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American Morning

Statewide Manhunt in Tennessee; Chemical Explosion; New Violence in Iraq

Aired August 10, 2005 - 9:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A statewide manhunt is under way right now in Tennessee. Two suspects, a husband and wife, are on the run after a brazen courthouse shootout and escape.
New violence in Iraq this morning. American soldiers among the dead, just as coalition forces wrap up Operation Quick Strike to counter the insurgency.

Massive fireballs light up the night sky near Detroit. The fire at a chemical plant is still burning and has been all night long. We'll take a look at why they're just going to let it burn out ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Good morning, and welcome back, everybody. Miles has a little well-earned vacation after the shuttle landed safe and sound. He took the day off.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: He did. I'm sure he's sleeping right now.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello, filling in.

All morning long we've been asking you to e-mail your questions about lung cancer, you know, in light of Dana Reeve coming out and saying she has lung cancer.

O'BRIEN: Oh, it's shocking. I think what's more shocking is that when people who are diagnosed with the disease who never smoked. I think that's pretty surprising to folks, that actually...

COSTELLO: And we're getting a lot of questions just like that, like how can this happen.

O'BRIEN: Right.

COSTELLO: Peter Jennings, you know, he said he smoked for 20 years. And you can sort of understand how he got it. But Dana Reeve, it just came as such a shock.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Really -- really true.

COSTELLO: So AM@CNN.com. Send your questions. Dr. Johnson will be along directly to answer them.

O'BRIEN: We're looking forward to that.

First, though, it's time to take a look at the headlines with Fredricka Whitfield. She's at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Hey, Fred. Good morning again.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Soledad and Carol.

A Pakistani cleric is accused of planning to set up a terrorism camp in this country. Shabir Ahmed (ph) appeared in a California court Tuesday. He was one of five men arrested in June at a Lodi mosque. Ahmed (ph) was being detained on an immigration violation for overstaying his visa, but may face additional charges.

President Bush is paving the way for new highways and bridges. The president is heading to a Chicago suburb today to sign a $286 billion transportation bill. It took Congress nearly two years to reach a compromise on the legislation.

And police in Massachusetts are looking for a man who carried out a robbery with an unusual weapon. The masked man was carrying a machete when he walked into a gas station. The incident, caught by a surveillance camera, shows that the suspect apparently got away with just about $750. Luckily, no one was hurt. The machete and the robber's clothes were found nearby.

O'BRIEN: Machete?

WHITFIELD: Soledad.

O'BRIEN: That's just bizarre. All right, Fred. Thanks a lot.

Let's turn to Tennessee now, where an escaped convict and his wife are on the run. Witnesses say Jennifer Hyatte shot, then killed a corrections officer on Tuesday as her husband was being escorted from a court hearing. The two then took off in an SUV. It happened outside the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston, Tennessee, about 35 miles southwest of Knoxville.

David Mattingly there for us this morning -- David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, because of his previous history with escape attempts, when George Hyatte was brought out of the courthouse here yesterday, there were some extraordinary security precautions. He was handcuffed, he was shackled, he was escorted by two armed guards, and yet that still was not enough to prevent his escape in what is a very open and public parking lot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Inmate George Hyatte walked out of the county courthouse in Kingston, Tennessee, looking at 30 more years in prison when he took matters into his own hands. JIM WASHAM, KINGSTON POLICE CHIEF: When the correctional officer brought him out and was loading him back up, a dark colored SUV appeared behind a van. Mr. Hyatte hollered, "Shoot him!"

MATTINGLY: According to authorities, Hyatte's wife, a former prison nurse, opened fire, killing one officer. The two escaped, but it's believed one of them was wounded in the shootout.

MARK GWYN, TBI DIRECTOR: At some point, some -- either George or Jennifer Hyatte will have to receive some medical attention. That's why we have all hospitals throughout the state on alert, that if someone comes in fitting George or Jennifer Hyatte's description, to please call the local authorities or the TBI.

MATTINGLY: Hyatte's wife is identified as Jennifer Hyatte, who, according to a corrections spokeswoman, lost her job as a prison nurse because of her romantic relationship with the inmate she later married. George Hyatte has a long and violent criminal history. He escaped from jail twice before, once in 1998 and again in 2002. Both time he was recaptured in other states.

GWYN: It was just a very brazen kind of Bonnie and Clyde-type escape. And when people are desperate and they have nothing to lose, this is what happens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Hyatte was to be put into a state van that was parked right here outside of the courthouse. But to show you how easy it was for this ambush to happen, there's a public street just 20, 30 yards away from here. All his wife had to do was pull out of the public street, into this parking lot, drive up to the location here, roll down the down the window and start firing -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: David Mattingly for us this morning. David, thanks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: A chemical fire in suburban Detroit is still burning this morning, some 12 hours after it started. This was the scene last night at the hazardous waste facility.

A series of explosions reportedly triggered the fire. Witnesses say the blast shook the ground, shot fireballs hundreds of feet into the air. Huge flames engulfed the plant well into the night.

Art Edwards of Detroit affiliate WDIV is in Romulus. That's about 25 miles southwest of Detroit. He has the latest for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART EDWARDS, REPORTER, WDIV: The police department is still on the scene here near this fire. They have blocked off access to the chemical plant where the explosion took place.

In the background, you can still see some of the smoke. We're about a mile away from the plant itself. You can still see some smoke, because at this hour of the morning, it is still burning. It is nothing hike it was in the evening yesterday, though.

At about 10 minutes after 9:00, the explosion took place at a place called EQ. What they do is that they reclaim different chemicals, mostly de-icing fluid that's used for airplanes. There are eight tanks that are filled with acetone. Those tanks caught fire. They have now actually melted.

The fire department says they're going to kind of step back and they're going to let this burn down on its own. They've decided that that is the best course of action.

Now, there were nine people at the plant when the explosion took place. They had a little bit of notice that there was something going on, and they were able to alert one another that they needed to get out of the area as quickly as possible. The majority of those people of the nine work outside, so they were able to get out of the area very quickly. None of those people was injured.

But a lot of people had to be told to leave their homes. Several hundred people are out of their homes still this morning. The fire department says it probably will be several hours before they are allowed to go back into their homes.

The EPA has checked the air quality. They do think that everything is OK. But to be on the safe side, the fire department says they're going to keep people out of their homes, maybe until early this afternoon.

Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Art Edwards with affiliate WDIV. Thanks.

O'BRIEN: In Iraq, the death toll rises yet again in northern Baghdad. Three Iraqi police officers killed by a suicide bomb. And a fourth officer died when a mortar landed at a square where he was directing traffic.

And four U.S. soldiers on patrol were killed overnight when a Humvee hit an anti-tank mine and insurgents then opened fire. The attack came in the city of Baiji, home to the country's largest oil refinery, about 130 miles north of Baghdad.

As that death toll mounts, the U.S. military is wrapping up Operation Quick Strike, its latest major push against insurgents in the western part of the country.

Aneesh Raman is live for us in Baghdad this morning.

Operation Quick Strike, Aneesh, was it considered to be successful?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning.

We're still getting details. The headline, really, the U.S. military able to find some nine car bombs, as well as a number of buildings that were rigged to explode, one with 300 pounds of explosives in it on this operation that of course launched last Wednesday in the volatile northwestern Al Anbar Province of Iraq, thought to be a hotbed of insurgent activity.

This operation launching just after 14 Marines were killed by what we now know is three landmines strung together in the town of Haditha, in that area. Initial reports over the weekend, Soledad, said that a number of the insurgent there had left the area as this operation got under way. The military, though, says they have 36 suspected insurgents in custody. A pushback, it seems, against insurgents' violence that has killed some 42 U.S. troops in the past week and a half -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Aneesh, I want to ask you about these bombs that were recently found in southern Iraq. The secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, said that they were definitely smuggled in from Iran. What's the Iraqi government saying about these bombs?

RAMAN: Yes, the government here being very cautious. Part of the complex relationship between Iraq and Iran.

They say they are looking into that report. I spoke to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's spokesman a short time ago. He said that this exact issue of weapons coming across the border was brought up by the prime minister in his visit to Tehran last month, where he met with Iranian leaders. He also expressed the need for Iran not to interfere in Iraq's affairs, whether it be with these weapons coming in or in terms of the political arena.

Now, Iraq has made suggestions like this before. Last year are around that time, when that standoff was taking place in the city of Najaf, the then defense minister of Iraq called on Iran to stop funding weapons into that area. So this is something they're trying to grapple with as they secure those borders -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman for us in Baghdad this morning. Aneesh, thanks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Back in the states, in southern California, firefighters are mopping up some hot spots after bringing a couple of brushfires under control. One fire threatened dozens of homes Tuesday in Pomona. That's east of Los Angeles.

About 10 acres of brush burned before that fire was brought under control. Another fire scorched about 20 acres in the Hollywood Hills. Investigators did arrest one man, saying that fire might have been set.

And farther south, about a dozen cars are buried. Look at that. That's mud.

That's after heavy rain sent rivers of mud cascading on to a four-mile stretch of road just north of San Diego. In some spots, the mud flow was as much as seven feet deep.

And Chad, that's got to be depressing, to see your car...

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, yes. And think about that, and what a great forecast we had for Edwards Air Force Base, which is literally 120 miles from there. It couldn't have been better for that shuttle to go down yesterday, to land yesterday.

COSTELLO: So what's up with that?

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

O'BRIEN: Pretty typical, too. I've spent many -- many an hour on the runway at SFO, waiting for the fog to clear.

MYERS: Yes, exactly.

O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thanks.

MYERS: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: In just a moment, the truth about lung cancer. A doctor's going to answer some of your e-mail questions live on the air.

COSTELLO: We're getting a lot of good ones, too, so thank you. AM@CNN.com.

And later, caught in the crossfire. A mother speaks out after her baby girl is killed in a police shootout. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we talked to Dr. Bruce Johnson about how to spot and treat lung cancer. Dr. Johnson is back with us, as promised. He's the director of thoracic oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and he is ready to answer your questions.

And we've got a lot of question. OK. So you're ready?

DR. BRUCE JOHNSON, DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK. The first one is from Corey from Prince William County. He says, "Is it true if you quit smoking early enough, your lungs can repair themselves?"

JOHNSON: So it turns out one of the important messages we'd like to get across is that it's never too late -- it's never too late to quit smoking. So the important thing is, if you're currently smoking cigarettes, that it will always help to quit. And if you can quit for five to 10 years, you'll cut your chances of getting lung cancer by about 50 percent.

COSTELLO: Wow. JOHNSON: In addition, if you can quit smoking by the time you're age 30, and you don't start smoking again, you can reduce it to that of a person who has never smoked cigarettes.

COSTELLO: OK. So let me ask you this: Peter Jennings quit for 20 years. And then at 9/11 he started smoking again. Could that have contributed to his cancer?

JOHNSON: Well, it certainly doesn't help to restart smoking if you've been able to quit. I think the one message from this is that it's difficult to quit smoking. It's one of the most difficult things people -- they're designed to be addictive.

And the thing we'd like to tell people is that, if you're smoking, try and quit. If it doesn't work the first time, try it again. And if you restart, it's not too late to quit again.

COSTELLO: Good advice. OK.

The next question comes from Jacquie, from Spring Hill, Tennessee. She says, "What are the tests available for early detection of lung cancer?"

JOHNSON: Well, one of the things that is a little bit unfortunate is that there isn't an approved screening test. So for the common cancer...

COSTELLO: There is not?

JOHNSON: There is not an approved one yet. One of the -- one of the things that's happened -- and it's actually some work that's gone on here in New York -- is to try to develop a test that picks it up very early.

So the first part of developing a screening test has actually been somewhat successful. And by doing things called CT scans, which is computerized tomography, they can pick up lung cancers so that about 80 percent of them are at its earliest stage.

So currently, the trial is ongoing to find out if you use that test, and if you take out those lesions, will the people live longer? That trial is finished accruing. About 50,000 people, where half get the CT scans and half get chest x-rays, and we'll know the results in about three years.

COSTELLO: So you just can't go to your doctor and say, "I'd like to be screened for lung cancer," like a mammogram? I mean, that's simple.

JOHNSON: Right. So there's no equivalent of a mammogram. But we are hopeful that we'll have something relatively soon.

The second thing that's ongoing is to try to do a blood test. So for prostate cancer you do a blood test, PSA. And there's people who are researching to find out if there are specific things in the bloodstream that will be an early signs of lung cancer that will lead to further testing.

COSTELLO: OK.

The next question comes from Ginnie from Canterbury, New Hampshire. She says, "How does a nonsmoker, someone who has never smoked, get lung cancer?"

So many people are asking this question.

JOHNSON: All right. So one of the things I'll go back to, the thing that 85 percent of people who get it smoke. And there it's pretty clear that, the more cigarettes you smoke a day, the longer you smoke, the increased risk. And that's pretty straightforward.

Trying to figure out what it is that causes lung cancer in nonsmokers is a bit tougher.

COSTELLO: So what if your dad had lung cancer or your grandfather? Does that predispose you to lung cancer?

JOHNSON: So one of the things that -- I'll come back to the issue, smoking trumps almost everything.

COSTELLO: OK.

JOHNSON: But it is true that if your first-degree relative -- that would be a sibling or parent -- has had lung cancer, you have about a two to threefold increased risk.

COSTELLO: Whether you smoke or not?

JOHNSON: Well, most people -- if your parents smoke, most people do smoke. But it -- so far, it's independent of smoking. So it would appear that you have an increased risk. And in those particular ones, we strongly encourage them to do the best they can to quit smoking.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let me ask you this: do some people have a genetic disposition to get cancer, and then something may or may not trigger it during their lifetime? Is that true?

JOHNSON: So one of things that we know there's a difference in the way people handle the carcinogens in cigarette smoke -- so those are the cancer-causing agents that go into your lungs, and your body normally clears them. And the way they both activate them and clear them varies from one person to another. And we know that there is some association about how you handle it and how much genetic risk you have.

COSTELLO: OK. I'm going to skip to the last one, because this comes from Ashton. Ashton is 11 years old and would like to know if kids can get lung cancer.

JOHNSON: Well, this is one time I think we can reassure people. It's unthinkably unusual for anybody younger than 20. And it really doesn't start to kick in much until your 40s. And that's one of the reasons why in the screening trials, they're targeting people who are in their 40s to 50s. so I can reassure you that it would be unthinkably unusual for an 11-year-old, and it's probably something you don't' need to worry too much about.

COSTELLO: So if you don't smoke and you get cancer, it's likely to happen after you're 40. Why?

JOHNSON: Well, our assumption, you know, your lungs come into contact with a lot of things, both in the environment that we have, as well as being exposed to other people's cigarette smoke. So we're not -- we're trying to work out what, indeed, it is that causes people to get it. And one of the things that we're also trying to do is develop specific treatments for that group of people who get it who don't smoke.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Do we have time for one more question?

Sure. Saying sure. All right.

This is from Amy. She says, "My husband, who is a heavy smoker, just had a chest x-ray done last week. They saw a spot. He was told that it's probably nothing, they'll recheck it in six months. But should we get further tests done?"

JOHNSON: Well, so one of the things -- I don't want to address this specifically medically. We don't like to give out too much specific medical opinions over the air.

COSTELLO: Yes, but think how freaked out you'd be. Somebody finds a spot on your lung and they say, oh, don't worry about it for six months.

JOHNSON: Well, one of the things that happens is that your lungs get infections, they have a lot of things. And one of the principals is, depending on how it looks on the x-ray, is you will commonly see it, depending on how it looks. Some people say, we need to come back.

One of the things we can say is that it is very important that if a doctor -- if you're a smoker, or even sometimes not a smoker, and if they see sometime something that looks like an infection, that you go back and get that chest x-ray followed up. The reason being is it can mask an underlying tumor that could be underlying that.

COSTELLO: I think I would get a second opinion. I really would, just to make sure.

Anyway, we want to tell people about these Web sites, because we can't answer all of your questions, obviously. And Dr. Johnson, there are two great Web sites that people can go to. And they are -- let's see, plwc.org and nci.nih.gov.

And why are these two Web sites good to go to? JOHNSON: So, the first one is that people living with cancer, is the Professional Organization of Oncologists, the American Society of Clinical Oncology. And that American is reviewed both by doctors, as well as the patients and patient advocates, to find out if the information is accurate. And it's reviewed on a regular basis.

COSTELLO: So it is vetted, both Web sites are?

JOHNSON: Yes.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much, Dr. Johnson. We appreciate it.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: You'll recall that terrible story one month ago today of a toddler in Los Angeles who was caught in the crossfire, killed as her father exchanged gunfire with police.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez spoke with the little girl's mother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Lorena Lopez is in pain.

LORENA LOPEZ, MOTHER OF SUSIE LOPEZ: Oh my god.

GUTIERREZ: A pain so profound, she says it physically hurts every time she looks at her baby's pictures. The wounds are too fresh. Lorena tells us she will be forever haunted by the events of the day she relives constantly.

The Watts community in Los Angeles. On this particular Sunday, things go terribly wrong. Nineteen-month-old Susie Marie Lopez is taken to work by her father, car dealer Raul Pena. Los Angeles police get a 911 call from Raul Pena's car dealership. The caller is Lorena's 16-year-old daughter, who tells police her stepfather is armed and under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Police swarm Pena's business. Nearby, residents are evacuated. The area is sealed off. And Lorena's teenage daughter escapes unharmed.

LOPEZ (through translator): I heard gunshots. I started to scream, "My baby, my baby, my baby!"

GUTIERREZ: She says police told her to get away.

LOPEZ (through translator): I said, "I beg you in the name of god, I beg you." And I lifted the cross and I got down on my knees. And I said, "Don't shoot, my baby's inside."

GUTIERREZ: But the situation escalates. Pena's own security camera shows him shooting at police with one hand while holding 19- month-old Susie in the other. The toddler is caught in a hail of bullets. One officer is wounded by Pena.

After a two-and-a-half hour standoff, it ends here: Pena barricaded in his office with his daughter. But Susie and her father were killed. She was found in his arms. Autopsy reports show the baby was shot twice.

LOPEZ (through translator): I said, "No, that can't be!" I was sure they were rescue my daughter.

GUTIERREZ: Lorena says she can't imagine her baby's last hours alive, her fear, or her pain. Luis Carrillo, the family's attorney, says LAPD should have acted with more restraint.

LUIS CARRILLO, LOPEZ ATTORNEY: It was highly reckless, totally negligent to fire in to a structure knowing that there's a baby there.

GUTIERREZ: Police deny they fired indiscriminately into the office. But Carrillo says a preliminary ballistics test that he commissioned shows otherwise, that LAPD fired many times through the walls.

CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: He is not a fine, upstanding citizen. He is a cold-blooded killer.

GUTIERREZ: LAPD chief William Bratton says police were trying to save Susie and defend themselves, that Pena used the toddler as a human shield. Lorena says it's not true.

LAPD says it found cocaine powder and an open bottle of tequila on Pena's desk after the shooting.

Susie's brothers and sister choose to remember happier times. Memories like this.

LOPEZ: Mommy loves you, OK?

GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Lawyers for Lorena Lopez have now demanded a federal investigation of the incident.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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