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Nancy Grace
Eight-Lane Minneapolis Bridge Collapses Into Mississippi River/Adoptive Florida Mother Accused of Abusing 11 Disabled Kids
Aired August 01, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight: Police stumble onto a house of horrors in an upscale resort community, Port St. Lucie, Florida, a mom accused of keeping at least 11 adopted disabled children, the adoptive scam allegedly spanning 40 years, netting Judith Leekin up to $3 million that we know of. Tonight, that number growing. Abuse, handcuffs, starvation, they all played a role in Leekin`s brutal scheme, say police, Leekin accused of using fake IDs, multiple aliases, pocketing millions in subsidies for a lavish lifestyle, including three upscale homes and multiple cars. The question tonight: How did she slip through the system`s cracks? And how many more like her are out there?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A police captain in Florida says it`s one of the most horrendous child abuse cases he has ever seen. Investigators say this woman -- her name is Judith Leekin -- fraudulently adopted 11 children with handicaps and held them prisoner in her home. They say she sometimes handcuffed them, starved them and never let them go to school or see a doctor.
She was formally charged today with abuse and other crimes and could face up to 160 years in prison. The children were found in Port St. Lucie but adopted in New York. Police say Leekin -- well, she was after the money. She got about $2 million in subsidies that was supposed to be used for the children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight: A stunning discovery at a Maryland home, the bodies of four dead infants found from under the bathroom sink to hidden outside in a Winnebago. Headlines tonight. As police and the FBI complete a full-scale three-day search at that Maryland property, the case now turns on the state medical examiner, DNA testing under way on the four infants as prosecutors weigh additional murder charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police came here to Freeman`s property after she reported to the hospital with bleeding and cramping and admitted that she had given birth to a baby, but she said she flushed it down the toilet. Police came here, found the remains of not one but four pre-term infants. Right now, Freeman is being held without bond in the county jail. She faces charges of first degree murder, second degree murder and manslaughter in the death of the first infant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.
First of all, we go to the Mississippi River bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I believe we have video of that right now. An interstate bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, just collapsed, plunging hard chunks of cement into the Mississippi River below. This is in Minneapolis.
Lieutenant Amelia Huffman (ph) of the Minneapolis Police Department tells Headline News it was not clear what caused the collapse. It happened on Interstate 35 West, a bridge near University Avenue. There are personnel now involved in the rescue unit. You are seeing live pictures of the collapse of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. We`ll be leading with updates as we get it.
This collapse sending cars and tons of concrete crashing into the water. No known number of fatalities. The entire span of the Interstate 35 West bridge collapsed around 6:05 PM their time. A tractor-trailer caught fire, flame and black smoke billowing out into the sky. Local TV stations capture video like this of injured people being carried up the river bank. No immediate word on injuries or fatalities.
There are dozens of rescue vehicles there, divers now in the water, trying to make rescues, people stranded on parts of the bridge that are not completely in the water as of right now. I-35 West bridge collapses. Not clear how many people could be hurt or killed, but witnesses say at least 20 cars involved.
You`re seeing live coverage, live video of the collapse of the Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis. We`ll take you back there live as soon as we know more.
Right now, back to a true house of horrors, 11 adoptive children held prisoner their own Florida home, nearly starved to death, held at handcuff. They`re adoptive mom makes out with literally millions of dollars in child welfare payments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... the only child allowed outside, the rest kept captive, beaten, even burned, forced to go to the bathroom in the hallway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The definition that I got is the person was starving to death. And if they continued on with the diet that they were living on, eventually, they would have succumbed to that starvation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today they actually formally charged her with the 10 counts, including child abuse, aggravated elder abuse. And those charges are the ones prosecutors are saying, if convicted on all those charges, could bring up to 160 years in prison. They`re also saying, though, that more charges are likely to be filed.
They have to put the charges through the court system. She`ll then make a first appearance. At some point, she`ll enter her plea. Her attorney has said she`ll plead not guilty. Obviously, her attorney says she denies the allegations and that she cared for these kids and nurtured them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All this began with Leekin allegedly trying to abandon some of her victims in St. Pete. Police want to make sure all victims are accounted for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I want to go straight to Paul Quinlan, reporter with "The Palm Beach Post." What happened?
PAUL QUINLAN, "PALM BEACH POST": Well, we know that from 1993 to 1996, this woman, Judith Leekin, adopted these children. There were 11 altogether. And then up until July of this year collected subsidy payments from New York and possibly other sources. The amount that we`ve heard is between $1.5 million and $2 million, although New York confirmed today that they`ve accounted for $1.26 million.
GRACE: You know, Jean Casarez, Court TV correspondent also on the case, some figures as high as $3 million. We know of two very upscale homes. Apparently, one of these homes was the nicest one in the neighborhood with an immaculate lawn, even a pool, statues out in the yard. We know of a second home, and it is theorized there is a third home. This woman has raked in nearly $3 million, according to some sources, on child welfare!
JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: Right. And this case, though, starts in New York because it was in New York that this woman adopted children from four different adoptive agencies, investigators are saying. She went by different names at each agency, with different addresses.
GRACE: OK, wait. Let me get this straight, Jean. One woman using use different names, different alias in order to adopt all these children and fake out adoption agencies?
CASAREZ: That is what the investigators are saying. The motive for everything was money, to get money from the state, to get money from the federal government. It was in 1999 that...
GRACE: Is this her home, the one with all the palm trees around it?
CASAREZ: Yes. It`s beautiful.
GRACE: Nice! I`d like to live there, except for the handcuffs and the beatings. Go ahead.
CASAREZ: It was 1999, when she was still living here in New York, that there was a complaint made to the Department of Family Services.
GRACE: In 1999?
CASAREZ: In `99.
GRACE: It`s 2007, Jean.
GRACE: That`s right, but we`ve got to start this in 1999 because they went to the door. Apparently, they didn`t see all the children. She then fled the state of New York for Florida. The case was then closed. That was an opportunity, Nancy...
(CROSSTALK)
CASAREZ: ... malnourishment. This is in New York.
GRACE: So she -- apparently, everyone, you can just leave the jurisdiction and escape headlines like this, "$3 million mom scandal." According to police, this woman had adopted at least 11 disabled children. Why disabled? You get more money if you take in a disabled child, as opposed to a perfectly healthy child. So Jean, when the investigation started in `99 in New York, she just left and that was the end of it?
CASAREZ: That is what investigators are saying. So she went to Florida. Well, guess what? There was a complaint with Department of Child and -- services there in Florida -- went to her door. Now, we don`t know anything about that case except that it`s closed and it`s part of the current investigation. But there were several opportunities...
GRACE: They went to the door, and that was it? That`s the investigation?
CASAREZ: We can`t find out anything else because it`s sealed. As you know, Department of Family Services normally is. And now it`s part of the current investigation.
But let`s take everybody up to 2007. What they found when investigators now went to the door were actually eight children in the home -- eight children -- four children, four adults, special needs children. And the gruesome discoveries allegedly that were found, that these children were bound. They were tied. They were not allowed to go outside, no doctors, no dentists, no school, malnourished...
GRACE: Is it true, Paul Quinlan -- Paul joining us from "The Palm Beach Post" -- that none of these children had ever been registered in school and that this lady, Judith Leekin, had apparently falsified documents to make it appear as if they had been in school and going to doctors and dentists?
QUINLAN: Well, that`s what we`ve heard. We`ve heard that they never attended school. One of the ways that she was asked to prove wellbeing and prove that she still had possession of the kids was by sending school records, which were apparently forged from the local school district, the county school district.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities over in St. Petersburg, about 200 miles away, had found an 18-year-old woman wandering aimlessly there. She told them that Judith Leekin was her mother. She had been with her about 13 years. She drove her over to St. Petersburg under the guise of going to an amusement park and abandoned her there. Eventually, it led police back to the Port St. Lucie home. And they eventually found the eight other children, and these horrible stories started to emerge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a lot of conflicting stories about how many kids were seen there at any one given time. Her immediate neighbor right next to her says he only saw one child there with her throughout the years who was outside, working on the yard. But all of them described her as a real nice lady, anybody`s grandmother, who would come over and greet new people who moved into the neighborhood. And they had no idea anything like this was going on inside the house, if, indeed, it was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Everyone, very quickly, we`re going back to that scene there in Minneapolis. The 35 West bridge near University Avenue campus has collapsed. The entire span of the 35 West bridge collapsed around 6:05 PM, right in the middle of rush hour, the freeway crossing the river near University Avenue, traffic in both directions backed up. But that`s not the problem. Divers are in the water, as we speak, trying to make rescues.
Out to Don Clark. What is their main priority right now, Don?
DON CLARK, FORMER HEAD OF FBI HOUSTON BUREAU: Well, Nancy, their main priority right now is to try to save lives, as many as they possibly can, and rescue these people.
But Nancy, here`s a great opportunity for these resources, these Homeland Security resources to go into play. They can respond quickly. They can really look at the situation and determine what they need and try to get more equipment there to save those lives. And then they`re going to look at this to see if there`s anything sinister happened, such as some type of terrorist involvement.
GRACE: You know, speaking of possible terrorist involvement, we haven`t heard about that at this juncture, but there is also no explanation for the collapse of this bridge. You are seeing live footage of what`s going on right now, there in Minnesota. This is the Mississippi bridge, 35 West bridge, near University Avenue campus.
Jean Casarez, this is live footage, divers in the water right now. What more can you tell us?
CASAREZ: Well, they believe that at least 20 cars are involved. And obviously, there are cars that fell into the water when this bridge, the cement collapsed, the concrete roadway. I think something that`s so important in all of this is that it was during rush hour, and that is a critical time of the day, when people are on that bridge, going back home to their families. They believe at least eight cars and a truck, at this point in time, are in that water.
GRACE: One motorist, Don Clark, told reporters that there was shaking he believed from a jackhammer, and then the bridge just dropped. Now, that suggests to many people that there was not an infrastructure problem with the bridge, that something caused the collapse.
We also learning as we speak -- everyone, this is the Mississippi River bridge collapsing there in Minneapolis at the height of rush hour. Shortly after the collapse, a tractor-trailer went on fire there on the bridge, as you see that car hanging on. We don`t know if anyone is in that car or not.
Shortly after the collapse, the trailer on fire. Rescue workers have now brought in boats to help remove victims from the water, dragging them up the river bank.
Now, the main part of the collapsed span is not submerged, but the span has clearly separated from both the land-based sections. Take a look at that. The bridge is now separated from the land-based sections of the bridge on both the north and the south ends of the bridge. This going down right at the height of rush hour, everyone trying to get back and forth across this bridge. Right now, we don`t have the number of injuries or fatalities. This is an interstate bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapsing just a couple of hours ago.
Take a look at this, Jean. You can see where it`s actually come apart from the land-based section of the bridge.
CASAREZ: You know, Nancy, we do want to tell everybody that people are being rescued from the water onto the river bank right now, and I think that is an important aspect of this. Lives are being saved. And this is very near the city center, so you`ve got rescue crews that were very close at hand when this collapsed not too long ago.
GRACE: Out to medical examiner, forensic pathologist Dr. William Morrone. What is the number one rescue priority right now, Doctor?
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: You want to get to the people who may not have enough oxygen or are in the water. You want to get to people from blunt force trauma and fractures. And then everybody that`s rescued has to go to a hospital and be evaluated because of the long-term consequences of...
GRACE: I would think their first priority, Dr. Morrone -- we`re going to show you again the photo of the bridge before collapse -- would be the people in the water.
MORRONE: Yes. Yes. Based on oxygen and exposure, yes.
GRACE: As you can see, the bridge tilting straight up, completely separated from the land-based portions of the bridge.
Don Clark, why would you even think to bring up the specter of terrorism?
CLARK: Well, because you have to look at that. Nancy, if you recall, an airplane fell out of the sky a few years ago, and we worked for months and years to try to repeat that -- put that back together, to reconstruct it to make sure that it wasn`t terrorists then. This was even before 9/11. Certainly, after 9/11, when you have something like this -- and this seems to be catastrophic, certainly, at the moment here, as to what happened -- you have to leave that in as a potential or possibility. But rescuing those people, getting them out and then trying to determine the cause is where they need to go.
GRACE: The bridge known in the area -- the highway known in the area is 35 West. And you are seeing this water bridge completely disconnected from the land-based portions of the bridge. Police -- Lieutenant Amelia Huffman of the Minneapolis Police Department telling Headline News affiliate KARE not clear what happened that caused the collapse, but has never seen anything like it, Jean Casarez.
CASAREZ: You know, according to "The Star-Tribute," which is the newspaper in Minneapolis, this is a 40-year-old bridge. And of course, the issue, Nancy, what caused it? You might remember several years ago, when that earthquake happened in San Francisco, and a roadway -- not a bridge, it was a roadway -- but it just plummeted like this, but there was an earthquake. And so what caused a bridge, a massive bridge, even though it is 40 years old -- there are many highways that are 40 years olds -- what caused it to collapse at this point in time?
GRACE: Right now joining us, psychologist and author Dr. William July. Another problem is people trapped on the bridge are panicking -- are panicking right now.
WILLIAM JULY, PSYCHOLOGIST: Panicking is a natural response, and what people have to do is -- you know, as unnatural as it seems, you have to not panic. You have to slow down because when you start panicking...
GRACE: Slow down? My God, man! The bridge is over water. Cars are plunging into the water. They`re dragging people up the banks of the river. What do you mean, Don`t panic?
JULY: Exactly. And the only way to make a decision that can save your life in a situation like this is not to panic, as much as possible. Your natural response is to panic, but as much as possible, cool yourself down so you can think.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: You are seeing live footage from the interstate highway 35-W bridge over the Mississippi River. It is there in Minnesota, collapsing during the evening rush hour, at the height, in the last hour, cars, trucks, cement crashing into the water below, creating a horrific scene of damage. There`s fire, smoke, injuries, frantic rescuers, terrified motorists and pedestrians. At this juncture, no number of fatalities or injuries.
Out to Captain Scott Bartal (ph). Captain, thank you for being with us. What are police instructions at a time of an emergency like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, of course, in a situation like you`re describing, time is of the essence and fractions of a second can make the difference between life and death. But just as important is as getting there as quickly as we can, get there as safely as we can. To try to get there at a speed or at a pace that`s dangerous might cause additional unnecessary injuries to the officer or first responder, as well as other civilians. So to get there as safely as possible.
And then when we do arrive, in addition to tending to the immediate rescues, is to keep people calm, I agree with the person that you had on there earlier, to try to control that panic. Panic is a normal reaction to these situations and controlling that panic...
GRACE: Well, one thing...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... is very, very important.
GRACE: ... I don`t understand -- out to you, John Burris. John, what`s the history of the bridge? And what I don`t understand is how they`re going to -- the water portion of the bridge has been totally disconnected from the land portion. How are they going to save people, other than through boats?
JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, saving the people is something that the fire people and the rescue people -- that`s what they have to do. You know, from looking at it from a lawyer`s point of view, of course, I would be concerned and want to know about the history of this particular bridge and what have the authorities done in looking at this bridge down through the past years. These kind of things don`t just happen. There`s always some causation, some -- unless there`s a terrorist act.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A busy highway bridge spanning the Mississippi River just northeast of Minneapolis collapses during peak rush hour, in the last hour, cars, tons of cement, trucks, crashing not only onto water but land. You`re seeing aerial shots from local TV showing the entire span of the crumpled bridge right into the water below, injured being dragged up the river bank, emergency workers tending to others on the ground. There`s no immediate word on the number of injuries or fatalities. A school bus had just crossed the bridge before it collapsed.
Let`s go straight out to CNN correspondent Richelle Carey. Richelle, what`s happening?
RICHELLE CAREY, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Nancy, can you hear me?
GRACE: Yes. Go ahead.
CAREY: All right. We can tell you right now that there is an active scene, as they`re trying to -- they have divers in the water right now, trying to get to people that may actually be submerged. As you can imagine, there are people that probably ended up under water because they actually didn`t know what was happening to them. Multiple sections (INAUDIBLE) this is Interstate 35 West bridge. This bridge leads from downtown Minneapolis to the University of Minnesota. This is a very busy bridge.
But actually, even as you look at this -- you`re not going to believe this, Nancy -- it could have been worse because this bridge was actually having some repairs done. So there may have been only one or two lanes of this bridge that was actually open. So believe it or not, in spite of what you`re...
GRACE: Richelle, that`s very interesting. With us, Richelle Carey, Headline News`s Richelle Carey. One of the people on the bridge, Richelle, said they heard a jackhammer just before the collapse, which fits hand in hand with what you`re saying, that the bridge was under repair.
CAREY: Absolutely. This bridge is about 40 years old, and the surface of the bridge was being worked on. So obviously, that meant that even though it`s an eight-lane bridge, there were only one, maybe two lanes open. So as awful as this looks, Nancy, people`s lives may have been spared.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m standing on a high hill just southwest, about a quarter mile, as close as the police will let us get, and just seeing some heavy-duty (INAUDIBLE) heading in toward the area. Saw a couple of emergency vehicles screaming away from the scene. Again, don`t know if there`s anybody in there, but also important to note that construction was not only on the bridge, but a couple-mile stretch of 35W even north of there. So it`s just not the bridge that was under construction. It was a couple miles stretch that`s been under construction for several weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m standing in the north bend, and there`s a piece that`s about a third of the way south that kind of buckles, and that`s preventing the view into the water from the north end. My guess (INAUDIBLE) if it was one lane -- I mean, there could be, you know, 10 to 20 cars in the river, including construction vehicles, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A busy highway bridge spanning the Mississippi River, just northeast of Minneapolis, collapses in the last hours, sending cars, trucks, tons of cement crashing into the waters, the traffic bumper to bumper at the time of the crash. Is this bridge so structurally unstable that it crashed within itself? Out to Headline News` Richelle Carey.
Richelle, what else can you tell us?
RICHELLE CAREY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN HEADLINES NEWS: You know, Nancy, when you see all these pictures coming in over the past hour and 20 minutes, you probably think the most jarring thing you saw, you saw that school bus, the school bus sitting there on the bridge. And we think there were maybe about 20 kids on the school bus. We don`t have a lot of specifics on the injuries now. But when you think about the school bus -- and then just ahead of the school bus, you saw that 18-wheeler burning on fire, and you think about those kids just a few feet away from that. That`s just unbelievable, out of so many pictures that are so unbelievable. When you look at this bridge, the Interstate 35W Bridge that just collapsed over the Mississippi River, it`s just a lot to take in, Nancy.
GRACE: No immediate word right now on the number of injuries or fatalities. We know that rescue crews are pulling people out of the water up the side of the banks. Jean Casarez, the bridge is only 40 years old?
JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: It is only 40 years old. And now we learn that there may have been construction on that bridge, so possibly it`s not the bridge itself that was the issue, but the construction. And, of course, the focus now is the victims, because the victims` lives are being saved right now. Maybe some lives are not being saved. But you have a legal show. And so if we look at possible legal issues here, was it negligent to even have two lanes open when that bridge is under construction? Did it just not have the strength at that moment to have all of those people during the rush hour be on it?
GRACE: A horrible collapse on this bridge. There you`re seeing live coverage. Victims being pulled out of the water. This in at the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. It is northeast of Minneapolis, leading into the Twin Cities, a major thoroughfare. Out to the lines, Lucy. Hi, Lucy in New York.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. Love your show.
GRACE: Thank you, dear. What`s your question?
CALLER: It`s a two-part question, Nancy. Are these bridges inspected -- hello?
GRACE: Yes, go ahead, dear.
CALLER: Not visually, but actual structural testing. And the second part is, how often, and are there logs to prove it?
GRACE: OK, hold on, I don`t understand. What was your question? Repeat.
CALLER: OK, my question was, are these bridges inspected, not visual inspection, but actual structural testing? And the second part is, how often are they inspected? And are there logs kept?
GRACE: Lucy, excellent question. Jean?
CASAREZ: Excellent question, Lucy. It is going to be a governmental issue. There is probably a city division that does that inspection. Logs most likely definitely will have to be kept. Now, once the investigation starts, will they find all that in order? That will be the question, you`re right.
GRACE: And, of course, there`s also the issue -- out to Chuck Dender joining us -- for years and years, remember in New Orleans, it was said over and over that the levees there were structurally unsound?
CHUCK DENDER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, I do remember. The problem with this with any tort issues lies, Nancy, sovereign immunity protects the city. There is no lawsuit against the city that would ever be filed by anybody involved in this terrible accident. The fact that there are repairs on the bridge undergoing obviously leads to some kind of negligence on the part of the construction company. The jackhammer comment, again, very early on, seems pretty relevant in the sense where maybe they had pushed their work a little too far and caused this collapse.
GRACE: People stranded on parts of the bridge that are not completely in the water. As you can see, the bridge apparently cracked in at least two, if not three, different places. There you see water pouring down on a semi that caught on fire.
Back to Dr. William July. What about the families that are expecting their love ones home for dinner at any moments?
DR. WILLIAM JULY, AUTHOR: The families have to watch out for the slippery slope. Let`s say you`re sitting home, and you`re watching this, and you think your child or your loved one is over there, you`ve got to not get into this mode of thinking where you`re starting to thinking about what could happen, what worse could happen, what happens next. You`ve got to do that. And the second thing they have to do is avoid a second emergency situation by going down there. Don`t go down there. You`re just going to make it worse. Just stay home. Keep some friends and loved ones around you and keep things on the positive. Don`t go down that slippery slope, because there`s nothing there for you.
GRACE: You know, it`s hard to take in, Susan Moss, the sovereign immunity issue Chuck Dender. If this bridge was not properly inspected, if it was not properly being repaired, and if traffic should have been cut off, it`s very difficult to take in that there`s no possibility of a lawsuit?
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, whenever there are damages, there are going to be lawsuits. But the big issue here is going to be causation. Was there a design defect in how the bridge was constructed? Was there some negligence from that company who was doing the repairs? Is it possible that there was one pressure point on this bridge that, if hit by a jackhammer, can do this much damage? These are the issues that are going to be examined. I agree with sovereign immunity. It`s heartbreaking to accept, but there may be other players who may be liable in this tragedy.
GRACE: And to John Burris, even when there is sovereign immunity, which means the king can do no wrong, the government can do no wrong, you can`t sue them, very often we see, for instance, with public transportation and many other examples, you can sue, but there may be caps, monetary caps?
JOHN BURRIS, FMR. PROSECUTOR, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: I`ll tell you, I was involved in the collapse of the bridge, as well as the Cypress freeway in San Francisco that resulted from the earthquake, and we were able to sue on behalf of people who were killed or not. And (INAUDIBLE) because there was so much notice that the state had that this thing was not going to survive if there was an earthquake and, because of that, if you have notice, you can, in fact, trump some of these sovereign immunity-type questions.
I don`t agree at all that sovereign immunity will prevent individuals who have been killed as a consequence of negligence on the part of anyone from collecting. I just don`t think that`s going to be the case.
GRACE: CNN Headline News now reporting at least one known fatality. Back out to Dr. William Morrone. It`s concerning me right now, I`ve seen how slowly water rescue is. It`s very, very difficult, especially in this type of chaos. We know of one fatality so far. What`s the best bet for someone out in the water right now?
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER: The best bet is to try to stay warm. Get to oxygen, not expend too much energy. And the rescue efforts are coordinated in a system called incident command system. That`s a joint sheriff-police-fire department system. They`re going to have people out looking for people. And they report back, and then they go out and rescue them based on the structural safely. They still have to take in account the rescuer`s safety.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Rachel in California, hi, Rachel.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Hi, dear.
CALLER: You`re the best.
GRACE: Thank you.
CALLER: You`re welcome. My question is, if we were ever caught in a situation where our car was underwater and all the windows were closed, now that everything is electric, how will we be able to get out and try and possibly save ourselves?
GRACE: To Don Clark, you know, that is the subject of a lot of safety courses with the electric windows. Safety manuals often tell you to keep an item in the car to break out the window. Can you shed any light on that?
DON CLARK, FORMER HEAD OF FBI HOUSTON BUREAU: Absolutely, Nancy. They`ve got to keep something in there so that they get themselves out. You can never allow yourself to be put in any type of situation where there`s only one way to get you, and that`s someone from the outside in. You`ve got to have that capability. And I think rescuers would come up there and look for people to try to be getting themselves out of there or maybe break the windows, and certainly, if they`re good swimmers, because they`re going to suffocate in that car if they don`t. So break the window. Get out of there. And hopefully that they do have -- they have these little tools that you can just hit the window with and break.
GRACE: And there are safety kits for this purpose to keep in your car. Captain Scott Bartal is joining us. You are an expert at emergency rescue. What can you tell us about cars plunging into the water? What`s the best avenue of safety?
CAPT. SCOTT BARTAL, PORT ST. LUCIE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, the best avenue of safety, again, is to try to remain calm. And I know that`s difficult to understand or imagine, but to try to get out of that vehicle as quickly as you can.
GRACE: Well-put. Jean Casarez, we knew already that this would be narrowed last night and tonight.
CASAREZ: Well, you know, Nancy, your producers have confirmed that that bridge was undergoing construction work. There is a public information notice from the Minnesota Department of Transportation that was previous to this. It came out saying that last night and tonight the bridge overlay on 35W would only be one lane due to construction.
GRACE: So far, reports announcing one dead. Rescue efforts still underway.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see a number of rescue boats out in the center and people filing into it. I also see cop cars which has stationed a number of areas on the east and west side of the river, on both sides of the highways. It looks like they`re taking statements from a lot of witnesses. There are people around. There`s also ambulances, fire trucks. The one car that caught on fire, which has caused the most dramatic display, is currently being hosed down vigorously by a crane hose coming out of a fire truck here on the west side of the river.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m standing on a high hill just southwest, about a quarter mile, as close as the police will let us get, and just seeing some heavy-duty (INAUDIBLE) heading in toward the area. Saw a couple of emergency vehicles screaming away from the scene. Again, don`t know if there`s anybody in there, but also important to note that construction was not only on the bridge, but a couple-mile stretch of 35W even north of there. So it`s just not the bridge that was under construction. It was a couple miles stretch that`s been under construction for several weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The death toll is rising. According to CNN Headline News, three now known dead. Rescue crews still out in the water there at the Mississippi River bridge, just northeast of Minneapolis. A busy highway bridge at the height of traffic rush hour. It`s spanning the Mississippi River, sending cars, tons of concrete, trucks into the water and onto the land. The bridge seemingly cracked in three separate places. This is a bridge 64 feet elevated above the river. That`s the plunge that these cars are taking, 64 feet, Jean.
CASAREZ: You know, and this bridge, it was opened in November of 1967. And that`s a time in this country where freeways were opening all over the land. You know, 35W is a freeway that intersects the entire center of this country. It starts in Laredo, Texas, goes up through Texas, into Oklahoma, and up into Minneapolis.
The claim to fame of this bridge -- apparently, this is a famous bridge. It was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid having any piers in the water. So there were no piers because they thought it would involve navigation and that it would disrupt the navigation. It also has a de-icing feature that apparently has been a model for bridges all over this country.
GRACE: Back out to Headline News` Richelle Carey. Richelle, what can you tell us? What`s happening now?
CAREY: Right now, Nancy, we can tell you that there are still divers looking for people that might be in the water, because you have to remember that this bridge also had bikers and pedestrians that used the bridge, too. We`re not just talking about people that were in vehicles. So that`s also what we`re talking about, people that didn`t have the protection of maybe a vehicle that maybe, I don`t know, could have bought them a little bit more time while they were in the water. So there are boaters and divers in the water, as well. There is also a command center.
And also some of these people were maybe families on their way to the Twins game, as well. This is the route people take to get to the Dome to watch the baseball games, as well, Nancy. So these may have been families on their way trying to have a nice evening, also. That`s something to keep in mind.
GRACE: You know, back out to our lawyer, Susan Moss, John Burris, Chuck Dender, to you, Susan Moss, there`s a big difference in an act of God versus imperfect searching, inappropriate investigation, inspection, and some type of construction going on, on this bridge, that could have weakened the bridge, while traffic and pedestrians are on the bridge.
MOSS: Absolutely. The question is, did any person or company`s negligence lead to the results that we`re watching right now? And that can only be found through causation investigation. What that means is that there are going to be experts examining every piece of this tragedy, looking at every piece of that broken bridge to see if they can find clues to what happened. If it is an act of God, true, the lawsuits will be less. If it is not, watch out.
GRACE: Joining us from KDWA 1460 AM there on the scene, Dan Maxman (ph), Dan, thank you for being with us. What can you tell us?
DAN MAXMAN (ph): Well, it`s kind of sketchy right now, the information about it. First of all, they said about 6:05, there`s reports of it started shaking and rocking side to side before it went down.
A couple of major points, that the kids that are in the school bus are all safe. They`re all -- they went to Hennepin County Medical Center. They were released to their parents. They`re all safe.
The other part of it is, is that the bridge actually wasn`t doing any structural repairs. They were just doing maintenance on the top of it, to the lanes, recoating and that kind of stuff. That`s why it was down to one lane either way. So there wasn`t any structural work that was actually being done on it as of yet.
GRACE: Dan Maxman (ph) joining us from KDWA 1460 AM. One of the witnesses on the bridge said they heard a jackhammer just before the collapse. What are the theories right now as to what happened? That bridge literally cracked into pieces.
MAXMAN (ph): You know, they don`t know at this point. I haven`t heard that yet, so I can`t comment on it. I do know the Minnesota Department of Transportation is going in a news conference in the next couple of seconds here literally to try and give out more information about that.
GRACE: Joining us right now is Gary Schiff, councilmember for Ward 9. Thank you for being with us, Councilman. What can you tell us?
GARY SCHIFF, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL: We are learning thing from the television ourselves. We have been informed by the Department of Homeland Security this is not being considered an act of terror. We have three confirmed fatalities at this point. And we are sending all available resources to the scene. And we`ve activated our emergency operation center in City Hall. And the fire department is calling all employees to report to duty.
GRACE: With us, Councilman Gary Schiff, councilmember for Ward 9. Is this within your ward, sir?
SCHIFF: No, it is not. It`s in downtown Minneapolis, and I represent south.
GRACE: What can you tell us about this area? This bridge connects to downtown Twin Cities?
SCHIFF: Yes, the bridge is the major spine that brings tens of thousands of commuters to the northern suburbs. It has been under reconstruction with pavement upgrades for the past month. And traffic was streamlined down to not its normal capacity during that collapse. So, at this point, this is definitely a major catastrophe for Minneapolis.
GRACE: The three fatalities, were they on land or water, or do we know?
SCHIFF: At that point, I do not know.
GRACE: This started tonight around 7:10 p.m. local, 8:10 Eastern, bridge not far from the Metrodome, Councilman.
SCHIFF: Yes.
GRACE: Are the twins playing there tonight?
SCHIFF: Not to my knowledge.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Trish in West Virginia, hi, Trish.
CALLER: Hi, how are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
CALLER: I was just wondering, do you think this was caused maybe by an earthquake or something, like a tremor?
GRACE: What do we know, Councilman? Was there any suggestion of that?
SCHIFF: No, there`s no suggestions of that at this point. And we do not know a cause, but the Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement saying it`s not an act of terror.
GRACE: We`re seeing very few boats out in the water. Is that because of the number of people that went into the water? Are these all the resources?
SCHIFF: I know that all of the available resources are being brought to this scene as quickly as possible. The local televisions are reporting up to 50 vehicles in the water. And beyond that, I can`t tell you anything other than that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realized that this (INAUDIBLE) was right next to me. And me and a couple other guys went over and started lifting the kids off the bridge. They were yelling, screaming, bleeding. I think there were some broken bones.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You are seeing live coverage of the bridge falling there in Minneapolis, just north of the Twin Cities. This is the Mississippi River Bridge, crashing cars, trucks, cement blocks down into the Mississippi River. Repeat, just north of Minneapolis. The Coast Guard has closed down the river, Jean Casarez.
CASAREZ: That`s right. They`re also bringing in a helicopter and two boats to aid in the search efforts for these people on land and in water.
GRACE: U.S. Coast Guard Commander Jeffrey Carter telling us the river is closed under order of the U.S. Coast Guard from mile marker 851 to 857. A Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Traverse City, Michigan, two boats en route to the scene to help out the locals. We were saying earlier that Twins game starting at 7:10 p.m. local. That`s 7:10 Eastern, 6:10 local. Bridge not far from the Metrodome, people pouring over that bridge to get to the Metrodome, leave work, get home. Right now, three fatalities known, 50 vehicles in the water, Jean.
CASAREZ: That`s right. And it was confirmed that there was a form of construction work going on, on that bridge. It was overlay work, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. That has been explained to us on air as being a recoating effort. But it did take the bridge down to only one lane last night, and it was supposed to be again tonight.
GRACE: So far, three known dead, 50 vehicles in the water, according to Councilperson Schiff.
We`re stopping still to remember Army Sergeant Jacob Schmuecker, 27, Atkinson, Nebraska, killed, Iraq. On a first tour, a member of the Nebraska National Guard, avid sports fan, awarded the Combat Action Badge, Purple Heart, Bronze Star. Leaves behind seven siblings, mom, Patty, widow, Lisa, three children, 19 months to 4 years, Jacob Schmuecker, American hero.
Thank you to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. And tonight, our prayers there in the Twin Cities. Until tomorrow night, good night, friend.
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