Watch as this trained fighter happened to be nearby to stop this group. I wasnt trying to be malicious in any way. Its just how i reacted to the situation. Reporter on valentines day david west stop by this bradenton, florida brings to visit his girlfriend and as they spoke the suspect washed over, climbed on the counter and threatened the staff and said to give him oxycodone. He said he had a gun. He started reaching into his pants like he had a weapon thats when i did something to protect my girlfriend. Reporter so he walked over and took him down wrestling him in the aisle until he knocked him unconscious. The cook was this man and west pinned him down until the cops arrived. He was happy he protected his girlfriend but sad to see the young man badly drug addiction. When i was holding him down it hurt my heart. Reporter police dont encourage the behavior but are proud of west for helping out and offer tips if you choose to stop a dont hurt yourself and make sure no one else gets hurt. If the guy has a gun and you can see it though tried taking him down because we dont want you to be shot or reporter west feels he did the right thing. I did what i had to do to protect the person i love and i hope he gets the help he needs and i hope it helps his loved ones too. Reporter west said he didnt know whether or not the suspect had a gun but started to fight him anyway saying hed rather take a bullet instead of his girlfriend. Thankfully he was lying and did not have a gun in his pocket. At least he didnt have the gun but it looks like he will need pain medication after the beating he took. What charges does the pace . Reporter he was taken to the hospital before he went to jail. Hes charged with attempted Armed Robbery because even though he didnt have a gun he implied he had one. John rogers live in Pinellas County 911 system back up and running after a 5 1 2 hour outage. Just after 10 00 this morning all emergency calls routed to the st. Petersburg Police Department instead. Seven county dispatchers traveled to saint pete to answer the calls. The director of the 911 center blames it on Software Installation that knocked out the server. When we route to st. Petersburg Police Department it is hitting st. Petersburg Police Department as fast as it hits us. There is no delay. That the numbers. During the outofstate pete police handled 684 calls. Her license suspended seven times before and now a suspected drunk driver racing charges for crashing into a Hernando County deputies car. Janine bruno did a lot of damage to the car and said the deputy to the hospital. They performed a breathalyzer test and she blew well above the legal limit. Now involving it deputy on all merchant road. The deputy will be okay and thats good news. The video of the scene between starkey road and belcher road an hour ago. Five cars involved in the Senate Investigators ate none of the other injuries were serious. Now 8 on your side investigation, magic man misbehaving. Nude trouble for boxer and deadbeat dad Antonio Tarver. A fight he should have been disqualified from but the former World Champion the ring that night. He made a quarter of 1 million in that fight. He still owes nearly 800,000 in Child Support and thats why he shouldnt have been allowed to box in the first place. Mark douglas has been on his trail and joining us now. It seems to be the latest problem in a serious problem for him. At serious and the fight application specifically as Antonio Tarver if the owner Child Support and it says a yes answer disqualifies him for a license in that state. His and there. When he stepped into a new jersey ring with Steve Cunningham last august the new jersey state athletic board said he was juiced on performanceenhancing drugs. I wont sit still and idle and let these people destroy my life claiming i did something i did not do. He came out swinging in this youtube post after the new jersey board suspended him and find him 50,000. Its a frame job. I dont know what or who is behind this but all i know is i am clean. Im clean. Period. The application he filled out for a new jersey fight license last year asked if youll get Child Support and was supposed to disqualify him if he did. Antonio tarver on the fortune at the time, something the attorney for his girlfriend and he insists he before the fight. When you told the board attorney that Antonio Tarver noted that point close to 700,000 in Child Support what did he do . We were told to contact the promoter of the fight and contact his attorney. The new jersey fight went on as scheduled and he collected a quarter Million Dollar purse and ended up giving 12,000 to Child Support while spending the rest on himself and other debts. He wont talk about any of this with me on camera but by phone he explained why he denied owning Child Support in his new jersey application. The bottom line is you thought it only applied to Child Support in new jersey is that what you are saying . Whats the message to other spouses who are owed Child Support . The messages if you want to get it you have to chase it down. On the phone today he told me there are a lot of but hes not one of them and when i pressed for answers on his new jersey problems he got hot, chewed me out, and said never call him again. He said i will talk to you later. He admits himself there is a big problem with deadbeat dads. How big a problem are we talking . I checked in with the department of revenue it in the state system they build people almost 2 billion for Child Support last year. They collected most of it what it means 360 million in the state in the department of revenue system went on collected and thats a lot of money for food, diapers, and shelter for a lot of kids in more than half 1 million families. And 1 million for Antonio Tarver. There are a lot of people out there. A former university of tennessee Football Player accused of trying to lure an underage girl has bonded out of jail. 23yearold Mackenzie Crowder talking a line to who he undercover deputy. Investigators claiming he sent explicit pictures of himself and solicited sex multiple times. Paying big bucks to boost prevention. Coming up we will show you how much taxpayer money Hillsborough County planning to spend to combat the zika virus. The historic new deal in place and what u. S. Airlines needs to do before they can fly commercial to cuba. Temperatures reaching 75 degrees and lots of sunshine. A few high clouds at the moment and nice stretch of whether that goes through the weekend. Well have the numbers for the weekend and the forecast be on it with rain chances coming up. That and more coming up you are watching news channel 8 the station thats always on your investigators looking for a rolex the flu swapped out a real rolex with a fake one. It started with a craigslist ad with joe was trying to sell his watch. He wanted to show the rolex to his girlfriend who was outside in the car. He came back in and gave the man watch before leaving but it was not the real rolex. Would take the watch out of the box and put it back in my safe. It made a noise. The bracelet battled and i knew that was not correct. The victim didnt know about safe locations. Law enforcement agencies can provide for craigslist deals and thinks doing the deal in public might have deterred the thief if he had done so. Efforts to combat zika virus will cost Hillsborough Countys half 1 million. Approved a measure to shell out more than 475,000 to kill, prevent, and monitor mosquitoes. The latest numbers from the state revealed 22 cases of the virus in florida and three in Hillsborough County. 14 increase in budget is good money to spend to make sure we keep people here safe. The county urging residents to do their part to stop the spread of mosquitoes. Old tires collect standing water and can be the perfect the county hosting a free tire collection event this weekend. And effort in Hillsborough County to make stricter rules for registered sex offenders. Commissioners voted today to draft a new ordinance that are sex offenders whose victims were younger than 16 from living within 2500 feet of a school, library or park. Right now the world is 1000 feet. Plenty of americans already traveled to cuba but the cost to get there could be going down. Coming up exclusive coverage from cuba and why a new deal with the u. S. Could now 8 on your sides exclusive coverage from cuba. As we reported yesterday the u. S. Signed an agreement that allows daily commercial flights to cuba. U. S. Airlines have 15 days to submit applications for boots to fly. Jeff patterson is the only bay area reporter in cuba covering the story and tonight he looks at how daily flights will impact travel costs and where the place might come from. Reporter cruise ships bringing european tourists to cuba for years but now u. S. Travelers rediscovering the history, art, and culture of this island nation. Americans are fascinated with cuba. Four years its been the forbidden fruit of caribbean travel and many want to come here before things change. What brought you to cuba . Interest in the people and culture. Reporter kathleen brought her daughter her from north carolina. Its her second trip. Since you have been here before what have you noticed about change . A lot of americans. Tons of difference. Much more building going on. Reporter steve has been bringing american tourists to cuba for more than 20 years and believes the agreement signed yesterday allowing daily commercial flights make it cheaper and easier to get her for many americans. The question now is where will the flights come from . We talked about it while riding in the back of a 56 pontiac. They say they can fly from other markets in the united states. Where might that be . They will concentrate on. Some of the bigger cities like chicago, los angeles, new york, houstons those places will certainly have flights. Reporter u. S. Airlines have 15 days to submit applications to make daily flights to cuba possible. In the havana cuba Jeff Patterson news channel 8. Jeff will bring us exclusive coverage from cuba all this week. Tonight at 11 00 he takes a closer look at rebuilding efforts in the crumbling city. Dangerous weather and strike any time in tampa bay and thats why its important to a proper warning when severe storms hit. Today officials and tampa handed out weather radios to mobile home communities. Its a tool that can save lives especially during tornadoes and especially during the el nino weather pattern. When the National WeatherService Gives the warning it would automatically alert for you and wake you up in the middle of the night if a tornado is coming. It will get your attention. Youre smart phone is the best way to stay informed in a storm so download our weather app and you can get voice alerts from when a watch or morning hits your area. A little alarming to hear my voice in the middle of the night but its for a good reason that theres a Tornado Warning or threat for your area. 67 freedom plaza. Not a cloud in the sky. A few clouds in northern areas. Cooler base 66 degrees in north wind at six and plantation, Crystal River a few clouds and mostly high clouds and not significant precipitation. Weekend forecast, thousands of runners converging for that gasparilla distance classic. 75 saturday, 76 sunday. Pretty good running weather especially early in the day. Mostly clear skies this evening. Low 60s and Madeira Beach bridge this morning a very nice view. Lots of low clouds and fog tony a great shot from lakeland and a few clouds there. Clear skies are taking over. Storm team eight weathers apt three download for your iphone or android. 49 degrees at 7 am. Not expecting much in terms of fog this upcoming morning as this morning because the secondary front passed through the area. 64 seminole. 64 new port ritchey. 72 brandon. Sun city center 71. 63 christie river. Low 70s in winterhaven and Lakeland Polk county. High pressure continues on the map to the north. Flow around the hide more northeasterly now that the weak front passed through. These are the few clouds and these streaming in from the north is what you saw in the camera image out of Crystal River. Forecast this evening looks good. Mostly clear skies most seasonal weather and what we expect in february. Heading into late february and moving into march generally sunny conditions and winds breezy tomorrow afternoon. Mild temperatures and more clouds on the east coast because of the stronger winds. Writing morning typical january temperatures and light jacket weather. High pressure sits off to the east for friday in the evening and same before the weekend. Saturday great start to the day. Both saturday and sunday very nice with mid 70s for highs and rain chances gone. 74 friday, 75 saturday, overnight lows climb a little bit and beyond temperatures come back with 76 sunday. Rain chances we enter the picture as we get into monday, tuesday, and wednesday. The rain chance and possible Storm Chances move through the and highs about 60s on thursday so beyond the sevenday forecast we still have criminal weather but lets bask in that because this is a fantastic forecast. If you were out today you felt the difference. I wondered if this was our last chloroplast but doesnt look like it. Just the other night we were talking about weather alerts and thats handy to have. Your voice is on bear and you were giving out that alert two nights ago. You look me up at 3 00 in the morning. It is very effective and its a free download. phone ringing you cant deal with something, by ignoring it. But thats how some president ial candidates seem to be dealing with social security. Americans work hard, and pay into it. So our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. elephant noise donkey noise hey candidates, today because if the nhl playoffs began today the lightning would not be one of the teams competing for the stanley cup. For losses and five games and with 26 to play it can be fixed. Light practice this morning and only seven players on the ice including Vladimir Namestnikov dealing with an upper body industry. The lightning slump has cost the team in the Division Three parts those three points behind detroit and 4 behind boston. Last night Ryan Callahan said the team has to look at the big picture. Ben bishop did that today and is grateful they are still in the hunt. At this point obviously weve lost four of the last five so nothing to be happy about right now. With as poorly as we have been playing were still right in it so if you want to look at the glass halffull instead of half empty. We have proven that. We were top five in the league in goals against in this last year, a few games has been pretty terrible actually. More than 20 rays pictures, catchers, and feel players in Port Charlotte preparing for spring training. Many camps in the bay area open today and winds pitchers and catchers checkin sunday. Could be a new name in the bullpen. Close to signing a hometown guide, ryan webb who graduated from clearwater central catholic. The track at daytona popping as we speak and brown 2 of sprint cup practice under way. The good news this was round one and no one wrecked the car. The bad news is i informed keith cate a minute ago ryan newman and Michael Waltrip crashed three minutes ago and the qualifying races. And the rowdy suncoast invitational continues in st. Petersburg and this is the one chance you big soccer fans have two catch Major League Soccers new york city fc and their three big names in the sport. The rowdys play saturday against philadelphia union. One night and gorgeous night to be out. Ryan newman sees the oil slick and Michael Waltrip did not. Its fun to watch. You dont want to crash your car on wednesday of speed week. Finally tonight we know tampa bay has the best beaches in the country. The travel website trip advisor agrees and name Clearwater Beach the best beach in the united states. It earned the number one spot based on travelers reviews. Tampa bay had a good showing on beach and siesta key came in third and state the beach was fourth. Besides florida the other beaches on the list were in hawaii and california. A little closer and a little nicer. Most of the quotes on my Facebook Page that i really like that. We will see you again. Breaking news tonight. A stunning new poll. A shakeup in the race for president as ted cruz moves ahead of donald trump. Plus, cruz dares trump to sue him in a big fight boils over. Apple versus the fbi. The tech giant ordered to help the feds break into the San Bernardino killers iphone still locked months after the attack. Why apple says your privacy is at stake. Testosterone boost for minat a certain age