A serial shoplifter wanted for stealing more than $1,000 worth of liquor had vodka bottles stuffed in his pants when he was arrested by an officer, police say.

Dash-cam video from a police car shows 54-year-old Dennis Jackson running from officers with the bottles stuffed in his pants last Friday, according to South Brunswick police.

Jackson was arrested by an officer responding to a call about a shoplifting at Viking Liquors on Route 1, police said.

A patron of the liquor store, Al Nardi, saw Jackson stealing the bottles and began to chase after him, police said.

Officer Mike Leung heard a call go out over the radio and headed to the strip mall where the store is. That’s when his dash-cam captured Nardi running after Jackson, who can be seen shuffling away with the bottles in his pants, police said.

Leung chased Jackson across the strip mall and captured him in the parking lot.

Jackson was arrested and charged with stealing from Viking Liquors three times between July 14 and July 21, police said. He was released pending his first court appearance.

Police say Jackson has been linked to similar cases in East Windsor and Hamilton over the past month. They say his preferred booze is Ciroc vodka.

Philadelphia's building boom is giving new life to a part of Center City. The old Market East stretch of storefronts are getting a makeover. It will soon be known as East Market and include residential buildings, new retail space and offices.

Good Samaritans answered a woman’s call for help as they came to the rescue after her West Philadelphia house came down around her and a male companion.

And a house cat may have foreseen the pending collapse along S. Ruby Street in the shadow of SEPTA Market-Frankford Line early Wednesday.

The male resident was asleep on a couch on the first floor when his cat, Baxter, started scratching him and acting strange. Baxter then led the man into another room of the home, firefighters said. A woman was asleep on the second floor and began to head downstairs after she heard a creaking sound.

That’s when a load-bearing wall collapsed around 4:30 a.m., firefighters said.

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A group of friends coming home from a night at the casino heard the woman’s calls for help after hearing a loud crashing sound.

“We heard the lady screaming and she was stuck in between the banister and the wall that came down so we climbed up the wall and pulled her and (the man) down,” the witness who calls himself ‘Bones’ said. “There was no hesitation.”

The friends then called 911.

"Our first reaction was to run over there and see if we could help," said another man who calls himself "Reds."

The woman and man were shaken but not seriously hurt, firefighters said.

The hero cat went missing for most of the morning but was later found hiding on the second floor of the home, NBC10's Pamela Osborne said.

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The home collapse left Stephen Powers' “I Wanna Call You Names” mural that can be seen across a vacant lot from Market Street mostly gone. The rest building was torn down Wednesday after Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections deemed it unsafe.

The residents, who don't have homeowners insurance, have a place to stay, officials said.

Someone is stealing a western Pennsylvania town's welcome signs.

Officials say the Welcome to Castle Shannon Borough signs began disappearing from main roads a few weeks ago. Four are missing.

Police say the signs were carefully removed to prevent damaging them.

The town is offering a reward for information which leads to an arrest and conviction. Anyone with information is asked to call Castle Shannon Police at 412-885-9300 or the borough office at 412-885-9200.

The Valley Green Road bridge was shut down Tuesday in Whitemarsh Township because of safety concerns. It is now closed indefinitely.

Emergency response teams descended on a Chester County neighborhood lined with large suburban homes Wednesday morning amid reports that two armed intruders were holding a woman in a home.

The claims made by the caller the caused the armed standoff along Welsh Ayers Way in Uwchlan Township just after 8 turned out to be false, Uwchlan Township police said. 

Neighbors received reverse 911 calls as crews established a perimeter, police said.

SWAT could be seen outside the home as police appeared to speak to a man inside a second-floor window who police say made the initial 911 call and claimed to be armed.

After about two hours the man's wife came out of the front door unharmed. The man later tossed his handgun out the window, police said.

Police could be seen placing a ladder next to the window and the man coming down. Police patted then men down then led him away to a waiting police vehicle.

Uwchlan police said the standoff was over by 11:40 a.m. after SWAT searched the home and found no intruders.

"It has now been determined that the original caller was experiencing a mental health issue and that there was no actual criminal activity occurring," police said in a news release.

No word if the man could face any charges.

Leaders in Philadelphia will begin filling seats on a special committee aimed at preventing gun violence. This committee will work on developing a strategy to reduce shootings. Investigative Reporter Mitch Blacher has a preview of a series of stories looking into the human toll in the most impacted neighborhoods.

A tractor-trailer spilled its load of scrap metal onto a Chester County road Wednesday.

The wreck left U.S. Route 322 closed between the Route 30 Bypass and Edges Mill Road in Caln Township before 10:45 a.m., Chester County Emergency Service said.

No injuries were reported.

PennDOT crews helped in the extensive cleanup, county dispatchers said.

The road was cleared by 1:20 p.m.

A kitchen fire forced the iconic Llanerch Diner in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to temporarily close.

The landmark eatery along Township Line Road in Upper Darby became internationally famous after being featured prominently in the 2012 film "Silvers Linings Playbook" starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.

One of the diner's cooking grills caught fire around 5:30 a.m. Monday. Upper Darby firefighters said it took about 20 minutes to bring the flames under control. No one was hurt.

Firefighters had to open up part of the ceiling to make sure the flames hadn’t extended up there, fire officials said.

A stalwart eatery in Delaware County, locals began competing with fans of the movie who came from around the world to sit in the same booth as the movie's stars. A key scene from "Silver Linings Playbook," which earned Lawrence a Best Actress Academy Award, takes place in Llanerch.

The diner will remain closed for at least a week, pending approval to reopen from the health department, firefighters said.

The Philadelphia building boom is bringing new residential and business spaces to the area formerly known as Market East. NBC10's Katy Zachry reports.

Amore is a young man who knows exactly what he wants in life. He hopes to one day play football in college at Clemson Univeristy. He says he wants a family that wont treat him bad and love each other. To adopt any Wednesday's Child call 1-866-DO-ADOPT.

Editor's Note: NBC10 Investigators spent several days in two of Philadelphia's most dangerous police districts — the 22nd and 25th — talking to families, experts and police. Here are the first two of three stories on the escalating violence in these districts. Tune in at 11 p.m. for the third in the series.

Kobe Davis can’t shake the sound of gunfire around his home near North 21st and Berks streets.

"I been hearing the gunshots, sometimes in the morning, or sometimes at night," the 10-year-old said. "Like about every few hours. ... I don't even want to be outside."

Kobe came to North Philadelphia last August from Georgia with his mother, Whitley Garnes, and his sisters in hopes of new opportunities. What they’ve found is a neighborhood long suffering in racial and economic isolation.

“A neighborhood like this where there are gunshots regularly, those gun shots become an environmental hazard that people try to avoid. It’s like a flood, an oil spill,” criminologist Robert Kane, of Drexel University, said in an interview. “It becomes this self-perpetuating, transgenerational cycle and the economic opportunities still don’t exist here.”

A large swath of North Philadelphia, including three of the city's poorest zip codes, makes up much of the two most dangerous police districts in 2017 for young people — the 22nd and 25th, according to violent crime statistics.

Young people in these two districts face the greatest likelihood of getting shot, statistics show.

Losing Loved Ones, Vanishing Opportunities: 

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As Ciara Hadrick laid in her hospital bed, Travis Siuta allegedly walked into her room and hand-delivered her a lethal dose of fentanyl that ultimately led to her death, Montgomery County officials announced Wednesday afternoon.

“Ciara Hadrick died from being poisoned while in a hospital, surrounded by people trying to help her,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said. “And this dealer hand-delivers poison to her bedside five times, including in the middle of the night.”

The investigation began May 6 at the Einstein Medical Center on West Germantown Pike in East Norriton. A nurse found Hadrick, 30, of Norristown, unresponsive in the bathroom of her hospital room at 2:30 a.m. She was pronounced dead at 3:06 a.m. after attempts to revive her were unsuccessful.

Police say empty blue wax-style bags were found under her body, and one blue wax-style bag containing a white powdery substance was found in her clothing. The packaging is commonly used for packaging heroin, police said. Drug paraphernalia was also found.

Investigators soon learned that on May 5, at 11:49 p.m., Siuta, 29, of East Norriton, signed the hospital’s after-hours sign-in log to visit Hadrick in her hospital room. Police say he was captured on surveillance video leaving her room eight minutes later.

Text messages obtained by police revealed Siuta delivered three bags of heroin to Hadrick that night, investigators said. Investigators also say it was the fifth time Siuta delivered drugs to Hadrick while she was in the hospital. Each visit was arranged by text message, and Siuta was caught on surveillance video leaving the hospital each time, police said.

Officials with the National Medical Services tested the bags recovered from Hadrick’s room and discovered fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 40 to 50 times stronger than street-level heroin, inside. An autopsy also determined Hadrick died from an accidental overdose by fentanyl.

Siuta is charged with drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver, criminal use of a communication facility, recklessly endangering another person and possession of a controlled substance.

“Dealers peddling their poison—delivering right to the victim’s door—and preying upon those suffering from the disease of addiction should think twice about doing so in Montgomery County,” said Steele.

“I want to be loud and clear again with this message: If you deal drugs like pills, heroin or fentanyl, and we can prove that the drugs you sold caused someone’s death, you will be charged with homicide—Drug Delivery Resulting in Death. This is our fourth arrest for this charge in 2017, and I can assure you that more arrests will be coming.”

Siuta was arraigned Wednesday. His bail was denied, and he was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 9.

A 24-year-old woman named Claudia smoked a cigarette while defiantly staring into the camera. She was not wearing a bra or a top, but she did not shy away from the lens. Instead, she shared her story.

Claudia was raped by her stepfather starting at the age of 6 and continuing until she became a teenager. Her mother kicked her out of the house when she found out about the abuse. Claudia turned to heroin for relief and sex for money.

“You can see the intensity in her eyes. I had never seen something like that,” said artist Ada Luisa Trillo, whose exhibit "How Did I Get Here?" is currently on display at the Twenty-Two gallery in Center City now through Aug. 6.

Claudia was just one of several dozen sex workers photographed in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, by Philadelphia-based Trillo over the course of several years.

The mother of two didn’t set out to document the plight of sex workers in Mexico when this project first started. Initially, Trillo hoped to focus on immigration after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump began calling for a border wall and referring to undocumented immigrants as "rapists" and criminals, she said.

Trillo wanted to humanize the people of Mexico, but realized photographing border crossers would be difficult in the dark. A local social worker had another idea: Visit the brothels.

At first, she resisted.

"I was expecting cute little girls with glittering skirts," Trillo said. "I was not expecting this pain."

That anguish is the real subject of her work, Trillo said.

"It’s a peaceful way of protesting," she explained. "My power is my art."

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Trillo was born in El Paso, Texas, and raised in Juarez, a degraded border city riddled with crime, poverty and narcotrafficking. It is also home to countless brothels. Many of the women photographed by Trillo exist at the intersection of drugs and prostitution — they have addictions to heroin, crack and other drugs, and some were sold or otherwise forced into sex work by parents or lovers.

Many died before Trillo’s exhibit debuted.

"Only one of the girls was from Juarez," Trillo said. "They’re trying to cross the U.S. border and they end up there. They might get trafficked. They might get hungry, but they end up at the brothels at a very young age."

Trillo spent approximately 15 minutes with each subject, roughly the same amount of time allotted to a paying customer. She also gave them cash in exchange for a little bit of candor.

Alexis was 20 years old and suffering from a heroin and crack cocaine addiction. She had three children who lived with her in various brothels. Despite Alexis’ tale, Trillo said she didn’t pity her in the same way she pitied the others. Unlike her colleagues, Alexis stole from drunken clients.

“Have you ever gotten caught?” Trillo asked her.

“Yes. I just hit them over the head with a cellular phone,” Alexis replied.

“I find that kind of amusing,” Trillo said. “She’s this tiny little thing.”

And there was Bonita, who smoked crack cocaine during her conversation with Trillo. Nervous with a lighter skin tone than the other women, Bonita was frequently the subject of gossip. Everyone assumed she had been kidnapped or trafficked into sex work. Her skin color was too fair for that part of Mexico, Trillo said.

Bonita cried most of the time they talked.

She had a young son, and an expensive addiction habit that led to her selling drugs in addition to her body. Eventually, she consumed her entire supply and was killed for it. Bonita’s body was found in the outskirts of the city.

“It made me furious,” Trillo said. “I could see how scared she was. I could see how much she was suffering. Hers was more than what I had seen” at the brothels.

With her exhibit now open to the public, Trillo has vowed to donate all proceeds from sales of her work to two charitable organizations: Coalition Against Trafficking Women and the Mother Antonia Center of the Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer in Mexico City, which helps sex workers throughout Mexico.

Trillo’s relationship with these organizations sparked outrage among local sex worker advocates who are calling for the decriminalization of prostitution. They advocate for unionization, legal protection and decriminalization of both buyers and sellers of sex. Their idea is to normalize sex work in order to protect those conducting it.

Calling for the abolition of prostitution "is problematic because it’s still criminalizing people in the industry," said Derek Demeri of the Red Umbrella Alliance.

"It may not be directed at the workers themselves, but it’s criminalizing all the safety nets they create if they can’t pay rent through sex work. Their children can still be taken away from them."

But Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking Women (CATW), said the problem then becomes tolerating demand for an industry that is inherently exploitative. Instead, CATW advocates for the so-called Swedish model, which decriminalized prostitution for sex workers but penalized people seeking their services. This model allows current and former workers to seek resources and find help without fear of being arrested.

"Opponents [of this model] think everything should be decriminalized, including brothels, pimps, massage parlours," she said.

"The question then becomes 'How can you decriminalize exploiters when you want to protect the exploited?'"

Demeri, who was among a small group of demonstrators outside the Twenty-Two gallery, said sex workers would be better served if they could make their own decisions without fear of legal repercussions.

“When we decriminalize and advocate for the rights of everyone in the industry, we’re helping everyone and we’re destigmatizing.”

Local sex worker Casey, who asked that her last name not be used, also called for the decriminalization of prostitution. She would feel safer knowing she can contact police if a client got violent. 

"I enjoy doing what I do," she said. "No one made the decision for me."

Casey turned to sex work after an abusive relationship and losing her job, she said. She is also a member of Project Safe, which advocates for sex workers in Philadelphia and beyond. The loss of agency for those in the industry creates a volatile environment in which sex workers are scared to come forward when they are victims of crimes, she said.

"Ultimately women need to stick together," she said. "It’s a scary world out there."

WHY NOT WAIT UNTIL PHILLY GETS A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE?

I don’t think I’ll be around by the time we see a total solar eclipse in Philadelphia. How about 2079? Anyone over 38 years old now would be at least 100 by then. So, if you’d like to wait, go ahead. For the rest of us, here is what you need to know about the one less than one month from now.

There are different types of eclipses, but a solar eclipse is the most spectacular. We’ll get to see a big part of the August 21st one. The biggest prize, though, is a TOTAL solar eclipse. Here is what it would look like:

The picture in the middle is something we won’t be seeing here. Until 2079, that is. It is such an incredible coincidence that it even happens at all.

This amazing sight only happens because the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon. But it is also 400 times farther away from us than the moon is. What are the odds? If those numbers weren’t identical, a lot more of the sun would be visible when the moon appears to move across it. Or the moon would completely block the sun, and it would just get totally dark when the eclipse was full. Neither option would come close to the current reality.

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON?

It’s only going to happen in a zone about 70 miles wide. And any one spot in the path of the total eclipse will only see “totality” for a couple of minutes! By the way, you can’t even look at it directly without risking permanent damage to your eyes. Yet people are going to travel hundreds, or even thousands of miles to get into the path of totality. It truly is a “once in a lifetime” thing. So, let’s see where you can go to see this magical two minutes.

The biggest cities closest to us are Nashville, Tennessee and Columbia, South Carolina. You could fly direct to Columbia, and it would take less than a 2-hour flight. But to do it on the day of the eclipse (arriving before it starts and departing after it is over) would cost a mere $750. What? You could fly to London or Paris for that price! And have enough left for a nice dinner, too.

What about Nashville? A round-trip can be had for only $1066 if you wanted to get there before the eclipse starts and go back the same day after the eclipse. Otherwise you would have to get a hotel room and stay overnight. Saving a few hundred dollars on the flights might cost you a few bucks more for a nice hotel room-if you can get one.

Oh, I forgot one thing. You can spend all of this money to experience one of the highlights of your life-and then run into a cloudy sky which makes you unable to see anything. Ouch.

Of course, it costs so much because thousands of other people from all over the country, Canada, Mexico, and South America want to see the same thing. And some of those people have been planning this for years. Maybe you should start planning for the next totality in 2024. The closest spot to see that is Buffalo-or Cleveland.

WHAT YOU WILL SEE IF YOU STAY HOME

If you don’t want to (or can’t) pay a thousand dollars or so for 2 ½ minutes of ecstasy, you can get a good view here in the Philadelphia area. We should see about 79% of totality. That means most of the sun will be blocked for a matter of minutes.

A great place to see the eclipse here will be at the Franklin Institute. Their Chief Astronomer, Derrick Pitts won’t be there-he’ll be doing a live broadcast from a part of Missouri in the “totality” zone. But other science educators will be there. And, best of all, it’s free with general admission. So, instead of traveling a thousand miles, paying a small fortune, and hoping for clear skies, you can spend 20 bucks to get into the world-renowned science center. Not bad.

Mary Coyle and her husband Ed Coyle had run out of options. She had asked her brother for a kidney 23 years ago and she received it. A few years ago however she needed to replace it and was getting sicker by the day. 

"We just assumed somebody from the family could donate," she said. "When that couldn't happen or didn't happen, then we had to step out of our comfort zone. It required Ed to say, 'I'll donate one to a stranger and you'll receive one from a stranger.'"

Through Christiana Hospital's 10-year-old kidney transplant program, the Wilmington, Delaware couple learned about paired donation.

Through paired donation, a friend, loved one or a family member of a candidate in need of a new kidney who doesn't have a compatible blood type can donate a kidney to a complete stranger on the candidate's behalf. This allows the donor's loved one to move up significantly on the list to receive a new kidney of their own from another stranger. The donor also moves up to the top of the list in case they ever need a new kidney of their own in the future.

Ed decided to give his own kidney to a stranger in order to help save his wife.

“There’s a selfish motivation there too," he said. "Having a happy, healthy wife makes my life a lot more pleasant and enjoyable.”

Now the couple wants to make sure other people in need of kidneys are aware of the paired donation option.

"In fact the reason we agreed to this interview is not so much because I want to say I'm a wonderful guy," Ed said. "The fact is, there are 100,000 people in this country currently waiting for a kidney transplant."

There is a lack of deceased donors which means that the wait time is getting longer, according to Dr. John Swanson of the Christiana Care Kidney Transplant Program, a group that helps families on both ends of the process and shows you how to talk to loved ones about donating.

Dr. Swanson performed both Ed and Mary’s transplant surgeries.

“We encourage living donations for all our patients. It shortens their wait times, the time of the transplant and keeps them off dialysis potentially,” Dr. Swanson said.

"Right now the requirements for a living donor are willingness, excellent health, and after that it doesn't matter if you're blood type compatible or tissue type compatible, because we can find a living donor for you."

Mary received a kidney from a man in California named Jason, who donated on behalf of his sister. Ed's healthy kidney was rushed to a sick grandmother out west. While normally donors and recipients don't meet, the Coyles met the donor and recipient for dinner in California in June.

Mary told NBC10 she is thankful for what her husband did for her as well as the two people who gave their kidneys so that she could live.

"My brother is over here and Jason's over here, and they're always with me," Mary said while pointing to her kidneys. "And I don't have a day that I don't think about them."

If you or a loved one are in need of a kidney and one of you is willing to donate a healthy one, talk to your doctor about paired donation. You can also visit the National Kidney Registry website for more information.

At least one teen is in custody while at least one vehicle was damaged after a group of teenagers threw rocks at cars traveling on I-95 northbound in Philadelphia Wednesday night, police said.

The teens were on the platform of SEPTA’s Spring Garden station on 600 N. Front Street and were throwing rocks at cars driving by, according to investigators. At least one vehicle, which appeared to be either an SUV or van, was struck by a rock. SkyForce10 was over the scene as a police officer responded to the vehicle, which was pulled over on the side of the road with the front windshield damaged. The driver told police children were also inside the vehicle when it was struck. No one was injured however.

SEPTA police officers also responded to the train station and took at least one of the teens into custody. They have not yet revealed the specific charges against him or her.

SEPTA officials are investigating whether or not any other vehicles were struck by rocks. If you were driving on I-95 Wednesday night and your vehicle was damaged, please call SEPTA Police at 215-580-8111 or Pennsylvania State Police at 215-560-6200.

Norristown Police are searching for a man who they say stole the donation box from a local mosque.

On July 5, shortly before 1 p.m., a man entered the Norristown Islamic Society on 518 Green Street, removed a donation box from a wall and fled the scene, police said.

The suspect is described as an African American man wearing a black bucket hat, dark blue t-shirt, tan cargo shorts and blue sneakers.

If you have any information regarding this incident or the suspect, please call the Norristown Police Department at 610-278-TIPS or call 911.

Montgomery County Commissioners received a check Wednesday to begin a maintenance fund for trailhead signage along the Schuylkill River Trail.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council presented a $2,337.80 check to Montgomery County Commissioners Joe Gale, Valerie Arkoosh, and Ken Lawrence Jr.

"We are so proud of our county staff that work to maintain our prized trail system. Our Deputy Director of Public Property Jamie Snovel showed his dedication by building these trailhead signs himself," said Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, Chairwoman of the Montgomery County Commissioners. "These generous funds from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council will ensure that their work will remain in place to assist our residents and visitors for years to come."

The PEC previously funded the design, materials, fabrication, and installation of new trailhead signs and structures in Norristown and Conshohocken with grant funding from the Schuylkill River Town Program.

The collaborative effort of the PEC, Public Property staff, and the Municipality of Norristown was able to create two signs in Norristown, and one in Conshohocken. In addition, the group was able to replace an outdated sign in Spring Mill.

Officials hope that the trail maintenance fund will help the county keep the signs in good repair so trail users can enjoy recreation along the Schuylkill River.

The check will go towards maintenance along Norristown’s Waterfront Park.