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American Morning
Interview With Ivan Bartos
Aired February 02, 2004 - 07:33 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go to the story about the Arizona prison guard. This morning she is offering thanks and praise to officials who negotiated the end of a stand-off at a state prison. The female officer was held hostage for 15 days. Her two captors surrendered.
Miguel Marquez is live for us in Buckeye, Arizona -- good morning to you, Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
And she walked out of that guard tower on her own power, that guard tower that became her prison for 15 days out here, the longest stand-off in history. We know more about those inmates, as well. Two individuals, Ricky Wassenaar is 40 years old. This guy was sort of the lead in negotiating with officials here. He's serving 28 years for multiple counts of aggravated assault and armed robbery. Steven Coy, who is 39 years old, is serving a life sentence for, among other things, sexual assault, robbery and also aggravated assault.
The big news here is that correctional officer who was taken immediately to the hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, the correctional officer, the director of corrections here in Arizona saying that her spirit and her voice were strong. The governor of Arizona saying that she feels vindicated that they took the right path in negotiating this deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JANET NAPOLITANO, ARIZONA: She's on the gurney. She's been a captive for two weeks and her words to the director were something to the effect, and I won't get them exactly right, but she said basically thank you for not leaving me, thank you for not rushing the tower. They would have killed me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, shortly before the release about 6:20 Arizona time yesterday afternoon, one of the inmates, presumably Ricky Wassenaar, went up on top of that tower, had a cigarette. He was dressed in his orange jumpsuit for the first time since this thing happened.
And how did it happen? It started out as an escape attempt, according to Wassenaar. He did a radio interview during all of this stuff. It started off as an escape attempt. He donned a uniform, took one of the uniforms from the correctional officers, was able to get buzzed into the tower and took over from there. The tower was heavily armed and they were able to hold off officials until they were negotiated out of that tower late last night. And now the only thing left is for an investigation -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, good news there, right?
Miguel Marquez live for us this morning from Buckeye, Arizona.
Appreciate that.
Some of the officials who conducted the negotiations say that they feel like they won the Super Bowl. Some of the demands of Ricky Wassenaar and Steven Coy are coming out this morning. Prison officials are assuring the public that the two will be vigorously prosecuted.
Ivan Bartos is a spokesman for the Arizona Corrections Department.
He joins us this morning from Buckeye.
Nice to see you, Mr. Bartos.
Thank you for being with us.
IVAN BARTOS, ARIZONA CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Thank you and good morning.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
Let's begin with the condition of the female guard. We heard some very hopeful news from the governor, saying that the woman was, when she was finally on a gurney, able to talk, made her way out under her own steam.
What's the latest on her condition this morning?
BARTOS: She is still undergoing a through, comprehensive medical evaluation and once that is complete, we may have more details to provide you.
O'BRIEN: The governor obviously making it clear that the prison guard was very grateful that the strategy that was followed was the one that was sort of stuck to.
Was there some kind of conflict during this lengthy, lengthy wait about what to do?
BARTOS: Well, I think it's typical of all hostage situations, especially those that go on for 15 days. This was unique in a couple of ways. One, the inmates gained control of a facility that was designed to keep people out. They had a commanding view of the surrounding yard and from a tactical standpoint, this is probably going to become a textbook case of what we can do and what we can't do in those situations. Secondly, you know, 15 days have gone by. We've pursued a course of negotiation and we've maintained the strength to continue with that course. Every day that went by well intentioned but under informed members of the public were telling us, you know, the calls to storm the tower or to do something more proactive became ever increasing. And, you know, when you watch this on TV, when you see it on the movie, no one sits around and talks for 15 days. Everyone, you know, some good looking person in a SWAT uniform storms the fortress, shoots all the bad guys and rescues...
O'BRIEN: But the TV version is nothing like the real life version, you're saying...
BARTOS: No, ma'am.
O'BRIEN: ... when actual real human beings' lives are involved here.
Do you know, and I know the investigation is only now under way, but do you know how these two men made it to the watchtower, which is obviously a place that inmates are never supposed to get to?
BARTOS: Well, I think we have many of the details but possibly not all of them. We know that one of the inmates donned -- overpowered a corrections officer in the kitchen, donned a uniform and was likely misidentified and allowed in by one of the staff in the tower.
We're treating that area as a crime scene. As we speak and probably into today, that crime scene will be processed with a fine tooth comb and we hope to learn a lot more about exactly how that occurred.
O'BRIEN: What will happen to these two men?
BARTOS: Well, they're going to be vigorously prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That much I can assure you.
O'BRIEN: Ivan Bartos joining us this morning with the Department of Corrections in Arizona.
Appreciate your time and congratulations to your team. Some really wonderful news to have to report this morning. We're glad to have good news on this front.
BARTOS: Thank you very much.
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 February 2, 2004 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go to the story about the Arizona prison guard. This morning she is offering thanks and praise to officials who negotiated the end of a stand-off at a state prison. The female officer was held hostage for 15 days. Her two captors surrendered.
Miguel Marquez is live for us in Buckeye, Arizona -- good morning to you, Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
And she walked out of that guard tower on her own power, that guard tower that became her prison for 15 days out here, the longest stand-off in history. We know more about those inmates, as well. Two individuals, Ricky Wassenaar is 40 years old. This guy was sort of the lead in negotiating with officials here. He's serving 28 years for multiple counts of aggravated assault and armed robbery. Steven Coy, who is 39 years old, is serving a life sentence for, among other things, sexual assault, robbery and also aggravated assault.
The big news here is that correctional officer who was taken immediately to the hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, the correctional officer, the director of corrections here in Arizona saying that her spirit and her voice were strong. The governor of Arizona saying that she feels vindicated that they took the right path in negotiating this deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JANET NAPOLITANO, ARIZONA: She's on the gurney. She's been a captive for two weeks and her words to the director were something to the effect, and I won't get them exactly right, but she said basically thank you for not leaving me, thank you for not rushing the tower. They would have killed me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, shortly before the release about 6:20 Arizona time yesterday afternoon, one of the inmates, presumably Ricky Wassenaar, went up on top of that tower, had a cigarette. He was dressed in his orange jumpsuit for the first time since this thing happened.
And how did it happen? It started out as an escape attempt, according to Wassenaar. He did a radio interview during all of this stuff. It started off as an escape attempt. He donned a uniform, took one of the uniforms from the correctional officers, was able to get buzzed into the tower and took over from there. The tower was heavily armed and they were able to hold off officials until they were negotiated out of that tower late last night. And now the only thing left is for an investigation -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, good news there, right?
Miguel Marquez live for us this morning from Buckeye, Arizona.
Appreciate that.
Some of the officials who conducted the negotiations say that they feel like they won the Super Bowl. Some of the demands of Ricky Wassenaar and Steven Coy are coming out this morning. Prison officials are assuring the public that the two will be vigorously prosecuted.
Ivan Bartos is a spokesman for the Arizona Corrections Department.
He joins us this morning from Buckeye.
Nice to see you, Mr. Bartos.
Thank you for being with us.
IVAN BARTOS, ARIZONA CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Thank you and good morning.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
Let's begin with the condition of the female guard. We heard some very hopeful news from the governor, saying that the woman was, when she was finally on a gurney, able to talk, made her way out under her own steam.
What's the latest on her condition this morning?
BARTOS: She is still undergoing a through, comprehensive medical evaluation and once that is complete, we may have more details to provide you.
O'BRIEN: The governor obviously making it clear that the prison guard was very grateful that the strategy that was followed was the one that was sort of stuck to.
Was there some kind of conflict during this lengthy, lengthy wait about what to do?
BARTOS: Well, I think it's typical of all hostage situations, especially those that go on for 15 days. This was unique in a couple of ways. One, the inmates gained control of a facility that was designed to keep people out. They had a commanding view of the surrounding yard and from a tactical standpoint, this is probably going to become a textbook case of what we can do and what we can't do in those situations. Secondly, you know, 15 days have gone by. We've pursued a course of negotiation and we've maintained the strength to continue with that course. Every day that went by well intentioned but under informed members of the public were telling us, you know, the calls to storm the tower or to do something more proactive became ever increasing. And, you know, when you watch this on TV, when you see it on the movie, no one sits around and talks for 15 days. Everyone, you know, some good looking person in a SWAT uniform storms the fortress, shoots all the bad guys and rescues...
O'BRIEN: But the TV version is nothing like the real life version, you're saying...
BARTOS: No, ma'am.
O'BRIEN: ... when actual real human beings' lives are involved here.
Do you know, and I know the investigation is only now under way, but do you know how these two men made it to the watchtower, which is obviously a place that inmates are never supposed to get to?
BARTOS: Well, I think we have many of the details but possibly not all of them. We know that one of the inmates donned -- overpowered a corrections officer in the kitchen, donned a uniform and was likely misidentified and allowed in by one of the staff in the tower.
We're treating that area as a crime scene. As we speak and probably into today, that crime scene will be processed with a fine tooth comb and we hope to learn a lot more about exactly how that occurred.
O'BRIEN: What will happen to these two men?
BARTOS: Well, they're going to be vigorously prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That much I can assure you.
O'BRIEN: Ivan Bartos joining us this morning with the Department of Corrections in Arizona.
Appreciate your time and congratulations to your team. Some really wonderful news to have to report this morning. We're glad to have good news on this front.
BARTOS: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
