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Assault Rifles Spied Openly at Phoenix Rally; Keeping an Eye on Storms A, B, and C of the Season; Japan Pulls Out of Recession; No Public Health Option?; Tiger Woods Loses PGA in Final Round; Man Assaulted by Police Caught on Videotape; Tasers Increasingly Seen as Alternative to Firearms
Aired August 17, 2009 - 14:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Claudette comes ashore and now, the flooding.
CHAD MEYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There's the rainfall from Claudette right now. Almost raining all the way into Atlanta.
SANCHEZ: We're on it.
Look what they're doing in California to avoid a disaster.
Is the president's health care reform a political disaster for him?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These struggles have always boiled down to a contest between hope and fear. That's what happened when FDR tried to pass Social Security. They said that was socialist.
SANCHEZ: But wait. The president can point to an economic success story. We'll tell you what it is.
The Brad Pitt of Bollywood treated like a terrorist. Or is he looking for publicity? Your national conversation, the first social media newscast for Monday, August 17th, 2009, begins right now.
Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. As we always tell you, it is not a speech, it is a conversation, and we want you to get involved. Here's something that's gotten our attention. I want to see if it gets as much of your attention.
Let's start with that picture. Remember when President Obama had a town hall meeting, and somebody showed up with a gun in a holster that he was later interviewed and actually said that the gun was loaded? Told that to an interviewer.
All right. Moments ago, we got this picture in. Let's flip the shot. This was just about an hour ago. That picture's coming in right now from Phoenix, Arizona. He's actually carrying an assault rifle. He's at an Obama event. That's an AR-15 on his back.
And we're being told from our crews there on the ground that he may not have been the only person in the crowd today that was carrying a loaded weapon.
We should let you know, by the way -- it's important -- that this is perfectly legal in the state of Arizona, because they have an open carry law.
Our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, is in Phoenix. He's been at these rallies. He's been following this one for us today, and he is joining us now to bring us up to date on what's going on.
Ed, you know, I'm curious, as I look at this story, as to whether you saw other people in the audience that may have also been carrying guns the way this fellow was.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I did. I saw at least a couple weapons, including an AR-15, and it happened just across the street from where I am.
There was a large group of Obama supporters. They were supporting the president on health care. And it was peaceful, and, you know, there were some protesters across the street shouting things like socialism, et cetera, kind of typical stuff you see outside of some of these events these days.
And I happened to wade into the pro-Obama side to take some pictures, still photos, and try to interview some people. And all of a sudden, I saw this gentleman who was anti-Obama. He was shouting something about socialism with an AR-15 on his back.
And it sort of startled me because at first I thought maybe it was some sort of law enforcement officer, and I had forgotten about the open-carry law in Arizona just off the top of my head because it's kind of jarring at first to see an assault weapon in the middle of the street...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But just to be clear -- I'm going to interrupt for just a moment -- the person you saw that was carrying a weapon, was it the fellow that we're looking at on videotape now, this African-American gentleman with the glasses?
HENRY: It was not. It was another person. It was not an African-American gentleman. It was another gentleman. And so there was at least two of these weapons here in the crowd.
I want to stress that none of these weapons went off. There was never any sort of confrontation.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, but Secret Service has got to -- I'm just thinking Secret Service has got to be looking at this and wondering if this is going to become a trend and whether they're going to have to be prepared for something developing in the future.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Have you had a chance to talk to them?
HENRY: Yes. Well, let me tell you exactly what happened, which is that when I noticed this one person who is different from that photo with an AR-15, I also then noticed several police officers and some Secret Service officials moving closer to this person, not doing anything, not, you know, hassling him or anything, but staying very close to him in sort of a semicircle just to make sure that as pro- Obama and anti-Obama people on health care were shouting at each other, again, peacefully, that nothing went out of control.
And, so, yes, the Secret Service, local law enforcement here on the ground in Phoenix were very much aware of this situation and are very much monitoring this to make sure it doesn't go out of control.
SANCHEZ: Well, the obvious question here that you and I would have or anybody at home watching is, well, what's this guy's motivation? Why would he show up to an event with what may be a loaded assault rifle?
I understand he did an interview a little while ago. We listened to this and I really couldn't make out what he said, but for the sake of transparency, let's all listen to it together now. Go ahead, Claude. Play this, if you could.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you here -- are an AR-15? Why are you here with an AR-15?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Why are you carrying an AR-15?
I can't tell exactly what he said. So, we don't know at this point if that guy was protesting against the president or for the president, or maybe trying to make a point because he saw guys on the other side that were carrying weapons. I can't imagine -- you don't know the answer to that question either, Ed, at this point, do you?
HENRY: Well, I know that the person that I saw with an AR-15 different from that person was definitely against the president's policies. He was shouting things that suggested he certainly did not support the health reform effort or very many other policies of this president.
Now, someone affiliated with the Democratic National Committee who's here said that they heard one of these gentlemen say that he was carrying a weapon because he could, that, essentially, he has a Second Amendment right to do it. There is an open carry law that makes this perfectly legal in the state of Arizona, as you noted at the top.
Again, I did not hear that myself. But I wanted to tell you that that was someone affiliated with the DNC. That's what she overheard.
(CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: But here's the point on that. And I'm just having a conversation with you, one that I think is logical that anybody else watching this would have.
Just because you can do something, does that mean that you should? And given the fact that it's President Obama that we're talking about right now and not President Bush or President Clinton or another president in the past -- let me ask you this. You have been doing this job for a long time. You have been to a lot of these -- do you remember people showing up at President Bush's rallies with open guns like that, carrying weapons?
HENRY: They may have, but I have to be honest that I never saw one. And that was what was jarring to me at this event today was actually seeing an AR-15, which I had never seen myself up close, within a couple of feet.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
HENRY: And, so, now, people may have had weapons, concealed or, you know, outside of events, I want to stress, outside Bush events, but I never saw one out in the open, I have to be honest with you. Never saw that. And that was what was just pretty startling to see.
SANCHEZ: Yes. So, that's what leads me to ask, then, is this an open display or gesture that is trying to send a signal to Barack Obama about gun rights or about health care or about anything? And I'm asking that question rhetorically. I know you don't have an answer to it, but it's something that we obviously will continue to follow as we see this situation.
HENRY: Absolutely. At future events, as we -- you know, this just happened in the middle of this health care rally.
SANCHEZ: Right.
HENRY: We were not expecting it to happen. In the days ahead, it's something we're going to be watching very closely, obviously, and asking even more questions than we did today, because you're right. It's a hard question to answer, but it's one that deserves an answer certainly.
SANCHEZ: You're doing a great job as usual. Ed Henry, thanks so much for getting up to us on that.
We just saw this video just a little while ago and turned this whole thing around and asked Ed to join us live. I know you have got to get some work done for "THE SITUATION ROOM," so get to it, man.
HENRY: Sure.
SANCHEZ: I want to show you something else. I want to show you another situation that we're following for you right now, because it's not everyday that you get so many stories kind of creating the perfect storm, in this case four perfect storms that we're following. Let me talk to you first about Claudette. This is mysterious in many ways, because it's a storm that really kind of came out of nowhere. We had our eyes on two other storms, three, really, but two other storms, Bill and Ana.
If we can make a four box, that's Claudette that you're looking at right now. It just popped up and, boom, the storm hit the Florida Panhandle. There, you see Ana right behind it, some perhaps reason for concern with Ana. Then you see Bill right behind Ana. So that's one, two, three.
And then we have got the situation out in California where you also have fires as a result of the wind conditions there, and we have been following what they're doing. There are some of the crews that are choppered in to fight and create walls to stop the fire from moving in one direction or another.
Chad Myers has been following all four of these situations for us today and he is joining us now.
I guess do me a favor. Start with Claudette, because I found it interesting that a storm would suddenly develop in the Gulf of Mexico and suddenly create a threat for the people in Florida when they're actually looking elsewhere.
MYERS: OK. The water was so warm and it still is. And this can happen all the time in the Gulf of Mexico, Rick. There it is. And it's a very tiny little thing.
We didn't get winds over about 45 miles per hour with the storm, and most of the convection is still, in fact, still offshore, although there is rain coming in to parts of northern Florida, Alabama and Georgia.
This is not going to be a big event. I really don't think we're going to get a lot of flooding with this. I think we have other things to worry about, Ana, the next one here. Here are the Leeward Islands. There's Puerto Rico right there.
The forecast, the Hurricane Forecast Center is for this thing to be a 35-mile-per-hour storm and not to worry about it. I'm not sure I'm buying all that just yet. And Bill is a monster storm. This could be a Category 3 or 4 storm. It is out here in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. But I don't think it's going to stay there very long.
SANCHEZ: OK.
MYERS: Here's what we think Bill's going to be -- 1, 2, 3, those are categories when it comes to hurricanes, Category 3 hurricane right over Bermuda, Rick, and I think even now, we will switch our attention to something that's a little bit closer.
SANCHEZ: That's a good thing, by the way. I like those Bermuda storms. If you look at what could be threatened, that's the least compared to what else could be struck in the United States, right? MYERS: I know of no place else that's more prepared for a hurricane than Bermuda. You have got to think they have seen their share of them. They build their buildings correctly. And people know when to get out and what to do.
Here's Ana, though. And this is -- you're kind of alluding to this. I believe Ana could sneak into the Gulf of Mexico and if that happens, even though it's a 35 mile-per-hour storm right here, it could be much larger than that as it gets into this very warm water here.
Take you to a couple more things, I guess. This would be our stormpulse.com map. There's Bill way out here. We can turn on -- and it's going to turn. I don't see any chance that it hits the U.S. There's the outlier chance, Rick, would be if it just didn't go -- didn't turn soon enough and then maybe started to clip the East Coast of the United States. I saw Bill do this. Hurricane Bill did this way up into the Northeast, and that made a -- kind of a smack into the Hamptons, and then on up toward the Northeast from there.
I don't see that happening. It's maybe a 1 percent chance that it's there, because that's not even inside the cone for right now. There's an awful lot more to still happen here. Now what do you want to do? Now you want to go to the fires?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, because, look, Bill's probably -- we're going to be OK from Bill. Ana is still far away.
The thing about Ana, by the way, before we let it go, is Ana could hit -- it could hit Texas. It could hit New Orleans, you know, heaven forbid. It could hit part of the Florida Panhandle. It could hit parts of Dominica, Cuba. This thing could go anywhere at this point. And all of those areas are big threats.
MYERS: Yes. And we're not self-absorbed on this show with the U.S. Haiti is going to get smacked with this. And you know what happens to Haiti when you get 15, 20 inches of rainfall in any one spot. You start getting floods and you start getting loss of life.
The loss of lives last year from Haiti was enormous. And we didn't even have any storms really out there that affected it. They were close. They were -- some of them were bigger, but what can happen in Haiti is pretty amazing.
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's talk about California. They ever going to put those fires out, man?
MYERS: I think they're going to be out -- the forecast is for them to be out by Thursday, because there's no more wind events coming.
Bonny Doon, Davenport, Swanton, this would be the Lockheed Fire. There are a couple more fires out here, at least 10 active fires out in parts of California. They could not get to the Lockheed fire yesterday because of what you see there. See how that smoke just sat there? You think, oh, I don't want wind. But if you don't get some wind, you can't blow the smoke away and the firefighting helicopter efforts and the Phos-Chek efforts off the big airliners can't get in. And so they didn't get any help -- 2,000 people on the ground fighting that fire there, 65 percent contained. They expect to have the rest of the containment without any big problems by the end of this week, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Chad Myers. Nobody can cover four stories at a time better than he can.
MYERS: With this wall, we can do it, Rick.
SANCHEZ: It's all about the wall.
MYERS: That's right.
SANCHEZ: Thanks, buddy. We will catch up with you in a little bit.
MYERS: All right.
SANCHEZ: The world's second biggest economy is doing something special. We will tell you where it is, and we will tell you whether they had a stimulus plan to get themselves out of recession and into recovery. Wouldn't that be great if it was us? Maybe.
And should Obama, by the way, be pointing to that and saying, see, it works? Don't know. But we will ask the experts.
And then later, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine. Lots of it. And you handle it every single day of our life. How do you handle it? I am going to tell you exactly how you handle this every day of your life. And then don't forget, at 4:00, we are going to start the after-show on CNN.com/live. We will look for you. Stay with us. We got a lot going on. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. Welcome back.
Big economic news today is about Japan. That's right, Japan. Did you know that Japan is the second largest economy in the world? We, of course, are number one. Here's the good news. The Japanese are out of recession. They are now officially in recovery mode, with their economy growing 0.9 percent in the second quarter, all that according to economic experts and forecasters and the Japanese wire services.
Like us and the rest of the world, their economy was as bad as it's been since the 1940s. They may have been one of the worst cases. Now, because they used government stimulus money to boost their recovery, is this now something that President Obama can and should perhaps point to as a sign that his strategy will eventually work? That's a question. Speaking of something that works -- not -- the president's push for a public option. Seriously, is this thing off the table, or is it on the table? Does anyone know? Does the White House know? We are going to try and keep score on this one as well for you when we come back. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We began this newscast by telling you that more people have shown up today at the president's town hall meetings armed with guns and that it's perfectly legal where he is, by the way. You have been alarmed by this and you're telling us in no uncertain terms.
So, let's go to the comments, if we can, real quick before we get started here. Start over here on MySpace, if you can, Robert.
"It doesn't matter if he is for or against the president. That weapon could be taken from him and used on the president or innocent people."
On Twitter right there in the middle from Proph. We have got another one. It says: "Bad precedent by allowing these idiots with guns at any presidential political rally, not a trend that should be followed."
We thank you for your comments. That's what you believe.
Joining us now are Joe Klein with "Time" magazine and Patricia Murphy with Politics Daily.
Thanks, guys. How are you both? Good.
JOE KLEIN, COLUMNIST, "TIME": Good.
PATRICIA MURPHY, POLITICSDAILY.COM: Great.
SANCHEZ: Murph, let me start with you. What do you think of these people showing up at the Obama events with these weapons? I think we have got the video and we can put it up again from our first block. Claude, put that up again in case viewers missed that. This guy is -- that's a heck of a piece there, man. That's an AR-15. That's an assault rifle.
MURPHY: Yes.
To me, that's really quite terrifying. And I have talked to a lot of people in politics, out of politics, who said this entire debate is starting -- it's inching closer and closer to a place that everybody is afraid to even think about, that something -- anger will turn to violence.
And I think having an automatic weapon at one of these events is exactly how something like that happens. It may be legal, but it's a terrible idea. It's absolutely terrifying to me. SANCHEZ: Joe, I don't remember people protesting against President Bush showing up with weapons. Do you?
KLEIN: No. I have been doing this for almost 40 years now, and I have never seen anything like this.
There should be like a Second Amendment equivalent of the First Amendment shouting fire in a crowded theater.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
KLEIN: I mean, every -- you know, there is a right to bear arms.
SANCHEZ: Right.
KLEIN: But there's also a right to protect the president and a right to sanity, and this is clearly getting quite out of hand.
You know, what we have seen this month is pretty frightening in general. We have seen the celebration of ignorance and misinformation in this health care battle. And you know, this more than almost any other issue I can think of is one where we need to be clear-headed and, you know, lay out the facts and let people decide the facts.
SANCHEZ: I will tell you, it's really something. And I would hate like hell to have to be a Secret Service agent or have my brother or a loved one dealing with Secret Service right now. They got their hands full, don't they?
KLEIN: Yes, I was just out with the president over the weekend in Montana and Colorado, and there are an awful lot of -- the Secret Service does an amazing job, but there are an awful lot of angry people out there, and most of them, I got to say, are misinformed.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
Hey, let's switch the subject because this is the other big news story that we're following right now. And I'm trying to figure this one out myself. Is the public option dead or alive? This is what Democrats hope would create competition and would eventually drive the markets.
I want to take you first to what the president said. This was back in July. Hit that, Claude.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange, including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: I think I just heard him say any plan I sign must include public option.
Now, listen to the president last night.
(CROSSTALK)
KLEIN: Not quite, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Well, listen to him last night in Colorado. This is Grand Junction and then we will get your take on it, because I think these are two completely different statements. Play that, Claude.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: A public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: August ... backing away. Now it's whether we have it or we don't have it.
Joe?
KLEIN: Yes. Well, the public option was always going to be a bargaining chip, I thought, in the final negotiations.
But they have kind of blown that with the confusion of the last couple days. Some in the administration say it's off the table. Some say it's still on the table.
What I think the intention was, was to hold it in the bargaining up until the very end, and then trade it for Republican votes, saying, OK, you don't want government-managed health insurance of any kind beyond the stuff we already have, OK. We will drop that in return for your vote.
But they blew that the last day or so. The important thing about that first sentence and which keeps it in context with the second is the most important thing here are these exchanges, not the public option. It's setting up these kind of health care super stores where individuals who buy health insurance, who don't buy through big corporations, would have the same kind of -- would be able to join together and have the same kind of market power in negotiating with the insurers that people who work for -- like you and me, for Time Warner do.
SANCHEZ: Makes sense.
Hey, Murph, let me ask you a completely different question that I'm interested in. Last night when I saw this report that the Japanese economy was actually on the rise, that they had grown by 0.9 percent, almost 1 percent, I thought to myself, oh, my God, isn't it nice to hear that somebody somewhere in this world is actually out of its recession and showing signs of recovery? I wish that was us.
But shouldn't the president of the United States point to that and tell the American people, look, they poured a bunch of money, the government got involved in that system, they had a stimulus plan, they're coming out of it, that just goes to show that my strategy is right?
Should he do that? Will he do that?
MURPHY: I don't think that pointing towards Japan's success or France or Germany's success is really going to help the president at this point. He's got to put some American successes on the table.
He's trying to do that, but we're starting to see a lot of polling that says it's not working. He is way under 50 percent in terms of how people think he's handling the economy. It's also starting to hurt him on health care. He's trying to make health care a political issue. When it comes to the economy, it's just not quite all tying together.
And I think it gets to the fact he's trying to do a lot of things at once. He's trying to fix the economy, change energy, fix health care. He's got a lot on the table. People -- but at the end of the day, people are paying their bills. They want to know the economy's getting better and I don't think the economy in Tokyo is going to make them think that the economy here in the states is any better.
SANCHEZ: Do you think he just needs to be more brazen, though, Joe, at these town halls, for example, and say things like people are lying and maybe I should set it straight?
(CROSSTALK)
KLEIN: Well, he did some of that in the Colorado town hall meeting on Saturday.
But I got to say, Rick, he and his aides are very frustrated because they go out to these things and they're hoping to get some loony talking about pulling the plug on granny, so he can directly confront them, and he hasn't...
SANCHEZ: Really?
KLEIN: And he hasn't been getting those kind of questions...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You mean he's hoping opposition?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You mean to tell me that his -- his ground people there, his folks on the ground can't find somebody to plant to ask him a tough question?
KLEIN: I was watching the president's eyes in Colorado. And he's looking for loonies. There's this guy in a blue T-shirt who looks he's angry as hell and it turns out that he's angry about right- wing misinformation. And you could see the president just -- you know, his body sag, because he wanted to get some angry right-winger. (CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: Can I add one point?
SANCHEZ: Interesting perspective.
Yes, go ahead, Murph, although I'm going to get yelled at by producers. So, be good to me.
MURPHY: OK, producers, hold on one second.
My quick point is during the election, during the campaigns, Obama's numbers, these massive crowds, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 people coming out to support him, where are those crowds right now? The conservatives are turning out their numbers and the Democrats, Obama and the White House, are not turning...
(CROSSTALK)
KLEIN: Patricia, they are not.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: They are. Of course they are.
KLEIN: They're turning out handfuls of people who scream very loud.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: And they're making the news.
(CROSSTALK)
KLEIN: They're making the news because we're letting them make the news.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: And it's working. And the public plan is off the table now.
KLEIN: Well, but the public plan was never going to be on the table.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: Right. But it's off way early, and I think it's because of these crowds that they're getting.
(CROSSTALK)
KLEIN: I think that's because of message confusion in the administration.
Look, it's really hard, if you're going to have an open democracy, to prevent crazies from coming in and hijacking town meetings.
MURPHY: It is.
KLEIN: It's happened on both sides. But I think even if you put 30,000 Obama supporters in a room and you had six crazies there who were willing to make fools of themselves in public, we would shoot the crazies. We would -- not shoot -- we would, you know, cover the crazies.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
KLEIN: The TV guys are the ones who do the shooting.
SANCHEZ: Not good word choice on this day, Joe.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Shoot.
MURPHY: Don't go shooting anybody.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Not on the day we see all these guys with guns.
(CROSSTALK)
KLEIN: You're the guys who shoot.
SANCHEZ: Joe, Murph, you're fabulous. Thanks. Come on back. All right?
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: Thanks a lot.
SANCHEZ: Let's talk about Tiger Woods. A bunch of 10-foot putts, money in the bank for this guy, right? He's that insanely good, usually about more than 80 percent. Well, yesterday, not so much. And you're going to see them all. We are going to line them up for you, golfers.
And now the FBI wants to know why this police officer right there is pulling that man out of his car and why eight other police officers showed up to beat on him, to turn his face into a punching bag. Who's right, who's wrong, and where's the love? That's ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Boy, we really have hit a nerve. A lot of folks are talking about this situation with the guns.
Look at the very top of the Twitter board. We're social media here, first to do it. So, let's depend on your input as well, what America thinks.
Look at this one. "The problem isn't bringing weapons. The problem is what will happen if an innocent -- if an incident" -- pardon me -- "begins. How will law enforcement decide who is who?"
That's actually a great question. I think we probably should reach out to law enforcement and find out what their plans might be if something were to happen, because the key to good law enforcement, as my brother or anybody else who is in the business will tell you, is the planning, knowing what to do before something happens. And I'm sure they're thinking about it.
All right, I read this one over the weekend. It's the biggest booking house in Ireland offered to pay off bets on Tiger Woods even before he teed off Sunday at the PGA championship.
Tiger leading a major going into the final round. You know, as they say, that's money in the bank, right? This guy, when he's ahead, he just doesn't lose. He's also like a more than 80 percent putter when it comes to putts inside of ten yards.
Come money time, Tiger putted less like Tiger and more like Rick Sanchez. Hey, who wrote that?
Right here, let's start there. It's more than ten putts. Tiger Woods misses on the course -- watch this. There's more. You ready? Boom. What better proof that Tiger Woods, like the rest of us is -- no, not a hacker. He's human, though, sometimes.
Y.E. Yang won the PGA, he's 37. He hails from South Korea. His ranking is 110th in the world, 110th. And in case you haven't heard, this was the first ever time, ever, that Tiger failed to seal the deal at a major championship after starting the round, the final round, as a leader. That is amazing to watch, one putt after the other that simply would not go down.
More news as we continue, including your comments in just a little bit, including the very latest going on with a police officer who may have done something the FBI is going to now going to be asking him a lot of questions about. And we have the video.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back.
I'm about to show you some footage from a police dash cam, and you are not going to be able to look away. It's dead of winter and this is Minneapolis. A traffic stop goes bad while the video rolls.
This driver -- you're seeing right there -- says this police officer jacked him up and beat him down for no good reason. The police officer says otherwise. We will pick this thing apart right after you watch both sides of this incredible story. Here is Jeanelle Klein. She's from our affiliate KRE, K-R-E, in Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KLEIN: It was a traffic stop like many others, 42-year-old Darryl Jenkins pulled over in February as he drove through north Minneapolis, stopped for speeding as he allegedly went 15 miles over the limit.
DERRYL JENKINS, PUNCHED AND KICKED ON POLICE VIDEO: I was very nervous, very nervous, very, very, very nervous.
KLEIN: The stop's all here on this seven-minute tape from the squad car of Officer Richard Walker. Jenkins says Walker refuses to explain why he was stopped and he asks for a police supervisor.
When walker says one isn't available, and Jenkins says he gets outs of the car to get his driver's license from his back pocket. That's when he says Walker tries to tackle him.
Backup arrives and six officers help Walker as Jenkins is punched, kicked, and stunned three times with the Taser. Police say Jenkins was uncooperative that he smelled like alcohol and slurred his speech.
Jenkins says he drank three beers with dinner that night but insists he was not impaired and repeatedly asked "What did I do wrong?"
JENKINS: All I remember is getting out of the car, getting thrown down, and feeling the punches. Those last words were "I can't breathe."
KLEIN: Jenkins says he next remembers waking up to paramedics with cuts, bruises, chipped teeth, and permanent damage to his thumb. He spent four days in jail but says he's never thought the arrest was racially motivated.
JENKINS: I don't want people to think, you know, a black person upset with the police. No, this is a people issue.
PAUL EDLUND, JENKINS ATTORNEY: It's incredible they would have the audacity to do what they did.
KLEIN: Paul Edlund is Jenkins' attorney and says anyone who doubts his client needs to watch the video.
EDLUND: His palms are outstretched, they're flat. He's not in a combative position. He never bear-hugs the officers, never swings at the officer, never punches him.
KLEIN: But worse than the beatings, Jenkins says, was being criminally charged, accused of a felony for assaulting an officer. Walker has never wavered from his version of the arrest, insisting in court hearings his actions were justified.
And nine other officers at the scene that night back up Walker in a official report, but Edlund says those too are an injustice.
EDLUND: You can clearly see from the video that what happened was not right. And then writing reports that are false is not right. And there should be accountability for that.
KLEIN: A judge agreed, after watching the squad car video, finding Walker had no reason to suspect Jenkins of DUI and dismissing the charges against him. But Jenkins says he may not have been so lucky without the tape and that others who don't have proof on video could be the victims of police.
JENKINS: They just did that way too easy, and then lied about it and then tried to cover it up. That's the kind of stuff that scares me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: I got some reactions coming in already on this. Let's go to our Twitter board, if we possibly can. That's Lou Palumbo. He's our favorite law enforcement expert, and he will join us in just a little bit. He's a retired police officer.
Go to the Twitter board and start from the bottom and start with Zana Dax (ph) or whatever that says. "Normally I side with law enforcement. In this case, I side with the guy who was beaten. Way too excessive."
Let's stop it there and bring Lou. You agree, Lou, with this, that it may have looked a little bit too excessive? And I'm trying to figure out, is there a rule in law enforcement if a person gets out of their car, you have to pick them up and throw them to the ground?
LOU PALUMBO, RETIRED POLICE OFFICER: No, I don't believe that rule exists, and quite frankly, it would appear this police officer unnecessarily escalated his contact with Mr. Jenkins.
The response, Rick, of the other officers who responded in support of the police officer, that's kind of like a contagious response. What they apply there is a swarm tactic.
But this whole video from start to finish is perceptively horrifying. They do not teach us, and I would like the public to know that, to employ these tactics in any progressive or intelligent law enforcement community. They do not teach us to kick you.
And my real concern here is that we're now creating a typecast of what your car stop could be with a police officer. I, frankly, think that this one individual officer decided to, how would you say, institute his own policies and procedures as to how to carry out a car stop.
It's quite evident through the videotape that Mr. Jenkins did not pose a threat. If the police officer was concerned about Mr. Jenkins stepping out of the vehicle, then he should have stepped off him and advised him he's not following a lawful order. He obviously had access to oleo capsicum, which is more commonly known as Mace, and you could utilize that. This entire encounter is just completely revolting.
SANCHEZ: And I think the key word that you used is "escalate," which means you're in a situation, you can either do one thing that will calm things, or you can do another which will make things even more harried, perhaps more crazy. And this officer chose number two.
PALUMBO: Clearly. What they do teach us is to defuse situations, diplomatically and discretely and expeditiously.
I just think you have to come to terms that this was a rather random act by a rather random law enforcement agent who is now under investigation with the FBI for violation of this man's civil rights under the color of authority...
SANCHEZ: We have the official comment, by the way. I don't mean to interrupt you, Lou, but here's the official comment now. This is the official statement we have just received. Let me read that to you. This is according to -- official statement from the police chief, right?
"Hand-to-hand fighting with a suspect on the street is one of the most dangerous encounters for police officers." Is there more, or is that it? "Officer Walker's actions all appear to be very appropriate." Interesting. "Some of the actions of responding officers, specifically the kicking of the suspect, give me concern."
Because of this, I am asking for an outside review by the FBI." That's interesting.
But, you know, in that comment, he seems to be saying that hand- to-hand combat was elicited or amped up or begun by the suspect. It almost looked to me like the hand-to-hand combat began when the officer threw him to the ground. Did it not look that way to you?
PALUMBO: Clearly. The officer instituted the physical contact with Mr. Jenkins. It wasn't the other way around.
But the thing that's really interesting, Rick, is that we discuss the use of tasers and oleo capsicum and training issues and tools they give us in law enforcement. If you look at the injuries that were sustained by Mr. Jenkins, clearly they made a point of not only just kicking him randomly but striking him in the face repeatedly.
That's not how you subdue someone you want to take into custody, especially when you have six police officers. You should be able to restrain his arms and legs and handcuff him. But, you know, in this case, this is a little bit of an anomaly, and I think everybody should be mindful of that.
SANCHEZ: Lou Palumbo, you tell it straight, and you tell it from both sides, and that's why we keep having you back on. Thanks for being with us, sir.
PALUMBO: Thank you, sir.
SANCHEZ: What is "la photo dell dia?" Maybe it's this, a rehearsal at a Russian air show that goes not so good.
And why could I almost guarantee that you have cocaine in your pocket right now? That's right, you. It doesn't matter whether you're a granddad, a grandma, or a small child. There's a very good reason for it, and we will explain this to you in a little bit. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: I want to start you with the question I just asked about the chances that you may have cocaine in your pocket. In fact, the chances are really good. And many of you have written to me saying "No!" In fact, listen to what she says, "Rick, cocaine in my pocket?"
Right there, all the way in the middle. Let's see how good you are at this, Robert. Oh, Robert, that's so well done. Go ahead, focus it in. See it? "Rick, cocaine in my pocket? I could agree with baby powder but cocaine? Scary."
You don't believe it, huh? Bring it on back, Robert. I want to show them something else now. You ready? See if you can go in on this. See this right here? This is a $20 billion that's in my hand. See it right there? Feel like I'm doing a magic trick.
There's an 85 percent to 90 percent chance that this bill has cocaine on it. The study took bills from 30 big cities in five different countries, so this is all over the world. That's a lot of cocaine on an awful lot of money. That's the finding they came back with, 90 percent chance there's cocaine here.
Does that mean cocaine use is up? Well, there's some information on that. I'll give you this one. A recent Massachusetts study found that 3,000 students in 50 middle schools and 50 high schools -- that was the sample, 3,000 students -- 6 percent of them had used cocaine. That's pretty big for children that age.
Whereas in 1999, that was only between 2 percent and 3 percent. So from '99 to 2008, for some reason, it went up.
Before you send Jimmy to a drug prevention program, you should also know this. Experts say that cocaine cross-contaminates money. So they say once a bill that has cocaine on it mingles with another bill that maybe doesn't have cocaine on it, like at a cash register or bank's money counting machine, the rest of the bills will then show traces of cocaine. So it just cross-contaminates.
By the way, it was my unsavory staff that pointed this story out to me. I didn't find this one on my own.
Here's another one for you. Who's the fastest man in the world, fastest man in the world as of this weekend? That's next in "las fotos del dia."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Some of you are saying you want to learn Spanish. Here I am, everybody.
Start with that one up there at the top, if you would, Robert. That's astrology -- "las fotos del dia." Hey, Rick, I'm learning Spanish. Can you do a Spanish phrase del dia? Word of the day -- tomorrow's will be (INAUDIBLE). Look it up and tweet me back.
Speaking of "las fotos del dia," or the photos of the day, let's start with an elephant in Thailand. He lost a leg to a landmine ten years ago on the border with Myanmar. Doesn't this feel like it needs music under it?
This weekend, the animal took first steps on a prosthetic leg, a leg made by the same company that makes artificial limbs for people.
Don't blink, everybody. Ready? One, two, three -- that's Usain Bolt. He's the fastest man in the world, 9.58 seconds to cover 100 meters as of this weekend. It smashes the old mark in Beijing.
And as I heard from Warner Wolf on "Imus in the Morning" this morning, the sound bite he gave to reporters afterward was longer than the race.
Now number three, military plane. This is a crash in Russia. Two Sukhoi-27 precision jets from Russia's precision flying team, they collide in midair. They hit the ground, some hit houses. One of the pilots was killed. One of them, though, was able to eject. Wow.
All right, I've been wanting to explain why I did this for years. What am I talking about? This. Have you got it? Have you got it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do it.
SANCHEZ: Ya, ya, ya, ya. It hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes, it does hurt. Does it? You sure? Can't tell by that hair. We'll have that for you, and we'll do an explainer like you've never seen before, compliments of, you know who, Wolf Blitzer.
Speaking of 4:00, we're going to go on to CNN.com/live today. And guess who's joining me? Patricia Murphy today at 4:00 on CNN.com/live. Stay with us. I'm coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Spanish word of the day, (inaudible), and many of you thought it was "soup." No. The answer is "meatball," "meatballs." "The New York Times" has done it, and so has NPR. Did their reporters end up being made fun of by Jon Stewart? What am I talking about? You've figured it out by now.
Here it is again, and, yes, you have my permission to laugh. Go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do it.
SANCHEZ: Ya, ya! Oh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Why are those guys laughing at me? Not that it matters, if all you're trying to do is take a clip and show it out of context.
But there was a fairly important reason for doing that story, like four dead people. Is that reason enough, do you think, who could have been saved, by the way, if jails across the country weren't so hell bent on having guards walking around with open holsters with guns in them.
What's that? Wolf Blitzer wants to know more about this? You mean he doesn't want to just show the clip and laugh with everybody else and move on? Sure, Wolf, I'll talk to you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So, 50,000 volts of electricity, let me tell you something, this is very, very painful.
But the findings of that report are really, really important, and I stand behind the findings, which essentially say -- I think most people remember us. Us here in Atlanta, we remember when Brian Nicholls decided he was going to break out of a jail, go out and go on a killing spree.
And I asked myself that day, Wolf, why in the world would guards be walking around jails with guns on open holsters. That just doesn't seem right. That seems silly.
So, I went down to the training academy where they train guards in south Florida, and I asked the supervisors -- isn't there a better way of doing this? And they said, yes, there are several better ways, including the fact that people in prisons and in jails shouldn't have guns.
Why have something that can kill people? Use Tasers instead. If a prisoner takes your Taser, he's not going to kill anybody. He may do damage, but he's not going to kill anybody.
And that's the reason we did that story, and that's the reason I let myself be tasered, because no one who graduates from that academy graduates without being tasered, so they know exactly what it feels like, what it does before they use it on another human being.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And I want to now personally thank Wolf Blitzer for being the first responsible guy who actually asked me on the air, more information than just showing the video and laughing like everybody else. How's that, Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good. I'm glad you did it, because a lot of our viewers were interested in seeing that video of not only you being tasered, but that woman who was tasered by that cop, and a lot of people simply don't understand what it feels like to be tasered, Rick.
And you have that personal experience so, we thought let's ask Rick and explain why he wanted to do it.
SANCHEZ: Always there for you, man. What you got coming up?
BLITZER: We'll going to speak to a liberal Democrat who's upset that there are these signals coming out of the White House that they may run away, abandon the so-called public option, the government run health insurance agency to help compete with the private insurance companies. We'll get his sense on what's going on.
Also Arwa Damon, Rick, if you haven't seen it, has a really terrific report on these suggestions that gay men in Iraq are being tortured right now. What's going on? There's a lot of disturbing information just coming in to "THE SITUATION ROOM." We'll have that for our viewers.
SANCHEZ: Best political show on television, "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. Thanks, Wolf. We'll look forward to it.
BLITZER: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: In India, this guy's a big Bollywood star. In New Jersey, he's just a guy who apparently looks to somebody else like a terrorist.
Is this a TSA profiling case or somebody trying to get publicity for themselves? That's next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This is one of the stories we'll be talking about in the after show with the Murphster (ph). You can go to CNN.com/live in just a little bit and join us there. Big argument between the airport security at Newark and one of the world's biggest movie stars.
That's right, you may not know him, but millions and millions do. Not many people recognize him outside of India. That's Shahrukh Khan, king of Bollywood, like a Tom Cruise type. He spent more than an hour at Newark airport over the weekend detained by Homeland Security who said his, quote, "common name raised a security flag, Kahn." He says he kind of gets its now, but there were a lot of questions going on as to whether or not he actually was doing this because he's got a movie coming up on profiling around the corner. Hmm, wink, wink.
Here's Wolf Blitzer with "THE SITUATION ROOM," by golly.
