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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Where is Cassie Compton?; Police Issue Warrant for Taser Victim`s Arrest; Adopt-a-Dog Month
Aired October 13, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN QUINONES, ABC NEWS: I`m John Quinones with ABC News. please join us next time for another edition of "WHAT WOULD YOU DO?" on HLN.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight, breaking news in a race against time in the mysterious, frightening disappearance of a beautiful Arkansas
teenager. Cops say 15-year-old Cassie Compton walked out her front door, telling a friend she wanted to buy cigarettes, and this young lady simply
vanished into thin air. She looks like a child there. Did these cops waste precious time but not issuing an Amber Alert for precious Cassie?
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s basically vanished. She just vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fifteen-year-old Cassie Compton is still missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She came home from the Derby in Dewitt with her friend Hunter. She was home only for a short time before she walked out
the door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was gone like a whisper in the wind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s just so many unanswered questions with her. There`s not hardly any information.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Cops say 15-year-old Cassie Compton was last seen leaving her family`s Arkansas home almost exactly one month ago. Tomorrow it will
be a month.
Cassie`s mom allegedly told investigators that the teen had arrived home Sunday evening after spending the night at a friend`s house. But less than
30 minutes after getting home, cops say Cassie texted her best friend, saying she was going out to buy a pack of cigarettes. After Cassie walked
out the front door, she vanished.
Cassie`s family is terrified that she was abducted. Here`s the missing girl`s mom. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m so scared somebody kidnapped her. It`s dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What do you think happened? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1- 877-586-7297. And please join the conversation. Go to my Jane Velez- Mitchell Facebook page or you can talk to me on Twitter, @JVM.
Our expert Lion`s Den standing by. They`re gearing up to debate. And first, I want to go out to my primetime exclusive guest, the mother of
Cassie`s best friend, Tracey Snyder.
Tracey, thank you so much for joining us tonight. I know you`re doing everything you can to find this young lady. Your heart is with her. Your
son very good friends with Cassie. Cassie had stayed at your house the night before she vanished, so let`s start by telling us about the 24 hours
leading up to Cassie`s disappearance.
TRACEY SNYDER, MOTHER OF CASSIE`S BEST FRIEND (via phone): Well, my friend (ph) left her home and picked Cassie up Saturday afternoon about 1:30,
brought her to her house. We all left together at 3:30 to go to the Dewitt (ph) Derby. And after that was over, we all came home. And she spent the
night. We had brunch about 12:30. Just stayed around and had a lazy afternoon. And just a quiet evening at home. Nothing unusual about it
all. And Hunter took her home about -- left her house about 5.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait, that was -- that was -- OK, so she spends the night with you. You go to the derby on Sunday, the day she goes missing...
SNYDER: No.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Saturday.
SNYDER: Saturday.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Then she stays overnight. She stays overnight, and then the next day...
SNYDER: Saturday.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Then the next day, Sunday, the day she vanished, OK, your son takes her home to her house at what time?
SNYDER: He left our house at 6:05, and he got back by 6:45. We live out of town, so it was a little bit of a -- by the time he got there and
dropped her off and got back home, and she did send him a text message, saying that she was going to go out and buy a pack of cigarettes. And that
is the last response he got from her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m so -- this is -- I know this is so difficult for you, because you really got close to this young lady. Apparently, she would
spend -- this girl, this missing girl Cassie would spend a lot of time, weekends, over at your house. Why is that? Why was she spending the
nights on the weekends over at your house?
SNYDER: Well, looking back right now, I think we were her safe haven. We were her place for her to stay and know that she was safe and taken care
of.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, safe haven from what?
SNYDER: Just from things that she was having to deal with.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What, in the home or outside the home?
SNYDER: We -- we believe that there was some issues in the home that she wasn`t happy with and that she just wanted to get out and just be a 15-
year-old without having to deal with anything like that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, by the way, one of our producers spoke with the missing girl`s mom. She declined to come on camera. And I want to say
that she and her fiance are invited on any time. Now Cassie`s mom and her boyfriend/fiance noticed she was missing shortly after she left.
Now here`s the mother`s boyfriend speaking to the media about Cassie`s disappearance. It`s a very short sound bite, so listen carefully.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was gone like a whisper in the wind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So reports say Cassie`s mother`s boyfriend, the gentleman you just heard from, called you, Tracey, the night that Cassie vanished.
What did he have to say? I mean, what -- what was the conversation that night?
SNYDER: Well, there was three phone calls. They started about 9:14 that night. And he first asked if Cassie was still at our house. And coming
through the conversation and getting Hunter`s input during the first phone call, the first phone call...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s your son.
SNYDER: Cassie`s mom boyfriend actually saw Cassie get out of his truck, walk up the driveway. She did not speak to the mom`s boyfriend at all when
she was walking up the driveway and she went into the house. So I brought that up to him and told him that he seen him get out of my son`s -- seen
Cassie get out of my son`s vehicle, so he knew she was no longer with him or with us.
And I kept repeating to him through these three phone calls to go to the police department, go to the police department, or call the police and
report her missing.
In the third -- third phone call, he said that he did. He went to the police department, and they told him that it would be a 72-hour wait. That
morning, Monday morning when I got to work, I called and spoke with a detective. And he said there was actually no report filed. And he come
and spoke to me, and we filed the missing report on Monday.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So wait. I just want to clarify. By the way, missing mom -- the missing child`s mother, her boyfriend, invited on our show any time.
Again, we reached out and spoke to the mom, and we offered to have her on the show. If she`s watching, call in. We`d love to have you. We`d love
to hear what you have to say about this, because I know you`re trying to find your daughter.
And but essentially, what you`re saying, Tracey, is that you said call to report her missing. And the boyfriend said that he did, but then you`re
saying when you talked to police, they said it hadn`t been reported. But that could be a paperwork mix-up. That could be any number of things.
Look, let`s -- sometimes children don`t like the new love interest of the mom or the parent, and that could cause them to run away. Do you think
that she ran away, because we know she has family in the neighboring state of Oklahoma? And I checked the distance between where you guys live in
Kingston, Oklahoma, where her other family lives. That`s about 375 miles away. Do you think she tried to run there?
I know police and the FBI have visited her family in Kingston. And obviously, if they had found something, we would know by now.
SNYDER: The police have done a very thorough job in searching for Cassie. And no lead has been left unturned. By every lead they get called into the
police department, the FBI, or the Arkansas State Police. They are investigating each and every lead.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but I wanted to ask you, Tracey, do you think she ran away or do you think something untoward happened to her? What do you
think? It`s been a month.
SNYDER: Well, my heart wants to tell me she ran away and that she`s safe and she`s not hurt. But my head is telling me, after almost 30 days, that
something is very wrong. I just -- I just want to know that she`s OK and that she`s safe and that she`s being cared for and loved.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask you this question. She left, apparently, just with her cell phone and no charger. Do you think if she took her purse?
And did any -- did her image show up? She said she was going to get a pack of cigarettes, buy a pack of cigarettes. She`s only 15. She can`t buy a
pack of cigarettes at the age of 15, and she looks younger than her age.
Did we hear anything about surveillance footage showing up of her at a local store? Is there a store that she could have walked to?
SNYDER: Well, that is something that the police have not gone over with me, so I really can`t answer that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.
SNYDER: But I know they have investigated that lead.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. One last question before we get into our expert panel. A week before Cassie disappeared -- I`ve been studying her
Facebook. There`s an argument amongst her friends whether she`s dating a strapping young man who looks older than her. And she says -- well, one of
the friends says, "She is too young to be hanging out with you. You could -- she could get in trouble," words to that effect.
Then she says, "All right, everyone. Let`s get one thing straight. I was not with," dash, that older man.
Do you know -- I don`t want to mention any names here, but do you know of any older boy that she was hanging out with?
SNYDER: I do know that he was trying to hang out with her and wanted to, as they say, hook up. But she was adamant about how, you know, even on
Facebook she was adamant that she was not with him, and the police have thoroughly investigated that lead, as well.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. So you feel maybe that lead is not going to pan out. In other words, that that`s just some side issue. But it did seem like
some drama.
Tracey, is there anything else, an important clue, that you want to tell us so that we can try to solve this with our expert panel?
SNYDER: I don`t have any clues. All the leads are being investigated. I`m so thankful for the police and all -- everything that they`re doing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Was she unhappy? Was she in crisis?
SNYDER: She never let onto us, either. In our home, she was very sweet, loving, caring, always give you a hug. If there was something on the
floor, she would pick it up. Or she would, you know, just do whatever -- she was a sweetheart. She`s a sweetheart. And...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But you said that she was having issues with the home, somebody at the home?
SNYDER: Be didn`t know about those issues until after -- after the fact.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And how`d you hear about those?
SNYDER: She never gave us any clues or said, "I`m in distress. I need you. I need help." She never gave or led onto anything to that nature.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So is that just, like, neighborhood gossip or something of that nature that she -- where did you hear that?
SNYDER: Well, we just -- it`s not gossip. I just -- I can`t really tell you where that came from.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. But suffice it to say that she was having issues? That`s it.
SNYDER: Yes, ma`am.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Something regarding the home, and we can`t go any further than that.
SNYDER: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that`s allegedly, purportedly according to you, which we can`t independently confirm, and I want to stress that.
Tracey Snyder, I know your heart is with this young lady, and you want to do everything you can. And thank you for bravely coming on and sharing
what you know. And I`m so sorry, and we`re going to try to help.
SNYDER: Thank you so much.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. I want to go -- can we -- do we have to take a break now or can we go to -- OK, we`ve got -- let`s take a look at our
panel, because they are absorbing all of this, including Marc Klaas, president and founder, Klaas Kids, who is the leading expert nationally in
finding missing children. We`re going to take a very short break. We`re going to come back. We`re going to hear from all of these folks, their
analysis of what we just heard in that exclusive interview. Stay right there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tracey Snyder`s son was the last person Cassie contacted him the night she disappeared. She sent him a text saying...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That she was going to go find a pack of cigarettes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About two hours later, Cassie`s mother, Judy Compton, had her boyfriend call Tracey to see if she knew where Cassie was, but no
one had a clue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s basically vanished, vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the flip of a switch, a silent reminder that 15- year-old Cassie Compton is still missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s just so many unanswered questions with her. There`s not hardly any information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Where is 15-year-old Cassie Compton? Tomorrow it will be a month since she texted her friend at 6:55 p.m. on Sunday, September, that
she was going out to buy a pack of cigarettes and has never been seen since.
Let`s go to our expert Lion`s Den debate panel. Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids. You are the leading expert nationally. What do
you make of what you heard from the mother of Cassie`s best friend?
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT, KLAAS KIDS: Well, thanks for having me, Jane. First, I`d like to say that there`s not a cop shop or police department in
the United States that is going to tell somebody that you have to wait 72 hours to report a missing child and/or adult. So that`s just wrong. And I
don`t believe anybody said that.
But if this girl was experiencing problems at home -- and let`s just go with the runaway scenario for a minute. If I was her parent, here`s
exactly what I would do. I would Google runaway shelters within a 150-mile radius. That would include Little Rock and Memphis.
Children that run away are -- oftentimes gravitate towards the large city, the big city. I would then get a list of all those -- all of those youth
shelters or homeless shelters, I would find their e-mail address, and I would fax or e-mail a flier of the missing girl and ask them to put them up
on their bulletin board. You can`t assume that the police are necessarily going to be doing that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The FBI is involved. Wouldn`t that be the first thing that they do? I mean, I would think check the cell-phone ping. See if
there`s surveillance video of any stores nearby where she`s going to buy cigarettes or surveillance video for anywhere. And then check all the
homeless shelters in the area and the youth centers to see if she`s there. W
I would think -- look, what shocks me is we called three law enforcement places today. Stuttgart police, left messages for the assistant chief.
Did not hear back. Arkansas State Police media relations, it`s a current and active investigation. We do not discuss any active leads that may be
followed by our agents. The sheriff`s department asked for our assistance. FBI, Little Rock, everybody is out for the holiday today.
KLAAS: Then that`s why you should take matters into your own hands. You can`t do an investigation, but you can certainly look for your missing
child. That`s one proactive way to do it. Another good thing to do would be to call the national runaway safe line at 1-800-RUNAWAY.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So you think she`s a runaway? Or do you think she`s...
KLAAS: Not necessarily, but I think that that is a possibility, given the information that was just given to us. I don`t for one minute think that
it would be an optimal time for a child to run away from home, at 6:45 on a Sunday evening. That doesn`t make a lot of sense. But it`s possibility,
and it`s something that the parents can do to keep themselves active and involved.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think she would have taken her charger. Jump in somebody.
EVANGELINE GOMEZ, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. The issue here is it looks as if the police department doesn`t think it`s a priority because of
her age and because of circumstances that maybe she wasn`t happy with something in the home. Either way, she is still deserving of an Amber
Alert, and she`s vulnerable. Either way, if she`s a runaway or not, if this was voluntary or not, she deserves to have people out there looking
for her because this is a serious case. It could have started out where she was a runaway. She`s vulnerable, and it could be a situation where she
could have been abducted. She can still be an imminent danger and still face death.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What do we think happened to her, Mo Ivory?
MO IVORY, RADIO PERSONALITY: Yes, I`m really surprised by the response of the police, but then I have to say that I was also a little disturbed by
something that her mother said. When her mother said, "It`s safe for you to come home. Don`t be afraid to come home," that bothered me. That
instantly made me believe -- not that her mother is a suspect or anything like that -- but that made me believe there were problems in the home.
Because it`s odd to say, it`s safe for you to come home. Don`t be scared to come home.
And if she said that to the police officers, then that would make sense why the police officers keep saying that they don`t think she was abducted,
that they don`t think that she fits the criteria for an Amber Alert, which is imminent harm or possible death.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: First of all, I can`t tell you the number of girls who have turned up dead who didn`t qualify for an Amber Alert. There was one
just the other day. Let me repeat what you just said. Cassie`s mom is devastated, and here she is, pleading for her daughter`s return. Let`s
listen and then we`ll analyze it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMPTON: It`s safe to come. Don`t be scared to come home. We love you, and we just want you home safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There is the mother with her boyfriend. Ramani Durvasula, clinical psychologist, what do you make of that situation?
RAMANI DURVASULA, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: There`s lots of rumblings. It appears that something was not quite right at home. And yes, 15 year olds
act out and sometimes 15-year-olds run away, but we live in the most connected planet ever. So at this point, for a 15-year-old to run away,
she`s very likely to reach out to a friend, if not her parents, and say, "Hey, I`m chilling. I`m out of here for a little while."
So for her to disappear without a trace, while she may have started as a runaway, they really need to be looking for this girl, because I think now
it`s gone much darker than that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, well, of course. Marc Klaas, when any time a child goes missing -- and you have suffered your own tragedy, and you`re one of
my heroes, because you`ve taken the worst thing that could ever happen to a person, losing their child, and turned it into a force for good and for
change, so I honor you always -- but they always start with those closest to the child who has disappeared. In your case, I believe you said, you
know, "Hey, test me and give me whatever you have to do so you can clear me and move on to whoever`s responsible." What are they doing here, likely?
KLAAS: Well, they -- if any of this stuff is true, and it`s just the word of one woman on your show -- I have seen nothing about any of this
previously -- but if this is true, they`re obviously going to be investigating the boyfriend very, very carefully.
In other words, after the girl texted him, where was he? Is his space and his time accounted for in the hours after this little girl made her final
test -- text and walked out of the house, or is there something more nefarious going on?
And the other speaker was absolutely correct about her being endangered and vulnerable, if she is a runaway. She`s a small girl. Kids are the most
vulnerable people for human trafficking, to become victims of human trafficking in the United States. That`s why you don`t have to kidnap
girls for human trafficking. There`s between 1 and 2 million of them on the streets of America on any given day. They`re afraid. They`re
vulnerable. They`re looking for a way out.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and -- and Marc, I have read that within 45 minutes - - I attended a conference -- they said within 45 minutes of landing at the first bus stop, they`re approached by a pimp, and they are then often drug
addicted, shot up. And then they become -- they`re forced into prostitution.
But I am just concerned about the circumstances. If you`re going to run away, why don`t you take your charger? Why do you leave your charger back?
That`s what I don`t get: a teenager sophisticated enough to know this is going to run out, too, without a charger.
Let`s go to Dorothy, the very patient Dorothy, Virginia. Your thoughts, Dorothy.
CALLER: Hi, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.
CALLER: Yes, I believe -- and for some reason, I don`t think she ran away. Have they ever checked the Internet? You know, she might have talked to an
older man. I don`t know. Something just tells me she went with someone, some older man; might have met with someone up on the Internet. I don`t
know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: In fact, she had attended a demolition derby within 24 hours of her disappearance. And we were wondering whether, in fact,
perhaps, she might have met someone, stumbled across some older man at that demolition derby. We don`t know.
And I want to stress everybody connected to the story is invited on our show. We want to find this girl. There are no suspects. We don`t know --
we have no idea what happened to Cassie. All we know is we want her found safe and sound.
We`ve got so much more for you. A wild controversy. Shocking new developments on top of an explosive video that`s gone viral. You`ve got to
see it to believe it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMPTON: We just want to know she`s safe, she`s warm, she`s not cold, she`s got food in her belly. We just -- we`ve just got to have closure to
make sure she is OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re walking ditches. We`re walking sluices (ph). We`re walking around ponds. We`re walking in woods and fields. Your team
leader knows the area that you`ve got to search.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tomorrow will mark exactly one month since this beautiful young lady, 15-year-old Cassie Compton, told a good friend -- texting her
friend that she was going out to buy cigarettes. She`s 15. You can`t buy cigarettes legally in Arkansas until you`re 18. And she was never seen
again. What happened to her?
Phone lines lighting up. Let`s go out to Randy, Alaska. Randy, Alaska, what do you have to say?
RANDY, ALASKA (via telephone): I`m just appalled that an amber alert wasn`t issued as soon as an adult had made a comment that a missing child
was missing. I could care less if a child is down the road at a friend`s house when she`s not supposed to. If an adult calls the police and says a
child is missing, whether she`s been kidnapped, abducted or she`s somewhere where she shouldn`t be, an amber alert needs to be issued at that moment.
I know here in Alaska, I mean we have had issues where a little girl just walks down the road and within minutes there`s an amber alert. I mean --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look, there`s a whole bunch of criteria that needs to be met for an amber alert to be issued.
And I`ll go to Evangeline Gomez on this. For example, they have to have evidence of an abduction. Well sometimes kids are abducted without
evidence of abduction. What if a stranger just picked up, grabbed this kid, put the child in a van and taken off.
GOMEZ: That`s right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Nobody saw that then there`s no evidence of an abduction? Do we need to change the amber alert, because I want to start that
conversation with a hash tag? Let`s put up the hashtag and it`s #newamberalert. Do we need to change the criteria for amber alerts?
GOMEZ: Jane, that`s an excellent point. And you give some wonderful insight on this. Yes. There`s an issue. You shouldn`t have to reach this
high burden when someone is missing. Frankly many times once you get the evidence, the person is already dead or is just gone. And parents who are
in this situation -- family members who are in this situation should not have to be dealing with did we meet A, did we meet criteria B, C, at a
point when a child is missing. Or this is not a file. This is not a game. This is something real. Many times, many of these children end up dead.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ramani Durvasala, clinical psychologist, could there be a method to the officers` madness? Could they say we have reason not to
issue an amber alert?
DURVASALA: You know what concerns is that -- if they think that this is a young person acting out that they don`t want to waste resources on it. But
the fact of the matter is that --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Or, it had nothing to do with a child running away. Maybe they feel that something happened closer to home.
DURVASALA: Right. It`s closer to home. But the fact is once they are out of their parents` purview, they are at risk. They are vulnerable. And
that`s the concern. That`s why I think they do need to revamp the system to get these alerts out faster.
Yes, sometimes you`re going to find a kid acting out. But more often than not, you may get the system in place earlier to be able to help kids who
are already likely very trouble.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.
GOMEZ: Jane --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
GOMEZ: -- there`s also another issue and the issue is sometimes you have local police forces who know certain families and they peg certain families
and certain children as this child is deserving of resources and this family is not.
IVORY: Very true.
DURVASALA: That`s right.
GOMEZ: We hope this isn`t the situation here. Because sometimes because you`re from the wrong side of the track, you don`t get the respect and you
don`t get the dignity you deserve as a victim.
IVORY: Right.
DURVASALA: Yes.
IVORY: And what we might not know is whether this family has had contact with this police department in the past. If that police department has
visited this family on several occasions for whatever are the domestic problems at home. And maybe she, in fact, was a part of something that
happened and they see her as a troubled child. That would have a great impact --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s all hypothetical. We have absolutely no independent confirmation of any of that. That`s just a hypothetical
theory. So we want to -- I just want to be very careful to stress that there`s no suspects here. We`re not calling anybody suspects in any way,
shape, or form.
We want to find this young lady.
Now this next story coming up is a mind-blower. The man tased by a cop during a terrifying traffic stop has filed a federal lawsuit accusing
police of excessive force. But now some say -- his lawyer says the cops are retaliating by issuing a warrant for his arrest on a seven-year-old
misdemeanor. So where is this guy tonight? Is this payback by police?
It`s an unbelievable series of developments. We`re going to break it down in our "Naked Truth" segment -- next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to open the door?
LISA MAHONE, STOPPED BY POLICE FOR TRAFFIC VIOLATION: Why are you saying somebody is not going to hurt you? People are getting shot by the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s when I got shot in my back with a taser. It just felt like my body was going to shut down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news in that shocking viral video of police smashing a car window and tasering an Indiana man. The tased man has just
filed a lawsuit against the cops and now, in what critics are calling retaliation, cops have just issued a new arrest warrant for him on a seven-
year-old misdemeanor charge.
Lisa Mahone was rushing to the hospital to see her dying mom with her boyfriend and her two young kids when cops pulled her over for a seat belt
violation. Lisa handed over her ID and then cops insisted Lisa`s boyfriend, Jamal Jones, a passenger, show him his ID. Excuse me.
Well, Jamal didn`t have his id on him, but he tried to give police his information. They ordered him out of the car. He refused. The cops then
allegedly pulled out their guns. Lisa called 911 and then this happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not operating this vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to open the door?
MAHONE: Why do you say somebody is not going to hurt you? People are getting shot by the police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now Lisa and Jamal are suing the Hammond, Indiana, Police Department for excessive force, false arrest, false imprisonment, assault
and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Lisa`s seven-year-old daughter, who saw it all go down from the backseat, was
shaken up. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANIYA IVY, LISA MAHONE`S DAUGHTER: No, I`m not ok. I`m very scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re very scared why?
JANIYA IVY: Because after they like got the little pole and just got the window, that`s when I got scared. It was so, so scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, so scary. Well, this is, perhaps, scary to Jamal. We`re finding out police just issued a warrant for Jamal`s arrest for a
misdemeanor marijuana violation from seven years ago.
Straight out to our prime time exclusive with Jamal`s attorney, Dana Kurtz. Dana, you have said that police suddenly issuing this arrest warrant is
clear retaliation for the lawsuit that Jamal and his girlfriend and their whole family have filed against these cops and the authorities. Tell us
why you think it`s retaliation.
DANA KURTZ, JAMAL JONES` ATTORNEY: Well, the warrant was issued after seven years -- seven years later. And it was actually issued the day after
the family went on national TV with CNN. We actually found out about it because it was leaked to a local media outsource in Hammond, Indiana. The
fact that it was after seven years, you know, falling on the heels of the family speaking out about this incident, it`s hard to come to any other
conclusion than the fact that it`s retaliation for them speaking out.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jamal Jones, has he turned himself in?
KURTZ: He has not yet. He will. We`re trying to see if the local prosecutor will withdraw the warrant so that he can proceed with that
seven-year-old case and obviously abide by the law.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, let me ask you this question. It`s a provocative question but we`re going to explore all angles. What would you say to
somebody who might say, well, the reason he didn`t want to get out of the car is that he knew that there was some unresolved issue from seven years
ago and he was afraid that then he would be arrested?
KURTZ: He didn`t know that there was an unresolved issue. And the police never brought that up. It`s not in any police report and they didn`t know
either. This is all after the fact them trying to dig up dirt on him to make him and his family look bad.
You know the video shows -- the video speaks for itself that the incident was excessive. The police stepped over their bounds and violated their
constitutional rights.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What is the family saying about how this started? Because apparently Lisa is on her way to visit her dying mother -- I pray that she
didn`t die. But right from the start that -- and this is a pull over for a seat belt violation. Lisa admits, "Yes, I wasn`t wearing my seat belt."
Why did this turn into what it turned into? They`re not pursuing an armed robbery suspect. I mean this is a woman who admits she didn`t have a seat
belt on, and her mom is in the hospital and she`s afraid her mom`s going to die.
KURTZ: First, her mom did pass. The funeral was last week --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, no.
KURTZ: -- since this incident started -- yes -- when this incident started, we have three prior cases of excessive force against this officer
that we have found. That doesn`t even include prior complaints from the public. So really this got started by the fact that the Hammond Police
Department and the mayor, who is supporting these officers even after watching the video, condones what these officers did. Some action needs to
be taken by the police department, by the city of Hammond, and by the public taking outrage to make sure that something is done to stop these
officers from abusing their power.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, first of all, Dana, I just want to say to the family my heart goes out to them. I did not know that the driver`s mother had
passed away. And I`ve heard various accounts (inaudible) Lisa Mahone. But my heart goes out to her. How do you pronounce it correctly?
KURTZ: Mahone, yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, Mahone. My heart goes out to Lisa Mahone. My gosh - - to be driving to the hospital because your mother is on her death bed and then to be pulled over for not having a seat belt and then to have this
happen. And let me ask you one last question before we get to our panel. Dana, do you think if -- let`s say an upper class white family in Mercedes
Benz had been pulled over for a seatbelt violation and the driver, a female, you know what -- my mother is dying in the hospital. I need to get
to the hospital quickly. Do you think there would have been a different response? Yes or no?
KURTA: Yes. And that`s based on my own personal experience in that I`ve seen police act differently, especially in Hammond, Indiana where there`s a
diverse racial makeup. Yet the makeup of the police department does not reflect that of the public in terms of diversity.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, if you could join our conversation, I want to go to Mo Ivory. Mo, the officer who smashed the window has reportedly been sued
three times for excessive force. Now, this one woman you`re about to hear from, Yolanda Gray, told CNN what he allegedly did several years ago.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOLANDA GRAY, LAWSUIT PLAINTIFF: That`s the guy, the same one that tackled me, the one that bust the glass open. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my goodness. The
baby is crying. I heard my baby crying. She was standing in the street.
I get out of the car with my hands up and the one that tackled me came from this side of the street. As I was almost where I need to be, he tackled
me. I never saw him coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. These are the photos of injuries Yolanda says she sustained when she was tackled in what I believe was a case of mistaken
identity. Now, these lawsuits were reportedly all settled out of court. The officer did not admit to guilt in any of these cases.
So Mo Ivory, in the case, getting back to the window smashing incident, these officers were not disciplined. And I`ll read you the statement,
police say they did absolutely nothing wrong. But that one officer who smashed the window has reportedly been involved in three prior excessive
force incidents that were settled out of the court. Should he still be in uniform according to you?
IVORY: Of course not. But this is the culture that we have in our police departments across this country. The police officers will have their
superiors stand by them -- the code of police officers -- so that they can continue all of this excessive force and this overstepping of their power
and their boundaries.
One way we could really begin to make a difference is why don`t we make police officers responsible for their own insurance so every time that
they`re in a situation and it has to settle out, they have to make those payments. Watch how quickly the excessive force will begin to dissipate.
It is just outrageous.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brian Claypool, criminal defense attorney.
BRIAN CLAYPOOL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well Jane, just because a police officer has been sued for excessive force and even if they settled
the case for a nominal amount, that doesn`t mean the police officer engaged in excessive force. So you`re jumping the gun. I have prosecuted over 15
-- let me finish -- I`ve prosecuted over 15 cases against law enforcement and on several of those cases Jane, we found out later that maybe there was
not excessive force once you look at the whole picture.
IVORY: Brian why did you -- wait, let me say one thing.
Why did you say right there for a nominal amount? You don`t know that it was a nominal amount that the settlements are for. That`s almost sort of
breaking it down and saying that we`ll they`ll just pay the nominal amount to make the victim go away.
First of all we don`t know it was nominal amount. And second of all, by making a settlement does not say, it didn`t really happen, but we`ll just
give this person some money to walk away. It`s a way for the police department to protect these officers and for them not to have on their
record that they actually admitted to any wrongdoing. That`s protection on top of protection on top of protection and that`s what needs to stop.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Brian -- do you think how the officers handled this window breaking incident was appropriate?
CLAYPOOL: Jane, look, you have -- it`s easy to Monday morning quarterback. Driver`s Ed 101 tells you the answers to the following two questions. When
you are pulled over by a police officer in a lawful way and that officer asks you this question, please give me your identification and you refuse
to do that --
IVORY: He did not refuse to do that. He did not refuse to do that.
CLAYPOOL: Let me finish, please.
(CROSSTALK)
IVORY: Brian, why don`t you be accurate though?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask you an even bigger question.
He is not the driver. He`s sitting in the passenger car. If I go and walk my dogs and I don`t take my ID with me, if somebody stops me, I`m breaking
the law because I`m walking the dog without my ID.
CLAYPOOL: Let me tell you one more thing, then. Let me tell you one more thing. I`ll give you the benefit of the doubt on that one. But here`s the
problem when you combine that with, hey, can you get out of your car and then Mr. Jones says no and then here`s the third one, this is the officer`s
account, he says that Mr. Jones reached in the backseat towards something - - if you start reaching for something --
(CROSSTALK)
IVORY: He was getting something that the officer asked him for.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`ve got to leave it right there.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I promise you -- I promise you, we will keep on this.
Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Come on in. Somebody`s been partying. Ok. Rico, little Rico has been out partying. And you know why he`s partying?
Come on, kid. Because it`s adopt a dog month. Right? I know. We actually adopted you from Puerto Rico. That`s why your name is Rico.
Let`s take the party Rico to Los Angeles where my dear friend animal advocate Jane Garrison is working her tail off to get loving homes for
loving dogs.
First of all, congratulations all around. The dog we featured with you last week, Jack, is getting a home. There is Jack on our show last week
giving you kisses. Now we`ll show you Jack with his new mommy. There`s Jack. Danielle is the woman who just adopted Jack. And wow -- that`s
something to celebrate. Look how happy Jack is. What a big smile.
We are going to make it happen again this week. Jane, you`re live at a California animal shelter with Luke who desperately needs a home. Tell us
about Luke.
JANE GARRISON, ANIMAL ADVOCATE: That`s right. Luke is a sweet little boy. He`s only about 13 or 14 pounds. He was found wandering the streets but
he`s clearly a little, lovable dog. Now the sad thing, Jane, is that he was found wandering the streets and he`s blind. But the good news is that
his sight can be restored with surgery if the shelter can raise the money. This little guy can see again.
But it`s also important to get him a home. You know, the shelter is a scary place for all dogs. Palm Springs Animal Shelter is a wonderful
shelter, but this little guy is blind. So that`s so scary to be in a cage at a shelter. We have to get him a home right away. I`ll have a nice
little success story next week for this little guy Luke.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Where should we e-mail if we want to find a home for -- which we do -- little Luke?
GARRISON: Yes. You can e-mail helpLuke --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on. I`m going to take over. We`re having trouble hearing you. But it`s right there. HelpLuke@psanimalshelter.org -- that
stands for Palm Springs -- helpluke@psanimalshelter.org. Go right there and you can adopt Luke. Luke is in Palm Springs.
Imagine the terror of this little fellow being blind on the streets. Ok? Walking the streets blind. He was found by some wonderful folks. He`s at
the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. All of this information is on our Facebook, Jane Velez-Mitchell Facebook. And you can also just go to
adoptapet.com and rescue any animal.
Nancy`s next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
