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Deadly Tornadoes Rip Through Midwest; Sheriff Loses Home in Tornado; Traffic Stop Video Raises More Questions. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 10, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, there goes -- there goes cars. I saw head lights go flying.

[05:58:29] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a tractor-trailer on top of a building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The back wall fell right on top of us, and we were trapped.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dash cam video now released.

MICHAEL SLAGER, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Got to stay in the car.

Taser! Taser! Taser!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you hear the shots?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I started to cry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cracks are starting to appear in the framework for a nuclear deal with Iran.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is not done until it's done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop aerial bombardment. Stop operations on the ground.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The jury's still out; it's not over yet.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Don't you someday want to see a woman president of the United States of America?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Hillary Clinton finally ready to throw her hat in the ring?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Friday, April 10, 6 a.m. in the east, and we do begin with breaking news, tornadoes tearing through the Midwest; and the pictures and the sounds show devastation. More than a dozen tornadoes touching down across three states. Illinois, hardest hit. Wind gusts so strong, a tractor- trailer was no match. Watch this, and that was the least of it.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that video.

The powerful tornadoes leveling homes and reducing everything in their path to rubble. At least one person is dead. The full extent of the damage remains to be seen today. So let's get right to CNN's Ryan Young. He's on the phone in one of the hardest-hit areas: Rochelle, Illinois.

Ryan, tell us what you're seeing.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The winds are heavy here. We are waiting for first light, because all around us you can see some of the destruction that has happened here. Power lines are down on the ground, tractor-trailers turned over and, of course, a restaurant that was knocked down by the wind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. This is violent.

YOUNG (voice-over): It was the tornado outbreak...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, there goes cars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw headlights go flying.

YOUNG: ... that residents in the heartland feared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's over, he's over. Go, go.

YOUNG: Tornado watches stretching across the Midwest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh. That's going right through.

YOUNG: Coming to fruition. Over a dozen tornadoes touching down across Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, according to the National Weather Service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, we can't stop.

YOUNG: Illinois, the hardest-hit. One tornado pummeling the northern city of Rochelle, leaving a path of destruction more than 25 miles long.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We quickly went down to the basement. And could feel the tornado right over our house.

YOUNG: Rochelle's hospital in disaster mode throughout the night. Emergency crews quickly clearing debris, rescuing a dozen people

trapped in the storm cellar of this local restaurant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The back wall fell right on top of it when the tornado hit. And we were trapped. And we were about an hour, hour and a half in there at least.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in shock. I've got no job and no car, so it's -- it's scary. So -- but I'm glad I'm alive.

YOUNG: Just north in the cities of Fairdale and Kirkland, Illinois, the local fire department says a tornado pretty much wiped out the town.

And in Iowa, the storms breaking out so quickly -- that this camera crew planning on covering a baseball game...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED), dude, it's spinning.

YOUNG: ... instead captured this footage of a possible tornado.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God, a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) tornado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: It took us most of the night to go around this area, because the police had blocked off so much of it. So a lot of flashing lights. What they're worried about is those downed power lines, to make sure no one else got hurt. We stopped at a gas station. People had their own stories. Seeing the storm and hearing it, something they say they will never forget.

CAMEROTA: Ryan, so incredible to see always the video of the storm chasers driving towards the tornado. Most of the tornadoes were concentrated in northern Illinois. But now the system is headed east.

Meteorologist Jennifer Gray tracking the powerful storm system for us. Jennifer, what are you seeing?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Alisyn, it's clear that people had a safe spot. They were prepared, because the video is bone- chilling. We're lucky that the news wasn't worse.

Here are those tornadoes that touched down, 14 in all. The storms are on the move now. They're moving to the east. Out of the Midwest. And we will continue to track them for today.

A lot of cloud-to-ground lightning. As we speak this morning, we also have a severe thunderstorm watch until 10 a.m. Eastern Time. That includes Charleston, West Virginia. And then as these storms continue to push east, that front behind it, the ingredients are in place again today for another possible severe weather day.

We have very warm temperatures ahead of that front. Temperatures are in the 70s and 80s along the East Coast and the south. And that will be the area to watch today. We are going to see possible severe weather anywhere from New Orleans through Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, even including the D.C. area; could see very gusty winds, large hail, even the possibility of an isolated tornado -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Jennifer, we know it's moving, so we'll check back with you in a little bit. Let's get the situation on the ground right now.

Joining us by phone is Ogle County sheriff, Brian Van Vickle. He is a protector and a victim in this situation. Do we have you, Sheriff?

OK. Sheriff, can you hear us?

BRIAN VAN VICKLE, OGLE COUNTY SHERIFF: Good morning.

CUOMO: Good. Good to have you.

VAN VICKLE: I can.

CUOMO: Can you tell us what is it like in your community right now? What are you dealing with?

VAN VICKLE: Well, right now we just have widespread destruction through a fairly significant area of the county that we're trying to just secure until daylight comes up.

CUOMO: OK. And in terms of numbers, what can you tell us? How many homes are you dealing with? What do people need right now? What are the urgencies?

VAN VICKLE: Well, right now we've got an estimate of probably between 20 and 30 homes that are either completely destroyed or uninhabitable. So that's a significant concern right now, is just taking care of the displaced people.

The nice part is we live in the Midwest, and everybody takes care of their own. So we have not had any requests for shelter. I think everybody's went to a friend or family's house at this point.

CUOMO: We see it proved time and again. Are other storms on the way? What do you know?

VAN VICKLE: We're not calling for any significant severe weather for today. We have some pretty windy conditions that the National Weather Service has been advising us on. The potential of 50-mile- per-hour wind gusts, so that's going to make some power line repairs pretty difficult today for us.

[06:05:06] Mr. CUOMO: Now you say a heads up made all the difference. Tell me why.

VAN VICKLE: Yes. I definitely think that that's what saved a number of lives. We had -- it looks like we had about 27 minutes between the time that we set the sirens off, and when the first funnel cloud was sighted. So we had -- we had a really nice lead time on the siren notification.

CUOMO: You know, I've spent too much time in communities who were so seasoned with tornadoes and even then, it is so difficult, so frightening, so random. You say one of the hardest parts here was this has never happened in your community before. And you know you're a lifer, right?

VAN VICKLE: Yes, I've been here all my life. Fifth generation of the county. My folks, you know, don't recall anything like this. So it's been a long time since we've had an event like this in Ogle County.

CUOMO: You said five generations. Now, you are numb from the job that you're doing. And also you're not just a protector; you're a victim. You're standing in front of your own home right now.

How are you balancing doing your job with what you're going through with your own family? And please tell us everybody's OK.

VAN VICKLE: Yes, everybody's good. You know, the nice part and the scary part is, is I have my sister-in-law and brother-in-law live across the street from us, and their house is completely gone, as well. And my wife's first cousin is building a new house next door, and everybody is safe. And everybody is, everybody is going to build a new house and work hard, and then we'll get back to normal.

So that's all that's important. Things can be replaced and the family is all safe. Everybody in the neighborhood is safe, and all our neighbors are safe. So...

CUOMO: You said your family wasn't there at the time. So they weren't your concern. How much of your stuff is gone? What will you be able to reclaim, you think?

VAN VICKLE: It pretty much looks like everything is gone. There's not much left of the house.

CUOMO: The dog -- the dog was in the basement, you say...

VAN VICKLE: yes.

CUOMO: ... and she's OK. Tell us about that.

VAN VICKLE: Yes, actually, the first report I got was she was in the basement. But my mother-in-law called me a little bit ago and said she was actually out in the yard on one of the beds, so we don't know if she rode the bed out into the yard or if that's where she went because she felt safe.

CUOMO: One of the only times you don't yell at the dog for being on the bed is when it's after she survived a tornado.

So you seem to have very good perspective on all of this. What is giving you that perspective?

VAN VICKLE: You know, the family is safe. That's all that matters. By God's grace, nobody was home, and everybody is taken care of.

CUOMO: When you look at everything that happened in that house, what goes through your mind when you're looking at it? Because we're looking at pictures of your own house right now. And it's -- it's got to be tough.

VAN VICKLE: It's definitely tough, but you know what? It can all be replaced. The family is safe, and again, that's all that matters to me.

CUOMO: Well, and I guess that's all that should matter. But I'll tell you, it's easy to say. It's difficult to deal with. And that's what you're doing right now.

Let us know if we can help in that community. We're happy to get the word out. Thank God your family is OK and the dog, as well. Let us know if anything changes on the ground that needs to be addressed. And thanks for talking with us this morning.

VAN VICKLE: I appreciate it.

CUOMO: Hope you get on your feet real quick. Make sure you send us pictures when you get the house back up so we can show how a community recovered.

VAN VICKLE: The hard work begins today.

CUOMO: Appreciate it, Sheriff, best of luck to you there.

VAN VICKLE: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right. Mick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We want to turn now to South Carolina. Police are releasing the dash cam video that captures the very traffic stop leading up to that deadly shooting of Walter Scott. This new video is raising more questions than answers.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins us live from North Charleston, South Carolina, with the latest. Good morning to you, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

You know, the attorneys that represent Walter Scott's family say this new dash cam video does nothing to change the case against police officer, former police officer Michael Slager. But it does tell us how this horrible day began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Dash cam video now released, capturing the moment Police Officer Michael Slager pulls over Walter Scott last Saturday morning. Slager's patrol car follows Scott as he pulls into the parking lot of an auto parts store. Moments later, Slager approaches the car and asks Scott for his driver's license.

MICHAEL SLAGER, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: The reason I stopped you is your third brake light is out.

SAVIDGE: In less than a minute, the talk turns to paperwork. Questions over Scott's purchase of the car.

SLAGER: Just a minute ago, you told me that you bought it, and you're changing everything over on Monday.

WALTER SCOTT, SHOT BY POLICE: I'm sorry about that.

SAVIDGE: Slager returns to his patrol car. Moments later Scott starts to get out of this vehicle.

SLAGER: Got to stay in the car.

SAVIDGE: And in fewer than 30 seconds, Scott gets out of his car again and runs. The possible reason the 50-year-old tried to flee? A bench warrant was out for his arrest since January 2013 after failing to pay over $18,000 in back child support for two children.

[06:10:10] What happens next is out of view of the camera but partially picked up on the officer's microphone. He sounds like he's running. And can be heard yelling.

SLAGER: Taser! Taser! Taser!

SAVIDGE: One eyewitness says a tussle ensues.

GWEN NICHOLS, EYEWITNESS: It wasn't on the ground rolling. It was like a tussle type of thing, like you know, "What do you want?" or "What did I do?" type of thing.

SAVIDGE: The man who took this disturbing cell-phone video says they were on the ground before he started recording.

FEIDIN SANTANA, EYEWITNESS WHO VIDEOTAPED SHOOTING: I went to the scene. And Mr. Scott was already on the ground. The cop was on top of him. He was -- just Tasing him, Tasing Mr. Scott.

SAVIDGE: Slager joined the police department five years ago. In 2013, police records show he was exonerated following a complaint of improper use of force with a Taser involving this man: Mario Givens. He says that Slager burst through his front door in a case of mistaken identity, meaning to arrest his brother for robbery.

MARIO GIVENS, FILED COMPLAINT AGAINST OFFICER SLAGER: He pulled out his Taser and told me, "If you don't come out, I'm going to Tase you." I put my hand up. I also moved out of the way, but he still shot me with the Taser.

SAVIDGE: Slager's mother, Karen Sharpe, told ABC she hasn't seen the video and can't imagine her son shooting and killing an unarmed black man while he ran away.

KAREN SHARPE, SLAGER'S MOTHER: I just have to let it be and hope God takes care of everybody involved. Not only my family, but Scott's family. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Want to go back to that dash cam video. And talk about something else it shows us, especially at the beginning. Looking as you follow Scott's car going into the parking lot there, if you look in the passenger side of his vehicle, there is somebody there. He's got a passenger with him. And the question is, who is that? The family says they don't know. They think it could be a friend from work. But beyond that, they have no idea.

Police apparently at one point did talk to that person. In fact, you can see in another video, that he's being actually patted down, and he was detained for a bit. But the authorities never identify him and never say what happened.

And here's what's key, is the fact that this person is in the car with Scott, and might give you some insight into as to what Scott is thinking, why he is fearful and why he appears obviously concerned -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: That part is puzzling. It would be nice to know who that person is.

Martin, thanks so much for that.

We do have some breaking news to tell you about right now, the Taliban taking credit for a deadly attack on a NATO convoy containing U.S. soldiers this morning. In eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked an Army checkpoint, killing four Afghan civilians, wounding several others, but no Americans were hurt. The attack happened near Jalalabad Airport and comes two days after American soldiers were killed by an Afghan soldier in the same region.

CUOMO: Breaking overnight, a guard at the Census Bureau in Maryland has died after being shot by a kidnapping suspect. This is what happened. Last night Lawrence Buckner saw two people arguing in a car and was gunned down as he walked over to investigate. The gunman then sped off, shooting at police, leading them on a chase into Washington, D.C., where cops cornered him and exchanged gunfire.

Both the suspect and another officer were injured. Both were sent to the hospital. Police say the suspect was trying to kidnap the woman in his car during a domestic dispute.

PEREIRA: Overnight, U.S. and Cuba holding the highest-level meetings between the two nations in more than five decades. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Cuba's foreign minister in Panama, both men promising to make progress and resolve those outstanding issues.

In the meantime, President Obama and Cuba leader Raul Castro are expected to meet tonight at the Summit of the Americas for the first time since both nations agreed to restore diplomatic ties. The president this week has signaled he'll soon remove Cuba from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism.

So many firsts in so many years. Five decades, incredible. CAMEROTA: It is a real -- John Kerry's frequent flyer account is

really racking up.

PEREIRA: He's passed the million miles.

CAMEROTA: I think he has at this point.

CUOMO: Cuba is one of the trickiest situations for the United States. Not because of the threat that they pose, at least not any more, even perceptually. But that every time you approach them, there's a segment of the American population that hates you for it and for good reason.

When he shook Raul's hand, President Obama, at Mandela's funeral, we were there covering it. It, like, stole the entire event. Obviously, we still cared more about Mandela. But just the handshake was everything. So we'll have to see. What's said, why they're there.

PEREIRA: I'm going to argue we have to change something. It didn't work for the past 50 years. So let's try a new approach.

CUOMO: Except that approach is so stark. Some people say get them out. That's all your policy should be with Cuba: get them out. And then there's another side, as well.

CAMEROTA: Tough to navigate all that. We'll keep an eye on it.

We're also keeping a very close eye on the threat of the tornadoes. Are more twisters on the way to your area?

[06:14:54] CUOMO: And also, when you think about what happened in North Charleston, South Carolina, it's all about, boy, if we only knew what happened before the horrible end. Well, now we do have clues as to what started this, what motivated the officer, what motivated the victim. We'll take you through it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:18] CAMEROTA: New dash cam video released by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is raising more questions.

Let's dissect it all with our guests. David Mack is a Democratic South Carolina state representative. He is also host of "The David Mack Radio Show." And Tom Fuentes is a CNN law enforcement analyst and a former FBI assistant director. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here to help us try to walk through this new dash cam video, because it does raise questions.

Tom, I want to start with you. Basically, it starts with Mr. Scott being pulled over by a police officer for a broken taillight. And in fact, he does have a broken taillight, as we now see in the video.

And the police officer walks up to the side of the car. I mean, I think we can all relate to this next moment. License and registration. How many of us have been there?

And at that point, the driver says, "I do have my license, but I don't have the registration or the insurance card for the car, because I'm in the process of buying it." And there's some confusion during this conversation about whether Mr. Scott has already bought the car or whether he hasn't bought the car.

But I mean, what's remarkable, Tom, when I watch this is how unremarkable this whole exchange is. And the police officer doesn't seem to be particularly agitated or aggressive. What do you see as a law enforcement officer when you watch this?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's exactly what I see, Alisyn. And I think what's important here is, don't forget there's two investigations ongoing. One is the murder investigation. And it's pretty clear after this fact, the encounter further down in the park, that you know, we can see at this time no justification for the use of deadly force. That's pretty much universally agreed at this point, given what we now know.

But at the beginning of this thing, because of the civil rights investigation, is he showing some type of attitude, because he's dealing with a black motorist? Is he -- does he call him names? Does he show disrespect? Is he condescending? Is he aggressive? You see none of that. You see a textbook professional demeanor traffic stop up to that point.

CAMEROTA: You know what's so interesting. I have a friend, friends, who are police officers, and what they always remind us is there's no such thing as a routine traffic stop in their head. To passengers, you think something is a routine traffic stop. But to police officers, they're always thinking.

And one of the things, it seems like, he starts thinking is "Why doesn't the gentleman have his insurance card or his registration?"

Mr. Mack, I want to bring you in, because you've worked with police officers in terms of training. The next thing that happens is the door opens. Mr. Scott, in the car, for some reason opens the door and gets out of the car. You hear the police officer yell, "Get back in the car."

At some point after that, this situation escalates. What do you think happened here, Mr. Mack?

DAVID MACK (D), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE/RADIO SHOW HOST: Well, I think one of the things you have to look at is two wrongs don't make a right. There -- no one can justify Mr. Scott getting out of the car and running.

After that happens, the part that really traumatizes this whole community and this whole country is the way he was shot and killed. So I think that, regardless of what happens in that first video -- and again, we acknowledge that, of course, he should not have run. But that does not warrant him being shot and killed the way he was.

CAMEROTA: Yes, agreed.

Tom, when Mr. Scott opens the door and runs out of the car, at that point, you know, the officer already had his license. Did the officer have to chase him?

FUENTES: Yes. The officer has to chase him, because you don't know what he might have just done. You don't know if he's just committed a crime, an armed robbery somewhere, a murder somewhere. Child pedophilia somewhere. Is there a body in the trunk? Did he steal the car? We don't have -- that's a Mercedes, after all. He didn't have any of the paperwork. He had what seems like a pretty weak explanation about the car. But even then, the officer doesn't challenge him.

Because he hands the officer a piece of paper. Is it really his license? The officer needs to know, are there warrants out for that person? Is the license valid? All of that has to go on.

And when a person takes off like that, in that situation, which they're not supposed to do, he's really, you know, under the control of the police officer, of explaining the traffic stop, explaining the car. He's not supposed to get out and run. That immediately is going to trigger a foot chase by the officer.

And I agree, it doesn't justify the shooting later on. But it does justify the officer chasing Scott down the street to find out what's the story at this point.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Mack, there's a pivotal piece of this entire encounter that we're missing. And that is, the eyewitnesses say there was a struggle. The two men fell to the ground. They were tussling. There is -- we know that somehow the Taser was involved, because you hear the audio of the officer saying, "Taser, Taser, Taser!" But we don't know what happened.

Is there anything in your perspective, from working with police officers, and being involved in training, that might have happened that could have made the police officer fear for his life and then that next deadly encounter be justified?

MACK: Well, I think the thing we have to look at, what has made North Charleston international news? Why -- why is CNN, all the other major news entities here in North Charleston. And that is, because we witnessed, on video, Mr. Scott being shot five times in the back.

Then the question that's being raised by a lot of folks, and rightfully so -- what would have happened if this video had not been taken? So emotions are raw. We're very wounded here in the city. And we have a lot of repair we have to do. Not only in North Charleston, but in this country. I pray -- I'm really concerned about how divided we are at this point.

[06:25:02] CAMEROTA: I mean, it's so interesting, even with the video, that you would think is so helpful to answer the questions, it just sort of raises more questions. And I think you both have hit on it really well. David Mack, Tom Fuentes, thanks so much for your perspective.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn. Back to our top story: huge tornadoes barreling down on parts of Illinois and eastern Iowa. Winds so violent they topple a tractor-trailer, rip off roofs. When will this round of twisters end?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:29:31] CUOMO: We are following breaking news: more than a dozen twisters touching down across the Midwest, mostly in Illinois. One person dead so far. After storms carved a path of destruction 25 miles long. Lots of reports of people who still may be trapped. And obviously, there are people who have their lives and little else.

Let's get to CNN's Ryan Young in Rochelle, Illinois.

Ryan, what is the latest on the ground?

YOUNG: Well, good morning, Chris. You can hear the powerful wind that's still whipping through this area. But if you look behind me, you can see some of the destruction left behind here. That semi- trailer just knocked over by the powerful winds here.

And this has been the focus for a lot of people. That building right there used to be a restaurant, and actually people were inside...