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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Thousands Protest Freddie Gray's Death; 100+ Arrested in Riot Released Without Charges; Report: Prisoner Claims Gray Tried to Hurt Himself; Teen Rescued from Kathmandu Rubble; Orioles-White Sox Play in Empty Ballpark. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 30, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: These protests all coming as people want answers. We are getting new information and new reports about what might have happened to Freddie Gray's spine. What caused that spinal injury while he was in police custody? We will get to this new report that's raising questions in just a second.

First, though, Athena Jones with me here in front of city hall in Baltimore. Athena, the situation here in Baltimore, at least in terms of the streets are concerned, seems to have stabilized.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does. Another peaceful night last night, even calmer than the first night of the curfew.

You mentioned the peaceful protests, a lot of folks were out on the streets. A lot of college students. People chanting, people wearing shirts that say "black lives matter." There was even music. It seemed festive at times. But peaceful is what it was.

BERMAN: They were serving food. They had like this long buffet line in the middle of this demonstration right here in this bar.

JONES: It's remarkable, a remarkable difference from Monday night.

So, it was peaceful. There were some arrests, 18 arrests, two of those juvenile. That's at 8:00 p.m. We know of no arrests after that. A big night of calm which is positive news.

Now, Congressman Elijah Cummings who's been very, very visible around here. He represents about half of the city of Baltimore. He was out on the streets last night at curfew at 10:00 p.m. with the bull horn, out in the West Baltimore in one of the key intersections.

Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: We are so excited about our city. We are very proud of what's happened tonight. Glad you didn't have any news to report, negative news about our city. We are very, very proud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So, there you have him talking to the crowd and media. He was out with a bull horn telling people to go home. And part of the message was delivered at us, the news media.

BERMAN: Right, glad you have no news to report. Fine, great, it's good that the curfew went into effect without accident largely because of the efforts of people like Congressman Cummings who's been out on the streets every night and I suspect will be for sometime trying to keep things calm.

We also got information, Athena, about those people arrested, the 200- plus people arrested in the first wave during and right after the riots.

JONES: That's right. Little less than half of the people, 101 were released yesterday. The police captain said they were released because there's not enough time. It's too complicated to put together sufficient documentation to charge them all right away. They could still face charges as police continue to investigate what happened Monday night, who was responsible, reviewing surveillance video and other video.

They cannot hold them forever. So, they were able to hold them for an extra 24 hours under the governor's orders. But as of right now, about 101 people were released. So, an interesting wrinkle and it kind of shows you how much time police are spending on the streets rather than doing paper work in cases like this.

BERMAN: You can't do both. You can't be filling out paper work if you're out on the streets all the time. So, they say they will arrest those people or might eventually, or charge them, I should say. We'll have to wait and see on that.

Athena Jones, thanks so much.

JONES: Thanks.

BERMAN: We do new information. Potentially explosive new information about how Freddie Gray may have sustained the fatal injury in police custody. I say we have new information. We have a new allegation.

"The Washington Post" reports a prisoner who rode in the police van with Freddie Gray told investigators he could hear Gray, quote, "banging against the walls of the van." Now, the prisoner believed that Gray was intentionally trying to injury himself. I'll say that again. The prisoner according to "The Washington Post" said Freddie Gray seemed to be intentionally trying to injury himself.

It is important to note the prisoner was separated from Gray by a metal partition. He could not see Freddie Gray. This information that "The Washington Post" is getting comes after a search warrant application.

Gray's family strongly denies the claim that Gray was trying to injure himself. Their attorney told "The Post", "We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord. We question the accuracy of the police reports that we've seen thus far." They do on to say, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident.

Again, just because a prisoner inside the van says that he believes was trying to injure himself doesn't necessarily explain what happened before Freddie Gray was in that van. But this information today will be discussed no doubt.

We are also hearing directly from the Baltimore police officers who are under investigation at this time. A family member of the officer involved in the arrest sat down with CNN's Don Lemon, she says to give his side of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: What did he say happened?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He believes that whatever happened to Mr. Gray happened before he was transported.

LEMON: According to your loved one, what took so long to get medical help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't know. They have not discussed that with us what took so long.

[05:05:00] We didn't ask what took so long.

I think the officers that chased him and handcuffed him and had him on the ground and he said that he was hurting, I think they should know that he needed medical attention. Shouldn't that be their call to make?

LEMON: Is the department racist? Do you think this was racist?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a fair question. Do -- are there some bad apples? Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Again, interesting to note she says the belief among the officers is there was an injury outside the van. We are hearing now on "The Washington Post", a prisoner who was in the van with Gray, believes Gray was trying to inflict harm on himself.

Some information, we hope, will come out in the police investigation. The police department says tomorrow, it will deliver the initial findings from its investigation to state prosecutors. Those prosecutors will decide on the coming days whether to file charges.

People in the city trying to set realistic expectations. The message they want to send is not much. There are people here in Baltimore who were under the impression they would find out everything all at once, everything that happened in the van and if there would be charges against the officers involved. Officials trying to state that will not happen tomorrow and we will not find out much new information. They want people to be reasonable in what they can expect.

Protesters have been calling for justice in the Freddie Gray case across the country. They were in the streets protesting. In New York, 60 arrests after protests organized on social media. Sixty people arrested in New York overnight. Here in Baltimore, 18 people arrested yesterday that we know of.

In New York, the traffic was snarled for miles. They were chanting "New York is Baltimore and Baltimore is New York."

CNN's Alexandra Field was in the middle of those demonstrations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, protesters followed by police officers for a lot of the night. It started in Union Square, hundreds of demonstrators coming together. They said they were there to express sadness and their outrage over the events in Baltimore.

Police were prepared for a large group to gather there, but they started the evening warning people over a loudspeaker that if they obstructed the sidewalks or got into the streets, arrests would be made for disorderly conduct. Once the people started to move out of Union Square into 17th Street, police cut them off, intercepting them, making a number of arrests. The crowds moved uptown, moving on to the West Side Highway, walking into traffic on 8th Avenue, where more people were arrested and into Times Square where police made arrests.

Tensions running high as the crowds chanted, saying that they were showing support for Baltimore, calling for justice for Freddie Gray. A long line of NYPD offices following them throughout the city, oftentimes on foot, and a lot of the times, following in a line of mopeds and motorcycles -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Alexander Field in New York.

Now, protests in Ferguson, Missouri overnight as well. Dozens marched down West Florissant Avenue. This is the second night in a row of protests in Ferguson. The first night, about 300 protesters clashed with police. Four patrol cars damaged there. Three people were shot. Again, that was Tuesday night.

About 500 peaceful protesters gathered in Washington, D.C. They were playing music and chanting, "All night, all day, we're going to fight for Freddie Gray." That crowd disbursed after preaching the White House.

The nation's new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, she made her first television appearance since being confirmed. She is pledging the support of the Justice Department to try to diffuse the tensions here in Baltimore, really around the country, too. She's urging everyone to stay calm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: These senseless acts of violence are not only a grave danger to the community and they must stop, but they are also counter-productive to the goal here, which is developing a respectful conversation within the Baltimore community and across the nation about the way our law enforcement officers interact with the residents that we are charged to serve and to protect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: There are discussions, Christine, at every level about finding ways to diffuse the tensions, you know, the federal, the state here in the local level. They are doing conference calls to see how the information is being released, and really down to the micro level of how to work the streets. So, they want to make sure things remain calm in the coming days -- Christine.

ROMANS: Absolutely. Everyone wants that. Thanks, John.

You know, the death of Freddie Gray and the questions around that death is the trigger for the protests and riot on Monday night. But the roots of despair may be in the widening gap between rich and poor. A Baltimore city that 63 percent African-American, nearly a quarter of the residents below the poverty line.

[05:10:01] The poverty just under $21,000 for a family of three, a quarter of the residents below the poverty line. The median household income for African-American families is under $34,000. But compare that with white families, more than $60,000 is the median income.

Now, the inequality is more stark in terms of unemployment. For young black men between the ages of 20 and 24 in Baltimore, the unemployment rate is astounding 37 percent. Compare that to just about 10 percent for white young men between 20 and 24 in Baltimore.

Now the noted economist Nouriel Roubini says sending more police into Baltimore is not an answer. Putting more police and National Guard on the streets is not the answer. He says the answer is in dealing with issues of poverty, unemployment and economic opportunities. A big discussion that is just beginning.

We're going to be following the latest from Baltimore all morning long. But first, the death toll rising from Nepal's devastating earthquake. Rescuers facing new challengers. They are trying to reach survivors and one amazing story five days on, an 18-year-old, we'll tell you how he survived.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The death toll from last week's earthquake in Nepal topping 5,500 now. Nepal's prime minister warning that number could double; 1.7 million children now in urgent need of aid.

[05:15:06] Five days after the quake, hopes have been flagging that many more people will be pulled from the rubble alive. And then this, just a short time ago, a miracle rescue -- a teenaged boy pulled from under a collapsed building alive.

CNN's Sumnina Udas is live in Kathmandu with that story.

He survived by dodging behind a motorcycle. Tell us what happened.

SUMNINA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, we are at the scene of the rescue.

The 18-year-old Pemba Tamang was crouched underneath a motorcycle when the police found him. This was a nine-story building. He was all the way down in the basement. If you look at the pictures, you see the massive slab of cement over the motorcycle in the tiny hole, smaller than a coffin. That's where he had been hiding or surviving for the past five days.

The Nepali police had been digging around the area all morning because they found a survivor there two days ago. They heard a noise. That is when the USAID got involved. It was a five-hour rescue operation as they pulled him out, a huge cheer with the crowds. The police say he was in good condition and he has been sent to hospital.

ROMANS: Fantastic, in good condition. You can hardly believe it. Dodging behind a motorcycle. Just that between him and that slab, unbelievable.

Sumnina, thank you so much.

All right. Sixteen minutes past the hour. We have a second Democrat running for president now. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders getting into the race, challenging Hillary Clinton from the left. The 73- year-old independent will formally announce his candidacy today. Sanders is considered the most liberal member of Congress.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is also expected to enter the Democratic race.

Hillary Clinton is addressing the unrest in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. In a speech Wednesday at Columbia University in New York, she called for an overhaul of America's system of criminal justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My heart breaks for these young men and their families. We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: She endorsed the use of body cameras in police departments nationwide. She called for an end to what she called mass incarceration.

Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, he fixes blame for the riots and racial tensions across the country on President Obama. Cruz says the president missed an opportunity to be a, quote, "unifying leader".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's made decisions that I think have enflamed racial tensions and divided us rather than bringing us together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Pressed for a specific example, Cruz pointed to 2009's so- called beer summit. You remember that? That's when the president brought together a black Harvard professor and white police officer who arrested him.

New details revealing the FBI facilitated a ransom payment to al Qaeda from the family of kidnapped aid worker Warren Weinstein. That admission comes from senior U.S. officials, the bid to secure his release was unsuccessful. He was killed along with an Italian colleague in January in a U.S. drone strike on an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan's tribal area. The FBI's role appears to contradict U.S. policy against paying ransom for hostages. But officials say they didn't directly authorize or approve the ransom payment.

A parade of character witnesses in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Boston. The defense on Wednesday calling former teachers, former classmates, trying to soften Tsarnaev's image as a cold blooded killer. Their goal in the trial's penalty phase: to save the convicted marathon bomber from the death penalty. Members of Tsarnaev's family who were flown from abroad by the defense team, they could take the stand today.

So what if they played a Major League Baseball game and nobody came? The empty sights and sounds from Camden Yards. Andy Scholes with the details in the bleacher report. That's next.

Airlines are seeing a drop in fuel prices, but that savings is not being passed on to you. Instead, the major airlines are turning record profits. Travelers saved only saved 66 cents on average fares on American, United and Southwest in the first three months of the year, according to their financial reports. Experts say prices are still high because the demand is high.

While the biggest U.S. airline saves $3.4 billion on fuel on the first quarter and posted huge profits. An airline industry trade association says airlines are using that money to buy new aircraft, redo check-in areas and add new routes, something (INAUDIBLE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:13] ROMANS: All right. Due to concerns for fan safety, for the first ever, a Major League Baseball game was closed to the public.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Christine.

We're here in Las Vegas getting ready for the big Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight. We'll have more on that in a moment.

But, first, let's talk about the historic Baltimore Orioles game yesterday. It was played in front of an empty Camden Yards stadium. It was the first time in major league history. The players had fun signing fake autographs and waving to the empty stands.

But no fans no problem for the Orioles. They scored six runs in the first inning. Three off of Chris Davis. Baltimore would beat Chicago on this one, 8-2.

Afterwards, the Orioles, they talked about how it felt playing in an empty ballpark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM JONES, ORIOLES OUTFIELDER: No noise. No sound. Just quiet. It's weird. It's different.

BUCK SHOWALTER, ORIOLES MANAGER: Coming up the runway and walking out. You are coming out for batting practice. When we hit here, nobody is in yet. You realize you are a few minutes away from playing a Major League Baseball game that's going to count.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The Memphis Grizzlies are looking to finish off the Portland Trailblazers last night. Marc Gasol coming through with a huge game. He had 26 points and 14 rebounds. The Grizzlies won 99-93. They're now going to move on to play the Golden State Warriors in round two. Game one of that's series is Sunday.

All right. It's always one of the most anticipated days of the year for NFL. Round one of the draft is tonight in Chicago. Jameis Winston is expected to go first overall to the Tampa Bay Bucs. The big question is at pick number two. Will the Titans take Marcus Mariota, the quarterback out of Oregon or possibly trade the pick?

[05:25:03] We will find out tonight. Round one starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Meanwhile, here in Las Vegas, anticipation is growing for the fight of the century. Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. That will be Saturday night at the MGM Garden Arena.

Now, yesterday, the two held their pre-fight press conference. They both said they are confident this fight will live up to the hype come Saturday night.

Christine, a lot of people hoping. One fan paid $64,000 for two tickets for this fight.

ROMANS: Wow.

SCHOLES: He is coming here hoping this is a once in a lifetime event.

ROMANS: Is there going to be some kind of swimming competition? All those girls in swim suits? Is that -- I don't get what the swimsuit girls are for.

SCHOLES: I don't know anything about that, Christine.

ROMANS: You don't know anything -- OK, it just, I don't get. Yes, that's going to be a big fight. I know bars are going to charge admission to come in. So, yes, everyone wants a bit of the action and money on that fight.

Thanks so much. Nice to see you, Andy.

Thousands across the country protesting the death of Freddie Gray injured during his arrest. He later died. We're going to hear explosive allegations of how he may have become injured. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Thousands protest from coast to coast. Demonstrators demand answers in the death of Freddie Gray. The man injured during his arrest. This morning, the explosive allegations of how he may have become injured. We are live.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York.

[05:30:01] BERMAN: And I'm John Berman in Baltimore this morning, 30 minutes after the hour. As we sit here or stand here before Baltimore City Hall, it is a peaceful morning.