no injuries have been reported and our andrea mccarren is joining us live now from the plaza with more information. andrea? >> reporter: well, j. c., no injuries but some very frightening moments for metro passengers on the blue and orange lines this morning. a series of explosions at the l'enfant plaza metro stop prompted the evacuation of 300 metro passengers and that led to some emotional reunions. >> we heard some explosions that popped -- i was on the front car. so the explosions went off. we heard about three and then there was an explosion between where the car and the wall was. so the firemen are down there, the metro police and they're taking good care of all the folk and evacuating us. >> reporter: what was doing through your mind? >> we all think about september 11th is you think about your family and you think about your kids and you know god is with you and he'll never leave you. we had fellowship with everyone on the train and you know we're just grateful. he's the one that i wanted to see and just all my babies tonight and be grateful. >> reporter: we know that some 300

andrea mccarren brings us the update. >> when she said it was sold, i just burst out in tears. >> reporter: we met monique jenkins in july when she'd just been released from the hospital. while she fought for her life in a 12-day coma, her car, parked right in front of her northeast washington home, was booted, towed away, put on the auction block and sold. >> i started crying and then i said how can this happen? there has to be some law to protect people who are in the hospital. >> reporter: as of today, according to the department of motor vehicles, her 2005 dodge magnum had accrued more than $4,900 in storage fees from the blue plains impound lot. if her car had been sold, how could it still be subject to ongoing fines? tonight, the department of public works says it wants to apologize for its sloppy record keeping. the car jenkins bought for $13,000 in 2008 was sold at auction for $4,300. andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> they may have issued an apology for its record keeping but not for selling her only means of transportation. jenkins has been in and out of the hospital since the incid

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> now to a big undercover sting operation by d.c. police and federal agents. they set it up with a recording studio in northeast. but instead of recording music, they recorded unsuspecting clients making deals for shotguns, even a rocket launcher. today, dc police chief praised the officers who put their lives on the line. >> we actually had several cases where our under covers traveled outside of the district of columbia with suspects that were known to be involved in multiple armed robberies. those suspects during those discussions made it clear they had no problems in shooting or killing police officers or security guards in the course of their criminal conduct. >> and check out the results of the sting. police arrested 70 people. seized 161 weapons. took off the street drugs worth more than $7 million. from credit card readers it standardized colors. wants changes made to cabs in d.c. bruce johnson with all the details of the newly introduced taxi cab reform bill. >> your ride in a d.c. cab will change considerably in the next ye

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> on a serious notes, most holiday decorating injuries involve falls from ladders and cuts from broken glass ornaments. >>> still ahead tonight, you're disorganized, jobs come and go, maybe even unlucky in love. >> that would be difficult to be with somebody like me. >> i wish i knew. >> it's adult adhd. i'll reveal the signs and the most effective treatment. that is coming up. >>> 52 today. a little bit above average and just a chilly night right now. here is your wake up weather. you'll still need a coat tomorrow and sunglasses. 28-38 to start. cold. 26-36 by 7:00. then temps are going up 36-44. we'll come back and talk about a cold front heading our way. what that means for the end of the week and a second storm and what that means for the weekend. >> hello. my name is lieutenant colonel jim wood. i'm currently serving in afghanistan. i would like to say happy holidays to my wife sue, my daughter sara and lauren back >>> the washington dc veterans affair medical center and wusa9 salute all that serve at home and abroad this holiday season. >> this is tom

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> we thought it might be helpful for you if we put all of the records we obtained online so you can see where the crime is actually happening. you can go to wusa9.com to find them. >>> buckingham palace says prince phillip needed to get a stent after suffering chest pains. queen elizabeth's 90-year-old husband was taken to the hospital earlier in the day as a precaution. the palace isn't saying whether or not he, in fact, had a heart attack. doctors in arizona say they cannot explain what's going on with one of their patients. the university of arizona student is recovering now after waking up from a coma. bigad shaban picks up the story from there. >> this is the reason for the christmas story. >> reporter: doctors foipt 21- year-old sam schmidt as a medical phenomena. >> i've been called a miracle a few times. it makes me feel better. >> an october car crash in tucson left him with what was thought to be a deadly brain injury. he was just hours from being taken off life support when he somehow started to come to. one week into his deep coma. >> for him t

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> on a serious notes, most holiday decorating injuries involve falls from ladders and cuts from broken glass ornaments. >>> still ahead tonight, you're disorganized, jobs come and go, maybe even unlucky in love. >> that would be difficult to be with somebody like me. >> i wish i knew. >> it's adult adhd. i'll reveal the signs and the most effective treatment. that is coming up. >>> 52 today. a little bit above average and just a chilly night right now. here is your wake up weather. you'll still need a coat tomorrow and sunglasses. 28-38 to start. cold. 26-36 by 7:00. then temps are going up 36-44. we'll come back and talk about a cold front heading our way. what that means for the end of the week and a second storm and what that means for the weekend. >> hello. my name is lieutenant colonel jim wood. i'm currently serving in afghanistan. i would like to say happy holidays to my wife sue, my daughter sara and lauren back in springfield, virginia and all my friends. hope to see you soon. >>> the washington dc veterans affair medical center and wusa9 salute al

i'm andrea mccarren. a live report is just ahead. >> this is bruce johnson, will harry thomas be advised to take a leave of absence? i'll have that story coming up. state farm. this is jessica. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies. it's simple

andrea mccarren is live at metro headquarters tonight with the story. andrea. >> reporter: well lesli, metro officials say it's very rare for a friction ring. a disk about this big and part of the train brake assembly, simply fall off. >> i also want to apologize to the passengers and customers that were inconvenienced today. >> metro's general manager issuing an apology and issuing an investigation into why part of the break assembly fell off a moving train. >> as a precaution, i have directed inspections of the brake assemblies of all 5,000 series rail cars. this process will begin immediately. >> why some passengers were stranded under ground for 30 minutes. with no word from metro employees about what happened after the train left the l'enfant plaza station. >> there were two explosions. sounded like the train hit something metallic. the train was pulling out of the station and a very loud bang and explosion. you could start to smell smoke. >> of course we all think about september 11. how you think about your family. you think about kids and you ju

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> on a serious note, most holdy decorating injuries involve falls from ladders and cuts from broken glass ornaments. there are services that will put them up for you! >> take advantage of them. >> we had one colleague who fell off and had a minor concussion. >>> a new exhibit is on display at a cottage where president lincoln mingled with union soldiers during the civil war. more on that next. >> you don't have to go far to get an up-close look at the inner workings of the nation's busiest post offices. >> it is pretty good especially with the winds being near calm in most areas. our day planner calling for cloudy skies. most live cloudy skies. temperatures will rise into the mid-40s by noon. near 50 this afternoon. north and west of town, there may even be a stray shower later. a better chance moves in for thursday. i'll have more on that and your weekend forecast when i see you in about five minutes. right now inside monika samtani has timesaver traffic. >> traffic is slowing down now on the southbound side of i-270 between urbana and hyatts town. here at fall

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> what a journey, thank you for that. we were only allowed to film outside the metro station, but we did get a sense of what it was like to be on stranded trains from the very passengers who were stuck on them. kristin fisher joins us with more on that part of the story and andrea says some scary moments. you are seeing those in 140 characters or less. >> as you know, cell phone signals in those metro tunnels are hit or miss. two people stranded on those trains had signal and they were able to document their entire ordeal on twitter. >> around 9:30 tuesday morning, andrew tweeted something wrong. loud bang, smoke, and debris on the track. minutes later and a few train cars down, torres posted video of what he called the first moment of panic. he had been stopped for five minutes and still no word from the train operator. you can hear people wondering what happened, what should we do? almost an hour later, andrew tried the emergency intercom, nothing. some people pulled the injector and left. others stayed. six passengers