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Police Briefing on Balloon Incident

Aired October 16, 2009 - 13:57   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're pushing forward now on the hour's top stories. Pakistan calling a series of deadly attacks by militants a serious threat to the sovereignty of the state. In the latest attack, a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 people at a police station in Peshawar near the Afghan border. Pakistan gearing up for a military offensive while the U.S. rethinks strategy in the Af-Pak theater.

Also, a tale of two economies. Unemployment's high and likely getting higher. Bank of America loses billions of General Electric in -- well, billions of dollars, basically, zapped in that stock.

But stocks are way up for the year, bonuses back, investment banks booming, and the balloon is down. The child is safe, and the sheriff has a few questions. A news conference getting under way in Colorado, and of course the back story leading up to yesterday's scare.

All right, now, an hour of special coverage you're only going to see here on CNN, "Dealing Death, behind the White Lines." Our Karl Penhaul produced some pretty incredible reports from Medellin, Colombia, where the drug cartel was practically invented.

Here's why we care. Colombia provides 60 percent of the world's cocaine. By the U.N.'s estimate, 430 tons of cocaine last year alone. In 2005, Colombian traffickers provided 90 percent of the cocaine used in the U.S. and 50 percent of the heroin. And since 2000, Colombia has received $6 billion in mostly military aid from the U.S.

Pablo Escobar put Medellin on the map, a map stained with years of blood, tears, drugs and corruption. The kingpin's reign of narcoterror ended in 1993 on a Medellin rooftop. But it seems like Pablo's ghost is alive, well and busy.

CNN's Karl Penhaul has been reporting on Medellin's current drug war. His exclusive reports are so incredible and so terrifying, well, we're having him with us the entire hour, live from Bogota.

Karl, take us behind the white lines.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN VIDEO CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, this is a project that took quite some doing. The problem here of course was getting the access, it was getting the confidence of some of these drug gangs initially so that we could sit with them, so that we could look at least at their side of the story. And of course, what we found, tragic for them, and tragic for the rest of the world. DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A father shakes his fist at heaven and asks why. That's his son in the coffin, blown away by a gang on the payroll of Colombian cocaine capos.

Seventeen-year-Wangy Amalorda (ph) was at the school gate, a bullet in the head, another in the neck. His aunt says he wasn't part of any gang.

MARIA DEBORAH OSPINA, AUNT OF MURDER VICTIM (through translator): He wanted to be somebody in life and help his family progress. He wanted to study at university, become a great lawyer and win justice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We apologize. We'll come back to our special coverage in just a minute. But Larimer County Sheriff's Department holding a presser now on the balloon boy incident from yesterday.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SHERIFF JIM ALDERDEN, LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO: ... balloon might be brought down and held a child that was believed to be and could be rescued. We had an awful lot of people that were concerned and e-mailed us with a number of suggestions, and certainly we appreciate that.

I also can't let this go without expressing my appreciation to the numerous agencies that participated in this event yesterday. Clearly, the sheriff's office was involved, and all of our divisions, patrol, dispatch, our PIOs, victim advocates, search and rescue, posse. And in addition to that, I know we had Larimer County Parks, Poudre Fire Authority, Fort Collins Police. Colorado State University sent some people over to help, Poudre Fire Authority sent some people to help with the media.

The United States Forest Service. And certainly we're missing some, and I know we had National Guard and media helicopters and the Weld County Sheriff's Office and Adams County Sheriff's Office.

There were certainly a lot of people who put their heart and soul into this, and we want to express our gratitude to them.

The purpose of the press conference today is really to just try to answer everybody's questions at once. We have been inundated with phone calls and e-mails, nonstop, and, frankly, we need to somehow put an end to it so we can get about doing our business instead of answering all the media inquiries. So, hopefully we can resolve some of those issues today.

Really don't have any new information, or a lot of new information, but I do want to clarify a couple of things.

Obviously, yesterday, I spoke about us having conducted a very thorough search of the house. Obviously, it wasn't as thorough as we would have liked it to be, because the boy was in fact hiding in the attic in the garage.

I would like to explain that just so we can get it clear. I think we searched the house three times. Guys went into the crawlspace, they went into the attic, they looked every place, except the one place where the boy was hiding.

Apparently, there's some rafters in the garage, and part of it is covered, part of it's not, part of it's open. There's no ladders to get up into that attic portion. There's no stairs to get up there.

And frankly, looking at the debris in the garage, our personnel just didn't think it possible that a 6-year-old boy would be able to get up into that space, so they didn't look there. And of course that is the one spot where the boy was.

Also, I reported to the media yesterday that the boy was in a box in the attic. That was information that was relayed to me, but it turned out to be erroneous information. As we got the text message, or I got a page during the course of the news conference yesterday that the boy had been found, I turned and asked our investigators to contact somebody on scene and verify that. And by the time it went through a couple of levels and information got back to us, I now believe that what was reported was that the boy had crawled on a box and then used that box to get into the attic.

A miscommunication occurred, and I erroneously reported that the boy was in a box. There was not a box. There was a clear attic space that was flat.

So hopefully that clears that up.

There's been a lot of speculation, a lot of skepticism regarding this incident and whether it could have occurred as it was reported. We did in fact yesterday, during the course of this event, contact a professor at Colorado State University with expertise in determining the payload or the lift that a balloon of this dimension would support, and he informed us and reaffirmed that today, that a balloon of that size filled with helium would in fact handle a payload of about 80 pounds.

We believe that the young boy who was missing was about 37 pounds, so it certainly was conceivable at the time and remains conceivable today that the boy could have been in this device. I just want to say that because a lot of the speculation, a lot of the e- mails I have been getting have come from people reporting or suggesting that a balloon of that dimension would only be able to lift five to 15 pounds, so therefore the father had to be lying. And I just wanted to disprove that, at least based on the experts that we have talked to at Colorado State University.

There's -- you know, the question remains -- we were convinced yesterday -- let me back up a minute. We were convinced yesterday, after talking to the parents and having investigators on scene during the duration of this event, that the parents were being honest with us. They appropriately expressed statements, nonverbal communication, body language, and emotions during this event that were entirely consistent with the events that were taking place, believing that the boy was in the aircraft when it touched down and the boy was not found to be in there. There was a significant deflation, I understand, of their emotional state, which our people didn't think could be faked or was being faked.

And again, throughout the day, as the events occurred, all of their emotions and nonverbal communication was very consistent with what was taking place. And again, this was as observed by investigators on scene who have some expertise in this particular area.

You know, if any of you saw some of the media interviews or activities at the scene immediately after the boy came out, it's very evident that this boy is very hyperactive, to say the least, and, you know, the suggestion to us that perhaps this boy had been coached or coaxed by his parents to hide and remain still in this attic for five hours, during the duration of this event, just seems inconceivable. It seems much more likely that the boy was in fact frightened, because he somehow thought that he was responsible for this device becoming untethered and, therefore, decided to hide.

That seems like a very credible story. However, as you all also saw, there was an interview conducted last night, I believe by Wolf Blitzer on CNN, where asked why he did this, he, I believe responded, "We did it for the show," or something of that nature.

Clearly, that has raised everybody's level of skepticism again, and we feel it's incumbent upon us as an agency to go back to the family and attempt to re-interview them and establish whether this is in fact a hoax or if it's an actual event. We believe at this time that it's a real event. Certainly people are free to speculate, they're free to be skeptical about it. But those of us in the law enforcement profession have to operate on facts and what we can prove, and not what the public might think without any proof.

I think that's -- as many of the comments that I have. And I really haven't prepared anything, but I would be happy to take questions here.

QUESTION: Sir, what do you make of the fact that here's a storm chaser, he chases tornadoes, thinks nothing about going out and chasing tornadoes out in the field, and he wouldn't chase a balloon that had kids aboard? I mean, what do you make of that?

ALDERDEN: Again, I don't want to speculate about that, but our understanding is that he was trying to see where the balloon was going. He could see from where it took off, that it was headed toward Fort Collins-Loveland Airport. And we understand that he called the FAA believing that they would be able to track the flight of the device certainly better than law enforcement would be able to.

So, it does seem credible, especially considering the fact that this thing was just anticipated to rise and not come down any place near. And that if the boy was in fact in it, he wouldn't have any way to steer it or to operate any devices to lower it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: We don't have any plans. We had hoped to do that today, but, quite frankly, after watching some of the media interviews this morning, the boy being sick, obviously the family suffering from a great deal of fatigue, we think it would be in the best interests of the investigation to not attempt to interview them today, but perhaps to do that tomorrow, after they have had a chance to settle down and get some rest. We just think for interview purposes, it would be much more productive to have them in that frame of mind than doing it when they're fatigued.

QUESTION: Sheriff, have you seen this home video that they made during the launch? Have you seen this tape yet?

ALDERDEN: No. I'm afraid I haven't. It's been described to me, but I have not seen it myself.

QUESTION: Would you like to?

ALDERDEN: I'm sure I will before the day is out.

QUESTION: Sheriff, the garage, the garage in which the boy was hiding, yesterday there was police tape around the house, there were investigators in the garage the entire time. The boy said to the press that he was sleeping up there half of the time that he was up there.

Looking into the garage, the garage was opened. Press was around. It was a very highly -- you know, a lot of commotion going on.

How likely is it that the boy could have been sleeping? I mean, with the stories that have been -- I mean, how likely -- do you still believe he was sleeping? And how will that play into your questions tomorrow when you interview the family?

ALDERDEN: Well, again, just -- let me maybe reverse it and saying, seeing how hyperactive this young lad was when he came out, how conceivable is it that he just sat up there quietly without being asleep or without being fearful to come out? I just can't see this particular boy being told, go sit up there for five hours and be quiet. I just don't see that happening as hyperactive as he is.

QUESTION: Sir, did the family call the media first, or did they actually call dispatch first?

ALDERDEN: My understanding is -- and I'm afraid I haven't seen a timeline, so I'll tell you what I believe to be the case today. Our understanding is that his first call was to the FAA, and that the second call was made to 9 News, with the belief that they had a helicopter that might be able to assist. And at some time afterwards, they called 911. QUESTION: Do you find that odd?

ALDERDEN: I find it odd, but then as I reflected on it, of course, through the course of the evening, and knowing where he's coming from as a scientist and somebody who does some stuff with atmospheric things, the thought that the FAA would have some control over the air space over Fort Collins-Loveland Airport, where this thing was headed, that does seem credible. And certainly when somebody calls the sheriff's office and says, hey, we think we have a balloon with a 6-year-old in it that's out of control, really, what resources does the sheriff's office or the fire department or the police department have to deal with that?

So, in that aspect, I guess it seems credible to perhaps think, who's got a helicopter, or contacting the Federal Aviation Administration.

QUESTION: How do you think the kid got up into the rafters? How do you think he got up that high?

ALDERDEN: Actually, shortly after he came out and after the media arrived, he was in the process of climbing up there and showing the media how that occurred when he was just chinning himself up to the bar after climbing on some of the boxes when his dad called him back in. So, it did seem, from watching him, that he was just about prepared to swing into the attic.

QUESTION: How likely it is that the boys, not the parents, but how likely is it that the boys might have set this up amongst the three of them?

ALDERDEN: You know, you're talking about a 6, 8 and 10-year-old, and that does not seem very likely to me.

QUESTION: Sheriff, did he characterize this as a planned event, a planned launch? Or did he speculate that this was tethered and it somehow mysteriously drifted up?

ALDERDEN: Well, they were planning on doing an experiment and believed that it was tethered, or the intent was to have it tethered and allow it to rise 20 feet. And apparently, one of the ropes either broke or became loose, and that caused the other ropes to then become loose.

QUESTION: Because he had told you that they had planned some sort of liftoff that day.

ALDERDEN: They had planned to have a liftoff that day to bring it to 20 feet. That was the whole purpose of the experiment yesterday.

(CROSSTALK)

ALDERDEN: I'm sorry. If we could do one at a time, it would be much more productive.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE), and will they interview the children separately, or how will that work?

ALDERDEN: We're still in the course of putting that together. And of course we need to contact the family and see if they'll even consent to an interview.

Let me say this to maybe satisfy some concerns. When he came out yesterday, he immediately -- the family went nuts, hugging him, kissing him, yelling, crying. And immediately, our investigators asked for permission to take the boy upstairs and interview him, gave the parents the opportunity to be present, and they said no, fine, go ahead and do it.

So, our two investigators interviewed him outside of the presence of the parents. And I don't know at this stage in the game how productive it would be to pursue interviews with them, but we're certainly having that dialogue today.

QUESTION: Did he (ph) say anything about what the search efforts cost?

ALDERDEN: You know, we've had a lot of questions about the cost of the search effort and the number of personnel involved. And frankly, we don't have a handle on that yet.

We roughly came up with, just on the Larimer County side of the border, probably over 80 personnel involved. And, you know, 650 hours or some number like that. But, no, I don't have a cost figure. And frankly, determining what it cost at this point is the least of our worries.

QUESTION: Sheriff, you may be one of the few people, I think, on this planet that doesn't think this is a hoax at this point. I'm curious how much pressure you feel from the public right now to do something.

ALDERDEN: Well, certainly from the e-mails and the phone calls we have been getting, there's a lot of pressure to do something and to charge these people with committing a crime of false reporting, and to recover restitution. But that said, let me say again, as a law enforcement officer, a public safety official, we have to operate on what we can prove as a fact and not what people want to be done or what people speculate should be done.

QUESTION: Sheriff, there have been reports that the person who owns that field where the balloon landed actually suffered some damage on some wheat crops that had been planted out there. Have you heard any information from that owner? And is there any opportunity for them recover possible damages from that, where that occurred?

ALDERDEN: I haven't heard anything about that. That obviously occurred two counties away, in Adams County. It was a wheat field. I don't know what damage, if any. And certainly if he were to recover any damages, that would be a civil matter between him and the parents of this boy, I believe.

QUESTION: Sheriff (OFF-MIKE) and what is that you didn't ask that you really wanted to clear?

ALDERDEN: Well, again, I think we asked all the pertinent questions yesterday during the course of this, but, obviously, in light of the interview that was done last night, and then in light of the boy's statement, we want to re-interview them and try to clarify that and put that to rest.

QUESTION: Clarify what?

QUESTION: Sheriff (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: Obviously with something of this magnitude, in the situation as it is, we have contacted Child Protection Services. However, we have asked them not to engage in discussion with the family until we have had an opportunity to try to re-interview them tomorrow.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: I couldn't speak to that. I don't know. But I suspect that they will at least take seriously the information that we provide them and probably open an investigation.

QUESTION: Sheriff, doesn't it make sense that knowing this family -- and we have all seen them in the past -- the kids are always with him in the experiments and all that. Doesn't it seem odd that if he's about ready to launch this craft, and he's actually giving a countdown, 3-2-1, that he wouldn't have checked around for all three kids, make sure that they were all in position? And if you look at the video, which I understand you have it, you can actually see the ropes be let go, as opposed to them breaking off.

I mean, you're talking about a quarter-inch piece of rope on that, that should be a lot more strong to hold that balloon down/ I mean, to me it would make sense to look at that stuff as soon as it got released.

ALDERDEN: Well, clearly, that's something that we're looking at. You raise some very valid points that we are considering.

QUESTION: Sheriff, do you know what happened in the morning, when supposedly the boy was inside the craft? Exactly what happened?

ALDERDEN: Our understanding, there's a compartment that was underneath this mylar, or this aluminum foil contraption, that's about four foot in diameter, a foot and a half tall, that's basically empty space, and it has a door with a spring-loaded door.

Our understanding is that the boy had been trying to climb in there and that the parents had yelled at him not to do that. We believe, at least from talking to the boy, that chastising that he got for trying to get in there, I believe he was playing with the ropes at one point. It's certainly likely that he thought that he was responsible for this balloon taking off when it wasn't intended to.

QUESTION: But was the idea was to have someone inside? ALDERDEN: No, the idea was not to have anybody inside.

QUESTION: What was the it for?

ALDERDEN: Well, again, this particular compartment, it housed a steering apparatus, an empty space. I believe that this was a smaller model of something that he intended to develop at some point that would be capable of transporting an adult person.

I believe that there's even a smaller mockup of another one that he had built earlier. So, this was in a development stage. The compartment, it certainly wasn't intended to be habited yesterday morning.

QUESTION: Sir, don't you think that...

QUESTION: Sheriff, going back to the search, are you going to do any training of the officers? I mean, you talked about how this house had been searched a number of times, but not as well as perhaps you would like. Are you changing any policies or procedures or remedial education perhaps for these officers?

ALDERDEN: Well, I don't know that's a policy procedure issue, but obviously it's a concern when the house was reported to be thoroughly searched and obviously they missed one spot. Again, they searched under the house, into the crawlspace, they looked at everything, but in their mind, because there was no obvious avenue for a 6-year-old to get up into this thing, they didn't search that. We certainly will be addressing that as an agency.

QUESTION: Has this little boy ever hid in the attic before? Have the boys ever played there before?

ALDERDEN: At the time that this occurred there was no information of that. In fact, the boys were asked to show us, where would he be likely to hide? And they took the officers around the house.

That particular point was not specified, but after this event we did hear, through some other children, that that was a hiding place of his. But, again, looking -- I think he even said that he brought some toys up there, and that he had taken some food products. From this examination that we did, we didn't see any evidence of that in the attic, so it didn't appear, at least anything that was visible to us, that it was a common place for him to go. But, you know, that's one of the issues that we're going to want to address tomorrow.

QUESTION: Sheriff, (INAUDIBLE) report that the family has been shopping around for a TV -- a reality TV show about (INAUDIBLE) family?

ALDERDEN: Well, we have heard that today, and certainly that adds to the public skepticism on whether this could be a hoax or not. Again, I don't know that that proves one way or the other anything. I think we have to again go with what we can prove. And even though this is a -- I would say this is not a typical American family. Obviously, they engage in behaviors that most people don't. You know, I don't know how many of us have been involved in reality TV shows or chasing storms. Obviously, it's a very different family dynamics than most of us experience.

QUESTION: Sheriff, because you say that, you just answered earlier that you're not sure that a 6 and 8 and a 10-year-old could come up with some sort of a scheme like this. But these boys have been on television with "Wife Swap," they've been on TV with their father storm chasing hurricanes and whatnot.

I'm just wondering if you have given any thought that these kids might be able to come up with something like this?

ALDERDEN: Well, I guess we would think about that, we could speculate about that, but, again, our understanding of the situation is that the 8-year-old was trying to get dad's attention as this thing was taking off and told them that, hey, Falcon is in this aircraft. Our belief in talking to the parents is that they certainly didn't have any knowledge of any sort of a scam.

And I don't know -- if these kids are 6, 8 and 10, and they cooked this up on their own, and didn't bother to tell mom and dad, and put them through that heartache of thinking that their boy was perhaps lost and dead, I guess I'll let you speculate on that. I won't.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE). I know you believe it's not a hoax, but if it is, what are the legal charges that could be brought?

ALDERDEN: If this is determined to be a hoax, basically the only thing that we really have is making a false report to authorities, which is a Class 3 misdemeanor.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: I couldn't tell you after the top of my head, I'm afraid.

QUESTION: Sheriff, do you know if your investigators asked if they had videotape of this launch?

ALDERDEN: You know, I really don't know if our investigators have. I understand that we have -- let me back up. I believe I heard this morning that we have, what, three videos, Justin?

OK, yes.

We have three videos of events that occurred.

QUESTION: Sheriff, it's been reported that he's been trying to sell the design of this balloon for some future business. Do you think that this is a perfect opportunity for him to showcase his design? ALDERDEN: Well, again, you're asking me to speculate on what his intent was. Certainly, you could draw that conclusion, but you could also draw the conclusion that he would want to keep this secret.

So, you know, certainly in a development stage, an early development stage like this, you know, I don't know how productive it would be for him to let his secrets out of the bag, if you would, if he intended to patent this and somehow gain financially from it.

QUESTION: The (INAUDIBLE) yesterday said that after looking at the balloon, they felt that that compartment on the bottom could not have handled any kind of weight and/or a person getting in it and flying way. OK?

As a scientist, wouldn't you think that he would have known what that payload could have handled and could have said right off the bat whether it could have handled 65 pounds? I mean, he's supposed to be an intelligen intelligent man, and building something like that, and knowing that he's building it for a future project, that he would know what the specifications would be on that?

ALDERDEN: Well, we would. And again, we took the dimensions that were given to us and what we believed to be the dimensions of the aircraft, talked to a professor at Colorado State University. In fact, I believe we have an aeronautic engineer maybe even looking at it as we speak. But the information we got yesterday, and it was confirmed today, is that the experts at Colorado State University it would handle a payload of about 80 pounds.

QUESTION: You're talking about the helium in the balloon itself. I'm talking about the craft underneath itself.

It was made of very thin plywood and cardboard. OK? I don't know how was attached because I wasn't able to get close enough. Just judging by that, as a scientist, he should have been able to tell how much of a payload would have been able to have gone in there. And he should have been able to give you that information yesterday, whether or not he would have done that. And that's the part I'm asking, not the helium part.

ALDERDEN: OK. Well, my understanding is that that question was asked and that the information that was relayed to us was that it was his belief -- it was conceivable that the child could be in there and that it would handle that payload, and that it was sufficient to do that.

QUESTION: Sheriff, if this is proved that it is a hoax, would you bring back the possibility of billing the family for this process?

ALDERDEN: Certainly based on our past practice, let me tell you, it's real important for us that when people legitimately have children missing, we don't want them to hesitate to call us because they might get a bill. That has been kicked around the legislature, I know it's been kicked around in the search and rescue community. And steadfastly, the sheriff's uniformly have said, you know, we're not going to charge for legitimate search and rescue operations because we don't want that delay.

That said, we also -- when we had a single incident in Larimer County when there was some criminal conduct associated with a search, if you recall the Shea Smith (ph) incident a couple of years ago, we did seek restitution as part of the judicial process. I don't know what authority we would have as a county to bill. Perhaps we would, but collecting a bill of the magnitude of this is probably quite another thing. But if it comes to that, if there's criminal conduct, we certainly would seek restitution as part of whatever that criminal thing is.

You had a question over here?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: We had a photograph given to us by an area resident that clearly showed a black dot in the sky, suspended someplace between the balloon and the ground. We were in the process of taking that to our audio/visual specialist and our forensic computer guy to see if they could enhance it. That wasn't done.

But I did see a photograph, and there was clearly something in the photograph that was -- you know, a person could suggest that maybe that's somebody falling. We also understand that a Weld County sheriff's deputy thought that he had seen something falling in the area of Gilchrest.

QUESTION: Sheriff, when your folks interviewed the boy yesterday, did he say anything privately about a show or doing anything about a show?

ALDERDEN: I haven't interviewed my investigators at great length, but nothing of that nature was brought to my attention. Clearly, when you talk to a juvenile in a situation like this, they didn't ask anything that was not an open-ended question. But nothing of that nature has been brought to my attention in my dialogue with the investigators.

QUESTION: Sheriff, the last time (INAUDIBLE).

ALDERDEN: That's correct.

QUESTION: And no communication today?

ALDERDEN: No, we haven't had any communication yet today.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: No, we have not.

QUESTION: What does the father and the wife do for a living?

ALDERDEN: You know, I don't know. I think -- Investigator Hepernin (ph)?

General contractor? Self-employed.

QUESTION: And the wife?

ALDERDEN: Is the wife employed?

QUESTION: Sheriff, when you think about the fact this is a Class 3 misdemeanor, where does that (INAUDIBLE)? That's pretty small potatoes (OFF-MIKE).

ALDERDEN: Well, in the hierarchy of crimes, you have Class 1 and 2 petty offenses like they're spitting on the sidewalk and littering. Then you would go to your misdemeanor classes, Class 3 being the lowest level misdemeanor, and then six classes of felony. So, Class 3 misdemeanor is a very low-level criminal offense.

QUESTION: A lot of ado about a very, very low criminal offense. Why? Why all the meetings? Why the consulting of experts?

ALDERDEN: Because you all won't get off our back.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: Well, clearly, you know, we did spend -- you know, obviously people have pointed out, we spent a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of resources in this. And if there's criminal conduct associated with it, even though it's minor, we do need to send a message and we need to get to the bottom of it, and assure the public that we're doing our job to the best we can.

QUESTION: Sheriff, what is the policy when it comes to paying for (OFF-MIKE).

ALDERDEN: No, with -- again, in Colorado, uniformly the sheriffs cannot charge for searches. Now there is a component, there's this thing called a search and rescue fund that's paid for with a small charge on your hunting licenses, your fishing license, your ATVs and snowmobiles, and hikers can buy these cards as well. There's an amount of money that go into the search and rescue fund, so if a person has one of these cards or a hunting license or fishing license, it's possible to seek reimbursement from the search and rescue fund.

You may recall last year, we even ran a bill trying to up that surcharge so we could accumulate more money in that fund to pay not only for search and rescue but to pay for additional training and equipment.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: If this turns out to be a false report we certainly would seek restitution via the criminal component of -- of restitution.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) ALDERDEN: Again, based on what we saw this morning, we're going to hopefully wait until tomorrow and try to have some dialogue. We may, in fact, contact the parents today, but we won't attempt to do any interviews when they're in the emotional state and the physical state that they were in this morning.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) ...if they end up selling their story to a reality show or something like that, and they end up making a million dollars off in situation, how is it that you would get restitution and would you try to make that restitution ahead of them making their money? (INAUDIBLE)

ALDERDEN: You're really good at asking me the what-if questions, and I don't have the answer to too many what-ifs. I can tell you if it turns out to be a hoax, we will seek restitution by whatever means available. But we have to be convinced, and it has to be proven in a court that it's a hoax, not just speculation.

QUESTION: Do they have an attorney?

ALDERDEN: I couldn't answer that. We haven't been made aware of an attorney. Certainly, we haven't had any contact with an attorney.

QUESTION: Sheriff, your office (INAUDIBLE). That doesn't prevent the other counties of Wells and (INAUDIBLE) from seeking that, correct?

ALDERDEN: No, its doesn't.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) because the context of events that we're seeing on the video that was handed out earlier this morning. I know you haven't seen that, it seems to be different than initial reports that you were getting through your sources. (INAUDIBLE).

ALDERDEN: OK, again, not having seen the video, I don't know what you have on it. I understand there's a video that was recorded by the eight-year-old boy, I believe, as the thing launched. So, you know...

QUESTION: Both parents were present. It was our understanding that they were not present when the balloon took off...

ALDERDEN: That was the information that I relayed. I believed the media at the time (ph) based on what I had. That turned out not to be factual. Again, unfortunately, these things develop. There's so many information sources; I apologize for that information. But that's what I believed at the time.

But as I actually had an opportunity to sit down and talk to the people directly that were involved; they obviously were present. I think I had been told at one time that they were on a break and had taken a break and gone into the house when this thing launched. But I understand now that they were present and they actually did some sort of a countdown when it took off. QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: I wouldn't say that. Unfortunately, the reality of life in Larimer County Sheriff's Office seems to be that there's always some major case going on. And I have got a very dedicated staff, a very professional staff, and they're going to put in whatever needs to be done to handle the case load that comes. So, there isn't going to be any other case that suffers as a result of our efforts on this. There wasn't yesterday, and there won't be in the future.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: I'll tell you off the record later, Gary. (LAUGHTER) Maybe over a Tottie (ph).

QUESTION: Sheriff, just to clarify (INAUDIBLE).

ALDERDEN: That's what I believe to be the case, yes. And, again, as I said, the boys took the investigators and the patrolmen around yesterday and showed them the common hiding places, and this particular place was not pointed out. And again, it did not appear to be accessible. But I was there when the little boy climbed up on these boxes and started chinning himself up, and clearly he was able to do it.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: Again, I think he said that he had food and toys up there, we didn't see any.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

(AUDIO GAP)

ALDERDEN: You know, I -- I don't know, I think I probably might have, but, again, I can't say what -- who knows what you're going to do in that situation? Certainly once 911 was called, our instructions to the family is to stay put so we can get in touch with them. And clearly chasing a balloon that's going at 8,000 or 8,500 feet isn't going to do much good until it lands. So, you know, the wise thing to do is just stay put.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ALDERDEN: Certainly, yes. OK. Anything else? Thank you, everybody.

PHILLIPS: All right, we got a couple of things answered there from the sheriff out of Ft. Collins, Colorado about this rogue balloon yesterday where so many of us thought that a six-year-old boy was inside that helium-powered Mylar balloon. It started out as a worldwide scare, as you remember, then it became an outrage because there was talk that it might have been a hoax once we found out more the family and it's relation to reality TV. And then others came forward saying, "Eh, this is just an odd family with kids that aren't disciplined. Now we're finding out from the sheriff a couple of things. At this point right now, they don't think it's a hoax. They think the story is credible, that basically six-year-old Falcon untethered the balloon there in the back, ran, hid in his favorite hiding place and was scared to come out because Dad would be upset.

Now here's what's interesting. The sheriff says, "Hey, we did a thorough search of the house," but I find it sort of interesting that, well, obviously, that thorough search didn't check the kid's favorite hiding place where he was hiding the entire time.

So, right now, they're going to reinterview the family. Not today, possibly tomorrow because of a comment that little Falcon said to our Wolf Blitzer on CNN, and that was when he was asked why did you do it, he said, "For the show." That raised a lot of eyebrows, folks thought, "OK, here's a publicity stunt. That the dad wanted attention, it was all for a reality show pitch." That, of course, the sheriff says they have to investigate now. They're going to go back and reinterview the family.

But this point, he says, they believe it was a real event. They have received lots of e-mails, lots of calls, "Why don't you charge this family for what it cost taxpayers, you know, the Air Force was called, the Army launched two hilos, all the resources on the ground, from the people on the ground to the fire department to the medical staff, to you name it, why will they not have to pay restitution?"

The sheriff, as you heard, say "Until we find criminal intent, we can't do that, and we still need to interview the family to figure that out."

Coming up after the break, you're actually going to hear the 911 call. Three, actually, that the family made to police when they said they couldn't find their six-year-old boy. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: First the national scare, then the talk that it could have been a hoax. Now, the sheriff in Ft.Collins, Colorado says they believe this was a real event. Here's a portion of the actual 911 call made by the Hennes.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: It's an experimental plane?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a (INAUDIBLE) flying saucer.

911 OPEATOR: It's a flying saucer?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMLAE: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: And -- and that's gone too, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry?

911 OPERATOR: Is the flying saucer gone as well?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 20 minutes, I think.

911 OPERATOR: They have both been missing for about 20 minutes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

911 OPERATOR: Hang on just one second, don't hang up, okay? Just a minute. Ma'am, does it have any kind of a tracking device or anything on it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No, there isn't.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Is it electronical?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, (INAUDIBLE). You'll have to talk to my husband.

911 OPERATOR: OK. I can't understand what you're saying, ma'am. Does he know how to work the flying saucer?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's calling somebody.

911 OPERATOR: He's what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's calling somebody.

911 OPERATOR: He's calling somebody?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: Who's calling somebody?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Let me talk to him. Did you find him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

911 OPERATOR: Where was the saucer? Was it in the backyard?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, here, take that. Hello?

911 OPERATOR: Yes. Is this Richard?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is.

911 OPERATOR: OK. How long has the 6-year-old been missing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a few minutes.

911 OPERATOR: Was the flying saucer in the backyard? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: OK. It obviously has electronics and he knows how to work it and gets it up off the air -- off the ground?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. He does not know how to operate it.

911 OPERATOR: He doesn't know how to operate it? And that's gone, though, too, right? So, we are sure that he's in that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We -- we looked everywhere, and then my son just said (INAUDIBLE). "He went inside just before it went off." We had it tethered. It wasn't supposed to take off.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Was it running, then?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it doesn't run. It's filled with helium, and it operates out of a million volts to move left and right horizontal.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were testing it to see what effect we could get.

911 OPERATOR: Which direction is the wind blowing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going southeast. So, it's headed right straight (ph) (INAUDIBLE) airport. You know, I hope the FAA is -- was listening to me. The aircraft shifted.

911 OPERATOR: OK, so it might be headed for the (INAUDIBLE) airport area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).

911 OPERATOR: And was it silver in color?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's got aluminum foil on it. That's how it gets its (INAUDIBLE).

911 OPERATOR: And it's totally silver foil, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: OK. And he has no idea how to turn it or anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

911 OPERATOR: No instruction has been given to him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. There's no way he can turn it, no.

911 OPERATOR: OK. And he has no idea how to land it or anything? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. There's no communication. I mean, it was just supposed to be in the backyard, you know?

911 OPERATOR: Yes. OK, hang on just a second, don't hang up.

Sir, we have already contacted the FAA, they have already been made aware of it. I'm going to go ahead and call the Loveland Airport and let them know as well, OK?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: I don't know if all of you are thinking the same thing that I'm thinking, but I got to hand it to the 911 operator. When they said flying saucer, she didn't laugh, she took it seriously, she even kept referring to it as a flying saucer. Kudos to that 911 operator.

That's the parents, the Hennes, calling 911 when they were afraid their six-year-old son was inside that Mylar balloon fueled by helium that took off from their backyard yesterday, which caused breaking news on all the news stations.

And soon we found out that actually he wasn't inside. The balloon came down, he was hiding in the home and now a lot of people are wondering will this family be charged with criminal action? Will they have to pay all for the resources that were put in to chasing that balloon when their son really wasn't inside? What triggered a reinterview now that's going to take place on behalf of the sheriff's department? The fact that six-year-old Falcon said to our Wolf Blitzer yesterday on "THE SITUATION ROOM" that he did it "for the show."

The family's been tied to reality television, so the question was was this a hoax, was it planned and should the family have to pay for the resources that were put into the search? At this point, the sheriff says we don't believe it's a hoax, we've heard the 911 call, we've talked to the family, but because of that comment, we will have to reinterview the family. So, we'll follow-up, see what happens at the end of this investigation.

Meanwhile we're going to turn to our other top stories now.

And President Obama on his way to Texas for a face to face with George H.W. Bush. Mr. Obama is attending a forum on community service hosted by the former president and his Points of Light Institute. And he's saying thank you to the former president for his charity work.

Off the South Carolina coast, an urgent search underway for a missing F-16 pilot, his jet collided with another F-16 during nighttime training exercises off Charleston. The other pilot was not hurt. Both planes are stationed at Shaw Air Force base in Sumter.

An interracial couple in Louisiana couldn't believe their ears after a white justice of the peace refused to marry them. Keith Bardwell said he did it out of concern for any children they might have, and that's he's not a racist. Civil rights groups want him off the bench, and it may happen.

Imagine you go to the hospital, you get treated, you go home and you feel fine, at least until you find that the hospital might have given you cancer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Should we send more troops to Afghanistan? A lot more? That decision still weeks away. Now, four more American troops coming home to be buried. The U.S. military says two of them were killed instantly when a roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan. Two others died from their wounds.

And at a mosque in northern Iraq, the end of Friday prayers was the beginning of chaos. At least 15 people were killed, including the imam leading the prayers. Some 30 wounded in this suicide attack targeting Sunni Muslim worshipers. This area around that city of Talifar has seen a spike in violence.

Routine and dependence on machines may have led to a Los Angeles' huge error. Less clear, why didn't they clue at least some of the victims in. One man is now speaking out about his Cedars-Sinai ordeal. More now from our Kara Finnestrom out of L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD BIGGLES, GIVEN OVERDOSE OF RADIATION: The side of my face went numb, and my speech was starting to slur, and I'm like, "Uh-oh."

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty-one-year- old Donald Biggles suffered a stroke in September of last year. Since then, he's been grateful to the doctors who treated him at Cedars- Sinai Medical Center, but now a frightening discovery about a test used to diagnose his stroke.

Cedars-Sinai is admitting to a major programming error with its CT scan machine. During a period of 18 months, the hospital says every stroke patient, 206 in all, received radiation doses six to eight times more than intended. Biggles says he was one of them.

BIGGLES: This paperwork is what they gave me when they released me from the hospital.

FINNSTROM: Medical experts say nobody knows exactly what risk Biggles faces, but agreed that risk grows over time.

DR. BRUCE FAGEL, MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEY: They are now in a subset population that is, by definition, high risk for the development of various types of cancers. We don't know what kind. We don't know how long it's going to take for it to occur.

BIGGLES: They say, you know, cancer, it takes about 20 years for cancer to actually show up. And I'm, like, "So you're telling me I'm going to wind up with cancer around about age 70? That's it? Five years after retirement? I get cancer?" I'm, like, "What? I don't understand this." FINNSTROM: Biggles is struggling to make sense of it all. Three weeks ago he says he got a phone call out of the blue from Cedars- Sinai. Dr. Barry Pressman, chairman of the hospital's imaging department, had some questions.

BIGGLES: He asked me had I had any blurred vision, headaches or hair loss. And I said, hair loss? Yes. I said, I had a perfect ring around my head. You just do like this and there it was.

FINNSTROM: But he says Dr. Pressman never said anything about a radiation overdose.

BIGGLES: He never mentioned the word "radiation" or that they had over-irradiated me. He said something -- there was an error with the procedure.

FINNSTROM: In fact, Biggles says the only reason he learned about the overdoses was this week's flurry of local news reports. State health officials were alerted to the problem by the hospital and investigated.

Two years ago, Cedars-Sinai faced state censure in another high- profile mistake. The newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid were given 1,000 times the intended dosage of a blood thinner. The twins survived, and the Quaids launched a foundation to draw attention to hospital mistakes that kill as many as 100,000 Americans a year.

Biggles says he understands mistakes are made. What he wants are answers.

BIGGLES: They've taken me from my normal comfort zone until now I'm in a worry zone. I have a wife. I have a family. I'd like to see -- I'd like to be around to see my son graduate college and get married and, you know, that's my life expectancy.

FINNSTROM (on camera): Biggles says his next step will be to talk to his personal doctor about any risks he may face.

Cedars-Sinai turned down a request for an interview. But Dr. Pressman did release a statement, saying in part, "As a physician speaking with patients, the goal is to address any side effects that may occur, without unnecessarily alarming them. We continue to respond to patients' questions and concerns, and I sincerely regret if any patient feels that they did not receive the information they needed."

Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A new hurricane to worry about. This one's off Mexico's pacific coast, is that right, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hurricane Sanchez. PHILLIPS: Are you talking about Rick Sanchez?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll keep tracking it. Thanks, Chad.

We'll take a quick break. More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: President's top diplomat is not holding back. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a lot to say about the way Afghanistan was handled by the George W. Bush administration. Here's part of an exclusive interview with CNN foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think, unfortunately, over the last eight years, there wasn't the kind of expectation that should have been set for what the United States and the international community expected to be delivered. But we're going to change that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And you can catch the entire interview with Hillary Clinton 6:00 p.m. Eastern "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

I'm Kyra Phillips. Thanks for joining us this week, we'll see you back here on Monday. Rick Sanchez picks it up from here.