A 34-year-old Wallingford woman fell to her death while trying to help two victims of a hit-and-run on Interstate 91 in New Haven early Thursday morning.

Lauren Mohr had just finished her shift at Barcelona in New Haven and was driving on I-91 North near exit 7 around 12:30 a.m. when she witnessed a hit-and-run, so she pulled over, called 911 and was waiting with the victims for help to arrive, according to family members.

While waiting for help to arrive, Mohr jumped to get out of the way because she thought a car was coming, fell over a concrete wall and off the bridge, landing about 40 feet below, state police said. She Mohr was pronounced dead at Yale-New Haven Hospital. 

Lauren was the daughter of Lawrence Mohr and the step-daughter of Quinnipiac University vice president of admissions Joan Mohr.

“Lauren was courageous and optimistic, and had faced a lot of challenges in her life, which made her a caring and wise person. Friends and family would seek her advice and she will be remembered as our hero,” Lawrence Mohr said in a statement issued by Quinnipiac.

Lauren also worked as a temporary aide in the undergraduate admissions office at Quinnipiac.

“The university community was saddened to learn of the death of Lauren Mohr,” Lynn Bushnell, vice president for public affairs at Quinnipiac, said in a statement. “The university would like to extend its sincerest condolences to the Mohr family and ask that you continue to keep Lauren’s family and her many friends in your thoughts and prayers.”

Prior to working at Quinnipiac, Lauren served in the Air Force for four years and trained as a medical technician, according to Quinnipiac University.

She was a graduate of Sheehan High School in Wallingford and recently received her associate's degree in social work from Middlesex Community College. In the fall, Lauren had planned to continue studying social work at Southern Connecticut State University.

Lauren is survived by her sister, Arwen, brother-in-law Nate, 4-year-old nephew Cole and 1-and-a-half-year-old niece Eowyn, of Martinez, California, her mother, Diana, in Martland, and her beloved cat, Bucky.

Her family has contacted the New England organ donor bureau to donate her organs. Funeral plans have not been finalized.

State police are investigating and said in a news release that Elvin Ayala, 33, of Branford, hit the car driven by Elizabeth Anne Kranz, 25, of Brooklyn, New York, on I-91 North near exit 8. Ayala fled the scene, police said.

Ayala was charged with evading responsibility, operating while under suspension and following too closely, according to a news release from state police. East Haven police towed his vehicle, and Kranz's car was also towed from the scene.

An FBI agent was rushed to the hospital by ambulance Thursday after a shooting at a firearms training facility in San Diego's South Bay.

The shooting was accidental, according to a Cal Fire spokesperson.

The unidentified agent was transported to a nearby hospital via ground ambulance.

No details were given on the agent's condition or how the shooting occurred.

The facility on Alta Road in Otay Mesa is used by members of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, the FBI and the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

A silver truck rolled onto its roof after crashing with a trolley in Chula Vista Thursday afternoon.

The collision happened at Industrial Boulevard and Naples Street at 4:45 p.m.

Fire officials say the everyone was able to get out of the car, but it's unclear if there are any injuries.

No one on the trolley was hurt.

Service in the area was stopped as investigators looked into the crash. For Blue Line travelers, San Diego MTS has buses running between H Street and Palomar. Trolley service was restarted at about 5:30 p.m.

Police's search for a 15-year-old girl missing from San Diego High School did not last long when the girl was found at home. 

San Diego police say the girl and was last seen wearing a white blouse with a white sweater over it, khaki shorts and a purple backpack.

The SDPD helicopter helped search for her.

If you're having a heart attack, cardiologists say getting to the right hospital within 90 minutes is key for survival.

“If you are able to open that artery within 90 minutes, the chances of that patient having a good outcome is excellent,” interventional cardiologist Dr. Vimal Nanavati said.

If you're having the most serious kind of heart attack, called an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), where your heart artery is completely blocked, getting to a STEMI receiving center is critical.

“Every minute counts,” said Nanavati.

Thirteen San Diego County hospitals have STEMI receiving centers with catheterization labs that can unclog the blocked arteries in a patient's heart.

Robert Quittner has been a paramedic for over 10 years with San Diego Rural/Metro. He said a contractual agreement between two local hospitals is making him question the profession he loves.

"We became paramedics to take care of people," he said. "We're delaying their care. We're causing more damage to the heart."

Quittner is referring to a 30-year cardiovascular partnership between Kaiser Hospital in Grantville and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

Kaiser Hospital does not have a STEMI receiving center, so its STEMI patients are transported to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla for treatment.

Seven of the county's 13 STEMI receiving centers are closer to Kaiser Hospital than Scripps La Jolla, including Scripps Mercy, Alvarado, Sharp Memorial and UCSD Medical Center. Naval Medical Center is also included in the 13 facilities and has a STEMI receiving center.

Quittner believes these patients should not be going the extra distance to Scripps La Jolla.

"If that was my family member and they were having an active heart attack and they needed a stent, and I knew that there was an appropriate, just as good facility closer, I would want them taken there,” he said. “I would demand that they be taken there.”

NBC 7 Investigates asked Kaiser and Scripps to talk about what benefits their partnership had for patients. A Kaiser spokesperson told NBC 7 Investigates he would provide one of the hospital's cardiologists for an on-camera interview. But that never happened, and instead Kaiser sent us a joint statement with Scripps Health.

The statement read:

“Kaiser Permanente and Scripps Health’s first priority is the health and well-being of our patients. For more than 30 years, Kaiser Permanente and Scripps Health have partnered to provide cardiovascular care to San Diegans. Through this collaboration, our physicians have worked side by side to deliver high quality care to patients throughout the region. Collectively, our physicians are among the most experienced heart care providers in the state and have made our heart program one of the top 20 in the nation.

Patients who are diagnosed at Kaiser Permanente’s San Diego hospital as having a particular type of heart attack known as an “ST elevation myocardial infarction” (STEMI) are stabilized and - when clinically appropriate, based on individual patient condition - rapidly transported to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla where Kaiser Permanente physicians perform a cardiac catheterization. The volume of procedures accomplished at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla by Kaiser Permanente cardiologists makes it one of the leading STEMI treatment sites in the county.

The protocols that Kaiser Permanente has in place with Scripps Health regarding STEMI patients are in accordance with national guidelines established by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, and are in accordance with the County of San Diego’s STEMI Program, so STEMI patients receive the most appropriate, best possible care. We continually assess the guidelines and protocols for STEMI patients so that our program continues its history of success of providing superior care to our San Diego patients.”

San Diego Emergency Medical Services is the county agency who ultimately approved the Kaiser/Scripps agreement. NBC 7 Investigates reached out to EMS Medical Director Bruce Haynes but he did not return our calls or emails. But a county spokesperson did email us back saying the Kaiser/Scripps agreement falls within national guidelines.

Even if Kaiser gets patients to Scripps La Jolla in the recommended 90 minutes or less, Nanavati said heart patients should still demand to go to the closest STEMI facility.

“If it were me I would want to go to the closest center because as we know every minute counts," Nanavati said.

Sources in the San Diego Fire Department told NBC7 off-camera some of their employees have also questioned the Kaiser/Scripps agreement.

San Diego Rural Metro Ambulance declined to comment on this story.

NBC 7 Investigates is working for you. If you have more information about this or other story tips, contact us: (619) 578-0393, NBC7Investigates@nbcuni.com. To receive the latest NBC 7 Investigates stories, subscribe to our newsletter.

A new smart phone app called Flywheel is promising to change the way you hail a taxi in San Diego, and it’s giving some taxi drivers real hope they can finally compete with Uber.

Flywheel, based in San Francisco, sent employees to the Gaslamp Quarter Tuesday night to promote the technology. Much like Uber and Lyft, Flywheel requires users to download the app and sign up with credit card information ahead of time. The app lets you orient to your current location and then hail the nearest cab.

“The big difference with us is we have no surge pricing and worked licensed vehicles in the cities, so you know the drivers have been well vetted by the city’s requirements,” said Ryan Nobrega, a Flywheel spokesperson.

Right now Flywheel is the only real player in the taxi smartphone app game. They say they’ve contracted with about 75 percent of local cabs and are optimistic the numbers will continue to grow. The company charges a $1 service fee on all exchanges.

“We lost business the last two years. Now we’re getting help” said taxi driver Bashir Warsame. “I think Flywheel is helping us as a business.”

Not everyone is as excited about the new technology however.

“On paper it sounds very good,” said Chris Morse with the United Taxi Workers of San Diego, a nonprofit dedicated to drivers’ rights. “We see an app like Flywheel coming in almost as another iteration of Uber coming in to provide its expertise in a way that might blind side some drivers into agreeing to terms not beneficial to their long term interests.”

The UTWSD is currently working on its own app, which they say will give drivers a better deal.

“We are 100 percent for the cab industry” said Nobrega. Flywheel is already operating in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and Seattle.

The company’s San Diego launch took place at Tuesday night’s Mardi Gras celebration in the Gaslamp with free cab rides all night long to San Diegans.

Flywheel negotiated rates with cab drivers which they say are 33 percent lower than the typical fair you’d receive when hailing a taxi the traditional way.

A new surveillance video of a doggy day care van, that the driver said was hijacked by an armed robber Wednesday, shows the vehicle was not hijacked at all —it was taken while left running and unattended with the doors unlocked.

The search for the dogs began Wednesday afternoon when Joseph Giannini, the owner of Urban Out Sitters, said one of his drivers was ordered out of the silver 2002 Chrysler Town and Country van by two armed men while they prepared to transport the dogs.

The video released by the Chicago Police department Thursday showed two men approach the idle minivan at approximately 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Shortly after they took the vehicle and drove off, a witness tried to intervene, at which time one of the offenders drew a gun and pointed it at him, according to police.

Several dogs were inside the minivan when it was taken.

Chicago police found the missing vehicle Thursday on the 2100 block of South Wabash Street, on Chicago's Near South Side. All of the dogs were found alive inside the vehicle and were being reunited with their owners by midday.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing. There are no suspects in custody, according to police.
 

The San Diego Chargers are working with the Oakland Raiders on a proposal to build a $1.7 billion NFL stadium in the Los Angeles area, Chargers’ special counsel Mark Fabiani confirmed to NBC 7.

Both teams will still seek new stadiums in San Diego and Oakland, but if the deals fall through, they want a backup in Carson, California. If they can't get local options by the end of the year, they'll move forward with a shared stadium.

"We are pursuing this stadium option in Carson for one straightforward reason: If we cannot find a permanent solution in our home markets, we have no alternative but to preserve other options to guarantee the future economic viability of our franchises," said the teams in a joint stadium. Read their full statement below.

The coalition "Carson2gether," a group of business and labor leaders, are expected to hold a news conference Friday to announce the plan, according to the LA Times. Just as San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer wants to bring a stadium proposal to local voters, Carson2gether wants to launch a petition drive to get the project on the LA-area ballot.

The Chargers have recently been in a public spat with the city after Faulconer appointed a nine-member citizens' stadium advisory group, charged with weighing the best locations for a new Chargers stadium.

The group and team met for the first time Monday. The next day, Fabiani fired off an open letter to the mayor, questioning the legal and practical role of political advisers on the task force.

Faulconer sent out his public response later that afternoon, criticizing Fabiani for a "divisive tone." He said the counsel's criticism is getting in the way of finding a new place for the Chargers.

The team started turning up the heat on San Diego leaders after St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke announced his intentions to build a stadium in Inglewood.

The Chargers/Raiders statement was sent in bullet points. The full text is below: 

• "We have both been working in our home markets to find a stadium solution for many years, so far unsuccessfully.
• "We remain committed to continuing to work in our home markets throughout 2015 to try to find publicly acceptable solutions to the long-term stadium issue.
• "We also both understand and respect the NFL’s relocation process, and we intend to adhere strictly to the relocation procedures that the League has set forth for Los Angeles.
• "particular, we respect the right of the NFL’s owners to decide on all Los Angeles-related relocation issues and understand that any relocation application that is filed for Los Angeles must obtain the approval of three-fourths of the NFL’s owners.
• "Both teams have kept the NFL owners’ committee on Los Angeles, and the Commissioner, fully informed about our joint efforts.
• "We are pursuing this stadium option in Carson for one straightforward reason: If we cannot find a permanent solution in our home markets, we have no alternative but to preserve other options to guarantee the future economic viability of our franchises.
• "In short, for the remainder of 2015, we intend to move down two tracks simultaneously:
  • "On track one, we will continue to work in our home markets to find permanent stadium solutions that are publicly acceptable.
  • "On track two, we will work in Carson to preserve our options, and the future economic viability of our franchises, in the event that our efforts in our local markets fail.
• "Throughout this process we will respect the rules and procedures set forth by the League and defer completely to the ultimate decision of the NFL’s owners."
  

Somerville, Massachusetts, has a new tool in its fight against the risk of snow-covered roof collapses: drones.

The snow-weary city has hired a local aerial photography firm to fly its drones high above the city to shoot video of municipal buildings' roofs, so the city will know which need to be cleared.

Dan Hadley, chief of staff to the mayor's office, explained to NBC News that the drones' footage-gathering missions would "promote public safety."

The company the city has hired, Above Summit, says its drones are operated via transmitter remote and can get within 10 feet of their subject matter. Its smallest drones use GoPro camera rigs for full HD footage, while its largest drones carry cameras that can record professional-quality video.

"This is the easiest, quickest way we could possibly inspect them," Hadley told the Boston Globe of the plan. "As long as we are keeping safety concerns in mind, it's the perfect use of technology for government."

The drone-hiring plan is just the latest effort to clear the snow in Somerville. Earlier this month, the city cracked down on homeowners and businesses who didn't shovel promptly.

As in many communities, residents of Somerville, Massachusetts, are navigating swaths of sidewalks still partly covered in snow and slush. This season, the city though is cracking down on homeowners and businesses that don’t shovel promptly.

Alderman Jack Connolly says inspectors are handing out brightly-colored citations he likes to call "Scarlet Letters" so neighbors know who’s being held accountable.

A North County family finally feels a sense of closure after the man accused of assaulting their young daughters was taken into custody, the father said in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

“We feel safe, and we feel safe because this guy is off the street, but we also feel safe because the police department, the sheriff’s department pursued this to the end,” said the father, who only wanted to be identified as Will.

Gilbert Chavarria, 27 – dubbed “the Creeper” by authorities – was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting minors in seven cases. Officials say in June and July of 2013, Chavarria broke into Escondido and San Marcos homes to assault the children, cutting pieces of their pajamas to take with him as he escaped.

One of the alleged victims was Will’s daughter, then 9 years old. On July 19, sheriff’s investigators say Chavarria came through the family’s first-floor window and into the bedroom where Will's two daughters were sleeping.

He is accused of assaulting the older girl and then trying to touch the 5-year-old child. The younger girl screamed and kicked the suspect. The man escaped the way he came, but not without so-called trophies – the pieces of the girls’ pajamas, which investigators say are typical of serial sexual predators.

Since that night, Will and his wife have been trying to help the girls cope with the trauma.

“This has been an ongoing discussion. It comes up once a month, sometimes once a week, it just depends, since it happened,” Will said.

As the crime and others just like it were investigated, DNA evidence from two of the crime scenes was ran through the state database. However, investigators did not come up with any matches at that point, according to San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore.

Nearly two years later, they tried again. This time, they sent the evidence to the California Department of Justice to see if there was a familial match, looking for relative's DNA in the system. The result led police to Chavarria.

On Wednesday, Gore called this arrest a significant one, and Escondido Police Chief Craig Carter said, “This predator has changed their lives forever.”

Will looks at his daughter who fought the suspect as a hero who helped lead police to their man. The parents have not told their daughters about the arrest just yet.

“When we tell them, we want them to know, they were a part of this process of getting him off the streets. They’re part of this resolution,” Will said.

But the incident has not taught the family to be fearful, Will told NBC 7. Instead, they have secured their house so that if another intruder tries to enter, they’ll be ready.

Law enforcement officials have conducted a review of hundreds of officer-involved shootings that have occurred in San Diego County over two decades.

The agencies gathered Thursday to present the report's findings derived using data from the District Attorney's office.

The study looked at 358 officer-involved shootings that occurred in the county between 1993 and 2012. The shootings were fatal 54 percent of the time or what amounts to approximately 200 civilians killed in a confrontation with law enforcement. Ten percent of the incidents ended with an officer injured or killed.

When considering the race of the officers and the subjects, 72 percent of the time the officer was white. Twelve percent of the incidents involved a Hispanic officer and in 7 percent of the cases, the race of the officer was unknown.

Looking at the subjects, 37 percent of them were white, the report stated. Hispanic was the next most common race of subjects with 36 percent of the shootings involving a person of Hispanic origin. Nineteen percent of the shootings involved an African American subject. Four percent of the cases had a subject of Asian or Filipino background.

The review took more than two months to complete. Here is a brief look at just some of the results:

• Of the 358 shootings reviewed, 115 subjects had a handgun, officials said. Sixty-six suspects had a knife or a machete.
• Of the 29 in which no weapon was present, 22 were result of furtive movement by subject, five were accidental discharges by officer, one subject was considered a violent gang member and charged at an officer and one was a prison inmate involved in an assault on another inmate, according to the report.
• The average age of suspects involved in recent officer-involved shootings was 32 years old with ages ranging from 15 to 90.
• The average age of officers was 35 and the average lenght of experience was 10 years, the report stated.
• Of the suspects shot, nearly half of them - 44 percent - were either on parole or probation at the time.
• A vehicle pursuit led up to shootings 18 percent of the time with foot pursuits involved 20 percent of the time. The bulk of offficer-involved shootings in the last two decades involved no pursuit of the suspect.
• Officials say 81 percent of officer-involved shootings in the county involved a subject with evidence of drug use or mental health concerns. When it comes to drug use, methamphetamine was the predominant drug connected to these incidents - occurring in 116 cases - followed by alcohol and then marijuana.
• In 80 percent of the shootings, officers involved did not attempt to use non lethal force. The study suggests a less-than-lethal shotgun was used seven times.
• Most occurred within city limits and involved officers with the San Diego Police Department. The majority stemmed from traffic stops or domestic violence calls. 

See the full report here.

Nearly half of the shootings happened minutes after officers arrived on scene, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said.

“This is why having less lethal force options available in a timely manner is vital in assisting to resolve rapidly evolving incidents,” Zimmerman said.

Sheriff Bill Gore said that his department's 26,000 arrests last year there were two officer-involved shootings.

“Obviously we’d like that to be zero but two to me does not seem to be an extreme number,” Gore said.

Gore said the report will help his department look at training and procedures to improve daily actions of deputies.

Officials also outlined the process of review after an officer-involved shooting occurs.

Law enforcement notifies the District Attorney's Office and then conducts a primary investigation. Within 3 days of the shooting, the law enforcement agency briefs the DA's office.

After that, the agency submits its entire case to prosecutors. The District Attorney's office conducts an independent review.

Once that is complete, the DA writes a summary letter and legal conclusion.

In San Diego County, only two officers have been prosecuted for their roles in shootings.

In 1996, jurors acquitted San Diego Police Officer Christopher Chaney who shot a driver supected of driving while intoxicated. In 2009, jurors acquitted Oceanside Police Officer Frank White who shot a mother and her son when off duty.

Just last month, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento proposed new legislation that would create a law enforcement panel, likely within the state Attorney General's office, to study each case of a California police officer fatally shooting someone and write reviews or issue recommendations.

Find out what some community groups think of the review tonight on NBC 7 News at 6.

Residents of a Mission Valley complex say they have been then victims of unlawful towing ever since their property management company hired EPA K-9 Security & Investigations and Western Towing.

The Mission Heights property near Rancho Mission and Friars Road has a rule: no parking in the visitor spots for more than 24 hours. But many who live there say their vehicles are being towed before the allotted time is up.

Resident Greg Crownover said the problem is the security officers only come around once during that period (around 2 a.m.) and there’s no way for them to know the driver didn’t move the vehicle and re-park it in the same spot. Crownover said the security company is still authorizing those tows.

“They don’t bother to chalk the tires or anything like that,” Crownover said. “[It’s costing us] thousands of dollars. Over 40 cars have been towed in the last two weeks.”

Other residents told NBC 7 Western Towing tow trucks would line up right outside the complex getting ready to tow. They said they’re furious with their property management company.

“You wonder, who are they representing? Are they representing the homeowners or Western Towing and the security company?” said Crownover.

A district manager for FirstService Residential told NBC 7 there was an issue that occurred at the beginning of February but he believes the issue had been resolved. Residents say that is not the case.

Resident Morgan Cain got his car towed after he parked it just for the night, he said. He went to Western Towing’s tow yard to get his vehicle and was in for a surprise.

“I walk up and there’s like a big group of guys, of people who were like “Hey, so you’re from Mission Heights?’ And I said ‘Yeah, we’re from Mission Heights also,” Cain recalled. Cain said five of his neighbors were at that tow yard.

De Wayne Frost with FirstService Residential sent NBC 7 this statement: “FirstService Residential enforces the rules and regulations of Mission Heights Owners Association at the direction of the Board.”

NBC 7 reached out to Western Towing but have not received a response.

The chief of operations for EPA K-9 Security and Investigations wrote us, saying, “EPA K-9 is contracted by the HOA Board for Mission Heights, for one check nightly. The main concern is parking issues. There is little or no parking for Guest due to residents using the assign visitor spaces. EPAK-9 parking enforcement policy is: check the spaces, record the vehicle make, license plate, time and space the vehicle's parked in mark vehicle and or photograph and return the following night for any violations, contact towing company.”

Crownover, Cain and several other residents said that “once check” nightly is the problem.

“What security is being provided? I don’t see it,” said Crownover.

NBC 7 called the San Diego Police Department’s tow administrator and she gave some useful information to help people prevent unlawful tows of their cars on private property:

1. Your car cannot be towed if you show up and it’s still on the property.
2. The driver may charge you to take down the car if it’s already hooked up.
3. You’re allowed to ask who authorized the tow and where is that person. The person who authorizes the tow has to be on the premises.
4. Tow drivers are not allowed to partially hook up your car, get it off property and then complete the hook up process off property. That would be a violation of two California vehicle codes since it poses a safety concern. At that point, local police may get involved (because it occurred on public property).
5. If your car is towed, the tow yard must not be more than 10 miles from the tow location.
6. The towing company cannot charge you’re their own rates to release cars. Those charges are state regulated.

For the full California Vehicle Code section, visit the DMV’s website.

An HOA meeting for Mission Heights is scheduled for March 4.

A prosecutor on Thursday detailed new disturbing details in the case of a man accused of sneaking into children’s bedrooms to fondle them as they slept.

Andre Chavarria, 27, had three more victims in addition to the six children he’s accused of molesting in June and July of 2013 in Escondido and San Marcos, prosecutors allege.

Chavarria is now charged with 17 counts. On Thursday at Chavarria’s arraignment, a judge set bail at $7.5 million for the auto shop worker.

Deputy District Attorney Ryan Saunders said he wasn’t surprised about the elevated bail.

“This is obviously very frightening behavior,” he said. “Very scary for the community at large and the children in the community.”

The only comment Chavarria's defense attorney had was to point out his lack of a criminal record.

Chavarria knew the children, prosecutors said, and frequented their homes. One of the incidents happened in August 2012 and involved two 8-year-olds. The other alleged incidents happened in the spring of 2014 and involved a 5-year-old.

Chavarria was arrested Monday after officials said DNA and other evidence tied him to the string of assaults.

According to officials, Chavarria, dubbed "the Creeper," broke into homes in 2013 to sexually assault children and apparently cut pieces of their pajamas during the assaults.

Many of the incidents happened while parents were sleeping in same room, according to reports.

In the new allegations related to the 8-year-olds girls and 5-year-old girl, however, Chavarria did not cut their pajamas, prosecutors said.

Some of Chavarria’s family members attended Thursday’s hearing, but declined to speak to the media.

If convicted, Chavarria could be sentenced to life in prison.

A bacterial "superbug" linked to two deaths and several infections at Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center was transmitted from patient to patient by a medical device, health officials said Thursday.

There may also be more infections, authorities said.

Almost 180 patients at Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center have been notified that they may have been exposed to the bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), between October 2014 and January 2015.

The devices, called duodenoscopes, are used for diagnosing and treating certain problems of the biliary or pancreatic systems, and were known for needing rigorous disinfection. They are used in an estimated 500,000 procedures each year.

The Food and Drug Administration also issued a new warning, saying that the design of the minimally invasive device can harbor the dangerous bacteria, even if the manufacturer's detailed cleaning instructions are followed correctly.

"Meticulously cleaning duodenoscopes prior to high-level disinfection should reduce the risk of transmitting infection, but may not entirely eliminate it," said the warning, released Thursday morning.

About 135 patients across the U.S. may have been exposed to bacteria transmitted with the devices in 2013 and 2014, according to 75 reports delivered to the FDA.

The FDA recommended that doctors inform patients of the risks of using ERCP endoscopes before a procedure, and afterwards telling them what symptoms to look for that could indicate a CRE infection.

UCLA has called each of the 179 patients who may have been exposed to to CRE, hospital officials said. The  hospital's two duodenoscopes that may have been infected are no longer being used.

A naked man is being hospitalized after running across a San Diego freeway and biting an officer.

California Highway Patrol said the man went streaking across Interstate 5 near Caesar Chavez Parkway near Logan Heights just after 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

The first responding officer demanded the man to the ground and he initially complied, CHP said, but as the officer approached him, he again got up and ran south in the northbound lanes.

After a second unit arrived, the two officers tried to restrain the man who then bit one of the officers in the leg.

Both he and the officer were transported to University of California San Diego Medical Center after the man was taken into custody.

At the time of this report, it was unclear if or what the man may be charged with for his antics.

This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.

The parents of the San Marcos teen girl accused of starting the wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes in San Diego County last year turned down a deal offered by prosecutors Thursday.

The girl accused of starting the Cocos Fire, which destroyed nearly 40 homes amid a spate of wildfires in May 2014, was 13 when she was first arrested and charged.

She faces four felony charges, including two counts of arson of an inhabited structure or property in which multiple structures were burned and two counts of arson of a structure or forest land in a reckless manner.

She also faces a misdemeanor of unlawfully allowing a fire to escape from one’s control. 

When she appeared in juvenile court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing, the San Diego County District Attorney's office offered her what is essentially a plea bargain.

The teenager would admit responsibility for one count plus allegations.

The DA's office tells NBC 7 the teenager's parents and attorney did not accept the offer. As a result, the trial will begin March 10 and will take place downtown.

In juvenile cases, the focus is on rehabilitation over imprisonment.

"The goal of the juvenile system is to rehabilitate," said Deputy District Attorney Shawnaysa Ochoa. "It doesn't matter when, if there's a trial or the person pleads before the trial, the goal is always the same."

In the meantime, the teenager is undergoing counseling and living at home with her parents.

The fire that sparked near Village Drive and Twin Oaks Road in May 2014 forced the evacuation of Cal State San Marcos and hundreds of other homes.

The Cocos Fire scorched 1,995 acres and cost the City of San Marcos approximately $10.4 million in damage and firefighting expenses.

Officials have set up an information line for victims, where they can call for basic info on the case and leave messages with questions. That number is 858-694-4241.

The San Diego Police Department's downtown headquarters were evacuated Thursday night after a man told them there were explosives in his vehicle. 

At about 10 p.m., a man parked in the headquarter's lot and ran inside, claiming someone had put explosives in his car. 

As officers checked the vehicle, others started clearing the building. 

When no explosives were found, the SDPD says the man changed his story, saying there was a black residue under his car. Officers say it was just oil. 

Investigators believe the man was under the influence of an illegal substance. 

The SDPD lieutenant on scene said there was a minor disruption getting everyone out, but at no time was 911 or dispatch interrupted. 

The suspect did not make any criminal threats, but officers say he could be charged with being under the influence.