Someone is in police custody after apparently flying a drone across from the White House on Thursday afternoon.

U.S. Secret Service agents said they saw the small UAV drone flying about 100 feet above Lafayette Park shortly before 1:10 p.m. They detained the man flying the drone and ordered him to land it. Then they cleared Lafayette Park.

A bomb squad checked the drone and declared it safe.

Police also seized a Chevy CSR believed to be used by the man. He is now in custody of the U.S. Park Police.

The drone never made it over the fence to the White House.

A number of San Diegans say they were among the slew of people hacked through Starbucks' mobile app.

Dozens commented on a story about the hackings on NBC 7’s Facebook page, many of whom said they lost money through a PayPal account attached to the Starbucks mobile app. They said hackers then drew money to go toward hundreds of dollars in e-gift cards.

“Happened to my husband last week via the Starbucks app, which is connected to his PayPal account,” Kayla Baker Viswanathan wrote in a Facebook comment. “$250 worth of e-gift cards purchased and then sent to a random e-mail address.”

How it works is that the Starbucks hackers can access the credit card or PayPal account you have attached to the app if you have the app set to "automatic download." Hackers get the app user's password prior to gaining access to the credit card.

“This happened to me as well. My credit card, which was linked to the Starbucks app, was charged $100 twice for the purchase of gift cards I didn't authorize,” Erin Dempster of Alpine wrote in a Facebook comment.

Many locals were warning others on NBC 7’s Facebook page to not attach PayPal or debit cards to their app.

“Never use a debit card, people,” Chuck Knapp wrote. “Use only credit cards. I load Starbucks with Apple Pay, so I am sure I wasn’t hacked.”

In response the recent flurry of hackings, Starbucks said it has safeguards in place to monitor for fraudulent activity.

The company said in a statement posted on its website that "news reports that the Starbucks mobile app has been hacked are false."

Military service members will take to the waves this weekend for a surf competition at Camp Pendleton.

The Pendleton Surf Club, an official club at the base, is set to host its first Surfing Competition on Saturday beginning at 7 a.m. at Camp Del Mar at Camp Pendleton.

The contest is for all members of armed services – active duty, reserves and retirees – competing on all levels. The event is structured by the Western Surfing Association.

Military members can sign up to hang ten on the Pendleton Surf Club website.

The surf club’s mission is to bring the sport of surfing together with the branches of the U.S. military.
 

Missing dad Bob Gildersleeve, Jr. died in Tuesday's fatal Amtrak wreck, his company confirmed Thursday, two days after the Amtrak train he boarded in Baltimore speeded around a curve in Philadelphia and derailed. 

A cadaver dog led investigators to Gildersleeve's remains as workers were moving the wreckage from the crash site to a secure location in Delaware. His body was found in the "large amount of wreckage" of the first passenger car, fire officials said, raising the death toll to eight.

Gildersleeve's story went viral after his 13-year-old son Marc, who'd traveled to Philly with his family, held up a sign with a picture and information about his father, pleading for help in finding his dad.

The 45-year-old vice president of corporate accounts for Ecolab was married with two children, age 13 and 16. 

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague," Ecolab CEO Doug Baker said in a statement.

On Wednesday afternoon, Gildersleeve’s family took to the streets of Philadelphia to spread the word about his disappearance.

“How, in this day and age, can we allow a train to go out of control at 106 miles an hour?” asked Bob Gildersleeve Sr., the victim's father.

His wife Danna said in a statement Thursday that her husband had been "my best friend for 29 years." The two celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary on Mother's Day. 

"He is an remarkable Dad to our daughter Ryan and son Marc. He is a loving son, brother and is definitely the 'fun' Uncle to his nieces and nephews. He is funny and sarcastic and lights up any room with his presence, humor and enthusiasm. He has been a dedicated employee and friend to his Ecolab family for over two decades. Our hearts are broken and we can't imagine a life without him," Danna said.

Gildersleeve dropped his son off at lacrosse practice Tuesday and boarded the train instead of flying to New York, which he did more often. He was among the 8 dead and more than 200 injured in the crash.

"He was in the first car," Gildersleeve Sr. said late Wednesday night. "It's turned inside out. They found his phone. His phone, they found. But they can't find him or his belongings."

An Amtrak employee has filed the first lawsuit in connection to Tuesday’s deadly train derailment that killed eight people and injured over 200 others in Philadelphia.

The Bala Cynwyd law firm Coffey Kaye Myers & Olley, which is representing Amtrak employee Bruce Phillips and his wife Kalita Phillips of Philadelphia, confirmed with NBC10 that their clients are filing a lawsuit against Amtrak. Phillips is still hospitalized at Temple University Hospital.

Phillips, an Amtrak employee, was "deadheading" in one of the rear railcars of Amtrak Regional Train 188 Tuesday night when the derailment occurred, according to the lawsuit. Deadheading is a practice in which a crew member is transported free of charge when they're not working. 

During the derailment, Phillips was "violently hurled" inside the railcar and his body was struck several times before he slammed onto the floor, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit states Phillips suffered serious and permanent injuries including brain trauma, multiple contusions and lacerations of the body, multiple orthopedic and neurological issues and emotional trauma. 

The lawsuit also states Phillips suffered a "loss and impairment of earnings and earning power," has undergone "great physical pain and mental anguish," and will have to pay "large sums of money" for medical treatment.

Phillips and his wife are suing for a sum in excess of $150,000. They are asking for punitive damages in excess of $150,000 due to the alleged "gross reckless conduct of the defendant ."

NBC10 reached out to Amtrak for comment. A spokeswoman told us they don't comment on pending litigation.

A Mesquite, Texas, man who pledged allegiance to ISIS and lied to the FBI about it was arrested on Thursday, according to a criminal complaint.

Bilal Abood, 37, a licensed security guard, is charged with making a false statement to the FBI. He faces up to eight years in prison.

Abood was born in Iraq and migrated to the United States in 2009. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen, prosecutors said.

Abood tried to travel to Iraq from D/FW International Airport on March 29, 2013, but was not allowed to board the flight. He was interviewed by FBI agents, claimed he was going to visit family, and denied that he planned to fight for ISIS, the complaint said.

He later admitted he planned to go to Syria to fight with the Free Syrian Army against the government, the complaint said.

The following month, he left DFW for Mexico and traveled through various countries to get to Syria. When he returned in September 2013, he admitted to FBI agents that he had stayed in a Free Syrian Army camp and fought with the group, the complaint said.

In July 2014, the FBI obtained a search warrant to search his computer. The search found that Abood had pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on June 19, 2014 and had viewed videos of atrocities such as beheadings and had tweeted information on al-Baghdadi, prosecutors said.

In his interview with FBI agents, he denied he had pledged allegiance to ISIS, and that denial was the basis of his charge.

It was not clear why agents waited nearly a year to arrest him.

Abood does not face a terrorism charge and there is no allegation he was planning any attacks in the United States.

Several neighbors of the Spanish Meadows Apartments in Mesquite said they were surprised to see a massive law enforcement presence when they left their homes Thursday morning.

"There was a federal agent standing in front of my Jeep, and a federal agent over here, and a federal agent coming this way and there were 14 unmarked cars," said Rebecca Duckworth.

A detention hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Friday. Abood is being held in federal custody. Attorney information for Abood was not immediately clear.

NBC 5's Ben Russell contributed to this report.

A home burglary near Paloma Elementary School in San Marcos prompted a lockdown on the campus Thursday afternoon, officials confirmed.

The lockdown began around 2:20 p.m. at the school in the 1100 block of Calle Emparrado.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said a burglary suspect ran out of a house near the school and hid in some bushes. The school was placed on lockdown as a precaution as deputies surrounded the home where the suspected burglary occurred.

Deputies took the suspect into custody a short time later.

By 3:20 p.m., officials said the lockdown at the campus would soon be lifted.

No injuries were reported.
 

The sleep-deprived engineer who nodded off at the controls of a Metro-North train just before taking a 30 mph curve at 82 mph, causing a derailment in the Bronx in 2013 that killed four people and injured more than 70 others, will not face criminal charges, prosecutors said Thursday.

The decision not to charge engineer William Rockefeller in the deadly crash had been expected.

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson made the decision weeks ago, his office said. The office had no comment on the delay in announcing his final decision.

Rockefeller's sleepiness was due to a combination of an undiagnosed disorder — sleep apnea — and a drastic shift in his work schedule, the National Transportation Board determined. The agency said the railroad lacked a policy to screen engineers for sleep disorders, which contributed to the Dec. 1, 2013 crash. According to the NTSB, had a system been in place to automatically apply the brakes when an engineer nods off, the crash would have been avoided.

The acting head of the NTSB at the time the report came out called the deaths and injuries "preventable," and politicians, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat from Connecticut, slammed the MTA, which runs Metro-North, and said it had "blood on its hands."

Reached by phone Thursday, Rockefeller's attorney, Jeffrey Chartier, said he hadn't been notified about the decision not to file charges against his client. In response to NBC 4 New York's report, he commended the district attorney's office for the "thoroughness of their investigation and for coming to the same conclusion as the NTSB that there's no criminality on the part of Mr. Rockefeller."

"I'm sure this will bring some closure to Mr. Rockefeller and others affected by this tragedy," Chartier said. 

Meanwhile, authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding this week's deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia. Eight people, including six with ties to New York and New Jersey, were killed in the crash, and more than 200 others were hurt. The NTSB has said the train was going at more than 100 mph around a 50-mph curve when it derailed Tuesday night.

The engineer's lawyer says his client has "absolutely no recollection" of the crash.
 

The Port of San Diego is fishing around for new options for a prime cut of harbor real estate.

The 52-year lease for Anthony’s Fish Grotto, Fishette and Star of the Sea Room – located along Harbor Drive near Ash Street – is set to expire Jan. 31, 2017. So the Port is taking steps to find the next tenant.

On Tuesday, the Board of Port Commissioners told its staff to request proposals for what could go into the 31,608-square foot space, which sits literally above the water.

They want the next project to fall in line with the Embarcadero's recent redevelopment.

“This is a rare opportunity for a highly qualified team to pursue a redevelopment on one of the most prominent and desirable waterfront restaurant sites in Southern California,” reads a Port news release.

Those who turn in a proposal will have to show their plan to finance, design, construct and operate a bayfront restaurant.

Port staff will review the proposals and give their recommendation to the board on Aug. 11, 2015.

The project will join 73 restaurants, 16 hotels and three retail centers that the Port encompasses.

A flash flood warning was issued Thursday as, in a rare twist of nature, San Diego County receives the brunt of rainfall from a pair of wintry storms headed toward Southern California.

The warning covers various parts of San Diego County, including El Cajon, La Mesa, Coronado, Linda Vista, Tierrasanta, Downtown, Mission Valley, Hillcrest, North Park, the Midway District, Mission Beach, Point Loma, Santee, Lemon Grove, the College area, Kearny Mesa, Lake Murray, Scripps Ranch and Point Loma Heights.

The National Weather Service says the warning should expire at 12 a.m. Friday.

By 8:30 p.m., fire officials reported several vehicles were stuck in flooding in the 2500 block of Midway Drive in the Midway District. Six people were trapped in their cars, so firefighters helped pull them out.

However, one person refused to get out and is sitting in a flooded vehicle, the San Diego Fire-Rescue team says.

Firefighters have set up a fire engine barricade at Barnett Avenue and Midway Drive to prevent people from entering the flooded area.

Rains flooded into more cars and several apartments in the Arroyo area. At Reynard Way and Torrance Street, four apartment units were evacuated with the help of firefighters. 

The residents will be out for the rest of the evening, since more rain is expected through Friday and flooding may get worse.

An unseasonably cold storm that originated in the Gulf of Alaska is bringing Southern California periods of rain and snow along with fierce winds, National Weather Service forecasters said.

As the water started coming down, traffic backed up along many San Diego freeways.

But a few enterprising adventurers tried to take advantage of the flooding by kayaking down a Point Loma street in the afternoon. They were not very successful.

Down at Petco Park, the Padres were forced to delay their game due to the showers. It was just the sixth delay in the park's history — the fifth because of rain.

The delay didn't stop some from enjoying their time on the field.

There should be a bit of a respite from the rain late Thursday night, before a more powerful storm moves in Friday.

“The storm’s center is going to move right over us Friday,” NBC 7's Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh said.

A flash flood watch will be in effect Friday with periods of heavy rainfall expected in mountain areas and some valleys, according to the National Weather Service. The agency also put in a

The rain was expected to clear overnight Friday into Saturday morning.

When all is said and done, the pair of storms could provide impressive rainfall totals for San Diego County:

Coast & Valleys: 0.75”-1.25”
Mountains: 1-2”
Deserts: 0.25”

San Diego is forecast to receive more rain than areas north of us, like Los Angeles and Riverside.

“Not only are May storms extremely rare,” Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh said. “For San Diego to be the big winner in the rainfall race is even stranger. But, we certainly welcome it!”

If these two wintry storms provide the rainfall they are expected, this could be one of the wettest Mays we’ve seen in many, many years, Kodesh said.

The pair of storms is expected to clear, in time for a sunny (yet cool) weekend.

While more than 6,131 service members reported sexual assaults last year, only 317 of the accused were court-martialed and sentenced to time behind bars, according to the Department of Defense’s Annual Military Assault Report.

The numbers are calling into question the military justice system when it comes to prosecuting sexual assaults.

Twenty-four percent of the reported assaults were considered "restricted reports," which means the service member wanted counseling but would not identify the attacker. Other cases were dismissed because of insufficient evidence, the statute of limitations had expired, or the command determined the allegations unfounded, the report found.

Out of more than 2,000 charges against accused service members, 25 percent were downgraded to non-sexual assault-related offenses.

Verna Griffin-Tabor, the executive director of the Center for Community Solutions, called the findings troubling.

“That is really brutal for a survivor because the perpetrators have never been held to taking responsibility, and so they plead out for a lower sentence, a lower conviction, and so sexual assault doesn't follow them,” she said. Griffin-Tabor’s organization advocates for sexual assault survivors.

She said military tribunals do not have the same confidentiality policies as the criminal court system, and the closed system appears to support careers of service members over the rights of alleged victims, she alleged.

Part of the concern is that incidents involving a sex offender are typically not isolated.

“It’s estimated that for folks committing sexual assault, there is usually six victims,” said Griffin-Tabor.

For that reason, many survivors decide to move forward to hold suspects responsible – to keep others from becoming victims of sexual assault.

It's a birthday celebration that grandmother Louise Bonito and her family will never forget: When she took a breath to blow out the candles on her cake, Bonito's dentures came out instead.

"They said, 'Mom, make sure you blow hard.' OK, so of course I went to blow, and my teeth came out," said the 102-year-old North Haven resident.

Video footage from the celebration shows Bonito laughing at her lost teeth. She took it in stride, and said she didn't feel like putting the glue on her dentures that day.

"I didn't get mad at all. I said, 'We're all celebrating,' to myself, 'We're all celebrating. Let's have a good time.' So I joined them, and I was laughing and laughing. They couldn't get over it," said Bonito.

What she can't get over, Bonito said, is that her granddaughter's video has become an Internet sensation and made its way around the globe.

"My youngest son called me this morning, 'Ma, now you're famous in Italy.' In Italy! Well, I'm glad I'm bringing some joy to the world," she said.

Bonito said friends she hasn't heard from in years have reached out to say hello.

"At least it brought people to laugh. There's so much misery in this world, a little laughter will do them good," said Bonito.

She said that with five children, 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren, she knows how blessed she is.

"I always used to say, there's a reason for me to be on this earth. At my age, 102, and thank God, I'm still able to do everything myself, and that's more of a blessing than anything else," said Bonito.

Three adults and one child were found dead in a home in the expensive Woodley Park neighborhood of D.C. Thursday afternoon, police said.

D.C. Fire & EMS was called to the 3200 block of Woodland Drive NW about 1:30 p.m., where they found a large home with smoke and fire coming from the roof.

When firefighters entered the home, they found four people dead inside. Police have not identified the victims or how they are related to each other.

A couple with two daughters and a younger son live in the home, according to neighbors. Sources told News4 the boy was absent from school Thursday.

St. Albans School sent a letter home to parents Thursday informing them that there was a tragedy at the house of a St. Albans family and chaplains, counselors and nurses were preparing to support students, faculty and staff in the days to come.

A man who waited for hours for information from police said he has a relative who works at the house doing general cleaning, but he has not been able to reach that relative all day.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the fire appears to be "very suspicious" in nature.

D.C. police and the district's Arson Task Force have taken over the investigation at what investigators called a "major crime scene" located just blocks from the National Cathedral.

Investigators are also looking for information about a 2008 blue Porsche 911 with D.C. license plates DK 2418. The car was seen near the house about 10:30 a.m. Police found the car unoccupied late Thursday afternoon but want to know more about where it was earlier today. Anyone with information should call police at 202-727-9099.

There is no sign of forced entry into the home, police said. The fire took about 30 minutes to extinguish.

Investigators will go through the neighborhood to talk to potential witnesses and make sure the surrounding residents know what is happening with the investigation, Lanier said.

"We are trying to reassure residents," Lanier said. "At the same time, I'm going to ask them if they have any information to give us a call."

More than a dozen Miami Beach Police officers exchanged hundreds of racist, homophobic and pornographic emails, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Thursday.

"Minorities and women were being demeaned in these emails that were sent between the officers, nude photographs were passed around and emails portraying offensive sexual acts were disseminated," said Fernandez Rundle. She made made the announcement at a joint news conference with Police Chief Daniel Oates and Mayor Philip Levine.

The images included jokes about President Barack Obama and golfer Tiger Woods. One image depicted a "Black Monopoly" board game where every square said "go to jail."

"The Fraternal Order of Police is a diverse organization who does not tolerate racism or sexism in any way but we continue to support our members' right to due process," Miami Beach FOP President Bobby Jenkins said in a statement.

Prosecutors are reviewing the cases of 16 officers who sent or received the emails, Fernandez Rundle said.

The officers are involved in 540 cases, with about 30 percent of them involving black defendants. Some of the cases remain open and most are for misdemeanors.

"Our job and our commitment is to ensure that we will do everything that we can to make sure that we do not prosecute cases that have been tainted by racial prejudice and racial insensitivity," Fernandez Rundle said.

Chief Oates said the major senders of the emails were a major who left the department in July and a captain who had been demoted and was fired Thursday morning.

"This is a very sad day for Miami Beach," Mayor Levine said. "I can assure the public that we've made all the necessary steps, and will continue to do so, because situations like this we will never sweep under the rug."

According to Oates, most of the material was sent between 2010 and 2012. Oates joined the department in June 2014 and found out about the material in July 2014.

About one million emails were examined and about 230 were found to be offensive, Oates said. Hundreds of pornographic images were given to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to ensure none of the images were of minors, Oates said.

The major who left the department also sent an autopsy photo of Raymond Herisse, the man who was killed in a 2011 police shooting, to someone outside the department, Oates said.

Fernandez Rundle said they are investigating whether emailing the autopsy photo violated state statutes.

"We are turning the organization around, we want to create an environment, we want to send a signal to our employees that this is an organization where you can be proud to stand forward and say 'I've seen this kind of misconduct by an employee and it's safe and proper and appropriate for me to report it and have something done about it,'"

The news comes just months after four Fort Lauderdale Police officers lost their jobs over a racist video and racist text messages. Dozens of cases linked to those officers have been dropped.

Legal experts say San Diego County Supervisor Dave Roberts could face a criminal investigation, if allegations that he misused public funds are true.

Roberts’ former scheduler Diane Porter filed a claim against San Diego County Wednesday, alleging the supervisor spent county time and money on campaigning, pursued an “inappropriate” relationship with staffer and chauffeur Harold Meza and retaliated against employees who spoke up.

In a statement sent to NBC 7 Thursday, Roberts said, “I am disheartened to see the allegations contained in one former employee’s complaint that was filed with the County on Wednesday. This claim contains many inaccuracies. I am confident that if this matter advances further, the inaccuracies will be proven for what they are. As the allegations currently present a threat of litigation, I cannot discuss them further at this time.”

Criminal Defense Attorney Marc Carlos told NBC7 Investigates three of the accusations in Porter’s claim have the potential of sparking a criminal investigation, if they are true.

The allegations are:

• Roberts spent slightly just under $1,000 on personalized baseball cards and then asked Porter to “make them disappear.”
• Roberts offered a staffer money and a higher position to tell Human Resources that Porter was lying.
• Roberts double-dipped into the county car allowance benefit by accepting $1,000 per month for his personal car, but then used a county vehicle.

“It could segue into some criminal action, if his intent was to commit a fraud. If his intent was to deceive any accounting of the way that particular amount of money was being used, it could result in some type of criminal investigation and/or prosecution,” Carlos said.

The attorney said if Roberts’ goal was to spend more time with Meza, it could provide him with legal cover from prosecution because the intent was not fraud.

Legal analyst Dan Eaton said what stands out about the complaint is that it alleges public money was used for private purposes.

“That’s not allowed under civil law and not allowed under certain criminal statutes in the state of California as well,” Eaton said. “When you are in a position of public trust, the assumption --and indeed the mandate -- is that any resources that are entrusted to you will be used for the public good. “

Easton said if any agency were to investigate Porter’s claims, it would likely be the Attorney General’s office.

Speaking exclusively to NBC7, San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said she cannot comment on any potential cases, but she did say that in general, she does have jurisdiction for public integrity cases in the county, whether they involve county supervisors or not.

Porter’s claim describes Roberts’ declining relationship with his 11staff members, seven of whom resigned since the beginning of the year. She said much of the turmoil came from the supervisor’s relationship with Meza.

"When you allow your relationship to affect that many people," Porter said in an exclusive interview with NBC 7 Investigates Wednesday, "and you can’t see that that’s what’s causing all the problems in the office, and you’re allowing one person to just do nothing during the day and take home a paycheck, and then you’re paying him to drive but you’re getting money for your car because you’re supposed to be using your car, it’s just — it’s just not right.”

On trips to Brawley and the Colorado River, Roberts and Meza shared a room, Porter said. His chief of staff at the time, Glynnis Vaughan, confronted the supervisor about the situation, telling him it is not right to share with a staffer.

When Vaughan and Porter took their complaints to Human Resources, Roberts was told what they said, and he repeated them to Porter in a phone call later that night, she told NBC 7 Investigates.

Porter said HR first told her she would be transferred elsewhere in the county. But then, she was told she had to return to work in Roberts’ office.

On April 1, another Roberts' staffer called Porter with a warning. She said Roberts was planning on firing Porter because he blamed her for the problems in the office. The staffer told Porter she was offered the official deputy chief of staff position with a pay raise, and in exchange, she would have to go to HR and tell them Porter's reports were a lie.

Instead Porter resigned on April 14, following Vaughan's resignation.

Porter’s claim asks for a lump sum payment of $250,000 to settle the case with the county. On Monday, the board of supervisors said any legal settlement made with Roberts’ former employees will be paid by Roberts’ personal funds, not public money.

Another in a series of controversial issues involving historic Balboa Park is heating up at City Hall right now.

Should a public school be allowed to move into the park -- even though San Diego's municipal charter doesn’t permit that?

The idea has been docketed as the city's 1933 charter is being reviewed for possible amendments. The voters would have to approve those changes during next year’s ballot cycles.

The proposal was submitted by the Museum School, chartered as a K-8 program 17 years ago in the San Diego Unified School District, operating since 2003 in Banker's Hill.

Its staff and student body of 230 are outgrowing its current site and are hoping to relocate nearby.

Executive director Phil Beaumont outlined the concept Thursday in an interview with NBC 7: "We thought, wouldn't it be a wonderful to see if there's an opportunity for a collaborative experience in the park that would benefit all the organizations in the park as well as the Museum School and the community at large here?"

Beaumont estimated that classes take walking field trips to the park as often as 100 times a year, so it’s a familiar destination that’s in high demand, not only among the kids, but parents who help chaperone them.

“There's a lot of work to be done from here,” he acknowledged. “First of all, making sure that we secure the potential funding that's in place for us. And then working collaboratively with organizations that have sufficient facilities at the moment, to see whether we can make something happen that would serve them and serve us and the students."

Administrators hope to co-occupy park space with current tenants, which they declined to identify for the time being.

It seemed to them a straightforward enough request, and the proposed charter amendment for educational purposes didn't attract much notice at first.

But the larger implications soon came to the attention of park activists who began raising long-term concerns about unintended consequences.

Now it's a three-alarm controversy.

"If you let one locate in the park, you know there are going to be two,” said Hillcrest attorney David Lundin, president of the Balboa Park Heritage Association. “ And if you allow two in, the next hundred years, there are going to be thirty."

And that's just how exponentially community opposition to the idea seems to be growing.

"There's this one line item on a city charter that unless somebody actually read it and looked at it, wouldn't have an understanding,” said Paradise Hills resident Kevin Swanson. “So getting the word out is important."

Folks at the Museum School are alarmed at the suspicions and pushback to what they thought is a modest proposal.

"This isn't about bringing private development into the park; this is about public education,” Beaumont told NBC 7. “ This is about public access to San Diego's park, and I think it's a win-win for all."

The City's Charter Review Committee had been scheduled to hear the issue Thursday, but continued it to a special evening meeting June 11 in the more spacious council chamber.
 

Think of it as a Facebook for first responders.

San Diego State University has launched new software to improve communication for when a major earthquake hits.

Called Ready Strong, the software allows first responders to communicate better during catastrophic events.

On Thursday, developers simulated how the app would work if, for instance, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit along the San Andreas Fault.

Because fire is one of the dangers in an earthquake, a key tool they have with the program is a simulated table of the area, which can mimic or predict what the fire can do.

They then can relay this information to emergency responders on the ground as well as private residents.

“The app allows a commander to have immediate access to his or her people in the field to share information to have an immediate visual acuity of what’s going on and how things are happening as they unfold,” said David Henderman of San Diego State University.

With this information, those at a command center can tell a firefighter or police officer where the fire is spreading, how fast and where evacuation centers should be.

The app will be available for download in the next month or two months.

Uncontrollable. Scary. Crazy. Devastating.

Those were the words used by locals to describe last May’s unusual firestorm that swept across North County, destroying dozens of homes.

Many San Diegans chimed in on NBC 7’s Facebook page, sharing what they remember most about that week one year ago – and what they hope to forget.

“Even in the 2003 fires when we got evacuated, I was never as scared as I was last year,” wrote Kristina Snow. “The sky was on fire. It was so crazy.”

Many described the panic of being evacuated and not knowing when they would return home.

“I was by myself at home pregnant with our first baby while my husband was working,” Amanda Michelle Pollard wrote on NBC 7’s Facebook page. “We put all our irreplaceable belongings in our cars and were ready to evacuate.”

D.J. Summitt wrote that he remembers not knowing where his family would stay that night they were evacuated.

“We packed up our dogs, keepsakes, etc., and went to the evacuation center at the high school,” Summitt wrote. “From there, we used Facebook to find a place to stay. We spent the next day sitting near Lake San Marcos watching the helicopters get fire.”

The fires put things in perspective, Loretta Martin said.

“It makes me cry to look at my photos of the fires,” Martin wrote. “I learned what ‘home’ really means that week.”

Kelly McFarland Trent was neighbors with Greg Saska, whose home in Carlsbad was the first to burn in the Poinsettia Fire. A year later, he’s still staying at a Motel 6.

“I live on Skimmer Court, a few houses down from Greg Saska,” Trent wrote in a Facebook message. “We count ourselves lucky that we just lost a bit of fence. But for the grace of God.”

How do you remember the week of the May fires? Tell us in the comments section below.

A body was pulled from the wreckage of a two-vehicle crash after they collided head-on in Lakeside Thursday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash happened at Wildcat Canyon Barona roads just after 4 p.m.

Emergency crews tried to cut those inside free, but one person died at the scene. It's unclear if others are injured.

The CHP will close the area for a time as they investigate. They are still trying to determine if rainy roads played a factor in the crash.

In the last five years, more than 60 people have died inside local jail facilities, and NBC 7 Investigates found getting information about these deaths is difficult, even for the inmates’ families -- some of whom end up waiting for years to find out what happened.

 The last time the Department of Justice reviewed in-custody deaths in California was back in 2005, too long ago, according to one local lawmaker who is now calling for change.

NBC 7 Investigates learned each death inside San Diego County Jail facilities is tracked by a single piece of paper called a BCIA-713 form. Since 1980, California law enforcement agencies have been required to report in-custody deaths to the California Attorney General’s office through this single-page form.

For the public and loved ones of those who died while in custody, the BCIA-713 form is generally all the information they will receive from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department or jail staff. San Diego Defense Attorney Chris Morris said details behind an in-custody death investigation are rarely given out.

"It's really difficult for families to get information about how people die in custody until a lawsuit is filed,” he said. “And once a lawsuit is filed, public entities are required under obligation to produce this information."

Information on the BCIA-713 form is limited. It details where the death occurred, how the death is being classified and details about the inmate who died, but doesn’t include any other information. Families can request a medical examiner’s report, but those reports rarely include details on the jail’s investigation into the death and are not released for six months, sometimes up to a year after the death.

“It seems very counterproductive,” Morris said. “You end up filing lawsuits that go nowhere because the information is helpful to the public entity. But a lot of times it’s not. And so, just having a blanket clampdown on all the information related to jail deaths does seem counterproductive."

A SOLDIER LEFT BEHIND

"He was just really sweet, did everything for everybody,” Chassidy NeSmith told NBC 7 Investigates about her husband, former Camp Pendleton Marine Kristopher NeSmith. “He gave money to every homeless person we saw. Our last $5," she said.

Kris swept her off her feet when they first met. He was a rifleman, home in San Diego County after serving a tour in Korea. He wanted nothing more than to start a family with Chassidy.

But, Chassidy said she knew Kris was troubled. He had battled with depression from time to time, but she thought she could be the answer to fixing those problems in his life. Kris’ mental health began to decline, his family said after a near-death experience while training at a local rifle range.

In August 2013, Kris was arrested on Camp Pendleton after assaulting a fellow officer on base after he suspected the officer was flirting with Chassidy. When Chassidy came home that day, she found Kris panicked.

“'They're taking me to the brig! They're taking me to the brig! I'm not going… I'm not going,'" Chassidy said, quoting Kris. She told NBC 7 Investigates Kris ran into the bathroom where he had prepared a phone cord to hang himself. Chassidy said, it wasn’t the first time she had to intervene and save Kris from killing himself.

For the assault on the fellow Camp Pendleton officer, Kris served four months in the brig. Due to his suicidal behavior, Kris was kept in a rubberized room with a Velcro suit on to protect him from himself for the entire sentence.

While in the brig, Kris’ family says his mental health only got worse, and when he was finally released, Chassidy still had a hard time getting Kris the help he needed.

Soon after his release, during Thanksgiving weekend in 2013, Kris was arrested by San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies for assaulting two strangers, stabbing one and beating the other.

Kris was incarcerated at the Vista Detention Facility. In the following months, Chassidy learned she was pregnant with Kris’ child. Kris was excited -- this was the family he had always wanted --- but he vowed he would not allow his son to have a father who was serving life in prison.

Chassidy and Kris’ father say they took turns calling jail staff, the District Attorney’s office and the public defender to warn them of Kris’ past suicidal behaviors and asking that he be closely monitored.

Five days after a judge ruled Kris would go to trial for the assault charges, Chassidy received the call she had always feared.

"My heart just dropped to my feet,” she sobbed. “It was the worst thing someone could tell you."

Kris killed himself using a bed sheet in his jail cell. He was only 21 years old.

Chassidy said she doesn’t know how she will explain Kris’ death to their son Skylar when he is older. “I think about that every day, how I am going to tell him. I haven't figured it out yet,” she said.

Unlike his time in the Camp Pendleton brig, Kris was never placed in a psychiatric ward or closely monitored for his suicidal behaviors, even though Chassidy and family warned staff about Kris’ mental illness.

“Somebody wasn't doing their job,” Chassidy said. “They didn't find him until shift change the next day. A whole day? How could you leave somebody for that long?”

Kris’ family began their search for answers in March when they filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s department.

Click through the documents below to see the complaint and more on NeSmith's case.

When NBC 7 Investigates reached out to the sheriff’s department for details into Kris’ death and their response to the lawsuit recently filed, spokesperson Jan Caldwell told us they could not comment due to the pending litigation and that they would rather this issue be decided in a courtroom instead of through the media.

LAWSUIT FILED REVEALS KEY EVIDENCE IN SURFER’S IN-CUSTODY DEATH

Daniel Sisson’s mother Shaunda Brummett knows what it’s like to be left in the dark after her son died while in custody four years ago.

"In the beginning it was really hard to get the paperwork,” Brummett said. “We wanted to see if there was something they were hiding. We wanted to see more facts.”

In 2011, Sisson was taken into custody on drug charges. Since he was 11, Daniel took prescribed pain killers to cope with a painful, arthritic disease known as Rider’s Syndrome. As he got older, Sisson began using harder drugs.

After less than 48 hours in jail, guards found Sisson dead in his cell.

Brummett held back tears as she said, "I think I'm still in shock. I keep thinking he's gone away to school and he'll come home someday.”

The family would later learn Sisson died from complications stemming from an asthma attack.

A year after his death, the Sisson family also filed a lawsuit against the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Through the courts, the family obtained surveillance footage from the jail that shows the day Daniel died. The video reveals guards had not checked on Sisson for hours.

Brummett still feels a sting when she talks about it.

“When I saw the evidence, it was hard to take,” she said. “It made us angry, made us bitter. We felt like maybe if they would have checked on him, he could have been alive.”

The Sisson family was awarded $3 million last year after a jury found the sheriff department’s negligence led to Sisson’s death.

NBC 7 Investigates reached out to the sheriff’s department to see if they had made any changes since this verdict and received this statement from Sheriff Bill Gore:

"We recognize the tremendous responsibility we have while housing and caring for almost 5,000 inmates on a daily basis. When reviewing our response to health emergencies which occur while a person is in our custody, we examine all of the facts and circumstances to see what, if anything, could have been done differently to provide a higher quality of care. Each death is reviewed to determine if any improvements to our health care services are appropriate. Although we don't agree with the jury's finding, we realize they have spoken, and we will continue in our efforts to provide the best level of health care possible. "

Morris, who also represented the Sisson family in their case, said families of deceased inmates cannot acquire evidence like the surveillance video unless they file a lawsuit.

Chassidy is hoping one day she’ll have answers to for Kris’ death.

“We can't let this go on in our jail systems,” she said. “It could be somebody else's kid, brother, mother, father, you know? It could be anybody.”

In April of this year, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber drafted a bill that would require more records to be released to the public and an annual report to be completed by the Department of Justice on inmate deaths.

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