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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Passengers Flee Plane After Pilot`s Rant; Woman Held Captive in Shipping Container Speaks Out; Caught in the Middle; Courtroom Mayhem; Suspect in Shackles Headbutts Cop; Classroom Attack; Storm Damage. Aired 8- 9p ET
Aired February 13, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[20:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t worry. I`m going to let my co-pilot fly it. He`s a man.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST (voice-over): Is that the pilot, in plain clothes right before takeoff?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She mentioned her divorce.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Started off by saying that she had not voted for either Trump or Clinton.
BANFIELD: Passengers say she was ranting about her uniform, her president, even Hillary Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you don`t feel safe, get off the airplane.
BANFIELD: So would you have stayed on that plane?
She spent months in the pitch-black, chained up like a dog, locked in this storage container.
KALA BROWN, KIDNAP VICTIM: (INAUDIBLE) tell someone if he took someone they love.
BANFIELD: Kala Brown breaks her silence to Dr. Phil.
BROWN: That`s when I know what I had to do to survive.
BANFIELD: What she says she suffered at the hands of a confessed serial killer.
A judge`s ruling could rip a family part.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She won`t even know where she belongs!
BANFIELD: Their adopted child ordered to live with an ex-con biological dad that she`s never met.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got my life together. There`s no reason she shouldn`t be able to come home to me.
BANFIELD: Three years old and caught in the middle as a court decides what`s best for Braelyn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
BANFIELD: Did you catch that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
BANFIELD: A college kid head butts an officer in court. Cops say he was high on drugs when he did it. Suppose the judge will even care?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should never see a video like that of your child.
BANFIELD: A mom breaks down after seeing her son being choked out in class.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She wasn`t paying attention to us.
BANFIELD: Just feet away, a substitute teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was angry.
BANFIELD: Why the mom says the school is ignoring her concerns.
What`s got this fellow so mad he`s hurling chairs at the judge?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the court.
BANFIELD: He was supposed to get a year. But just guess what the judge gave him instead?
Caught on an officer`s dashcam, but this was no crime. Hell hath no fury like an 18-wheeler in a hurricane-force wind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
We see them all the time in airports all over the world, those crisp blue flight crew uniforms with fancy epaulets. And if you`re like me, you count
the number of stripes on their arms to see if it`s the engineer, the co- pilot, or the big cheese, the pilot. So imagine boarding your flight and finding ought that that person that you thought was a fellow passenger
dressed in the T-shirt and the ballcap was actually the pilot.
That would seem pretty weird, right? It`s exactly what happened to people in Austin, Texas. They say that happened to them as they were boarding
their flight on Saturday night. And moments after everybody took their seats on United 455 to San Francisco, a woman stepped to the front of the
plane and did this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I`ll just -- I`ll stop, and we`ll fly the airplane. Don`t worry. I`m going to let my co-pilot fly it. He`s a man,
OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, if you don`t feel safe, get off the airplane. But otherwise, we can go. OK. This is all set up. OK. Come on up. All
right. So I purposely offended you. Did I offend you? OK, so did I purposely offend you? I did. The answer is yes. So -- but I didn`t, OK?
And this guy here...
(CROSSTALK) (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Flight attendants, please disarm doors. Flight attendants, disarm doors, cross check (ph), stand by for all (ph) call
(ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Jaw on floor yet? That part with, you know, flight attendants, disarm the doors. That was just the end of her strange behavior because
passengers say there`d been a lot more before the tape started to roll, and apparently, the rant was epic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was venting. She mentioned her divorce. She was not in her right state of mind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She shows up dressed like a civilian and asked to take a vote to see whether she should have her change into her uniform or
fly as is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She started off by saying that she had not voted for either Trump or Clinton because they`re a bunch of liars. Yes. So that`s
an odd way to start off the welcome to your flight. But yes, it just really sort of went downhill from there and didn`t make a lot of sense to
any of us. We were a little afraid having someone that was somewhat unstable flying the plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:02]BANFIELD: And that is the real issue here, the safety of the passengers. Who would feel safe with a pilot like that in the cockpit?
Would you? Would you have stood up like some of these others and said, I`m out? Because there are some passengers on board who say at least 50 people
did what this guy in the blue shirt did. He stood right up, he got his stuff, and he made for the door.
United Airlines says that it did replace the pilot and that that flight did leave, although two hours late. But United refused to reveal the name of
that pilot or what happened to her or what policies were in place that had cleared her to head onto the aircraft in the first place.
Hayes Davis was a passenger on that flight, flight 455 from Austin to San Francisco. He`s live with me now from San Francisco.
Hayes, the video looks frightening. What did it feel like in the seats when you were watching this happen?
HAYES DAVIS, passenger (via telephone): Well, it was kind of a surreal experience, to be honest. It started off sort of playful. She came on and
she wasn`t in her uniform and mentioned her divorce and asked if we wanted her to change into her uniform and implied that that would delay the flight
a little bit. That was strange but not all that unnerving, and then she just kind of went off the rails.
BANFIELD: So...
DAVIS: She pointed out a couple that was in first class -- they happened to be an interracial couple -- and made a note of that to the rest of the
plane. Then she started talking about Trump and Clinton and used an expletive there, and then went on to talk about her book that she was
writing and how she was going to be on Oprah.
BANFIELD: Hayes, you mentioned at the beginning that it started off funny, but clearly, this had to serious real fast. And you were not alone. You
were with, as I understand it, your wife and your 9-month-old baby. So were you one of the upwards of 50 people who got up and said, I don`t feel
safe, I`m leaving?
DAVIS: Yes. Absolutely. So we were towards the back of the plane, and I think in the video that you showed, the first person that left was towards
the front. I turned around to the flight attendant that was behind us and asked if she was really the pilot and if she was actually going to fly. He
said that she would. And I asked, Why is that the case? Something`s clearly wrong. And his response was that he`s not a psychologist.
At that point, I turned to my wife and we looked at each other and said, You know what? We`re getting out of here. And there were several other
families near us, and we all kind of made eye contact and stood up and started...
BANFIELD: Did the same thing.
DAVIS: ... filing out. At that point, a set of other people (INAUDIBLE)
BANFIELD: Hayes, what happened when the video stopped rolling and she ultimately was taken off the flight? What did the circumstance look like?
DAVIS: Well, it was a very strange situation for a while because the group of us that left the flight and then a set of people trickled out after that
-- and so we went up to the jet bridge into the airport, and then we really spent a lot of time waiting while the United employees figured out what was
going on.
It was probably 15 or 20 minutes before we got really an update about whether or not the plane was going to take off or we would get a new pilot.
And she eventually left. I actually wasn`t personally there when she came up out of the jet bridge and left. But it was a lengthy process between
the time the incident occurred and she was actually -- left the plane.
BANFIELD: Well, other passengers have said she was escorted off the plane, she was in tears, that she apologized and that it was very uncomfortable.
And some described it as even being sort of sad.
I want to bring in Justin Green. He`s CNN`s aviation analyst. He`s also an aviation attorney and just so happens to be a pilot, as well. You were
the first person I thought of...
JUSTIN GREEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Thank you.
BANFIELD: ... when I heard of this because there are so many questions. She was dressed in, effectively, a T-shirt and ballcap. Some how, she got
past the gate agents as the pilot. Somehow, she got onto the plane. Somehow, she got the mic. And somehow, she was able to continue doing
that. And you just heard Hayes say that the flight attendants didn`t know what else to do.
GREEN: Well, let me tell you, Hayes, you did the right thing getting off the airplane. There`s a lot of red flags that would have gone off based on
her behavior. Pilots do not walk through, as you said -- you know, you see pilots in the concourse every day. They`re always wearing their uniforms.
That`s part of their responsibility. They`re not allowed to walk in civilian gear. So the gate agents should have known something was amiss.
The amount of time that they allowed this pilot...
BANFIELD: To go on.
GREEN: ... to go on was really amazing, which, honestly, I didn`t believe that she was a pilot watching the tape except for the fact that they let
her -- if you were a passenger and you went up and tried to do something like that, they`d shut you down right away.
BANFIELD: Sure.
GREEN: But obviously, she must have been the pilot, and they confirmed that to Mr. Davis.
[20:10:04]BANFIELD: Well, Justin that`s why I didn`t understand the dynamics between that crew and that pilot. Pilot`s the boss. I know that.
But when your boss is getting dangerous, who takes control? Who gets control? Who among that crew should have been able to say, Ma`am, you need
to get off the plane now.
GREEN: A captain of an airplane -- assuming she is the captain, and sounds like she was -- has all the responsibility for the safety of that airplane
and the passengers on board.
BANFIELD: And no one -- no one can supersede her authority when she`s acting like this? There`s no circumstance (INAUDIBLE)
GREEN: Under circumstances like that, the co-pilot will take over the controls of the airplane. However, obviously, it took some -- took longer
than I would normally expect for that to occur in this case.
BANFIELD: As a passenger -- that door was closed -- do you have the right to say, Let me off this airplane, I do not feel safe, or are you then in
trouble with the feds?
GREEN: Well, if you blow the door under those circumstances, you have a good chance that you`re going to be in trouble with the feds. But if
something like that happens, the first thing you want to do is take the advantage to get off the airplane. Communicate to the flight attendants --
if the captain is acting bad, communicate your concerns to the flight attendants and demand to be let off that air plane.
BANFIELD: OK, next question, and this is a tough one. Is that pilot going to fly again? And is she going to likely get her job -- I don`t even know
if she`ll lose her job, but if she does, would she continue flying for a major commercial outlet, say like a United?
GREEN: You know what? Honestly, that`s a question for the doctors right now. I assume that this lady is undergoing medical treatment.
BANFIELD: Yes.
GREEN: She has a very good chance, assuming that this is an isolated incident, assuming that she responds well to medical treatment, of getting
her license back and being legally able to fly. Whether an airline will ever hire her again is a different story.
BANFIELD: That`s a whole other story.
GREEN: So I think she could probably sell herself better to the FAA than she could sell herself better to United.
BANFIELD: Justin, thank you for that. And Hayes Davis, thank you, as well. Appreciate your input into this. Glad everybody was safe
ultimately.
You remember the Jerry Sandusky case? Because we have an update and it`s not a happy update at all. The famed Penn State assistant football coach
convicted back in 2012 on serial child sex abuse charges, leading to the downfall of legendary coach Joe Paterno.
And now that man, Jerry Sandusky`s son, Jeffrey, has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor child sex abuse charges. The court documents say
that Jeffrey Sandusky now faces 14 counts, including soliciting sex from a child under the age of 16 and soliciting child pornography. There`s a
hearing that is scheduled for February the 22nd.
For the first time, we are hearing from the woman who was kidnapped and forced into a storage container, held there for two months by a suspected
serial killer. She is reliving that horror, giving the details of the torture, being chained for months. She`ll tell you in a moment.
And then this guy started tossing chairs at the judge after tossing obscenities at that judge. What set him off? Better question -- what`s he
going to get after all this behavior?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:15:32]BANFIELD: For the first time, the woman who spent two months held captive inside a storage container is talking about it. Kala Brown
told Dr. Phil about the day she was kidnapped by a confessed serial killer. She reveals intimate and awful details about her time inside of that
prison, how she worked up the courage to confront him about the horror that she was enduring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KALA BROWN, KIDNAP VICTIM: I told him he was nothing but a serial killer and that he would pay for what he did, that he was worthless.
DR. PHIL: You were never left unchained in the container?
BROWN: No. Never. He would rape me twice a day, every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: There are so many details of what went on in that container. We`re going to reveal those to you, two months of hell and the horror of
what Kala had to do simply to survive that prison.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: The story sounds like it was crafted for a horror movie, but there is nothing made up here. No exaggerations, no script could actually
convey the savagery that Kala Brown experienced. Sheriff`s deputies found Kala while executing a search warrant on a heavily wooded property in South
Carolina.
She was chained up inside a storage container. She was chained by the neck, chained by the ankle. Sheriff Chuck Wright told me about the
deplorable conditions the night she was found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK WRIGHT, SPARTANBURG CO. SHERIFF: You know, the conditions -- I wouldn`t put my dog in it. I mean, you know, you -- I wouldn`t chain my
dog up like that and leave it in a container that has no lights. You know, she spent a lot of her time in the darkness, and you know, that is
horrifying all just -- just that part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: It did not take long for the property owner to start talking. Investigators say that Todd Kohlhepp admitted to killing four people inside
a motorcycle shop back in 2003. And then he allegedly told them about the three bodies that were also buried on his property, Kala`s boyfriend,
Charles Carver, and husband and wife Johnny and Megan Cocksy (ph).
And now Kala Brown is talking about those two terrifying months where she was caged in that container. Minutes after arriving, she says Kohlhepp
shot and killed her boyfriend right in front of her, putting three bullets into his chest.
[20:20:06]I want you to listen to what she told Dr. Phil happened next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Todd put me on the ground and handcuffed me and cuffed my ankles and put a ball (ph) gag in my mouth. And then he told me he had to go take
care of Charlie, and he left me there.
DR. PHIL: When you say he cuffed you, did he have handcuffs?
BROWN: He had handcuffs and he had ankle cuffs.
DR. PHIL: So he had them there. This wasn`t an impulse thing.
BROWN: No, he was prepared.
DR. PHIL: Did he cuff you behind your back?
BROWN: Yes, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Joining me now, Heather Hansen and Joey Jackson. That was not all. The details of what happened to her were harrowing, but critically,
she was also a witness to a cold-blooded murder, a calculated and cold- blooded murder. Here`s what she talked about the murder of her boyfriend and how it played out.
Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: He walked out and he had the gun in his hand, and he pretty much shot Charlie before he ever even made it completely out the door. And I
just -- I got lost. I didn`t know what was going on. I didn`t know what to do. I just stood there.
DR. PHIL: When he came out the door, you say he came out shooting.
BROWN: Yes, sir.
DR. PHIL: He wasn`t even all the way out the door.
BROWN: Yes, sir.
DR. PHIL: And where did he shoot him?
BROWN: In the chest, three times.
DR. PHIL: Rapid?
BROWN: Yes, sir.
DR. PHIL: And did he say anything?
BROWN: Not at first, not until he grabbed me and told me to come inside or I`d join Charlie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: But she didn`t. She`s alive. This is South Carolina, death penalty state. The witness like this isn`t always alive, Joey, but she can
tell absolutely everything that happened to her, that happened to Charlie. He is not going to walk this planet again, will he.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: No, he won`t at all. Now, think about this. Think about the psychological trauma that she endured, and you can`t
even begin to imagine the visual depictions in her mind that will never go away. Now, that -- hopefully, she`ll get the help she needs, and you know,
she appears to be very brave and she`ll overcome this.
But imagine relating that to a jury. Remember you talked about South Carolina being a death penalty state, top 10 in the country, I might add,
seven to be exact, meaning they put people to death.
And when you talk about the death penalty cases, you talk about aggravating circumstances. So you tell me what redeeming quality this person has who
would be as inhumane as he was? And remember, minor detail -- the leash that he had her on chain was what, two-and-a-half, three feet?
BANFIELD: You know what? She absolutely...
JACKSON: Disgusting.
BANFIELD: She actually addressed exactly that, the conditions, the minute he opened up that storage container, which was about to be her prison, her
pitch-black prison for two months in the hot summer sun.
And this is what she described to Dr. Phil about the moment that she was led into that container.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PHIL: When he opened it and put you in there, what did you see when you looked in there? What was in there?
BROWN: It was pitch-black, but he had a flashlight and he had a lot of shelving with, like, dried food and rations and stuff, and like, lots of
bottles of water.
DR. PHIL: Did he come in there with you?
BROWN: Yes, he took me all the way in the back.
DR. PHIL: And did he leave you bound or did he unbind you?
BROWN: He left me bound and he also put a chain around my neck.
DR. PHIL: And how long did he stay in there with you this time?
BROWN: Not long. Just long enough to chain me up, and then he left me.
DR. PHIL: How long was the chain?
BROWN: Two-and-a-half, three feet.
DR. PHIL: So in that container, you were chained into a corner, and you couldn`t move the length of the container.
BROWN: My neck was in one corner, and my ankle was the other corner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: That was the conditions that Kala Brown was chained in for those two months, again, in pitch-black, in the hot sun. And Heather, at the
time, we had wondered was she sexually assaulted, what happened to her during those two months. And she did honestly tell Dr. Phil about her
daily ordeal and her torture. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PHIL: You hear him opening the door. What happened then?
BROWN: He talked about some stuff, letting me know that if I tried to run, he`d kill me. If I tried to hurt him, he`d kill me. If I fought back, he
would kill me. And then he raped me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Heather, it was twice a day, she says, every single day she was in captivity. As if it couldn`t get worse, we are dealing with seven
murders, as well. Does this horror story that she undoubtedly will tell the jury, if it goes to a jury -- does it change anything?
[20:25:06]HEATHER HANSEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I mean, as Joey said, you can`t get any worse. You know, it just keeps piling on. And all you
can do is put someone to death, and South Carolina is not afraid to do that. So I think that we`re pretty much guaranteed -- the interesting
thing is the state is paying for his defense. This man who had some money, apparently, is still going to have the state pay for his defense. But I
think, ultimately, Ashleigh, he`s going to try for a plea deal. In South Carolina, that`s not going to happen, and he will meet his maker.
BANFIELD: So what I`m so fascinated by is what possible mitigating circumstances could there be in this man`s case? And guess what? We found
one in one Reggie Tague -- that`s his mother. And before we knew about what Kala told Dr. Phil, all these awful things, his mom told us that he
wasn`t such a bad guy. And I thought you might want to revisit all the things she said about her son before we just found out from his victim what
he did. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REGGIE TAGUE, MOTHER OF KIDNAPPER: Todd is not a monster. He`s never been a monster. He`s not even close to it. He did some bad things, but a
monster? No.
He tried to make her as comfortable as possible, and he -- he had a dilemma.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he abuse her?
TAGUE: No. He said he did not. He promised me. And believe me, he (INAUDIBLE) .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he do to take care of her?
TAGUE: He brought her food and water and drink. He brought here something to lay on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Brought her something -- brought her something to lie on. That was courtesy of "48 Hours." I am assuming she might be actually brought
into the case. Will anything she says matter a hoot, given the other details we now know about?
JACKSON: No. And I agree. He`s not a monster. Why? Because he`s far worse than that. And the fact is, is that she`s the mother. What`s the
mother going to say? It`s not necessarily an unbiased witness. And so I don`t think she`ll have much credibility in the courtroom in terms of
saving his life.
BANFIELD: I just think, as a mother, I don`t think you say, He wasn`t that bad. He brought her food. He brought her a mattress so that he could
keep her alive and continuously rape her, allegedly. It`s just so despicable. And there he sits in front of those family members, and how
they kept their wits as they did is just -- I -- I -- it`s remarkable.
County jail, likely what he`s going to wear for quite some time until he get into the prison garb.
A teenager in class choked until he passes out. And it didn`t happen in an MMA ring. It was right there in front of a substitute teacher. We have a
lot of questions, including why that teacher who was just feet away did not even look up from her desk.
And a biological father is now speaking out for the first time after winning a round in a bitter custody fight with the child`s adoptive
parents. Why they say giving Braelyn back would be a huge mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blood and biology does not make a mother and a father. Love does.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: When a child is in the eye of a hurricane being pulled in multiple directions, it is heartbreaking for everyone involved. Case in
point 3-year-old Braelynn. She is in the middle of a custody battle. We`re talking about it tonight because it is a very different kind of battle.
She`s been in the loving arms of her adoptive parents since she was just three weeks old. First as a foster child, before then been formally adopted
in 2015. In order to do that adoption, Braelynn`s biological mom had to give up custody and then a judge took away her dad`s parental rights
because he was behind bars on several charges and had not given child support.
Just a couple of months ago, that dad was released, and that dad petitioned the court to get little Braelynn back, a girl he`s never seen, never met.
The three-judge panel made a decision and ruled that the court had wrongly taken away his parental rights when he was behind bars. And so he told CBS
this morning that he`s wanted to hold little Braelynn since she was born.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MYERS, BIOLOGICAL FATHER: I want nothing more. It just has been really difficult. I`ve got my life together. There is no reason she
shouldn`t be able to come home to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you can take care of her?
MYERS: Yeah, without a doubt. I appreciate that they took care of her and gave her a loving home and all, but I really think it`s time that she came
home to her real family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Erica Smith is Braelynn`s biological mother on the left, and Edward and Tammy Dalsing on the right are her adoptive parents. They are
all live with me tonight from Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome to you all. Erica, if I can begin with you, as her biological mother in this
equation, what do you want to see happen with little Braelynn?
ERICA SMITH, BIOLOGICAL MOTHER: I want her to remain with the Dalsings. That`s been my -- that`s been my -- my want, my need for her since the
beginning. There is never been a doubt in my mind that she should be anywhere else including myself and her father, you know, our families.
[20:35:00] Our families together, couldn`t do what the Dalsings are doing for her.
BANFIELD: So Erica, about Andrew Myers, Braelynn`s biological father. What do you know about him? His lifestyle, his ability to raise a child. Does he
have any other children? Does he have a job? What do you know about his circumstance?
SMITH: What I know about Andrew is we had a relationship obviously, got pregnant with Braelynn. I do know that he doesn`t like to work. He`s lazy.
He likes to hustle and sell drugs, to make his money. And he also has a 9- year-old son that has MS that his mother, Sherry, also took that mother to court and fought and tried to get that baby taken away.
She didn`t win that battle, but Mary, the mother of Andrew`s son, told me that this is going to happen. You know, she warned me ahead of time. She
said Sherry is going to try the same thing she did with Jake.
BANFIELD: So, I actually have something that Sherry had said. And I just should tell our viewers, you know, it`s very difficult for us to confirm
allegations like drug use or, you know, inability to keep a job. I know that`s how you feel. And that`s maybe your experience. For us, that`s not
something we can confirm. But you mentioned Sherry Powers, that is Andrew`s mother. Andrew is the biological father.
SMITH: Yes.
BANFIELD: Sherry is the biological grandmother.
SMITH: Right.
BANFIELD: I want to play for you what CBC this morning was able to get from her in terms of her input in all of this. Take a listen.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
SHERRY POWERS, BIOLOGICAL GRANDMOTHER: When I dropped off Andrew to be incarcerated, his last words to me were, mom, do whatever needs to be done.
I do believe that they love her. And that they believe she is theirs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would you say to those who argue that the right thing at this point though would be for her to remain with the adoptive
parents?
POWERS: They would have to walk in my shoes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, Erica, Sherry Powers, I hadn`t known that there was another child involved that she also, you know, litigated in terms of custody. What
do you think both Sherry and her son, Andrew Myers, motivation is, if not for the love of Braelynn, why else would they want the child if it`s not
love?
SMITH: To be honest with you, like I said, I lived with Sherry and her husband, and I was around them a good bit of time to realize that Sherry is
very unstable mentally. She has depression problems. She has authority problems. She has, you know, problems as in raising her children and in
being mean. She likes to be the mother and the best friend. I think it to be -- to be honest with you, I think it`s more or less for spite.
Because when I was living there, pregnant with Braelynn, it was the plan that she was going to help me and this and that. And then when it got to
the point where her husband was such a creep and I had to leave, and her mother actually sent me the money to get home and begged me not to tell
Sherry because it would break her heart about her husband, Sherry`s mother understood. She had heard things from Becky. She had heard, you know,
things like that before.
BANFIELD: So, I do want to say -- again, I always have to jump in only because confirmation and allegations are very different things. And we
don`t have any confirmation.
SMITH: I am sorry.
BANFIELD: That`s all right. I understand that Sherry Powers has any kind of mental instability at all. I can understand that you feel strongly the way
you do. But I do want to ask you, Edward and Tammy if I can, one of the things that Andrew Myers, that biological father, you know, with whom
you`re sort of entangled now in this custody battle.
He told CBS this morning and I`m gonna pull him. There is no reason she shouldn`t be able to come home to me. No reason. And I can only assume that
you have a reason. What is it?
EDWARD LANSING, ADOPTIVE FATHER: I would say the reason is that it`s Braelynn. Braelynn`s the center of all of this, and it`s got to be about
her. It`s not about what he wants, it`s not about what we want. It`s about Braelynn. And it`s time people started thinking about that.
She only knows us. She`s been with us since birth or three weeks old, and it`s got to be about her and her little life being destroyed by being
pulled out of the only home she has ever known.
BANFIELD: Tammy, you also have Braelynn`s little sister. I mean, there is sibling issue here as well. I wasn`t even aware that Braelynn has a little
sister nonetheless with you.
TAMMY LANSING, ADOPTIVE MOTHER: Yes. She -- her name is McKenna and we had her since she was born. In fact, I was actually at the birth of McKenna in
the operating room with Erica
[20:40:00] when she had her C-section. I was the first one to hold McKenna.
BANFIELD: It becomes a more complicated family tragedy anyway you look at it. We do want to continue to follow your story and I do thank all three of
you for being with me and thank you for sharing your perspectives tonight.
T. LANSING: Thank you.
E. LANSING: Ashleigh, can we say one more thing before we get out?
BANFIELD: Just quickly, yes.
E. LANSING: We have a website www.savebraelynn.com. It has questions and answers. It has the adoption order posted. And there is a lot of good
information there. You know, we`re not out to destroy this family, but we have serious concerns when it comes to Braelynn`s safety.
BANFIELD: And she is just -- we are seeing a picture of her -- she is just so incredibly adorable and thank you for that. And I do appreciate again
all three of you, your time tonight.
A suspect in shackles absolutely violent beyond comprehension, headbutting a police officer, breaking his nose. This is not your run-of-the-mill
inmate. This is an Ole Miss college kid.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: A probation violation hearing got way out of control when a defendant decided to start throwing the courtroom chairs all the way from
the back of the courtroom towards the judge. This happened south of Indianapolis. That`s Jordan Rhoades back there. Probably not at his finest
hour. He showed up more than an hour late for his own hearing. And then he was sentenced to a year. I guess it didn`t sit well.
He let loose, started cursing at first. Judge didn`t like that. Then started throwing the chairs in the judge`s direction. One of those chairs
actually hit the deputy prosecutor in the leg. So guess what? Mr. Rhoades is now facing battery charges on a public official and contempt of court.
So that one year, sir, probably at the very least doubled, maybe more.
If you think throwing chairs in court is bad, wait until you see this. Jail officers Thursday transporting a violent inmate to court and the
perpetrator believed to be on drugs breaks a deputy`s nose. Here`s how it went down.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible).
BANFIELD: That`s Daniel Stuart Barry. He`s accused of robbing a convenient store in Mississippi. The witnesses say he got agitated at the store when
the soda machine wouldn`t give him some ice, then he couldn`t get cash from an ATM, and in the middle of all screaming and cursing, the officers say,
yes, he grabbed 20 bucks from the clerk, before the customers grabbed him, before he could leave.
By all appearances, he seemed to be just some run of the mill punk, in trouble with the law. In fact, he`s a business student at Ole Miss.
Business student at Ole Miss. Sheriff says it looks like he was high on something, but exactly what remains a mystery.
JIMMY EDWARDS, SHERIFF, UNION COUNTRY, MISSISSIPPI: I don`t know what this is or how much he`s taken or whatever. But we need to -- we`ll have to get
him evaluated by a doctor, but we`ve got a -- to determine a safe way to do it for the doctor, for him, for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Okay, guys.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s on something.
JACKSON: Yeah.
BANFIELD: Here is the question I have for you. When I first saw the behavior, I thought that guy is dead in the water, right? It`s on video,
these are court officials. He did this in front of a judge presumably on his way into court. He actually ripped off his own spit mask just before he
got to the doorway.
I feel bad for this guy right here on the left hand side in the front. He`s the one who was about to have his nose broken by this student. He
absolutely looks wild. Does it matter if he`s on drugs? Does a judge say I don`t care?
JACKSON: You know what, Ashleigh, a judge can say anything because there is a wide deal of discretion in a courtroom. But the defense attorney is
gonna argue it`s a mitigating circumstance. Get this person some help. Doesn`t excuse the conduct at all. The fact is an assault is an assault.
It`s an assault particularly when it`s against a public official.
BANFIELD: Okay.
JACKSON: And remember that it stacks the time. This is a separate offense from the underlying offense for which he`s incarcerated to begin with.
BANFIELD: Here is the weird thing. They are really not sure what he`s on. They thought at one point it was like a bath salts kind of drug, flakka, or
maybe something called gravel. And we read up on it. It can have a very long effect on you for days in some circumstances, neurological, could be
permanent neurological damage. Does any of that play into this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It could. As Joey says, the defense attorney is definitely gonna use this especially if it`s a first offense and totally
out of character for this guy. Then you would think that that would be an argument to say, we don`t know how he got the drugs, we don`t know whether
it is something that he got by accident or on purpose. There are a lot of unknown here and all of those things are part of the story the defense
attorney can tell to try to make it a lesser offense.
BANFIELD: I guess we don`t need to be lawyers to sort of figure out what Ole Miss is gonna do about this.
(LAUGHTER)
JACKSON: You really -- you know what, it`s sad and unfortunate. What he did is horrific, you know, but look, he`s a college student. I hate to be the
bleeding heart here, but there is a major underlying problem. That was drug induced. That`s a result. That`s not him. That`s whatever he was taking.
That`s what has happened.
BANFIELD: Joey, if I were drinking and driving and I injured someone, I wouldn`t get a break just because I was drunk.
[20:50:00] JACKSON: Absolutely not.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: . accidentally injured someone. If you take drugs and you break someone`s nose.
JACKSON: You pay for consequence and I`m with you. But you got to address the underlying problem and how many of his cohorts in college are doing
what he`s doing and he did drug issues without risk.
BANFIELD: The sheriff -- sheriff said there`s hearsay from Ole Miss friends, that he took large dozes of Adderall and marijuana. But I want to
tell you right now, I don`t think Adderall and marijuana make that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That right, yeah.
JACKSON: Address that underlying issue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so we might not have known what he was taking.
BANFIELD: Okay. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But you put something in your mouth, consequences.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BANFIELD: An outrageous attack in a Chicago classroom. A student was choked by another. Watch this. Until he actually passed out. There he is.
Unconscious. Look who is in the background. His teacher. Allegedly not seeing a thing, or at least certainly not doing anything about it.
Shocking.
And in Wyoming, a police department is in the market for a brand-new cruiser because oh, dang, that stinks! That`s mother nature at the worst.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Unbelievable video of a tractor-trailer toppling over and not just on any car, a cop car. Yikes. This is the Wyoming highway patrol
releasing dash cam video of an 18-wheeler blowing over, literally blowing over and crashing down on that patrol car behind them, skidding down the
road.
All all it took was just about 90 mile an hour wind. That`s a hell of a wind go. So the good news here, nobody was in that patrol car, so no one
was injured. But the highway patrol wanted to release the video to urge drivers to pay attention to high-wind advisories. I`m not exactly sure how
you look in your rear view mirror, if there is a semi coming and it`s windy, get out of your car, I don`t know. That`s amazing to see.
Just imagine how outraged you would feel if you saw a video of your 16- year-old kid being choked into unconsciousness by a classmate in science as the teacher is just sitting over there, you know, just a couple of feet
away, doing nothing.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) Let him go.
BANFIELD: Apparently the kids cheered him on too. Seriously, this happened. Antonio Clinton at his Chicago high school. Apparently, he finally had to
show the video to his mom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It hurts to see a video like that of your child. You should never see a video like that of your child when he`s in school. I was
angry because my child could have died in class, and nobody didn`t know. Nobody didn`t call me that day to notify me or nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So Antonio says the other student came up from behind him in that science classroom and then just grabbed him. And the choke made him passed
out very quickly. He also says the substitute teacher witnessed it, sitting over at the desk right there in spot shadow, but didn`t do anything about
it. Didn`t stop the choking, you can see it, right within view. I mean, it is just remarkable. Heather (ph), first of all, I can`t believe that this
isn`t sort of a police issue. Isn`t that an assault?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would be an assault by the student, sure. But I think where, you know, in the Chicago school systems, I think that they
deal with a lot of this type of thing a lot. And the substitute teacher probably is not equipped to deal with this type of situation. That is
really unfortunate.
JACKSON: Yeah.
BANFIELD: (inaudible) look, kids wrestle (ph) all the time, but this kid was choked out. They were saying it. They were saying he can pass out, bro.
They meant to do this.
JACKSON: Obviously, the teacher should have been more attentive. The teacher should have been alert. The teacher should have been proactive and
take an action. But, honestly, Ashleigh, the larger issue for me is the lack of humanity in a child, even engaging that behavior, and then what`s
going on in Chicago is mind boggling, 762 murders last year, highest in 20 years, what`s happening?
There need to be something, you know, to get these children together, to give them something to do, have positive outlets for them to do things that
are constructive, not this.
BANFIELD: Chicago Public Schools gave a statement. They said, Chicago Public Schools has barred a substitute teacher from working in the District
after learning that the substitute did not appropriately address or report a serious student safety incident.
I mean, that`s an understatement, you know. It`s just shocking to hear them cheering this, and still it`s going on, and she doesn`t look up. You`re
right. You are right.
JACKSON: And the student celebrating it.
BANFIELD: Celebrating.
JACKSON: Do it, do it.
BANFIELD: Heather, Joey, thank you, great to see you.
JACKSON: Thank you, Ashleigh, always.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Thank you too, everyone, for watching. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. We`ll see you right back here tomorrow night 8:00 PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
But, straight ahead, don`t go anywhere because my pal Hill Harper`s "HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED" this week is awesome. Closer look at Prince and those
final mysterious days.
[21:00:00]
END
