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Nancy Grace

Woman Charged With Mid-Flight Assault on Crew; Naomi Campbell Free After Pleading Guilty to Assaulting Two Police Officers

Aired June 20, 2008 - 20:00   ET

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

DIANE DIMOND, GUEST HOST: Tonight, air rage times two. First, she boozes it up on a cross-country Jetblue flight and then deliberately lights up a cigarette in direct violation of FAA rules. When the crew tells her to put it out, police say she goes on the attack, screaming, cursing, even punching and threatening a male flight attendant, the female passenger so out of control, the pilot forced to divert the plane for an emergency landing.
So what`s her excuse in the sober light of day? Well, she claims she doesn`t remember a thing because she was just too drunk, and she blames the flight attendants for serving her too many drinks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chaos at 35,000 feet after a passenger allegedly tries to light up a cigarette in mid-flight. Jetblue flight attendants claim 35-year-old Christina Szele brought cigarettes and a matchbook to the bathroom, where they were confiscated by a flight attendant. But just minutes later, Szele begins allegedly smoking at her seat, where a flight attendant says he confiscates the cigarette.

That`s when authorities allege Szele turned violent, kicking and thrashing in mid-air. Authorities put the woman in plastic handcuffs, but she allegedly breaks free. The plane makes an emergency landing in Denver, where Szele is arrested and charged with interference with a flight crew and assault, Szele facing more than 20 years behind bars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: And air rage saga number two ended today in a British courtroom. Catwalk queen Naomi Campbell made headlines back in April when she was hauled away at Heathrow International Airport -- remember that -- accused of attacking and spitting on police officers during a violent altercation over lost luggage, of all things. But tonight, even after pleading guilty, disrespecting law enforcement and her long history of assaulting underlings, celebrity justice strikes again. Naomi Campbell walks away with no jail time. How did that happen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Naomi Campbell`s temper can take her from strutting her stuff on the catwalk to sweeping the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Naomi Campbell has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service after admitting kicking and spitting at police officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The supermodel was arrested after a violent row on board a plane at Heathrow airport.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The court heard how Campbell yelled at the captain saying, I can`t believe you`ve lost my (DELETED) bag. Bring me my (DELETED) bags now. Despite efforts to calm Campbell down, she continued to shout at the captain, How dare you tell me what my options are? You`re not leaving until you find my (DELETED) bag. You are a racist. You wouldn`t be doing this if I was white."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ve always been someone, I have to say, that has stood up and said what I want or what I don`t want. And I`m not someone who can be pushed into doing something. I mean, I`m strong, but I`m sensitive also (INAUDIBLE). I`ve got my temper under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Good evening. I`m Diane Dimond, in for Nancy Grace tonight. Mayhem at 30,000 feet, a cross-country Jetblue flight turns violent when a boozed-up passenger lights up and then goes on a wild rampage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Jetblue flight from New York to San Francisco allegedly turns violent, the flight crew saying they were forced to make an emergency landing in Denver. Jetblue flight attendants claim Christina Szele tried repeatedly to light up a cigarette in mid-air, eventually succeeding. When confronted a second time by flight attendants, Szele allegedly turns violent.

Documents claim the unruly passenger was repeatedly hitting, shouting and swearing at the flight crew. The pilot watches the incident unfold on closed-circuit monitors from the cockpit, making the decision to land the plane. Szele allegedly telling investigators she didn`t recall smoking or hitting anyone, Szele`s brother telling reporters she started drinking a lot about a year ago, after a 10-year relationship ended.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: So your relationship ends and you go on a rampage on an airplane. Somehow, there`s a disconnect there in my mind.

Welcome, everybody. I`m Diane Dimond, in for Nancy Grace.

Let`s go right out to Richard Randall. He`s with KVOR, a local radio news/talk station there in the Denver area, where this woman is being held tonight. Richard, thanks for being with us. Tell us exactly what this woman is being charged with at this point.

RICHARD RANDALL, KVOR NEWSRADIO 740: Well, she is being charged with a couple of federal charges. One of them is interference with a flight crew. She faces up to 20 years in federal prison, up to a quarter million dollars on that. If convicted of assault -- she also faces that -- she would face six months in prison, $10,000 fine there. The least of her worries is smoking on a U.S. commercial flight. That carries a $1,000 fine.

DIMOND: Isn`t that ironic, and that`s what started it all. She actually had tried to get up and have a cigarette twice, once at the lavatory door and the cigarette was taken away from her. And then she calmly sat down in the seat and lit up.

That`s when these things were deployed. You`ve all seen these. These are those plastic cuffs. They put her hands in them, one of the flight attendants did, and tried to get it shut, but it didn`t hold somehow. She then clocks the flight attendant.

You know, Richard, this is pretty serious stuff, now. This is not just some drunk woman flailing around. These are federal charges, right?

RANDALL: They`re federal charges. She`ll be back in court in Denver on Monday for a detention hearing. And these are federal charges, federal court, and very serious. They don`t take lightly what goes on in an airplane like this. And her behavior, the language that she was using, very disruptive on the flight. And of course, the allegations that she punched one of the flight attendants in the jaw, very serious. The airlines don`t tolerate it. The FBI doesn`t tolerate it, either.

DIMOND: Now let`s bring in Mike Brooks. You all know him. He is our resident cop du jour. Hey, Mike, nice to see you. Now, I know that you set up a sort of passenger abuse system for Delta Airlines, did you not?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That`s correct. We started up -- we were the first airlines -- it was before 9/11 -- to start up an abusive passenger program to deal with incidents just like this, from dealing with people who abuse reservationists, people at the counter, and for violence at the gate and in the air.

DIMOND: I see. And was it part of your protocol, so to speak, to use these plastic cuffs? Because in this instance, they sure didn`t work. Maybe they just weren`t tightened enough.

BROOKS: Well, the restraints weren`t really put on board the aircraft until after 9/11 and after they -- after some other procedures, cockpit doors hardened, some other things were done. But one of the things, Diane, when you do restrain a passenger, you have to restrain a passenger in front, just in case there is an on-board emergency.

DIMOND: Oh.

BROOKS: Now, one of the other things, too, is they tell them not to put it on too tight, to put it on securely because you don`t want to have to -- you don`t want to have to cut them off when you cut the circulation off in the passenger`s hands. They`re supposed to monitor that after you put the flex-cuffs on a disruptive passenger.

DIMOND: You know, in this vacation time, so many of us already have reservations to go on a flight or have already been on a flight.

We`ve already got phone calls on this. Dave is calling in from Canada. Hi, Dave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. How are you?

DIMOND: I`m great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Good. OK. Aren`t those people that work on that aircraft -- aren`t they trained to notice if people are having too much to drink?

DIMOND: Yes, I think they are. But there was a dispute about this, about how much she had to drink. Now, this young woman -- and she is a young woman, I mean, look at her -- she says she only had two beers at home -- OK, yes, maybe -- and then nothing in the airport bar, but that when she got on, they served her three vodka drinks. Apparently, according to a roommate of hers, she does not do well on vodka. She turns violent. So why she even ordered vodka, I don`t know. But the flight attendant disputes that and says that she only had one drink.

Let`s bring in a first officer, George Davis -- he is a commercial airline pilot -- because he can probably answer Dave`s question better than I. George, what about it? How are the flight attendants trained about serving alcohol?

1ST OFFICER GEORGE DAVIS, COMMERCIAL AIRLINE PILOT: Well, every situation is different and every passenger is different. But they assess people the whole flight, and if somebody starts acting weird -- we get notified a lot that, you know, We`ve cut off the gentleman in 6A or 23B because he doesn`t seem like he can handle his alcohol or he`s wanting more and we`re not going to give him any more. It`s pretty frequent that that happens.

But one thing to note here is that we`re not -- the flight attendants are not the first line of defense in this type of situation. The customer service agents at the airports who sell the tickets, who provide the boarding process, they`re supposed to keep their antennae up to these kinds of things. And if they see somebody`s had too much, they`re actually not supposed to let them on the aircraft. I don`t know if that was the situation in this case.

DIMOND: Well, that`s interesting. Well, I tell you, First Officer Davis, one of the flight attendants was later interviewed and said, This woman did not appear to me to be drunk. But apparently, she was, or perhaps she just had some anger management issues.

Let`s talk about that now more with Lyle Becourtney. He is an anger management professional. Lyle, talk to us about this. Certainly, there was anger there. This woman not only started to fight with the attendants, but there was some awful, awful hate-filled language used against one African-American flight attendant, wasn`t there.

LYLE BECOURTNEY, ANGER MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL: Oh, yes, there was. You know, the combination of her probably having a history of anger management issues and being intoxicated just made it extremely challenging for her to manage that. She really needed some time out at that time to regroup and get her act together. And the problem here is, she`s up in the air and there`s just no opportunity to get her that type of support that she needed.

DIMOND: Yes. I want to bring in Dr. Marty Makary because you have some definite opinions, I understand, about people who say, Well, I only had two drinks at home and it was just beer, and then I only had one more at the airport -- and, and, and. You think they are protesting too much?

DR. MARTY MAKARY, PHYSICIAN, PROF. OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS: Diane, you know, it is amazing how people underestimate the potency of alcohol. But it`s intrinsic to the substance. If it had to go through FDA approval because of the public health consequences, alcohol would never get approved.

DIMOND: Well, and don`t people who have a problem with alcohol tend to underestimate the number of drinks that they`ve had, or the strength?

MAKARY: Invariably. We use this rule in the emergency room that you should just triple any number that anybody tells you...

DIMOND: Wow.

MAKARY: ... because it is so predictable that people understate how much they drink because they don`t really know how bad it is for them.

DIMOND: Triple, that one I hadn`t heard.

Let`s bring in Belisa Vranich. She is a clinical psychologist. So we have somebody who`s obviously angry. We have someone who obviously had an alcohol problem that night, and according to her brother, may have had an alcohol problem for more than a year. Did she also have some emotional problems here to act out like this?

BELISA VRANICH, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, there are some emotional problems, but to me, what jumps out is that there`s definitely a substance abuse problem here which is in combination with the emotional problems. So as well as her having repercussions in the court, I think we are definitely going to see that she`s going to have to get treatment for her problem with alcohol.

DIMOND: I love this comment from her brother. "My sister" -- it was just drunk talk when she called the flight attendant the "N" word. "My sister isn`t a racist. It was just drunk talk." One of her roommates also says, She`s very nice when she`s sober.

Let`s go to Robert in Massachusetts. Hi, Robert. Have you got a question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. How`re you doing?

DIMOND: Good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. I was just wondering, when they arrested her, did they ever check her for psychiatric problems?

DIMOND: Oh, that`s interesting. Let`s go to Richard Randall, the reporter on the scene there. Richard, do you know, have there been any competency tests ordered for this woman, or is she just sitting in jail?

RANDALL: She`s just sitting in jail, Diane, but she`ll be back in court on Monday. So far, nothing of that nature. But I`m certain, at some point, her lawyers probably will bring up the issue of provocation. And that is rather than -- according to the arrest affidavits, rather than the flight attendants asking her to quit smoking and asking her to turn over her materials in that second incident, the flight attendant came up and used the word "snatched" the cigarette from her. She says that she was hit in the face. He says, No, I only got cigarette.

DIMOND: Peter Schaffer is our defense attorney on the panel tonight. So Peter Schaffer, you`ve heard the basics here. Maybe there`s another side to this story. How do you launch a defense for this woman? It`s the, Gee, I drank too much but it wasn`t my fault, the flight attendant served me too much defense?

PETER SCHAFFER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. There is -- my defense in a case like this, or anyone that does federal work, is get her in there and let her dry out for a little bit. She`s going to take a plea in this case because, you know, at any given moment, somewheres -- some, you know, people are drunk somewhere, doing stupid things. But the worst place you can do that is on an airplane because you trigger these federal statutes.

So although she`s -- I don`t believe she`s in any danger of doing 20 years in jail, she is -- you know, she has significant felony charges pending, and she`s going to take a plea and it`s going to involve substance abuse. It`s going to involve psychiatric...

DIMOND: Right. And Peter, doesn`t she have to come to court with her attorney -- oh, and I`ve got to ask the local reporter if she has an attorney yet assigned to her -- and have a program for rehabilitation? Gee, I know I have a problem here, I`m going to go get help at XYZ?

SCHAFFER: Well, I mean, in federal court, she`s been presented before a magistrate. She`ll immediately be given a lawyer. And at some point, if she`s allowed to be released at the detention hearing, I`m sure that one of the conditions of her release will be immediate entry into a substance abuse treatment program.

DIMOND: Richard Randall, KVOR radio there in the Denver area, has she been assigned a defense attorney yet?

RANDALL: No indication of that yet. Certainly, she`ll have one on Monday when she makes her appearance in court. She was in court earlier Wednesday, advised of the charges against her, did not enter a plea at that time.

DIMOND: Holly Hughes, former prosecutor, we are not kidding around here. I mean, some people can make jokes and say, Ha, ha, Oh, she got drunk, and she got, you know, the cuffs put on her, isn`t that ha, ha. These are federal charges. What do you think they`ll ask for, for this woman?

HOLLY HUGHES, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Diane, this is no laughing matter. And what they`re going to ask for is exactly what my esteemed colleague said earlier. They`re going to want drug and alcohol evaluation. They`re going to require that she get counseling, whether that`s inpatient or outpatient. As serious as her problem appears to be, it`s probably going to be inpatient. If she`s had an alcohol abuse problem for a year that her friends and family were aware of, Diane, it`s time for the court to get involved. I mean, these people are making comments like, Well, gee, you know, she`s had a problem for a year, and she`s nice when she`s sober.

DIMOND: She`s OK until she drinks vodka.

HUGHES: Well, exactly. And they knew that, Diane, so -- and she knows it. If they know it, she certainly knows it. Why is she ordering vodka? One, three, it doesn`t matter to me. She is out of control. The courts are going to tell her to get that evaluation. They`re going to tell her to get anger management. She`s going to have to have psychological counseling because, clearly, there`s deeper issues running with this young woman.

DIMOND: And they also like to make examples of people so others don`t act the same way.

Kim from New York is calling in with a question. Hi, Kim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Hi. I`m a flight attendant for a major carrier, 20 years, and I`m also a lead flight attendant. And I just had this happen a few months ago. I was physically and verbally assaulted by a passenger very similar to this situation. And our whole flight crew had the authorities meet the flight at the Port Authority in New York, and nothing was done. And my question is...

DIMOND: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... I`d like to know why this is not being enforced at all airports when authorities are requested.

DIMOND: Well, that`s a really good question, and I don`t know who on our panel to ask other than the first officer, George Davis. Mr. Davis, have you had a problem like this that wasn`t addressed?

DAVIS: I have had many problems like this in the past. And for some reason, it seems to depend upon the investigating authority when you pull up. We`ve actually had at my airline -- we`ve had -- we`ve requested the authorities to meet the flight, and then when we get there, there`s nobody there but a service agent.

DIMOND: Oh, gosh.

DAVIS: And then it`s up to the flight attendants and pilots. What are they supposed to do, you know, restrain the person and tell them they can`t go? So there`s definitely a disconnect. And I don`t know why in this situation the flight attendant is calling, why they were not prosecuted. But you know, there definitely is a lack of consistency.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: Flex-cuffs are restraints that they use on board the aircraft. Law enforcement uses them as an extra pair of handcuffs, if you will. And she was flex-cuffed in front because in case there`s an emergency in the plane, she`s got to be able to have her hands in front of her. So apparently, she was able to get out. Maybe she was a little bit sweaty, they didn`t have them pulled tight enough, don`t know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Yes, but after they put the handcuffs on her, she kicked and screamed and yelled until they sat down in Denver, Colorado.

I`m Diane Dimond, in tonight for Nancy Grace.

During the break, we learned that this young woman does have a public defender. That person has issued a "No comment" to us. So has Jetblue. They say they have absolutely no comment on the situation but they are cooperating with authorities.

Let`s bring in Art Harris here, investigative journalist extraordinaire. Art, I know that you had a sort of road rage, in the air rage problem. Somebody actually punched you. You didn`t press any charges, but it made you think because you believe that man was intoxicated. It made you come up with a new idea I thought was just fascinating -- FWI?

ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, we have driving under the influence, how about flying under the influence? This guy about six years ago came over the seat, punched me in the shoulder because he didn`t think I was turning my cell phone off fast enough. In fact, Mike Brooks was at Delta at the time, and I called Mike sort of baffled. But you know, I was so stunned by this that, you know, I took some names around me. But you know, the guy kept staring ahead, wouldn`t talk to me. And you know, you land, you get off, and that was it.

But it just made me think, Diane, that it wouldn`t be a terrible idea for airlines to think about a special law that would at least put passengers on notice. Here, the passengers were praising the airline, the flight attendants, because they were really afraid and they kept this guy in line.

DIMOND: Yes, and...

HARRIS: Or this woman.

DIMOND: ... remember 145 people -- woman, right -- 145 people were on that plane, never got to San Francisco on time. They had to divert to Denver, where they sat for two hours because this woman had way too much to drink.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: The crews are taught how to handle situations like this when they go through their initial training and also when they go through their training every year. But also, most flight attendants are now taught by the TSA, if they want to go to the class on personal defense. So they get personal defense training on how to push somebody away from you for incidents such as this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her brother says that she`d been in a long-term, 10-year relationship with a man in California. About a year ago, that ended. She started drinking heavily. He says that she`s a good person when she doesn`t drink, that she`s not a racist and that what you may have heard was just drunk talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Boo-hoo-hoo. I`m Diane Dimond, in for Nancy Grace tonight.

We have lots of callers here. Let`s go right out to Shirley in Pennsylvania. Hi, Shirley.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Diane. I have a one-part question.

DIMOND: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to know why the airlines have to serve liquor of any kind, including beer, on an airline...

DIMOND: Very good...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... to people like that.

DIMOND: Very good question. Serving it at all. George Davis is a commercial airline pilot. He doesn`t want to tell us with what company. But come on, George, this is a big source of revenue these days, isn`t it?

DAVIS: Well, it is, and I think it`s always going to become an issue. Any time you get a random sampling of this many people and you put them on an airplane and you offer liquor, sooner or later, just like it always happens, the law of averages catches up and somebody gets -- has too many, and then they become a problem.

DIMOND: Yes. And you guys can`t be -- you guys cannot be the police.

Roberta, Colorado, you have a question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. I wondered how she got her cigarette lighter and cigarettes on board.

DIMOND: Oh, that`s interesting. Mike Brooks, wait a minute. Cigarettes you can bring on board. What about matches these days?

BROOKS: Matches you can, but lighters, I still think they`re restricted. They did lift some of the restrictions on lighters. But still. she shouldn`t have had it.

And for the other caller before and for the first officer, if you`ve got a problem with your air -- you need to go to your corporate security for your airline and deal with the issues there.

DIMOND: All righty.

When we come back, supermodel Naomi Campbell`s violent altercation on an airplane. All air rage, all the time, right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She graces magazine covers and catwalks around the world -- Milan, Paris, New York. But tonight Naomi Campbell is getting a different kind of attention. The supermodel in court on charges of assaulting police officers, disorderly conduct and threats. Even after pleading guilty to multiple charges and years of assaulting her own employees, Campbell manages to walk free with just community service.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A lifetime of not getting out of bed for less than $10,000 a day, this morning appearing for free but appearing in the dock to admit she did assault two police officers.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Unbelievable, Steve. She looked very, very shaken. She was disheveled, clearly very, very upset. Her hands were shaking and she supported herself on the wall. And she was then taken away by her friend to smarten herself up, get composed. By the time they got into court she looked smart in her Alexander McQueen suit. She was even smiling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIMOND: I`m Diane Dimond in for Nancy Grace tonight.

We`re all about air rage here tonight and its aftermath. We told you about the drama on a JetBlue flight from New York to San Francisco where a drunk woman insisted on smoking and then fighting and now she`s cooling her heels in a Denver jail tonight until at least Monday.

Now to another case of very bad behavior on board, a familiar person with definite anger management issues, supermodel Naomi Campbell. She learned her punishment today in a British court for an April assault of police officers called in to help her calm down when she learned that a piece of her luggage did not make a particular flight.

The catwalk queen pleaded guilty as charged to -- get this now -- assault, disorderly conduct, using threatening and abusive language, et cetera, et cetera.

So what was her punishment given her history of violent outbreaks?

Noah Levy is a senior editor for "In Touch Weekly."

So Noah, join us in here. Once again Miss Thing avoids jail time. What was her sentence?

NOAH LEVY, SENIOR EDITOR, IN TOUCH WEEKLY: You know, Naomi Campbell walked away with just 200 hours of community service, having to pay a fine of $4600, $300 to the pilot and then $400 to each police officer that she offended.

Now let`s be honest here. Naomi Campbell is definitely one the most gorgeous creatures on the planet.

DIMOND: Yes, yes, yes.

LEVY: But this isn`t like walking away from a parking ticket. You know this is assault. This is something that`s pretty serious. So the fact that she`s really walking away scot-free does lead the question: do celebrities get special treatment?

DIMOND: Well, and what did you say now -- $4600 and then a few hundred to a few other people. I mean that`s probably what she spends on waxing in a month.

LEVY: Well, I`m not sure about her waxing charges. But, you know, this is pretty interesting. This is not a lot of money to have to pay.

DIMOND: Right.

LEVY: You know you look at people that, you know, are going to be having to charge millions of dollars in bail. This is only, you know -- this is nothing to have to pay, especially for Naomi Campbell.

So you really have to think, did she bat her eyelashes? Was it a good lawyer? Are people just scared of her?

DIMOND: Or is it just that celebrity status.

Belisa Vranich, jump in here now. You`re the clinical psychologist. This woman has been in trouble, oh, I don`t know, ump-teen thousand times. OK, at least five or six people have claimed that she has assaulted them and she still doesn`t go to jail.

So with no punishment given, OK, except maybe a little fine, does she repeat?

BELISA VRANICH, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Of course, she repeats.

DIMOND: I figured.

VRANICH: Of course she repeats. This is part of her personality. It`s not drunk talk. This is everyday talk. So, yes, she`s going to do this over and over again because she just gets a little slap and a lot of attention. We`re going to see it happen again.

DIMOND: And see, I don`t understand. Look at this, assistant hits with a phone, another assistant, a housekeeper. She has a fight with a flight attendant. She even had a fight -- get this, ladies and gentlemen -- with a woman who was wearing the same dress, an Italian actress in Rome.

They showed up at an event with the same dress and Naomi Campbell allegedly clocked her in the nose -- in the face. And she said she had blood all over.

This seems like more than anger management, Lyle Betancourt (corrected copy: Lyle Becourtney), doesn`t it?

BECOURTNEY: The problem here is that Naomi Campbell doesn`t show the motivation to change. People come to anger management and are successful are those who want to change. And it`s other people who are telling her she`s got to change her behavior. She hasn`t had the consequences that other people experienced, and I think that`s the biggest problem.

DIMOND: Yes. You know, I tell you, when I first came here tonight and I knew that this was the topic, I was ready to just slam her as one of those rich divas who`s got a problem and so much money she doesn`t even know what to do with it.

But then I read that she feels abandoned by her father. Now, get this, ladies and gentlemen, she does not know who her father is, or if she does know his name -- because it`s been reported that her mother has never even told her or maybe she told her but definitely has never let her meet her father.

And there is a man in prison in London right now for rape who claims he is the father and he`s trying to get Naomi Campbell to give DNA to prove it.

So she does have a lot of problems, doesn`t she, Marty Makary? I mean, these are problems that can haunt you for the rest of your life.

DR. MARTY MAKARY, PHYSICIAN, PROF. OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS: Sure. Most people with problems of -- with outbursts, of anger and rage, often have some form of childhood problems that linger and persist and manifest in adulthood.

Now having said that, anger and arrogance is not a disease. So this is a problem with psychological implications but not psychiatric implications.

DIMOND: Mike Brooks, you`re the cop on board here. I love the fact you`re always here. I can always throw these questions at you. You`re a police officer or you`re a pilot or a flight attendant or someone who is going to have to interact with Naomi Campbell.

How do you deal with her and do you go ahead and press charges if she acts badly because you know she`s probably just going to have to throw a few bucks at the problem?

MIKE BROOKS, FMR. DC POLICE DETECTIVE SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Absolutely. She should have been locked up. She should be in jail instead of given community service again.

And I agree with what Marty just said, too. But in this particular case she was on the plane, the door was still open because as soon as the door is closed that is considered in flight. She would have gotten even additional charges.

But the door is still open. They were having some problems at terminal five when they opened up the new terminal...

DIMOND: Right.

BROOKS: ... with the baggage system. So the captain came out as a courtesy to tell -- what -- tell them exactly what was going on. She went berserk.

DIMOND: Well, she said -- he said, let me tell you your options, Miss Campbell. And what did she say?

BROOKS: You can`t repeat what she said.

DIMOND: Don`t tell me my options and well...

BROOKS: Oh yes. And she wanted to see her...

DIMOND: We`ll have a graphic in a minute.

BROOKS: She wanted to see her lawyer and she wanted to do this. And she wouldn`t even -- she basically dismissed the captain.

Well, I`m sorry, Miss Campbell, but that captain, he`s in charge of that plane, not you.

Then law enforcement gets there. She spits on one of the cops. She tries to kick one of the other cops. This woman is out of control. She needs to be locked up and beat down.

DIMOND: I`m laughing here, but it really is not funny.

Holly Hughes, can`t somebody put her behind bars and let her chill out for a while?

HOLLY HUGHES, PROSECUTOR: Somebody should have and I`ll tell you what. The British authorities had the perfect opportunity to do that today and they dropped the ball, Diane. That woman should have been locked up.

Here in Georgia we have this fabulous law called similar transaction law. And if you have done this over and over and over, we have the right to tell the judge about it, tell the jury about it if the judge says that`s OK. We have a hearing on it. We bring in all those other witnesses.

This woman should be sitting still looking at some serious prison time because let`s face it, Diane, the anger management isn`t working. The community service isn`t working. In fact, she took it so lightly that when she finished her last day of community service in New York she walked out in a full length sequin gown.

DIMOND: Oh I know.

HUGHES: Yes, she`s really taking the criminal justice seriously.

DIMOND: She had an appointment to get to, Holly.

All right. Peter Schaffer, come in here and defend this woman. Why shouldn`t she be in jail?

PETER SCHAFFER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, look, her conduct may be reprehensible, may be inexcusable and it may be criminal, but it`s criminal at the level of like a misdemeanor crime. Assault has to do with causing physical injury.

DIMOND: Past bad acts...

SCHAFFER: We`re talking...

DIMOND: ... over and over again, though, Peter.

SCHAFFER: Yes, but this judge in England sentencing her for the crime that was committed in England. And quite to the contrary of what everybody else is saying, 200 hours of community service is a significant crime for a misdemeanor offense. The fact...

DIMOND: Peter, if she was not a celebrity and not as beautiful as she is, she would likely be in jail. If I spit on a cop in Britain...

SCHAFFER: We don`t know that.

DIMOND: ... I`d be in jail.

SCHAFFER: I doubt it. I -- I think that the sentence would fit the misdemeanor act. And the fact that she should be -- we have everybody calling to lock her up and beat her down. I mean you can`t have this kind of vigilante attitude towards every crime.

DIMOND: Yes, and I don`t want to beat her down. I want her, like every other human being on the planet, to take responsibility for her actions. And I don`t think by having her throw a few thousand bucks at a problem to make it go away that she takes responsibility.

So, anyway, we`ll have more on this. But time now to take a pause as we salute our American troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDITH HARRIS, SALUTING THE TROOPS: My name is Edith Harris from Richmond, Virginia. We are sending a salute to our son, Sergeant First Class Darryl Lamont Knapper. He is currently serving in Iraq.

We salute you, Darryl, with pride. Thank you for your dedication and sacrifice to serve. May God bless you and bring you home soon. We love you and miss you. Be safe.

Love, mom and dad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are many people who thought that Naomi Campbell might be going to jail today. But the fact that she has no previous convictions in this country and the fact that she pleaded guilty in court meant in there she had to be treated as a person of good character.

And so it was a fine and community service as we heard for the first time all of the details of her foul-mouthed episode of air rage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIMOND: A person of good character. Naomi Campbell. OK.

I`m Diane Dimond in tonight for Nancy Grace. Let`s go right out to the phones.

Robert in Pennsylvania has a good question. Hi, Robert.

ROBERT, PENNSYLVANIA: Yes. Given that Campbell doesn`t seem like she`s going to stop, based on what your panel is saying, Miss Dimond, do you think -- I have no idea what it`s going to come to. Do you think there`s going to become a time where the FAA or the international version of it is going to say, Miss Campbell, you want to get to another continent, you better swim it (INAUDIBLE) in the future.

DIMOND: That`s a good question, Robert. Thanks for that.

Well, there is an unconfirmed report that British Airlines has already told her that she is banned from them.

Let`s go out to our commercial airline pilot for the evening, George Davis.

George, what about that? Do airlines have passenger ban lists? And how long are those lists?

FIRST OFFICER GEORGE DAVIS, COMMERCIAL AIRLINE PILOT: Oh, they -- well, as far as timelines, it can be for a whole lifetime.

DIMOND: No, I mean how many people are on it. Is that something they exercise?

DAVIS: You know I don`t believe it`s -- I don`t believe it`s very many. I don`t know exactly how many. But this certainly seems like a situation where she just got lucky. If this had been during flight, she`d be looking at a whole other set of charges.

This situation was brought up...

DIMOND: Yes.

DAVIS: ... before by another one your panel. But she`d be looking at a lot more jail time, a lot more charges.

DIMOND: Right. Well -- but the flight had not even taken off yet and the pilot came out to explain the reason why her luggage wasn`t with her. And tell me this, George. What is the protocol when there is a passenger disruption in the cabin for the captain? Are you supposed to stay in the cockpit and protect the plane?

DAVIS: Welt, it`s pretty much two different scenarios. It`s one when you`re on the ground and the cockpit door is open. I mean, I even give tours to little kids sometimes. So our interactions with the passengers are very -- it`s very cordial and it`s very open.

But as soon as that cockpit door shuts, they close the front door, the main cabin door and we push back, it`s a whole different ball game...

DIMOND: Right.

DAVIS: .., because those engines are running and that aircraft could become vulnerable in that point so...

DIMOND: You know -- I hear you, I hear you, but we`re running out of time.

Belisa Vranich, let me go to you because as I`m looking at Naomi Campbell on the catwalk, this is a stunning woman. She is a multi-bazillion, gazillion trillionaire. I don`t know how much money she`s got, but she`s a very unhappy person. I mean at the core she`s a very unhappy person.

How would you treat her? I mean we`re talking about throwing her in jail but she needs treatment.

VRANICH: She needs treatment but I don`t know if she wants treatment. And the bottom line is that you may have been an abused or a neglected child, it doesn`t give you the right to be an incorrigible adult.

DIMOND: Yes, I hear you. I hear you. But even if she doesn`t want the treatment now, is there a way, Belisa, to convince her that she needs it? Is this the wake-up call perhaps?

VRANICH: No, it`s not. She needs a wake-up call where she decides it`s a wake-up call because us saying, Naomi, hey, you`re really pushing things very far, you need to wake up, you need to go to anger management, it`s not going to work. She has to have the wakeup call. The motivation has to come from within her and it`s not anywhere close by.

DIMOND: Yes. Mark in Florida, you`ve got the last call. What`s your quick question, please?.

MARK, FLORIDA RESIDENT: Hi. Thanks for taking my call.

DIMOND: Sure.

MARK: Just why is it that the justice system seems to always have such double standards where a celebrity like Naomi Campbell can continuously get away with these things and gets 200 hours and whatever...

DIMOND: Yes, I hear you.

MARK: ... and the woman before that on JetBlue is going to get 20 years in jail? Where is this justice system here?

DIMOND: Holly Hughes, it`s all yours. Celebrity justice, does it exist? I think it does.

HUGHES: Oh, absolutely, Diane. There`s no doubt about it. Celebrity justice is real and it`s sad and it`s frightening. But one of your earlier guests pointed out the difference here is this is the British justice system. This was not the United States.

So what they did was they look at her criminal record in that country, which was non-existent. And unfortunately they didn`t take any consideration, any of her prior acts, any of her prior assaults on these people.

This woman is a menace. Every single time she is arrested it`s for something violent against another human being. And, again, just like our psychologist told us, if she doesn`t want help, nothing is going to help her. And that`s why it`s time for jail. It`s time to sit still...

DIMOND: Right.

HUGHES: ... and think about what you`ve done.

DIMOND: Community service, anger management courses --again, at the bottom line. All the experts here tonight have told us if she doesn`t want it, it ain`t going to work.

Well, tonight, "CNN HEROES."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: 20 reports of tornadoes.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Eight people were killed from severe weather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it goes.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Crews are fighting fires on several fronts.

TAD AGOGLIA, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: The most critical phase of a disaster is the first few days. That`s when you have to find the people that are in desperate need of medical attention, food, water, but you pull up and there`s a building lying in the middle of the road or if 20 miles is underwater, how do you get all those resources to those people?

I got this crazy idea to use one of my cranes to respond to a disaster and just open up roads so that the real heroes have the resources they need to continue to serve.

My name is Tad Skylar Agoglia. I provide help and hope to those in their greatest hour of need.

There`s people on life support, people on oxygen. There`s people that are going to die if we don`t get there.

I put together a crew that stays on the road 12 months out of the year, respond to disasters all over America. Free of charge.

Here`s what I`m thinking, right? If we get on 65, we`re right there.

As soon as we see a threat striking anywhere in the United States, we feel it`s severe enough, we leave immediately.

You know, where we can be of some help?

We see a lot of deaths. We see a lot of destruction. But there is something beautiful about looking at a disaster and seeing what good can come out of it.

Standby.

Oftentimes, I`m asked why I do this. And I can`t help but think, why aren`t more people doing this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: "CNN HEROES" is sponsored by...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DIMOND: And now a look back at the stories making the rest of the headlines this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK HOGAN, HULK HOGAN`S SON: We work on that reality deal?

HULK HOGAN, WRESTLEMANIA STAR: Yes.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight we have been given exclusive home video of the victim, what his life is like.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: New developments in the story of a 2 1/2-year-old toddler boy abandoned at Wal-Mart. Police have released store surveillance video that shows a woman putting the child in a shopping cart, bringing him into the store and then appearing to intentionally leave him behind.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: You can see that the child is out of the cart and running after this woman. And she is gesturing for him looks like to stay.

GRACE: Lock him up and throw away the key.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A 76-year-old woman is under arrest for solicitation of murder. Police saying she hired someone to shoot her husband while she was away for the weekend. Now cops discover she has not one, not two, not three, not four, but at least five husbands who have died.

GRACE: Man, this granny sure gets around, from Ohio to Florida to Georgia, to North Carolina. She`s got a string of dead husbands. Why didn`t anybody ever notice?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A Nebraska mother whose newborn tested positive for meth is unlikely to face child neglect charges according to the district attorney.

GRACE: Can you imagine? A baby high on methamphetamine, one of the most dangerous, the most deadly drugs on the street right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIMOND: Time now to stop to remember Army Sergeant Timothy Martin from Pixley, California. Killed in Iraq. A college grad with a degree in biology. Martin fulfilled his childhood dream of joining the military. He loved handing out candy and pens to Iraqi children, speeding through country roads back home in his mustang, and target shooting there.

Martin dreamed of becoming an FBI agent. He leaves behind parents Anthony and Lucy and sister Alissa.

Timothy Martin, an American hero.

Thanks to all our guests tonight and to you at home for being with us. See you right back here tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern Time. And until then, have a great evening.

END