And floating to safety. Oh, my god. Whose car is he going to hit . Whose car is he going to hit . Thats not a person attached to that parachute, its an entire plane carrying the former ceo of walmart and two others. The t thnology t tt helped save their livesestoday, wednesday, november 4th, 2015. Announcer from nbc news this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. That is some amazing footage. Some video youve got to play again and again to really believe what youre seeing there. Heard about this technology and now we see itn action saving lives. Uch more on that story in just a little while, but on a wednesday morning we start with this story, and its a bizarre twist in the death of a Popular Police officer in illinois who was found shot to death back in septembebe after he radioed that he was chasing three unidentified suspects. Well, now it appears that officer actually took his own life. Nbcs john yang is in chicago. John, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. Bizarre indeed. This mororng a shocking ending to a story that shook this area near the wisconsin border. A Law Enforcement official familiar with the findings tells nbcs chicago station wmaq that investigators are expececd to close this case this morning in a most surprising way. This morning investigators are expecting to announce that lieutenant charles jay glenwicz took his own life, a conclusion as stunning as t t discovery of his body two months ago. That led to a massive manhunt as hundreds of state, local and federal investigators scoured this area for the men they said had gunned down the 30year polilieterinarian knowned a gi joe. Subjects are to be considered armed and dangerous. Reporter morning of married father of four, was on routine patrol when he radioed that he was chasing three suspicious men on foot. 17 minutes later backup officers found him dead, shot with his own gun, officials said, above his bulletproof vest. Glenwicz was beloved figure, a mentor for young people this. Small tightknit community was in mourning and on edge, virtually locked down. We love you, joe. Reporter hundreds turned out for a memorial honorinin him. Joe was my best friend, my world, my hero. The love of my life. Reporter investigators reported getting 400 tips and took dna samples from about 100 dividuals, but no suspects were ever identified or apprehended. In an interview with crime watch daily gliniewiczs widow responded angrily after the coroner said he would not rule out suicide, but last months investigators seemed to acknowledge the possibility. I wholeheartedly believe he was murdered. Reporter and to say otherwise . Is disrespectful, hurtful, irresponsible. Reporter but lastt month investigators seemed to acknowledge the possibility. The weapon could have been fired by lieutenant gliniewicz or he could have been in close proximity of the weapon being firere repepter can you rule out a suicide . Nothing is off the table. Reporter what investigators present with what they call their conclusive findings here later this morning we might hear what they believe led gliniewicz to take his own life. Matt, savannah. Thank you very ch. Politics and a controversial tweet from donald trump has the republican president ial candidate facing criticism as new poll numbers revealingow volatile this race has begun. To that in a moment but first katy tur is here with more on mr. Droump trump. Good morning to you. Reporter truru revealed his newwook n n naming his rivals by name highlighting solutions. That night he was back on the attack and this time firing at jeb bush. The latest in whats become a series of attacks against his rival ndidates, donald trtrp retweeting a post overnight slamming jeb bush. It features a photo montage of the former florida governor. One picture shows an image of bush next to a swastika and another shows him wearing a some breyera. The captionon reads adios jeb, aka jose. The online reaction was swift. One user responded vile attacks on your own party is how you prove youre conservative and president ial and another tweeted tweeting out s sstikas and racialal stereotypyp to attack jeb bush, very grown up. I do my own tweets, 90 . Reporter its not the first time trump not known for mincing words has found himself in hot water for his inflammatory tweeee. Last month he reposted a tweet mocking iowans that indicated ben carson was leading in the state. He later blamed an intern. The person thought it was a cute. I didnt think it was cute and i took it off. It wasnt a big deal. I this that reallyarco is overrated. Reporter and yesterday while promoting his latest book, trump went on the attack again, this time targeting florida senator marco rubio whose poll numbers have been steadily on the rise. All you have to do is look at his creret card. Mean, hes a disaster with his credit cards. He has a very bad record of finances if you look at what happened with his houses, with his, you know, he certainly lives above his means, theres no question about that. Repepter even with that rubio swipe, trump has been focusing more on calling out his rivals on substance lately rather than the personal attacks, a sign hes maturing as a candidate. Still, this morning he just deleted the swastika tweet,t, the campaign telling me that he did not see this image but that he did retweet it like hundreds of others. They just told that to me right now. He retweeted and hadnt looked closely tat. Reporter had not seen the image of the image that he retweeted. By the way, trump took a new swipes at the new frontrunner on republican side as well, but dr. Ben carson appears to be taking it all in stride. Nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander has a closer look at carsons surge. Peter, g gd morning to you. Repepter hey, mama, good morning to you. This really has been a stunning rise. Ben carson, still technically off t campaign trail right now, but try telling that to the thousands of supporters who stand in line to see him at book signings across the state of florida. Donald trump may be flasas, but carson has proven to be a fe phenomenon. Ben carson in florida greeting big crowds, the outsider now on an inside track to the nomination. I think its a marathon and down so im not going to spend a lot of time worrying about it. Eporter our polls now have carson vaulting overonald trump who insists it wont last. When a man is weak on immigration and wants to get rid of medicare, i dont know how he stays there. Reporter a a now a new poll out this morning taken after the last Republican Debate shows carson beating Hillary Clinton by ten points in a general election matchup. Carsons strongest support comes from evangelicals and women. Hes just that kind of a person that makes you just want to smile when you listen to him because he is so inspiring. Reporter with no background in politics the retired neurosurgeon an best selling author even worked as an expert court witness, reportedly earning 750 an hour for reviviing medical records. Hes appealing to independents, a doubledigit advantage over clinton. First known for memorably taking on president obama in 2013. Our deficit is a big problem. Reporter crirics say carson may be haunted by cments made on the campaign trail. He did apologize for suggesting that prison made people gay. Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight and when they come out thth are gay, so did something happen while they w we in there . Reporter but he says Political Correctness is ruining our country sand standing by controversial comments on islam. I would not advocate that we put muslim in charge of this nation, i absolutely would n n agree with that. Reporter and on nazi germany. I think the likelihood of hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed. Reporter carson speaking softly but on the campaign trail making plenty of ise. We all agree t tt these polls can vary, but even donald trump concedes they generally do show a trend and our most recent poll shows the hypothetical Clinton Carson matchup while clinton beats every other major republican in the race. Matt and savannah. Thank you very much. Other political news, we have results from around the country on several closely the ballot n. Ohio, voters rejected a measure that would have legalize the recreational and medicical mayor wan ashe. Some blame the fact that it would have given the power to grow pot to a small group of investors, including music star nick lachey and nba hall of famer oscar robertson, lachey letsso to houston where an ordinancncdesigned to protect t the right of gay and transgendered people failed to pass. Opponents focused on one aspect of the measure that allowed thth use of public rest rooms by transgender men and women. Houstons mayor who is gay called that a campaign of fearmongering but the measure failed. And San Francisco voters rejected a proposal prompt the by the citys housing crisis to place some restrictiononon rbnb and other home e aring services limiting the number of day people could rent on the platforms to 75 per year. Airbnb spent 8 million on ads in a Successful Campaign to defeat that measure. And now to the investigation into t t deadly crash of a russian passenger plane and a new claim now that it is isis that brought down the jet. Nbc chief global correspondent bill neely is in cairo again for us. Bill, good morning. Repororr good morning, savannah. Day five, and we still dont know what caused this, but one by one they are eliminating possibilities. The desert search area has been expanded but the range of possible causes is now narrowing. They a a getting closer. Investigators now focusing on a few small sections of the plane. No traces of a bomb, no evidence of explosives found so far, according to reporor on russian media, b b the heat flash detected from the plane by a u. S. Satellite proves there was an explosion that split the plane in midair, the evidence now pointing towards some catastrophic event that made a fuel tank explode or a bomb. Whether its mechanical or intentional, thats yet to be determined. Reporter all the bodies recovered are now in russia being identified. The state News Agency Says those in the back of the plane suffered injuries consistent with an explosion. The tail was found three milil fromomhe rest of the planene they are now examining a repair job on the tail that was damaged hitting the ground 14 years ago. They are also searching the airport where the plane took off, questioning those who serviced it, cataters, cleaners, baggage handlers. The terror group isis is active in egypt and claims it downed the plane. The truth will likely emerge from the two flight recorders. Investigatats analyzing these now but making nothing public. And deed making it clear that they wont say anything for a long time. Within the last hour isis has repeated its claim. Nbc news cannot authenticate this yet, but if it was a bomb, there will be evidence, explosive residue, a timer, a fragment of a circuit board. There is no such evidence like that for now. So spare a thought this morning for the famili of all those on board, still not knowing how on earth this happened. Matt, savannah. Can you imagine. Bill neely, thank you very much. Well turn now to a story thats affecting millions of drivers all across the country. U. S. Safety regulators are slapping takata with a hefty fine for failing to disclose defects with air bags. Nbcs tom costello has more on that. Hi, tom. Reporter good morning, matt. For years Takata Corporation sold defective air bags insisting that they were safe, but now with seven deaths and 100 injuries in the u. S. , regulators are taking action. Its one of the biggest finds ever levied by u. S. Regulators, the Takata Corporation facing a 70 million penalty for lapses in air bag safety, but the total fine could grow to 200 million if the Company Fails to comply with a consent order. U. S. Investigatoto say takata failed to immediataty alert gulators about air bag inflators containing ammonium nitrate, a chemical thats potentially unstable and could cause air bags to explode. To date these represent tours are responsible for seven u. S. Deaths and nearly 100 injuries. Reporter in 2014, this woman was killed after her air bag ruptured in florida. Attorney hank didier told me at the time shards of flying metal shot from the air bag. What happened here, as y y can see the shrapnel on the floor here from where the steering column was blown apart backwards, but what went forward towards her are metal fragments from the inflator itself. Reporter just came right into her face e d neck. Literally through the bag is requiring them to phase out the use of ammonium nye trail. Takata has already recalled nearly 20 million vehicles involving a dozen automakers and the recall could still expand. In a statement takatas chairman says, quote, we deeply regret the circumstances that led to this agreement. The settlement is the an important step forward foror takata that will enable us to o focus on rebuilding the trust of automakers, regulators and the driving public. Another development overnight, honda announcing it will no longer use takata air bags in new honda or acura models. If youre worried your car may be part of the r rall, go to safercar. Gov, enter your vehicles identifition number, rhe v. I. N. If your car is affected can you call your dealer and hopefully arrange for a free repair. Matt, back to you. Lets stick with the Auto Industry for a sec. Youre also following that scandal with vw, and its growing now. Reporter yeah, vw now says it understated the emissions on another 800,000 cars. Of course, vw has already said up to 11 million of its vehicles had software that allowed them to deceive emimiions testers so the size and the scope of the volkswagen scandal is growing yet again, mostly now overseas. All right. Tom costello covering two important stories for us this morning. Tom, thank you. Meantime, the e. Coli outbreak that caused chipotle restaurants totohut down dozens of those restaurants is growing. There are now at least7 confirmed cases of people being sickened in oregon and washington state, but this morning scientists believe they are closing in on the exact source, the specific microorganism responsible for this has been identified now. They are saying it may have been carried on Fresh Produce such as lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro or onions. And now to some very sturbing Surveillance Video showing a city bus hitting and killing a 70yearold woman as she tries to cross the street. Take a look at woman. Shes in a green sweatshirt. Shes using a walker and waits for the cars to go by and then she starts to cross. An outofservice bus makes a left turn and hitstser. We stop the video right there. The driver paused in the and then drove away. 48yearold paul roper was later arrested charged with leaving the scene of an accident. Some of his family members clala he did not see the woman crossing the street. Heartbreaking. Now to that remarkable video we showed you at top of this show, an astonishing sight in the skies over fayetteville, arkansas. A small plane piloted by former walmart ceo billllimon was forced to make an Emergency Landing with help, yes, from the aircrafts parachute. Apparently the plane experienced a sudden drop in oil pressure so the pilot decided to deploy the emergency chute. Several bystanders, as you can see, caught incident on camera. When the plane finally lananit had actually hit a Truck Driving down the road. The driver of the truck and all three people on the plane were taken to the hospital, but were happy to report that they are suffering only minor injuries. Thats miraculous. Incredible to see that and the producer just told me it cost about 800,000 to equip a plane with that. Saved his life. Al is here. Forecast. A lot of stormy stuff. We go to california, san diego. Heavy thundedetorms and a lot of lightning. They had a lot of rain as well. Roads were flooded out. Big problems there. Lets move a little further east. Yellowstone, take a look. About 7 inches of snow, and its still coming down, so skiers are rejoicing right now. But a lot of folks in texas not rejoicing as this storm system makes its way to the east. Weve already got flood watches and flash flood watches in effect through friday for a good portion of texas, and weve also got torment risk of strong storms, isolated tornadoes and damaging wind gusts over 60 miles per hour. This front will l pushing through. That will bring the snow into yellowstone. Thursday flood watches and rainfall rates 1 to 2 per hour and continues into thursday evening. Much cooler air behind it. Well be looking at changes and rainfall again. Why weve got the the flood watches in effect. 3 to 4 from little rock all the way to arkansas. Well get to your forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. For us again tay with most of our highs getting into the 70s. These winds will usher in some low level moisture into northwest iowa tonight which will provide a bit more cloud cover and perhaps some patchy fog which will keep lows in the 50s. Oncncthe clouds break up a bit tomorrow well see another mild and breezy day with highs in the low 70s. Then well see some changes as showers, and maybe a thunderstorm, move in for thursday with temperatures starting to head down. Even when the sun returns on friday highs are only expected to get into the low 50s. A little thats your late weather. Matt. Thank you very much. Coming up, final days of Robin Williams life as his widow speaks out. And Companies Going after peopleleho post bad reviews about their services your words could land you with a bill for thousanas dollars and what this is today on nbc. Coming up, the airlines that Just Announced they are chargin its a long day and somememes, an even longer night. Helping with homework before doing your own. And you may think no one notices. But she does. 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