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Protests in Baltimore; Canned Food Poisoning Leaves One Person Dead, Many Sick; Several Homes in Danger of Rolling Down Collapsing Hillside in New Jersey. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 22, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:42] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Listen. You know this. There are a lot of questions right now about what happened to this 25-year-old man who died in police custody. But really, the question, how did Freddie Gray suffer a spinal cord injury after officers arrested him on April 12th and placed him inside this van, this police transport van.

The justice department is now launching its own investigation to try to get answers as well. And then you have all these protesters. They are furious over this incident. And they will be taking to the streets once again in a matter of hours to demand justice.

So let's go to my colleague Jake Tapper. He's in Baltimore right now.

And Jake, you tell me who you're talking to, what you're hearing today.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously last night was a very emotional night with roughly 2,000 people protesting not only the death of Freddie Gray but also the lack of answers. There has been not exactly, you know, a ton of information coming from the police or from the mayor about how Freddie Gray exactly died in between the time that he made eye contact with police, ran away from them, and the time he was put in the van and then the time he showed up at western police headquarters and obviously was paralyzed.

But I did talk to a local NAACP activist today who said that they are obviously very sad and upset about what happened with Freddie Gray, but they are heartened by the fact there have been a lot of members of the Baltimore community coming together to try to talk about constructive ways to go forward.

There have been a lot of criticisms, as you know, Brooke, about the kind of policing that takes place in the city of Baltimore, about whether or not the focus should be on individuals on the streets, perhaps some of them small drug dealers, people who are maybe even addicts. This is not necessarily anything to do with Freddie Gray. Or if the focus should be on bigger fish, on bigger criminals and people who actually put the citizens of this city in danger.

So that's a conversation we're starting to hear a little bit more about in the wake of this tragedy. BALDWIN: You know, let me just ask you, as someone who -- you were in

Ferguson for multiple trips. And just considering the experience and how police responded to what happened there with Michael Brown and to what we saw now here, what's happened in Baltimore, how do you see the two?

TAPPER: Well, I mean, obviously there are a lot of stories like this around the nation, probably less a reflection of greater accidence of it. In fact, I'm sure it's -- you know, I'm sure there are fewer incidents like this today than there were 20, 30, 40 years ago, but definitely an example of the fact that there's much far more prevalence of video cameras and cell phone video.

In terms -- I did ask the local NAACP activist of how she viewed this, through the perspective of Ferguson, obviously very different cities, very different situations. The police commissioner, the mayor, city council here, I mean, the city is predominantly African-American. And a majority of people on the Baltimore police force are not white. So it's not the same thing.

But she said the issue is racial profiling. The issue is seeing young, black men and assuming they're doing something wrong, they have done something wrong, and that's a problem nationwide. But obviously beyond that, it's difficult to draw direct comparison.

BALDWIN: Jake Tapper, we'll be watching for you, your entire hour there live in Baltimore, 4:00 p.m. eastern. Thank you so much, Jake Tapper.

TAPPER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: David Klinger, let me bring you in, former LAPD officer and also professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri St. Louis.

David Klinger, great to have you back. And I think it's worth taking three steps back and just let me ask you, you know, when we talk about having officers -- in this case, these were bike cops, right? They're riding around this neighborhood. This is back on the 12th of this month. When you know this is a crime-ridden neighborhood, fact, and they have to have reasonable suspicion they can stop someone, can you explain reasonable suspicion to me?

[15:35:04] DAVID KLINGER, FORMER LOS ANGELES POLICE OFFICER: To make a long story short, what the Supreme Court said back in the '60s and subsequent rulings in different sir cutes over the years is basically some indication that the individual is either presently engaging in a crime, has recently engaged in a crime, or is about to engage in a crime. And that could be a variety of things. And so, if a police officer can articulate why he or she believes that there's one of those three things afoot, then they have reasonable suspicion to detain the individual. And that's basically it.

BALDWIN: OK. On a different part of this, one of the big questions is what happened to this young man in police custody, right? We see this one slide of video, but you don't know what happened before he was dragged into this van. We don't know what happened in the van. So last hour, I actually talked to an officer who showed me what the inside of these prisoner transport vans look like. And here's part of my conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're able to transport ten prisoners total, five on each side. The dimensions of the van is ten feet deep by five feet wide with a metal partition down the middle. The height is approximately four feet.

BALDWIN: So I see that --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once the transporting officer -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

BALDWIN: No, no. Forgive me. There's one half that you're about to hop into. Then there's another half. There's a metal partition down the middle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. There's a metal partition down the middle. That way we have the capability of separating prisoners if we need to. And once the arresting or transporting officer takes a prisoner inside the van, the van is equipped with ten seat belts all the way down. So typically a prisoner would be handcuffed behind their back. The transporting officer would then seat belt the prisoner into the van for safety. Our public safety director, Dr. Cedric Alexander, as well as us, are always concerned with the safety of the prisoners we're transporting. The van is equipped with air- conditioning, as well as heat, and interior lighting. Interior lighting is so the transporting officers can view what's taking place inside the van through the partition.

BALDWIN: Are there cameras inside at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, there's not any camera inside the transport van.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: David, just following that, you know, when you see the video of Freddie Gray being placed inside this van, it appears he was lying prone. So my question to you would be -- and you heard that officer say typically, you know, these suspects, these prisoners are placed seated, shackled, belted. But that's not always the case, correct?

KLINGER: I would assume that there have been times and places around the country where the transport has not gone according to the dictates that the officer just laid out, so, absolutely. And I think that's one of the key questions we have to understand is once the video stops rolling, at what point did the officers who were driving that van and perhaps a passenger officer, when did they take off? Was the suspect secured? Was he seat belted in? If he was, at what point, one of which of those ten seats was he seat belted in? Were there other suspects inside? So there's an awful lot of information we need to have. And that's

something that's going to come from the investigation. We just have to wait a little while to figure that out, or until that information is presented.

BALDWIN: As released. And the question, you know, when did the spinal cord injury happen. And we don't have that answer. The hypothetical would be if it happened ahead of time because you see him sort of being dragged like a rag doll. I talked to a spinal doctor yesterday. There are some of the signs. It appears that could have been happened previous to the van situation.

You're not a doctor. I'm not a doctor. But common sense would tell me, you know, if he wasn't strapped in and if he was prone in the van, all of those factors, not being straight on his back, that would all exacerbate an injury.

KLINGER: It could be. I think one of the things that we need to know first of all is where in the spinal column was the injury. Was it a thoracic vertebrae, cervical vertebrae? Which one? Another thing that's interesting to me when I looked at the video, as he's being placed into the van, he does stand up for a moment on either the bumper or rear platform. I can't quite tell which. So he is able to support his weight. And then he goes, as you indicated, into more of a prone position as he was entering the van. So we have to look at that carefully. And it's going to be up to medical experts to tell us what type of injury it is and when in the sequence of events it could have occurred. Maybe it could have occurred only prior to going into the van. Maybe only subsequent. We will just have to wait and see.

BALDWIN: A lot of maybes. We need that full autopsy report. We need more information from law enforcement.

David Klinger, thank you so much, in St. Louis for me this afternoon.

KLINGER: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, a family desperate to get out of a country torn apart by just this recent violence and chaos took a huge risk. They boarded a boat and left Yemen. Sixteen hours later, they were safe. The father will join me next to tell their harrowing tale.

Plus, families forced to escape their own homes because of this, the ground going away. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:44:24] BALDWIN: As Yemen further descend into chaos and coalition airstrikes continue to pound rebel targets, though Saudi Arabia said yesterday they would end those, the escape route for many people trapped there has closed. The international organization for migration had been running emergency flights out of Yemen's capital, Sana'a, but now they say it is just simply too dangerous.

My next guest knows this danger better than most. He is an American. His wife and children are from Yemen. And when that violence ramped up, he wanted to get his family out, and he did. He joins me now on the phone from (INAUDIBLE), just across the gulf from Yemen. He's Hafez Alawdi.

Hafez, thank you so much for calling me.

[15:45:08] HAFEZ ALAWDI, ESCAPE FROM YEMEN (via phone): Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: So we're going to show video from ABC showing those initial moments. Here we go, with the reunion with your family. Can you tell me -- oh, your little girl. Can you tell me how you found a way for your family to get out?

ALAWDI: Yes, definitely. So it all started around April 7th. I was driving toward my work in Fresno, California. And then I received an email, a tip from the state department's Web site. It was the U.S. embassy giving U.S. citizens in Yemen some tips on how to evacuate Yemen. And I received that tip telling me if you want to evacuate and leave Yemen, you should contact the Djibouti embassy in Sana'a. And they gave me, I believe it was, the Djibouti counselor or ambassador in Sana'a in Djibouti embassy of Sana'a that there was a ship, a (INAUDIBLE) leaving from Yemen city of Macca (ph) towards Djibouti. And so, I contacted that phone number. I saw what the requirements were to get the (INAUDIBLE) visas to enter Djibouti. I sent my brother-in-law the same day with my wife and kids' passports to get the visas to Djibouti. The following day, my family boarded the ship to come and I boarded a flight from LAX, Los Angeles, to come Djibouti to come and meet them here in Djibouti.

BALDWIN: Hafez, this is a lot of phone calls. And you hoping on a plane, finally to get to see your family. But let me pause and ask you, as you're calling your family in Yemen, I hear you heard your kids crying on the other end of the phone. Why were they crying, and how frightened were you?

ALAWDI: Well, I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep my composure here. It was really painful when you call to see how your family are doing, and then you hear your 10-year-old kid and your 4-year-old daughter crying on the other side of the phone saying that they cannot sleep because of the airstrikes. You know, my family lived in an area where air strikes were night and day. So, you know, in the morning, I had to stop sending my son to school for ten days prior to them leaving Yemen. He was not going to school because it was so dangerous to commute. As well, as you know, my family, they were taking shelter all the time. And so, you know, when it got so bad to where they couldn't even sleep at night, I just, you know, discussed the matter with my wife, and we determined it was time to do something about it.

BALDWIN: Did she see it as a risk? Did she need any cajoling, or was she ready to take that boat?

ALAWDI: We knew. We knew the risks. We knew it was very risky because we were doing it on our own. You know, I'm grateful to receive the tip from the U.S. government, but that wasn't enough for me, you know, to gamble with my family's life. But I kind of calculated the risk of them leaving and the risk of them staying in Yemen. And we just knew that, you know, it's something that we were willing to take the risks for instead of staying in Yemen and facing the unknown. So we knew it was very risky getting on that boat and coming to Djibouti. For us, it was better than staying.

BALDWIN: You have an absolutely beautiful family.

Hafez Alawdi, thank you for calling and my best to you and all of them.

ALAWDI: I appreciate that very much. Thank you very much.

Now to Ohio and this frightening case of suspected food poisoning. Canned food is a prime suspect in botulism that's left one person dead and many others sick. This is all happening in the central Ohio town of Lancaster, about 30 minutes southeast there of Columbus. Doctors say the victims got sick after taking part in a church potluck on Sunday. Health officials are now testing the leftover food, trying to find the source of the contamination.

Let's go to our CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

You walk into a potluck, you know, meal and you never think that this could possibly happen. What are health officials saying?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, they're saying that they really have quite a few sick people, and these people, Brooke, are very, very sick. Or at least some of them are very, very sick. We're talking about 18 sick people, including a 9- year-old child. One woman, a 54-year-old woman, has already passed away. And in addition, they're monitoring about another 21 people.

Now botulism, when we hear food borne illness, we think a bellyache. But botulism can be extremely serious. Both these patients, Brooke, they are ventilators. And patients with botulism, Brooke, are sometimes on ventilators for many months.

[15:50:18] BALDWIN: We will stay in close contact with you and see if those -- how those people hopefully improve. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

Just in to CNN here, we have news, a federal judge has just ruled on an NFL concussion settlement involving thousands of former players. We have that for you.

Also, just incredible images here as people are leaving their homes as the ground has dropped out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:54:36] BALDWIN: Let's get to this breaking news here involving the NFL. This huge, huge decision has just been made in an NFL concussion lawsuit. A federal judge has approved the class action settlement involving more than 5,000 former players. The settlement provides as much as $5 million per player for serious medical conditions associated with repeated head trauma. The players sued after accusing the NFL of hiding the dangers of concussion. For its part, the NFL says today's decision underscores the fairness and propriety of this settlement, this historic settlement.

CNN's sports anchor and correspondent Coy Wire is on the phone with me. He also played in the NFL. And we have talked multiple times, Coy, about, you know, your passion behind this whole thing, your reaction to this lawsuit or the settlement rather?

[15:55:19] COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, I think it's absolutely a good thing it's happened. You know, I first have to commend the judge Brady (ph) for having the gall to tell the NFL that initially that money wasn't enough and to go back to the drawing board. So here we are with an acceptable amount that agreed upon, you know, by the parties involved, by the members of the that field.

BALDWIN: You're not part of this, Coy, are you?

WIRE: I'm sorry?

BALDWIN: Are you part of this?

WIRE: No, I was not part of the lawsuit, Brooke. You know, I'm fortunate. I feel well. I feel healthy. And one of my main concerns was if I was not signed onto the suit, what if 20 years from now, Brooke, I'm not OK. What if I develop dementia? What if I develop Alzheimer's? And it was due to the chronic traumatic (INAUDIBLE), the hits that I took when I was did during my plays days? And it looks as though, and this is a 100-page document, Brooke, working through it now, but it looks as though that even players that aren't on this suit, any player in the future who has played in the NFL and develops these signs, you know, Alzheimer's, dementia later in life, they'll be covered and they will be taken care of. They'll be able to get treated. And so this is a good thing. From what I can see thus far -- was it enough money? I don't know.

BALDWIN: Was it enough? $5 million here.

WIRE: Yes. People are saying this could cost the league a billion dollars over 65 years. Well, the league made over $9 billion last year and with B. And Goodell has been quoted as saying he wants annual revenues to reach $25 billion by 2027. This is just over 10 years away. So this is not a dent in the pockets at all of the owners. This is a good thing, though. I must say it is a good thing that something has been done.

You know, a lot of guys out there are hurting right now, who have dementia, who have developed Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's disease and have died from chronic brain trauma. So this is a good thing for the players. And again, hundred page documents, we will get more to it. I would love to come back and share more thoughts about it. But those are any initial reactions, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Perfect. Coy Wire, thank you so much. We will let you continue reading. I'm sure we will hear from you later on CNN. Thank you so much, my friend. I appreciate that. And before I let you go, these pictures, we are following this

situation. This is in New Jersey. It was several homes in danger of rolling down a collapsing hillside. And these are the pictures. Somebody's missing a backyard. I mean, the backyards of these homes opened up in this giant sinkhole. Families obviously evacuated.

Let's go to Tom Sater, our CNN meteorologist who's been watching this.

And how did this even happen, Tom?

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Looks like it's been happening over the last couple of years. Engineers have been watching this area, Brooke, for about two years. And each time there's heavy rain, they lose a little bit more. It is unfortunate we're doing a story like this on earth day when you want to show the earth a little love. And it doesn't always return the favor.

This is in between Philadelphia and Trenton where we are watching it. It is Burlington County. You get in closer here. This is right overlooking the Delaware River. Engineers this morning noticed after two to three inches of rain since Monday, significant erosion occurred this morning and actually revealed an old abandoned sewer drainpipe that was spewing water. And so, the geotechnical engineers say, this could be the culprit, but it is now too dangerous. So they've asked the families in these two houses that could be swallowed by this to evacuate, to start packing.

The neighborhood has been aware of this going on for the last couple of years. They've always been hoping for the best obviously. But now it's a little too dangerous. So they've asked the community and of course, the city here to watch their home. They are packing up now. But there's more rain now on the way. In fact, if I could get in a little bit closer on the radar here, a severe thunderstorm warning, Brook, just moved over their area. It is now to their east and will evacuate soon.

But there is more rain coming. And so when you have a significant event like an erosion like this from this morning and there's more rain coming this soon after, who knows what could happen?

So obviously the specialists, the authorities there have been watching this. And again, they've known it's been coming for some time. It's just a sad, sad story when you think of the beauty that they see overlooking the Delaware River and then knowing in the back of their minds this could always happen one day.

BALDWIN: And as you mentioned, with rain on the way, the threat of potentially more eroding, as you mentioned, a couple of these families have had to get out of there. And I guess the other question would be, looking at the neighborhood, these aerial pictures, whether or not others will have to evacuate as well.

Tom Sater, keep a close eye on it for us. Florence, New Jersey, is where that is happening.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here today. We are going to take you straight to Baltimore. Jake Tapper is there. "The LEAD" starts right now.

TAPPER: We are live in Baltimore where protesters say they will not stop until they get answers.

I'm Jake Tapper. This is "the LEAD."

END