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Man Falls 65 Feet to Death at Turner Field; New Details On Teen's Rescue; Resort Guard Praised For Evacuations; Massive Gas Line Explosion in Illinois; Big Legal Win for Paula Deen; San Diego Mayor Still Getting Treatment; Harassment Rumors Swirled for Years; Oprah "Sorry" for Revealing Handbag Incident; Hearing for Bombing Suspect's Two Friends; Bagged Salad Maker Halts Production; Jellyfish Invade Florida Coast; Missouri's "Mystery Priest"

Aired August 13, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a fan falls to his death at a major league baseball stadium.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He fell from an upper level platform to a secured lot below. The fall was approximately 65 feet.

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COSTELLO: Why does this keep happening? Can anything be done to stop it?

Plus, dramatic new details of Hannah Anderson's rescue.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all of a sudden there was a little glimmer of blue that we saw in the trees, but at that point we knew we had something extremely valuable.

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COSTELLO: Ahead, the crucial moment-by-moment decisions that saved the 16-year-old's life.

Also, the mystery priest is a mystery no more. We finally hear from the man who prayed at the scene of a car accident and then disappeared like an angel.

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Damn all the jellyfish!

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: That cry being heard for real all along Florida's beaches, more than 200 people stung so far. So what's behind this jellyfish invasion? You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello. A night at the ballpark in Atlanta turns tragic. A man falls 65 feet to his death during a rain delay at last night's Braves-Phillies game at Turner Field. Now the fall didn't take place inside the seating area of the stadium, but from near an upper level concession's stand area. The man landed in a parking lot. He has been identified as 29- year-old Ronald Homer of Conyers, Georgia. An autopsy has not been scheduled yet.

CNN's Alina Machado is outside Turner Field to tell us more. Good morning, Alina.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We have just learned that the autopsy in this case is just getting under way right now. At this point, police say that there is no indication of foul play, and that it appears what happened here last night was an accident.

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MACHADO (voice-over): A baseball fan dies not long after a fall Atlanta's Turner Field.

OFFICER JOHN CHAFEE, ATLANTA POLICE: He fell from an upper level platform to a secured lot below, about -- the fall was approximately 65 feet.

MACHADO: Police believed the man fell from a balcony such as this one behind the field, where the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies were in a nearly two-hour rain delay. Police say it is too early to tell if alcohol played a factor in what they say appears to have been an accident.

CHAFEE: I'm not sure who he was here with. There were several witnesses, but I'm not sure if they were the people he was with.

MACHADO: Atlanta police say the man landed in a secured parking area. He was taken to a local hospital where he later died. A similar death happened during a college football game last year at the Georgia Dome, home to the Atlanta Falcons. On August 31st, a 20-year-old Tennessee Volunteers fan fell about 45 feet and later died. Monday's death also isn't the first for Major League Baseball. In 2011, a Texas Rangers fan fell about 20 feet to his death, going over the balcony, trying to catch a ball, tossed to him by outfielder Josh Hamilton.

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MACHADO: Now the Medical Examiner's Office is telling us toxicology results in this case could take up to eight weeks to come back -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And Alina, I'm just noticing the activity behind you and trying to figure out where exactly this man fell. Can you help us out?

MACHADO: The man fell just about over there. Let's see if we can zoom in and show the area where he fell, near the flag, in that area over there. The activity that you're seeing is actually not related to this story. This is an event that was pre-planned apparently -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Your head is blocking the flag, but I can see where he fell now. It was in the concession area, during a rain delay, and I guess he went out to get something to eat, maybe, and then the accident occurred. OK. We're going to talk much more about this in about 30 minutes. Alina Machado, thanks so much.

Also this morning, Hannah Anderson is waking up in familiar surroundings, the first comforting sign of normalcy since she was kidnapped more than a week ago. That ordeal that saw her mother and younger brother murdered ended in the Idaho wilderness Saturday. An FBI agent shot and killed her abductor after the so-called family friend fired at least one shot at the swarming agents.

That operation had to lurch into gear virtually without warning. The helicopter crew zeroed in on the remote campsite with amazing speed, just minutes after launching the Saturday morning search. U.S. Marshals spotted Hannah and her kidnapper in disbelief.

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STEVE JURMAN, U.S. MARSHAL: It appears that they were just kind of going about their normal activity. They gathered firewood and walked around and really it didn't appear like they were doing anything out of the ordinary. But they were the only ones in this -- in that area. We searched the area, and there was no one else within several miles. However, there is a very highly populated river that was only about three miles away to their east and there was a lot of rafters and stuff that float down that river. That was a major concern of ours during the investigation, was that maybe they made it to that river and floated out of our area.

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COSTELLO: This morning in Florida, crews are testing the site of that sinkhole to make sure it isn't getting any bigger. In the meantime, we're hearing from the security guard who is being praised for risking his life to get tourists out of that building to safety.

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RICHARD SHANLEY, SECURITY OFFICER, SUMMER BAY RESORT: There was no question that I had to do what I had to do. Safety meant getting my guests out and taking care of their needs and not worrying about mine as much. It was a matter of just reacting because the building was coming down. It was so quickly, you don't have time to think. You just go knocking door to door and getting people out. Because the devastation there, if you saw it, the people inside would not have made it if I hadn't done what I did.

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COSTELLO: At last check, that sinkhole was about 100 feet wide.

A massive pipeline explosion in Western Illinois, flames reported shooting hundreds of feet into the sky after a large gas line ruptured late last night, forcing the evacuation of at least 80 homes. Fire crews have been able to shut off the line, but flames are expected to burn for the next 24 to 48 hours. Cause of this still under investigation.

Big win for Paula Deen but not for her empire. A federal judge says a former employee has no standing to sue the embattled chef for race discrimination, because she's white and is at best, quote, "An accidental victim of the alleged racial discrimination." Other aspects of the suit including sexual harassment and abusive treatment still pending.

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner out of intensive behavior therapy and now undergoing outpatient treatment, but he still faces a firestorm of criticism for his treatment of women. Many of whom say they were sexually harassed by the mayor over many years. His opponents don't want him to come back to work. So why didn't the sexual harassment accusations come up during last year's campaign? Turns out, they almost did.

Kyung Lah is in San Diego with more. Good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's the big question here. Why is it coming out now? Because a lot of the voters say they believe this has been talked about in political circles for a long time. Yet it's only now they have to face it.

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LAH (voice-over): Suzanne Morse was the host of this debate a year ago, as Bob Filner ran for San Diego mayor and eventually defeated San Diego councilman, Carl Demaio. They were discussing violence and sexual harassment. Demaio rarely looking at Filner until --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How an individual treats women in their office --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at him. He looks at him again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mayor who is going to insist on zero tolerance when it comes to the issue of sexual harassment.

LAH (on camera): See how he looks at him like that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is deliberate. That is very deliberate.

LAH: Why do you think he looked at him?

SUZANNE MORSE, HEARTFELT VOICES UNITED: I felt like he must have known something. I think that has been going on for years.

LAH (voice-over): Demaio, now running for Congress had no comment, but a Demaio staff member tells CNN allegations about Filner's harassment of women swirled in political circles during the mayoral race and the campaign tried to warn San Diego voters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I deal with frustrated travelers every day.

LAH: This airline worker in a Demaio campaign ad last year described what she called Filner's anger issues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the hostility towards me, especially when he screamed, "you can't stop me!"

LORI SALDANA (D), FORMER CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLYWOMAN: I think there was a lot of whispering, there was a lot of things under the surface. There was a, "boys will be boys" kind of an attitude.

LAH: Lori Saldana heard the whispers and complained. She spent six years as a California Democratic lawmaker, a former Clinton appointee. She went to the head of San Diego County's Democratic Party two years ago, after six women told Saldana of Filner's harassing behavior. Nothing happened.

(on camera): Is it fair to say that especially politically, in political circles, that people knew?

SALDANA: It was considered abusive. It was insulting at times, and I think people need to pay attention to those kinds of reports, and take them seriously, and that, unfortunately, didn't happen two years ago.

LAH (voice-over): They're paying attention now, as the city tries to boot its mayor and ask why it had to come to this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a lot of them knew it, and that really disappoints me and the whole batch of them.

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LAH: There is a recall effort here in San Diego under way. Mayor Filner had until midnight last night to respond and we're actually just getting his response. This was about seven hours ago that deadline passed and his response is basically -- it's a little curious. He lists all of his policy achievements and his goals. He has one line where he says, "Now is not the time to move backwards." Carol, the people trying to boot him out of office call his response unacceptable -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So apparently he isn't resigning, right? I mean, in essence, that's what that says. Now is not -- now is the time to move forward, right, so he's not resigning.

LAH: Exactly.

COSTELLO: All right, Kyung Lah reporting live for us this morning. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, I'm going to be talking to San Diego City Councilman Mark Kerse, which is why I wanted to make things clear with Kyung Lah there. The councilman is also calling for Bob Filner to step aside in the wake of the never-ending controversy. My interview with him in just about 20 minutes.

Remember last week when Oprah Winfrey said that she was the victim of racism at a high-end boutique in Switzerland? Well, now the media mogul says she is sorry. CNN entertainment correspondent, Nischelle Turner, is live in New York with more on what Oprah said. Good morning.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, it's actually really interesting what she said last night at the premier of her new movie, Lee Daniels "The Butler." Now Oprah isn't apologizing for talking about what happened to her. She seems to be saying she is sorry everyone is focusing on the specifics of this story. Not the point she was making that even Oprah Winfrey believes she is discriminated against. Let's listen to what she had to say to CNN last night.

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OPRAH WINFREY, MEDIA MOGUL: I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland. I'm really sorry that it got blown up. I purposely did not mention the name of the store. I'm sorry that I said it was Switzerland. It's not an indictment against the country or even that store. It just was, you know, one person who didn't want to offer me the opportunity to see the bag. So no apology is necessary from the country of Switzerland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, Carol, just to add to her point, she didn't name the store. It was the media who figured out what she was talking about and what store she was talking about. But she also said last night that she was just trying to use this incident as an example of the fact that she believes she still experiences racism, just not in overt ways, which is something she said to me when we sat down last week, as well, because as she puts it, no one is going to come up and call her the "n" word to her face. She feels it in other ways.

COSTELLO: Understand that. Nischelle Turner, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, if you're heading to the beach this weekend, you better watch where you step.

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COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 15 minutes past, two friends of the Boston bombing suspect will soon appear in court. The men are seen here in a photo with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in New York City's Times Square. Authorities say Tsarnaev's friends removed a backpack and laptop from his dorm room after the attack. The friends are also accused of making false statements to authorities.

A produce supplier in Mexico is voluntarily halting production and shipment of bagged salads to the United States. Taylor Farms is linked to a stomach-like illness in two states. Nationwide, more than 500 people have been infected. The company says it will not resume production until it gets FDA approval. Jellyfish are invading Florida's beaches, hundreds of people reporting sightings this weekend, and that is way above normal. CNN's Indra Petersons now joins us with this very painful story.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Painful is right. I didn't know, Carol. Talking about over 100,000 people every year are stung by jellyfish and unfortunately in Florida, that's particularly fertile breeding ground where you get all these stings. And you know what, even though they're kind of used to it in that area, they were definitely caught off guard by what happened this weekend.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're trying to see what is stinging you and you don't see anything, but then you walk on the beach and you see a big kind of like cloverleaf jellyfish.

PETERSONS (voice-over): Stan West is one of many stung by moon jellyfish this weekend near Daytona Beach. More than 200 people were treated in Valuscia County alone, where scores of the clear and hard to spot invertebrate are still hanging around. What's causing it? Experts say the weather.

JEFF CORWIN, ANIMAL AND NATURE CONSERVATIONIST: You get a weather system moving through with strong current and a big tide, and that is enough to send a wave of these jellyfish washing ashore.

PETERSONS: Most stings are relatively minor, causing itching and burning. But what about the home remedy rumored to dull the pain from this episode of "Friends."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Damn, the jellyfish! Dam all the jellyfish!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to do something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's really only one thing you can do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What? What is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to have to pee on it.

PETERSONS: There is no research backing the effectiveness of urine for treating a sting. The best remedy is saltwater to help deactivate the stingers and soothe the pain. But ultimately, you're just going to have to wait it out.

CORWIN: You've kind of got to go through this roller coaster ride of pain, but eventually it will pass.

PETERSONS: So how do you know there could be stingers in the water? Lifeguards will usually fly a purple flag to signal the presence of dangerous marine life. But above all, experts say the best thing to do is stay calm.

CORWIN: The sky isn't falling, Henny Penny can relax. It's just a bunch of jellyfish. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PETERSONS: Florida officials stress that this is only a temporary situation. A shift in the wind direction should actually push the jellyfish right back out to sea. So don't cancel your beach plans yet. Just one more thing people blame me for, the weather and now the jellyfish.

COSTELLO: Going back to what that guy said. So you're standing in the midst of hundreds of jellyfish. If you just stay calm, you won't get stung?

PETERSONS: So they say. More like stay calm. Don't freak out, obviously.

COSTELLO: It's like a hive of bees flying around your head.

PETERSONS: You can say that, but I would be screaming the top of my lungs, Carol.

COSTELLO: I would be running from that water. Indra Petersons, thanks so much.

Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, it was a terrible car crash, but it has a happy ending because there were whispers from an angel. Well, this morning, we found him.

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COSTELLO: Many of us want to believe in miracles, especially in moments when all hope seems lost and that may have seemed the case in this grew gruesome car accident on a Missouri highway. A priest seemed to come out of nowhere to calm a badly injured girl. He prayed with her and then seemed to vanish once her life was saved. When the priest didn't appear in any photos from the accident scene, some people started to wonder if the priest's presence was other worldly.

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CHIEF RAYMOND REED, NEW LONDON MISSOURI FIRE DEPARTMENT: For certain who said or how it was said or where it came from. But myself and one of the other firefighters that was beside me, we very plainly heard that we should remain calm, that our tools would now work. And that we would get her out of that vehicle.

TRAVIS WISEMAN, FRIEND OF ACCIDENT VICTIM: We're looking for the priest. You know, whether it was just a priest as an angel, serving as an angel or an actual angel that came in, and wearing the priestly attire.

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COSTELLO: Isn't that awesome? Well, today the mystery is solved. We get answers from reporter Raja Maples of CNN affiliate, KHQA.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAJA MAPLES, KHQA REPORTER (voice-over): Father Patrick Dowling says he was returning to Mid-Missouri following a mass in Ewing, Missouri because the regular priest was sick on the morning of Sunday, August 4th. That's when he approached the accident scene on Missouri 19. He said he was already inside the blockade before authorities started blocking traffic. He waited until it was possible to drive up closer to the scene.

He ended up parking behind a large vehicle, about 150 yards from the scene, walked up to a member of the county sheriff's department, and asked if he could approach the scene. Father Dowling says he never plans to drive away from an emergency, roadblock, or no roadblock.

FATHER PATRICK DOWLING, DIOCESE OF JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI: If I were in an accident and a priest heard -- I heard that a priest drove by, I would get him for that. That he would pass by the scene of the accident and leave me at that without stopping to help. You do it. You do it. You offer your services as a priest because you have the power to forgive sins and you have the power to anoint. If you have faith, you stop.

MAPLES: Rescue crews took about 80 photos of the crash scene as crews were trying to rescue 19-year-old Katie Lins. Father Dowling, also known as the mysterious priest, appeared in none of them.

DOWLING: Maybe it was a mistake. That's the only explanation I have because I didn't hide and I just stood there waiting, praying.

MAPLES: Father Dowling does not want credit for the rescue. He said a higher power deserves that credit along with the hard work and diligence of the rescue workers on the scene that morning.

DOWLING: This is Almighty God who intervened because there was something exceptional there in the manner of her rescue.

MAPLES: He described rescue crews as working harmoniously together like a Swiss watch.

DOWLING: The sergeant was quiet, but totally in control. People who were part of the scene were moved and everybody worked, did his or her job according to their -- you know, their own expertise. And it was just well-organized.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Lots of angels there that day.

The teenage girl in the accident has undergone several surgeries, but she faces many, many more. Reporter Raja Maples says the girl has asked you to pray and to pray out loud.

The mayor of San Diego will not step down, but he still faces a rising tide of criticism in his sexual harassment scandal, amidst more calls to resign or face a recall.

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