SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sandra Lee Booker still remembers everything about the day that changed her life forever—July 17, 1976.

“They had their noses and hands glued to the window, and I waved at them all the way down the street.”

At the time, she had no idea she wouldn’t see her son and daughter again for years.

Their father was only supposed to have them for a few hours. Instead, he flew them nearly 8,000 miles from their home to Nigeria, and disappeared.

“The only way I would ever see them again is to hire a private detective, go over, and kidnap them back,” she said.

What Sandra didn’t know was her ex-husband left their young children with his sister. When she couldn’t support them financially, she set up a foster home for them back in Portland, where they’re from.

By coincidence, their foster mother knew Sandra.

In 1985 they would reunite, along with a brother Sandra was pregnant with when they disappeared.

“It was definitely a miracle,” she said.

Sandra’s children, Osagie and Caleb, now grown haven’t seen their father in 40 years. But recently, they tracked him down at a nursing home in Sacramento.

The three of them decided to pay him a visit.

“This is a healing process for all three of us,” said Osagie Booker. “When we saw him today, the first thing he said way my soul can start to mend.”

STOCKTON (CBS13) — Two robbery suspects were foiled when a Burger King employee slipped out the back door and made off with their getaway car.

Stockton Police say it’s like nothing they’ve seen before. They say two men ran into a fast food restaurant, pulled out their guns and demanded cash.

While the two men were inside robbing the cashier, another Burger King employee sneaked out the back. He noticed the suspects’ getaway car running, so he hopped in.

“I haven’t heard of any employee actually leaving a business, getting inside the suspect vehicle and trying to hide it,” said Stockton officer Joe Silva.

The employee would drive the car around the corner and hide it. Officers said Gabriel Gonzalez and Jeremy Lovitt would run out and quickly panic. Once they realized they had no transportation, they fled to a nearby field.

“The quick action from this employee did allow our officers to get on scene and arrest the suspects,” Silva said.

While it did end the right way, they always recommend that people being robbed simply comply for their own safety.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A man taken into custody by the Sacramento Police Department has died, according to the police department.

Video obtained by CBS13 of the arrest on the 8300 block of Folsom Boulevard shows a suspect being restrained by a male officer’s legs, while a female officer strikes him 10 times with a baton.

According to the Sacramento Police Department, a woman called saying she was scared for her own safety. When police arrived, they found the man inside the store, holding the doors closed.

That’s where police say the violent struggle began. Officers called for backup and said the suspect was eventually restrained and brought into custody. They added the suspect was not breathing when he was brought into custody.

The suspect was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Sacramento Police disclosed the death via Twitter.

SPD investigating an in custody death after officers physically struggle with a violent suspect—
Sacramento Police (@SacPolice) May 25, 2013

The official cause of death is unknown and will be determined by the coroner.

In a 103-page filing submitted just before the close of business, Pacific Gas & Electric said that it agrees with the California Public Utilities Commission’s finding that a financial penalty is appropriate for the September 2010 explosion that killed eight people.

But the utility argued that its shareholders are already paying $2.2 billion in system upgrades and other improvements in response to the blast, and that any fines should be deducted from that amount.

“PG&E has fully accepted moral and legal responsibility for this tragic accident,” company lawyers wrote. “However, the proposed penalty of $2.25 billion ignores the fundamental truth of this tragedy: this accident was not the result of willful or knowing violations of state law, federal standards, or Commission orders, policies or directives.”

PG&E did not return a message seeking comment.

CPUC judges are expected to decide later this year how much the company should be fined for safety violations that led to the explosion.

In addition to causing the eight deaths, the rupture of a gas pipeline in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno sparked a fireball that also left dozens injured and destroyed 38 homes. Federal and state safety regulators have blamed the rupture on the failure of a decades-old faulty weld and PG&E’s failure to conduct thorough inspections.

Mindy Spatt, a spokeswoman for the Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco consumer advocacy group, said PG&E’s proposal to apply its future safety upgrades toward its past failures amounted to the company “suggesting no penalties at all.”

“It’s an insult to the people of San Bruno and all of PG&E’s customers,” Spatt said. “Every single investigation into this explosion have found PG&E responsible, yet PG&E has the nerve to say, ‘Why blame us?’”

Connie Jackson, San Bruno’s city manager, took issue with the utility’s argument that the proposed fine is excessive.

“What happened in San Bruno was excessive, as was the destruction created in our community,” Jackson said.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

SOUTH SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A medical-marijuana dispensary owner was sentenced to 6 years in prison a year and a half after one of the first big federal raids.

Bryan Smith was caught with more than $250,000 in cash and 139 pounds of marijuana while operating what was once R & R Wellness in south Sacramento. He accepted a plea deal from federal prosecutors.

His attorney claims federal agents were out to target his client at the beginning of a large crackdown in October 2011.

“[The U.S. Attorney’s Office] said they were going to make examples and issue indictments and sent people to federal prison who are operating these dispensaries, and this is one of those examples,” said attorney Mark Reichel.

But U.S. Attorney Ben Wagner said this wasn’t a typical dispensary operating under state and local rules.

“It’s been very clear from the beginning that this case … was not about sick people, but about money,” he said.

Marijuana advocate Lanette Davies agrees with Wagner’s assessment, saying cases like Smith’s hurt the reputation of other medical-marijuana shops.

“It was a good chance he was committing a crime,” she said. “You have one person do wrong, it makes the entire industry look bad.

With 19 states passing medical-marijuana laws, the highest branch of government may be forced to change as well. And a nationwide law may offer more clarity on who prosecutors should go after.

For now, Wagner says he will continue to go after those selling to recreational users.

“We are trying to go after the most egregious cases—like the Bryan Smith case—but there who are engaging in similar activity and they should be concerned.”

Smith will not be able to appeal his federal case as a condition of the plea deal, but his lawyer hopes that the former pot shop owner will be let out early on good behavior.

DIXON (CBS13) — Kathy Maurer has spent 40 years shaping young minds in Dixon. Before she retires, Maine Prairie High School students and teachers gave her one last hurrah.

The Dixon teacher was surprised with a barbecue at the quad, surrounded by students and staff.

“It’s a surreal feeling today. It’s actually the end,” she said. “I’m gonna miss the kids because the kids have been such a part of my life.”

With shouts of, ‘We love you” across the quad, almost everyone at the barbecue was fighting back tears as they say goodbye to Kathy.

“She’s my favorite teacher of all time and she got me through a lot of hard things,” said senior Jessica French.

One by one, students gave her flowers and gifts, including a bench that will soon become a permanent fixture at the school.

Kathy estimates she’s taught thousands of students and thinks retiring will be hard because teaching has been such a large part of her life.

“I hope I’ve had an impact on their lives,” Kathy said. “I know they have in mine.”

Throughout the past year, her husband has arranged for a former student or teacher she worked with to bring her flowers once a month at the school.