confront the alleged leaderf the group: a law bikers with tearing through busy bay area streets. we confront the leader of the group. a law enforcement officer. >> mysterious lights streaking across the sky over some part of california tonight. >> paul, what was that? >> we have many different theories on social media and even scientists can agree on what's going on here. lots of people spotting it and posting on social media. people describing a bright light moving across the sky. started after 6:00 mainly southern california and vegas area. something streaking northeast to southeast for several minutes. took a long time for it to leave. u.s. military says it was russian space debris but several astronomers say no, the ursid meetet -- meteor shower. >> it was probably a piece of what used to be the comet. >> it's all over facebook. you always wonder what's really going on. >> now we have a debate over the mystery. griffith observatory says it was a sporadic meteor, not related to the meteor shower. military says it is russian space debris. i say it's el nino. >> i'm going with old spaceship. >> it looked like it was moving way too slow for it to be a meteor, just my opinion. i'll throw a fourth opinion in there. >> ufos. >> it is a mystery for now. only on 5 tonight, dirt bike riders have been tearing through the streets of san francisco for months, putting people's lives in danger. cop have had a really tough time catching them because the chase is often simply too dangerous. they got all the information they need, information that might surprise you. >> reporter: you hear them before you see them, a roar of engines in the night. it's a group of motorcycle riders. we learned they're known as bay area supermoto or basm. videos show them riding in a pack down busy streets, running stop signs, doing wheelies, riding up and downstairs, mostly in san francisco. he used to ride with basm but doesn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation. >> it's almost a sport. it is a sport to them how dangerous maneuvers you can pull. >> reporter: but what really bothers him, he says the leader of the group is a law enforcement officer. >> he would make comments like he's not too worried about the police because he is one. >> reporter: he gave us a name, zach douglas. we found a photo of him posing by marin county sheriffs squad car. we also spotted a familiar looking motorcycle. could that be the deputy doing a wheelie on the golden gate bridge or speeding down the embarcadero among a pack of riders, even tapping his head to give a signal that police are ahead. >> the department confirms z is a deputy here. as a result of the information we gave them, they're now conducting an internal investigation. they say they can't talk about it to protect the privacy rights of the officer involved. >> reporter: but san francisco police had plenty to say. >> it puts everyone in danger. >> reporter: officer carlos manfredi says the motorcycle group has been on sfpd's radar for months. >> they're riding without any public regard for safety. they're running through stop signs, traffic lights. they're going up on the sidewalks. it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. >> reporter: he was shocked to learn that the apparent leader of the group is a fellow law enforcement officer. >> we took an oath to serve and protect. that doesn't stop when our shift ends. >> reporter: so what does zach have to say? we were able to catch up with him as he came back from a day-long basm ride. >> we've seen you guys ride around san francisco doing some crazy stunts and things like that. is there any truth to that? >> no. that's not what i do. i ride with the group. but i'm not doing anything like that. >> you guys also do friday night rides, right? >> no. i don't. >> we've heard basm, you being the leader of it -- >> i'm not the leader. i'm definitely not the leader. >> you're not? >> reporter: but here he is hours before giving instructions to newbies in the group. >> everyone is new. welcome. it's a lot of fun when you're the one leading the ride, me and him. it's like [ bleep ] hireding cats. >> we also know you're with law enforcement. >> that's not true. >> it just seems like a conflict of interest to know you're a law enforcement official. >> i'm not doing any stunts. i'm sorry. i'm not talking to you. >> there's video of you doing such things. that's why we just wanted to ask you a few questions because as a law enforcement officer by day, it seems like a conflict of interest to be doing this kind of stuff when you're outside the job. >> please do not talk to me. please. >> reporter: we never got much further. after that zach jumped on his bike and took off. in sonoma county, betty yu, kpix 5. >> after we contacted the marin county sheriff's department bay area supermoto changed its facebook page and instagram account to private. zach's facebook page has been taken down. we have breaking news in the east bay tonight. a sinkhole on a busy stretch of interstate 880. it's in the southbound lanes near oak street. christin ayers is standing by. >> tonight those three lanes remain closed tonight. cal trans is trying to fix the mess. i spoke to a chp officer who told me the sinkhole expanded to 8 feet by 12 feet and is about 6 inches deep at this time. i also asked him how soon crews would be able to actually fix it. we're taking a closer look at what that looks like. he said the crews are hoping to get it patched up by 4 a.m. in the meantime this area remains closed. the officer told me a number of cars hit the sinkhole. by the time they got this call earlier in the evening. >> as the evening went on and commute traffic picked up, the sing hole became larger, approximately 8 feet by 12 feet, 6 inches deep. we were called out here. we assessed it and shut down the one, two, and three lanes of 880 southbound. >> traffic is moving pretty quickly through this area at this time and again cal trans saying they're going to patch that sinkhole up with asphalt. they're pretty certain this was brought on by some of the heavy rains we've seen over the past few days and hoping to get this up and running and these lanes open by the beginning of the morning commute. reporting live in oakland, christin ayers. the wreckage of a small plane remains in the steep and wooded hills of the east bay. it took searchers hours to find the crash site in the rugged terrain. the piper 32 went down around noon in castro valley. first responders say there was an emergency radio call. >> the pilot did report back to air traffic control that he was having engine trouble and that's the last information that was given to air traffic control. >> searchers say visibility may have also been an issue with the low clouds and rain. late today we learned the pilot of the plane was john sacco of rocklin. his flight plan was from lincoln and placer to oakland. a trailblazing woman in the u.s. military has died in a suicide bombing attack in afghanistan. she was one of the six americans killed in the attack. she was one of the first openly gay service members. >> tonight they're grievering -- grieving after a suicide bomber took the officer's life. >> reporter: the deadliest attack on u.s. forces this year killed six air force members near bagram base. among the dead, adrianna vorderbruggen. 24 hours after the attack, the taliban is taking responsibility, claiming this is the suicide bomber that rammed his explosive filled motorcycle in to the american foot patrol, killing six, including vorderbruggen. the victim had a bay area connection. her in-laws live in this quiet san rafael neighborhood but they didn't want to talk on camera. this is vorderbruggen with her wife and their young son. the couple married in 2012 after the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. major vorderbruggen championed hard for equality in the military. a group supporting lgbt military families wrote today, vorderbruggen leaves an indelible legacy of strength and selflessness to all those touched by her life. today the military launch a champion for the lgbt cause exactly five years to the day since don't ask don't tell was repealed. mark kelly, kpix 5. a fremont man accused of aiding a terror group overseas will remain in jail. prosecutors said adam shafi's vow to shed blood and possibly die for an al qaeda linked group made him a flight risk. the judge agreed. he was arrested over the summer trying to board a flight from sfo to turkey. he said he was going there to help syrian refugees. >> he did not meet with anybody. he did not do anything wrong. all he did was just said something maybe not proper about the way things are going here. maybe he doesn't like the way muslimerize treated. ed -- muslims are treated. >> he sent a text message to family that he had gone to protect muslims. his father said he was afraid his son had been recruited. a scathing report about a company that owns a tour bus that crashed in union square. turns out the problems are worse than we thought. >> the insults are flying. tonight donald trump gets vulgar when he attacks hillary clinton. >> hundreds of bay area homeowners are going to get a surprise check in the mail. we're talking $30,000. tonight we'll tell you why. ,,,,,,,, coming under increased scru tonight. the tour bus company involved in a horrific crash in san francisco coming under increased scrutiny. it injured 20 people. andria borba now on the scathing report. the inspection yielded 61 violations, 29 of those equipment problems, including nonfunctioning emergency exits, seats that weren't bolted down, a leaky fuel tank and broken wheel fasteners. it wasn't just the buses. the company was also dinged for running the drivers more than 12 hours a day and not drug testing them. >> reporter: after this runaway bus careened through san francisco, slamming in to a union square construction site, the california highway patrol inspected the entire fleet of city sightseeing buses. chp motor carrier specialist kevin dee was the man in charge. >> brake lights not functioning. emergency exits not functioning. we had one steering issue. >> reporter: of the six buses he inspected, he pulled four out of service. the inspection report earned city sightseeing an unsatisfactory rating in several areas including 45-day inspections. >> none of those documents indicated any kind of issues or violations they would need to correct. in other words they were all clean slates. >> reporter: but -- >> my inspections did indicate the same things. >> reporter: a backup system that wasn't working on one bus. it was flagged but that was it. >> not much we can do with it other than have them fix it. >> reporter: some drivers didn't have proper licenses and couldn't be tracked if they had a major offense like a dui. >> the driver records we found to be an issue weren't really the drivers themselves, it was a company issue. >> reporter: robert cartwright is the attorney for the bus driver involved in the union square crash. he says the chp's findings don't surprise him. >> just shows in general the way the company operates and they operate in a way that cuts corners when it comes to safety. >> the ceo of the company released this statement late today around 5:00. it reads in park the chp review identified certain issues that they've directed us to resolve. we've resolved all matters right away with most issues being fixed on the day of inspection. they have 120 days to fix all the problems or they could get their license revoked by the chp. andria borba, kpix 5. tonight two people are in custody after a shooting outside of a san leandro nightclub that wounded four people. the shooting happened just before 2:00 yesterday morning outside club caliente. police say the two people responsible for the shooting were arrested today. one of them they suspect was preparing to leave the state to try to get away. >> everybody, we're patrons of the bar that night. what we're trying to narrow down is what exactly happened inside? what happened outside to precipitate this fight? we think there were words exchanged. we don't know how much alcohol was involved, if any, but there was some sort of altercation in the parking lot that led to the shooting. >> and the four people hit by gunfire are all expected to survive. lawyers for the family of an oakland girl declared brain dead are headed back to court. tomorrow the family of jahi mcmath will announce the filing of a new federal lawsuit. they'll ask the courts again to declare jahi alive. she was declared brain dead two years ago following tonsil surgery. this latest legal move comes days after the girl's father filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the doctor who performed the operation. campaign 2016 and the attacks are getting a little more vicious, even a little vulgar today. tonight cbs reporter major garrett on the comments that some say went too far. >> reporter: donald trump's final rally before christmas was full of insults for hillary clinton. >> she's terrible. donald trump is on video and isis is using him on the video to recruit. and it turned out to be a lie. she's a liar. i'm watching the debate and she disappeared. where did she go? i know with -- i know where she went. disgusting. i don't want to talk about it. >> reporter: pretty standard for trump, abrasive, accusatory, slightly bizarre. but nothing compared to this. >> hillary, that's not a president. even a race to obama, she was going to beat obama, she was favored to win and she got [ bleep ]. she lost. >> reporter: that vulgarism prompted hillary's spokeswoman to tweet, everyone who understands the humiliation this degrading language inflicts are woman should. >> you're looking at someone who's had a lot of terrible things at me. >> reporter: clinton cast trump's insult as a form of bullying. >> it's important to stand up to bullies wherever they are and why we shouldn't let anybody bully his way in to the presidency. >> a new quinnipiac national poll found clinton ahead of poll and effectively tied with marco rubio and ted cruz. that survey also found 50% of voters said they would be embarrassed to have trump as president. major garrett, cbs news washington. someome -- some homeowners in santa clara county are about to receive a windfall. the assessor's office said homes were improperly assessed and some have been over paying for 10 years. checks are going out in the next week. some could top $30,000. >> merry christmas. we've got weather to talk about, not finished with the rainfall or snowfall just yet. tonight things are pretty calm and somewhat clear. concord tonight, 42. napa, 40. san francisco, 49 . radar is pretty clear. higher elevations could see a sprinkle or two but we're getting the break. break will not last long. look at the snow level in the sierra. starting christmas eve lasting through christmas morning. 2500 feet. do your traveling tomorrow. pass level we're talking up to two feet of snowfall. that begins late wednesday night. we're getting a break but really the overall theme of the weather pattern has not changed. low pressure way up in the gulf of alaska, feeding in storms. those storms are hitting this ridge of high pressure and being steered right in to northern california. for so long they were being blocked by a ridge of high pressure. now they're being steered here by an area of low pressure. what happened? let's look forward now with futurecast. tomorrow morning we're mainly clear. rain-free throughout the day. last minute christmas shopping, thumbs up from the weather. let's look at christmas eve morning. whole different ball game. 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, another round of steady soaking rainfall. as we roll through the day some of the showers may linger until 6:00, 7:00, perhaps impacting the raiders game which you can watch here on kpix 5 on thursday afternoon beginning at 4:30. rainfall totals, another round of a half inch to inch of rainfall which is great news. that will not induce widespread flooding but it will put another small dent in our rainfall deficit. snow above 2500 feet which includes some of our highest peaks around here. mount diablo, a little bit white on christmas morning. a few isolated showers. the rain does return christmas eve. highs tomorrow, 50s. we're cooler despite the sunshine. fremont, 57. mid 50s mountain view, san jose, and also concord. rain mainly in the morning christmas eve. we'll see the rain move out christmas day. chilly but sunny. look what happens for the first time all month long we're going to do a dry streak, sunny and chilly but no more rain for a while after thursday. >> nothing over 58 degrees. >> it's also not going to hit 60 for a week too. it is one of the most unusual bay area custody battles we have ever covered. tonight juanita the duck finally has a place to call home. >> and coming up tonight on the late show with stephen colbert, sylvester stallone, ted koppel and kyle busch rr. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the unusual custody battle over a duck named juanita is over tonight. juanita escaped from the bello gardens assisted living facility in september then she got placed in to a wildlife hospital in san rafael. the agency couldn't legally return juanita because of permitting issues. so congressman jared huffman stepped in to get the duck back to bello gardens and tomorrow the senior center can keep juanita as an educational wild animal. schools of endangered coho salmon. those fish are leaping in to the air as they make wear way up stream. the salmon are coming in from the ocean to spawn. environmentalists say the fish are facing extinction because of the state's drought. good to see them come back. and i'm back. we've got sports. coming up in sports, trying to close the gap on division rivals. ,,,, [ dog barks ] [ bark ] there it is! [ gasps ] oh no! look, the sky's awake! ♪ that. was. epic! [ bark ] ranked team in the country d do cal basketball went in to the season with a ton of hype. 10 points, the bears lead in the second half. the wahoos forced overtime. tor ent s knocks down the go-ahead 3. the bears need a prayer. full court pass, has a shot here. virginia led just 30 seconds of the entire game but they win 63-62. to the nfl, the 49ers linebacker navarro bowman has come a long way since injuring his knee two years ago in the nfc championship game. >> thinking about if i was going to be able to play this game again, knowing i felt my whole knee go out the right side of my leg. >> he was able to play and then some. he was named to the pro bowl team. charles woodson was selected. a big night, the sharks down a goal in the 3rd period but little joe redirects burns' shot to tie the game at 3. still on the power play, 92 seconds later. pavelski strikes again. the sharks win 5-3 with an empty netter. it's their league leading 13th win on the road. steve kerr coached the warriors practice today after luke walton went home sick. kerr will travel with the team next week but didn't give a date for his official return. he said being away from the guys is killing him. >> with their talent, their chemistry, everything we've built last year and they've built the previous couple years to not be coaching is just probably the most frustrating thing i've ever gone through. >> expect him back probably in january. >> it's good to see him up and around. he's hurting still i'm sure. >> the warriors back in action finally against the utah jazz. >> we'll be right back. the late show with stephen colbert is next.,,,,,,,,,,,, ♪ (vo) some call it giving back. we call it share the love. during our share the love event, get a new subaru, and we'll donate $250 to those in need. bringing our total donations to over sixty-five million dollars. and bringing love where it's needed most. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. our next newscast is tomorr morning the late show with stephen colbert is coming up next. >> our next newscast, tomorrow morning at 4:30. goodnight. ♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs ( band playing intro music ) >> welcome stephen colbert! >> stephen: whoo! thank you. thank you, everybody. welcome to the show. hey! that's my band. welcome to the late show, everybody! whoo! whoo! ♪ ♪ welcome to the late show, everybody! >> stephen, stephen, stephen! stephen, stephen, stephen! stephen, stephen, stephen! >> stephen: thank you very much. you're very kind! >> stephen, stephen, stephen! ( cheers and applause ) >> stephen: thank you very much, everybody. wee