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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Former Tennis Star James Blake Tackled by NYPD; Phoenix Highway Shooting Mystery; James Holmes Had Booby-Trapped His Home; Chicago Toddler Remains Case Examined. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 10, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:32:01] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: New York City's police commissioner has apologized to James Blake after that tennis sensation was tackled in what police are calling a case of mistaken identity.

In a news conference earlier today Commissioner Bill Bratton said he has tried to reach out to Mr. Blake but he has not yet been able to make contact.

Earlier today, Mr. Blake was at the ABC Good Morning America studios and he said it to Robin Roberts that he felt, "targeted", and that the situation could have been much worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BLAKE, FORMER TENNIS STAR: It was really shocking because I was standing there just waiting, minding my own business. And I saw someone coming from the street running directly at me. And I even thought maybe -- I thought that maybe it was just someone I didn't recognize a high school friend or something coming in to mess with me and give me a bear hug.

And I turned out quickly it wasn't. When he picked me up, he did pretty much hug me but he picked me up my body slammed me, put me on the ground and told me to turn over and shut my mouth and put the cuffs on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Yikes, joining me now to discuss CNN Boris Sanchez, HLN Legal Analyst and Defense Attorney, Joey Jackson.

First to you, just get me up to speed on where they stand in this case right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The NYPD essentially said today that Blake was totally innocent, that he should not have been detained the way he was, that was inappropriate and that he was handcuffed inappropriately as well.

Essentially they're saying this was a case of mistaken identity. That we're trying to break up an identity-tethering a group that had been apparently buying cell phones with fraudulent credit cards, a witness pointed to Blake and that's when they tackled him.

The officer that who tackled him is now being investigated. He's on desk duty. They're looking at whether or not his action was appropriate. They said that initially in the initial investigation, he inappropriately used force. Blake...

BANFIELD: That doesn't look good when you're only hours from the incident; you're already saying it looks already like this was ugly.

SANCHEZ: Blake has implied through GMA for example this morning that race may have been a factor in what happened. But the NYPD saying that is not the case. Here is what they said in that press briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BRATTON, NYPD COMMISSIONER: I don't believe at all that race was a factor. A white police officer, Mr. Blake is African-American. This rush to put a race tag on, I'm sorry, that's not involved in this incident at all.

We had probable cause on the part of the officer, two witnesses who say "that's him." I'm sorry. That doesn't denote a racial angle to this all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Officers are also saying that they relied on a photo received by an internet service provider of their suspect. But they can't show us that photo. They say it's a splitting image of Blake and that's part of the reason they were lead to him. They can't show us the photo because apparently the person in the photo had nothing to do with the investigation.

BANFIELD: Oh, dear, it gets worse.

SANCHEZ: It was a case of mistaken identity.

BANFIELD: So it would have been the guy in the photo who was tackled and might not have this platform to sort of say, "Hey this was -- this is what happened to me."

Joey, I look at this and I thought, you know, James Blake is a big deal. And -- he was fourth in the world he ranked in tennis.

[12:35:04] Did he have a case against the officers, could he file a civil case? Not suggesting he will, but could he?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: He could but I think what he's doing now is really shining light upon an issue.

And so just taking this back for just one minute, you know, the legitimacy of a stop, you can argue, certainly if someone is identifying and saying, "Hey it's you, it's you," the police then have recourse to say "I'm going to stop you." Of course the constitution provides for pat and frisk if you have reasonable suspicion to believe that is a crime. BANFIELD: And the photo provides that?

JACKSON: It provides that because you say, "Look, there's a photo, it looks like you."

So it's not so much about the legitimacy of the stop as about the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the tactics.

BANFIELD: .. of physical.

JACKSON: Exactly so based upon that it becomes problematic. Of course he can sue predicated upon that. There will be an issue of damages. He's not really, you know, damaged to some degree, I mean obviously there's a mental component and he has bruises and everything else. But I think what he's doing here is even more significant because he's shining a light upon something that needs to be shined upon.

Were the tactics excessive? If so it needs to be addressed. Because other people Ashleigh don't have Jeff Blake's platform.

BANFIELD: Don't have the platform. No, you're right -- no they don't but James Blake. James Blake. He's a big old deal. And he can get on GMA like that.

Boris thank you, Joey as always, thank you both, appreciate it.

Coming up next.

This is Bizarre. If you are driving in Arizona, you might want to be careful. This is a live picture of I-10 to the phoenix area. There have been multiple shootings in 11 days along this busy stretch of the interstate. And cars are getting hit by real bullets.

We're going to figure this one out in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:21]BANFIELD: Armed volunteers spent last night patrolling the neighborhood near Interstate 10 in Phoenix where there's been a rush of incidents. At least six incidents of shootings along that busy freeway.

All of these happening just over a period of 11 days, and today police are saying they're investigating yet another possible shooting that could be related.

Right now they don't have anything to go on in terms of suspects. And while no one has been killed, one girl 13-years-old was injured. And authorities say all of these incidents had the potential of being deadly.

CNN Sara Sidner is along I-10 in Phoenix.

This is really scary. It almost reminds me of the D.C. shooter back in '02. Where do we stand today on what they're doing about this and how they're trying to find these shooters or one shooter or whatever it is they're looking for.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean it's really, really difficult when you talk to police about that. They are doing everything they can. They're in the air, they're on the ground, they're in marked cars, they were in undercover cars. The FBI, the AFT is also helping out a local police, the Department of Public Safety. But they are imploring the public to help out as well.

We noticed last night when we were driving down I-10 through the very stretch where these shootings have been happening and where projectiles have been at cars as well and there are signs up telling the public I-10 shooter, call this number. It is a tip line for anyone who has any information.

I do want to let you listen, though to the Department of Public Safety talking about these potential shooters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TROOPER TIM CASE, ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: We want to catch him as soon as possible because if he's doing -- he or she is doing it in the middle of the day. Then it's a scary situation.

It's bad enough that it's happening at dark but if they're brave enough to come out in the day and do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Ashleigh, these are happening at all different times of the day. Early as 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and 11:00 in the afternoon where it's bright daylight and then late at night.

So there's really a random set of circumstances here and that makes it much more difficult to catch whoever is doing this, Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Do you know or are they saying, if there's any particular cars or any particular targets? Is it SUVs, is it red cars, is it speeding cars, is there any sort of pattern to this and was it completely random?

SIDNER: It's such a good question, but we tried to look at some of the vehicles. There are trucks, there are cars. It's just -- there doesn't seem to be a pattern.

Police are looking at though all of the evidence there and they he hadn't shared a lot. They're keeping very tightlipped about the evidence because of course they wanted to be able to use that for their own purposes, trying to catch whoever is responsible for this. But I do want to talk to you about some of the citizens who have responded. There is this group of citizens who have been around about five years. And we actually met up with them last night. Other called bolt force and these guys are armed to the teeth walking along this freeway just like where we are looking for cracks and crevices, looking in darkened places using flashlights.

They are out here with their mace and guns looking for who may be responsible for this as well. Kind of going around neighborhoods in the past, they have focused there -- shifted their focus really to I- 10 and the corridors along I-10 as well trying to help police with information, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well just as you were talking, Sara, we were just been showing some of the video of these armed volunteers. It's really harrowing to think that they are out helping the police, as the police said, they need the public. But look at them, I mean they just almost look S.W.A.T. like in their approach to finding whoever is responsible.

Sara, keep us posted, thank you for that. Sara Sidner, doing the job for, live in phoenix.

And coming up next.

The movie theater massacre was just phase one of James Holmes killing spree plan. But we're about to show you phase two, the booby traps and the bombs and the napalm and the thermite that he had intricately set up for the police who might show up.

(COMMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:47:54] BANFIELD: For the very first time we are getting a look at the intricate and dangerous traps that James Holmes personally hand crafted as a little gift for the police that might be coming for him. That of course before he headed off to a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and just flat out murdered 12 people, shooting up everybody else back in 2012. We've always seen these pictures, the apartment from the outside that control that nation remarkably brave bomb squad carefully working through that open window. But now we are getting the cameras through the window and through the door.

Watch this. It is amazing. It's the video that this robot is taking as it goes into the apartment. The bombs are everywhere, little black spheres all over the place like bowling balls almost scattered across the floor.

The FBI was able to put the count at about 16 of those. And then there were four of what they called improvised incendiary devices.

Take a close look at that, this is what he did. He picked up pickle jars. He layered them with thermite, which is the smokeless powder. He just stuffed them full of bullets. That's what you're seeing, bullets, inside a flammable liquid called "Homemade Napalm."

You'll remember Napalm at something that used in warfare because it's sticks to the skin. It causes severe burns when it's on fire.

And the jury got a chance to see all the stuff. And they found Holmes was not insane. They found him a calculated killer whose plan was to kill even more innocent victims probably in uniform.

I want to bring in someone who knows a thing or two about uniforms Matthew Horace is a former ATF special agent in charge. And you are very familiar with this kind of threat. When I saw it, I first thought there's no way you could have ever imagined a crime scene like that. But this is not new to you guys?

MATTHEW HORACE, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: No, it's not at all. And basically we live with the idea that if there's one improvised explosive device, there may be others. And in this case, you saw the police, the FBI the ATF take their time in a calculated fashion and do that search very systematically because, as we see now, if we had gone into that apartment in the wrong way.

[12:50:02] BANFIELD: So how do they know, Matthew that you got a shooter in a movie theater, how do they know automatically tread lightly anywhere you go where he's been?

HORACE: Right, what we've seen over the course of the past several years that these people that do these sorts of things, they leave a trail and sometimes it's not a good trail.

If you're going to search in apartment or in home, we have to be careful of things just like this for this very reason.

BANFIELD: So when they got there the first indication is literally peeking through the window. I mean that's how you get an idea not to open the door first and what you're up against?

HORACE: You're through the windows using fiber-optic cameras, you're using sound devices to locate and determine if something is in there. And look at what we find.

High explosives, low explosives, combustibles, wires, trips, automatic detonators, this was a disaster waiting to happen.

BANFIELD: And thank God it didn't.

Matthew Horace thanks for being here. It's nice to have you...

HORACE: Thank you.

BANFIELD: ... appreciate the expertise.

Coming up next, a case that has the city of Chicago in absolute shock.

Who could do such a terrible thing to an innocent little child?

We just received a composite sketch of a child whose remains showed up in that lake.

We're going to show you that image next.

And at the top of the hour, the man who is giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money, Senator Bernie Sanders, is going to be live with Wolf Blitzer. See why he is surging in the polls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:55:09] BANFIELD: Just a short time ago at a news conference in Chicago, police did something important in a crime. They're working on, they've been putting together a composite sketch of a toddler.

And before we show to you, I just want to warn you that toddler's remains washed up in a lake and so they had very little to go on. But they put together the best kind of composite that they can. It is a little jarring. But I want you to take a look at the little baby or at least the closest version of what that baby might have look like.

Medical examiner says the child was likely an African-American about two to three years old with short, curly, black hair with brown eyes and earlobes that do not have ear piercings.

The investigators say that somebody, someone who is out there dismembered this little baby. And put this child's remains in plastic bags and then weighted down those bags and tossed them into a lagoon.

And now the police are doing everything they can to figure this out. They are actually draining this lagoon they're hoping to find the rest of the child's body.

Right now they've got hands, they've got feet, and they've got the child's head but they don't have the child's torso.

I want to bring in CNN Contributor Larry Kobilinsky who's the forensic scientist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

It is critical that they find the child's torso. I'm not clear on this because if they've hands and feet, they've fingerprints, they've got dental records. What more would they need?

LARRY KOBILINSKY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well they need the cause of death. They want to know if the child was suffocated or was traumatized by blunt trauma or stabbed or god knows what.

They need the entire body and that's what they're going to have probably about two or three days when the lagoon is completely emptied.

BANFIELD: You know, what's amazing to me we don't even know if this baby is a boy or a girl at this point. Certainly they're not letting on. But you know full well with your scientific background.

KOBILINSKY: Sure.

BANFIELD: They can figure that out very quickly.

KOBILINSKY: Very quickly as soon as they get a DNA analysis done which should be very quick, I mean the technology is great now, you can do it in the matter of a day or less, they will know whether it's male or female because there is a certain genome like locus that we look at, it's called amelogenin and it differs from male and female. So they will know the gender right away.

More importantly they'll have the genetic information about this child...

BANFIELD: And what will that do to help find who is responsible?

KOBILINSKY: Well it could even give them the key lead that they're looking for. Another words, if they have that genetic profile and they run it through the national database, if a close relative of the child is on the database, they will get what is called the familial match, so they may find that whoever is on that database apparently, you know, committed a felony so they will have the identification of this familial match.

BANFIELD: So what you're effectively saying is that the DNA that they have from this child could strike a positive on the nationwide record if somebody who is related to this child has committed a felony.

KOBILINSKY: Correct.

BANFIELD: And they could find that somebody and then trail from there?

KOBILINSKY: Precisely.

BANFIELD: Because somebody out there has a child who is missing and hasn't said anything.

KOBILINSKY: Correct. Correct. And they know the child was deceased for at least a week or two just based on the level of decomposition. They also have the ridge endings on the footprints, the sole prints and that's like a fingerprint when a child is born normally hospitals will take an inked print of the feet.

BANFIELD: Yeah.

KOBILINSKY: And so that is a good way to identify the child as well.

BANFIELD: But why hasn't this happened already? These are records. These aren't lab tests that you have to wait for processing. I mean those footprints from the hospital are there.

KOBILINSKY: This is work it's got to be done. It's also possible the child was not born in a hospital.

So, I mean, it may lead to something important. It may not. But it's hard work and it's got to be done.

BANFIELD: The remarkable amount of work that they are doing to drain this, I don't know if we call it lagoon or swamp or lake, its going to take a few days. They got four pumps, a going at million gallons I think of water.

What else would they be looking for forensically to help them solve this crime?

KOBILINSKY: Well, and then we know that there are plastic bags. The body parts were apparently put at the bags and weighted down. This is all physical evidence. And what they have to do is a grid search of the lagoon after its emptied and pick up all that evidence and then try to reconstruct what happened to this poor kid.

This kid was dismembered after she died.

BANFIELD: They know that.

KOBILINSKY: They know that.

BANFIELD: They know that. And, you know what, who knows if this was a murder. Can you immediately think that because of the horrifying nature of this but who knows if this was a cover-up to a death or anything else.

Larry, thank you, as always, Dr. Kobilinsky, appreciate it.

[13:00:03] Thank you, everyone, for watching.

Coming up on Wolf, Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders of what he thinks about leading in the polls in Iowa. And that interview starts now.