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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Medical Records and Autopsy Leaked; The Man with the Golden Voice; Jane`s Healthy Adventure; Flesh-Eating Bacteria Strikes New Mom
Aired May 16, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live from New York City.
Tonight, could another woman be infected with the dangerous flesh- eating bacteria? Yes, it`s reportedly happened again. Now, I will talk to the family of beautiful, courageous Aimee Copeland about her battle. She is hospitalized right now. Her parents are standing by ready to speak to us at this moment. And she is battling this really frightening flesh- eating bacteria. We`re also going to find out what you can do to protect yourself so it doesn`t happen to you.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Tonight, flesh-eating bacteria, is it happening again? Is the mother of newborn twins suffering from the same life-threatening condition as 24-year-old Aimee Copeland. The beautiful grad student is fighting for her life after the flesh-eating bacteria forced doctors to amputate her leg. Aimee`s family joins me live tonight.
Plus, terror on the highway. Cops hunt for a suspected killer they say gunned down two Mississippi drivers. Is someone posing as a cop, pulling people over, then shooting to kill? We`ll investigate.
And major developments in the Trayvon Martin case. Do medical reports prove George Zimmerman`s nose was broken the night he shot Trayvon Martin dead? What does this do to the case against him? Plus, some are asking, are there X-rays to prove it? We`ll debate it with Zimmerman`s good friend and a lawyer for Trayvon`s family. And we`re taking your calls.
Then Ted Williams, the man with the golden voice, bouncing back after hitting rock bottom. The recovering drug addict marks his one-year anniversary of sobriety, and we`re celebrating with him tonight on this show.
And our adventure continues. Tonight the world`s foremost expert in emotional eating joins us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apparently, there is another case of a woman with a rare flesh-eating bacteria. This time it`s a new mom in South Carolina. Her husband says that she was diagnosed just days after she gave birth to twins.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A day of fun with friends has left a young woman in the hospital fighting a flesh-eating bacteria.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She fell off a homemade zip line May 1, slicing her leg. It got infected, leaving doctors no choice but to amputate her leg.
ANDY COPELAND, FATHER OF AIMEE: Her fingers basically appear mummified at this point. And it makes me shake to think about it.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The disease Aimee has is called necrotizing fasciitis, which is a fancy way of saying flesh-eating bacteria.
A. COPELAND: The doctors are doing the best they can to try to save as much of her extensions or her hands as they possibly can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For something like this to happen to someone so bright is devastating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can only fight so much against something so insidious as the infection that she had.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, did a terrifying flesh-eating bacteria strike again? That`s right. Family and friends of Lana Kuykendall, a brand-new mom to 9-day-old twins, says she contracted the flesh-eating bacteria, and tonight she`s fighting for her life instead of celebrating her newborn babies.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She just kept getting worse. Like, she would just get worse and worse and worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, just very worried, very upset still in disbelief that, you know, here is my friend who just had these two beautiful babies, and now she is intubated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This isn`t the first case, either. We of course, have told you about the beautiful 24-year-old grad student, Aimee Copeland.
Aimee picked up the dangerous bacteria when she fell off a homemade zip line, sliced her leg open, and then plummeted into a river. Aimee was diagnosed with the flesh-eating bacteria. Doctors, sadly, had to amputate her entire left leg, as well as part of her hip and abdomen. Her father says she is miraculously starting to recover as we speak.
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A. COPELAND: Today she`s actually doing very well. She was in high spirits. You know, again, we continue to talk. We actually talked a lot more about a lot of things.
She appears to be remembering day to day different conversations that we`ve had. We actually referred to some conversations she had yesterday. So her memory is -- her short-term memory appears to be coming back, which is a very encouraging sign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why are we hearing about this flesh-eating bacteria more and more these days? And I think a big question we`re all wondering: could this happen to you and your children? We`re trying to answer some of those questions. And get some thoughts and questions from you: 1-877-JVM- SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to my very special guests, Aimee`s dad and Aimee`s sister. They are at the hospital in Augusta, Georgia, where Aimee is being treated as we speak.
Andy, if I may call you that, Mr. Copeland, your daughter has been, by all these news reports, incredibly courageous, exhibiting extraordinary grace during this terrible ordeal. It is inspiring, I believe, to the entire country.
How is Aimee doing tonight? Tell us about her condition, her diagnosis. And does she even know that she`s lost a leg at this point, sir?
A. COPELAND: We`re unclear if she actually knows about the leg. Right now she does know about the condition of her hands, though. She knows that there has been some a trophy or basically a loss of blood flow in that area. The hands remain swollen, and they`re a little red, but she`s regaining some feeling. In fact, she can actually flex her wrist slightly right now. So that`s a good sign.
But as far as the amputated leg, there must be a phantom, I guess, feeling that she has in the leg. She hasn`t indicated that she knows that it`s gone.
But keep in mind also, Jane, they`re keeping her on medications that tend to help her forget over time. This is typical with trauma patients such as my daughter, and this usually makes treating her a lot easier because it keeps a lot of mental effects of the trauma away.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Paige Copeland, I know this has been difficult for you, obviously, but again, your sister has exhibited such grace. I was so touched by the fact that, when she woke up and came to, the first thing she was worried about was her thesis, because she`s a graduate student, as well as her job.
Tell us about this game you play. I understand she`s on a ventilator so she can`t speak, correct me if I`m wrong, but you play some kind of game that nurses have described as almost like a game -- game-show type game to communicate. Tell us about that.
PAIGE COPELAND, SISTER OF AIMEE: It is. And you know, we`ll go in there, and we`ll talk to her a little bit. We`ll ask her some -- some questions. And when she starts to speak, you know, with the tube down her throat, it`s hard for her to close her mouth and really enunciate the sounds that we`re so -- you know, find so easy.
So in the beginning, you know, we can kind of get an "I" or "that" in the beginning. So then we`ll ask her from there, are you saying a statement? Are you asking a question?
And she`ll say, "Yes, I`m asking a question."
And so we`ll go from there. The first word is "I," and we`ll go to the second word. And if we understand that, we`ll keep going until it`s the third word. If we don`t understand the third word, then we`ll ask her if it`s a vowel or a consonant. And -- she`ll nod if it`s a vowel, nod if it`s a consonant. And then we`ll just spell it out until we finally figure it out.
I know it`s kind of frustrating for her, but I know she wants to get her point across. So...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. Wow.
A. COPELAND: It`s a fun game for all of us.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you guys really are inspiring to me, and, boy, this is something that puts everyone`s life in perspective. If you can exhibit this kind of -- oh, optimism and just attitude at a time like this, we should all be able to do so. Amazing.
You know, when Aimee was infected, some people called it the perfect storm. She fell off the zip line and right into a river. The bacteria is very common in this brackish water, like water in lakes, fresh-water lakes, rivers, and especially in warmer climates.
So my understanding is she wasn`t infected. She would have been fine if she wasn`t injured, she didn`t have this cut. But because she had this deep and open wound, the bacteria was able to get in there in the tissues.
So, Andy, tell us about that, because my understanding is she fell into the river. She cut her leg. She got 22 staples to close the wound. And then it was about three days later that you all started to realize, wait, this is a lot bigger than just a cut. Tell us about that.
A. COPELAND: Well, I can`t really tell a whole lot about the accident, Jane, because I wasn`t there. I`m not sure if she fell into the river or if she actually fell onto the ground. I don`t know, and I -- as far as I know, Aimee told us she fell. She didn`t tell us where she fell. We don`t know any -- really, more details than that.
I did talk to Aimee about it. I know that she did get some staples to her leg, that she was sent home, that she developed -- she was in pain after that. She went back to the hospital and received pain medication the next day.
And then when she went back the next day, there was no sign of any problem or -- as far as we knew. Then the next day she went to a doctor for an appointment, but you know, all these details are very vague. And Jane, I`ve actually chosen not to focus on them, because for us there`s a lot of negative energy around them. We`ve chosen instead to focus on the positive conditions of Aimee`s recovery and of trying to coordinate blood drives out in the community, get people out, get blood.
Because the one thing that this injury does is it -- patients eat through a lot of blood. And Aimee has actually taken 177 units of blood products since she`s been here in Augusta.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. Unbelievable.
Well, let me -- let me say this, if doctors catch the bacteria in time, it is not a death sentence. In fact, there`s a survivor, Janelle Hansberger, who lost her leg to the flesh-eating bacteria. And this should give everyone cause for optimism. She now runs triathlons. Listen to her.
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JANELLE HANSBERGER: TRIATHLON ATHLETE: I went to a camp in Atlanta called Getting to Try. It was an organization out of Atlanta. And they have a camp for physical disability individuals with physical disabilities. And that`s where I learned to swim, bike and run again as an amputee. So that was probably the turning point and life changing for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So that`s amazing, that she runs triathlons, and we certainly hope that that will happen, as well, for Aimee Copeland.
If I can ask the Copeland family to stand by for a moment, I want to bring in Dr. Kathleen Lunden, who is a board-certified family physician, because so many Americans hearing about this case -- and we`re going to cover the next case in a moment.
They`re wondering, hey, how do I know this isn`t going to happen to me or my child? I mean, kids are falling and cutting themselves. I once had 77 stitches for falling down an escalator covering a news story when I was racing with things in my hand.
And so tell us. I understand, OK, this disease happens, to boil it down, when bacteria gets in the body and it emits toxins that destroy the soft tissue. So how do you prevent something like that from happening?
DR. KATHLEEN LUNDEN, FAMILY PHYSICIAN: OK. The bacteria, actually, that Aimee has is very rare, because it`s one that we usually only see people get, like, stomach symptoms from like gastroenteritis or diarrhea from eating fish that has. Her case is exceedingly rare.
And necrotizing fasciitis altogether is very rare, so please keep that in mind. That most of the bacteria that happens is bacteria that`s around the ones that can cause strep throat and other forms of strep I think we`re tired of.
And so the big thing is if you have a burn or you have a cut keep it really, really clean. You know, probably when she got the cut and then was in the water is when the bacteria had a chance to get in there. And since it was a deep cut, it was able to get in very deep because, yes, once the bacteria gets in at that deep level that`s when it has a chance to go nuts and eat through everything.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The second case on the other side.
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A. COPELAND: The doctors are doing the best they can to try to save as much of her extensions, her hands, as they possibly can. And literally, it`s day by day or even hour by hour. We really don`t see the suffering side of it. We see the miraculous survival.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s an amazing family, coping so courageously with this case of flesh-eating bacteria.
There is now a reported second case, although we can`t independently confirm it. A 36-year-old woman`s husband says yes , she got flesh- eating bacteria. We`re going out to her close friend Krissy Davidson. Tell us what happened, Krissy.
KRISSY DAVIDSON, FRIEND (via phone): Hi. Basically, Lana went to a hospital down in Atlanta, Georgia, to deliver her babies. She had twins, a boy and a girl. She had a normal, healthy delivery.
And within a couple of days after the delivery, she started complaining that she wasn`t feeling right, that something was wrong. She had come back to the upstate area in Greenville, South Carolina. She was home for approximately 13 hours. And then on Friday, of course, an area on the left thigh, approximately showed up. Kind of similar area that you would get from a brown recluse spot, like a dark bruise with kind of a red border. And of course, she was complaining of a lot of pain.
So she had gone. Her husband actually had taken her into the E.R. room here in the upstate and of course, they ruled out a blood clot, because they were first thinking this sometimes after...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: When did they find out that it was actually flesh- eating bacteria?
DAVIDSON: After they ruled out the blood clot they did the Doppler, it was probably within the hour.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How is she doing tonight?
DAVIDSON: She`s still in critical condition, but she is stable at this point, meaning that her vital signs are nice, stable and strong.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And she was only able to be with her twins for a very short period of time, and now she`s fighting for her life.
DAVIDSON: That`s correct.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What a horror.
Dr. Kathleen Lunden, how can child birth lead to flesh-eating bacteria? This is like some kind of horror movie.
LUNDEN: Well, certainly the pregnancy itself is an immune compromised state, and that puts you a little more at risk. So when you see these cases, someone has just had a virus or they`ve had some sort of immune system compromised if you`ve had abdominal surgery. So it`s a number of women having C-sections now that definitely increases your risk -- that becomes a risk factor for it.
This isn`t clear if she had vaginal delivery. You know, there is still trauma that can happen. Bacteria has a way to get in. If she had a bug bite on her leg, that`s another way in. So all these things can do it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Susan in Georgia, really quickly, your question or thought, Susan?
CALLER: Yes. I`ve been praying for the girl that did the...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s pray for both of them.
CALLER: I`ll pray for both of them, because I was bit by a brown recluse, and I know what it`s like to have your flesh be eaten.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to have to leave it there, but thank you to the Copelands.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Trending, a daughter consulting her dad. Your "Viral Video."
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mississippi police are tracking down leads that may catch a killer supposedly posing as one of their own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that the details are not going to be pretty. We know that this is a violent end to a very kind man`s life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, police looking for a killer who could be impersonating a police officer. Already, two people have been shot to death, both near this stretch of highway in northern Mississippi. Seventy- four-year-old Tom Schindler found dead in his car a week ago. He was driving to Florida to pick up his grandson. He never made it.
three days later, 50 miles away, 48-year-old Lori Carswell found dead near her car. Authorities suspect the shooter is pretending to be a cop so he can get the motorists to pull over, and he then shoots them. Talk about a predator.
Now, we`re told the suspect may be driving a gold, unmarked Crown Victoria which looks something like this.
Straight out to HLN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks. Mike, this is so frightening. I mean, what do you make of it?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: You know, it really is, Jane. But we don`t have any description of any vehicle. So I don`t want somebody to concentrate on looking for a Crown Vic or another kind of vehicle, because they don`t know for sure.
But what -- what I can say is, if someone goes to pull you over and you`re in the Mississippi area -- Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, anywhere near Mississippi -- call 911 to verify that the officer or supposed officer behind you really is, in fact, a bona fide law-enforcement officer.
Cops in this area, Jane, they`re very sensitive to what`s going on there. And they will not mind. Or try to go to an area that`s well lit, possibly surveillance cameras and other people around before you pull over for this supposed law enforcement officer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, what is the possible motive here? I understand both cars were on the side of the road. They weren`t, like, stopped in the middle of the roadway.
BROOKS: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And was there money taken? Was there anything taken? What -- what is behind this?
BROOKS: We`re hearing at least one victim, his wallet was missing, his family is now saying. So was the motive for both of these robbery? We don`t know.
But both vehicles, Jane, when they were found on the side of the road were about 50 to 55 miles apart, three days apart. And basically, there was no mechanical problems. There were possibly gunshot and shell casings left at the scene.
But they`ll look to see if they can compare them. They`re also looking to see if there had been any other instances like this that might not have been reported to police that somebody might have tried to pull someone over that wasn`t a cop.
Because Jane, no matter what kind of care you have, late at night and early morning hours, someone goes to pull you over and you see the revolving strobes or the revolving light in your rear-view mirror, what are you going to do? You`re most likely going to pull over. But people are concerned that if you do have any question, call 911.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, apparently, this woman has come forward saying she thinks somebody tried to do this to her recently. That last month, someone posing as a cop asked her to pull over. She said this individual was in a car with a white, flashing light on the dashboard. And she just felt uneasy about it and just basically left, and who knows? That might have saved her life.
BROOKS: It could have. And the key there: white flashing light. What does law enforcement have? Either blue or a combination of blue and red. You don`t usually see a white light used by law enforcement.
So again, you know, these -- these strobe lights are easy to come by, but still not a lot of clues, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, and so many people really worried, because my gosh, people use their cars to commute. They don`t have the option to stay home.
Thank you so much, Mike Brooks.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trayvon Martin`s autopsy showed he had injuries on his knuckles when he died.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The medical examiner found only two injuries on 17-year-old Trayvon Martin`s body. His fatal gunshot wound and broken skin on his knuckles.
BILL SHEAFFER, WFTV LEGAL ANALYST: It could be consistent with Trayvon either trying to get away or defending himself.
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN, CHARGED WITH TRAYVON MARTIN`S MURDER: Hey, we`ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there`s a real suspicious guy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just said he shot him dead. The person is dead laying on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zimmerman`s family doctor diagnosed him with a broken nose, a pair of black eyes and two lacerations on the back of his head.
SYBRINA FULTON, MOTHER OF TRAYVON MARTIN: Our son was not committing any crime.
CROWD: No justice. No peace.
SHEAFFER: It goes along with Zimmerman`s story that he acted in self- defense because he was getting beat up by Trayvon Martin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: Tonight police evidence sheds new light on what may have happened the night Trayvon Martin was shot. Was George Zimmerman on drugs during this deadly confrontation?
Jane Velez-Mitchell back with you live in New York City.
Last night, Zimmerman`s medical records came out and now Trayvon`s autopsy report has been leaked. According to affiliate WFTV, the 17-year- old sustained injuries to his knuckles when he died.
But look at this from ABC News. This picture purports to show the bloody cuts on Zimmerman`s head from that very night. Medical records from his family doctor reportedly stating Zimmerman had a broken nose, two black eyes and scalp lacerations. These reports could -- could support Zimmerman`s defense or they could show that he was the aggressor. Listen to this.
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SHEAFFER: It goes along with Zimmerman`s story that he acted in self- defense because he was getting beat up by Trayvon Martin. It could be consistent with Trayvon either trying to get away or defending himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But here`s a wild card. Trayvon`s autopsy reveals that he had no drugs or alcohol in his system. However, George Zimmerman might have, according to the medical records, Zimmerman had a prescription for two drugs, Temazepam and Adderall.
Temazepam is also called Restoril; now it treats insomnia. Adderall treats ADHD. Both drugs have a litany of mood-altering side effects. Could drugs have influenced George Zimmerman to kill? Call me 1-877-JVM- SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to Frank Taaffe, Zimmerman`s steadfast defender; Frank, by the way, I read that you are on the witness list and we`ll talk about that in a second.
FRANK TAAFFE, FRIEND OF GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: Sure.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But what do you know about George`s prescriptions? I find it fascinating he had these prescriptions for Temazepam called Restoril and Adderall because the, my gosh, the side effects of that -- those are serious, mood-altering meds.
TAAFFE: Well, Jane, what I did read about Adderall is that first of all George is on a prescription drug, Adderall, as you stated earlier and I wasn`t aware of the release of the toxicology report, but you had stated that there were no drugs in Trayvon`s system, is that correct?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s correct. According to the reports.
TAAFFE: Ok. It`s the toxicology report that`s in evidence?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? Please don`t cross examine me because I`m not on the witness stand nor do I have the actual reports. What we have are reports about the reports. So I`m telling you what has been publicly reported and I`m trying to get your reaction --
TAAFFE: No, no, no. I respect your --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t have the reports in front of me.
TAAFFE: What I do know of Adderall is that it`s a commonly prescribed drug that is used in ADHD. And if George was taking that then he was under medical advice for that drug. Other than that, there were no other illegal drugs in his system and also he did not have to submit to a drug test that night. Under Florida law, the only time that is mandated is if you`re pulled over for a DUI.
So you know, we have the records; we know what was in George`s system. But as you shared with me earlier there were no drugs in Trayvon`s system. I understand that it can cause a high state of agitation if it`s taken in excess.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know what, Frank? Actually I was just going to get your reaction. We actually have a doctor onboard who`s going to tell us medically what all this is about.
TAAFFE: Great.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s go to Cathleen London. Temazepam, Restoril and Adderall, what could that do to the body as opposed to why they might be used? What could that do to a person`s psychology?
DR. CATHLEEN LONDON, BOARD CERTIFIED FAMILY PRACTICE PHYSICIAN: Well, we know that Adderall can change your vision. It can change how you perceive things. It can make you angrier and more aggressive. And so that`s a definite question.
Temazepam is a sedative. You cannot be aware of what you`re doing. All sorts of things that can go wrong with it; we use it as a sleep aid. It`s an interesting combination he was given, Adderall and Temazepam. That`s not what I would recommend as a combo that you`re bringing someone up and they`re giving something to take them down. That`s asking for problems.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Yes, ok.
Natalie Jackson, attorney for Trayvon Martin`s family, what`s your reaction to this report? He was not tested that night, is my understanding, but then he had been prescribed these two drugs -- George Zimmerman.
NATALIE JACKSON, ATTORNEY FOR TRAYVON MARTIN`S FAMILY: George Zimmerman`s release of his medical record actually raised a lot of questions to us. And one of the question was whether or not he was on these drugs and whether or not those drugs made him perceive that Trayvon Martin was the threat that he, in his mind built him up to be.
Now, I don`t know if we`ll ever get that answer, Jane because the Sanford Police Department did not do a toxicology of George Zimmerman. So that`s one of the questions because we`ve always wondered George Zimmerman by his own word that "These a-holes always get away." Why did he think Trayvon was an "a-hole"? What was Trayvon doing?
We know he was in a place that he was lawfully allowed to be. We know that he was not committing any crimes but something in George`s made him get out of the car with a 9 millimeter gun, and go after a kid, who by his own words, George Zimmerman`s own words was running away from him. And that`s really the crux of this case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here`s the other factor. Critics are really looking at this medical report and another Martin family attorney Ben Crump expressed some reservations about it. Listen to this.
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BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR TRAYVON MARTIN`S FAMILY: The family of Trayvon Martin, like all of America, looks at this report with a suspicious eye. They ask of course, and if his injuries were that substantial then why wouldn`t the ER person there have taken him to the hospital? You know, this was the report of a family doctor the next day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. So I`ll throw that out to Frank Taaffe, George Zimmerman`s neighborhood supporter. Why did, do you think, decline hospitalization the night before and why do you think he went to a family doctor?
There`s some who`d say, well, you know, you can get your family doctor`s a long time friend to say almost anything. I would be really curious if there`s an x-ray. That would certainly I think be reassuring to me at least that everything is as it says it is, Frank.
TAAFFE: Jane, first of all, I didn`t mean to cross examine you. I apologize.
Here`s the case. There are two types of trauma that we experience in this type of case, there`s casual trauma where after George was punched in the nose and sustained a closed end fracture that`s in the report, that`s trauma number one. There`s serious trauma and serious trauma is when you become unconscious.
I`m sure our esteemed MD would be happy to share about this or opine about it. But the question is if he encountered this trauma which we know through the medical records that at the time -- I mean, this wasn`t a delay. It was imminent. The statute reads if he felt he was in imminent fear of his life and imminent and reasonable bodily harm.
It wasn`t delayed. You know the EMT showed up. He opted not to go to the hospital at night. It can be delayed and his head was not concussed at that time, but upon examination the next day there was no signs of a concussion the next day, but we were not there on the spot and neither was Natalie Jackson. She wasn`t there that night.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Hold on one second. We`re going to bring in Natalie. You`ve sort of made your points that a fracture of a nose would indicate that in your opinion he was defending himself.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Natalie Jackson, what do you make of it? Would you like to see an x-ray and if there is an x-ray of George Zimmerman from that date showing a fracture of his nose, a broken nose would that be tough for the state case?
JACKSON: No, Jane, the state in their affidavit they said a struggle ensued. What`s important in this case is that George got out of his car with a 9-millimeter gun and ran after a kid who was running away from him. That`s the important part of this case.
(CROSSTALK)
TAAFFE: Natalie, is it against the law to get out of the car?
JACKSON: His injuries do not matter to me.
Taaffe: Natalie, is it against the law to get out of the car?
JACKSON: A jury will see this from the beginning to the end. They won`t see these bits and pieces that are being leaked to the public.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, this is a tough case. We know it`s emotional but what we`re doing is presenting the facts and we`re giving various parties a chance to speak. Thank you all for joining us. More next.
JACKSON: Thank you.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re going to teach us short exercises we can scatter throughout the day.
TOM HOLLAND, FITNESS EXPERT: You can do this in front of the TV while you`re watching the show.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I can do this while waiting for my organic quinoa pasta to boil.
HOLLAND: Absolutely, in the kitchen.
And then for the back of the arms just sideways and squeeze back.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. All right.
HOLLAND: And squeeze up. So we just did our entire arm, biceps, triceps, shoulders.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why do you have to lean over when you do this?
HOLLAND: You want to work against gravity. Great question Jane. So you want to squeeze up. You`re doing it perfectly.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I like it.
HOLLAND: And at the top you feel the back of your arms working right there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. I mean here is the bottom line. The entire theme of what we`re doing is no major changes.
HOLLAND: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Little tweaks to your lifestyle every single day.
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TED WILLIAMS, HOMELESS FOR 17 YEARS: I certainly would.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drugs having destroyed much of his life, when a reporter for "The Columbus Dispatch" recorded him and his harmonic voice.
WILLIAMS: We`ll be back with more right after these words.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve got e-mails, phone calls, offers -- I mean literally from all over the world.
WILLIAMS: It`s getting more and more overwhelming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know addiction. There is a victory here, but there can also be a defeat.
WILLIAMS: God bless you. Thank you. And we`ll be back with more right after these words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What happened to the man with the golden voice? Ted Williams discovered begging on the streets of Columbus, Ohio. Before he had a family, a job and a life like the rest of us, but he lost everything to crack. Homeless for 17 years before this video from "Columbus Dispatch" went viral and he turned into an overnight sensation.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I`ll make you work for your dollar. Say something in that great radio voice.
WILLIAMS: When you`re listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you`re listening to Magic 98.9. Thank you so much. God bless you. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That gifted voice here with us along with the rest of him. My very special guest, author of the new book, "The Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work and Humility Brought Me from the Streets to Salvation", Ted Williams. You just celebrated May 4th a year`s sober.
WILLIAMS: One year. Yes ma`am. Yes ma`am. Thank you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Way to go. Because you know I`m a recovering alcoholic and I celebrated 17 years sober in April. I`m going to clap for you, you clap for me.
What makes it different? Because let`s be real. You were a chronic relapser; after you were discovered you were given opportunities and you lost it because you walked out of rehab. You relapsed. Why is it different this time around?
WILLIAMS: I pretty much eliminated those people, places and things. I`ve got myself surrounded by good people, a sober companion and my attorney, Brett Adams. You know, he`s been making sure that I stay grounded. I go to meetings. I call my sponsor. And I have Max Accountability Program as recommended by Dr. Phil.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, this is a disease of amnesia. We have a tendency, and I speak for myself, the reason I go and really work my program is because we forget. And we want to forget because we want to convince ourselves that it`s ok to do what we did.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You relapsed even after you were rediscovered. So let`s check this confrontation out on "Entertainment Tonight" and then we`ll talk about it.
WILLIAMS: Ok.
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WILLIAMS: I wanted to bring it to a close by just saying, you know, shut the hell up and let me talk to your mother. When that was said out of my mouth, my daughter exploded and just erupted. Jumped up in my face type of thing, fists got to flying, none of which were mine.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: So there you were confronting your daughter, being confronted by your daughter. I believe you now that you`re sober. I look at you now and you`re the picture of sobriety. But what was it like when you were really -- bring us there, take us to what it was like when you were in the throes of your crack addiction.
WILLIAMS: Oh, my goodness. It was just so overwhelming. You talk when I first came into the Hollywood scene.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Any time using crack. I`m reading your book, you`re describing the smoke.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes, yes. Yes, definitely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tell us about that. Why is crack so incredible to you?
WILLIAMS: It just makes you do the most immoral things that you -- things that you don`t think you would ever be capable of doing. Like for instance one story sticks out of how I went after my kids had never had a - - it`s been a while since they`d had a balanced dinner or a balanced meal and we had some food stamps. So we went to purchase a great deal of food and when I was on my way back to the house, I ran into a dope dealer. And he said hey, man I`ve got some of the hard white. And it just threw me through that.
And next thing you know my kids are stuffing grapes in their mouth as a last resort to keep that from going back to the store because I took the food back into the cabinets and back into the bags, back to the store. And my son was just eating like for dear life. It was like, you`re not taking these. I`m going to make sure these don`t go.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that short, short story requires a lot of courage to tell. It`s not easy to get on television and say something like that, but I think it`s really great for your sobriety because none of us should ever forget where we came from.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you, Brett. Thank you, Ted. You`re an inspiration.
WILLIAMS: Thank you. Thank you, Jane. I love you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I love you, too.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You deserve a laugh break. This one is trending online -- too good not to share.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGH BREAK)
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s week two of our adventure to slimness, you and me, doing this together with our personal healthy eating advocate Kathy Freston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here is the bottom line. The entire theme of what we`re doing is no major changes.
HOLLAND: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Little tweaks to your lifestyle every single day.
HOLLAND: Exactly. There`s nothing natural about working out for an hour. I mean I don`t know why someone said you had to go to a gym for an hour. You`re going to do a workout here that would take time it takes you to get to the gym.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Join us on our nightly adventure to slimness on this show every night. Now we talked to Kathy Freston about getting lean. We talk to fitness expert Tom Holland about getting buff and shredded. And tonight the most important aspect of our adventure -- the psychological relationship we have with food.
Straight out to my very special guest, a best-selling author of "Fat is a Family Affair" and the soon to be released, "From Bagels to Buddha". Judi Hollis, I read your seminal book, "Fat is a Family Affair" and the first line is so famous now. "We are as fat as we are dishonest." What did you mean by that?
JUDI HOLLIS, AUTHOR, "FAT IS A FAMILY AFFAIR": What I mean is we`re not living the life that our soul knows we`re intended to be living here. And as long as we keep running around doing things that don`t fit who we individually really are, we`re going to eat to dull the pain that that brings us.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And is that what they mean when they say emotional eating?
HOLLIS: Very much so. A lot it is stress, as we`ve already heard from many other experts. You know, it`s so funny to me we keep addressing this as food and diet, exercise and diet. When we don`t pay attention to who am I and how am I behaving in the world that`s making me want to be self-punishing. It`s a very difficult problem for us as Americans. We`re the fattest nation in the world.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now what about food addiction?
HOLLIS: Well, I speak a little bit to that as well because there is an addictive property to carbohydrates and sugars. We do go through withdrawals when we have too many of them. And we have to be careful about that. But I get a little concerned when people then make all foods bad and they`re just afraid of themselves to be eaters.
What this is about is about paying attention to who you are and that person, you, your relationship with the substance. The substance is not the problem. It`s the inner being and how we use it. That`s the problem.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I would disagree a little bit. I think our substances are the problem in the sense of fast food. I respect you tremendously but we`re just having a dialogue. A new study says the more fast food you eat, the more likely you are to be depressed, and the more depressed you are, the more fast food you are likely to eat.
It`s a vicious cycle. We asked Kathy Freston about the other alternative, eating vegetables.
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KATHY FRESTON, AUTHOR, "THE LEAN": That plus the fiber, that`s going to energize you throughout the day. And it`s going to change your body from the inside out. And that includes changing the way you feel emotionally, mentally. You are going to have a clarity that you`ve never experienced before as you`re dropping the weight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Judi, 15 seconds.
HOLLIS: I have no problem with that but how do we keep doing the things recommended by all of these experts? We need help from other fellow sufferers, and we need to keep on keeping on and get back on the horse. We all know what to do. How do we do it? We need other people to help us.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dr. Judi Hollis, author of the upcoming "Bagels to Buddha", you are the basically world`s most famous expert on emotional eating. Tell us about how people use food to stuff their feelings.
HOLLIS: It`s just like a drug, just like alcoholism. My early training was in drug addiction, and I found that what I was doing with food was exactly the same. We have to realize the personality dynamics of all addicts (inaudible) and compulsiveness and the recovery is similar.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I have to say that I often, when there is something emotionally I don`t want to deal with, an upset or truth I don`t want to face about myself, I will sometimes eat emotionally, eat something. And then I feel remorse. It`s exactly like alcohol or drugs. And I`ve tried to learn to sift through the feelings and experience them.
Nancy next.
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