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American Morning
Bishop Thomas O'Brien Charged with Hit-and-Run
Aired June 17, 2003 - 07:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To Phoenix, Arizona we go, where the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese now is accused of leaving the scene of a fatal car crash. Bishop Thomas O'Brien arrested on a felony charge yesterday in connection with a hit-and-run accident Saturday night.
Frank Buckley live in Phoenix with more on this for us this morning.
Frank -- good morning there.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Bishop Thomas O'Brien is free on bond after an incredible series of events that began Saturday night with that fatal hit-and-run accident. It ended with Bishop O'Brien in court charged with that fatal hit-and-run accident.
Let's start with the video there. You'll see Thomas O'Brien, the bishop, in court facing those charges before a magistrate. Court documents released during that first court appearance revealed that Thomas O'Brien told police that he thought he hit a dog or that someone had thrown a rock at his car.
Bishop O'Brien's court appearance followed a brief visit to the hospital yesterday after he was arrested, the bishop's blood pressure apparently shooting up suddenly.
Now, after a few hours at the hospital, Bishop O'Brien was released and booked into the Madison Street Jail in Phoenix. That came after police served a search warrant on O'Brien's home. Now, there they found O'Brien's car -- and you'll see it for yourself. The front windshield of the car, the Buick that the bishop says he was driving, was smashed in. It was after the car was recovered that O'Brien was arrested.
Now, the man killed in the hit-and-run on Saturday night was 43- year-old Jim Reed, and it's possible that he was hit by two cars. Witnesses saw one car and wrote down the license plate number, and that's how police went to O'Brien's house in the first place; that second car still outstanding.
Now, the arrest of Bishop O'Brien comes just a couple of weeks after O'Brien avoided criminal prosecution charges by admitting in an agreement with the county attorney here that he allowed priests who had been accused of sexual misconduct to continue working with children. In that unprecedented agreement, he gave up some of his powers and agreed to a series of conditions.
Now the conditions that he has agreed to are contained in these court documents that were released late last night. Among them, the bishop must surrender his passport to the presiding judge -- Bill.
HEMMER: Frank Buckley, live in Phoenix.
A bit earlier this morning -- in fact, a few moments ago -- I talked with Sergeant Randy Force of the police department there in Phoenix. And I asked him how the police were able to track down this car and trace it to the bishop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ST. RANDY FORCE, PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We had a good citizen that provided information to us. We followed up on that, and he was in custody yesterday.
HEMMER: The man who died, Jim Reed, was he jaywalking?
FORCE: Yes, he was. He was crossing mid-block, and in Arizona that requires the pedestrian to yield the right of way to oncoming traffic. And apparently he did not do that.
HEMMER: Well, and the bishop has said that he thought something had hit his car, maybe a dog or a cat. He described possibly someone throwing a rock at his automobile. How will that statement be treated?
FORCE: Well, like all of the statements, it will be taken into consideration and weighed against what witnesses observed at the scene, as well as the physical evidence that will eventually be recovered from the vehicle.
HEMMER: There were two cars involved. What about that second car? Have you found it?
FORCE: No, sir, we have not found the second vehicle. And the presence of a second vehicle is suggested more by physical evidence at the scene. Unfortunately, we don't have any witnesses that observed the second vehicle. But our detectives, who are very experienced at these kinds of investigations, believe that there was a second vehicle. So, we're still looking for any information about that second car.
HEMMER: And the bishop apparently rushed to the hospital last night after his blood pressure shot up. Do you know about how he is doing now after he was leaving the police department with you?
FORCE: Yes. As he was in the intake area being booked yesterday, he did experience some elevated blood pressure. Our investigators transported him to a local hospital. He was evaluated there and released. They managed to get his blood pressure back down to good levels. And following that, he was returned to the jail and booked on the one single count of leaving the scene of a fatal collision. HEMMER: Sergeant, how would you describe his level of cooperation?
FORCE: Difficult to say. He was not antagonistic with investigators at all, but it would be difficult to term the level of his cooperation. All that I can say is that he was compliant with investigators' requests.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: That was Sergeant Force from the Phoenix Police Department. He also indicated to us that one of the witnesses tracked the bishop's car for some time trying to get an accurate read on the license plate number. And after that, that information is what led police to finding the bishop in Phoenix.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired June 17, 2003 - 07:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To Phoenix, Arizona we go, where the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese now is accused of leaving the scene of a fatal car crash. Bishop Thomas O'Brien arrested on a felony charge yesterday in connection with a hit-and-run accident Saturday night.
Frank Buckley live in Phoenix with more on this for us this morning.
Frank -- good morning there.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Bishop Thomas O'Brien is free on bond after an incredible series of events that began Saturday night with that fatal hit-and-run accident. It ended with Bishop O'Brien in court charged with that fatal hit-and-run accident.
Let's start with the video there. You'll see Thomas O'Brien, the bishop, in court facing those charges before a magistrate. Court documents released during that first court appearance revealed that Thomas O'Brien told police that he thought he hit a dog or that someone had thrown a rock at his car.
Bishop O'Brien's court appearance followed a brief visit to the hospital yesterday after he was arrested, the bishop's blood pressure apparently shooting up suddenly.
Now, after a few hours at the hospital, Bishop O'Brien was released and booked into the Madison Street Jail in Phoenix. That came after police served a search warrant on O'Brien's home. Now, there they found O'Brien's car -- and you'll see it for yourself. The front windshield of the car, the Buick that the bishop says he was driving, was smashed in. It was after the car was recovered that O'Brien was arrested.
Now, the man killed in the hit-and-run on Saturday night was 43- year-old Jim Reed, and it's possible that he was hit by two cars. Witnesses saw one car and wrote down the license plate number, and that's how police went to O'Brien's house in the first place; that second car still outstanding.
Now, the arrest of Bishop O'Brien comes just a couple of weeks after O'Brien avoided criminal prosecution charges by admitting in an agreement with the county attorney here that he allowed priests who had been accused of sexual misconduct to continue working with children. In that unprecedented agreement, he gave up some of his powers and agreed to a series of conditions.
Now the conditions that he has agreed to are contained in these court documents that were released late last night. Among them, the bishop must surrender his passport to the presiding judge -- Bill.
HEMMER: Frank Buckley, live in Phoenix.
A bit earlier this morning -- in fact, a few moments ago -- I talked with Sergeant Randy Force of the police department there in Phoenix. And I asked him how the police were able to track down this car and trace it to the bishop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ST. RANDY FORCE, PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We had a good citizen that provided information to us. We followed up on that, and he was in custody yesterday.
HEMMER: The man who died, Jim Reed, was he jaywalking?
FORCE: Yes, he was. He was crossing mid-block, and in Arizona that requires the pedestrian to yield the right of way to oncoming traffic. And apparently he did not do that.
HEMMER: Well, and the bishop has said that he thought something had hit his car, maybe a dog or a cat. He described possibly someone throwing a rock at his automobile. How will that statement be treated?
FORCE: Well, like all of the statements, it will be taken into consideration and weighed against what witnesses observed at the scene, as well as the physical evidence that will eventually be recovered from the vehicle.
HEMMER: There were two cars involved. What about that second car? Have you found it?
FORCE: No, sir, we have not found the second vehicle. And the presence of a second vehicle is suggested more by physical evidence at the scene. Unfortunately, we don't have any witnesses that observed the second vehicle. But our detectives, who are very experienced at these kinds of investigations, believe that there was a second vehicle. So, we're still looking for any information about that second car.
HEMMER: And the bishop apparently rushed to the hospital last night after his blood pressure shot up. Do you know about how he is doing now after he was leaving the police department with you?
FORCE: Yes. As he was in the intake area being booked yesterday, he did experience some elevated blood pressure. Our investigators transported him to a local hospital. He was evaluated there and released. They managed to get his blood pressure back down to good levels. And following that, he was returned to the jail and booked on the one single count of leaving the scene of a fatal collision. HEMMER: Sergeant, how would you describe his level of cooperation?
FORCE: Difficult to say. He was not antagonistic with investigators at all, but it would be difficult to term the level of his cooperation. All that I can say is that he was compliant with investigators' requests.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: That was Sergeant Force from the Phoenix Police Department. He also indicated to us that one of the witnesses tracked the bishop's car for some time trying to get an accurate read on the license plate number. And after that, that information is what led police to finding the bishop in Phoenix.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
