American Airlines Flight 2287 made an emergency landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Thursday afternoon after a report of an engine fire.

The pilot of the Boeing 757 declared an emergency due to flames in the right engine, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Air traffic control noticed the engine fire, immediately.

"Hey American 22-87, your right engine appears to be on fire, sir," could be heard on air traffic control recordings obtained through liveatc.net. "For 22-87, we saw flames on the right side engine, yes, so we saw flames from the right side engine."

The plane circled around the airport and landed around 2:07 p.m., with fire trucks waiting for its arrival. The pilot was able to land without incident.

Breanne Server was on board the flight, seated on the left side of the aircraft.

"We heard a big boom and then the plane was just kind of flying lopsided, and this little girl behind me just started screaming and crying, and everyone was kind of like gasping and pulling out their phones and stuff," Server said. "you just heard the explosion, luckily I didn’t see the flames or smoke, but yeah it was so loud, there was no not hearing it."

"After that it was kind of like OK, well we’ll get you guys a new plane, and that was it, no like sorry this happened or any explanation," said Server.

Flight 2287 is a daily run between DFW and Tulsa, Oklahoma. It leaves DFW at 1:31 and arrives in Tulsa at 2:25 p.m.; it departs Tulsa at 3:17 p.m. and arrives back at DFW at 4:21 p.m.

American Airlines officials would not confirm the fire but said mechanics were looking at the aircraft.

All 183 passengers booked on the flight were being boarded on another aircraft Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, American Airlines Flight 1461 made an emergency landing in Tulsa en route to DFW after the pilot reported mechanical issues. That pilot landed the MD-80 without incident.

• American Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Tulsa

No injuries were reported in either incident.

NBC 5's Stefan Gorman, Ray Villeda and Scott Gordon contributed to this report.

Starting pitching has been subpar on the road trip for the Miami Marlins and that continued Thursday in a 6-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

On this trip so far, the Marlins have lost six of eight games mostly due to ineffective pitching. On the season, they have a major league worst 16 losses to go along with only four wins.

Nathan Eovaldi who has enjoyed a fine season only could go 4.1 innings in this game which taxed a tired bullpen even further. Thus far in the eight games played on the trip, rookie Anthony DeSclafani has turned in the finest effort and it was in his major league debut.

Eovaldi allowed six runs on nine hits while walking and striking out a pair. The right-hander did throw plenty of strikes with 57 of 82 pitches going that way but they were hittable pitches. The loss dropped Eovaldi to 2-2 to go along with a 3.62 E.R.A.

During a three-run fifth inning for the Giants a ball hit Hunter Pence on the foot, but it was missed by the umpiring crew. It is not considered a reviewable play however and ended up leading to the big inning.

Brad Hand came in and finished off the fifth inning before Carter Capps and Mike Dunn took over. Capps pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts while Dunn had a scoreless frame of his own.

The offense was better than it has been on most days on the road this season but it wasn't enough and it stopped too early. Miami scored all four of their runs in the first three innings of the game.

Derek Dietrich got the offense going fast with his fourth home run of the year coming in the first inning off Matt Cain. Garrett Jones would go on to add his sixth blast of the season in the second inning.

Giancarlo Stanton extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a single, the slugger also walked during a 1-3 day.

Henderson Alvarez will get the ball on Friday as Miami looks to even up the series with San Francisco.

For Quiana McKissick, there’s no such thing as a quick stop at her neighborhood grocery store.

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Nearly every time the 38-year-old West Philadelphian, who has limb deformities and uses a motorized wheelchair, tries to shop at The Fresh Grocer at 56th and Chestnut Streets she is forced to wait outside. Not because the store doesn’t have a way for her to get in, but because they keep the accessible entrances padlocked.

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"So 98 percent of the time I’m on my own. I have to rely on the kindness of strangers to go and get the guard for me," McKissick said while sitting next to a locked handicapped accessible gate outside the store. "In the meantime, I just have to sit here and look silly, and it’s rather humiliating, really."

The supermarket uses metal poles, anchored into cement, to prevent people from taking carts out into the parking lot, and the two accessible ways through the blockade are chained and kept under lock and key.

PHOTO: Quiana McKissick waits outside the Fresh Grocer in West Philadelphia, which has been locking its handicap accessible door preventing her from entering whenever she wishes.

So no matter the weather, McKissinck says she’s forced to wait outside for a security guard to let her in -- which could range from a minute or so to 10 or more, depending on what the guard is dealing with. When no one is around to help, McKissick said she’s forced to go home empty-handed.

"It’s very degrading. I should be able to come and go as I please,” she said. "I shouldn’t have to stand out here and wait in the cold or rain or in the heat just to get in or out of the store. It’s embarrassing."

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McKissick says she’s been dealing with the issue for nearly six years and her complaints have yet to produce a permanent positive change. The woman said several years ago she spoke with a former store manager who said the gates are kept locked to prevent the carts from being stolen.

His solution, she says, was to install a bell outside for her to ring when she wanted to shop.

"He says, ‘Well, we’ll put a bell out there and you can ring the bell.’ And there was a bell there for about two days. That was humiliating," she said.

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McKissick says she also contacted the Department of Licenses & Inspections twice about the issue. Both times, she said the problem was immediately addressed. But within a few weeks, she said the gate was again locked up.

“My concern is, what if there’s a fire or something inside of there and everybody is scattering? The guard’s not going to be thinking about me,” the woman said.

PHOTO: A view of the Fresh Grocer Store at 56th and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia.

The supermarket’s current manager, Jeff Beaky, declined to comment and referred the issue to the chain’s corporate office. The store is one of seven locally-owned supermarkets that operate as part of the Wakefern Corporation grocery store co-op. The organization runs Fresh Grocer and ShopRite stores.

Carly Spross, spokeswoman for the local supermarket group, was shocked to hear about the issues McKissick has been encountering and said the gate is only supposed to be locked while the store is closed.

“I feel terrible that it’s gone unnoticed,” she said. “Per our standard operating procedures, the handicap access gate is to be locked each night after closing and unlocked each morning upon the store’s opening.”

Spross apologized, saying managers are reviewing opening and closing procedures with all store employees to ensure the issue is resolved.

Ralph DiPietro, Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Licenses & Inspections, said the department is investigating whether the building code at the time the grocery store was opened requires the gate to be accessible. If that is the case, DiPietro said an inspector will be dispatched to the store to investigate and, if needed, issue a violation.

Asked about whether L&I would enforce compliance of the Americans With Disabilities Act, DiPietro said the city cannot directly enforce the law because it's federal legislation. However, building codes recognized by the city do mimic the federal law.

So why does McKissick continue to shop at the store that makes it so difficult for her to shop?

“I shouldn’t have to go out of my way just to get the things that I need, if this is the closest one to my home. Why should I have to travel?” she said.

Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.

Donald Sterling is refusing to pay a $2.5 million fine the NBA handed down in response to racist comments made by long-time Los Angeles Clippers owner, according to published reports.

NBC4 has reached out to the NBA, but the league, which has also banned Sterling for life and is trying to force a sale of his team, would not comment on the reports by USA Today and several other publications. A league spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Los Angeles Times the league had received the letter.

NBC4 has not received a response after attempts to contact Sterling's attorney.

Sterling's attorney wrote a letter to the NBA informing the league of the decision, according a report citing a "person with first-hand knowledge of the letter" who requested anonymity. The fine, announced by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver April 29, violates Sterling's due process rights, the letter states, according to the report.

• Sterling Firestorm: Key Players, Timeline

The deadline for paying the fine was earlier this week. The letter was sent Thursday, according to USA Today.

The letter also indicated Sterling will sue if he is not afforded due process, according to the reports.

Silver has urged the NBA's other 29 owners to back a move to oust Sterling, 80, as team owner. Sterling has owned the Clippers since 1981 and is the league's longest-tenured team owner.

The fine and ban were issued in response to racist comments made by Sterling during a recorded conversation with a companion, whom he chastises for posting Instagram pictures of herself posing with black people, including Lakers legend Magic Johnson. He also can be heard telling the woman not to bring Johnson to Clippers games.

The recording was posted on TMZ.com late last month, prompting an NBA investigation that determined Sterling made the comments.

His termination would require a three-fourths vote by NBA owners. The process so far has included a series of meetings by the league's 10-member finance/advisory committee to discuss the timeline and process for removal.

The NBA Constitution and bylaws guide the process by which ownership is terminated. It gives owners and the commissioner broad powers regarding team ownership termination when the owner's actions affect the "Association or its members adversely."

• Read: Donald Sterling Timeline
  

The comments drew threats of an NBA boycott, sponsorship withdrawals and backlash from current and former players.

Sterling's estranged wife, Rochelle Sterling, has said she plans to fight for her stake in the team. The NBA released a statement last week that said if a controlling owner's interest is terminated by a three-fourths vote of the other league owners, "all other team owners' interests are automatically terminated as well. It doesn't matter whether the owners are related as is the case here.  These are the rules to which all NBA owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team."

The Clippers' most successful season in team history came to an end Thursday night with a loss to Oklahoma City in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.

A few lingering showers will stick around South Florida Friday morning before skies clear for the afternoon and into the weekend.

Some areas of South Florida experienced from 1-3 inches of rain Thursday, as severe weather moved into the area in the afternoon. The weather led to flooding in some areas, flight delays at local airports, and a confirmed tornado touchdown in Doral.

In Medley Friday, some streets remained flooded, with some drivers forced to find alternate routes.

• NBC 6's Interactive Weather Radar

"We're a family business so any little thing makes a difference, and if my truck were to get stuck here I'd have a bunch of deliveries not being able to go out, and yeah it's just not good all around for everybody," delivery driver Chris Zumarraga said.

Friday's isolated showers won't agitate the flooding concerns and skies will clear later in the day. Highs will reach 84.

The weekend will stay dry and breezy, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid 80s.

• Download NBC 6's Weather App

Glitches and garbled conversations are forcing Miami-Dade Police to temporarily shelve a new $25 million encrypted radio system designed to stop civilians from monitoring police.

Maj. Nancy Perez told The Miami Herald that the department would resume using its old, analog system by the end of the week.

In the last two weeks, officers reported transmission delays, garbled conversations, echoes and ``dead zones'' where the system doesn't broadcast properly.

Miami-Dade Police switched to the encrypted system to deter criminals and other civilians from monitoring police activity through online tracking applications.

Police officials told the county commission that they were confident the company that supplied the system, Harris Corp., could fix the problems.

A South Florida man is facing the death penalty after he was found guilty Friday in the murder of two people during a string of Dunkin' Donuts robberies in 2008.

James Herard, 24, was convicted on 18 of 19 counts by a jury in Fort Lauderdale Friday following two and a half days of deliberations. He now faces the death penalty at sentencing, scheduled for June 3.

"We're totally focused on trying to save this person's life," Herard's attorney, Mitch Polay, said after the verdict was given.

Authorities said Herard was part of a group that killed Eric Jean Pierre on Nov. 14, 2008 in Broward. Days later, on Thanksgiving Day, Kiem Huynh was also murdered.

Herard had already been given nine life sentences by a Palm Beach County judge related to the violent robberies, done when Herard was just 19 years old.

Herard made national news when he barked like a dog during an appearance before Broward Circuit Judge John Hurley.

Family and friends are saying their final goodbyes to a Miami Police officer who was found dead in his Pembroke Pines home last week.

The viewing for Officer Carl Patrick was held from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at Miami Shores Christian Church. The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Church in Miami.

Patrick was an army reservist who served in Afghanistan and was in the police department’s honor guard.

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Patrick's body was found shot inside his home on May 9 after he didn't show up for his patrol job for several days, police said.

In an exclusive interview with NBC 6, Patrick's girlfriend, Tiniko Thompson, said that on the morning of the shooting, Patrick attacked her and pulled a weapon on her.

“He slipped and fell and I was still backed up into a corner and we’re still tussling with the gun and at that moment; he is turning this way and it went ‘POW’ that’s it,” Thompson said. “And that was it. He called me a b****. He said, ‘You b****.’”

Thompson, who said she was living with Patrick, claims she left the home after the shooting and slept in her car. Two days later, Friday, she spoke to her mother and the mother called 911 and told police to come to the couple’s home.

Pembroke Pines Police said they want to speak with Thompson and that they are still investigating the incident.

Crews battled intense brush fires around San Diego for a fourth day Friday, as officials warned that the state's severe drought could lead to more outbreaks like the torrent of blazes that have ripped through parts of the county this week.

The rash of fires, which peaked at nine separate blazes at once earlier in the week, marked an unusually early and aggressive start to California’s summer wildfire season. The flames charred more than 10,000 acres, destroyed at least eight homes and forced tens of thousands to flee their neighborhoods.

While officials have not yet identified causes for the San Diego blazes, months of drought have led to extreme dry conditions that leave "nothing but kindling for these fires," as one local official said this week.

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A time-lapse video of the construction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at ground zero documents the decade-long completion of the project in two and a half minutes.

EarthCam released the video as the museum was dedicated this week. The HD video captures the construction of the museum and the memorial's two reflective pools from groundbreaking to completion.

“It’s been a monumental effort to have these cameras running for over 13 years,” said Lisa Kelly, public outreach director at EarthCam. “We’re just glad we could be part of showcasing the recovery and the construction work.”

The project started just days after 9/11 when EarthCam’s CEO Brian Cury trained a camera on ground zero to capture the recovery effort, Kelly said.

More cameras were later installed at different angles on the roof of the Millennium Hilton hotel to document the construction of the museum, which is built below ground in what was once the World Trade Center basement.

“The location gave us perfect view of the full 16 acres of the job site,” Kelly said.

For 4,617 days, from October 2004 to May 2014, cameras took still shots of the site every five minutes.

It took weeks for several editors and two archivists to sift through more than a million images to assemble the commemorative two-minute, 39-second video.

“This project was important for our company because we’re a local company and some of our employees were affected by 9/11,” Kelly said. "We wanted to contribute to the recovery and we thought it was important to provide documentation of all the effort that was put into rebuilding lower Manhattan."

An 8-year-old western Pennsylvania girl is recovering after a driver fleeing police sent a parked car careening into her as she rode her scooter, in a horrifying crash caught on surveillance video.

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But even as Cassidy Wall recovers, that video still upsets her, she says.

"When I saw the video, every time I thought about it, I started crying," she said. "It hurted my feelings, and I didn’t like what I saw."

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"I fell and flew in the air, and I landed on my head," Cassidy told NBC affiliate WICU.

Cassidy and her 5-year-old sister Zmyiah were playing out front of their home near the corner of East 29th and German Streets in Erie, Pennsylvania, on May 9 when a police pursuit zoomed past.

The fleeing vehicle struck a parked car -- flinging it up onto the sidewalk, where the Cassidy was riding her scooter.

"The car crashed… then she (Cassidy) got hit," Zmyiah -- who was heading down the front steps at the time of the crash and was able to avoid being hit -- told WICU. "She flew all the way up in the sky and fell on her head."

• Woman in Wheelchair Fed Up Being Locked Out

Despite the violent impact, Cassidy only suffered a concussion and was back up  a few days later.

Police eventually caught up to the men they say were in the car at the time, arresting suspected driver Angello Moore and passenger Brandon Carlson.

Moore, 18, was sent to county jail, unable to post $125,000 bail. He faces 22 counts, including fleeing police, aggravated assault by vehicle, reckless endangerment, drug possession and related charges, according to court documents.

Carlson, 18, faces firearm and marijuana charges. He remains jailed, unable to post $20,000 bail, according to online court records.

Surveillance video released earlier this week shows Cassidy being rammed by the out-of-control car.

"I was terrified... I still [am] terrified," Cassidy's father Delorean Wall told WICU. "As a father, you don't want that to happen to your children. It's crazy."

Students showed up wearing neckties and bowties to a private San Francisco Catholic school on Friday in support of a senior girl who wore a tux in her school photo – a photo they believe won’t appear in the yearbook.

The brother of Jessica Urbina, a senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, told NBC Bay Area he was informed Thursday by someone at the school that his sister's picture would appear "altered" in the yearbook.

That possibility has sparked not only the ties but also a hashtag campaign, #JessicasTux, by her classmates as they rally to support her.

Urbina told NBC Bay Area Friday that she cried tears of joy after nearly all her classmates showed up at school wearing ties. The school said Friday that it will make policy changes.

"These events have sparked a campus-wide dialogue which will result in a revision of policy," the school said in a statement.

"I've seen people with all the ties, honestly I've cried multiple times, I'm overwhelmed with all the support, I want to thank everyone supporting me right now," Urbina said.

Urbina's classmates' campaign comes as support has coalesced nationwide in recent years for students who have faced discipline for breaking dress codes on campus, and as the nation grapples with changes, and challenges, to gender norms.

"Students should be able to wear a tux regardless if they are male or female," said American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California attorney Elizabeth Gill. "Schools shouldn't make students conform to outdated norms of what boys and girls dress like, not taking into consideration who they are."

The ACLU has not been called in to help with this matter, but the agency has fought - and even won - on behalf of students who attend schools that receive state or federal funding and who have discriminated based on gender stereotyping.

• Teen Says Dress Got Her Kicked Out of Prom

“I was notified that SHCP will 'represent' my sister by having an alternative picture listed in the yearbook,”  Michael Urbina said on Friday by phone, repeating what he posted on his Facebook page.

Michael Urbina declined to say more until he could meet with administrators, hopefully later on Friday or Monday. Neither he nor his sister has seen a yearbook, since they don't come out until next week.

Please support my sister! Here's a clearer image for everyone to use! http://t.co/Vl6QPypbpj #equity #JessicasTux pic.twitter.com/oNNVAkD2XZ

— Michael Urbina (@michael_urbina) May 16, 2014

The school, for its part, has not given a definitive answer on whether Jessica's image will appear altered in any way.

Principal Gary Cannon said he couldn't say much, citing a student's right to privacy, but indicated that he had previous talks with Jessica about what was allowed in the photo, and what was not.

According to the school policy regarding yearbook photos, girls must wear “drapes,” and boys must wear a shirt, tie and jacket.

Cannon did insist Jessica was in the yearbook, though he wouldn't comment exactly how she would apear. The school's website reads in part: "As we prepare to pass out yearbooks it is always regretful when a student portrait is omitted for any reason. As a community we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that all students are included in the future."

“Every student, every senior, is in the yearbook,” he said outside the school, which promotes the slogan, “Fearless, we pursue excellence.”

“It has to do with the ‘senior portrait issue’ and the regulations that we have. Those policies are clearly laid out," he added.

He added that all this attention on gender and equality issues might have administrators reconsidering their yearbook dress code.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t reassess your policies,” he said.

• Students Expelled Over Upskirt Video of Teacher

While finding out exactly how Jessica will be remembered as she looked in the Class of 2014 isn’t fully known, what is clear is that she has many friends who support her dressing in a way traditionally associated with men -- something they say she does “all the time.” 

On Twitter, friends said they wanted to show how their former high school “the errors of its ways,” and that “Jessica roks!!”

Certified $uperwoman tweeted: “Hope every student shows up with a tie on at S.H. cuz it sends a message to Archdiocese that they are the ones teaching hate. #JessicasTux.”

Gameday ready? #JessicasTux pic.twitter.com/VnJWa5GuA0

— JustBae (@Jsaligumbaa) May 16, 2014

The tuxedo issue in San Francisco has similar echoes from coast to coast. In March, the ACLU sued on behalf of gay students in San Bernandino County who had been told they needed to wear "gender-specific" attire for prom and yearbook photos.

That's similar to a case four years ago in which the ACLU sued a high school in Wesson, Mississippi, for excluding Ceara Sturgis’ name and senior portrait from her yearbook because she had worn a tux. In 2011, her family settled with the district, adding her photo - in a tuxedo - to the wall of senior photos and changing its senior photo policy.

And in 2010, Sarah Lloyd was finally allowed to wear a tuxedo in her yearbook photo, after a battle between school board members in Arkansas.

• "Skirts for Sasha," Students Support Agender Teen

In the Bay Area, friends and strangers alike rallied behind Sasha Fleischman after the teen - who was born a biological boy but identifies with neither sex - was severely burned when somebody set "their" skirt on fire on a bus in November. Supporters paid tribute to Sasha's freedom to express their gender identity by dressing up in skirts and covering the city in rainbows. Sasha prefers to be referred to in the plural.

Tatiana Richardson wants her friend, Jessica, to feel that kind of support.

That's why she helped create the hashtag campaign to get her peers to wear ties to school. She showed up to campus in a bright pink bowtie.

“I know this goes against tradition, but times are a-changing," Richardson said outside school. "It’s not  just 'boys and girls' now, there is so much more. They teach at this Catholic school to be who were are, to accept everybody, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Tatiana Richardson, a friend of Jessica Urbina's, who wore a tie to school to support her friend who wore a tux in her yearbook photo. May 16, 2014.

NBC Bay Area's Jodi Hernandez contributed to this report.

Investigators are looking into a police-involved shooting at Northwest Miami-Dade.

Several police cruisers and unmarked police vehicles swarmed into the scene at 18120 NW 51 Place Friday around 3 p.m.

Witnesses said several shots were fired after police called, "Come out, come out!" to a person who was in a nearby residence.

Police said officers were confronted by an armed subject and that multiple officers fired their weapons. Detectives believe the man may have been armed before police arrived on the scene.

"It was a gun from what it was outside," said Miami-Dade Police Deputy Director Juan Perez.  "There may have been some information that when he was inside he had a knife as well but what we have outside is a firearm in the street."

The subject was airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital where his condition is unknown. His identity has yet to be released.

Investigators said the firearm was in two pieces after the shooting. Detectives are still working to gather the details on what exactly happened.

Stay with NBC6.com for updates on this developing story.

A prestigious school that's not often the center of controversy had many parents, students and alumni discussing whether or not the punishment for a senior prank went too far.

In a letter to parents of students at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, the president and principal said what happened:

"During the sixth period class, they decided to go running and screaming through the hallways, entered a 7th grade class, overturned chairs while a teacher was conducting her class, destroyed seven iPads and even hurt some of the students."

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Administrators said the school fully investigated the incidents and "took immediate action with compassion, since the maximum penalty, expulsion, was not applied."

The all-male Catholic school president said less than 30 seniors were involved, but not all students received the same punishment. Eighteen students cannot walk the graduation, cannot attend prom or any banquet. All students, however, will receive their diplomas.

"What has occurred made all of us very troubled and very sad," said S.J. Pedro Suarez, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School President.

• Teen Tweets About False Sex Assault to Police

Initially, the students involved were not allowed to attend the baccalaureate mass, but after further thought, the administration changed its mind.

"I had a meeting with the seniors, they were all very polite and I heard what they had to say. And I thought that maybe we could take the mass back and put it back so they can all attend with their mothers, because that was a big thing," Suarez said.

Alumni, parents and students took to social media to voice their opinions. Sean Lynch graduated in 1986 and tutors many Belen students for exams.

"A lot of them were concerned that the reaction of the school might have been a little harsh," Lynch said.

Lynch is satisfied the administration changed its mind about the mass and thinks meaningful dialogue was part of the solution.

"If students aren't safe then the school isn't doing it's job, at the same time that concern for discipline has to be mitigated by concern for the full education that only Belen can offer," Lynch said.

A South Florida teen is in trouble after police say he tweeted at them saying he planned to rape children.

Miami Police said that a Twitter user calling himself "Infamous Princess," using the Twitter handle @5kurr, tweeted an allegation of sexual battery on a minor on April 26.

One of the tweets read: "@MiamiPD I'm bout. to rape a lil girl high asf Hahahahahahhahahahahahaaayyahayya"

• Drunk Baby Girl Nearly 4 Times Above Legal Limit
  

Within an hour, another tweet said: "@MiamiPD you guys I have been out here taking lillte girls and I hear no sirens?Um my avi don't scare you."

After an investigation, police said they found the person behind the tweets, a 15-year-old whom NBC 6 is choosing not to identify due to his age.

• No Prom, Graduation for Belen Pranksters

Police said the teen told his parents and investigators that he didn't mean the threats and that he was joking. But police took the false threats seriously, arresting the teen on charges of false reports to law enforcement, a third-degree felony, which officials say is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

The teen's family offered no response after requests for comment from NBC 6 reporter Sharon Lawson.

A New York City cab driver has been suspended, accused of wearing a swastika armband while on duty.

The 27-year-old driver from the Bronx was suspended by the Taxi and Limousine Commission on May 9 after the agency investigated a customer's complaint. He will not be allowed to drive a taxi for 30 days. 

As part of its investigation, the agency obtained photos that they say showed him wearing the swastika armband on his left arm while driving in Manhattan.

A TLC official said the driver violated a "proper conduct" rule which states that drivers must not "act against the best interests of the public."

In a statement Friday, the Anti-Defamation League applauded the TLC's "swift investigation and successful prosecution of this outageous and inflammatory gesture by a taxicab driver."

"By openly displaying this hate symbol identified with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party while operating a New York City taxicab, the driver sent a frightening and offensive message to New Yorkers about who might be welcome – and unwelcome – in the taxicab he was driving," the statement continued.

The driver has been operating a New York City taxi since November 2011, according to the TLC. 
 

The attorney for a former NFL player accused of sexual assault says a Miami Beach Police report left out some critical details that were used against his client in another state.

Former football star Darren Sharper was arrested in California in January on two counts of sexual battery. He is also facing charges in Arizona.

It was discovered on Thursday that prosecutors decided not to pursue charges in Miami Beach, where Sharper had been accused of another sexual assault. Sharper's attorney Brian Bieber says there were flaws in the case that caused the charges to be dropped.

But Bieber says a court in Los Angeles was given a redacted police report that did not reveal those flaws and that it hurt Sharper's case in that state.

"The redacted report was used by the prosecutors in Los Angeles in an effort to increase Mr. Sharper's bond," Sharper's attorney Brian Bieber said.

Bail was set in Sharper's California rape case at $1 million, but he was kept in jail after being indicted in Arizona.

The initial police report, which was released to the media and to the court, alleges that Sharper met the victim at a Miami Beach nightclub and the two went to his condo where she claims he committed the sexual assault.

"In fact those allegations are 100 percent false," Bieber said.

Bieber said the complete police report he obtained in April shows the alleged victim was unreliable and was being coached.

In the full police report, detectives said the woman came forward after she saw on TV that Sharper faced charges in other states. Later, detectives said the alleged victim said it was actually a friend that saw Sharper on TV.

Bieber said other parts of the full report reveal how unreliable the alleged victim was. The full report, which redacts the victim and a friend's names, reads:

"I had to ask the [friend] to stop interrupting the [victim] while she explained... I observed the [friend] and [victim] texting in the middle of the interview. I asked [victim] are you going to tell me what happened or ...text each other."

Miami Beach Police sent NBC 6 a response in their defense saying:

"The offense incident report released on Feb. 20, 2014 was released with the narrative in its entirety. The only redaction made to the report is for the protection of the victim's identity."

The police department says the report in question is the detective supplement which was not completed until April and say there was no selective editing.

Now, Sharper's lawyer says he is using what happened in Miami Beach to bolster his defense in the California case.

"My understanding is the Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles is going to have some serious questions about why he was presented with a redacted and chopped up police report," Bieber said. "It's a poor reflection of the investigative process.

Meanwhile, the judge in Los Angeles is giving each side one month to come back with full details about the Miami Beach police report in order to continue the investigation.

A Maryland dad is facing manslaughter charges after police say he gave his 3-year-old son a fatal cocktail of drugs, including cocaine.

Thomas E. Holland, 38, drove his unresponsive son to the United Medical Center in southeast Washington in January, police said. Officers were called to the hospital when the boy passed away, and a death investigation was launched.

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A toxicology report revealed a number of drugs in the child's system, including toxic levels of of cocaine, acetaminophen and codeine.

The amount of drugs in the boy's system would have killed him within four hours, according to court documents. Police say he could not have accidentally swallowed them.

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"The investigators and the medical examiner feel very strongly there's no way this child accidentally ingested this collection of drugs all together," said Bill Alexander of Prince George's County Police.

Holland had a court-ordered visit with his 3-year-old just before the boy's hospital visit. News4's Pat Collins spoke to the boy's great-grandparent Maurice Gaither. 

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"It's the most horrific and the most terrible thing I've ever experienced," Gaither said.

Holland was taken into custody May 15 and remains behind bars, facing manslaughter and child abuse charges.

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A lawyer for Holland was not available for comment.

The stubborn Cocos Fire's rampage through San Marcos and western Escondido burned more than two dozen structures, and now, Cal Fire officials say they're worried about the blaze's push to the south.

What sparked Wednesday as a small brush fire on a hillside behind Cal State in San Marcos has exploded into a 3,018-acre wildfire that has reduced homes to rubble and forced thousands of people to evacuate, fed by strong winds and dangerously low humidity.

San Diego county assessment teams were combing the area Friday, trying to pull together offiical numbers -- a task complicated by live power lines on the ground, as fire crews have warned the media. Sheriff Bill Gore has said the fire has burned three homes.

But NBC 7 crews counted at least two dozen buildings burned. Among those were four or five residential homes and more than a dozen buildings burned in the Harmony Grove area, with an additional four homes in Eden Valley and an additional four homes burned in the San Marcos area.

Four homes on Country Club Drive suffered significant damage, as did one on Washingtonia near Jason Lane, one on Phoenix Way, one on Camino de La Cima, one on Coronado Hills and another one at Coronado Hills Drive and Seaforever Drive.

Harmony Grove Spiritualist, a century-old church retreat nestled in the hills a few miles west of Escondido, on the eastern side of the Cocos Fire, also suffered a devastating loss, with about half of its 30 structures destroyed. Fire crews were working mop-up in and around the retreat.

Those structures included a handful of homes, some bungalows, offices and utility buildings. The retreat's Temple of Healing was unscathed, and some two dozen koi survived in a pond on the retreat's 13-acre grounds, located about a 10-minute walk from the nearest road.

Several ranch homes outside the camp's perimeter along South Country Club Drive are also total losses, the members of the association told NBC 7.

Map of Wildfire Activity and Open Shelters

Fire crews fought to save homes in the Coronado Hills and Harmony Grove communities but reported at least three homes destroyed.

Capt. Greg Lloyd of San Diego Fire-Rescue said crews did everything they could to salvage a hillside home on Phoenix Way. The two-story house was torched Thursday evening when flames jumped a fire retardant line.

Lloyd said crews pulled burning debris out of the home in an attempt to control the damage, but in the end, they were heartbroken to watch the home and its contents burn to the ground. 

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San Diego police say they arrested someone trying to loot an evacuated home west of Escondido on Thursday night and prevented it from being looted.

Officers spotted a car pulling up to the home and determined after questioning that the driver should not be in the area. They did a background check and say the man was wanted on a warrant.

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Soon after it sparked Wednesday the Cocos Fire forced the evacuation of Cal State San Marcos campus and dorms, canceled classes at nearby schools and forced Palomar Hospital to shelter in place, cancel elective surgeries and divert incoming patients.

The blaze flared up Thursday and scorched its way through a canyon south of La Moree Road, after prompting evacuations Wednesday from San Marcos south of State Route 78 to western Escondido just west of Interstate 15.

Military helicopters hauled in water drops from Lake San Marcos one after another, in a coordinated effort that drew impressed onlookers.

The DC-10 Super Tanker that had arrived Wednesday to the delight of residents, local officials and firefighters was requested Thursday but down due to pilot availability, Cal Fire said.

Click here for Latest Evacuation Map

On Friday, officials lifted evacuations for some residents:

In San Marcos, those living south of SR-78, west of Twin Oaks Valley Road through the San Elijo Community to San Elijo at S. Rancho Santa Fe may return to their homes. The best route will be Rancho Santa Fe Road.

In Escondido, those living west of Valley Parkway, including the community south of Citracado and west of Del Dios Highway, as well as areas north of Via Rancho and west of Felicita Road may return home.

Those closures still in effect include Questhaven south of Elfin Forest through Harmony Grove and the area east of Twin Oaks Valley Road along Barham Drive and south into the Coronado Hills community and the communities of Hidden Hills and Live Oak. Country Club Road from Hill Valley to Harmony Grove Road and Kauana Loa to Harmony Grove.

Harmony Grove will remain closed at County Club Drive.

For those with damaged or destroyed homes, San Diego County will open a Recovery Liaison Office daily 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Saturday, May 17.

Among the things they can help with clearing away debris, cleaning swimming pools and other recovery and rebuilding information.

As of 7:35 p.m. Friday, the Cocos Fire was 50 percent contained.

Miami-Dade Police are looking for a suspect who swiped a money bag from a Little Caesar's Pizza employee in an incident that was caught on camera.

The robbery happened back on April 20 at the business at 20517 Old Cutler Road as the victim was closing for the day.

The woman was outside locking the main door when the thief ran up and grabbed the money bag from under her arm and fled on foot, police said.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.