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Car Plows Into Crow at Oklahoma State University Parade; Torrential Rain Threats in Texas; Trump in Florida After Slip in Iowa Poll; Univision Reporters Not Allowed into Trump Event; Clinton, Sanders and O'Malley in Iowa Fundraising; Parts of Mexico Hit With More Than 20 Inches of Rain; American Soldier Killed in Iraq Raid; Driver Tweets Photo of Pedestrian He Killed. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired October 24, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[13:00:56] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello, again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news out of Oklahoma, where a car careened into a crowd of people watching the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade in Stillwater. The university spokeswoman said the accident happened at the corner of Hall and Fame Street and Main Street. No word on how many people were injured yet.

Paul Simms witnessed the crash and joins me now on the phone.

So, Paul, describe what you saw.

PAUL SIMMS, WITNESS: Sure. My daughter and I were watching the end of the parade and out of nowhere, to the right of us, coming southbound, was a grayish vehicle and we were on the opposite side of the street from where this happened, and all of a sudden, we saw -- I can't describe it any more clearly than this. People flying in the air. And vehicles stopped shortly after colliding with the bystanders and came to rest not long after they had hit the first set of people.

We walked towards the scene, not away from it initially. And we saw one young woman in her late teens, early 20s, on the ground, severely bleeding from her head, with a deep laceration on one of her legs. And some people stood over her and placed a cloth or a towel or T- shirt or something over her head and then with all those personnel around, day began to try to clear people out.

I got my daughter on the phone with her mother, who was away from the scene and said, you know, let's just get home. And so we went home from there. But, clearly, we've never seen anything like that before and hope never to again. We're just not really sure what happened. But clearly something went wrong and all of these people were injured. And I remember seeing debris flying, too, as well.

It was very surreal. My daughter said she thought it looked fake, 10- year-old daughter thought it looked fake at first, but I had to assure her, unfortunately, it was not fake. WHITFIELD: And so, Paul, we are looking at a still image, I think

provided by you, right? This still image showing a lot of people who are rushing to, I guess, that point of impact.

Now did this car come from a side street? We had a map earlier which showed the Hall of Fame Avenue and Main Street, but the parade was on a very specific, you know, parade route.

SIMMS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Did this car come from one of the side streets that was intersecting with the street of the parade?

SIMMS: It appeared to come from the opposite direction of the parade. It came -- the parade route, of course, was turning, I believe they were turning from the south to the west, in some cases. This came from the north, as though it had been -- as though it had somehow cleared anyone that was in its path.

WHITFIELD: My goodness.

SIMMS: It came in the opposite direction of the flow of the parade.

WHITFIELD: I see, OK. Paul Simms, thank you so much for joining us and placing us there and helping us to understand what was a tragic, startling, very frightening event, an accident happening there in Oklahoma during that OSU parade. Thanks so much.

Of course, when we get more information, we'll be able to bring that to our viewers. Meantime, Galveston County, Texas, issuing voluntary evacuations because of flooding there. This as 23 million Americans are now under threat of a major flooding event triggered by remnants of Hurricane Patricia, which is now a tropical depression.

[13:05:03] This is video of Navarro County, Texas, near Dallas. This area has been hit with more than 20 inches of rain so far. Floodwaters washed out train tracks and derailed this 64-car freight train. The two train operators were able to swim to higher ground shortly after the derailment.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is on the phone with us now, close to that freight train derailment.

Ed, what more can you tell us about what is happening there now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, the latest news is that Interstate-45, that major thoroughfare that connects the cities of Dallas and Houston, is once again closed in the Corsicana, Texas, area. We've been reporting from this area throughout the morning, that interstate was shut down because it had been covered by water, high water, for most of the night, and once again, the rains have picked up and washed out -- it's not washed out, but water has overflowed the road there.

And because of that, emergency crews have shut down the interstate once again. So, obviously, that will cause headaches for a lot of commuters, as well. But the rain continuing to fall once again. And this is an area that has been just beaten up over the last day and a half, nearly 20 inches of rain, Fredricka, has fallen on this area in the last day and a half, alone. And this is very close to where that same derailment happened. The floodwaters essentially knocking over this 64-car train, that was full of cement.

Just to give you an idea of how heavy this thing must have been. But the floodwaters were rushing strong enough to be able to knock those train tracks off of the rails. So that situation continues to be something that is causing a lot of problems here in the Navarro County area -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Ed, it's remarkable to think that the largest or the nearest body of water would be a creek and then you'd have a flash flood and this amount of water would result.

All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. Keep us posted as you learn more information.

All right, storm chaser, Reed Timmer, has been driving around Texas as the storm hit, and he's joining me right now via Skype from Houston.

So give me an idea of what you've been seeing.

REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: Well, I was in Corsicana all day yesterday and last night, covering the flooding there, and saw floodwaters several feet deep. I actually did see a train go over a train track, over floodwaters that were several feet deep and it was moving fine. I'm not sure if that was a train that was derailed. It very easily could be. But we also saw vehicles that were off to the side, carried a couple hundred yards by the floodwaters.

And we talked to an eyewitness and he was following this pickup truck and it got swept off to the side by the creek and carried 200 yards and then the swift water rescue teams of the boats came out and rescued him. So that's very good news, and that was right near I-45, Exit 220 I believe in Corsicana. And now we're down here in Houston watching super cells coming in off the Gulf of Mexico and there actually is a marginal tornado threat down here along the Gulf Coast.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. And so you're driving right now. Are you seeing a lot of people on the road? You're on I-45 you said?

TIMMER: Yes. I'm actually stationary right now due to safety concerns, but I will be driving here in a sec.

WHITFIELD: OK.

TIMMER: And there's lots of people out on the roads down here in Houston. So once that rain moves in from the west, that same rain that's caused all the flooding out there it could create big problems here in Houston. There's a lot of concrete here and not a lot of place for that water to go. And all the streams from central Texas and many of the rivers flow towards this area, and those are still rising, from all the rain upstream. So it could be setting up for a flooding catastrophe here in the Houston area. WHITFIELD: All right. Reed Timmer, thank you so much. And be safe.

TIMMER: Will do. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Straight ahead, Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, takes the stage in Florida right there. Live pictures. He's still talking, just days after two new polls show him losing his lead in Iowa. Hear what else Trump has to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:12:46] WHITFIELD: All right. Live pictures right now, Donald Trump still speaking there. That's a crowd of supporters in Jacksonville, Florida. And he has had a lot to say, especially about other Republican candidates.

Our Alina Machado is there at the rally with the very latest -- Alina.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, Donald Trump has been speaking now for about 30 minutes, and he's actually talked about a lot of the same themes that we've heard at other rallies, including hitting topics about immigration, namely, building that wall down at the border. And when he talked about that, he got a lot of cheers. But he's also talked about these polls. And he's focused on the polls that favor him, particularly how he's ahead here in Florida.

He did mention those two polls that have him trailing Ben Carson in Iowa, and he seemed to downplay those results, saying that he doesn't believe those polls and actually criticized them and drew some questions about their credibility. That having been said, he did throw some jabs at Ben Carson. Here's part of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bush is failing. He's a very nice person. Highly low on energy. He really is. He's low, he's low. He's low on energy. But he's a nice person. By the way, Carson is super low. I don't understand the whole deal. I don't know what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: So, again, referring to Ben Carson's energy in that sound bite. He also was talking about Bush, saying that Ben Carson has lower energy than Bush. He's talked about several of the other Republican presidential candidates, including Marco Rubio. But he did seem to hit Bush the hardest. For him, specifically, when he talked about Bush's state -- the state of Bush's campaign. Bush, on the other hand, did refer to Trump during a campaign rally that he had just a little while ago in South Carolina. Here's what Jeb Bush had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If this election is about how we're going to fight to get nothing done, then I don't want anything -- I don't want any part of it. I don't want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people literally are in decline in their lives. That is not my motivation. I've got a lot of really cool things that I could do other than sit around being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:15:13] MACHADO: Donald Trump here, emphasizing that his campaign isn't going anywhere and that he is strong and his supporters here certainly seem to agree with that -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alina Machado there in Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks so much.

So, meantime, the Trump campaign is also stirring controversy by barring some reporters from covering the events. Friday, Univision staffers were not given press credentials at a rally in Miami. The campaign told CNN, quote, "Mr. Trump is suing Univision for $500 million and until that is resolved, it is a conflict of interest," end quote.

Of course, Trump has had a dispute with Univision for months after it dropped the Miss USA Pageant. And you'll probably remember when Trump had Univision's Jorge Ramos kicked out of an event, only to let him back in later.

So let's talk more about this. CNN's senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, is following all of this from New York.

So, Brian, will the Trump campaign continue to block un Univision reporters from events? I mean, whatever happened to the freedom of the press?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's what I've been asking the campaign. They haven't had any comment on access for future events.

What's a little strange about this is the lawsuit that Trump filed against Univision, $400 or $500 million. It all stemmed from Miss USA, the Miss USA Pageant that Univision decided not to broadcast. That was after Trump offended many Hispanics for his comments about Mexican immigrants.

So that was way back in July. Now it's October. Univision and lots of other television networks have been covering Trump for months. So this latest, you know, battle between the two sides does seem rather randomly timed.

Now we should note, Univision is right next door to Doral. Next to Trump's resort. So maybe there's some connection for that reason. But otherwise it seems rather random and the campaign hasn't commented on whether they will continue to have these restrictions in place in the future.

But we heard from Jorge Ramos last night on Twitter pointing out this situation and he said exactly what you just said. What about freedom of the press? You know, there have been people in the past when we've heard about these incidents where Trump is rejecting press credentials, who have wondered what it would be like with a President Trump in the White House, whether he would be rejecting press credentials for reporters at the White House.

In the meantime, you have to wonder what he would do with ABC News, you know? Univision and ABC News are partners. They have a network called Fusion together. Fusion reporters were rejected yesterday, but the ABC News reporters were allowed to attend. So there is a strange sort of behavior here from the campaign that does trouble a lot of journalists, and it is not the first time as you mentioned the Trump campaign has done so.

WHITFIELD: Right. And have there been any inferences that he plans on or the campaign -- Trump campaign plans on banning any other journalists under varying circumstances?

STELTER: Yes, the only other case like this is "The Des Moines Register" newspaper. It's the biggest paper in Iowa. And for months now their reporters haven't been allowed to receive press credentials to Trump events in Iowa.

Now that doesn't really affect their coverage, because they're able to show up just like you or I as a member of the public if we didn't get press badges.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And that was in part because of an op-ed that was on the "Des Moines Register."

STELTER: That's right. It was all about an op-ed, where they called on Trump to withdraw from the race.

WHITFIELD: Right.

STELTER: So ever since then the "Des Moines Register" hasn't been able to come. You know, you sometimes wonder with Trump, he's very effective at getting people's attention. You sometimes wonder if these are attention-seeking stunts because right now he may not be happy about those polls -- two polls in Iowa that we just heard about. Those are reliable pollsters we should mention.

Those are the kind of polls that we here at CNN do report on. He says he doesn't believe them, but meanwhile he might be -- may want to focus on Univision instead. I don't know, Fredricka. Just a theory.

WHITFIELD: Attention he continues to get, indeed. All right.

STELTER: Very effective.

WHITFIELD: Yes. STELTER: Very, very effective.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:33] WHITFIELD: All right. For some in Iowa, the race for the Democratic nomination for president actually kicks off tonight. Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, and Bernie Sanders will speak at the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson Dinner. It's an annual fundraising event named for Presidents Thomas Jackson and Andrew Johnson, but every four years during the presidential race, it becomes the pivotal moment -- the pivotal moment -- that can turn a race upside down or cement a frontrunner's hold on the nomination, just as in years before --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They want to go back to the dark old days where the state can tell a spouse who doesn't have to go to the nursing home, we'll give you help, but only after you sell your car, your house, and clean out your bank account. Now then we'll take your spouse in the nursing home, I don't know what you're going to do. That's not our problem. I don't know about you, folks, that is not the America that I want to live in, in the 21st century. I don't believe in that.

AL GORE (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Newt Gingrich took over the Congress and tried to reinforce Reaganomics, some walked away. I decided to stay and fight.

JOHN KERRY (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Iowa, Iowa, don't just send them a message next January. Send them a president.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's why telling the American people what we think they want to hear instead of telling the American people what they need to hear just won't do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me now to talk about the event tonight, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, Andy McGuire, another girl with a boy name, I like that. Hi, Andy.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDY MCGUIRE, CHAIRMAN, IOWA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: There you go. I like that, too.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. So the event is sold out or is it nearly sold out? There may still be a couple of tickets left?

MCGUIRE: It's sold out. I don't even think I can get you a ticket if you want to come.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Well, tell us how people understand why it is always near sold out if not sold out whenever this comes around.

MCGUIRE: Well, I'll tell you, this is going to be a great year. There's so many people here. There are going to be thousands of Democrats tonight. And they're going to listen to each of these candidates and figure out what they want to do for the future and the vision of our country.

WHITFIELD: So these three --

MCGUIRE: It's a wild time here.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I know. I see it is. OK. That's OK, though. So these three Democratic candidates, obviously they are center stage, but they're not the only attraction. What else happens at this dinner?

[13:25:07] MCGUIRE: We also have our candidates for congressional offices. And we talk about firing up our Democrats in Iowa to come to the caucuses and to win in November. I mean, that is the ultimate goal. So this is our big fundraiser to get all of our, you know, really grassroots Democrats fired up for this year so that we can win in November.

WHITFIELD: So we saw, you know, a kind of montage of clips, you know, of all of these contenders, you know, and various races to the White House and that they would have to say at that moment. So they're not just speaking to the Iowa audience, they are talking to the nation. Is it, in large part, the moment in which a candidate kind of crystallizes who they are and what they are about?

MCGUIRE: There is absolutely an opportunity for that tonight. I've seen that in multiple previous ones, as you showed. And that's what's happened tonight is they're going to get a chance to give their vision for the country and for Iowa families tonight to Iowans and to the whole country. It starts here and we want to hear how they're going to take our progressive views forward and how they're going to take our country forward. So it's very important that thye do that tonight and they've heard out what Iowans need and what the nation needs. It's very important that they get that vision across.

WHITFIELD: So this dinner is also known for, you know, its surprises, because, you know, in 2007, Hillary Clinton was, you know, in the lead and then here comes this Senator Barack Obama with this speech that really kind of changed everything. It set a new tone in the race. It helped him, you know, to catapult to the presidency. So how much pressure in your view is there tonight on the candidates tonight to stand out?

MCGUIRE: Well, you're never going to get in front of this many Democrats that are going to the caucuses again the entire time until the caucuses. So it is kind of a pressure time. And you can really hit a mark tonight. And that's what I'm hoping to see from all three of the candidates. That they articulate their message and they can tell us what they're going to do to take us forward. That's what we're all waiting to hear. And we'll see if one of them breaks out.

WHITFIELD: All right. Katy Perry, a big presence today in so many different forms, from a wake-up call to the Clintons to we hear her blaring in the background.

All right. Andy McGuire, thanks so much. But you held your own, I like that. Take care.

MCGUIRE: Thank you. I appreciate it.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: I know it's windy and it's noisy. Tough dynamics to deal with.

All right. Now let's talk about the Republicans. Senator Marco Rubio taking a shot at Hillary Clinton. Many analysts said that she had a great week on the campaign trail and at the Benghazi committee hearing. Rubio, well, he didn't see it that way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What can be done is what I'm trying to do now is ensure that she's not the next president of the United States. That's the ultimate --

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: You know, I don't get to watch a lot of TV these days, but I was reading some of the headlines before coming here on this panel and I was shocked. I heard -- these what the headlines are. Hillary, tremendous job at the Benghazi hearing. Hillary has a great week on the campaign. Hillary had this phenomenal 11-hour testimony.

I don't know what they were listening to or what they were watching. She was caught. It was -- think about what this means. I want people to understand this. You probably already do, but there's media here. I hope they'll report this.

There were e-mails where she was telling people, there was an attack in Benghazi by an al Qaeda-like group. It was orchestrated and it was designed to kill Americans on September 11th, as a terrorist operation. And then turning around and going in front of microphones and saying, this was horrible, it was because of this video that we had nothing to do with.

And why is this meaningful? Here's why it's meaningful. Number one, because it's a lie. And number two, number two because it was right before the election. It tells you that they were willing to put domestic political considerations over telling the American people and the families of those victims the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Marco Rubio, just one of Jake Tapper's guests tomorrow on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump will also be there. Watch tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:42] WHITFIELD: A mixed week for mortgage rates. Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Residents of Mexico's Pacific Coast are assessing the damage after Hurricane Patricia roared ashore overnight. It hit the coast near Puerto Vallarta as a category 5, the most powerful storm on the scale.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Mexico, Colima State.

So, Rosa, this was a very powerful storm. What have you been able to see?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we've seen that this wicked storm weakened, Fredricka. Now I'm traveling with my team from Guadalajara all the way to the Pacific Coast and we're stopping along the way because along this highway, there are small villages and these villages are surrounded by mountains and one of the big fears from federal authorities is, of course, mud slides, landslides, that of course can be very, very dangerous.

Now we've been very lucky because so far all along this road, and we've been driving since daybreak, everyone we've talked to has said that their community is fine. Yes, there's, you know, a couple of branches down here and there, but other than that, they're fine. So they're elated, the fact that this category 5 hurricane hit the coast and they are pretty much unscathed.

Now I want you to look behind me because this is the terrain that Patricia had to deal with once it hit the coast of Mexico. It's very mountainous. You can see that it's very, very rough right now. You can see there's a low cloud cover. The sun is shining, of course. This is almost like, you know, the break after the storm and so when meteorologists, when scientists tell us that once Patricia hit this terrain, it slowed Patricia down, and you can see the roughness of the mountains that you see behind me.

And that probably helped, Fredricka, all the people that we've been talking to along this road, it probably helped them save, first of all, life, and then, of course, their property.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, great relief. But I know it's still very early in the assessments.

Rosa Flores, thank you so much.

All right, straight ahead, the body of the first American killed in combat in Iraq since 2011 returns to the U.S. this afternoon.

[13:35:04] The secretary of Defense says Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler ran into gunfire to save others. Details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT NORTHART, CO-FOUNDER, LE TOTE: Sharing clothing is something that people grew up doing. The problem that we saw with the women in our lives revolved around everyday variety. It was, you know, I'm getting ready for work on a Wednesday and I just don't like anything that's in my closet.

RAKESH TONDON, CO-FOUNDER, LE TOTE: I'm Rakesh Tondon.

NORTHART: And I'm Brett Northart. And we're the founders of Le Tote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would definitely wear that at work.

TONDON: Renting is a low-cost way of getting that variety, having less clutter.

NORTHART: We felt like this unlimited closet that people could share on a national scale just made a lot of sense. You sign up for the service online and we send you a box with three garments and two accessories. Then when you're done, send it all back and we'll send your next box right away. And it costs $49 a month for unlimited access to our shared closet.

Social media has been great for us to help grow the business because you'll have women that are posting pictures of themselves, they're hashtaging with someone on instagram, they're posting about the service on facebook.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My wardrobe is much bigger and it's a lot more varied.

NORTHART: So we started the business right out of Rakesh's living room. We were sending stuff out to friends, friends of friends, trying to figure out if there really was a market for this.

TONDON: We initially started out with San Francisco, and now we're in 48 states.

NORTHART: You see the rise of services like Spotify for music, Netflix for movies, but I think the idea of sharing and getting access to things without having to own them is a trend that's very real and it's here to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's awesome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, and this breaking news, we want to bring you now, this taking place out of Oklahoma, coming up, actually.

[13:40:04] First, we want to tell you -- all right. So -- all right, so we'll get to that in a moment. Right now, the body of Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler returns to the U.S. today, the 39-year-old from Oklahoma is the first American to die in combat on Iraqi soil since 2011. He was killed while a special operations team rescued about 70 hostages from an ISIS-controlled prison. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is praising his heroism and will be with Wheeler's family this afternoon when the body returns to the U.S. Carter also spoke yesterday about the value of this raid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The stuff you get and the great value, by the way, of raids of this kind, and I expect that we'll do more of this kind of thing, but one of the reasons for that is that you learn a great deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier joining me from Washington and former army and intelligence officer, retired Lieutenant Colonel Tony Schaffer also in Washington.

LT. COL. TONY SCHAFFER, FORMER ARMY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Good to see both of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so, Kimberly, you first. Can you elaborate any further on what has been learned since, you know, Ash Carter detailed some of the events yesterday?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think what we're seeing is one of the first actual actions on the ground that demonstrate how the White House and the Pentagon have moved from training those Syrian rebels to working with forces in the region that have proven capability. Defense officials have said they wanted to put the resources with people like the Kurdish Peshmerga who they've had a long-standing relationship with.

But also, they've got experienced fighters. One Defense official I spoke to said, look, we had trouble trying to teach some of these Syrian recruits things like, how to call in an air strike, because they didn't have the level of education. The Kurdish fighters generally are battle hardened and have a higher level of literacy and also higher level of trust between them and the American forces.

That makes this kind of operation, where you've got U.S. special operations forces partnered with them possible. And I think that's why we're going to see it in greater numbers, coming up.

WHITFIELD: And Lieutenant Colonel Schaffer, you know, we heard from Ash Carter yesterday, he said, you know, this is not considered combat that these troops were in Iraq, largely to train and support. This mission involved Peshmerga, and you know, Iraqi forces and the idea was to support that mission, but because the U.S. was fired upon, returned fire is going to happen. It did happen. And then you have engagement.

So the Defense secretary said more of these events might happen. He didn't necessarily call it a mission, but he said, this could happen more. Why do you suppose he is, essentially, promising that?

SCHAFFER: Well, first off, it's nonsense, what he says. This was combat. My condolences to the family of Master Sergeant Wheeler. Look, if people are shooting at you and you're returning fire, that -- I'm a soldier. That's considered combat. With that said, this was not simply about rescuing 70 hostages. I knew this and others have heard this before. The intelligence value of these raids is humongous. It's unimaginable. So as he said, it was not simply about rescuing these 70 folks, it's about the fact that we get a huge, essentially, a cornucopia of intelligence that we can then exploit and do more.

And frankly, Fredricka, one of the things --

WHITFIELD: And that, you're saying, is what precipitates there are going to be more missions.

SCHAFFER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Because they get so many documents, computers, et cetera, it my tell them more about other places?

SCHAFFER: Yes and no. Right.

WHITFIELD: OK. Go ahead.

SCHAFFER: What the new chairman of the Joints Chiefs, General Dunford, is actually re-looking the entire policy. And there were a number of these options already on the shelf before General Dunford showed up. I think General Dunford is now aggressively relooking what we can do and should do.

And just remember the Russians are now in the region. Any time you have a direct competitor you tend to step up your game. So I think there are several things which are essentially pushing both the White House and the Pentagon towards changing the policy to be more aggressive and frankly to be more in the line of fire and you're going to see, unfortunately, more people like Master Sergeant Wheeler put in harm's way.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, Kimberly, if there are roughly 3500 U.S. troops there now, and if the, you know, Defense secretary is saying, you're going to see more of this likely, is that a prelude to, there will be more U.S. troops deployed there? Or, it simply means, the U.S. troops are already there or are going to be busier?

DOZIER: I think busier. U.S. special operations forces had already been pushing for more participation on the ground. They -- a lot of those that I spoke to wanted to be forward, just like their Iranian counterparts are forward with some Iraqi forces, because that is the way you get to see what's really happening, and also develop loyalties.

It also creates more confidence in the forces, the local forces, that you're joining because they know that if they get hurt, the cavalry, the air force or helicopters aren't going to come in, probably, and evacuate them. But if you've got U.S. forces with you, they bring all of those resources to bear.

[13:45:12] Now to differ slightly with what Tony is saying, yes, when someone dies in battle, it's combat, but in the Pentagon's point of view, there are different levels in terms of when U.S. forces are in charge, on the ground, with a large communications center and all the resources to bring to bear and calling the shots, we're not there yet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kimberly Dozier, Colonel Tony Schaffer, thanks so much to both of you, appreciate it.

SCHAFFER: Sure. Thank you.

DOZIER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Now more on this breaking news. Tragic news out of Oklahoma, where a car careened into a crowd of people watching the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade in Stillwater.

CNN affiliate KJRH is reporting that three people are dead. 27 have been airlifted to nearby hospitals and eight people are in critical condition.

An eyewitness says he was watching the parade with his daughter when a speeding car simply plowed into the crowd.

Of course, if we get any more information about why that car did that and everything that happened thereafter, we'll of course bring that to you.

All right, now a mother in Florida is furious. Her son was hit and killed in a car accident. And the driver posted a picture of her son's body online. That story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:41] WHITFIELD: A mother in Jacksonville, Florida, is demanding answers. She wants to know why no charges are being filed against a driver of a car who hit and killed her son and then tweeted about the accident just after it happened.

The driver, 19-year-old Keenan Slaughter, struck and killed allegedly 16-year-old Trevius Williams as he was crossing the street. And then went to Twitter and wrote this. "I just killed a man." Along with a picture of Williams' body in the street.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONNIE COLES, TREVIUS WILLIAMS' MOTHER: How dare you do that? How dare you stand over my son's mangled, bloody body, and take a picture of him. I just wished he was just sleeping, you know, maybe he could just wake up. Just wake up one more time. Please. But he was gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Slaughter was not charged in the accident. But on Twitter, earlier in the night, he tweeted this, quote, "I drunk so much lean." Lean is a mixture of Sprite and cough syrup. According to police, Slaughter was actually tweeting song lyrics and that he was not tested for drugs or alcohol because there were no signs that he was impaired at the scene and that he was cooperative with the investigators.

So let's talk more about the issues in this case. Here with me is Attorney Tonya Miller, and psychologist Dr. Erik Fisher.

Good to see both of you.

TANYA MILLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, so many of the circumstances surrounding this are just unbelievable and hard for anybody to understand. A, you know, the notion of someone admitting that they may have killed somebody posting it on Twitter and then a photograph. How does anyone understand that?

ERIK FISHER, LICENSES PSYCHOLOGIST: Right. I think what we have to look at is that the boundaries in our culture are shifting and changing due to social media. And I kind of look at the new normal. And what we have to look at is when our culture starts to accept things, that might be a departure from what earlier cultures would accept. And they're not shocked anymore. We're creating new normals. And for this younger generation, lacking boundaries, lacking judgment, and that's not everybody, but we see a larger and larger segment doing that, that this is a great concern for where we're going and our level of civility, our level of dignity, our level of respect for self, and our level of respect for others. And that's a major concern.

WHITFIELD: And then, of course, when you hear the mother of Trevius who says, wait a minute, how is it that my son is no longer here, someone admits to it, even, you know, at least tweets or says that they are under the influence even though the police now say it was lyrics of the song. He didn't seem that he was impaired by anything. Why wouldn't that lead to a penalty, something, for the death of her child?

MILLER: Right. And so as a prosecutor, we face this all the time. Parents will be traumatized by the loss of their child. And then the next trauma was, who is going to be held responsible. And if no one is held responsible, it's almost like you're losing that child again. The practical reality for the police in this case is that when you're talking about vehicular homicide, not every time there's an accident where someone dies, it's going to necessarily be a crime.

WHITFIELD: I think that's remarkable for a lot of people to hear.

MILLER: Well, I think it is.

WHITFIELD: You figure, if someone died --

MILLER: Right.

WHITFIELD: -- at the hands of someone, whether it be a mistake or intentional, that it might lead to a charge in some way. You're saying no.

MILLER: No. Because what the law criminalizes when you're talking about vehicular homicide is some kind of reckless conduct. So typically reckless conduct is speeding plus weaving in and out of traffic.

WHITFIELD: And they've ruled that out, is that what we're saying?

MILLER: It sounds like they have.

WHITFIELD: Do we know that?

MILLER: But I think it might be too soon to say. They are at least not satisfied that an arrest is appropriate at this time. But they're still investigating. I do think it's very curious that he was not at least tested for drugs or alcohol on the scene. He was cooperative. There's no reason why if he's cooperating with the police they shouldn't have tested him. Particularly if they knew --

WHITFIELD: I mean, at least because somebody --

MILLER: He posted that.

WHITFIELD: -- is on the ground.

MILLER: Someone's on the ground and we've got these postings that seem to indicate maybe -- even if you want to shut that question down so that later no one is asking it, it should have been done.

WHITFIELD: OK. We're going to leave it right there. Tanya Miller, Erik Fisher, thank you so much. A very troubling case. And just so sad for all the families involved.

MILLER: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right. Equally very troubling what's taking place in Oklahoma. You've heard that there was a terrible accident involving a vehicle that careened into a crowd of people, and it has resulted, according to our affiliate there, deaths and injuries.

[13:55:06] We'll have much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: Hello, again, everyone. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Breaking news now out of Oklahoma. A tragic, very sad event. A car careens into a crowd of people at the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade. And according to our affiliates as well as officials who just ended a press conference, three people are dead and dozens are hurt. Eight of them are in critical condition. An eyewitness says that he was simply watching the parade with his daughter when this speeding car simply plowed into the crowd.

Let's get more now on this from Sara Ganim who was with us now from New York.

Sara, you had a chance to listen in on that press conference. What more do we know about the circumstances? How did this happen?

SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Fredericka, you know, Stillwater Police just announcing, unfortunately, three people died, eight people still in critical condition. Seven more people in serious condition. And seven additional, what they call walking wounded. Obviously a big crowd of people that was affected by this accident. They did confirm that they are investigating this as a DUI car accident this afternoon.

[14:00:05] They named a suspect, the driver of the car, Adacia Chambers. She's a 25-year-old woman who is now in jail in Stillwater.