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Fugitive David Sweat Captured; Police Sergeant Praised for Single Handed Capture; Communities in Search Area Finally Can Relax; Markets in Chaos Over Greek Debt Crisis. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 29, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:01] CUOMO: The flames are out. Everybody is OK. You know what James does?

CAMEROTA: What?

CUOMO: He doesn't stay around for any kudos. He got a job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just went back to work and finished up what we had to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. What a sweet guy and a hero. It's a great story.

CUOMO: And you guys have that bond.

CAMEROTA: We do. We love trees.

Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I guess I love trees, too.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Why not?

COSTELLO: Thanks to both of you guys. Yes. Have a great day. Thanks so much.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM. We got them.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: The nightmare is finally over.

COSTELLO: A three-week manhunt for two killer fugitives is over. One dead, the other hospitalized. MAJ. CHARLES GUESS, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: Sweat turned and fled on

foot with the sergeant in pursuit.

COSTELLO: How a hero sergeant ended the hunt. And what we could learn from the surviving escapee.

Also, banks shuttered. ATM's out of cash. What a debt crisis in Greece means for all of Europe and your retirement account.

Plus --

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The peanuts. The cheapest one is what it costs to do it.

COSTELLO: The cost of a presidential run? Pocket change to Donald Trump. But it will cost him.

TRUMP: I'm giving up a prime time television show.

COSTELLO: Why he's spiking in the polls and selling out events.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

This morning in northern New York countless residents are waking up from probably their best night's sleep in three weeks. The manhunt for those two escaped killers over. 23 days after breaking out of prison David Sweat is hospitalized in critical condition this morning. He was shot twice while running from a state police sergeant and nearly disappearing into thick woods.

More importantly, Sweat was just two miles from the Canadian border. Even his own mother voiced relief that he was finally captured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA SWEAT, DAVID SWEAT'S MOTHER: Just a sigh of relief. And we started crying because he wasn't killed.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were you ever afraid that he was going to try to come down to this area while he was on the run?

SWEAT: Oh, no. My son knows that if he would have came here, I would have knocked him out and had them guys take him to the jail by themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you been watching the media coverage? Have you been watching the news outlet?

SWEAT: No. I don't want to. I didn't want to know what's the matter with my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Sweat's capture comes just two days after fellow escapee Richard Matt was spotted by police and shot to death. They say Matt was armed with a shotgun.

We're covering all the angles. Let's begin with CNN's Sara Ganim. She's outside Albany Medical Center where Sweat is being treated.

Good morning.

SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, he's in critical but stable condition, that's what the governor of New York is telling CNN. And state police telling CNN that he has begun to talk a little bit. Of course, he's still recovering after being shot twice in the torso. There are trauma doctors, vascular surgeons working to help him recover of course.

Police want to know from him, one of the two men who escaped, how they pulled off such a brazen escape and whether or not there were any other people helping them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time his condition is listed as critical.

GANIM (voice-over): This morning convicted killer David Sweat is in custody and fighting for his life. Suffering from two gunshot wounds to his torso.

Cheers from spectators as the escapee's ambulance arrives late Sunday at the hospital in Albany, New York.

ANDREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK DISTRICT ATTORNEY: His privileges will be extremely limited. He will be basically in 24/7 lockdown for the rest of his life.

GANIM: This exclusive photo obtained by CNN moments after his captures shows Sweat bloodied and in full camouflage garb. You can see in this photo a wound to his chest.

MICHAEL DOYLE, RESIDENT OF CONSTABLE, NEW YORK: I heard shots and I ran out with my phone. All of a sudden the cops just swarmed like bees.

GANIM: Sweat was spotted Sunday afternoon by New York State Police Sergeant Jay Cook during a routine patrol less than two miles from the Canadian border.

CUOMO: He was alone when this happened. I said, you go home tonight and tell your daughters that you're a hero.

GANIM: The fugitive was jogging along the road when Cook spotted him. That's when Sweat took off nearly making it back into the woods before Sergeant Cook opened fire.

JOSEPH A. D'AMICO, SUPERINTENDENT, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: The terrain is so dense you can't see five feet in front of you. If Sweat made the tree line and you know would have been gone.

GANIM: Investigators say Sweat and his now deceased partner-in-crime Richard Matt used pepper to try to throw off police tracking dogs.

D'AMICO: We did have difficulty tracking so, you know, it was fairly effective in that respect.

GANIM: The dramatic capture coming 48 hours after Matt armed with a shotgun was killed in a shootout with police.

CUOMO: It was an extraordinary circumstance, and the first escape in over 100 years, but one escape is one escape too many.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:05:09] GANIM: Now, Carol, David Sweat was unarmed when he was captured. And to give you some perspective, he was about 16 miles away from where Richard Matt was shot and killed on Friday afternoon. He was about two miles south of the Canadian border. Officials worry that that was where he was heading.

Now over the last three weeks, 1300 law enforcement officials were involved in this search, but at the end of it, it all came down to one New York State police sergeant who was on a routine patrol, who was able to chase after him and capture him.

Last week when I talked to the Franklin County -- the Franklin County sheriff, he told me, he said, you know, we have helicopters, we have tracking dogs, but at the end of the day it's going to come down to good police work and that's what happened -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Sara Ganim reporting live for us this morning.

And we cannot go on until we honor Sergeant Jay Cook. He's the hero cop who alone took down David Sweat before he disappeared into the woods. Here he is, a 21-year veteran, Sergeant Cook spent most of his career in Malone, New York. He spotted Sweat jogging along the road less than two miles from the Canadian border. Sergeant Cook called out to Sweat. The fugitive ran, Cook got out of his patrol car and gave chase, and then he opened fire.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: I said to Sergeant Cook, who has two daughters, 16 and 17, I said, well, you go home tonight and tell your daughters that you're a hero, with teenage girls, that will probably last a good 24 hours, and then you'll just go back to being a regular dad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Sergeant Cook's mother told the "Press Republican" newspaper, quote, "He's not used to being shoved into the spotlight like this. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He's very sharp. It's just so surreal that this happened but we are extremely proud of him," end quote.

Of course a whole community is relieved this morning. Audra Buchanan lives in Constable. She's been living on pins and needles until she saw those emergency vehicles speed by her house yesterday.

Good morning, Audra.

AUDRA BUCHANAN, RESIDENT OF CONSTABLE, NEW YORK: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Your thoughts on Sergeant Cook?

BUCHANAN: Oh, I am so grateful. What a great shot he had. I mean, what a great place to be. The right place at the right time. I'm so thankful that he was there. Especially just a mile down from my house and protecting everyone in our community. I'm so thankful he was able to react in such a quick time.

COSTELLO: I can't even imagine. You've been living almost under lockdown, haven't you?

BUCHANAN: Pretty much for the last three weeks. Since these guys have gotten out of jail, we've been pretty much making sure we lock the house down, lock the car down, and make sure that the girls can't even go outside to play without us being there, watching every movement she makes. It just seems to be so surreal. Usually we let her go outside to play. But for the last three weeks it's been like you've got to be careful, you've got to stay in the yard, stay in sight so we can make sure everything is OK. Yes, it's just -- it's just so scary.

COSTELLO: Oh, it took authorities, what, 23 days to find these guys? Were you sort of losing hope that they'd never catch these men?

BUCHANAN: I'm sorry?

COSTELLO: Were you losing hope that they would catch these men since they managed to remain free for such a long period of time?

BUCHANAN: Not at all. I knew for a fact as many law enforcement as we had out there, they were going to be vigilant. They were going to stick to it day and night until they actually captured them. And I had no doubt. They did a wonderful job. They were just -- as far as I'm concerned, they're the best there is.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I'd have to agree with you.

Audra Buchanan, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

Right now David Sweat is fighting for his life at the Albany Medical Center in New York. His condition listed as critical. This morning doctors are doing everything they can to keep him alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GUESS: I'm told he's talking a bit. Obviously he's in the care of medical professionals, and their priority is to save his life. We hope that he continues to talk. Our investigators are very keenly interested in what he might have to say. Not only as it pertains to his escape and the Department of Corrections, of course, would follow up on that. But from my perspective, how he managed to elude capture for the last 23 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So now that fellow inmate Richard Matt is dead, Sweat, who is being guarded, is even more critical to the investigation.

So let's bring in forensic scientist and CNN commentator Lawrence Kobilinsky. I'm also joined by retired chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service, Matthew Fogg.

Thanks to both of you for being here this morning. I appreciate it.

Matthew, I want to start with you. So, Mr. Sweat is now in the hospital. Is he chained to the bed? Like what's it like inside his hospital room?

MATTHEW FOGG, RETIRED CHIEF DEPUTY, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: Well, they're clearly going to have security. I don't know if he's necessarily chained to the bed according to his condition, but definitely security will be in that room watching every move that's being made. So he's very well secured, you can believe that.

[09:10:12] COSTELLO: Lawrence, do you think Mr. Sweat is really fighting for his life?

LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, FORENSIC SCIENTIST: Well, I think wounds to the torso can be extremely serious. Clearly there was no major artery that was severed. Had that happened, he would have bled out immediately.

FOGG: Right.

KOBILINSKY: But could suffer from a collapsed lung. There could be other organ damage. It's really hard to say, but, yes, he's fighting for his life. No question about that.

COSTELLO: And Matthew, supposedly he is talking a little. Will police question him? Are they questioning him now, do you think? Are they waiting?

FOGG: Well, it's a good sign that he's table and I'm sure maybe some questions are going in and out again. I'm not there, but if the medical people feel that he's able to answer questions, they will probably allow the authorities to ask, you know, certain questions and get certain things, you know. They want to know certain information right away like if there's been anybody else that's been harmed or hurt. Anybody in -- somebody he's done anything like that, so I'm sure those are the type of emergency type questions that they're asking right now. COSTELLO: And, Lawrence, a couple of interesting things have come to

light. Supposedly these two men were using pepper to throw off the scent. So supposedly tracking dogs can't pick up the scent if you put pepper in your wake?

KOBILINSKY: Well, it's extraordinary because in experimentation pepper has not been known to be extremely effective, but it would seem to me -- remember that these dogs have billions of receptors in their noses, and they're very, very sensitive. And pepper is going to irritate their eyes, their throats, certainly their noses, and it will throw a dog off the scent.

Now the dog can recover and just travel around that area, but, you know, if the pepper is used extensively it can create a problem. And apparently it has. We were all shocked that it took this long to capture Mr. Sweat.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. And, Matthew, something else that -- of course we saw David Sweat was wearing a camouflage outfit. Certainly he didn't leave prison with those clothes on. Right?

FOGG: That's right.

COSTELLO: And he also had Pop Tarts in his backpack or something like that. What do you make of it all?

FOGG: That's right. I mean, I think he -- you know, again, you've got a lot of cabins up there. A lot of people leave guns and things like that in those cabins. So I think he could have probably got that equipment, that stuff from probably somewhere. But then again, we're trying to find out if there were in fact somebody that helped them on the outside or left something for them on the outside. So it's a lot unanswered questions but yes, he could have gotten that from one of the cabins up there if they broke in one.

COSTELLO: All right. Lawrence Kobilinsky, Matthew Fogg. Thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, world markets tanking as the Greek financial crisis deepens. If you think this won't impact you, well, we explain why you should be watching this very closely.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:19] COSTELLO: Greece's economy is on the verge of collapse. While the country tumbles rapidly toward default and an exit from the Eurozone their banks remain closed, ATMs are running out of cash, but it doesn't stop there. Investors around the world are panicking. As Asian and European stocks plunged, futures here in the United States are also falling. That could mean bad news for your 401(k).

CNN's Richard Quest is in Athens with more for you.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the situation in Greece is almost surreal. When it comes to, for instance, taking cash out of the bank, let's have a look at these ATM machines. Now here you have groups of people where Greek citizens can only take out a maximum of 20 euros. That's around $67 U.S. The banking system and the stock markets they are closed for at least a week as everybody tries to work out what happens next.

The real problem, of course, is that there's no negotiations. There are no discussions. The war of words between the Greek government and the Europeans gets ever more bitter, and there is no obvious way out because in 24 hours time, the bailouts come to an end and Greece almost certainly defaults on large loans made by the IMF.

So you might have thought sense of chaos. Sense of disaster. Not really. Because if you take a look just at one of the main streets in Athens, and you look over here where business carries on as usual, it's busy, it's thriving, yes, people are certainly worried, but there's no question of it being or at least seeming to be out of control -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Richard Quest reporting. Thank you.

We're just moments away from the Opening Bell on Wall Street. We'll have a live update on how the U.S. markets are responding to this crisis in just about 10 minutes.

Checking other top stories for you at 19 minutes past the hour. Hospitals in Taiwan are trying to cope with a staggering number of burn victims following an explosion at a water park. A color powder ignited in midair during a party at the park on Saturday and created this huge fireball. One woman has died. Nearly 500 others are injured. Taiwan's government has put an urgent call out for medical supplies and skin grafts.

Investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong after an unmanned rocket headed for the International Space Station exploded. SpaceX's Dragon broke apart Sunday morning just minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. It's the third resupply mission to the space station to fail in the past eight months. Two tons of cargo was lost in that crash including food and research materials.

[09:20:14] And with less than 48 hours to go, a nuclear deal with Iran will probably not be reached by Tuesday's deadline. That's according to U.S. officials who say there are still some major differences to be worked out. Iran and six other countries involved in the negotiations have vowed to stick around, at least for the short term to try to hammer out an agreement.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, three weeks, two bursts of police gunfire and a massive manhunt ends with two escaped killers no longer on the loose. We'll take you live to Constable, New York, where the second escapee was captured.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The nightmare is finally over. Those words from New York's governor after announcing the capture of the second escaped killer.

[09:25:05] Twenty-three days after breaking out of prison David Sweat was shot twice and critically wounded. His capture just two days and 16 miles from where his fellow escapee was killed by police.

Let's bring in CNN's Polo Sandoval, he's in Constable where the manhunt finally ended.

Good morning.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol, good morning. You look behind me, this is actually the field where those two men went face- to-face, the New York State Police Sergeant Jay Cook and convicted cop killer David Sweat. In fact, we were told by police officers that once that sergeant drove up, Sweat turned north and started heading towards the tree line that you're able to see off in the distance.

The concern there by the officers was if Sweat made it to that tree line, wearing camouflage, he could potentially disappear and out of reach. And adding to the concern is that the Canadian border, Carol, is only an extra mile and a half beyond that tree line. So again that was a very real concern and police sergeant was not willing to take any chances in potentially losing sight of this fugitive.

And while there was plenty of timing here, possibly even luck, there was also a certain level of strategy that was put to use by New York State Police in trying to really narrow the search area. That's according to the police superintendent there for the state.

I want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D'AMICO: We started off at the northern border, near the Canadian border. This even took place about a mile and a half from the Canadian border. Our concern was that they could have made it to the border and we were pushing southward from the border and I think that it was effective today, being in the right area, where Sweat was. I can only assume he was going for the border that he was that close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The police superintendent there just one of about 1200 men and women now being praised for their actions, specifically Police Sergeant Jay Cook now being held a hero here.

Now as for the people who were directly impacted by this for a lengthy three-week period, there is this sense of relief. In fact a few moments ago, I went over to a coffee shop, in this convenience store, and I had a conversation with the store clerk and asked her how she felt about everything that went down yesterday. She said -- obviously she's happy but jokingly also responded that they simply won't have much to talk about anymore in this corner of the country.

But it was a very light moment that it's being felt out here. But it does not hide the fact that there was a very legitimate fear that was being felt here for three weeks. It's a fear that's slowly fading this morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: That's a good thing. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. We're also learning new details about David Sweat's capture. Earlier

today Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke to CNN. He described what it was like when the manhunt finally came to an end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: He was conscious, he was coherent, his condition later on deteriorated to critical but stable. He's wearing camouflage gear. He had a bag. They didn't really question him. They were more concerned with his medical health. But he had a bag with him that had a number of supplies, he had maps, he had certain amount of tools, he had bug repellent, he had wipes, he had pop tarts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now that the manhunt is over, authorities can finally focus on the investigation. Among the many questions that still need answers, where Sweat got those supplies and when did he separate from his fellow inmate Richard Matt?

Joining me now to talk about this and more, New York State Assemblyman James (INAUDIBLE).

Thank you, sir, for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

JAMES TEDISCO (R), NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN: Good to be with you, Carol. Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here. I was just curious because there has been some criticism of Governor Cuomo. How do you think he handled this manhunt investigation?

TEDISCO: Well, it's tough to critique a governor in a situation like this. Right now we're all involved in the collective sigh of relief. We're happy we got two of the worst of the worst off the streets. These are violent felons. They were murderers. They were most pleased that there were no civilians injured or killed or hurt.

There's a lot of moving parts and there's got to be an investigation. And we think it's got to be an independent investigation outside of the administration's purview. Those appointed to investigate should be independent because there may be some culpability of the administration. You know, we cut back on the number of prison guards that are involved in prisons in Dannemora and across the state.

And although there were some missteps and there were some expanded privileges and enhanced privileges, which we want to do something about collectively and we have a bill pending to do that, these cutbacks may have impacted the ability of us to oversee some of the activities of these individuals who gamed the system. They got into the honors block, they got honors' privileges, which is totally unacceptable. There's no honor in these two individuals.

Ad they were evaluated on their gaming the system and providing what looked like good behavior. We know now we can't just evaluate the worst of the worst with good behavior. We've got to look at the violence that they perpetrated to get them into these prisons and we've got a bill pending called the Prisoner's Privilege Limitation Act which would limit the privileges that these individuals.