We sat down with the man in charge of californias Highway Patrol to get some answers, we want to warn you, that some of the pictures in this story can be hard to watch. These photos show the aftermath on a traffic stop west of the truckee, 58yearold truck driver unconscious, his hands still cuffed behind his back during a traffic stop. After he stopped breathing, he had to be flown to a Level One Trauma Center because he refused to sign an invalid traffic ticket. Even two years after the near fatal incident, the berkeley resident could not talk about it. The public records clearly speak to what happened. After four years of litigation, the state recently settled out of court, costing taxpayers more than 2. 1 million. 1. 7 million of that going to his family. Thats not all, we reviewed state records for similar lawsuits alleging mistreatment at the hands of Highway Patrol officers. In the last ten years, 45 cases costing taxpayers more than 25 million. Some included no by the state of california. [ bleep ]. 1. 5 million went to this woman seen on cell phone video being beaten next to a los angeles freeway. Get off your phone now. 250,000 to this woman who was two months pregnant when officers hog tied her on the side of the road. It indicates were wasting taxpayers money. She represents the east bay. Think of what it says about the impacts on the truck driver. Never be the same. Our investigation found it still remains with chp, as do to salary for 2015, at least 33 of the 53 Highway Patrol officers named in the lawsuit settlements we found. One of the most important jobs in america perhaps the world is that of a Law Enforcement professional. Chp commissioner Joseph Farrell acknowledges a rift between many Law Enforcement and the community and says its a gap they are looking to close. The more information i provide, the better off we are at the ends of the day. Commissioner pharaoh says a dramatic decline in complaints demonstrates progress. The state has paid out more than 25 million. Is that too much . The average person that is a lot of money. Its a lot of taxpayer money we contact millions of people. If you multiply that over the ten years, do you learn from these mistakes . I think in all of those cases, you may assume that nothing was done, no training or Lessons Learned and i dont think thats true at all. How do you convince the public when they dont know and they are not told . There is a lot of training that is being conducted but i think thats important for people to understand, because one doesnt always see the end result, you cant assume that nothing is done we have to take commissioners word for it because the way the law currently reads in california, all disciplined retraining and firings remain secret, blacked out from public scrutiny. We need accountability of all levels of Law Enforcement. Find out whether they were investigated internally. We need to make sure the public can take what action they took to correct that behavior and punish that officer. Thats exactly why state senator mark leno wants these records made public. 25 million were not spending on education or health care. Senator leno is sponsoring a bill to res lease officers to the public. More information is better, transparency is a positive thing. And results in greater safety, Greater Trust and better communities. Now although senator lenos attempt to change the law failed this time in committee, he does believe the time is right to pass reforms and he will keep pushing that. His son told me his father still struggles to cope. He believe criminal charges should have been filed against that officer and that officer should no longer be working the streets. As for the officer involved in that case, hes declined all of our offers to comment about this case. Coming up Mental Health coverage denied. The laws are they are not strong enough. The actions lawmakers are taking to protect patients and families from sky high medical bills when Insurance Companies deny their claims. Give you the knowledge to adjust for the best sleep ever. Its the final days of the lowest prices of the season sale, with our bestbuy rated c2 Queen Mattress now only 699. 99. Only at a sleep number store. Welcome back. Im liz wagner investigating what happens when Insurance Companies deny coverage for potentially life saving Mental Health treatment. State and federal laws promise equal coverage of medical and Mental Health conditions. But we found people with Mental Illnesses are facing roadblocks to treatment, even when doctors say critical is needed and that leaves families fighting for answers. These are the hands of a teenage girl struggling with anorexia. When words cant explain why food wont go down, her hands do the talking with paint and paper. The teen isnt ready to speak out but her mom, Roberta Freedman is. You spent nine months battling battling this eating disorder, battling the insurance company, just battling it feels like. Freedman and her spouse have faced a series of coverage denials by blue shield of california but they say their daughter needs intensive treatment for an eating disorder they first noticed in 2014. She was getting a little skinnier when skinny became scary last spring, the family turned to the healthy teen project in lossal toss, its a parttime hospital treatment program. It wasnt working. She needed to go somewhere to be somewhere 24 hours a day, seven days a week to start that recovery process. Her doctors recommended fulltime residential treatment. But in august of 2015, blue shield denied coverage. Based on the companys own guidelines, a blue shield psychiatrist deemed that level of treatment not medically necessary. My response was who the heck is this person. This person has never seen our daughter. Desperate to keep her in residential treatment, the family played 72,000 blue shield wouldnt pay. They are looking for ways to keep costs down and they have managed toe be effective in doing that. Randall hager advocated for californias Mental Health parity act. State law like the 2008 federal law requires equal coverage of physical and Mental Health conditions. The laws have stopped numerical limits on treatment like high copays. Another set of issues has risen that takes place of that. He says thats the use of aggressive medical necessity evaluations. The Investigative Unit analyzed date at a from the department of managed health care, thats the state regulator that oversees health plans like blue shield. 2100 consumers ask the state for an independent medical review of decisions based on medical necessity. We found states reviewers overturned half of the denials and 50 of eating disorder cases alone. It tells me the review process is working. The process serves as a check on health plans. Its not right for the plans to deny them medically necessary care. Whats it going to take for health plans to do the right thing . Its going to tail a lot of oversight. Were being very proactive. Oversees health plans, david jones super vices health insurers. They are weak, not strong enough. Jim bell introduced a number of failed bills to beef up californias parity law. Its unclear how many people are being denied coverage and argues the complaint based enforcement system doesnt work for everyone. A lot of people with depression and other illnesses, they dont bother to complain and thats wrong. Shes graduating from healthy teen today. On their way to the healthy teen project last month after 62 days in residential treatment, doctors recommended the parttime hospital setting but blue shield failed to cover that treatment too, deciding last november it was not medically necessary. Blue shield declined an interview request but wrote in an email, our review and appeals process is extensive and includes an in depth assessment from our medical directors as well as a third party physician. Industry group report suggesting that coverage decisions drive Mental Health chal enchs does a disservice to the efforts to improve the system. Were really proud of her. The two moms credit their daughters improvement to quality consistent treatment but they are taking each day one step at a time just like her paintings, they know their daughters recovery is a work in progress. And now the family did request an independent medical review of their daughters residential treatment. At first reviewers found half of the care was medically necessary, after we started asking questions, the state took a second look and decided blue shield should could the other half too. They reimbursed for residential treatment but blue shield is still denying coverage of the parttime hospital care. Coming up, a San Francisco restaurant shut down time and time again for Serious Health violations. Why are many of the closures kept secret from customers . Were trying to break that cycle with them. You may be trying, but it doesnt seem to be working. Again, we have to go through the process. Welcome back. Today we expose some dirty secrets about San Francisco restaurants. When you go out to eat you probably expect a certain level of cleanliness. We discovered a loophole that requires them to wipe away keeping them hidden from customers. Dining oit in San Francisco is more than just gluten free menus and hard to get reservations. Its also a hobby, a weekly one for foodie tommy ma but there was restaurant that leaves him with a bad taste in his mouth. If this kind of thing could happen to me, it could happen to anybody. He stopped by the all season restaurant in the Diamond Heights neighborhood. It wasnt long before he lost his appetite. He says it all started with a pot of tea. Drank a a couple of cups and see this thing moving in there, a little small cockroach. His story echos what city inspectors have found time and time again. Records reveal repeated high risk violations and unsanitary conditions, including at least four cockroach infestations. Inspectors found cockroaches on what was supposed to be clean utensils and plates, violation records we obtained show the city ordered the restaurant at this location to shut down at least seven times in just three years. Why would the city allow it to keep reopening . Because it is their due process. We have a process they have to go through. Stephanie curbing had the department of environMental Health which oversees inspections for roughly 7400 permitted restaurants and indica caterers in San Francisco. If the restaurant is due to close, it requires employees to undergo training and make visible improvements in order to open. Were trying to break that cycle with them. You may be trying but it doesnt seem to be working. You have to go through the process and build the case. This place may be close again. I dont know. But our investigation led us to an even bigger discovery, a little known loophole that allows restaurants across San Francisco to wipe clean some of their dirtiest secrets. On the citys website, consumers can look up a restaurants inspection history. We discovered those violation records can essentially be removed so you cant see them online. Take all season restaurant. Thats long been the name on the sign. The restaurant changed its name on city documents to harbor villa and over the years ownership also changed on city paperwork. By law the city says that change in ownership requires that a restaurants old inspection records be removed from the citys website. In 2014 the restaurant listed brandnew owners but those owners still worked for the same corporation. And last year there was new ownership again. This time the Corporation Name did change from sc chu to scliang incorporated but the two stayed exactly the same. If the city knew its the same people running that restaurant, why would it then allow it to be able to wipe away their history of violation . If i owned a restaurant again and you bought it, should my poor history follow you . But these arent different owners, its the same people. But the incorporation is different. So the citys website says the restaurant was only forced to close twice instead of seven times. But to find those violations youll have to search for harbor villa, even though the restaurants own sign says all season, that name doesnt even exist any more on citys database. The current owners did not want to comment on our story. Do you have any idea how many other restaurants may be taking advantage of this loophole . Many restaurants do. We showed our findings to San Francisco supervisor jane kim who chairs the committee on public safety. Since nbc alerted us to this loophole our office will work with the department of Public Health to create more specific rules. But for now it remains a loophole, one that tommy ma believes is pretty hard to swallow. If one restaurant can do that, who knows how much more restaurants can be like that. According to the city you can get the last five years worth of violation records for any restaurant, regardless ever ownership changes by submitting a public records request to city government. That of course could take days. An easier process would be to check the website, but again if the restaurant changed owners that Online Record gets erased. Coming up, cab byes fighting for their fares. We want seven days a week. The nbc bay area Investigative Unit goes undercover to show you what happens outside some local hotels and how police react to what we show them. Environmental stewardship at Whole Foods Market is really built into the foundation of the company. Whole foods market is engaged with pg e on many levels, to really reduce energy and reduce our environmental footprint. For a customer like whole foods, saving energy means helping our environment, and we can be a part of that. Helping Customers Save Energy is a very important part of what pg e does. We can pass those savings on to the environment, the business, and the community. Pg e really is an expert in saving energy, and that partnership is extremely exciting. Together, were building a better california. Ride sharing Services Like uber and lyft have made it tough for taxi drivers and they are getting squeezed somewhere else and it could be costing you. Drivers turn to nbc bay area for help saying they are being forgsed to pay hefty kickbacks to hotel staff. Vickie went undercover to see what some taxi drivers are calling extortion. What might look like a quick handshake is an exchange of cash. Yep, got the money. We toork our cameras undercover ats hotels in burlingame after they asked the Investigative Unit for help. Is this a big problem for all of you . Yes. If you dont pay, they dont call you. Worried theyll lose business for speaking up. From day one, i thought it was extortion. The drivers say over the past two years, Hotel Doorman and valets demanded for cash in exchange for service calls. Who do i need to talk to . Instead of 5 or 10 a ride hotel staff wants a much bigger piece of the pie. If we get 100, we have to leave the hotel 50. You have to give up half of your salary to the hotel . Thats normal what were doeg right now. Unlike in San Francisco where cab lines are more established and respected, hotel staff here have more control who to call and when and asked us to go undercover to document their routine. Im going to go in the back. One by one at the Embassy Suites drivers made Cash Payments to hotel workers. One employee appeared to receive three payments within ten minutes. And when we went out on other days, we saw similar exchanges like this driver we captured at the marriott dash. When our producer approached for the money shot, the valley put the cash in his pocket. We work seven days a week and we cannot support our families. Our cam are kaz caught them cutting taxi line, sometimes wait hours in line only to have the Hotel Staff Call other drivers with bigger kickbacks. They are very greedy. They dont pay taxes on that. The only people who can fix this problem the hotels and the police. Thats also taxi driver. We took our video to the police chief who says burlingame has an ordinance banning hotels from soliciting any fees or compensation for preference on priority to any taxi. What can you say to reassure taxi drivers that their concerns wont fall in a black hole . I think im very, very anxious to take action on it. The chief says its a misdemeanor citation for anyone caught accepting kickbacks in exchange for taxi rides. If the hotels dont enforce the rules. I cant go on record saying that i will pretty much guarantee a compliance checks in the future. We reached out to all hotels and the hilton which owns double tree and Embassy Suites has a policy that prohibited employees to soliciting gratuities and requires all to comply with local laws, it is now investigating this matter. The marriott told us the hotel has strict guidelines and adheres to local standards for booking transportation. The marriott takes these accusations very seriously and if needed will take the appropriate measures to address the situation. I want to make it right for the taxi drivers and i want to change the behavior of the hotels. That was vickie nu win reporting. The drivers say customers can help too. If you need a taxi, go straight to the cab line, it cuts out the middle man. If you have a story for us, call our tip line, 888996tips, or sends an email to the unit at nbcbayarea. Com. The nbc Bay Area Investigative Team is committed to exposing wrong doing and Holding People accountable and its those emails and calls that help make that possible. We thank you for watching and youre invited to join us regularly right here on nbc bay area. Have a good night. Tay event is over. Beyonce calls out becky with the good hair. A kardashian engagement and too many legends lost. Its been a wild 2016, and were only halfway through it. Welcome to access hollywood, the weekend edition. Our special access mid year roundup. Im liz hernandez. Joining me is dave kindergartner and nina parker. Lets get right to it with what has been dominating the news since the gintsing of the year. The election and donald trump. And of course megyn kelly interviewing him for her show. What do we think about this . I think shes brave, you know, especially when youre trying to utilize your career to bring out genuine stories and then you have someone attacking you personally and thinking that its personal because theyre asking you hard questions. Hes, you know, vying for president of the united states. Youre going to get hard questions. Its not going to all be nice and fluffy. So she was doing her job and he attacked her personally. So for her to do this interview really talks and speaks to her professionalism in my opinion. I think she did a great job in the interview. It was a perfect tone. Im a huge fan of hers after that special. To me shes like a hare apparent to diane sawyer. What do you say to people who say it w
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