In West, Children Face Tough Time After Blast

Scott Gordon, NBC 5 News

Shannon Soto says her daughter is terrified after last week's massive fertilizer plant explosion in West.

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Five days after a mammoth explosion rocked West, 3-year-old Angelica Soto can't sleep by herself, is afraid to step outside and jumps at the smallest noise.

"Our daughter is terrified," said her mother, Shannon. "She actually carries her little toy cellphone around talks about it on the phone. She'll say, 'Hurry, hurry, we need (help).'"

Shannon Soto was the first to call 911 after the explosion at the West Fertilizer Co., which is about a mile-and-a-half from their home off Interstate 35.

In a recording of the call, Soto's tense voice captured the urgency of the moment.

"Our house, our windows, everything -- it sounded like a bomb, and I'm looking outside and there's like a bomb on 35," she said. "I don't know what's going on."

Soto said her entire house shook. Framed pictures on the wall remain askew. Inspectors haven't yet looked at several cracks in the ceiling.

But Soto said the emotional damage may be harder to repair.

"I'm scared," Angelica said.

Her mother said she may need professional counseling.

It's part of the tragedy's emotional toll that is harder to measure than the physical damage.

Soto said she is grateful the destruction isn't worse, adding that her thoughts are with the families of the first responders who lost their lives.

"People gave their lives to protect us," she said. "We'll never forget that."

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Texas, Oklahoma Water War Heads to Supreme Court

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A "water war" between the states of Texas and Oklahoma will be decided by the Supreme Court. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

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A "water war" between the states of Texas and Oklahoma will be decided by the Supreme Court.

On April 23, the United State Supreme Court will hear the interstate case brought to the high court by the Tarrant Regional Water District.

The district says a longstanding water deal called the Red River Compact allows them to take water from creeks, rivers, and other tributaries that feed into the Red River as part of their "equal rights" to runoff water as described in the Compact.

The Red River Compact allows Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana to share water in the Red River Basin, though the area each state is allowed to tap is further divided into reaches and sub-basins.

Tarrant Regional Water District wants to tap one of these sub-basins that lies in both Texas and Oklahoma territory. However, laws enacted by Oklahoma that restrict sending water out of that state, are preventing the district from tapping those resources.

The district argues that, under the Compact, they should be entitled to the water even if it lies within Oklahoma's borders. Oklahoma argues that the compact only refers to resources within each state's borders. Lower courts have sided with Oklahoma's interpretation of the agreement and ruled against the local water district thus far.

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Man Dies in Motorcycle Crash

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Dallas police say speed may be a factor in an crash that killed one man on the 4600 block of Bernal Drive.

The crash took place at about 4 a.m. when several drivers stopped when they saw a body in the road. Passers-by found the crashed motorcycle and started CPR on the rider, who later died after being transported to Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

No one else was involved or hurt in the crash.

Police said the rider, whose name has not yet been released, hit the center median and was thrown from the motorcycle.

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Jury to Deliberate Chiropractor Charges on Tuesday

Jeff Smith, NBC 5

A Collin County jury will begin deliberation Tuesday morning on sexual assault charges against a McKinney chiropractor accused of sexually assaulting several of his patients.

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Closing Arguments in McKinney Chiropractor Case

The defense and prosecution finished closing arguments Monday in the trial of a McKinney chiropractor accused of sexually assaulting female patients.

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A Collin County jury will begin deliberation Tuesday morning on sexual assault charges against a McKinney chiropractor accused of assaulting several of his patients.

Dr. David Russell is charged with 12 counts of sexual misconduct with five female patients, four of them teenagers.

Aggravated sexual assault of a child is the most serious charge. If there is not sufficient evidence to support the other charge, the jury will consider a charge of indecency with a child by contact.

The judge last week tossed out one count of indecency with a child because of insufficient evidence.

During closing arguments, prosecutors argued that the patients' stories are too detailed and similar to simply be made up.

One victim testified that Russell had touched her breasts and commented on her underwear during a treatment session. During another session, he inappropriately touched her private parts, putting a finger inside her vagina, she said.

Another victim shared a similar story.

Also Monday morning, the prosecution introduced three rebuttal witnesses, all adult women who said Russell made inappropriate advances toward them while they were patients in his care.

No charges were filed in those cases because the statute of limitations had expired before they came forward.

Russell and his defense team have denied much of the testimony, adding that it is possible for a chiropractor's hand to make accidental, brushing contact to the area the women described when treating a groin injury.

During closing arguments, the defense said McKinney police made Russell "public enemy No. 1" when he was arrested.

Defense attorney Todd Shapiro said a floodgate of accusers opened up when his client was arrested and his mug shot was released. Shapiro said there is no direct evidence that Russell did anything wrong, saying that only one witness to any alleged misconduct testified during the trial.

Russell did not testify in his own defense.

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Carjacking Suspects Crash Into Dentist Office

Kendra Lyn, NBC 5 News

Two carjacking suspects ended up in police custody after the vehicle they allegedly stole crashed through a utility pole and into a dentist's office.

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Two carjacking suspects ended up in police custody after the vehicle they allegedly stole crashed through a utility pole and into a dentist's office.

After crashing the vehicle, the suspects bailed out of the car and started running -- with police in pursuit.

Officers finally nabbed a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old in the back of an apartment complex and hauled them off to jail.

The victim of the carjacking told police that the two men punched him and beat him with bottles before taking the car. That victim flagged down a police officer near Singleton and Bernal and was sitting in a squad car when the suspects drove past the police vehicle in the man's stolen car.

As the alleged carjackers sped away, the officer followed behind the stolen vehicle, but could not chase the suspects while the victim was in the squad car.

The officer and the victim tracked down the stolen car after it had left the road, shearing a utility pole and crashing into the front of a dentist's office in the 2800 block of Singleton in Dallas.

The victim was injured from the attack but did not go to a hospital. Both suspects are in custody, but their names were not immediately released.

NBC 5's Kendra Lyn contributed to this report.

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Family Remembers Slain MIT Officer

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This undated photo provided by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office shows Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier, 26, of Somerville, Mass., who was shot to death Thursday, April 18, 2013 on the school campus in Cambridge, Mass.

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The 27-year-old MIT police officer found shot to death, allegedly by the suspect Boston Marathon bombers, will be honored by friends and family at his funeral Tuesday and is being remembered as a charitable person who was dedicated to helping people.

Sean Collier's siblings appeared on the "Today" show on Tuesday and talked about the sadness that has descended on their family since his death five days ago.

"It was a nightmare come true," Collier's sister Nicole Lynch said. "I think everybody is just going through the motions right now and pulling together for Sean because that's what he would want us to do."

Hours before Collier's private funeral in Stoneham, Mass., Lynch was joined by Collier's other sister Jennifer Lemmerman, brother Andrew Collier and step-siblings Jennifer and Robert Rogers on "Today." they reflected on a young Collier who would take insects out of the house to safety as a kid, played games that foreshadowed his career in law enforcement and asked his mother to step in when he saw a woman crying at a restaurant.

For full coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, visit NBCNews.com.

"That really shows from the very start, Sean's just care for other people, and it's almost something that I took for granted and didn't realize, but now through his death, I realized how good of a person he was, and I wish I could have told him that while he was still here," Andrew said.

Vice President Joe Biden and wife Dr. Jill Biden are scheduled to attend Collier's public memorial on MIT's campus on Wednesday.

Collier was shot multiple times by the Boston bombing suspects as he sat in his car on Thursday night, according to authorities. The suspects,19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, unleashed chaos in the city of Boston after detonating two bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line earlier in the week, killing three people and wounding more than 200, authorities said. Tamerlan died early Friday morning after a wild police shootout. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being treated for gunshot wounds in a Boston hospital and was hit with terrorism charges on Monday. He is cooperating with investigators, federal officials told NBC News.

The family has asked that donations in Collier's memory be made to the Jimmy Fund, a Boston-based, cancer awareness charity that meant a lot to Collier. Lemmerman recounted the moment when Collier heard about the charity on the radio.

"They just told stories of these children that were fighting for their lives and their families, and Sean was just so impacted by that,'' Lemmerman said. "He went home and made a donation. He's just this high school kid. He had no money, but he made a small donation."

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Rookie Anchor Fired After On-Air Profanity

A.J. Clemente seen here at his on-air debut for local NBC affiliate station KFYR-TV.

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A local news rookie anchor was fired after he fumbled his on-air debut Sunday by uttering a pair of unsavory words.

A.J. Clemente of North Dakota's NBC affiliate KFYR was heard mumbling under his breath as he prepared for the evening news program. What he didn't know was that his microphone was on.

A YouTube video of the broadcast has gone viral and in it Clemente can be heard whispering the two swear words at the top of the newscast. He was visibly nervous for the rest of the segment and even tweeted about it afterwards.

Clemente's co-anchor issued an apology at the 10:00 p.m. news hour. The affiliate's news director, Monica Hannan, did the same on the station's Facebook page. But none of the apologies, apparently, helped spare Clemente's job. He tweeted on Monday that he was fired:

Clemente has been a good sport about the gaffe and said he "can't help but laugh at myself and stay positive," according to one tweet he posted on Monday.

Do you think Clemente should have been fired? Watch the video below and take our poll.

Editor's Note: The video below contains profanity.

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Sad Return Home; Students Back To School

Ray Villeda, NBC 5 News

Residents of some of most damaged homes in West return to heartache. 1500 students will go back to class in different classrooms on Monday.

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First Look Inside Blast Zone In West

TV and newspaper pool cameras record images of shredded and shredded apartments, retirement center, houses, schools and more. Voice of: pool camera photographer

West Residents Slowly Allowed to Return Home

Officials told residents of West they would be allowed to return home in phases beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and a curfew would be in effect.

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About half a mile from the site of the plant explosion, sits Dee Dablin's home.

It is still standing, however much of the inside, is not. Much of her belongings are scattered everywhere, some of it even destroyed.

"It's unbelievable, just unbelievable," she said amid her tears.

It is like that street by street in zone two, a four block area near the plant.

Jimmy Polansky's house is in bad shape as well. He also discovered looting, several guns were stolen. For Polansky's son, it is heartbreaking seeing his childhood house this way.

"I don't think they can fix it, we have ceilings down," said David Polansky. "My mother died in 2002, and that feeling is almost the same, you're just crushed to see all this."

As police take into account what's lost, folks take comfort in knowing they have something more valuable than their homes; they have their lives.

"Thank God they're alive," said another neighbor, Scott Tacker hugging his family, "God was watching over them, we're lucky."

There is no word yet on when the closest neighborhood to plant will be opened.

There are two schools in this zone, which sustained damage and will be closed on Monday. West ISD will move students to other buildings, portables and even use some classroom space in neighboring Connally ISD.
 

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Dorner Carjacking Victim to Sue over $1M Reward

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A camp ranger who was carjacked by rogue former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner intends to sue the city to collect a $1 million reward offered for information leading to the fugitive's capture, his attorney said.

Rick Heltebrake, who works at a camp in Big Bear, is one of several people seeking the reward, including a couple that Dorner tied up as the former officer hid out in their nearby cabin.

The Los Angeles Police Department said it had a list of procedures for those seeking reward money offered during the manhunt. A panel of former judges will determine who gets the money.

However, the big payout, which was cobbled together from several, smaller contributions and rewards, has been shrinking in recent months because Dorner killed himself and was not captured.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police Chief Charlie Beck announced the record-breaking reward during a massive manhunt for Dorner, who allegedly killed the daughter of a police officer, her fiance and a Riverside police officer.

Dorner, a former LAPD officer and U.S. Navy reservist, wrote a lengthy, online manifesto that claimed the LAPD falsely accused him of wrongdoing and unfairly fired him years earlier. He vowed to wage a war against police until his name was cleared.

While police scoured Southern California for any sign of Dorner, the ex-officer's burning truck turned up in the San Bernardino mountains near Big Bear Lake. Hundreds of officers descended on the small mountain town during a heavy snowstorm to search for him.

On Feb. 12, Jim and Karen Reynolds walked into their cabin to find Christopher Dorner holed up inside. He tied up the couple and left without harming them. Karen Reynolds was able to get to her cell phone and call 911.

Later that day, Dorner carjacked Heltebrake at gunpoint and took off in his truck. Heltebrake called a local sheriff's deputy to report the crime.

Authorities soon engaged Dorner in a gun battle, in which a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy died and Dorner was driven into a cabin. The cabin caught fire when police lobbed in incendiary tear gas canisters, and Dorner reportedly turned his gun on himself.

"Mr. Heltebrake's telephone call to Deputy Franklin notified law enforcement of Mr. Dorner's location, provided a description of the vehicle he was fleeing in, and was a substantial factor in the capture of Mr. Dorner," Allen L. Thomas, Heltebrake's lawyer, wrote in a letter seeking the reward.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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