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Police Search for Singer; CPAC & The Straw Poll

Aired February 12, 2011 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is your Saturday night and we've got the stories making news at this hour.

First up, police in Philadelphia are searching for a singer accused of injecting implants into the buttocks of a woman who later died. We'll talk to a plastic surgeon about the procedure.

The presidential straw poll results are in from the largest annual gathering of conservatives, CPAC. We'll have a live report for you.

And an Egyptian American responds to her country's revolution and shares her family's emotional mixed of excitement about change and anxiety about the future.

I'm Don Lemon, CNN NEWSROOM in Atlanta.

There's a lot of news happening right now. So, let's get you caught up.

First in Cairo and elsewhere, Egyptians are reveling in their first full day without Hosni Mubarak. After 18 days of nonstop protests and demonstrations, demanding he quit, Mubarak abruptly stepped down on Friday. The station's defense minister is now in charge. The country faces a lot of questions and uncertainty as it struggles to build a functioning democracy.

CNN has been receiving videos from around the country of Egyptian- Americans celebrating the end of Mubarak's 30-year regime, including rallies in New York, Washington and Atlanta. Their joy and exuberance mirror the euphoria that swept over Tahrir Square and elsewhere yesterday when it was announced that Mubarak was no longer in power. Many of the revelers said they never thought it would happen in their lifetime.

The Arab world is looking at Algeria, wondering if its government will be the next to fall. Protesters battled riot police in the capital today. They were overwhelmed as 30,000 police officers met just 3,000 demonstrators. The Algerian League for Human Rights, which is organizing these unauthorized rallies, said 100 protesters were detained. Algeria's president has been in power for nearly 12 years and leads a nation suffering from high unemployment, rising food prices and corruption.

A note: this next story has some disturbing images. Again, some disturbing images here. Police swarm Times Square and arrested a man wanted for allegedly stabbing three people to death, killing a fourth victim with his car and slashing several others. Officers say 23 years Maksim Gelman stabbed one of the surviving victims on the train in Times Square in the subway station there. They also say Gelman hijacked two vehicles.

This is the knife Gelman allegedly used on his stabbing spree. Among the dead: Gelman's ex-girlfriend, her mother and stepfather. The attack started in Brooklyn on Friday morning.

It may look scenic now, but this bridge over Lake Lanier in north Georgia was the site Thursday of a life-or-death dilemma for a woman caught in severe weather. Bianca Vera tells our affiliate WGCL that her car was stuck on the bridge after an accident. She then noticed a tractor-trailer sliding on the ice coming right towards her. So, she took the 40-foot plunge into the lake. Police say the truck did hit the car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIANCA VERA, SURVIVED JUMPING OFF BRIDGE: The impact of the tractor- trailer hitting my car -- and that was all I remember. Then I was in the water. I was swimming on my back and I remember looking at the stars. I had to have had a guardian angel, somebody there helping me to get through it because I don't know how I pulled through and got to the shore because it was so far away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Unbelievable.

Another story, thousands of conservative activists gathered in Washington. They have picked their presidential favorites. And for the second year in a row, Ron Paul is the winner of the CPAC presidential straw poll with 30 percent of the vote. Mitt Romney was second at 23 percent. All other hopefuls only received single-digit support. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tied for third. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was fifth. Sarah Palin got 3 percent of the vote.

Detroit police honor four of their fellow officers who were blindsided by a shooting rampage in their own precinct. All four survived and received medals for their reaction to the January 23rd incident. A gunman shot all of them before he was killed by return fire.

This is the first time the officers appeared together in public since that shooting. But only one of them, Commander Brian Davis, was up to speaking about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CMDR. BRIAN DAVIS, DETROIT POLICE: Incidents like this on the department does not weaken us. It strengthens us. I just don't know what to say without the support that we have gotten. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Tonight, there are new allegations of excessive force against a Houston police department. This hospital surveillance video shows a Houston officer beating a man while he was handcuffed. Henry Madge says he was in the waiting room while his son was having surgery and he got into an argument over the TV volume. He claims the officer cuffed him and got violent when he complained. This happened two years ago. But Madge says he came forward after seeing the tape of police beating 15-year-old Chad Holley. Houston police say they will investigate that incident.

Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor is in the hospital tonight. Doctors are treating her for symptoms related to congestive heart failure. The 78-year-old actress checked into an L.A. hospital this week. Her publicist says it's an ongoing condition and Taylor is comfortable. In 2009, doctors repairs a leaky heart valve, one of many health problems Taylor has faced.

The pursuit of the perfect rear end left a woman dead in Philadelphia. And investigators are hunting down a reportedly transgendered hip-hop singer who they think may be responsible for it.

Police say the victim traveled from England to get an underground cosmetic procedure in a Philly hotel room. She received what she thought was an injection of silicone in her buttocks for the alleged cost of $1,800. Shortly after that, she died in a hospital.

Now, police are looking for the person they believe gave the injection, singer Padge Victoria Windslowe aka Black Madam. This is her music video. "The New York Daily News" is reporting that Windslowe is transgendered.

So, joining me now from Miami to talk about it is a Dr. Constantino Mendieta -- Mendieta, I should say, a plastic surgeon.

So, Doctor, what kind of a procedure was this exactly?

DR. CONSTANTINO MENDIETA, PLASTIC SURGEON: Well, Don, exactly what this was, was silicone injections to the buttock which is a growing trend across America. People have thought usually of Miami or New York or perhaps Los Angeles as being the centers for these illegal injections. But, actually, I think it's starting to infiltrate even Middle America and other cities that wouldn't normally have these types of stories such as Philadelphia. So, it's a growing trend that I think needs to be brought to a national light to educate patients about the dangers of these injections.

LEMON: Yes. I remember in New York last year, there was a big incident, a big story about this very same thing, about these illegal injections. Now, listen, when you do this procedure, is it -- is it in a pouch -- like as a breast implant? Or is this something that's injected directly in the skin?

MENDIETA: See, here's the thing, there's three ways to really contour the buttock. Number one is by using your own body fat, which is perhaps the safest and the most sought-after procedure when it comes to gluteal contour and using your own body fat where we're able to create curves, waistlines, really sculpt the body and use their own fat to add volume to the buttock. The second way to augment is really using implants through a surgical procedure. But what we're talking about here is actually illegal injections of substances that are not approved by the FDA. They're not approved in the United States, and they're being done underground, illegally in the black market.

LEMON: And a lot of these substances, Doctor --

MENDIETA: These injections --

LEMON: -- are proving to be, you know, dangerous and toxic, and that's why people are dying. What likely went wrong in this case?

MENDIETA: Well, more than likely, they probably injected the substance into the patient's gluteal vein, one of the vessels that provides blood supply to the buttock. And when you injected into the vein, it can travel up and go into the lungs and you get an embolism, much like you would get an embolism from a blood clot that goes to the lungs. But this is a silicone embolism.

What's important to distinguish here is that these fillers come in a variety of shapes. And there's usually three that are being used. Number one is silicone, which is the one that's drawing a tremendous amount of light and attention in our news because silicone -- there's a variety of grades of silicone that you can inject. There's a very pure that we use for retinol surgery.

And then another silicone that's being injected into the buttock which has a great amount of variations in terms of preservatives and quality of silicone that's there. The other product that's injected is PMMA, which is what we use actually for resurfacing of bone or recreating defects in the facial skeleton or different parts of the body.

And the third substance is hyaluronic acid, which is a natural occurring chemical in our body.

So, it's unfair to really categorize all three of these injections into one because they're very different substances. But when it comes to the silicone that's being injected, I think we need to make the public aware of the dangers that exist with this. These were being done by non-medical people, not people that are licensed. They are flying in from South America.

LEMON: Right.

MENDIETA: And you're oftentimes getting nurses, perhaps physicians that aren't licensed; and more importantly, just cosmetic type -- cosmetologist.

LEMON: Yes. And the thing is, is that you should never do a procedure like this unless you consult a professional and never really in a hotel room. And that's the bottom line here.

Doctor, thank you so much.

And the doctor is correct. This is a growing problem. It's getting bigger and bigger as people try to get cheaper cosmetic surgery. You need to go to a professional.

Again, thank you, doctor.

MENDIETA: Thank you, Don.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: All right. Now that Hosni Mubarak is gone, how do Egyptians really feel about their future? We'll talk to an Egyptian American who says her family has mixed emotions.

Plus, the results of the GOP presidential straw poll are in, a live report from the annual meeting of conservatives, next.

And I'm online. You know that. Check out my social media accounts and we will connect. I'll be tweeting right in the break, right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winner of the straw poll this year, Congressman Ron Paul gets 30 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Did you hear that? Booing and cheering.

Congressman Ron Paul rules at the CPAC Conference. For the second year in a row, the Texas congressman is the winner of the presidential straw poll at the nation's largest gathering of conservative activists. Mitt Romney was second. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tied for third. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was fifth. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels all received 4 percent. Former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin got 3 percent. A lot of governors in there.

Our senior political editor Mark Preston spent the day at the CPAC Conference.

So, Mark, Ron Paul was the favorite again this year. Why?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, Don, you know, not surprising. You know, he really appeals to young conservatives, young libertarians, and that primarily are those who attend these conferences. He is able to get his supporters to show up and that's exactly what we saw here at CPAC. Now, 3,742 people actually voted in this straw poll. And when they broke down the demographics, half of those people who voted were between the ages of 18 and 25, which fit right into Ron Paul's roundhouse.

Now, Don, the question is: does it really matter? And for Ron Paul, it does because he's able to raise money off of this. He will tout this victory as a big victory as he considers and ponders whether he should run for president. But everyone else, pretty much going to write it off.

LEMON: OK. So, listen, I'm wondering, Mark, what happened to the big names? Like Sarah Palin, like Mike Huckabee? Is it payback because they didn't show up or what's going on here?

PRESTON: Well, interestingly enough, they didn't do very well in this poll. Palin came in at 3 percent, as you said, and Huckabee came at 2 percent. But they don't have to be here. They already appeal to these activists.

You know, when push comes to shove, you know, the other half, the 50 percent that are not Ron Paul supporters are going to back Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee if they choose to run.

So, is there a little bit of backlash because they didn't show up? Perhaps. But, really, in the grand scheme of things, you know, the Republican presidential candidacy is not going to be won here in this ballroom in D.C. It's going to be won in the living rooms and the neighborhoods in Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan -- early states that are going to vote in the early Republican presidential primary this time next year.

LEMON: OK. So, listen, this is supposed to be a conservative conference but Gary Johnson, he's a relative unknown to most people, also there at the top. He and Ron Paul leaned libertarian. Is this turning into a libertarian conference? Should they change the "C" to an "L"?

PRESTON: You know, what I think is interesting about this, Don, is that it is certainly a conservative. And conservatives and libertarians are very much aligned on many issues. But I think what you're seeing is that the conservative party -- the youngsters in the conservative party, the next generation of conservatives -- tend to be more libertarian. They don't really care so much about social issues as they do about fiscal issues.

And Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are two candidates who don't necessarily talk about social issues. They focus primarily on the debt. In Ron Paul's case, he also is anti-war, which plays very well with young voters. You know, he is an anti-interventionist and that's what a lot of young libertarian, college-age students, Don, really support. So, that's why he does well.

LEMON: All right. If you ever wonder what Mark Preston looked like without a necktie, now you know. Mark, thank you, sir.

PRESTON: There you are. Thanks, Don.

LEMON: A granny foils a jewelry store heist. You'll see it next.

But, first, there's a huge discrepancy in our nation's education system that shows up every day in the classroom. In tonight's edition of "Perry's Principles," Steve Perry talks with Education Secretary Arne Duncan about trying to recruit more minority teachers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LUTHER SEWELL III, TEACHER: Which one?

STUDENTS: D.

SEWELL: D.

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Teachers like Luther Sewell III are rarely found in classrooms around the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Less than 2 percent, less than one in 50 of our teachers around the country today are African-American men.

PERRY: So I sat down with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to find out how he plans to get more minority teachers into the classroom.

ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: I'm traveling throughout the country trying to appeal for this next generation of great leaders to come to our nation's classrooms and make a difference.

PERRY (on camera): But there are a lot of men and women of color who want to go back. They become teachers. What are some of the bold efforts that you anticipate pushing to ensure that it's possible for them to do it in a reasonable way?

DUNCAN: We're trying to make it much easier. We've launched a Web site actually called teach.gov that folks can go and find out about the programs in their communities. We're funding and putting significant resources behind what we call Alternative Certification Teacher Programs. So, I'm a big fan of mid-career changers.

PERRY (voice-over): Sewell was in the mortgage industry for about eight years, before becoming a teacher.

SEWELL: I like this.

He gave them two 20-pound sledgehammers.

PERRY (on camera): What's the benefit of having more African- Americans in the classroom?

SEWELL: Because we get to -- we get to talk about our experiences and we get to talk about the way things used to be, the way things can be. We can give them hope. Most of these kids don't have fathers, so I have to have that role.

In our community, being smart is not cool. Being a teacher is not cool. Hopefully, when I come in the classroom, I expose them to what a black man can be.

Excellent. Y'all make me feel like I taught something this year.

Steve Perry, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The theme for this hour's viral video: crime. We've seen lots of high-speed chases, but they almost never end like this. Police have chased a white stolen car through two Georgia counties before finally making their move in Atlanta.

He briefly disappeared beneath an overpass when they came out on the other side, pure textbook police cruisers boxed in the vehicle then brought it to a quick stop -- quick and safe stop. You can be sure this video will be shown at police training academies everywhere as a perfect example of how it's done. It's how it's done in L.A. I thought we do it here in Georgia.

All right. And in Northampton, England, a band of robbers on motorcycles were attempting a smash and grab of a jewelry store. But they weren't counting on super granny showing up to save the day. A store employee shrank with tear inside the store.

Well, granny started wailing on the robbers with her purse. You go, granny. The crooks were so startled and confused that they fled. She knocked one guy off his bike.

Everyone was captured a short time later -- thanks to super granny. Granny is -- look at her -- she's the bomb.

All right. Hey, listen, a sad story. A mom takes a bullet for her child, literally. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now from some of the stories from our affiliates across the country. Investigators in San Diego want to know why a taxi veered onto the sidewalk earlier today in a popular entertainment district. Twenty-five people were injured. Six of the victims are in critical condition. Doctors had to amputate one woman's leg after she was pinned against a wall.

The driver was taken to the hospital with a broken nose. Police say alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

In Palm Beach County, Florida, a woman was shot and killed while saving the life of her 1-year-old son. Police say the 20-year-old mother shielded her child after the suspected gunman opened fire on a crowd. Witnesses say the shooter had complained that someone broke into his home. The other people were wounded -- two other people were wounded. Police are searching for the gunman.

And in Minnesota, check this out -- this year's social ice is under way. The event is held in down town Rochester and it features what's billed as the latest outdoor ice bar in the Midwest. The main bar is more than 80 feet long. And it features four satellite bars with 21 ice sculptures.

I'm Don Lemon at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)