• Lee Harvey Oswald's Dallas apartment demolished

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    By Amanda Guerra, NBCDFW.com

    After years of decay, the city of Dallas demolished the 88-year old building at Elsbeth and Davis infamous for being where Lee Harvey Oswald lived before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.


    The demolition of the old apartment building started around 8:30 Monday morning.  By 8:40 the first level unit where the Oswald's are said to have lived was gone.

    Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife Marina lived at the complex from November 1962 to March 1963, eight months before the JFK assassination.

    About a half dozen curious people with a strong sense of history showed up across the street to watch and take pictures of the 88-year old building coming down.

    Read more at NBCDFW.com

    The 88-year-old building where Oswald lived with his wife until March 1963, was torn down after years of decay. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Jose Sorola told us he wished the Oswald unit could have been saved and perhaps been restored and part of historic tours. But since the city said it had to go, Sorola bought a small piece of it.

    "Yesterday, I came by and actually bought a window from Lee Harvey Oswald's unit number two and what I plan on doing is try to restore it as best as possible, and make it a little display if anybody is interested in using that it'll be nice, perserve a little history, keep the building alive somehow," said Sorola who paid $125 for the window.

    The crumbling building, located at 600 Elsbeth Street, had not been occupied for several years. 

    Jane Bryant, the woman who owns the building, bought it with hopes of restoring the complex, but the City of Dallas condemned the building back in 2011.

    On Sunday evening several people, including Bryant, local artists, and nearby residents showed up to take wood or bricks from the building.

    Freda Dillard, who takes people on JFK assassination tours, said she’s sad to see the building go.

    “People are interested in it," said Dillard. "I have people that come from all over the world to take these tours and they want to see everything, including this apartment building.”

    Hulton Archive / Getty Images, file

    Mugshot of Lee Harvey Oswald (1939 - 1963), alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, taken by the Dallas Police department, Dallas, Texas.

    “It’s very sad," added Dillard. "Tomorrow [Monday] afternoon it’s going to be gone and that’s another piece of history.”

    The city won a court order in May requiring Jane Bryant to tear down the uninhabited 10-unit, two-story apartment complex. It says Bryant failed to act in the allotted time and that allowed the structure to become a nuisance.
       
    Dallas city spokesman Frank Librio says demolition and asbestos abatement of the building is estimated to cost about $52,000. The city may place a lien on the property to recover that money.

    It's unclear what will become of the space, but the property owner, Jane Bryant, has suggested perhaps it could be a dog park.

    RFK Jr.: 'Very convincing' evidence that JFK wasn't killed by lone gunman

  • RFK Jr: 'Very convincing' evidence that JFK wasn't killed by lone gunman

    Tony Gutierrez / AP

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, said that he didn't believe a lone gunman killed President John F. Kennedy in an interview with journalist Charlie Rose, right, and Rory Kennedy, center, in front of an audience at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas Friday.

    By Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press

    DALLAS -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is convinced that a lone gunman wasn't solely responsible for the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and said his father believed the Warren Commission report was a "shoddy piece of craftsmanship."

    Kennedy and his sister, Rory, spoke about their family Friday night while being interviewed in front of an audience by Charlie Rose at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas. The event comes as a year of observances begins for the 50th anniversary of the president's death.

    Their uncle was killed on Nov. 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade through Dallas. Five years later, their father was assassinated in a Los Angeles hotel while celebrating his win in the California Democratic presidential primary.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his father spent a year trying to come to grips with his brother's death, reading the work of Greek philosophers, Catholic scholars, Henry David Thoreau, poets and others "trying to figure out kind of the existential implications of why a just God would allow injustice to happen of the magnitude he was seeing."


    He said his father thought the Warren Commission, which concluded Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president, was a "shoddy piece of craftsmanship." He said that he, too, questioned the report.

    "The evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman," he said, but he didn't say what he believed may have happened.

    Rose asked if he believed his father, the U.S. attorney general at the time of his brother's death, felt "some sense of guilt because he thought there might have been a link between his very aggressive efforts against organized crime."

    Kennedy replied: "I think that's true. He talked about that. He publicly supported the Warren Commission report but privately he was dismissive of it."

    Oswald's mafia links
    He said his father had investigators do research into the assassination and found that phone records of Oswald and nightclub owner Jack Ruby, who killed Oswald two days after the president's assassination, "were like an inventory" of mafia leaders the government had been investigating.

    Slideshow: Kennedy’s legacy

    Henry Burroughs / AP

    John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever to serve as U.S. president. Click on the gallery for photos detailing key moments in his campaign for the White House, his brief time in office, and his untimely death.

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    He said his father, later elected U.S. senator in New York, was "fairly convinced" that others were involved.

    The attorney and well-known environmentalist also told the audience light-hearted stories Friday about memories of his uncle. As a young child with an interest in the environment, he said, he made an appointment with his uncle to speak with him in the Oval Office about pollution.

    He'd even caught a salamander to present to the president, which unfortunately died before the meeting.

    "He kept saying to me, 'It doesn't look well,'" he recalled.

    Rory Kennedy, a documentary filmmaker whose recent film "Ethel" looks at the life of her mother, also focused on the happier memories. She said she and her siblings grew up in a culture where it was important to give back.

    A father, who was on the sidewalk with his son in Dallas when President Kennedy was assassinated, describes to reporters what he witnessed, saying he'll "never forget it."

    "In all of the tragedy and challenge, when you try to make sense of it and understand it, it's very difficult to fully make sense of it," she said. "But I do feel that in everything that I've experienced that has been difficult and that has been hard and that has been loss, that I've gained something in it."

    "We were kind of lucky because we lost our members of our family when they were involved in a great endeavor," her brother added. "And that endeavor is to make this country live up to her ideals."

    Related content:

    Secret tapes of JFK's last days released

    Audio tapes featuring Jackie Kennedy after JFK's death revealed

    Watch an extended clip from NBC News' original broadcast from Nov. 22, 1963, informing the nation that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Three shooting victims found in Dallas, Texas motel room

    By Kevin Cokely, NBCDFW.com

    Updated at 5:09 p.m. ET: Police are looking for the motive and suspects behind the fatal shooting of three people found dead at a north Dallas motel.

    A cleaning crew discovered the bodies of two men and a woman on the third floor of a Motel 6, just north of the High 5 interchange of Central Expressway and I-635 LBJ Freeway, just before noon on Saturday. The three victims had been shot to death, according to the police report.

    Read more at NBCDFW.com

    The victims were identified Sunday by police as Marco Barajas, 27, Manases Perez, 26,  and Ingrid Ramirez, 22. Ramirez drove a 2010 black Nissan.

    In the police report, investigators wrote that the crime did not appear to be related to family or gang violence.

  • Larry Hagman, TV villain J.R. Ewing on 'Dallas,' dies at 81

    Tony Gutierrez / AP file

    Actor Larry Hagman poses in front of the Southfork Ranch mansion made famous in the television show, "Dallas," in Parker, Texas, Oct. 9, 2008.

    By NBC News staff and wire

    Updated at 7:30 a.m. ET: Actor Larry Hagman — who became a global icon playing the cunning J.R. Ewing in the television series "Dallas" — died on Friday at the age of 81, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

    Hagman was at Medical City Dallas Hospital when he died Friday afternoon from complications of his recent battle with cancer, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing members of his family.

    Linda Gray, who played J.R.'s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, was with Hagman in Dallas when he died, the actress' spokesman, Jeffrey Lane, said in an email. 

    Slideshow: Larry Hagman: 1931-2012

    Hulton Archive / Getty Images

    Launch slideshow

    "Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years," Gray said in a statement. "He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously."

    'Who shot J.R.?'
    Despite his fragile health, the actor had returned to Texas from his home in California to film season one of TNT’s "Dallas" reboot and part of season two.

    The original show, in which Hagman played a conniving businessman who people loved to hate, ran from 1978 to 1991 on CBS. 

    The "Who shot J.R.?" cliffhanger series ending in 1980 -- which left it unclear if he was alive or dead -- broke viewing records and led to weeks of speculation about what had happened. In a later interview, Hagman said after the episode he went to England because he "wanted to get out of the country," but "England went stark raving nuts." Ewing survived.

    "Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most," the family said in a statement, the Morning News reported. "Larry’s family and close friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday. When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time."

    A statement from Warner Bros. described Hagman as "a giant, a larger-than-life personality whose iconic performance as J.R. Ewing will endure as one of the most indelible in entertainment history."

    "He truly loved portraying this globally recognized character, and he leaves a legacy of entertainment, generosity and grace. Everyone at Warner Bros. and in the 'Dallas' family is deeply saddened by Larry's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and dear friends during this difficult time," the statement added.

    Earlier in his career, Hagman was known for his role as Maj. Anthony Nelson, the master-turned-husband of a beautiful genie played by Barbara Eden in the sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie."


    In July 1995, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which led him to quit smoking, and a month later he underwent a liver transplant. 

    After giving up his vices, Hagman said he did not lose his zest for life. 

    "It's the same old Larry Hagman," he told a reporter. "He's just a littler sober-er." 

    Hagman was born on Sept. 21, 1931, in Texas, to Benjamin Jack Hagman and Mary Martin. His father was a lawyer who dealt with the Texas oil barons Hagman would later come to portray.

    He was still a boy when his parents divorced and he went to Los Angeles with Martin, who would become a big name in Hollywood and a Tony winner on Broadway, where she starred in "Peter Pan" and "The Sound of Music." 

    Hagman eventually landed in New York to pursue acting, making his stage debut there in "The Taming of the Shrew." In New York, he married Maj Axelsson in 1954 while they were in a production of "South Pacific. The marriage produced two children, Heidi and Preston. 

    'Big laughs, big smiles'
    Hagman served in the Air Force, spending five years in Europe as the director of USO shows, and on his return to New York he took a starring role in the daytime soap "The Edge of Night." His breakthrough came in 1965 when he landed the "I Dream of Jeannie" role opposite Barbara Eden. 

    After hearing of Hagman’s death, Eden paid tribute to him on Twitter and Facebook.

    “Amidst a whirlwind of big laughs, big smiles and unrestrained personality Larry was always, simply Larry,” she wrote on Twitter. “Larry Hagman not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure Americana. I'll miss him.”

    In his later years, Hagman became an advocate for organ transplants and an anti-smoking campaigner.

    He also was devoted to solar energy, telling the New York Times he had a $750,000 solar panel system at his Ojai estate, and made a commercial in which he portrayed a J.R. Ewing who had forsaken oil for solar power. He was a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, a minor leftist organization in California. 

    Hagman told the Times that after death he wanted his remains to be "spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry." 

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Slideshow: Curtain calls

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  • Dallas to mark 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination with memorial ceremony

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    By Ken Kalthoff, NBCDFW.com

    Dallas is planning a major public memorial ceremony in 2013 to mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination at Dealey Plaza, it was announced Tuesday.

    "The tone is very important," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said. "We want to mark this day by remembering a great president with a sense of dignity and honor he deserves. The 50th will be a serious, respectful and understated public memorial."

    Rawlings said public donations are being taken to cover the cost and no tax money will be used for the event, which will take place on Nov. 22, 2013.

    Tickets will be issued for the Dealey Plaza event because organizers expect more people will want to attend than the plaza can safely hold.

    Secret tapes of JFK's last days released

    The service will include a moment of silence at 12:25 p.m., the time the shots rang out.

    A committee appointed by Rawlings is planning the memorial, some details of which are already on an official website.

    "I'll never forget the faces of all the weeping women and the men who were just stricken, I mean you can imagine how shocking this was," said Dallas Citizens Council leader Ruth Altshuler, the committee chairperson.

    Democrat Joseph Kennedy III wins the seat vacated by Rep. Barney Frank, defeating Republican Sean Bielat in Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District. The 112th Congress was the first in almost five decade in which no member of the Kennedy family served in the House or Senate.

    Another murder that same November 1963 day was the killing of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit who was on patrol in Oak Cliff looking for the president's killer.

    Witnesses said Lee Harvey Oswald gunned Tippit down before Oswald was eventually arrested at the Texas Theater.

    More news from NBCDFW.com

    Nearly 49 years later, a memorial to Officer Tippit was unveiled Tuesday at the corner where the shooting occurred.

    In a rare interview NBC's Brian Williams sat down with Bobby Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, where they discussed their home life, her husband's relationship with Lyndon Johnson, and even her grandson's girlfriend, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.

    Attending the dedication was former Dallas police detective Jim Leavelle, who was assigned to Tippit's case. "I think it’s a great honor to Tippit, and he deserves it, and I’m just glad I could be alive to see it," Leavelle said.

    Tippit's widow Marie also attended the dedication ceremony. "I think it should be remembered," she said "The president was killed here and Jay was killed here trying to apprehend the killer of the president so I think it should be remembered."

    Watch an extended clip from NBC News' original broadcast from Nov. 22, 1963, informing the nation that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas.

  • Texas mom who threw kids onto freeway released from jail

    By NBC News staff

    The mother who threw her kids off a Dallas freeway overpass in 2008 was released from jail on Monday.

    In March 2008, Khandi Busby threw her two sons – then ages 8 and 6 – onto Interstate 30 before leaping herself, according to The Associated Press. All three survived the 22-foot fall into traffic, the AP reported.


    Busby said at the time that she believed Satan and the military were after them, NBCDFW.com reported. In 2010, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Since then, Busby has mostly been in state hospital care, but was transferred to the Dallas County Jail in June of this year, The Dallas Morning News reported.

    Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

    Now that she is released from jail, the 32-year-old will live a restricted life in a Dallas boarding home, and may not have contact with her children, who are in foster care, according to NBCDFW.com.

    "She has many, many restrictions, as well as things she has to do as part of her treatment," defense attorney Vanita Budhrani White told the Dallas Morning News. "And obviously if she doesn't do one of those many things she has in her treatment plan, the court is going to be notified."

    The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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  • Widow of suspect in Texas pastor killing: 'He was really sick'

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    By Ellen Goldberg, NBCDallasFortWorth.com

    The wife of the man who police say beat a pastor to death in a Texas church said Tuesday that her husband was mentally ill.

    Police say Derrick Birdow, 33, killed Danny Kirk Sr. Monday after ramming into Greater Sweethome Missionary Baptist Church in Forest Hill with his car.

    Birdow died after police used a stun gun to subdue him.

    "I am torn, because not only did I lose my pastor, I lost my husband," said Shanellia Harris Birdow, his widow.

    Harris Birdow, an active member of Greater Sweethome Missionary Baptist Church, said her husband did not know Kirk, although he had attended church there in the past.

    Police: Texas pastor killed, suspect dies after being subdued by stun gun

    She said that her husband, who had a lengthy criminal record, was mentally ill and had sought treatment last week at a Fort Worth hospital.

    "He was sick," she said. "He was really sick. Even these last couple days, he was trying to get help, but he didn't get it."

    She attended a vigil for Kirk on Tuesday night, unsure of how the congregation would react.

    "I wanted them to know I didn't have anything to do with it," she said. "I don't know the reasons. I don't have answers to the questions that they have."

    Candlelight vigil 
    Church members and Kirk's family remembered the pastor at the candlelight vigil.

    "Daddy, I am not going to do you wrong," said Danny Kirk Jr., the pastor's only son. "I am not going to bring shame to your name. You named me Danny Kirk Jr. for a reason."


    He assured the congregation that he would take care of his mother and the church in his father's absence.

    Danny Kirk Sr. had a daughter, Danielle, who died when she was just 3 years old. Church members say the family was still struggling with her death. His son said he takes great comfort in knowing his father and sister will now be together.

    Forest Hill police say Birdow rammed his car into the front of the church on Monday afternoon before going inside and beating Kirk, the church founder, to death. A janitor trying to stop the assault was also injured, police said.

    Barbara Moore, the church secretary, witnessed the attack and called 911. She told NBC 5 that she locked herself in her office while the men were fighting.

    Read more stories on NBCDFW.com

    "I saw them tussling in the truck, and he was trying to subdue him and he couldn't," she said. "I ran and called 911."

    Police said Birdow was still attacking Kirk and the janitor when officers arrived. Officers used a stun gun to restrain him, arrested him and placed him in a police car.

    Officers found him unresponsive about 10 minutes later, police said.

  • Mom who glued toddler's hands to wall gets 99-year sentence

    Tony Gutierrez / AP

    Elizabeth Escalona, 23, breaks down as she responds to a line of questions on Thursday in Dallas. Escalona admitted to beating her toddler and gluing her hands to a wall.

    By NBC News and wire services

    DALLAS -- Elizabeth Escalona, the 23-year-old mother of five who admitted to gluing her daughter’s hands to the wall and beating her as potty training punishment, was sentenced Friday to 99 years.

    In announcing the sentence, state District Judge Larry Mitchell said Escalona "savagely beat" her child and deserved to be punished.


    During closing arguments earlier Friday, prosecutor Eren Price told the court to give Escalona's children peace by knowing she would never come walking through their door in the future.

    The prosecution showed photos of the apartment where Jocelyn Cedillo was glued to the wall, saying "We have to imagine what it was like."

    Defense attorneys said Escalona needs anger management and treatment. They painted her life as a miserable one of abuse and drugs.

    Escalona faced from probation to life in prison, and prosecutors had sought 45 years behind bars.

    While on the stand Thursday, Escalona sobbed as a prosecutor ordered her to look at the injuries she inflicted on her daughter's body.

    She cried and didn't speak for several seconds after prosecutor Eren Price displayed a photo of then-2-year-old Jocelyn during Escalona's sentencing hearing. Dozens of red and brown marks from the September 2011 beating covered Jocelyn's back.

    "Ms. Escalona, if you can do it, you can look at it," Price said in a loud, sharp voice.

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    Escalona, who pleaded guilty in July to felony injury of a child, was on the witness stand for a second day.

    Police say Escalona kicked her daughter in the stomach, beat her with a milk jug, then stuck her hands to an apartment wall with an adhesive commonly known as Super Glue. Escalona's other children told authorities their mother attacked Jocelyn due to potty training problems.

    Jocelyn suffered bleeding in her brain, a fractured rib, bruises and bite marks, and was in a coma for a couple of days. Some skin had been torn off her hands, where doctors also found paint chips from the apartment wall, witnesses testified.

    Prosecutors have portrayed Escalona as an unfit mother with a history of violence, and Price has repeatedly referred to her as a "monster." Escalona has admitted she behaved like a monster when she beat Jocelyn, but insists she isn't one now.

    Price asked Escalona what she thought should happen in the case. Escalona replied in a soft, halting voice: "I should be put away." Then, she added, "But I also think I should be given a second chance."

    When Price asked her why, she responded: "Because I'm not a monster."

    Escalona also testified that her children were a source of stress. "They didn't bother me, but I did (need) a little break," she said.

    She described one of her sons misbehaving and getting into fights and another daughter once leaving home without her permission. Under questioning from defense attorney Angie N'Duka, Escalona said she was learning ways to deal with her anger and the stress of raising five children.

    More from NBCDFW.com: Rapper Nelly detained after heroin, pot found on bus

    But Price said she still didn't understand what could have caused the attack on Jocelyn.

    "Explain to us what about your stress is unique from what everybody else in this world lives through every single day," she said.

    In her testimony, Escalona admitted she often doesn't tell the truth and had lied to doctors and others assigned to her case. But she resisted Price's repeated efforts to get her to admit she was a liar.

    "I'm not a liar," Escalona said. "I have a hard time trusting people."

    Escalona acknowledged several missteps in her childhood: hanging around with gang members and trying marijuana around the age of 11, assaulting her mother at 12 and getting pregnant with her first child at 14.

    She also admitted drinking and doing drugs after she was released from jail on bond in February.

    Despite what she described as problems paying rent and other bills, Escalona admitted she was using marijuana about twice a day in the time before she attacked Jocelyn.

    Price said Escalona will be eligible for parole in 30 years. N'Duka said she plans to appeal.

    NBCDFW.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Texas mother who glued child's hands to wall faces possible life term

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    By NBC News staff and NBCDFW.com

    The Dallas mother who confessed to gluing her toddler to the wall then beating her as potty training punishment was in court Tuesday for a second day of testimony in her sentencing hearing.


    Prosecutors were seeking 45 years in prison for 23-year-old Elizabeth Escalona but she could spend the rest of her life in prison on the felony injury to a child conviction, the Dallas Morning News reported.

    The grandmother of the girl, Ofelia Escalona, was expected to testify Tuesday against her daughter.

    Doctors say the torture that the 2-year-old endured at the hands of her mom put her in a coma for several days. The doctor who saved the toddler's life testified on Monday why her mom should spend the rest of her life behind bars.

    "The entire picture was very shocking. I see a lot of children. This was one of the worst, shocking cases that I've seen," said Dr. Amy Barton, a former pediatrician at Children’s Medical Center.

    Watch video, read latest on Escalona case on NBCDFW.com

    Barton fought back tears while testifying. It's been more than a year since she first saw 2-year-old Joselyn Cedillo in intensive care. She says the toddler was brought into the emergency room on September 7, 2011 with extensive bruising. The little girl was clinging to life.

    "The child was brought in by a private vehicle with extensive trauma. It looked like the child had been abused and wasn't sure the child was going to make it. She had bruising on her belly," said Barton.

    Barton also showed pictures of the little girl's injuries during the sentencing hearing.

    Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com 

    Dallas County Sheriff's Department / AP

    Elizabeth Escalona, who is being sentenced after admitting that she beat her 2-year-old daughter and glued her hands to a wall.

    Police say Escalona was so mad that her daughter soiled her pants that, as punishment, she super glued the girl’s hands to the wall then beat her in front of her other siblings.

    Escalona’s kids told investigators their mother kicked the girl in the stomach and repeatedly hit her.

    The girl did recover after the beating in September 2011, and the state took custody of her and Escalona’s other kids.

    Escalona did plead guilty to first-degree injury to a child over the potty training punishment. The judge could sentence Escalona to from five years to life in prison.

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  • Family of 77-year-old dragged from car demand apology from Texas cop

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    By Randy McIlwain, NBCdfw.com

    The family of a 77-year-old woman dragged from her car during a traffic stop by police in Texas says a formal apology and anger-management training for the officer is needed to make things right, NBCDFW.com reported.

    Lynn Bedford's videotaped arrest has gone viral, sparking opinions across the country. The video shows Sgt. Gene Geheb pulling Bedford, of Cleburne, from her sports utility vehicle after she did not hand over her license and refused to get out of the vehicle.

    Her granddaughter, Aubrey McQue, sought the video from Keene police and made it public.

    "There was 19 seconds from when he first initially asked her for her driver's license to when he laid his hands on her -- 19 seconds," she said.

    The video shows that the officer requested Bedford's license four times before telling her that he would take her to jail if she did not give it to him.

    Read more from NBCDFW.com

    After Bedford told him, "Well, go ahead," he opened her car door, grabbed her arm and asked her to step out of the vehicle 10 times. He pulled her from the vehicle after she said, "I will not."

    McQue said the officer's use of force was excessive.

    "The video does speak for itself," she said. "Not once did she refuse to give her driver's license to him. She said, 'I'll give it to you in a minute,' and no patience was afforded to her. He controlled the entire situation, and he made it go in the direction it did. He let it escalate; he controlled that."

    The officer said he stopped Bedford after he clocked her going 66 mph in a 50-mph zone. The family is not disputing the speeding citation but is fighting the charge of failure to present a driver's license.

    McQue said her grandmother was speeding because she had a bladder infection and needed to get to a bathroom. The road her grandmother was on did not have a public bathroom in sight, she said.

    Cop drags woman, 77, from car after ID refusal

    McQue said manners and common sense on the part of the officer would have resulted in a different outcome.

    "I know from experience from senior citizens and elderly people that they don't have to move faster," she said. "They take a more leisurely pace to do things, and that's the respect afforded them because they've lived so long."

    Keene city administrator Bill Guinn, who has known the family for 30 years, said he called after hearing about the incident and offered to arrange a sit-down meeting with the police department.

    The Bedfords have declined. The family retained an attorney but said they don't plan a lawsuit at this time.

    "I feel badly for what happened, but that's the way it happened," Guinn said. "It's not the way we want anyone to feel about Keene or to see Keene. Keene is a great town, but there are these things that happen."

    Sleepless and tearful
    Bedford's family said this has never happened to her before. Since the video became public, her home phone constantly rings, and she hasn't slept. The family said Bedford is embarrassed, feeling like her life has been reduced to a video and Internet opinion polls about her as a person.

    McQue said she was speaking on Bedford's behalf because her grandmother can't talk about the incident without crying.

    "An apology would be nice, because she really is embarrassed by this -- that people think that she's a criminal. She's not a criminal," she said.

    Read more US stories from NBC News

    Keene residents said they have noticed that Bedford's arrest is getting national attention.

    "I have people call me from Chicago, one from Michigan, so I'm getting phone calls from people wanting to know what's going on in Keene," Dan Roberts said.

    He said that everyone in town has their own opinion.

    "I watched the video, and I think she was wrong," Roberts said. "She should've handed over her driver's license and ID, and it would've been all over."

    But Rachel Jessup disagreed.

    "More are siding with her because she's a 77-year-old lady," she said. "People feel bad for her."

    "He's a cop," she said. "You expect police officers to be rational and handle situations in a more mature way."

    NBC 5's Amanda Guerra contributed to this report.

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  • 'I have to pray': Dallas mom charged with murdering infant son

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    By Frank Heinz, NBCDFW.com

    A Dallas mother is facing murder charges after the death of her 1-year-old son, nbcdfw.com reported.

    Chloe Menager, 25, was arrested and charged with capital murder less than 24 hours after Dallas police officers found the body of her infant son, 1-year-old Elijahu Perez.

    The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled Perez's death as a homicide. According to the medical examiner, the boy drowned.

    Investigators say Menager drowned the child in the bathtub. She is being held on $1 million bond.

    Read more from NBC Dallas Fort-Worth

    In a jailhouse interview with NBC 5 on Friday, Menager said, "I don't know," when asked if she believed she had killed her son.

    "Right now, the only thing I know is that I have to pray," she said. "I have to be strong, and I cannot lose faith. I cannot lose faith."

    Menager said she wanted to let her husband know that she wants him to come visit her in jail.

    "I just want to talk about everything -- what’s going to happen," she said. "I don’t know what’s going to happen to me here, and I just need to talk to him."

    Husband 'wasn't angry at me'
    Menager said she did not think that her husband did not want to see her because of the death of their child. She said she talked to him on Thursday.

    "He wasn't angry at me," she said. "He wasn't screaming at me on the phone. ... I'm just trying to say that I know that he wanted to come and visit me. Maybe today he was busy. I just wanted to tell him; that's all."

    On Thursday, Dallas police learned of the child's death during a routine traffic stop. During the traffic stop, the child's father told police he was rushing to an apartment after learning of his son's death.

    Officers followed the man to an apartment in the 4300 block of Wyoming Street, where they found the man's deceased son.

    Dallas police have not released further details on the case and said the investigation is ongoing.

    A Family and Protective Services spokeswoman told The Associated Press that Menager hadn't been reported for any alleged abuse.

    Menager's attorney, Catherine Bernhard, said she was not yet familiar with the case.

    NBC Dallas-Fort Worth's Amanda Guerra, Elvira Sakmari and Randy McIlwain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Dallas Sunday school teacher had taken insomnia drug before killing self

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    By Ellen Goldberg, NBCDFW.com

    DALLAS -- A successful Dallas businessman who tried to stab his sleeping wife before fatally stabbing himself last month was found to have traces of a drug used to treat insomnia in his bloodstream, police told NBCDFW.com.

    The autopsy report from the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office shows that 50-year-old John "Rod" Steele had .05 milligrams of zolpidem in his system.

    According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, zolpidem, which is sold under several different names, is used in adults for short-term treatment of insomnia.

    Read more from NBC Dallas-Fort Worth

    Possible serious side effects can include “more outgoing or aggressive behavior than normal, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, worsening of depression, and suicidal thoughts or actions.”

    In the aftermath of Steele’s July 11 death, friends and neighbors told NBC 5 he was taking prescription pills because he had trouble sleeping.

    He had no prior history of violence. He taught Sunday school and Bible study at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

    The husband and father of two also sat on the boards of two Dallas area banks.

    Steele's family had a note on the door of their Highland Park home asking for privacy.

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