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CNN Live At Daybreak

Quake Aftermath; New Orleans Videotaped Beating

Aired October 11, 2005 - 5:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Tuesday, October 11. Earthquake survivors in South Asia are growing more desperate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): "Where is the Pakistani army?" he screamed. "Why aren't they hear to save us yet?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Thousands of people are still begging for relief, and rescuers are scrambling to bring them aid.

Also, will a bloody beating leave a growing stain on the New Orleans police force? We'll bring you the latest?

And who says you can't escape from Alcatraz? This kid sure did. And it's all for a good cause.

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. We'll have more on the South Asia quake in just a minute.

Also, after raising concerns about a terror threat, New York City cuts back on security on its subways. That story is just ahead.

But first, "Now in the News."

The first couple gets their hands dirty this morning on their post-hurricane tour of the Gulf Coast. President and Mrs. Bush will pitch in at a home rebuilding project in Louisiana. They arrived in New Orleans last night.

Boston's Logan Airport is getting back to normal this morning. A radar glitch backed up air traffic for more than four hours yesterday. Federal officials are still trying to figure out what caused the problem.

A deadly case of winter in Colorado. A powerful storm has dumped up to 20 inches of snow in parts of the state. I see Chad standing there ready to tell us more.

Three deaths in Colorado -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and one person that they don't even know about yet, too.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Hey, Carol, where were you yesterday?

COSTELLO: What do you mean where was I? I was here in New York.

MYERS: Well, I know, but you weren't on our show.

COSTELLO: No, I was on "AMERICAN MORNING" yesterday.

MYERS: And I know. And -- well, happy birthday.

COSTELLO: No, today is my birthday. So, see, you didn't miss it.

MYERS: Oh, well. I'll take all that stuff that I brought back. I'll go get it again.

COSTELLO: You better.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad. I appreciate it.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We begin this morning with the increasingly deadly aftermath of the South Asian earthquake. More than 41,000 people now confirmed dead in Pakistan alone. The overall death in the quake zone has topped 42,000.

Search teams are pressing on with a frantic effort to get people trapped in the mounds of rubble. U.S. forces are in Pakistan this morning. They're trying to get relief to some of the hardest-hit areas.

Our Senior International Correspondent Satinder Bindra has been traveling with them by chopper. They went to a town in Pakistani- controlled Kashmir. Satinder's now back in Islamabad, and he brings us the latest now.

Hello, Satinder.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, just two days after the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, appealed for help, eight U.S. helicopters arrived here in Islamabad. Five of them are Chinooks, and three are Black Hawks.

Today, in the morning, they went on their first mission, and I accompanied them. A few of these helicopters flew from the capital, Islamabad, to Muzaffarabad, which is the capital of Pakistan- controlled Kashmir. This is where, Carol, the casualties have been the heaviest. And this morning, these U.S. helicopters were carrying some very essential supplies. They were carrying flour, they were also carrying tents.

These tents will be used by an estimated 2.5 million people who've been made homeless by this earthquake. Many of these people are just living out in the open. In the day temperatures are getting extremely hot. And at night temperatures are falling down. So it's essential these people have tents.

And Carol, over the past few days we've been hearing very angry complaints from survivors. They say no relief has reached them. And the situation in some areas is so bad, there's widespread looting.

However, with the arrival of the U.S. helicopters, this relief effort has now been speeded up. And many people will be grateful that they should be receiving at least some material over the next coming days.

COSTELLO: Satinder, how are the Americans being received? And what exactly are they doing?

BINDRA: Well, the Americans are being received well. The Americans have very good relations with the Pakistanis and the Pakistani establishment.

On another level that's a popular level, it's still to early to say, because the flights have just started. But when I landed in Muzaffarabad, I spoke to some people who were being evacuated from Muzaffarabad, back into Islamabad, and back to hospitals. One man just broke down and cried, and he said, "I thank the Americans, I thank god that help has arrived. I now may have a chance at survival."

Carol, I must tell you, some of what I saw today was extremely touching, extremely heartbreaking. Many of the wounded which the American helicopters carried back with them were women and children. I saw one 5-year-old who had a broken back and some very severe injuries to his foot. I saw children as young as 3 or 4 years old with head injuries. And the situation up there is still quite precarious.

There are an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 wounded people up there. Some of them have very serious injuries. A lot of the wounded, as I mentioned, are children. And a lot of these children, or even killed, when their schools on Saturday morning just collapsed right on top of them.

COSTELLO: Satinder Bindra, reporting live for us from Islamabad this morning.

We'll check back with you in the next hour.

When it comes to the millions of quake survivors, their plight may remind you of what happened after Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast. Many in the quake zone are desperate for relief, but they're not getting it, as you heard Satinder say.

CNN's Matthew Chance saw, too -- exactly that in the Pakistani town of Balakot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice over): By helicopter, we entered Pakistan's nightmare. The northern town of Balakot was home to 250,000 people. But that was last week. Now it's flattened.

On the ground, we were greeted with mayhem. Survivors believing we had food and water for their families scrambled for our bags. We had to struggle to get them back then explain we had nothing and had come here alone. It's not what people this desperate want to hear.

"Where is the Pakistani army?" he screamed. "Why aren't they here to save us yet?"

Days after this earthquake struck, the people of Balakot, what's left of them, in shock.

Amidst the rubble, the search for survivors seems increasingly hopeless, too. This was once a picturesque tourist town. Now they're dragging corpses from the hotels. The stench was gut wrenching.

(on camera): How many people still lie buried beneath this rubble is anyone's guess. Ask any of the locals and they believe it's thousands of people, some of them possibly still alive. But across this whole region, in the heart of the earthquake zone, whole areas are out of reach of the rescue efforts. And without professional rescue teams here, it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to find any more survivors.

(voice-over): Pakistani army helicopters are arriving to ferry some of the injured to hospitals. But locals complain it's not enough. Everybody desperately wants to escape the terrible conditions here. Around the choppers, it's chaos. And for many in Balakot, what little relief there is comes to late, like Mohamed Hassan (ph), we found burying his family.

As the extent of this south Asian horror emerges, there will be more tragedy like this and far more tears.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Balakot, in northern Pakistan

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Now to our top domestic story. The New Orleans Police Department back under the spotlight. The FBI has launched a civil rights investigation following the police beating of a 64-year-old African-American man. He was retired elementary school teacher Robert David. He says he hates to say it, but he thinks the incident was racially motivated.

CNN's Alina Cho has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Those who know it say Bourbon Street is a place where almost anything goes, a place that is just coming alive again after Hurricane Katrina. But on Saturday night, what should have been a routine arrest turned violent.

Two New Orleans police officers are seen on this videotape punching a 64-year-old man, Robert Davis, at least four times. Later, four men, two of them clearly identified as police, push Davis to the ground and place him in a headlock. Police say he was drunk, but his attorney says that's simply not true.

JOSEPH BRUNO, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT DAVIS: He was absolutely not drunk, did not drink.

CHO: A CNN photographer tapes the aftermath. Some here have suggested race may have been a factor. The officers are white, the suspect black.

EARL BERNHARDT, BAR OWNER: But any time it's white policemen and a black victim, then it tends to get pushed into that corner.

CHO: Earl Bernhardt was nearby when the beating took place. He owns four bars on Bourbon Street, been here for 21 years.

(on camera): What is it that you're most concerned about?

BERNHARDT: We are most concerned that -- of the image that this is going to portray nationally. You know, we don't want it to look like another Rodney King-type situation.

CHO: New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley says race is a factor in this city, but not in this case.

WARREN RILEY, ACTING NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: At this point, there's no evidence to show that these officers -- that this incident involved a hatred of one race or the other.

CHO: Yet, civil rights attorneys at the Justice Department have launched an investigation into the case. And, in this Southern city, race has been an issue before. On New Year's Eve, 2004, a 25-year-old black college student died after a fight with bouncers outside a Bourbon Street nightclub. The lawyer for the family of the victim argued the student not allowed into the club because of a dress code and said similarly dressed white people were allowed in.

The nightclub said, race was not an issue. The case has not yet gone to trial. Chief Riley would not comment on the nightclub case. Instead, he talked about how the civil rights movement has shaped this city.

RILEY: We have certainly had our hard times and our ancestors certainly had harder times. There have been racial problems throughout the early part of the '60s and '70s. I'm sure that there is some that still exist here today. CHO (on camera): The three New Orleans police officers allegedly involved in this incident were arraigned Monday on battery charges. They pleaded not guilty and are suspended without pay.

The beating victim, 64-year-old Robert Davis, is facing a host of charges, including public intoxication. His lawyer says Davis is a reformed alcoholic and has not had a drink in years.

Alina Cho, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we'll hear more from Robert Davis and his attorney on "AMERICAN MORNING." The pair will sit down with CNN's Soledad O'Brien to discuss the incident and the aftermath. That will come your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, did New York City do the right thing by beefing up subway security, or was it policy off track? We want to know what you think this morning.

And where is Osama bin Laden? It's a question we've been asking for years, and the Asian earthquake brings the question to the surface again.

And under pressure. Have police in New Orleans reached their breaking point?

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: International markets are higher across the board this morning. Tokyo's Nikkei is up 328 points. The London FTSE adding 18. The German DAX higher by 39.

In futures trading, let's look at the price of oil. It's up 17 cents a barrel. It's $61.74.

Was it all worth it? You might be asking that question in the wake of the subway security scare in New York City.

The Big Apple beefed up security last Thursday after getting reports that terrorists might be targeting the subway system. Now police are scaling back those measures, saying the latest intelligence does not back up the reports.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is standing by his decision, though, to boost security in the first place. But some federal officials say the city overreacted and that the threat reports were never really credible.

And that's what we want to talk about this morning, Chad, because the man who originally gave the tip in Iraq took a polygraph test, showed he was lying. MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: So it was all probably not very credible.

MYERS: Right, but he took a polygraph after all of this was already in motion, right?

COSTELLO: Exactly. Exactly.

MYERS: I mean, maybe they couldn't find the polygraph machine. I don't know. But...

COSTELLO: Well -- well, but the feds were -- were always downplaying it. It's just local authorities here in New York said, hey, better safe than sorry.

MYERS: Better safe than sorry, right. And if something didn't happen and then we knew, and then something did happen but we didn't tell anybody, oh, could you imagine the uproar? But that's kind of where we're going with our e-mail "Question of the Day."

Did CNN -- did just everybody reporting this, especially New York City, did we do the right thing? Raising security: did New York City itself do the right thing here by alerting people by doing those extra security sweeps, by getting some undercover cops down there? Or was it just an overreaction?

Go to DAYBREAK@CNN.com. Because it certainly was a big story on all the networks on Thursday and into Friday. And then, you know -- so, what, maybe something was going to happen and they stopped it. Probably not. We don't know.

You can't prove a negative, Carol, I guess.

COSTELLO: Well, it will be interesting to see what people think this morning. And would you want to know in your town? Would you want to know every threat that comes down the line?

MYERS: And I really want to hear from people in New York City that maybe were inconvenienced by this. What happened? How did this change your life? How did it affect you? Were you late? Did something happen that you didn't expect?

You know, I want to hear from you guys, too.

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:18 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

The World Food Program will drop 120 metric tons of ready-to-eat food in Pakistan today. It happens as search teams continue to dig for survivors of last weekend's deadly earthquake. More than 42,000 people now dead. An infectious disease expert says stockpiling vaccines and antiviral drugs will do little to counter a possible bird flu pandemic. Michael Olsterholm says government should prepare to cope with the disease because it could spread to quickly in humans for medicine to be of much help.

In money news, Lincoln National will soon be one of the largest U.S. life insurers. The company has agreed to buy smaller rival Jefferson-Pilot for about $7.5 billion in cash and stock.

In pop culture, Martha Stewart's new book hits newsstands today. It's called "The Martha Rules." In it, the domestic diva shows up tips for would-be entrepreneurs who want to build their own empires. She'll be on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, and she's going to take your phone calls.

In sports, the Angels are heading to Chicago for the American League championship series. They defeated the New York Yankees 5-3 in yesterday's decisive game five -- Chad.

MYERS: Boy, a different -- a different ALCS than I expected. Good for all those other teams for getting in once in a while here, huh?

Hey -- good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: But as you say, New Hampshire trying to get up and running again after that massive weekend storm. The governor meets this morning with utility, public works and transportation officials. As you said, floodwaters washed away roads and bridges, swept away homes.

Take a look at these pictures. It took out miles and miles of utility poles. The hardest-hit area, Keene, that's a city of about 23,000 residents. Hundreds were forced to evacuate their homes. And flooding is blamed for at least three deaths.

The remnants of Hurricane Tammy dumped up to 5.5 inches of rain across the state. And as you heard Chad say, in some places, even more than that.

Still to come on DAYBREAK this morning, Osama bin Laden, dead or alive? Is it likely the Pakistani earthquake did what the U.S. military could not? We'll have a report for you.

You're watching DAYBREAK for Tuesday, October 11.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: Ah, from Michael in Baton Rouge, "New York, as well as every other city in the U.S. is a target. Hey, if you were slightly inconvenienced by your concern for the (INAUDIBLE), think of how inconvenienced you would be if you were dead. Get over it," says Michael. We want to know what you think. Raising security in New York City over the weekend for the subway information, did New York City do the right thing or did they overreact?

So far, I'll tell you what, Carol, people think err on the side of concern and on the side of caution was the way to go.

COSTELLO: There's such a thing as raising the fear levels too much, though.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's a fine line there.

MYERS: Absolutely. We know.

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Openers" now.

Move over "Sports Illustrated."

MYERS: Oh, no.

COSTELLO: Some west Michigan farmers, well, they're giving the swimsuit calendar some competition, as you can see, Chad. They're posing in their own calendar.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And this man is nude.

MYERS: So is that -- is he really in a fish net, then?

COSTELLO: Well, he's in a fish net, yes.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: And that man's using -- I don't know what that is, but -- I can't even go on with this story.

Anyway, organizers say they're pleased with the farmers' photos and they look forward to strong sales.

'Tis the season for the great pumpkin in Half Moon Bay, California. Great pumpkin after that story -- at Half Moon Bay.

MYERS: It's a naked pumpkin.

COSTELLO: It's another -- yes. People from all walks of life gathered to see the West Coast's finest pumpkins on display at the Safeway world championship pumpkin weigh-off. The winning pumpkin weighed in at 1,229 pounds.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: Its producer will take home a $6,000 prize.

MYERS: Where's Linus when you need him?

COSTELLO: The world's first autonomous robotic fish was recently unveiled at the London Aquarium. It was developed by a robotics team at the University of Essex. The fish have sensor-based controls and autonomous navigation capabilities. And this allows them to safely swim around specially-designed tanks, avoid objects, and also react to their environment.

And hey, you don't have to clean the fish tank.

MYERS: We can put a camera on that guy and put him in the middle of a hurricane. Now you've got something.

COSTELLO: That would be cool.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: We'll check with the University of Essex.

MYERS: Yes. Probably not.

COSTELLO: Yes.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. Welcome to the second half- hour of DAYBREAK.

Coming up in the next 30 minutes, is the stress of living and working in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina proving to be too much for some police officers? We'll take a look.

But first, "Now in the News."

We're just getting word of a car bombing in Iraq. The Associated Press is reporting it went off in the town of Tal Afar. That's in northwest Iraq.

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