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the world making songs out there. >> reporter: that's the reason for that song? >> yeah. absolutely. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm cecilia vega, in los angeles. next, lebron james is coming back. and tonight, they were hot in cleveland. ♪ yeah, girl ♪ you know, i've been thinking about us ♪ ♪ and, uh, i just can't fight it anymore ♪ ♪ it's bundle time ♪ bundle ♪ mm, feel those savings, baby and that's how a home and auto bundle is made. better he learns it here than on the streets. the miracle of bundling -- now, that's progressive. if you're suffering from constipation or irregularity,
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it can be hard to forgive and forget. again, in sports, there aren't
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many super, super stars like lebron james. returning to play with his first team and the fans that for none too pleased when he left them. how did they respond today in his official welcome back to cleveland? here's abc's gloria riviera. >> reporter: in akron, ohio, it was lbj delirium. lebron james fans going wild with the news. a packed stadium. 30,000 tickets given away to fans, raring to welcome the king home. >> i would make my city and my state happy. and that's why i came back. i love you. i'm back. >> reporter: james, that rare athlete, able to elevate an entire community, before he had even been back in a cavs uniform, made this promise today. >> my number one goal is to win a championship here. i think it would be the greatest
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achievement in my life. >> reporter: it has been a long round trip for the nba powerhouse. slammed for his arrogant departure. >> i'm going to take my talents to south beach and join the miami heat. >> reporter: fans made it personal. but after four years in miami and two nba championships, the 29-year-old, four-time mvp, decided to come back. >> breaking news, lebron james is coming home. >> how fast did it take for you to forgive lebron? >> instantly. >> reporter: james' return is estimated to bring in an additional $500 million a year to the city, from ticket sales to jobs. he may have left a villain. but tonight, lebron james came home a hero. for "nightline," i'm gloria riviera, in akron, ohio. >> one guy, brings in $500
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million. thanks for watching abc news. tune into "good morning america" tomorrow. and as always, we're online at abcnews.com. have a great weekend. twitter. and don't go away, "20/20" starts right now.
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tonight on "20/20," survi surviving summer. everything from getaways to get away. >> i heard, kaboom! >> does this say customer service to you? security guards turning on the guests. >> i kept yelling, don't touch her. >> so, why are the people supposed to be keeping the peace taking her down? five-star smackdown. plus, what's in the water making people so sick? testing the tides for the dirtiest beaches. >> this is like the movie, bridesmaids. and planet of the apes may be on the screen, but what's on the floor and under your seat?
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scary movies. and hot cars. kids left inside. but are good samaritans going too far, turning in innocent moms? >> a lot of parents don't have an option. >> hot car hysteria. here now, elizabeth vargas and david muir. millions of american families trying to get the most out of the final weeks of summer, so many headed to the shores. but if you're about to check into a hotel, this video is sure to shock you from atlantic city. >> a brawl between security guards and guests. brian ross with the tapes and the tough questions. what will you decide? >> reporter: in its jazzy marketing campaign, atlantic city and its casinos promote the new jersey oceanfront resort as a place where everyone is welcome.
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gamblers, hipsters and families. that's not what the binns family of cape coral, florida, found. >> it was miserable. it was absolutely miserable. >> reporter: university of pennsylvania student and classical guitarist, sean oaks, fared no better. not what you expected when you came to atlantic city? >> not what i expected. >> reporter: and it was even worse for former college basketball player rob coney, now a junior accountant in philadelphia. >> i'm laying in a pool of my own blood. i thought i was dying. i thought i was dead. >> reporter: all of this took place in one casino in atlantic city, harrah's, part of the giant caesar's entertainment corporation, one of the biggest gambling companies in the world. >> it was all security using unnecessary, unprovoked violence to handle situations. >> reporter: the incidents have now led to a series of lawsuits against harrah's and its parent company, with casino
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surveillance videos provided to "20/20" by lawyer paul d'amato, who calls them the best evidence of negligence, assault and battery against his clients. >> no sane person can explain the conduct that we see in those videos. >> reporter: even if you're raising your voice at the front desk? >> yes. >> reporter: or having an argument with a security officer? >> this is the united states of america. the last time i saw and heard, we don't beat people up for raising their voices or getting upset. >> reporter: in the case of the binns family, now suing harrah's, voices were raised and security moved in after john binns, a professional poker player, says he was being evicted because the hotel computer mistakenly did not list him as a guest even though they had been staying there for two days. then, suddenly, what few would consider good hospitality. >> they grabbed him and just slammed him to the floor. and all i could say was, "get off of him, he's got a pacemaker." >> reporter: renee binns, a lawyer and her daughter andrea
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say they too got loud, afraid for his life. >> they were very rough, like, slammed him to the floor. >> reporter: and then, as mother and daughter walked away from the scene toward the elevators to their room, security swooped in to stop them. >> i just kept yelling that she's a minor, don't touch her, as loud as i could. >> reporter: watch as the daughter is wrestled to the ground and handcuffed. >> i didn't know where my mom was. and then i remember being brought to the floor and getting my face smashed into the marble floor. >> reporter: and then mom brought down, dragged off by a man her lawyer says is the casino's head of security. >> it ended up with a broken nose for andrea, whiplash and early termination of what was supposed to be a very nice family trip. >> reporter: for 26-year-old college student sean oaks, a trip with a friend to atlantic city was supposed to be a chance to meet girls. as part of its effort to attract more than the usual gambling crowd, harrah's hosts a hugely
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popular indoor pool party, throbbing music, a packed dance floor with the liquor flowing. oaks says his problem began before he even got inside as a security guard closely inspected his driver's license, as seen on the hotel surveillance tape. >> and he starts to bend my id in half and i was like, "oh my god, don't do that." >> reporter: as oaks tries to grab his driver's license back, the trouble begins. >> a whole gang of people jumped on me and piled on and kicked me and hit me in the back of the head. they were waling on me. and i heard a voice from behind me say, "break his arms if you have to." >> reporter: in the movies, in "ocean's 11" and another called "21," casino security people are portrayed as very tough, at least in dealing with card cheats.
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in the real-life version, oaks, who was not a card cheat, ended up, he says in his lawsuit, punched, kicked and stomped on. in a complaint filed with police, a harrah's security officer claimed that oaks was the aggressor. but the complaint was dropped this week. are you an aggressive, violent person? >> no, absolutely not. >> reporter: get in many fights? >> never. >> reporter: until this night in atlantic city? >> i wouldn't even call it a fight, though, because i wasn't fighting anyone. i was just being beaten. >> reporter: but the worst of the incidents at the popular casino involved rob coney, whose 6'7" height made him a standout basketball player in school. but security guards said his size made them fearful, according to a report later filed by an off-duty police officer working for the casino. coney, in the plaid shirt, says the incident began when a guard wrongly said he had left the pool party and could not return. his friend, in the vest, is trying to calm things down by backing him off. coney admits he had been drinking at the time, like most of those at the party, and became upset and used rough language.
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coney says harrah's security, including the off-duty atlantic city police officer in uniform, kept at it even as they were in the lobby, and his friends continue to back him away. here, the video shows the officer with his baton in his right hand, about to move in. >> and the next thing i know, this officer strikes me in the throat and then he brings out his baton and then he chases me and beats me. and i'm on the ground and they're on top of me, hitting me. >> reporter: coney is later hauled off, bleeding from his head. the off-duty officer would later claim coney pushed him twice and charged him in a fighting manner. while coney later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly person count. no charges were brought against the off-duty police officer who beat him with the baton and coney has now filed a civil lawsuit. >> that's an assault. >> reporter: we showed the tapes of all three incidents to
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security expert and retired new york city police detective nick casale, who says no language and nothing he saw on the tape justifies the baton beating. >> they may be irate. they may be loud. they may be obnoxious. the worst thing you can imagine does not justify you to hit someone with a nightstick. not just hit them. he whaled at them. >> reporter: all of this could not come at a worse time for atlantic city, where several of its casinos are closed or planning to close as fewer gamblers have been showing up there. the new atlantic city mayor don guardian has been pushing for the city to do more to make the resort a welcome, family friendly place. the mayor said he had not seen the videos from harrah's until we showed him some of them. >> so this is a surprise to you? >> this is a surprise. >> reporter: he did not like what he saw. >> beating can't be tolerated. it's not acceptable. violence can't be tolerated. >> reporter: and as to that off-duty atlantic city police
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officer with the baton, the mayor said as of the beginning of this year, police officers are no longer allowed to work for the casinos as bouncers. isn't this a matter for internal affairs at the very least? >> absolutely. i am going to raise it now because you've just brought it to my attention. >> reporter: harrah's would not provide anyone to appear in our report, and when we went to find the director of security, doug ruhl, who the lawyer bringing the lawsuit says was present in each incident, ruhl told us he could not answer our questions. is this you right here, sir? >> sir, like i said, unfortunately we're not allowed to comment on any of this. >> reporter: do you think this is appropriate? >> sir, we're not allowed to comment on any of this. >> reporter: do you think it was appropriate? did you go over the line? later in a written statement, the casino said its security personnel are trained to use the least amount of force required while taking necessary steps to protect guests, employees and themselves. but there was no comment on any of the cases involving the dramatic videos.
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>> this is a city that needs to be hospitable. that type of activity can't occur. when that occurs, we're in the wrong business. coming up, sand, surf, and slobber? >> a whole bunch of urban slobber. >> yup, slobber. what else is making people sick? >> a piece of poop. >> are you bathing in troubled waters? surviving the summer, next. go, go, go, go, yes! let's go, drew. the "not-so-good more" would be them always watching you. go for it, paul! get open! come on, paul! let's go! hustle! what is that, chamomile tea?! uh, lattes. you wanna take a nap?! get the "good more" with nfl mobile, free with the more everything plan.
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the most famous line of the summ summer, the water's fine, come on in? well, not necessarily. people told not to drink the
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water or get in. tonight, the "20/20" test. cecilia vega armed with a test kit. and the results are in. >> reporter: ah, sweet summer -- the time of year when we get back in touch with our more amphibious aspirations. of course, this means close contact with mother nature's most notorious nuisances -- sharks. alligators. jellyfish. now, attacks from creatures lurking in the dark depths are serious but they aren't nearly as common as attacks from the stuff inside the water that we can't see. >> there is a whole bunch of urban slobber from the upper watershed that makes its way down, and then flows onto the beach. >> reporter: steve fleischli works for the natural resources defense council. >> throw in the mix, horse and bird poop, and it sort of makes a witch's brew of contamination at these beaches. >> reporter: blech. and that bacterial brew may be bubbling where we least expect it. let's start our magical misery
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tour. right here at the malibu pier beach in california, smack in the middle of wealth and glamour. this beach, malibu pier, is considered a repeat offender. time after time scientists have found bacteria in this water right here where you can see children are playing, surfers are surfing. we're going to take some samples and find out how dirty it really is. we packed our sample bottles in a cooler and headed for a lab. we wait for the results knowing this water could be teeming with bacteria. but that's not stopping anyone from diving in. now, most beaches post warnings if bacteria counts are too high and even shut them down if the counts are out of control. but that could be too late for some swimmers. >> we surf all over the world and this is one of the only places where we are getting sick. >> it's kind of a bummer to hear that there is fecal matter. >> when you swim in contaminated water, there is a grim inventory of diseases that can be
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associated with that. from stomach flu, to pink eye, to ear infection, to eye infection, to -- >> reporter: okay, steve, we get the picture. malibu pier is in good company. the list of the worst bacteria infested beaches spans the country and sickness abounds from coast to coast. our next stop, horseshoe lake in washington state. it might look like the perfect spot to take a summer dip but last month swimmers there found out what really lies below the surface the hard way. >> a summer scare -- >> the calls were coming one after another after another. >> we had 82 reported. >> 82 reported phone calls. >> yeah. >> wow. >> reporter: families ended up praying to the porcelain gods. >> do you remember what you felt like? >> i felt like a piece of poop. >> my stomach, it started to, like twist and turn. >> reporter: but i didn't end there. >> my uncle got sick. >> my friend damon got sick.
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>> her dad got really sick, too. >> you guys are dropping like flies. >> oh my gosh, yeah, it was like the movie bridesmaids. >> reporter: and like the movie -- >> some of them thought they ate something bad. but we don't know if it isn't an e. coli outbreak, a leaky sewer line, toxic algae. we don't know for sure. >> reporter: but it was none of those things. the final tally of suffering swimmers soared past 300. lab test results confirmed jim zimny's strongest hunch. the very same bug that has notoriously spread from person to person on cruise trips from hell -- >> more than 600 fell ill. >> reporter: was deep inside this lake too --
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the dreaded norovirus. >> one person who went into this water behind you was sick, and now hundreds of people suffer because of that? >> oh yes. it's very contagious. when people are going in the water, they're basically taking a bath with everybody else who's out there. >> the problem with viral contamination of the beaches is that they are not sampling most beaches for viruses -- they are sampling for bacteria. >> reporter: it seems summer outbreaks are popping up as often as a bad sunburn. on lake erie just days ago. >> half a million toledo residents unable to drink water from the tap. >> reporter: that's no swimming, no showers, no teeth brushing all because the usually blue waters turned into green sludge. it's from toxic algae that's gotten worse every year thanks to farm fertilizer runoff and leaky septic systems. at florida beaches last month, authorities issued an alert for flesh eating bacteria. stay out of the water if you have an open wound or weakened immune system. this nasty stuff occurs naturally in warm salty water, leading to 41 infections in the state last year and 11 deaths.
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and last year in little rock, arkansas, a day at this water park turned nearly deadly for kali hardig. >> all of the sudden the headache just started getting worse. >> and i knew when her eyes rolled back in her head. i knew something bad was wrong. >> reporter: they raced to the emergency room where kali gets the news -- she is infected with a terrifying brain eating amoeba know as naeglaria. most likely from the water. >> it's 99% fatal, 1% survival rate. this is friday night, they told us she'd be gone by monday. >> reporter: it took a monthlong induced coma but kali is now one of only three people ever known to survive this very rare infection. naeglaria grows in fresh water warmed by the summer sun. the good news is, it's not easy for it to enter the human body. so what about those tests we ran for contaminated water at the malibu pier? well, it's official -- bad bacteria.
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the good news though -- the levels are so low they won't make you sick. >> a day at the beach should never lead to a night at the hospital. >> reporter: so steve says, don't go in the water within three days of a heavy rainstorm, you can protect yourself by not dunking your head or allowing water to get into your mouth or nose, and staying out when you have open cuts. >> also, if you're sick, do everybody a favor and don't go in the water. >> reporter: but it's summer. we get it. it's hot outside. and sometimes those blue waters are too inviting to pass up. no matter what may secretly lurk beneath. >> we are gonna go catch some waves and have a good day! coming up u, you'll be shocked, literally. freak lightning this summer, striking inside your house.
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>> i was struck sitting on my couch. >> but why are men more likely to be hit? surviving the sky, next. quicken loans will pay your mortgage for an entire year. that is how it's done. truly amazing! get in the hole-in-one sweepstakes. enter today at pgatour.com/quickenloans and you could have your mortgage paid for an entire year. use your target debit or credit redcard for an extra 5% off our every day low prices. ♪ i'm d-a-v-e and i have copd. i'm k-a-t-e and i have copd,
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it sure seems this has been the summer of stream weather. august, peak season for lightning. 70% of all deaths from lightning happen in the summer. so, where do you go when lightning strikes? even sitting in your own living room, you're not totally safe. ginger zee with a reality check. >> reporter: lightning claiming the life of a 20-year-old. it's the m.o. usually associated with lightning. attack quickly and strike outdoors. but this summer, lightning is
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making house calls. >> i still to this day cannot believe i was hit by lightning sitting on my couch. >> reporter: you heard right. last week theresa celeste was jolted from the comfort of her living room in upstate new york. >> it was the sound of a bomb going off inside your house. >> reporter: at the time, she was being treated to a foot rub by her mother. she does this for you regularly? >> yes, she does. she does. yes. and i was just sitting here like this. and it was thundering, lightning. and one struck in the backyard and i went, "oh my god, mom, that is so close." >> reporter: and you saw it. >> right there. i saw that lightning. and the next i knew it was the sound. and i went like this, i guess. and my mother felt the jolt. >> i felt it. >> she felt it. i don't remember feeling anything.
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>> reporter: a roofer came to inspect the damage and could not find the point of entry. but the path is clearly visible if you look up at her ceiling. >> you think you're safe sitting in your house and i guess you're not. >> reporter: in maine, christine poore suffered blisters on her feet after a bolt came through a light fixture on wednesday. >> i thought the bulb had broken, but it shot down and danced around in the bathroom sink like you were welding. >> she was standing right here and it just came through the light. >> reporter: in atlanta, 7-year-old sebastian cedeno was struck while he was inside his house with his mother. >> we're standing at the bay window, and then all of a sudden we hear this big coosh, and it blew both of us back, both of our hands went to our ears, and all i could see was my son on the ground, and his foot was smoking. >> reporter: fortunately, little sebastian survived. and indoors is still the safest place to be in a storm. but lightning expert john jensenius says you still have to be aware of your surroundings. >> you want to avoid any
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with any metal connections with the outside, that would include anything that's plugged into the wiring. >> reporter: so stay off the corded phones, the computer and away from appliances. >> you don't want to be taking a shower and you don't want to be washing dishes. the water in your home is a conductor of electricity. >> reporter: so stay out of the kitchen and the bathroom. >> we also recommend that you stay away from doors and windows. >> reporter: and position yourself toward the center of a room. of course, the overwhelming number of lightning strikes still occur outside. on open fields. and open roads. >> take a look at this. a truck is driving down the highway in canada when it's suddenly struck by lightning. back in 2012, i went on a mission with my friend and mentor, the late storm chaser tim samaras. >> oh, look at that. that was beautiful. >> reporter: tim wanted a
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glimpse into what makes that power. that electric flash of light and how we might better understand the mystery behind this lethal phenomenon. armed with his ultra-high speed camera, he tried to capture this elusive moment. the birth of a lightning strike. >> and the return strobe. >> reporter: oh, my god. even though every thunderstorm is pregnant with that brilliant but deadly force, we know surprisingly little about where, when or why it strikes. >> why does it choose a target like a tree instead of a building or building instead of a tree? you know, perhaps some of the imagery that we collect in the field may help answer some of those questions. >> reporter: sadly, that mission must now be shouldered by other scientists. less than a year after this interview, tim, his son paul and a colleague were killed in a tornado in oklahoma. while 90% of lighting strike victims survive, they often suffer long lasting effects. michael utley has been feeling them for 14 years.
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>> my heart stopped three times that day. >> reporter: utley was playing a tournament with friends on cape cod when they ran into the ultimate golf hazard. >> i heard the loudest bang of my life. we turned around and mike was on the green, scorched. his shoes were blown off. and he was just unconscious, smoking. >> reporter: he spent the next 38 days in a coma. >> who gets struck by lightning? who takes that something seriously? i mean, what are the odds of that happening to you? you're 48 and invincible. >> reporter: these days, utley is about as far from invincible as you can get. >> because my lower legs, there's no muscles left in them, they will not rebuild. i've been working out with a trainer every week for 14 years. and it -- they just won't rebuild. >> mike is quite a fighter, and he still is today.
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but he had to go through a lot to get back to where he is today. >> reporter: there are also concerns about what lightning can do to your mind. >> if you spill a coke on the laptop, it will look the same, but it won't run the same. >> people who are struck by lightning can suffer personality changes. they may just not be the same person they were before they were struck. >> people that live, there's a high percentage of personality changes, things happening afterwards. you're lucky to feel the same. >> i'm nervous. it's not my personality. i was lucky that i'm still here today to talk about it. >> we're glad she's okay, too. the question tonight, how close have you been to lightning
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strikes? use #abc2020. and you're about to see the hot car vigilantes. people going after the parents. who's right here? >> coming up, kids in hot cars, and horrible headlines. but are video vigilantes turning innocent moms into monsters? >> if we start arresting people for things that could happen -- >> the side you haven't heard, when we return. you're being healthy, even in little ways. that's worth celebrating. that's why walgreens created the first program that gives you rewards points just for healthy behavior. so stick with it. you've got a lot of people cheering you on... download the app and start getting rewarded today.
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nearly every parent has been in this position. you need the run a quick errand, but your child is in the car. can you leave them in the car for a minute? some parents getting in deep trouble, with strangers videotaping them. tonight, we ask, who is right? who is wrong? >> reporter: 'tis the season -- >> 5-year-old boy found dead inside a car. >> leaving his 3-month-old boy to die in a hot car. >> reporter: the season of scorching headlines. >> it's happened again. >> the second incident of a child being left in a hot car in as many days.
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>> 15 children have died. >> reporter: the season of amplified advocates. >> children are dying, every single year, over and over again. >> reporter: the season of sincere and sweltering citizen selfies. >> i'm going to see how long i can sit in this car with no a.c. well, i've been in here for about 15 minutes and i feel like i'm going to pass out. >> i can barely breathe out here. >> reporter: all alerting us to the hottest topic in child endangerment -- family vehicles becoming death traps as parents leave children unattended while temperatures rise to lethal levels. >> man, don't be the next fool on the damn news talking about you left your kids in the back seat. >> reporter: some of this is heated reaction to the most shocking case of the summer. justin ross harris, a georgia father charged with murder for intentionally leaving his 22-month-old son to bake in a hot suv for seven hours. he has pled not guilty. the frenzied coverage of this case and other tragic child
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deaths is prompting bystanders to take action. as we showed you earlier tonight on "what would you do?" these folks were quick to intervene when they believed a mother left her baby in the back seat. >> that's my baby, is she crying again? >> you can't leave her in the car by herself. >> it's my baby and i'm back here now. >> i don't care if it's your baby. i'm going to have to call it in. >> it's not that hot. >> reporter: of course we all want to keep kids safe, but this hot car thing has reached the point where some are saying it's time to chill. >> we've created a culture where we've almost deliberately confused people as to what constitutes a danger. >> reporter: lenore skenazy is a mother and author known for her opposition to overprotective parenting. she says we are in the midst of a hot car hysteria. >> did we just lock our baby in the car? >> lily, it's okay! >> a, b, c. >> what are you singing to her? people get arrested for this, mitchell! >> reporter: invading every "modern family" -- >> we locked our baby in the car and people are judging us! >> i swear to god i'm going to break it!
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>> do not break it! >> we really think that the minute a parent leaves the car, if the car is unattended for any moment at all, a child dies. >> reporter: exhibit "a" -- the case of kim brooks. >> i wasn't sort of given the benefit of the doubt and allowed, you know, to make a parenting choice. >> reporter: brooks is a mother and a writer whose ordeal begins on a brisk march morning, temperatures are only in the high 40s. kim's been visiting her parents with her two kids and is packing for her return flight home. suddenly she realizes her then 4-year-old son's headphones are broken so she makes the one mile drive with her son to the store. and when you got to the store, what happened? >> he was playing the ipad game. and he said, you know, can i wait in the car? i don't want to go in, i want to finish my game. it was really a split second decision. >> reporter: so what did you do to make sure he was safe? >> so i pulled as close as i could to the store, opened the windows a few inches. i got out, i locked the door. in my head, i just thought, i'm not going shopping, i need one item.
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>> reporter: kim said she's in and out of the store in five minutes and with her son still happily tickling that ipad, she doesn't give it a second thought. that is, until she arrives back home and gets a voice message from the police. a stranger had taken cell phone video of her son alone in the car and reported it. when you got on the phone to talk to the police officers, what do they say to you? >> we want to talk to you about leaving your child in the car. >> reporter: but you did come back. >> well, that's what i said. i came back within five minutes, he wasn't in danger, the car wasn't hot. >> reporter: the answer seems to suffice for nine months until one morning kim gets another call from the police. they want her in handcuffs. >> he said, are you aware that there's a warrant out for your arrest? >> reporter: a warrant for your arrest for what? >> contributing to the delinquency of a minor. >> reporter: i mean, most people think that means buying a teenager beer. >> right, exactly, that was what i thought, too. >> reporter: despite the fact that she has no history of
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anything criminal or negligenct, kim is facing a maximum of one year in prison and a minimum of thousands of dollars in legal fees. at one point, you actually wanted to go to trial, because you felt that they wouldn't be able to win this case. >> the thought crossed my mind, and i brought it to the lawyers, but he said this is going to be tried in juvenile court. juvenile courts are always going to err on the side of protecting the child. i don't think you want to risk the consequences. >> reporter: two years later, after kim commits to 100 hours of community service and parenting classes, the prosecutor finally drops the charges. but the damage is done. especially to kim's young son. >> the result is, he was really frightened, you know? he went through a phase where he would not want to be out of my sight for a second. >> reporter: kim's story is not unique. we spoke to six other moms with similar stories, all of whom wished to remain anonymous. each recounting the terror of possibly doing time or even
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losing their kids. several agreed to be interviewed but then backed out, telling us they remain terrified of the legal and social repercussions of going public. >> if we start arresting parents for things that could happen there is no parent safe on earth. >> reporter: so, you don't think leaving your child in a car unattended in a parking lot is dangerous? >> the minute you put them in the car to drive them anywhere, that's the most risk you could be putting them in. more kids die being in the parking lot or behind a car in a driveway. >> reporter: safety advocates acknowledge the number of deaths is small overall. but it's still important. bottom line, when it comes to car and children and death being left in a hot car is not even in the top ten, is it? >> but that's not the say that we should turn a blind eye to it. >> reporter: but more children die being backed over in a parking lot or a driveway. or die in car accidents, than
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they do in -- sitting in a parked car, waiting for their parent. >> it's true. it's true. >> reporter: you and i are both mothers. we both know that there are times when our child doesn't want to do something. there's a tantrum happening. or they're asleep, and you don't wanna wake them up. >> yes. but if -- by definition if you're leaving a child alone in a vehicle they are unsupervised. >> reporter: perhaps it's come to that. now any unsupervised moment is -- by definition -- a sign of bad parenting. and for kim brooks, that's what's really scary. you have to be afraid of other people second guessing your decisions as a mother, and calling the police on you. >> exactly. my concern now that it seems in addition to being afraid of everything for our kids, we also have to be afraid that we are going to be perceived as not being afraid enough. >> you'll have a lot of opinions about this. and we want to hear them.
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tweet us using #abc2020. and what are you getting when you sit down in the movie theater seat? the blockbuster findings, next. hi, honey. how's the camping trip? well, kids had fun, but i think i slept on a rock. what are you doing? having coffee. ah, sounds good! i thought you'd say that. ah. ♪ the best part of wakin' up... ♪ you're the best! wake up to the mountain grown aroma of folgers. ♪ ... is folgers in your cup! l'oreal presents volume filler. have you always dreamed of thicker hair? our first haircare system with filloxane. increases hair's diameter. so it's amplified, densified.
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well, it's the season of the summer blockbuster. but what's on your seat or on the floor beneath you? here's nick watt. >> reporter: this summer blockbuster season, you've got options. pesky apes threatening the planet. your standard homicidal super genius sexpot plot. >> hello. and welcome to an evening with
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annie and jed. >> reporter: or maybe you like a farcical rom-com. if you go to the movies, whichever genre floats your boat, you're gonna find yourself packed inside a big dark room with a couple of hundred total strangers. what's that smell? what's that guy doing? what's that on my foot? is that legal? that can't be clean. we went on a journey, swabbing theatres across the land and grilling the experts -- >> there's nothing more crazy than owning a movie theater. >> reporter: -- to bring you the truth. there's no law that says they have to clean these seats. >> yeah. that's disturbing. >> reporter: what goes on inside the movie theater once the lights are down? >> well, you could tell about what goes on inside a movie theater with what you find after. >> reporter: okay, go on. >> used condoms. >> reporter: really? >> you got a romantic comedy playing, it's like the "mile
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high club." and it's gonna happen in your theater, trust me. >> reporter: two weeks ago, this couple was arrested for indecent exposure after some hanky panky during a showing of "godzilla." they've pleaded not guilty. have you ever caught somebody in the moment? >> yes. but if nobody complains, let them get away with it. >> reporter: what i always complain about are the prices. eight bucks for a bucket of popcorn that costs, wait for it, maybe eight cents to make? a 10,000% mark-up. seriously? daylight robbery? well, not exactly. >> i make money by selling concessions. >> reporter: because, and here's a little-known fact, up to 70% of your ticket price goes to the studio and distributor. leaving the theater owner with pocket change. and wait until you hear this. >> you gotta do little tricks to -- to get them to buy concessions. >> reporter: okay, like? >> well, in my theater, i've got a exhaust pipe that runs from the popcorn machine into the actual auditorium.

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