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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Myanmar Violence; Senate Showdown; Nightmare Scenario; Police Brutality; Crossing the Line?; Yellowstone Park Wolves
Aired September 27, 2007 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Freedom being crushed in Burma, the country formerly known as Myanmar -- or currently known as Myanmar. Thousands of brave people right now standing up for their rights, and they are getting gunned down by military thugs. You may not know where this is. You may not think it matters. But it does. And we're going to take you there tonight.
Also breaking tonight, a Senate vote affecting millions of families who work hard, play by the rules, and are just trying to afford health care for their kids. The president promises to veto it. A lot of politicians making a lot of claims tonight. We're "Keeping them Honest."
And a wakeup call on our borders -- dramatic evidence the bad guys can just waltz across the border with suspicious bags. Well, they would be suspicious if border guards were anywhere to be found. And they're not. We will tell you why. And we will look at that and the growing threat from cyber-hackers around the world.
Plus, new developments in that mystery at sea off the Florida coast. The search is called off, but four crew members are still missing, and the survivors are telling a wild tale of piracy and murder on the high seas -- all that in the hour ahead.
But we begin right now with breaking news and bloodshed in one of the most repressive countries on Earth. Thousands of people have been standing up for democracy for days now. They have marched. They have sat in the streets, protesting peacefully.
This is what it's looked like, young and old, led by Buddhist monks revered in that country. They have done what for decades few in Burma have dared to do. They have raised their voices and their fists and they have asked for freedom.
The government controls the media in Burma. This video from a cell phone camera was smuggled out.
That's what the protests have looked like. Moments after these pictures were taken, government troops opened fire.
Take a look. Here is the aftermath. Just look at this, blood smeared on the sidewalks, bloody sandals left behind. The truth is, we don't know how many people are dead tonight. We know at least nine people have been murdered.
In this picture, the man lying on the street on the right-hand side of the screen, you can -- it's very hard to see -- he's covered by some people -- is a Japanese journalist shot by government troops. He was still taking pictures. There he is on the right side of the screen, still taking pictures as he lay wounded in the streets. He died a short time later.
Today, the White House condemned the violence, called for democracy, and moved to freeze the assets of Burma's military government. The U.N., meantime, dispatched an envoy to the region and neighboring countries called for the release of the Nobel laureate dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
With us now from our listening post in Bangkok, Thailand, Dan Rivers.
Dan, try to explain -- this is remarkable, what is happening inside Burma right now. The last time there were demonstrations there were 1988.
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. On this scale, that was the last major uprising of the people who are trying to throw off this military dictatorship, a dictatorship that has been in place for 45 years.
An entire generation knows nothing other than generals, soldiers and oppression in charge of this Southeast Asian country. Now they're on the streets, led by Buddhist monks, a moral symbol in Myanmar. But the army, the soldiers, the police are cracking down in the most brutal, horrendous way, shooting into unarmed crowds.
We know from state broadcasts that at least nine people have been killed. But, judging by some of the stories that we're getting out through the Internet and through phone calls here in Thailand, it seems that the death toll may well already be higher.
There are stories of monasteries having been raided overnight, with hundreds of monks having been rounded up. There are stories of blood stains on the floors of those monasteries and people having disappeared. So, it is a very grim situation, indeed, on the third day now of this crackdown.
It will be interesting to see whether the crowds return in Yangon today.
COOPER: We're looking at pictures of a monastery that has been sacked. I have read reports of government troops bursting through the gates of monasteries with trucks, taking out clubs, and just beating anybody inside these monasteries, monks, women, children, and basically putting them in trucks and taking them away.
Do we know where they're being taken?
RIVERS: We don't.
And that's perhaps the most worrying aspects of all this, is that the monks have been absent from the demonstrations today. People are speculating that perhaps that's because a lot of them have been rounded up or they have been kept in their monasteries. But the ones that have been taken away from the monasteries, we simply don't know where they have been taken or what has happened to them. And people are beginning to fear the worst.
In 1988, 3,000 students, it's thought, were killed by government troops as they tried to rise up.
And everyone is fearing that there will be a repeat of that kind of scale of bloodshed this time around.
COOPER: Dan, appreciate it, from the reporting in Bangkok.
It is very difficult to find out exactly what is happening inside Burma. Journalists are not allowed in right now. There are few people in there who are brave enough to make calls outside to try to tell the world what is happening right there. We're about to speak to one of them. We spoke to him a few moments ago. We spoke by phone.
He's a European diplomat in the capital. We have agreed not to reveal his name, frankly, to protect his own safety. Listen to what he says he has seen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: There are reports of monasteries being attacked, of monks being beaten in the streets, taken away by the hundreds, military firing randomly into peaceful crowds, that the government has practically shut down the flow of information coming out of the country.
What have you seen? What do you know that is -- is actually happening inside right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a clear -- a clear escalation of violence. I think there's no doubt about that.
Yesterday, both riot police, as well as military forces were used. And they were clearly determined to wipe out the protests. And protesters, by the hundreds or even thousands, were sort of followed through the city in sort of a sweeping, sweeping action by the security forces and the military.
So, there is no question that yesterday was an escalation of violence compared to the day before. And, of course, yesterday, we did not see any monks taking part in the demonstrations.
COOPER: Every one of these people that we see in the streets, they're risking their lives to do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
Quite -- it's quite -- it's quite sure that they -- they do that, either directly by participating and risking themselves on the street, or by further action later on by security forces, because people here are controlled. Their lives are controlled. So, even if they're not harmed on the street, who knows what could happen tomorrow or next week.
COOPER: We saw a remarkable picture where we got a glimpse of Aung San Suu Kyi (ph), a woman who has not been seen in many years, who has been literally locked in her home, which is crumbling around her. Is there any new information about the status of her? Is she still in her house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no new information about her, no.
COOPER: It was remarkable, though, that the demonstrators were able in the last several days to actually get to her house, though. That's an area completely, usually, cut off, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct. And it was a one-time thing that happened on the weekend. But she has been completely cut off from the demonstrations. And the demonstrators have not been able to see her again. And we are not able to confirm where she is, actually.
COOPER: Is there any chance the government will back down? Is there any chance -- will international pressure have any effect?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The possibility for change, while we are quite pessimistic as to -- to the demonstrations today, from what we saw yesterday, the -- the regime seems determined to clamp down. But, without international pressure here, it's certain to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COOPER: I appreciate you taking the time and risking doing this interview. Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. Bye-bye.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We will continue to follow the situation.
Now to Capitol Hill and other breaking news. Just a short time ago, the Senate voted 67 to 29 to expand a popular program that provides health insurance to low-income kids. As many as four million uninsured children could benefit from this bill, which now goes to President Bush, who's promised to veto it.
The program we're talking about was created by Republicans 10 years ago. And get this. In the past, President Bush himself has supported expanding it. So, why the about-face now?
We're "Keeping them Honest."
CNN's Jessica Yellin joins me now from the Capitol -- Jessica.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this vote tonight was a slap in the face for President Bush. Eighteen Republicans broke with him to support this bill. But the White House has made it clear that won't keep Mr. Bush from vetoing it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROLYN TAYLOR CHESTER, MOTHER OF KEITH CHESTER: How was your day in school today?
KEITH CHESTER, 11 YEARS OLD: Fine.
YELLIN (voice-over): Eleven-year-old Keith Chester suffers from asthma and terrible allergies. To treat them, he visits a doctor four times a year. Keith's mother, Carolyn, earns $20,000 a year as a nursing assistant, too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not nearly enough to afford health care for her son.
(on camera): Is there some fat in your budget that you could trim, the things that...
(CROSSTALK)
TAYLOR CHESTER: There's no fat. We're barely making it.
YELLIN (voice-over): To pay for Keith's treatment, the Chesters count on federal money from the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. So do 6.5 million other low-income kids around the nation. With the vote tonight, the Senate joined with the House to increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion, so that another four million children would have health insurance.
But President Bush vows to veto the additional money. He calls it socialized medicine and says it just costs too much.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe this is a step toward federalization of health care.
YELLIN: "Keeping them Honest," we did a little rewind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 13, 2004)
BUSH: We need to expand the -- the government health insurance program for children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 20, 2004)
BUSH: To expand the children's health insurance programs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 2, 2004)
BUSH: In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: It seems the president was for expanding the program before he was against it. What happened?
For answers, we went to top Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. Usually a Bush booster, this time, he's joined a group of prominent Republicans who side with Democrats to increase this program.
(on camera): Why do you think the president is picking this fight now?
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: I think the president is doing this now. It's catch up time, because he didn't veto very many spending bills during the years that the Republicans controlled Congress. And -- and he's been criticized for that.
YELLIN (voice-over): In other words, with elections coming, the White House and the GOP feel pressure to show themselves as small government, fiscal conservatives.
Congressman Roy Blunt, a Bush ally, says, that's not true.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MO), HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: I think Democrats are paying politics with this issue. I think this issue is to get somebody like you to ask somebody like me, why are you opposed to insurance for kids?
YELLIN (on camera): It worked.
BLUNT: And it seems to me that it worked.
YELLIN (voice-over): He insists the extra billions would actually go not to low-income families, but to middle-class families.
BLUNT: We ought to have a program that really focuses on poor kids who don't have insurance. That's what I'm for.
YELLIN (on camera): The White House says this is actually helping middle-class kids and that it's government-run health care. Is that fair?
GRASSLEY: It's not fair at all.
YELLIN (voice-over): So, how does Congress propose to pay for it all?
BUSH: The legislation would raise taxes on working people.
YELLIN: Well, that's true, but where would that money come from? More tax on cigarettes, another 61 cents a pack.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So, what happens to the kids who are currently covered?
YELLIN: Well, Anderson, they will continue to get their coverage, at least for now. Congress passed a temporary extension of the program to fund it through mid-November. But there's just not even enough money in that program to cover all the kids who are currently enrolled in it, so they're going to have to work out this fight or some kids will lose their coverage.
COOPER: All right, Jessica Yellin, appreciate it, "Keeping them Honest."
Up next, homeland insecurity. Billions spent to secure the border. Now see how easy it is to cross. And we're not talking illegal immigrants. Check out that guy. The guy you're watching has a simulated dirty bomb in there, and he's walking across the border. We're "Keeping them Honest."
Tonight, we're keeping the commercial breaks short, so we're back in just 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: So, this is mind-boggling. Take a look at this video. It's a guy carrying a bag full of simulated radioactive material and detonators over the Canadian border into the United States.
Now, luckily, he works for the bipartisan Government Accountability Office. He's a government worker. Unfortunately, GAO inspectors succeeded three out of four times in doing this. And that's after the Department of Homeland Security spent $466 million this year alone to stop nuclear material from coming into America, $2.5 billion on the Border Patrol.
Senators are demanding answers about these videos. So are you.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is working the story. She's also following up on the other security story that she broke last night on how easy it is for hackers to destroy our own power plants.
Jeanne, let's start with the video from the border.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it gets even worse.
Not only did three of these inspectors come across undetected with this simulated contraband. A fourth crossed over. A citizen saw them, tipped off the Border Patrol, and the Border Patrol couldn't find them. But here's the situation.
The Border Patrol has about 1,000 agents to guard a 5,000-mile Canadian border 24/7, augmented with a little technology. There is not much argument that it needs more resources. But, right now, most of the money, most of the attention has been focused on the southern border, because so many more people are coming across there.
But, you know, if you have ever been to the northern border, it isn't any surprise that people could come across in some remote areas. And, obviously, if those people can cross, they can carry dangerous things. And that's exactly why we have been talking about border security and spending so much money since 9/11.
COOPER: You know, GAO reports are usually kind of dry. I have never actually seen them make a video before.
MESERVE: They do from time to time.
COOPER: Do they really?
MESERVE: It isn't the first time they have done that, yes.
COOPER: Well, it certainly works. It gets a lot of people's attention.
You have also been reporting on a cyber-attack on a power plant control system that was a test. But -- but could it happen in real life?
MESERVE: Well, Anderson, we talked to a professional hacker, somebody who is hired to test cyber-security. And listen to what he said about his success penetrating control systems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN JOHNSON, HACKER: Do we win every time? Yes, we win every time. We have never not been successful. When we're hired by a company to test their security, we're able to get in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Johnson says that hackers can get all kinds of useful information just from surfing the Internet and asking people questions in social chat rooms. He says total strangers will sometimes give you default passwords that you can use sometimes to hack in.
COOPER: I got a bunch of e-mails after your report aired last night, which alarmed a lot of people.
And we're not out to try to alarm people, but a lot of people -- a couple of people e-mailed, saying, you know, how dare you put this report telling terrorists what our vulnerabilities are.
Clearly, the Homeland Security Department knows what the vulnerabilities are. They -- they were spending only $12 million to secure control systems from cyber-attacks. Did you find out why they're only spending that much amount?
MESERVE: Well, there was a lot of pushback from the administration today. They insisted that we should look at the big picture. They say that it's projected that, in the next fiscal year, about $6 billion will be spent across the administration on cyber- security.
Here's something Dana Perino said at the White House briefing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, what I think you need to remember is that the issue of cyber-security crosses many different agencies, and they all work cooperatively together. In fact, DHS, Department of Homeland Security, is tasked with making sure that everyone is coordinated across the agencies.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MESERVE: But, as she mentioned, the money is being spread far and wide, from DOD, to NSA, to DHS and so forth. And experts wonder if it's being spent effectively, or as effectively, as it should be.
COOPER: Well, you had John McLaughlin on last night, former head of the CIA, who was saying that, for years, they were begging this administration to spend more money, to take cyber-attacks seriously, and they still never got a response on it.
MESERVE: That's right. Actually, it was James Woolsey, the former head of the CIA.
COOPER: I'm sorry. James Woolsey, yes.
MESERVE: Yes.
And -- and what they want is something very focused. They're saying, do an inventory. Look at all the cyber-vulnerabilities. Know what you're dealing with, and then mount a massive project to really develop new cyber-defenses. That's what they're looking for. We still don't have that.
COOPER: John McLaughlin will be interested that I made him head of the CIA right then.
MESERVE: He will probably love it.
COOPER: Yes.
Jeanne, thanks very much.
Up next, what happened aboard a yacht in the Straits of Florida that left four people missing, presumed dead, and two others in jail? The Coast Guard just spoke to the media. We will have the latest on this bizarre story.
And, again, tonight, we're keeping the breaks short, so we're back in just 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, that's the yacht that's -- it's called Joe Cool. It was chartered last Saturday for a short hop from Miami Beach to the island of Bimini.
Now, it was discovered on Sunday abandoned. The four crew members were missing. The two passengers who had hired the boat, they were found on a lifeboat 12 miles away. And they told a tale of piracy and murder on the high seas.
Well, tonight, the Coast Guard called off its search for the missing four. As for the passengers, they are now in custody.
Here's CNN's David Mattingly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before he and another man were found drifting in a life raft, caught up in an apparent multiple murder at sea, 35-year-old Kirby Archer was a wanted man on the run from a tumultuous life in Arkansas.
MICHELLE ARCHER, WIFE OF KIRBY ARCHER: The way things have happened, it's just -- it's not the Kirby I knew for the last 15 years.
MATTINGLY: Michelle Archer is the wife he left behind, disappearing without a word in January, after allegedly stealing more than $92,000 from the Wal-Mart where he worked.
ARCHER: He's a total different person. It's like he doesn't care. And the way everybody's talking about him isn't -- I mean, I'm just shocked, because that's -- you know, that's not the Kirby I know.
MATTINGLY: When he vanished, Archer was also under investigation in a case of child molestation. Archer denied the allegations, and no charges have been filed.
CAPTAIN JODY DOTSON, LAWRENCE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: When we talked to him, he was extremely cool and collected. And we tried shaking him up, but were unable to.
MATTINGLY: Michelle Rowe, Archer's previous wife, told CNN Wednesday that she had taken custody of their two young sons, and Archer vanished just days later.
MICHELLE ROWE, EX-WIFE OF KIRBY ARCHER: I do think of him as a violent man, and he's capable of anything.
MATTINGLY: And neither his ex, nor his current wife has any idea where he has been for the last eight months.
On Saturday, Archer and his 19-year-old companion, Guillermo Zarabozo, paid $4,000 cash for what was supposed to be an overnight trip to the Bahamas on board the fishing boat Joe Cool.
The vessel was found abandoned, drifting 160 miles off course near Cuba. The U.S. Army confirms to CNN that Archer, a former M.P., once served in Guantanamo Bay in 1995. He was discharged in 2004, before moving to Arkansas.
Authorities doubt Zarabozo's story that pirates murdered the crew of four, then let the two men go. The Coast Guard has called off the search, with no sign of captain Jake Branam, his wife, Kelley, nor the crew mates, Michael Gambill and Samuel Kairy.
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER CHRIS O'NEIL, U.S. COAST GUARD: We are confident in our search plan. We're confident in the abilities of our air crews and our boat crews, and we believe that, if -- if the crew of the Joe Cool was in that search area, whether they had been on the land, on an island somewhere, or if they had been in the water, we would have found them by now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Such a bizarre story.
David, what is next for the two guys in custody?
MATTINGLY: They're both going back in front of a judge tomorrow. This is going to just be a bond hearing.
And the government's going to be arguing that these two men should not be let out on bond. They believe that they are a very big flight risk, and they are going to be telling the judge, keep these guys behind bars while we continue this investigation.
COOPER: God, what happened on that boat? Such a mystery.
David, thanks.
Up next, a major new development in the case of Mychal Bell, one of the young black teenagers now known as the Jena Six. We will have that story.
And a new twist on an old crime. A mother using her child to help steal something. Check out the surveillance video of a pint- sized purse snatcher right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Erica Hill joins us right now with a 360 bulletin -- Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Mychal Bell, one of the so-called Jena Six, is out of jail tonight on bail. His release came just hours after the prosecutor in the case confirmed he will not seek a trial in adult court. Bell is one of a group of black teenagers accused of beating a white classmate in December. He will now face trial as a juvenile.
In Miami, a judge has ruled, the father of a 5-year-old girl at the center of an international custody battle did not abandon or neglect her. The judge said she wouldn't immediately return the girl to her father. He wants to take her back to Cuba. The foster parents that the girl has been living with for 18 months want to adopt her.
And NASA taking aim at the heart of the asteroid belt today, launching the spacecraft Dawn on a three-billion-mile trek that will have a meeting up with the biggest members of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Now, the goal here is to seek some clues on just how the solar system was formed. The mission is expected to take nearly a decade -- a long time there.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: A long time. I was thinking about that song "Delta Dawn." Who sang that?
HILL: I don't know. COOPER: Do you know the song?
HILL: Maybe if you sang it to me.
COOPER: Yeah, right. Like that is going to happen.
HILL: Come on. Hum a few bars.
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: Come on.
COOPER: No. That's not -- that's just not going to happen.
HILL: All right, fine. If you're not going to do that, I will just have to move on to the "What Were They Thinking?"
COOPER: Move on, yes. I think that's...
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: Here we go. Purse-snatching, not recommended, right? Especially if you're getting a toddler to do your dirty work.
Oh, yes.
COOPER: What?
HILL: All caught on tape. Check this out.
Surveillance video here from the Lucky Leo's Arcade down a -- down the shore, down the Jersey Shore.
COOPER: I don't believe this.
HILL: It's true. An adult enters. Look, she -- she came in with a little girl and kind of kicked her under. She crawled under there, under apparently a swinging door. The little girl crawled back out.
Watch this again. OK. So, there's the little girl. She crawls back out with a purse, and they leave. Arcade workers replayed the video after the one worker discovered her purse was gone.
Not clear from the video if the adult is a man or woman, but he or she is facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child and employing a minor in a criminal act.
There you go. Bring the kid, because she will fit under the table.
COOPER: Unbelievable.
HILL: Yes.
COOPER: Erica, thanks. HILL: Mm-hmm.
COOPER: All right, just ahead on the program tonight, a wave of police brutality allegations in the Windy City, thousands of complaints against Chicago cops. So, why are so few being punished? Wait until you see what we found. We're "Keeping them Honest" -- next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, the video is still painful to watch, an off-duty Chicago cop caught on tape back in March. The woman he's punching is a female bartender.
She has now filed a lawsuit. He's pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. The Chicago Police Department says, it's moving to fire him.
Meantime, just yesterday, another Chicago police officer was charged with plotting the murder-for-hire of a former fellow officer. And that's not the half of it.
We have been investigating just how big a problem bad cops are in Chicago. There's certainly plenty of good ones, but the bad ones certainly make it much more difficult to see.
What is being done about those bad police?
"Keeping them Honest" tonight, here's CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was supposed to be a good time at this popular Chicago nightclub. Robin Petrovic went out dancing with friends. She came home looking like this.
ROBIN PETROVIC, ALLEGES POLICE BEAT HER: I had two black eyes. One of my ears was, like, completely, like, black and blue. My face kind of was swollen. I was bruised under my chin. I had bruising on my arms and my legs, lacerations all over my back and my arms and bruising in my genital area.
KAYE: Petrovic says she was badly beaten.
PETROVIC: Both my eyes are black and blue.
KAYE: Even more disturbing than her injuries is who Petrovic says caused them: a Chicago police officer.
PETROVIC: He grabbed me and threw me against the car. He picked me up and threw me face down into the ground. And since my hands were handcuffed behind my back, I couldn't, you know, break my fall at all, so I just landed on my face. Then he began kicking me in the back of my head.
KAYE: Petrovic, a college English teacher, says until that night, she'd never had trouble with the law. It was 1:30 in the morning, July 2005, when she got into an altercation with the club's bouncer and called police for help. Instead, she says, Officer James Chevas attacked her after she refused to sign a blank incident report and attempted to get his badge number.
PETROVIC: And he just stood above me, and he raised his foot and stomped down on my head as hard as he could, like on my ear. It felt like my head was going to, like, explode.
KAYE: In the end, Petrovic was arrested and charged with aggravated battery. Chevas said she had attacked him for no reason. The charge was later dropped. Petrovic filed a complaint with the Office of Professional Standards.
(on camera): What were you told would be done?
PETROVIC: That they would investigate it.
KAYE: It seems the Office of Professional Standards keeps pretty busy. "Keeping them Honest", CNN has learned between 2002 and 2004, there were more than 10,000 complaints, many of them involving brutality and assault, filed against Chicago police officers.
(voice-over): Lawyer Craig Futterman made that stunning discovery while researching a client's claim. With Futterman's help, Diane Bond sued the city of Chicago and a handful of officers for allegedly beating and sexually abusing her.
DIANE BOND, ALLEGES POLICE BEAT HER: Took me in the bathroom, locked the door, had me unfasten my bra. Then he had me shake my bra. He had me pull my pants down, stick my hands in my panties and do like this while he looked on.
KAYE: The city settled for $150,000 but never admitted any wrongdoing. The officers denied ever meeting Bond. None of them were reprimanded. In fact, two have been promoted.
Futterman says only 18 of the 10,000 complaints filed during that three-year period resulted in meaningful disciplinary action, which brings us back to Robin Petrovic.
She has the pictures to prove it, but would the city do anything about the officer she says beat her so badly? And what does he say happened that night?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: When we come back, the outcome of Robin's case. No doubt it's going to surprise you. And "Keeping them Honest," Randi asked Chicago's mayor why he wants to keep the names of the officers accused of ten or more beatings a secret from the public. That's next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, before the break, we introduced you to Robin Petrovic, a college English teacher in Chicago who says she was beaten by a police officer there.
She's not the only one making such claims. We've been digging and have learned of more than 10,000 accusations against Chicago police officers in just a three-year period, many of them involving claims of brutality.
So what's being done about it? Once again digging deeper, here's CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE (voice-over): Robin Petrovic wasted no time filing a brutality complaint against Chicago Police Officer James Chevas, after she says he beat her bloody.
(on camera): Did you do anything to provoke this attack?
PETROVIC: No.
KAYE (voice-over): When it was over, she had two black eyes, cuts on her back, and bruising from head to toe. This college English teacher says the Office of Professional Standards, or OPS, which investigates complaints against officers, promised to look into it. Apparently, they did.
CNN obtained this statement by Officer Chevas. He told investigators Petrovic went after him in an unprovoked attack. Even though OPS had a record of her injuries, her complaint was tossed out.
She got this letter saying OPS had conducted a thorough investigation and determined her complaint was unfounded.
(on camera): The message to you was that the officers would not be disciplined?
PETROVIC: Yes.
KAYE (voice-over): Petrovic's lawyer, John Loevy.
(on camera): What is wrong with this system, overall?
JOHN LOEVY, ATTORNEY FOR ROBIN PETROVIC: The Chicago Police Department doesn't do a good job of policing itself. For the small -- minority of the police officers that are inclined to violence for whatever reason and abuses, there's no check. There's no deterrence because the city does not investigate and punish police abuses.
KAYE (on camera): Petrovic is suing Chevas and the city of Chicago. Her attorney tells CNN Chevas racked up nearly 50 brutality complaints in his 12 years with the Chicago P.D.
He'd never been disciplined, and the only reason he's no longer on the job is because he resigned after he was caught using credit cards stolen from an arrestee. He was sentenced to 30 months' probation.
We tried to ask Chevas about his run-in with Robin Petrovic, but he didn't return our calls.
(voice-over): Chicago Attorney Craig Futterman found more than 660 Chicago cops like Chevas have ten or more complaints against them.
CRAIG FUTTERMAN, ATTORNEY: There were officers within the last five years who amassed 50 or more complaints who had never even been flagged by the police department, much less disciplined at all.
KAYE: "Keeping them Honest", we asked Chicago police for an interview. They refused.
Chicago's new head of OPS wouldn't address past complaints, but says she'll be independent and thorough going forward. Still, the mayor won a temporary court order to keep the names of the worst alleged defenders secret.
(on camera): Why aren't the names of these officers being made public?
MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO: Because it's only investigation, it's appropriate. And you shouldn't name them publicly because they're out there doing their job. There's complaints, and there will be complaints.
KAYE (voice-over): Petrovic's lawyer argues until the public is aware of who the problem officers are, the abuse will continue.
LOEVY: In a properly functioning police department, there would be more of a system of discipline, more of a system of punishment. So that an officer knew that if they did something wrong, somebody's actually going to care.
KAYE: Before another night on the town ends badly.
PETROVIC: Their behavior is criminal. They are battering innocent people.
KAYE: And another Chicago cop gets blamed.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We'll keep following that story.
Just ahead, though, another officer from Chicago blamed for beating a man while off duty, blamed and convicted. Now he's fighting back, and his city is standing behind him. That story next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, this next story sparked outrage in Chicago. It's about a Chicago police officer who got into trouble while off duty, and he's now facing up to five years in jail. He says he was wronged, but the man he sent to the hospital has another story.
With both sides, here's CNN's David Mattingly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (voice-over): October 2005, off-duty Chicago police officer Mike Mette left the big city for a weekend of fun, celebrating his brother's birthday in Dubuque, Iowa.
It was all bar hopping and beer with the guys until after 3 in the morning, when they all made one last stop at this house, a stop Mette would soon regret.
(on camera): This was an argument over beer.
MIKE METTE, CONVICTED CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER: Basically, yes. He wanted us to stay and drink with him. And we didn't want to stay.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Accounts of how it started and who said what vary from that night, but what happened next was very clear. An argument with the intoxicated young man who lived in the house escalated, spilled into the street, and then...
METTE: It's when I punched him.
MATTINGLY (on camera): You punched him?
METTE: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Mette says one punch to the face, and 19-year-old Jacob Gothard fell to the sidewalk with a thud. Mette believes it was a clear case of self-defense.
(on camera): He was punching you more than once?
METTE: Yes. And it wasn't until after the -- after the third time was when he came back at me again, and that's when I struck Mr. Gothard.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): But authorities in Dubuque didn't see it that way. In fact, when paramedics took the unconscious Gothard to the hospital, Dubuque police took Mette to jail.
(on camera): Charged with assault causing serious injury, Mette was tried, convicted and sentenced. One punch, he claimed, and this Chicago cop found himself bound for an Iowa prison for up to five years.
Was justice done?
TIMOTHY GALLAGHER, DUBUQUE PROSECUTOR: We believe it was. Clearly.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Dubuque Prosecutor Timothy Gallagher says Gothard had a broken nose, a fractured jaw, bleeding on the brain, and bruises from his head to his buttocks. Dubuque doctors testified the injuries were consistent with someone who had been stomped and kicked. GALLAGHER: It's apparent that the injuries that were delivered to Mr. Gothard, the victim in this case, could not have been rendered with one single punch.
MATTINGLY: But another doctor testifying for Mette's defense rejected the Dubuque findings. He said all those injuries, they could have come from Mette's single punch, and the impact from falling on the sidewalk.
(on camera): Does that look like somebody who was hit one time?
METTE: Yes. Actually, it's all -- I mean, it's all right here. It's one punch.
MATTINGLY: Any idea where those bruises came from?
METTE: On the back? Sure, when he fell.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): The victim, Jacob Gothard of Dubuque, testified he remembered shoving someone that night, but not Officer Mette. And only because he felt threatened.
And in the end, the judge rejected Mette's claims of self- defense, because he didn't walk away.
METTE: It's the only mistake I made that night was going to that house.
MATTINGLY (on camera): Punching him was not a mistake?
METTE: No, because he was attacking me. There was no mistake made in that.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Gothard declined comment and reportedly is preparing a lawsuit against Mette. The case sparked outrage in the Chicago media. One columnist called it the Iowa criminal case that "smells of a thousand hogs."
Born and raised in the city, Mette joined the Chicago P.D., following in his father's footsteps.
METTE: I loved what I was doing.
MATTINGLY (on camera): Are you afraid that might be over?
METTE: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Mette is now off the job without pay while he appeals his conviction. His freedom and his future in jeopardy, from a big- city cop's night out in a small Iowa town.
David Mattingly, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Five years for one punch. Let us know what you think. We'd like to hear.
Up next, a clash of the Democratic titans in New Hampshire, and the battle didn't end when the debate was over.
Tom Foreman hit the campaign trail with "Raw Politics," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS DODD (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I walked in here this evening, and a fellow walked up to me, and he said, "Anderson Cooper, what's happened to you?" here, with this white hair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Wow, I didn't know that. That was kind of funny. A lighter moment from last night's presidential debate.
Of course, the Democrats also tackled tough issues including Iraq. The leading White House hopefuls conceded they cannot guarantee to pull all U.S. combat troops by the end of the next presidential term in 2013.
Tom Foreman picks up where the debate left off in tonight's "Raw Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Greetings from New Hampshire, where the Democratic debate is done and frontrunner Hillary Clinton is making it clear how much she fears her opposition.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (LAUGHING)
FOREMAN (on camera): Each of the big Dems is now spinning his or her version of the blow-by-blow. The "Raw Politics" caravan is already rolling on.
(voice-over): And we've got John Edwards on board. He's kicking off his Economic Fairness tour to highlight improvements he wants in the standard of living, education and opportunities for working folks, especially in rural areas.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every day of my life has been driven by the same thing, which is to give the same opportunities that I've had, having come from nothing to having everything to every single American.
FOREMAN: John McCain's "No Surrender" tour is paying off. Now rising in the polls, he's dissing the frontrunners as weak on security, and he's finally rolling out his first TV commercials, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Americans lost trust in their government. They're looking for leadership, a leader with the judgment and experience to keep us safe. FOREMAN: Big endorsements in the golden state. Actor and activist Rob Reiner, who directed "The American President," would like to see the Hill star in a real-life sequel.
Former California Governor Pete Wilson likes Rudy Giuliani, and that's good news for Rudy, who is facing some questionable headlines after his campaign parted ways with its top money person just days before a big fundraising deadline.
(on camera): And that's it for "Raw Politics" in beautiful New Hampshire. We'll be back here. But for now, the Election Express under the harvest moon headed back to D.C. -- Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Tom Foreman, thanks very much.
By the way, we've gotten a ton of e-mails. I mentioned the song "Delta Dawn" earlier. Tanya Tucker, I know. She sang it. Thank you.
Up next, we take you up close to the predator once wiped out of Yellowstone National Park, now making a strong comeback. Part of our "Planet in Peril" series.
And a new hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. We are tracking Lorenzo after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Remarkable -- gray wolves at Yellowstone National Park, just one of the stops in a project that's literally taken us around the world.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin, a team of CNN producers and I have been working for months on a four-hour documentary we're calling "Planet in Peril." It looks at four major threats to the planet and how they're all connected.
One of the topics is species loss. And some studies say that the rate of extinction is now 1,000 times the natural rate. It's hard to measure, so we went to Yellowstone to look at it in reverse through species reintroduction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Yellowstone National Park. Crown jewel of America's park system. Its beauty is otherworldly. A fully intact ecosystem. Scientists say this is the natural world as it should be. But it hasn't always been this way.
(on camera): Sometimes it's hard to see the impact the loss of one species can have on an entire ecosystem. In order to demonstrate it, you sometimes have to look at the reverse, what happens when one species is reintroduced to an ecosystem.
We've come here to Yellowstone Park, because in 1995 gray wolves were brought back to this park. A total of 41 wolves were brought back here over two years. And since then their numbers have increased steadily, and they've had a major impact on this entire area.
(voice-over): To get a sense of that impact, we wanted to see the animal for ourselves.
COOPER (voice-over): It's late afternoon in the park, and the light is fading fast. It's not easy to find the wolves. They're elusive and very sensitive to the presence of humans. There's a lot of running, ducking and hiding.
(on camera): There's a bison which died several hundred yards from here along a little river. And at night, the wolves are going to come and feed on it. They were out here last night.
There's a good chance they'll be back tonight. So we're trying to get as close as possible. We don't want to scare the wolves off by getting too close.
DOUG SMITH, WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST: There's a wolf right there.
OOPER: He's standing on a rock?
SMITH: Yes.
COOPER: I see him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: "Planet in Peril," you can catch it October -- what is it -- 23rd and 24th starting at 9 p.m. It's going to be good.
Up next, a former college basketball star giving back to his community with a little help from viewers like you. He's tonight's CNN hero, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight's CNN hero is a former college basketball star who has returned home to the difficult streets of Brownsville, New York, to help kids learn to read and to show them they have a future. His name is Thabiti Boone. And because of hundreds of viewers like you, he's received nearly $20,000 to help his program.
Here's his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHELLE DEJESUS, FOURTH GRADER: Dear Mr. Boone, my name is Michelle Dejesus and I'm in the fourth grade. This neighborhood that I live in is not a good scene to me. I see a lot of crime and dangerous things in this neighborhood.
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
Nearly 70 percent of children in Brownsville cannot read at their grade level.
And over one-third of residents live at or below the poverty level.
(END GRAPHIC)
THABITI BOONE, CNN HERO: I'm from East New York, Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York.
Like many young people that come from this community, you have no chance. There is no hope, no joy to go to school.
My name is Thabiti Boone and I chose a different path. My father didn't want to be a father. My mom was too young at that time to take me out of the hospital, so I was stuck in the middle with no direction.
My life could have been, I'm angry, I want to fight the world, I have an attitude, but something said, you know what? I'm going to make a difference. I'm going to make it out of here. And I'm going to be one of the ones to come back.
DEJESUS: Mr. Boone, you make learning fun for us. And by you coming back, it shows my classmates and me that you care about us and our education.
BOONE: Our young people are in such a crisis of lack of love, lack of interest, lack of hope, lack of heroes. The Read to Succeed program is a unique program that connects sports, entertainment, and hip-hop to self-development and success through the importance of reading. Bam. That's it.
So students have to read on a continuous basis. They have to learn how to do oral presentations, stand in front of the classroom, develop confidence.
DEJESUS: This program taught me and my classmates that we can be anything in life if we just work hard.
BOONE: You may want to dream to be an athlete or entertainer, but at the end of the day, there may not be what you're supposed to be. But let's have a program that teach you how to self-discover many gifts and talents.
DEJESUS: Thank you so much. You are like a father to us. We love you so much. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Michelle Dejesus.
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
In just one year, Thabiti's program helped raise reading scores in three Brooklyn schools.
(END GRAPHIC)
BOONE: There's a piece of who you are that's connected to where you came from. So if you go and don't come back, you're walking around half dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You can go to CNN.com/Heroes to check out what else Thabiti Boone's students have to say about him. While you're there, you can also nominate a hero you know, but you got to hurry. You've only got until this Sunday to get the nominations in.
Up next, the FDA under fire -- 65 million prescriptions every year for unapproved drugs. Some could be in your medicine cabinet. It's what's "On the Radar," when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: "On the Radar," Gary Tuchman's report last night on the 65 million prescriptions each year for unapproved drugs.
We've gotten more comments on the 360 blog.
Dee in Spokane, Washington, writes: People shouldn't have to feel powerless when it comes to their own health and welfare. The FDA is another federal agency that's dropping the ball.
and Pamina in New Rochelle, New York, says: It's makes you wonder what other drugs out there are not really tested well and yet are allowed to be sold to people. Sometimes your medicine can make you more ill.
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