Crews were working Thursday evening to repair a water main break in Escondido.

The water main break occurred on southbound Centre City Parkway between Ninth and 13th avenues, and only one lane of traffic was open in the area as crews worked to make repairs.

Work is expected to last into the night and should be completed by 6 a.m., officials said.

Drivers are being encouraged to avoid the area, especially during the evening rush hour.

Chula Vista Police are warning residents about a man who entered a woman’s apartment, climbed into her bed and touched her buttocks.

At about 6 a.m. Wednesday, the man got into an apartment at the Villages at Bonita Glen on Sandalwood Road.

The suspect stood by a bed where a woman was sleeping, and then he crawled into bed with her, touching her buttocks.

Police say In an attempt to fool the suspect, the woman told the suspect she had to use the bathroom, so she was able to escape and alert her husband, who had been in another room.

"The important thing is the victim made a decision and that decision in that circumstance kept her safe," said CVPD Sgt. Matt Smith.

As the woman escaped her bedroom, she noticed the suspect was still in her apartment trying to hide, so her husband called police. The suspect finally left, though the victims tell police he took his time.

"He walked off very nonchalantly, very casually, didn't draw much attention to himself," said Smith.

The suspect returned later wearing a different colored shirt, standing by an adjacent apartment, according to Smith. When confronted, the suspect ran toward Bonita Glen Drive.

Nothing was reported missing and no one was injured, police said.

Still, the incident has neighbors thinking twice about if they locked up or not.

"That's crazy. Definitely locking the doors. We have a child and everything, and it's not a country road where it's safe, especially these days, so that's not cool at all," said resident Malorie Johnson.

The police arrived within four minutes of the call and searched the area but could not find the suspect.

He is described as a thin, male adult with a medium complexion, 30 to 35 years old, approximately 5-feet, 6-inches to 6-feet tall, wearing all dark clothes and possibly later wearing dark clothing with a red shirt. He is still at large.

Police recommend that residents keep their exterior doors and windows locked to prevent break-ins and to report suspicious activity to law enforcement.

Police are asking anyone who might have information about the case to contact the Chula Vista Police Department at (619) 691-5151 or the Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-5477.

Thousands of protesters are demonstrating across New York City for a second day in response to a Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict an NYPD officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, the 43-year-old father of six captured on amateur video saying, "I can't breathe!" during an altercation with police. 

Protesters in Foley Square chanted "I can't breathe" and "No justice, no peace" as they marched Thursday evening, holding up signs reading "Solidarity against police brutality" and "Equal justice for all." 

A view of the gathering from Chopper 4 showed a crowd of about 5,000 before a few hundred other protesters from Union Square marched down to join them there. 

The protesters chanted "This is our reality, stop police brutality" as police walked and rode alongside them. They also invoked the Ferguson, Missouri grand jury's decision last week not to indict a police officer in the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown, who was also unarmed, as they shouted "Hands up, don't shoot" and held signs reading "Ferguson is everywhere." 

Some of the protesters headed to the Brooklyn Bridge, carrying fake caskets bearing the names of unarmed black men who died at the hands of police, including Eric Garner, Ramarley Graham and Akai Gurley. 

Thousands of others were on the West Side Highway downtown, weaving through traffic as the thousands-strong crowd marched northbound. 

Traffic-monitoring agencies have warned that the outbound sides of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges could be affected by the protests.

The decision by a Staten Island grand jury Wednesday to not indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo in Garner's death sparked immediate protests across the city. Demonstrators staged a "die-in" at Grand Central Terminal as they chanted "I can't breathe" and lay down on the ground. Others marched through traffic across Manhattan, bumping up against police barriers set up for the Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremonies. 

Later, demonstrators marched on the West Side Highway near the 40s and 50s, gridlocking it for blocks at a time. Some went on to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, and others blocked off the Lincoln Tunnel and the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.

On Staten Island, protesters gathered on the street outside the store where Garner died, yelling out, “I can't breathe,” and, “Hands up, don't choke.”

Wednesday's demonstrations fanned out across the city and were largely peaceful. Eighty-three people were arrested.

The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide, saying it was caused in part by the chokehold. Garner's health issues, including obesity, were listed as contributing factors in the autopsy report. Garner's family said that finding and the video should have secured an indictment.

Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was seen on the video wrapping his hand around Garner's neck July 17 as the heavyset, asthmatic man gasped for air, released a statement shortly after the grand jury decision was announced Wednesday saying he never intended to harm anyone.

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into the case. The NYPD says its internal review of Pantaleo's actions is ongoing.

Other protests broke out across the country was well, including in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Oakland.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said earlier in the week that the NYPD was anticipating protests and that the department had been preparing for them for months

The Rev. Al Sharpton announced Wednesday he and the Garners, along with the families of Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old killed in Ferguson, Missouri, by a police officer a grand jury also declined to indict, and Akai Gurley, the man killed by an NYPD officer in a dark Brooklyn housing project stairwell last month, will lead a national march in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 13. Several other civil rights groups said Thursday they would join the march to kick of a year of focus on "justice and jobs."

Reaction in San Diego to the grand jury investigation of a New York City police homicide case in has been a far cry from the raw emotions that have spilled onto the streets of Manhattan and beyond.

But there's no shortage of outrage and concern here about the process that resulted in no “true bill” of indictment of the officer most involved.

The back story, which unfolded in mid-July: 43-year-old Eric Garner was confronted by police for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk.

He wound up dead of asphyxiation, the homicidal result – according to medical examiners -- of a chokehold applied by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, one of several officers who had tackled Garner.

There was lengthy, seemingly tell-tale cellphone video recorded by an onlooker.

But the grand jury apparently didn't think it told the whole story.

Pantaleo’s critics are amazed that the officers' treatment of Eric Garner didn't amount to probable cause for an indictment, and are asking whether police had probable cause for taking Garner down.

The incident, and the lack of a grand jury indictment, were denounced during an organized labor rally outside the NBC Building downtown Thursday morning.

Demonstrators argued there are separate approaches of law enforcement and justice for white citizens and "people of color."

“Racial profiling is illegal in this country,” said Emmanuel Wimer, who added that he had been arrested during the civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri following the August slaying of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.

“There’s no accountability by the police whenever they harass us,” Wimer added. “It’s the whole system all over, and it’s completely corrupt.”

Said another demonstrator, Chula Vista resident Kathy Radinovsky: "They have to be able to stand back a little and really think about what's going on: 'What's in jeopardy here?' Certainly a few cigarettes is not worth encountering someone … this makes me sad, and I think it's a matter of judgment on the part of the police. Unfortunately, the grand jury has to follow the law. And apparently the law is very precise in these kinds of situations."

Legal observers say that while camera images and video sequences may not lie, they don't always convey the whole truth – and that grand jurors have a broad mandate:

"You have to look at the entire range of evidence,” explains Dan Eaton, an African American attorney whose law practice is downtown. “ The court of public opinion does not apply the same standards as the court of law. That's why the court of public opinion has reached a very different conclusion.”

Eaton noted that while video-hawks in the Court of Public Opinion figured the incident would bring a slam-dunk criminal case, the Staten Island grand jury just couldn't work backwards from an eyeball rush to judgment.

"What is involved here, it seems to me, is filtering information through what it is you believe the outcome ought to be,” he said. “And that's just not the way the criminal justice system at any level, from law enforcement through trial and sentencing, works – and can’t, if we are going to be ‘a nation of laws and not of men.' "

Meantime, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a separate investigation into whether Garner's civil rights were violated.

Legal analysts say there's a high bar of proof needed to issue criminal charges and linking the officers' action to racial bias.

"It would be great to have our system on better display,” said Omar Passons, another local African-American attorney, who predicts fallout from the Garner case will be more disenchanting about how the wheels of justice are turning for African Americans.

"It creates this frustration -- this sense that we haven't made as much progress as we really need to, as many people often sort of see that we do in other regards,” Passons said. ”This is an American problem. And it's one that we really need to confront as a society in terms of people not feeling safe and secure."

NBC 7 reached out Thursday to the San Diego Police Officers Association and County Deputy Sheriffs Association, seeking comment on the Garner case; so far, no responses.

A spokesman for San Diego's Black Police Officers Association said its vice president is drafting a written statement.
 

A man exposed himself to a girl while asking for directions in San Marcos, San Diego County Sheriff’s officials say.

The victim was walking to San Marcos High School Tuesday morning when the man approached her on S. Rancho Santa Fe Road at Las Cruces Avenue.

He asked her the way to Palomar College, holding his cellphone at waist level to look at the map app.

But when the girl tried to point out the college on the map, she realized the man was exposing himself below the waist, investigators say.

The girl immediately left and reported the incident to SMHS administrators and law enforcement.

Sheriff’s officials released a composite sketch of the suspect Thursday to try to find him. They say he is a white man between 20 and 30 years old with short, light brown hair. He has a thin build and stands 5-foot-8 to 6-feet tall.

At the time of the incident, the victim says he was wearing sunglasses, a black jacket and faded blue jeans.

If you know anything about the incident or suspect, call the sheriff’s department.

Spending for public safety in the San Diego region has gone up for the third year in a row, according to a new report from the San Diego Association of Governments.

For the fiscal 2013-2014, local governments spent $1.9 billion on law enforcement wages, criminal justice systems and probation-parole costs, five percent higher than one year and five years ago.

More state funds made up part of the increase, SANDAG officials say. The state allocated more money to local agencies to implement Assembly Bill 109, which required California prisons to reduce their population starting in October 2011.

Per-resident costs were seven percent higher than just one year ago at $604, and one-third of general funds for incorporated cities were spent on the cost of law enforcement in individual police departments.

The cost of prosecutions, public defense, court support, law enforcement for unincorporated areas and local corrections made up 21 percent of the county's expenditures last year.

The "Public Safety Allocations in the San Diego Region: Expenditures and Staffing for Fiscal Year 2014" report released by SANDAG breaks down the costs and spending per capita by jurisdiction and includes crime rate information.

"Although public safety realignment has brought additional resources to San Diego County, local public safety agencies also have many more responsibilities under the law than previously," said SANDAG Director of Criminal Justice Research Dr. Cynthia Burke in a press release.

"With budgets remaining tight, it's important that all of the agencies in the region continue to work together collaboratively to address the needs arising from the evolving criminal justice system."

Some of the findings in the report include average officer-to-resident ratios, the spending of general funds, law enforcement wage funding and the cost of AB 109 on local agencies since taking on the workload from the state. Those agencies include the Probation Department, San Diego County Sheriff's Department, the District Attorney's Office and public defenders.

The full report can be read here.

The man whom a Kildare's bouncer saw walking on Main Street in Manayunk, nearly an hour after missing student Shane Montgomery left the bar on the night he vanished, was not Montgomery, police say.

Law officials made the determination that the man was not the missing 21-year-old West Chester student after reviewing surveillance video from the area of the supposed sighting. police told NBC10.

Earlier Thursday, exactly a week after Shane vanished, Kildare's Irish Pub said in a statement on its Facebook page confirming reports that one of its bouncers had seen Montgomery Thanksgiving morning nearly an hour after he left their establishment.

"We learned this information in our internal investigations, we shared this information immediately with authorities with the hope that it would help find Shane," read the statement on Kildare's Facebook page.

Shane Montgomery, who went missing after a night out with friends, was last seen as he left Kildare's just before 2 a.m. -- minutes after he bumped into the DJ booth.

News of the debunked sighting was released to NBC10 as the search moved into its second week and the same day that his parents, Kevin and Karen Montgomery, appeared on "Today," pleading for information on their son's whereabouts. 

"...All we need is a little point, a little direction," said Shane's father. "Somewhere to get us focused."

"People have to come forward," said Karen Montgomery.

The reward for information leading to Shane Montgomery was increased to $40,000 Thursday, thanks to Bimbo Bakeries USA, Kevin's employer, who added an additional $9,000 to the steadily growing pot.

Police have expanded their search and are now asking for surveillance video from the Schuylkill River to Henry Avenue and Green Lane to Lincoln Drive.

Anyone with information on the 21-year-old senior, who weighs approximately 140 pounds and stands 5-foot-11-inches tall is urged to contact Philadelphia Police or the FBI at 215-418-4000.

Former Major Leauge Baseball player David "Boomer" Wells was on hand as Point Loma High and Dana Middle School students, staff and supporters dedicated Dana's renovated synthetic turf baseball field Thursday.

The David Wells Field is home to Point Loma High School's baseball team and is named after Wells, who now works as the Pointers head varsity baseball coach.

The field underwent a $2 million renovation earlier this year when it was transferred from the city's Parks and Recreation Department to the San Diego Unified School District.

The district and Wells underwrote the makeover, despite inital efforts from some city officials to block the arrangement. The Parks & Recreation and Deveopment Services departments advised against it, arguing that losing the 3.5 acres of joint-use park space would be tough to make up in the peninsula community.

The newly improved field includes football field-like turf, expanded seating, upgraded batting cages and improvements to the pitching mounds.

Not only can the schools use the new field, but the facilities are open to the public and can be be leased by permits through San Diego Unified School District.

Also there to celebrate the dedication was San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego Unified School District Board Trustee Scott Barnett and Trustee-elect Dr. Michael McQuary as well as the schools' principals Hans Becker and Scott Irwin.

A recount will begin within the next week for the Chula Vista City Council race won by just two votes.

San Diego County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu confirmed Thursday his office has received the formal request for a recount in the District 1 race between John McCann and Steve Padilla.

On Tuesday, Vu's certified results showed McCann won with 18,448 votes to Padilla's 18,446.

But the recount was officially requested by Humberto Peraza Jr., who is lobbyist and a Southwestern Community College board trustee.

He is expected to release details about why he requested the recount at a Friday press conference.

Vu's office has seven days to start the ballot counting process all over again.

After the official results were released, Padilla released a statement saying it was time for a recount, since the 37,000 vote election came down to only two.

"Throughout the vote counting process, the percentage of the vote varied widely, with the vote count resulting in a tie at one point and eight votes, a significant number in a race this close, shifting after less than 2,500 ballots were recounted during the Registrar’s reconciliation," said Padilla's Tuesday statement.

Last week, McCann told NBC 7, "We want to get back to business at the city of Chula Vista as soon as possible, and so it would be a shame that he wouldn't just concede."

According to Vu, the person who requests the recount must pay the cost, which could be over $40,000. It could take more than a week.

If a new winner emerges as a result of the recount, the registrar's office would pay the recount fees.

Vu told NBC 7 overturning on an election on a recount is not common, though that assessment is based on races will much larger margins.

Regardless, McCann will be sworn into the seat on Dec. 9.

The last time Chula Vista saw a close race like this was in June 2010, when U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) went up against then-Assemblywoman Mary Salas for the 40th state Senate District. The race did end in a recount, but Salas halted it on the third day, allowing Vargas to win by 22 votes.

As they prepare for Sunday night’s huge game with the New England Patriots, the Chargers will have the advantage of seeing results from the rest of the league.

You think they’ll be watching the scoreboard?

Either way, Bolts fans can sit back and watch the rest of the slate of NFL games to shore up the playoff competition in the AFC with the knowledge that they control their own destiny in the playoff race. Not that it will be easy, especially with the conference-leading Pats in town.

A check of the standings shows just how big that win over the Baltimore Ravens was on Sunday (top six teams make the playoffs).

1. Patriots – 9-3 (East leader)
2. Broncos – 9-3 (West leader)
3. Bengals – 8-3-1 (North leader)
4. Colts – 8-4 (South leader)
5. Chargers – 8-4 (Wild card)
6 Dolphins – 7-5 (Wild card)
7. Chiefs – 7-5
8. Bills – 7-5
9. Ravens – 7-5
10. Steelers – 7-5
11. Browns – 7-5

The Bolts are able to avoid that logjam at the bottom – for now. Even, better, they control their own destiny for a playoff spot, although the road won't be easy.

Let’s take a look at who to watch and which teams to cheer in order to help the Chargers.

Looking at the Week 14 schedule, there are only a few games that mean much in the playoff chase, but they all loom large.

In the 10 a.m. games, Pittsburgh battles Cincinnati in a huge game for the AFC North title. Bolts fans probably want to see the Steelers win this one, bringing them closer to the division-leading Bengals. But a Pittsburgh loss would also put them closer to elimination. So it’s a bit of a win-win for the rest of the conference.

Also at 10, Baltimore travels to Miami to battle the resurgent Dolphins. Chargers fans are rooting hard for the Ravens. Why? They’re our new best friends, since the Bolts would hold a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over them. Also, let’s not forget the 37-0 drubbing the Dolphins dished out on the Bolts earlier this year.

In one other early game of significance, the South-leading Colts head to Cleveland. You should probably be rooting for them to win, as they would knock the Browns another notch down. And let’s be honest, do you really see anyone competing with Indy for that division?

Two of the late games involve division foes. Obviously, we’re looking for both to lose – Broncos to the Bills and Chiefs to the Cardinals. But again, a Denver win wouldn’t be the worst thing. Yes, it would move them closer to wrapping up the West, but it would also help take the Bills out of the wild card race.

A lot will go down before the Chargers take the field on Sunday night. Let’s hope most of it goes their way.

Staten Island's top prosecutor did not ask grand jurors to consider a reckless endangerment charge in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a source familiar with the case told NBC 4 New York.

District Attorney Daniel Donovan only asked grand jurors to consider manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges against NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the cop seen on widely-watched amateur video wrapping his arm around Garner's neck as the heavyset, asthmatic 43-year-old yelled, "I can't breathe!" nearly a dozen times during the July 17 confrontation, the source said.

It's not clear why Donovan left the lesser charge off the table, and he has said strict confidentiality laws surrounding grand jury proceedings prevent him from discussing the details of the case.

Donovan had submitted an application to the court seeking authorization to publicly release specific elements of the proceedings but the only information released when a judge granted his request a day later involved the number of exhibits the jurors saw, how long they heard evidence and how many witnesses they heard it from. The application was sealed, so it's not clear if he had petitioned the judge to release information about the charges the jurors considered.

Asked for comment on the charges considered, a spokesman for the district attorney's office referred NBC 4 New York to a statement Donovan released Thursday after the judge's ruling came out that said, in part, he could only release information contained in the court order. 

"I respect the court’s exercise of its discretion, and will abide by the court’s order. As such, I will have no further comment in connection with the grand jury proceedings relating to the matter of the investigation into the death of Eric Garner," the statement said.

The grand jury in the Garner case delivered a vote Wednesday of "no true bill," which determined there was not probable cause that Pantaleo committed any criminal offense the panel was tasked with considering. The decision set off protests in New York City and across the country.

The NYPD said it's internal review of the case is ongoing, and the U.S. Department of Justice said it also is investigating.  

-Jonathan Dienst contributed to this report. 

A San Diego rapper is facing "criminal street gang" conspiracy charges in nine shootings but not because of any direct involvement. He's facing prison time because of his lyrics.

Brandon Duncan, also known as “Tiny Doo,” is charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit a felony with a criminal street gang. The 33-year-old, who prosecutors say was part a Lincoln Park gang, faces 25 years to life in prison.

Duncan  was one of 15 people charged in a San Diego Police crackdown aimed at disrupting local gang activity. The district attorney’s office says in a press release gang-related shootings started increasing in southeast San Diego in 2012 and peaked in 2013 with nine shootings.

While some face charges directly related to the nine shootings, like attempted murder, all of the defendants are charged with conspiracy counts, according to the complaint.

The district attorney says Duncan can be charged under a section of the penal code approved by California voters in 2000 because he profited from these gang activities through album sales, even though there is no evidence connecting him to the actual shootings. 

“If you are a documented gang member, and you benefit from or promote the activities of the gang, you can be held responsible for crimes the gang commits," the district attorney said. 

To be found guilty, prosecutors must prove the suspects are active gang members, that they had “general” knowledge of the gang’s activity and that they profited, assisted or benefited from the activities. The suspects do not have to be directly involved with the crime to be found guilty.

Those benefits could be economic, like album sales, or intangible, like respect, the district attorney argues.

But Duncan's defense attorney says the charges are bogus.

“How can someone benefit from a gang shooting unless you wanted that person dead also?” said Brian Watkins, Duncan’s defense attorney. “That's the only way you can benefit from a gang shooting, but the district attorney's office admits that Brandon Duncan had no involvement in the shooting or even knowledge of the shootings. There's no way you can benefit from something you didn't even have knowledge of.”

As part of Duncan’s preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented his rap lyrics and social media pictures to demonstrate his participation in the gang. Bringing in the lyrics, they say, is not unusual.

But Watkins argues this is highly unusual because his songs were just artistic expression and had nothing to do with the shootings. The album was made in 2012, before the nine 2013 shootings.

“That’s putting a real black eye on our justice system,” said Watkins. “I mean, to imprison someone for 25 years to life because of artistic expression is something not even the worst communist regimes have done, as we look very bad, or I should say the district attorney’s office looks very bad across the nation, as well as internationally.”

As for his involvement with the gang, Watkins told NBC 7 that Duncan has associated with the Lincoln Park gang because he grew up in the area, but he disputed the defendant is a member.

Steve Walker, communications director for the district attorney’s office, admitted this is a difficult case, but after weeks of testimony, the judge found there is enough evidence to send Duncan and the other defendants to trial.

“It’s important for the community to understand that this case is not about punishing someone for rapping and it’s not a First Amendment issue,” said Walker in a statement. “This case is about protecting our neighborhoods by taking violent gang members off the streets and holding them accountable for the crimes they commit using a law that voters passed and the court has recognized as constitutional.”

Duncan's trial, set by a judge on Thursday, is scheduled for Jan. 23, 2015. 

A young girl was reunited with her Shetland pony Friday after it was found wandering the streets of Riverside County last week.

Blossom, the 16-year-old miniature horse, was picked up from a Jurupa Valley property last week just before the Thanksgiving holiday. She was being kept at a Riverside County Animal Services shelter when employees couldn't locate the owners.

"I was asleep and was wondering what was going on, then I discovered the horse in our yard," resident Edith Hernandez said.

When the owners realized Blossom was missing, they and their neighbors posted fliers and were eventually reunited with their horse. 

Thousands of police officers across the country have begun to wear body cameras and tens of thousands more are expected to join the trend as a way to curb instances of both police misconduct and as a defense against unfounded complaints against police.

But the case of Eric Garner in New York, where body cameras will begin to be used on Friday, has left people wondering whether the technology can deliver as promised.

Celebrities Chris Rock and Mia Farrow echoed a common refrain among the protesters who took to the streets in New York City and elsewhere after a grand jury declined to indict the police officer who put Garner in a chokehold, in an encounter that was videotaped by a bystander.

“This one was on film,” tweeted Chris Rock, drawing a contrast with the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, another black man killed by a white police officer, who a week earlier also was not indicted.

Since Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, his parents have been calling for officers across the country to wear body cameras, technology that police departments are increasingly employing.

Research on the cameras is still extremely limited — only a few studies have been done in comparison to the thousands of police departments using cameras — but the findings show dramatic declines in both use of force by police officers and complaints brought against officers by citizens, say experts and those from police departments that have been early adopters of the technology. Challenges remain about how to store data, ensure privacy and handle other issues but cameras have extraordinary promise, those in the field say.

“This technology has the potential to redefine police-citizen encounters,” said Michael White, an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University and the author of a U.S. Justice Department report on cameras, “Police Officer Body-Worn Cameras: Assessing the Evidence.”  “I don’t think this technology is going anywhere. I think it’s here to stay."

Garner, a 43-year-old father, was placed in a chokehold by Officer Daniel Pantaleo on July 17 as police arrested him on the street for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. Garner told the officers who subdued him, “I can’t breathe.”

Pantaleo’s lawyer has said the 29-year-old officer told the grand jury that not only did he did not intend to harm Garner but that he was aware that he was being videotaped.

Police officers in three New York City precincts will begin wearing body cameras on Friday as part of a $50,000 pilot program, ordered after a court ruling last year that the police department’s stop-and-frisk policy was unconstitutional. Mayor Bill De Blasio has said that if the program goes well, the city might budget for thousands of additional cameras next year.

New York joins communities from Los Angeles to Chicago to Miami Beach that are already using cameras or that are testing them. The small cameras, depending on the model, can be worn on the front of an officer's shirt or on glasses, a collar or a shoulder. Once an officer's shifts ends, the data is uploaded to a storage system, whether within the department or to a cloud-based one offered by the camera's manufacturer.

The president of New York City's Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch, has objected to the cameras, calling them unnecessary and potentially dangerous for officers already weighted down by mace, radios, handcuffs and flashlights.

“Additional equipment becomes an encumbrance and a safety issue for those carrying it,” he said in a statement in August.

In response to Garner and Brown’s deaths and other racially charged exchanges between officers and the communities they police, President Obama on Monday proposed making $75 million available for 50,000 body cameras for departments across the country. The initiative, which would need congressional approval, would provide a 50 percent match to departments for the equipment.

“These things are good because of that civilizing affect that it can have on everybody involved - the officer who knows that his or her actions are being recorded and the members of the public who know this too,” said David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School who writes about racial profiling and police behavior and regulation. “It’s also a superb device for collecting evidence and it’s a good way that officers can be protected from the occasional bogus complaint.”

Early Results Across U.S.

Signs of progress have emerged in Rialto, California, a small city east of Los Angeles. After half of its 54 patrol officers began wearing cameras in 2012, public complaints against police officers dropped 88 percent, from 24 in 2011 to three during the year of the study. Use of force by the police officers fell by 60 percent, from 61 to 25 instances.

“Now it’s not clear that scaling that up to size of New York City’s police department you would get the same results but if you got even half of that or a quarter of that it would be one of the most remarkable changes that policing has seen in 50 years,” Harris said.

In Mesa, Arizona, where only partial results were available, there was an estimated 60 percent decline in complaints against police officers, according to the report. 

The Fort Worth, Texas, police department began acquiring cameras after some of its officers bought their own, creating issues with the storage of data, said Corporal Tracey Knight. The first department-issued cameras were used in May 2012, she said. Today, the department has the funds for 600 cameras for its 1,560 officers.

The department’s chief, Jeffrey W. Halstead, believed the cameras would show that the department's vast majority of officers behaved well, she said.

“And the very small percentage that don’t can be held accountable for their actions swiftly,” she said by email.

Challenges to Overcome With Body Cameras

Most officers reacted positively to the use of cameras though some worried supervisors would fish through footage looking for minor policy violations, she said.

Before deploying the cameras, police departments must set regulations for the storage of data and for the cameras' use, experts say.

Outfitting officers with cameras is the easy part, White said. Much more difficult is storing data securely, sometimes for years, so that it can be available as evidence in criminal and civil trails and to resolve complaints against officers.

Harris advocates not accepting an officer's version of events if a camera is off on during an encounter with the public -- provided there was no technological problem nor too little time to turn it on. Putting police video on the Internet should be an offense for which an officer is fired, he said.

Departments also need to consider concerns about privacy, once officers enter homes or businesses, and laws can vary state by state, experts say. Issues can arise with minors, people who are mentally ill or victims of sexual or domestic assault.

The American Civil Liberties Union says that although it generally takes a dim view of the proliferation of cameras, body cameras on police officers can serve as a check against abuse.

"We're against pervasive government surveillance, but when cameras primarily serve the function of allowing public monitoring of the government instead of the other way around, we generally regard that as a good thing," says an ACLU report, "Police Body-Mounted Cameras: With Right Policies in Place, a Win For All."

It offers advice on control of the recordings and on limiting the threat to privacy.

The use of cameras is still so new that experts say other issues are likely to arise. More studies are needed, they say.

“There’s always a downside to technology and sometimes it does not make itself apparent until after it’s in use,” Harris said.
 

A Valley Center man unhappy with SDG&E work near his property threatened to plant an explosive mine to stop it.

In an email to NBC 7 Thursday, Frits Versteegh, who lives in the 30500 block of Spearhead Trail, said SDG&E recently installed a metal post on his street. The installation had damaged an earthen wall that protects the road from being washed away by water running down, the suspect claimed.

Versteegh said he made calls to the utility, but when he did not get the response he wanted, he was taking "the matter into my own hand now."

In his email, Versteegh wrote he was burying a mine that he made himself in the area, targeting SDG&E work trucks. He planned to put a sign up warning about what he had done.

NBC 7 forwarded the email to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, which dispatched its bomb squad to the man's property.

Sheriff's Lt. Dan Brislin said they took Versteegh into custody and immediately began a search of his home. They blocked off Spearhead Trail for about two hours, but no evacuations were necessary because the homes around Versteegh's were vacant, said Brislin.

The bomb squad has not found any explosives on the property or in his home.

Versteegh was booked into the Vista Jail for making a bomb threat.

A carjacking suspect led California Highway Patrol on a chase that began in Riverside County and wove its way in San Diego, prompting a Sig Alert on Interstate 15.

The pursuit started at about 7 p.m. Thursday north of Rainbow in Riverside County when sheriff's deputies tried to pull over the suspect driving a van.

CHP Sgt. Ken Jolly says when the suspect refused to stop they chased the driver onto Interstate 215, but the CHP picked up the pursuit once the man drove onto Interstate 15 and traveled into San Diego County.

As he fled, the suspect would stick his hands out his windows and make the sign of a gun with his fingers.

CHP officers were able to lay a spike strip in the HOV lane near State Route 56, which took out the van's left side tires. The suspect continued driving on the van's rims, successfully avoiding a second spike strip near Rancho Penasquitos.

The suspect finally stopped in the midst of traffic just north of Mercy Road. CHP arrested him without incident. They did not find a weapon inside the vehicle, but bullets were spotted on the seats. Officials believe the man may have thrown a gun out the window during the chase.

CHP issued a Sig Alert for that area at about 8 p.m., but it expired forty minutes later. No one was injured, and no other vehicles were damaged, Jolly says.

Days after a Staten Island grand jury decision in the Eric Garner chokehold death case prompted outrage and protests across New York City and the nation, the Brooklyn district attorney's office told NBC 4 New York Friday it would impanel a grand jury to consider charges in the case of Akai Gurley, the unarmed man fatally shot by police in a dark Brooklyn housing project stairwell late last month.

District Attorney Ken Thompson launched an investigation into Gurley's death almost immediately after the November shooting. His office is expected to release a statement later Friday.

Confirmation the grand jury would be impaneled came several hours after Gurley's mother, Sylvia Palmer, called for homicide charges to be filed during a teary news conference that marked her first comments since her son's death Nov. 20.

That night, Gurley and his girlfriend were walking down the stairs to get out of the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York as NYPD officer Peter Liang and his partner were conducting a floor-by-floor sweep of the building, and the 28-year-old was shot when he stepped out onto a landing.

Bratton has described the shooting as a tragic accident and called Gurley a "total innocent."

Gurley's mother said Friday she wants justice for her 28-year-old son.

"I need justice for my son. I want my son to rest in peace with the respect he deserved," a weepy Palmer said. "It’s like I feel like I'm lying in the morgue with him right now. I need my son back."

Palmer, who lives in Florida with Gurley's father, said their son was leaving his girlfriend's apartment and was going to get his hair braided before visiting them with his baby daughter for Thanksgiving when he was shot. She said the visit would have been the first time she had seen him in two years.

"Now there will never be another Thanksgiving, another Christmas, another Valentine's, no social gatherings," she said. "My son was my heart and now he's taken away from me."

Bratton has said the shooting officer, Liang, had drawn his weapon and a flashlight for safety reasons given the pitch-black stairwell at the housing project where several major crimes had been documented earlier this year, and the weapon accidentally went off. Liang's partner kept his weapon holstered. The two were assigned to the complex as part of a violence reduction overtime detail.

Liang was placed on modified duty after the shooting. The medical examiner later ruled Gurley's death a homicide.

Gurley's name is one of several that has been scrawled on protesters' signs in the wake of the Garner grand jury decision Wednesday and following a Missouri grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who shot unarmed teen Michael Brown. More protests are planned for Thursday, and Palmers are expected to join the Garner and Brown's family along with the Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders for a march in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13.

Echoing a plea earlier made by city officials in the wake of the Garner decision, Gurley's father, Ken Palmer, asked demonstrators to "let peace reign."

A wake for Gurley is planned for Friday afternoon and a funeral will be held Saturday morning. Sharpton is expected to deliver the eulogy.  

You know those shameless Facebook posts boasting about meeting a celebrity, getting a job promotion or going on an overseas trip?

Turns out the most “braggadocious” social media posts come from California – more so than any other state. That’s according to HeyLets, a new mobile social app that surveyed 2,500 Americans, asking them how often they make self-promotional posts.

In a way, it’s not surprising, given we live in the land of sand, sun and celebrities.

The largest percentage of those surveyed live in the Golden state, 77 percent, followed by Washington state (76 percent) and then Nevada (72 percent).

The most humble states? Well that would be Utah (22 percent), Oregon (26 percent) and South Carolina (33 percent).

The most popular topics to brag about on Facebook and Instagram, according to HeyLets, is going on a special trip, followed by attending a memorable event, meeting a noteworthy person, your significant other doing something nice and, finally, work-related good news.

Well, what else is there to talk about on Facebook?

Similarly, a recent survey conducted by Ford found that a third of Americans have done things just to post about them on social media.

NASA’s new Orion spacecraft test mission made a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean Friday and with it was a piece of San Diego.

Rayotek Scientific, a glass products manufacturing company based in Sorrento Valley, is behind all of Orion’s 11 windows. The company has been working with NASA since 2012.

"This is very exciting for the company, everyone actually had a part of it at some point or another," Rayotek’s Engineering Project Manager Jessica Thun said.

After years of testing and work, the Rayotek team joined millions of eager spectators as the newest NASA spacecraft launched to a height of 3,600 miles above earth Friday.

Several tests were done to make sure the windows were ready for takeoff, including polishing and coating. The windows must withstand intense heat, debris and meteorites.

The team also conducted several pressure tests to make sure the windows were strong and accurate.

“We were all on the edge of our seat hoping that the windows are all structurally sound and I’m sure they are,” Thun said. “The engineering team did a fantastic job to make sure it would be successful.”

The group watched live footage of the Orion landing in the Pacific Ocean around 8:30 a.m. Friday while their CEO and CFO were at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Thun says a lot of heart and soul was put into this project.

“Everyone actually had a part of it at some point or another,” said. “Our engineering team is fantastic and accomplished something –a lot of which has never been done before with these windows.”

Rayotek says it feels great to see their work finally come to fruition and see a successful launch and recovery.

America's Finest City was also involved in the recovery portion of the launch in that San Diego-based USS Anchorage led the way.

The Anchorage began the four-and-a-half-hour recovery process Friday, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Chelsea Irish said. The spacecraft will be brought back to Naval Base San Diego before it’s sent to a NASA location.

Irish says six Navy units are participating in the recovery. She adds an amphibious ship like USS Anchorage was picked for a number of reasons.

Amphibious ships have a well deck, strong radar to track the capsule and small boats to guide the recovery process.