiah O'brien. Boom deployed, assessments & wildlife monitoring underway.

— Cal Spill Watch (@CalSpillWatch) September 21, 2014

A 50-year-old Little League coach died after he was hit in the head with a baseball during warm-ups before a game on Long Island over the weekend, authorities said.

Richard Becher, of Holbrook, was hit with the baseball while pitching batting practice to his 12-year-old son's team before a game Saturday afternoon at Baseball Heaven, a baseball facility in Yaphank, Newsday reports.

According to police, bystanders were performing CPR on an unconscious Becher when officers and paramedics arrived.

He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

A fatal shooting on the 15 Freeway in the Corona area reportedly involving two rival motorcycle gangs prompted an hours-long shut down of the roadway near El Cerrito Road.

Gunfire broke out on the freeway at Cajalco Road just south of the 91 Freeway, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. The incident was reported about 6:30 p.m. on the CHP's traffic incident information website.

Responding officers found two males suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were taken to a hospital where one was pronounced dead and another was admitted for his injuries, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

A third person was treated for similar injuries and released.

According to the CHP traffic incident information website, the shooting involved two rival motorcycle gangs. Those reports have not been confirmed by authorities.

Traffic was backed up for miles on the freeway and surrounding streets as drivers were diverted at Ontario Avenue. Southbound lanes of the freeway were reopened before 7 a.m. Sunday. The El Cerrito onramp and offramp were still closed Sunday morning.

Refresh this page for updates on this developing story.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

Police are looking for three Afghanistan National Army soldiers who went missing on Cape Cod, Massachusetts National Guard confirms.

Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Capt. Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Capt. Noorullah Aminyar were last seen Saturday night. They were last seen at Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis. State police and local officials are searching.

According to officials, the soldiers have been at Joint Base Cape Cod since Sept. 11. They are not considered a threat.

Gov. Deval Patrick told NECN on Monday that he learned of the situation about an hour after the military authorities were notified.

"There's been a lot of speculation... including that they may be trying to defect," Patrick said.

Col. Timothy Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, told NBC News there is "no reason to think they have nefarious intent." 

U.S. military officials said the three officers were "thoroughly vetted" by the State Department, the American embassy in Kabul and U.S. military forces.

The soldiers are in Massachusetts for Regional Cooperation, a training exercise designed to promote cooperation between regional and foreign forces around the world. Training exercises like this have been held annually since 2004 to promote cooperation among forces. 

Eleven other Afghan soldiers were among the 200 participants from six nations including the U.S. The session wraps up Wednesday.

U.S. military officials told NBC News the training was a "command post exercise" that did not involve any weapons or actual maneuvers. The three soldiers were not armed with weapons at the time they disappeared.

Military escorts reportedly accompanied the 14 Afghan soldiers on a "cultural exercise" to the Cape Cod shopping mall on Saturday night when three of the soldiers managed to slip away unnoticed.

Pentagon officials said local and state law enforcement have taken the lead in the search for the missing soldiers.

Officials also pointed out that there have been numerous similar incidents over the years involving Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis and other foreign military who came to the U.S. for training and slipped away in an effort to remain in the country.

A turtle weighing a whopping 70 pounds was found wandering streets near a Southern California country club, officials said Sunday.

Sheriff’s deputies found the common snapping turtle Thursday on the corner of Angeles Crest Highway and Starlight Crest Drive near the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club (map), where it had apparently stopped to rest several feet from a pond.

It was taken to Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Phelan.

“The turtle appears healthy – maybe too healthy, quite obese, and it’s probably eaten everything that’s been in the pond with it,” said Joel Almquist of Forever Wild.

The turtle’s appetite can be a danger, as common snapping turtles are known to eat anything and everything in sight.

“They’re very detrimental to the native wildlife here,” Almquist said. “They eat everything that they can fit in their mouths, and apparently by the size of this one, it has.”

“If he grabbed onto a finger, you would be one digit less,” he added.

It is unclear where the turtle came from, since it is not native to the area. Almquist said it may be someone’s lost pet.

Forever Wild will likely build a special pond where the hulking turtle will be housed, Almquist said.

The 59-year-old Connecticut woman who was critically injured after she was hit by a bicyclist in Central Park last week has died, officials say.

Jill Tarlov, of Fairfield, died some time after she was hit by a bicyclist on West Drive and 63rd Street inside the park Thursday afternoon, according to a statement for CBS Television Stations, where her husband is a senior vice president.

Tarlov, who previously worked at CBS-owned radio station 1010 WINS, fell to the ground after being hit and suffered head trauma, police said. She was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she died.

"We are heartsick over the passing of our dear friend and former 1010 WINS Radio colleague Jill Tarlov," CBS said.

Police say the 31-year-old cyclist, who stayed at the scene, had minor shoulder and hand injuries and was treated and released from the hospital.

A preliminary investigation indicated that the cyclist was riding in the park's bike lane and hit the woman while swerving to avoid other pedestrians, according to the NYPD.

"We are committed to doing what we can to bring greater public awareness of the perils of unsafe and distracted driving by motorists and cyclists that endangers pedestrians," the company said. "Far too many people have been killed or seriously injured on our streets."

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

Neighbors are credited with rescuing a man from a duplex fire in Chula Vista on Sunday night.

The fire left the man injured and displaced several neighbors. Still, it could have been much worse.

The fire broke out at about 9 p.m. in the 560 block of Flower Street. Neighbors kicked down the door to help rescue the man inside the duplex escape before firefighters arrived.

Neighbor Marquita Clapp grabbed a hose as a flame shot from the man's duplex.

"(We're) all neighbors here," she said. "We help."

The elderly man was taken to University of California San Diego Medical Center with minor burns, fire officials said.

He apparently was in the shower and ran for the door when the flames broke out and tripped.

That's when neighbor Victor Nielson and his brother went over to the house and dragged him out.

"This was the first time doing something like this," Nielson said. "It was pretty cool helping someone out."

Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames quickly and most of the damage was confined to one unit. Two other units sustained smoke damage, officials said.

At least six people were displaced by the fire.

A damage estimate and cause of the fire have not yet been determined.

Police are looking for the driver of a car that hit and killed a bicyclist in Oceanside on Saturday night.

The victim was riding his bike in the 3900 block of North River Road when the bicyclist was hit by a vehicle identified as a green 2012 or 2013 Kia Soul (similar to the one in the photo above).

The Kia should have passenger side front end damage and including a missing headlamp.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Oceanside Police Department at 760-435-4683.

The three missing Afghanistan National Army soldiers who went missing on Cape Cod have been found trying to cross into Canada at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, a top Massachusetts law enforcement source tells NBC News.

Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Capt. Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Capt. Noorullah Aminyar had managed to slip away unnoticed while on a "cultural exercise" to the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis on Saturday night. 

The three soldiers were trying to enter Canada when they were stopped by border officials.

Massachusetts State Police released a statement Monday afternoon, reminding the public that they had been assisting authorities with the investigation as a "missing persons case."

"MSP has no information that suggests the three men committed any crimes, and thus we would not have had any cause to detain them ourselves," explained spokesperson Dave Procopio in a statement.

Procopio added that the investigation is primarily under federal jurisdiction.

According to officials, the soldiers had been at Joint Base Cape Cod since Sept. 11. They were unarmed and were not considered a threat. It's not clear yet whether they will be returned to Cape Cod.

Gov. Deval Patrick said Monday that there was speculation that the soldiers may have been trying to defect.

U.S. military officials said the three officers were "thoroughly vetted" by the State Department, the American embassy in Kabul and U.S. military forces.

The soldiers were in Massachusetts for Regional Cooperation, a training exercise designed to promote cooperation between regional and foreign forces around the world. Training exercises like this have been held annually since 2004 to promote cooperation among forces. Eleven other Afghan soldiers were among the 200 participants from six nations including the U.S. The session wraps up Wednesday.

U.S. military officials told NBC News the training was a "command post exercise" that did not involve any weapons or actual maneuvers. The three soldiers were not armed with weapons at the time they disappeared.

Military officials said there have been numerous similar incidents over the years involving Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis and other foreign military who came to the U.S. for training and slipped away in an effort to remain in the country.

Once again, an impressive Chargers win was marred by the loss of a top running back.

Danny Woodhead left in the first quarter of Sunday’s 22-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills with a high ankle sprain and fractured fibula. He may require surgery, which could end Woodhead’s season.

This comes just a week after starting running back Ryan Mathews sprained his MCL, putting him on the shelf for at least a month.

Woodhead hurt the ankle on his first run of the game. He had just 15 carries for 38 yards and five catches for 34 yards so far this season.

The Chargers haven't officially said anything about the injury, but we should learn more at today's 1:30 p.m. press conference.

The injury reduces a once-robust backfield to limited options. Donald Brown led the way on Sunday, carrying the ball a career-high 31 times but only picking up 62 yards. He also had five catches for 27 yards.

Undrafted rookie Branden Oliver also saw time in his NFL debut, carrying the ball three times for 11 yards.

If Woodhead’s injury is as bad as projected, expect the Chargers to sign a veteran free agent running back in the near future. LaMichael James and BenJarvis Green-Ellis have been mentioned as potential replacements.

Sixth-round pick Marion Grice could also see some time in the backfield.

A fight among customers over their place in line at a busy Apple store in New Haven boiled over into a brawl involving more than a dozen people Monday, three days after the iPhone 6's much-anticipated release.

Three people were arrested at the store at 65 Broadway in New Haven, and one of those three was briefly hospitalized for a small cut on his forehead, police said. Other people suffered bumps and bruises.

Police have been called to the same store repeatedly over complaints from store managers of unruly behavior since the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus hit stores Friday.

"There seem to be two groups, rival groups, mainly of Chinese people who are coming in from New York on a daily basis and trying to buy as many of the phones as the store will allow to sell toany one person," explained New Haven police spokesman Officer David Hartman.

Police said the buyers aim to resell the new iPhones in China at a huge mark-up from their retail price — often for $3,000 to $4,000.

"These rival groups have been challenging each other over their places in line. At times, these challenges have resulted in violence," Hartman said.

The New Haven store is selling the phones without contracts for $1,000, according to police.

The phones are in high demand and scarce in China right now, where the phones have not gone on sale yet due to regulatory issues, Dow Jones reported, citing Chinese state media.

That has prompted phone smuggling attempts in the country, including some tussles in Hong Kong near stores selling the iPhone 6. Scalpers have been able to resell the phones for as much as double the retail price, according to Dow Jones.

A fatal attack at a Bally's Total Fitness last week may have been motivated by a boyfriend's jealousy, prosecutors said Monday, as a 46-year-old plumber was charged with murder and possessing metal knuckles.

Kenneth Osako is accused of killing Diego Galindo, 43, of San Bruno with an 18-inch steel bar from the gym around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, two nights after Galindo asked Osako's girlfriend if she wanted a ride on his motorcycle, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told NBC Bay Area on Monday.

The girlfriend, who was not named, said she declined Galindo's offer, and the next evening, she told Osako about the invitation, according to investigators.

"That is being investigated as a potential motive," Wagstaffe said. Osako's arraignment was set for 1:30 p.m. Monday, and early in the day, he had no defense attorney listed with the court. He was being held without bail, and declined a jail house interview last week.

And the following evening Galindo was attacked at the gym, located at 180 El Camino Real in South San Francisco. Galindo died Thursday morning at San Francisco General Hospital.

His co-workers at Carneceria Tepa meat market have started collecting money for his funeral, and several described him as a friendly guy who liked cars and motorcycles.

Wagstaffe said it is unclear at this point if Galindo knew that the woman had been dating Osako when he asked her out.

Osako has no criminal history in San Mateo County, records show.

Osako's father, Kenneth Osako Sr., told NBC Bay Area in an interview Friday that he hoped his son "gives us a call and let us know what happened."

Kenneth Osako Sr. said he would not necessarily support his son either way. "No. If he's guilty, he's guilty. I don't support anybody that's wrong," he said.

Osako turned himself in on Thursday at a plumbing job site in San Francisco on Kansas Street. When he surrendered, Wagstaffe said they found metal knuckles in his car, which are illegal to possess.

NBC Bay Area's Derek Shore and Christie Smith contributed to this report.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

San Diego real estate developer and philanthropist Malin Burnham confirmed he is building a nonprofit organization in a bid to take over the city’s biggest newspaper, the U-T San Diego.

Current owner Douglas Manchester has expressed interest in a new model of ownership, as long as Burnham’s nonprofit is approved by the Internal Revenue Service, according to Burnham.

He told NBC 7 if all goes as planned, the paper itself would remain a for-profit operation, while the ownership would be nonprofit and non-partisan.

However, converting a newspaper’s leadership from for-profit to nonprofit is a difficult and lengthy process because of IRS regulations, Burnham said.

The transfer would not include the Mission Valley site where the U-T currently sits. According to Burnham, hotel developer Manchester would remain the owner of that property and the newspaper would be a tenant.

It’s unclear if the paper will still be printed at the Mission Valley location, as the San Diego Reader first reported.

Burnham said if the deal goes through, he hopes the U-T would become a new model for community newspapers throughout the country.

In 2011, Manchester said he paid more than $110 million to private equity firm Platinum equity to buy the U-T San Diego — better known as the San Diego Union-Tribune. Just two years before that, Platinum took over ownership from longtime managers The Copley Press Inc.

Burnham, nicknamed Mr. San Diego, has been honored for his philanthropy across the city. Last year, he was presented with the Midway American Patriot Award, partly for his work in helping bring USS Midway to the city.

He served as chairman for John Burnham & Company Insurance and Burnham Real Estate until the latter was acquired by Cushman & Wakefield.

A fox is being tested for rabies after biting a second-grade boy on the playground Monday morning, then attacking the teacher and school psychologist who rushed to his aid outside Broad Brook Elementary School in East Windsor.

The fox, which authorities shot and killed, is also believed to have bitten a woman at a home behind the school earlier in the morning.

All four victims, including second-grade student Evan Witzke, have been hospitalized. The adults were brought to Hartford Hospital, where they will likely undergo rabies treatment, hospital officials said.

Evan was taken to Connecticut Children's Medical Center, according to his mother, who said he is doing well.

Police said the fox emerged from the woods on the northern side of the elementary school around 11:30 a.m. Monday and attacked Evan while he was playing outside.

"A P.E. teacher at the elementary school grabbed the fox off the child and pinned it to the ground," said Det. Matthew Carl of the East Windsor Police Department, adding that the teacher was bitten in the process.

Carl said a school psychologist was also attacked before staff members were able to trap the fox under a plastic recycling container.

Now the teacher and psychologist are being hailed as heroes.

"[The gym teacher] grabbed the fox by the neck so that all the children could get away," Carl explained. "She held the fox on the ground while it was biting and scratching her."

Police believe the same fox also bit a woman and her dog earlier this morning at her parents' house on Mill Street/Route 191, less than a mile from the school.

Police said the fox wandered onto the porch around 10 a.m., and the victim, who is in her 30s, was attacked when she opened the door.

"The family dog had wrestled with the fox, and the fox had fled into the woods, so we weren't able to locate it," Carl said.

East Windsor police and Animal Control responded to both scenes. Police believe that the same fox was involved in both incidents, and said the animal was aggressive toward officers who arrived to capture it.

"It charged one of the police officers, and ultimately, we shot and killed it," Carl said.

The fox was taken to the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health Laboratory to be tested for rabies.

East Windsor police caution residents against approach animals "acting strange or appearing sick" and advise people to instead call the police department at 860-292-8240.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

A truck drove off the freeway and landed in a restaurant parking lot Sunday afternoon, a drop of at least 50 feet.

The crash happened around 3 p.m. on northbound Interstate 805 in Mission Valley.

A tan vehicle tapped the back of a yellow Ford pickup truck, forcing the truck to spin out and flip over the guardrail, according to the California Highway Patrol. The truck fell at least 50 feet into the parking lot of Dave and Buster's at 2931 Camino Del Rio North.

Emergency crews pulled a man from the wreckage and rushed him to Sharp Memorial Hospital with major traumatic injuries, according to CHP. However, officials said he was alert and talking to firefighters.

“He’s lucky he landed the way he did, and he’s fortunate to be alive,” said Capt. Chad Willenberg with the San Diego Fire Department.

Officials did not release the victim’s name, but said he is in his mid-30s. He was the only person inside the truck.

The truck hit Dave and Buster's on the way down, leaving a gaping hole in the building. It did not cause any structural damage, according to the fire department. Broken glass and debris filled the back parking lot.

Julie Melia was inside the restaurant-arcade at the time of the accident. She said she didn’t know anything had happened until she saw the mangled truck.

“It looked very bad. You don’t know how somebody could survive that,” Melia said.

No one at Dave and Buster’s was injured.

Witnesses told CHP the tan vehicle was driving erratically before forcing the truck off the road.

“The SUV continued northbound on the 805. We don’t have a license plate or description of the driver,” said CHP Officer Jose Meza.

CHP is now looking for a tan SUV or truck with a camper shell and damage to the left side. The driver could face felony hit and run charges.

CHP issued a Sig Alert for the area. The transition ramp from westbound Interstate 8 to I-805 was closed for hours.

Check back for updates on this developing story.
 

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego