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Four killed, Dozens Injured, and a Woman Behind Bars at Homecoming Parade at Oklahoma State University; Donald Trump Second Place in the Latest Polls From Iowa; Pope Francis Delivered a Sharp Rebuke to Catholic Bishops at the Close of a Historic Summit. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 25, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:00:00] KAILEY CARTER, HIT BY CAR: And so I stop and ran and the car hit me like as it was stopping, and then I flew over some strollers. There was bodies obviously laying there. My grand ma was, like, do not look, because they were putting bags over people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Our Nick Valencia joining me now.

So CNN has obtained new video of the crash, but before we show it to you, we do want to warn you that it is disturbing.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we did obtain that video over the weekend, Fredricka. It is quite graphic video. It shows the moment that 25-year-old Adacia Chambers plowed through an unmanned police motorcycle and proceed into that packed crowd. She is being held for driving under the influence. She makes her first court appearance tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: You can hear the horrific screams from the crowd as the car barrels through a homecoming parade in Oklahoma. The cell phone video captures just how fast the driver was going on Saturday afternoon when she crashed into the celebration filled with unsuspecting victims.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were here having fun, and literally they don't know what hit them. I mean, it just came 40, 50 miles an hour.

VALENCIA: The suspect, 25-year-old Adacia Chambers, walked away from the crash in handcuffs. She's been charged with driving under the influence. More charges are possible. Littered throughout the scene, debris from the crash that killed four people, several others are in critical condition. In all, at least 47 were hurt. Kailey Carter was one of them.

CARTER: I'm never going to forget that in my mind. You know, it's going to replay over and over.

VALENCIA: She says there were bodies everywhere. CARTER: I didn't know what it was at first. And so I stopped and ran

and the car hit me like as it was stopping and then I flew over some strollers.

VALENCIA: At the Oklahoma State University homecoming, a moment of silence. Players kneel to honor the victims. Among those killed 2- year-old Nash Lucas. Late Saturday his father posted a message on Facebook. "Miss you so much, buddy."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Just tragic. We are getting word of a possible press conference in this hour from the hospital where 17 people remain hospitalized, 11 of them under the age of 13 years old. And just a little while ago, Fredricka, we got a message from the mayor of Stillwater. She was the grand marshal at the parade. She said everyone was kind, everyone was happy, we were celebrating life in Stillwater, we were celebrating OSU, we were celebrating friendships and family and the cowboy's spirit, and then the unthinkable happened. And she went on to say we are mourning together, deepest sympathy for the victims and their families - Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. We have heard from so many people who have said this is like a wholesome tradition. And it is one that so many families, you know, love to attend. So indeed, this is super heartbreaking.

All right. Thanks so much, Nick Valencia.

Let's talk more about the legal ramifications of this case. Criminal defense attorney and CNN legal analyst Phillip Holloway joining me now.

So the driver of the car has been charged with driving under the influence. Still unclear the influence of what. So talk to me about the range of potential charges that may come, because we're talking about four deaths and multiple injuries.

PHILLIP HOLLOWAY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Fredricka, since we don't know right now exactly what the evidence may or may not turn out to be, literally the entire spectrum of possibilities is out there from it simply being a tragic accident to it being something that sends her to prison for the rest of her natural life. If she is, in fact, to be deemed to be under the influence of alcohol, drugs, a combination of the two, or even if it's just prescription medication and she's under the influence with that or over-the-counter medication, and she kills four people. That makes it manslaughter. And you've got potentially additional deaths if you have some of these people that are in the hospital that may not make it. You know, you might see some additional manslaughter-type charges in that regard.

In addition, you've got all the people, Fred, who were injured, and if you injure someone seriously in Oklahoma and you're under the influence at the time, that is an additional felony offense one per victim. And if they're stacked end on end consecutively, then she could be facing quite a bit of time. WHITFIELD: So when you talk about intent, because oftentimes intent

is what drives the type of charge, how do investigators look into that?

HOLLOWAY: Voluntary intoxication is not going to be a defense to any type of criminal charges in this or any other incident. If, in fact, it turns out she intended to do this, that would be murder and we're talking about a separate investigation.

WHITFIELD: But I guess I'm asking because there was intent, whether someone is know that what they are taking is about to impair their ability and then they get behind the wheel. That is folded into the equation of how to decipher the best charges, right?

HOLLOWAY: Only if it's involuntary intoxication. If someone puts something into your drink you don't know is there, you have a defense. But if you knowingly ingest the substance and then you drive and if your ability to drive is impaired, then you can be found guilty of DUI and any of the host of other additional charges that might stem from this given the nature of the injuries and the deaths.

[15:05:03] WHITFIELD: So sad. All right. Thank you so much, Phillip Holloway. Appreciate that.

HOLLOWAY: Glad to be here.

WHITFIELD: Much more straight ahead on that case. Again, we're waiting for a press conference to take place that involves this tragic accident, and when it does we'll bring it to you.

All right, meantime, Donald Trump second place in the latest polls in Iowa, and he's renewing his attacks now on Ben Carson. Still ahead, our political panel reacts to what Ben Carson didn't say in response.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:08:34] WHITFIELD: All right. Presidential candidate Donald Trump says he believes he will absolutely be a force for bipartisan for the Republicans if he gets the nomination. But in his interview with our Jake Tapper this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION," he wasted no time flinging criticism at everyone from Jeb Bush to Ben Carson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for doing this.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.

TAPPER: Appreciate it. So, some surprising news out of Iowa where in two polls now Dr. Ben Carson has pulled ahead of you, one by eight points, one by nine points. What's your message to Iowans? Why should they vote for you and not Dr. Carson?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, I was really surprised to see it because three nights ago I was in Iowa. We had a packed house. We had 4,000 people, and it was a love fest. And I have done really well with the evangelicals and with the tea party and everything. And I just don't understand the number, but you know what, I accept the number. It means I have to work a little hardener Iowa. I think it's just the same. I mean, I'm going to make our country great again. We're going to do trade pacts that are incredible instead of, like, incompetent, because like what we have right now with China, with Japan, with everybody is just incredible and nobody can do like - nobody is going to be able to do what I do in terms of making our country wealthy again so we can do all the things we want to do including the military and the vets and taking care of people. So I'm just going to have to work a little harder.

And I was very surprised to see the numbers. You know, I had a lead and it sort of flip-flop a little bit with Ben Carson. And I like Ben, but he cannot do with trade like I do with trade. He can't do with a lot of things like I do. So we will just have to see what happens.

[15:10:07] TAPPER: Well, you guys disagree, you two disagree on a number of issues, immigration is one of them. Are you going to start contrasting your positions with his more?

TRUMP: Well, I think so. I mean, you just bring up one. He's very, very weak on immigration. And I'm very strong on immigration. He believes in amnesty strongly. He believes on citizenship. I mean, he is going to give citizenship to people that are here illegally. You can't do that. And you know, we disagree on other things also. But I think the big thing also is he's just not going to be able to do deals with China, to do deals with Japan. These countries are all ripping us like nobody has ever ripped us before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. So let's talk about this. Joining me right now, CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director Jeffrey Lord and Ross Douthat. He is an op-ed columnist for "New York Times" and also a CNN commentator.

All right, good to see you guys.

JEFFREY LORD, FORMER REAGAN WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Donald Trump is now behind Ben Carson in two Iowa polls. And we just saw him being a little tough on his opponent there. But that was, of course, you know, I guess quintessential style of Mr. Trump.

So, you know, Ross, what are we seeing here? Is this an issue of Donald Trump loves the polls as long as the polls are in his favor, but as soon as they're not then that gives him yet another excuse, I guess, to go after his opponents?

ROSS DOUTHAT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this is actually sort of the challenge for Trump, right, is that if we were a conventional presidential candidate, you would look at who supports him, his constituencies and so on, and you'd say, well, Iowa isn't a great state for him. Trump supporters tend to be a little more moderate, a little more secular in spite of what he said about how the evangelicals loved him. He doesn't do as well with evangelicals. So he is actually better positioned in state like New Hampshire than in Iowa.

And normally you say, well, so he can afford to lose Iowa to Carson and then he will rebound in New Hampshire. But Trump's whole shtick, as you could hear there, is premised on the idea he's a winner, right. His whole campaign is based on the idea he is going to do amazing deals. He is going to, you know, do better than any other candidate could possibly do. So in a weird way, he can't afford to write off Iowa because it calls the whole theory of his candidacy into question. He has to win in order to keep winning, basically.

WHITFIELD: Right, Jeffrey. He needs Iowa even though we're seeing that, you know, while he loves to win, he is not a great loser either. But you know, it isn't over as they say. So talk to me about how his opponents can seize on that, particularly Ben Carson. He's on top at least in the two Iowa polls. He doesn't want to necessarily engage in bad talk with Donald Trump, but can he resist?

LORD: No. And to be perfectly candid, if you're running for president of the United States and you're in a primary situation, not to mention a general election situation, the idea is to divide. When you go back and look at American history, I mean, whether it's Obama and Hillary Clinton, whether it's Reagan and Bush, Kennedy and Johnson, Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, this is what they do in primaries. And that's how you delineate the differences between the two. So I'm sure Ben Carson will be doing this. I'm certain Donald Trump will be doing this.

There's a new poll out just today, an A.P. poll that I saw just before we went on the air that shows Donald Trump being the choice of, again, winning the number one spot in the A.P. poll. So - and I think as to Iowa, the other day he was in Burlington, Iowa, population 25,000. He had about 3,000 to 4,000 people in his immediate audience. And I'm told by somebody in Iowa that four years ago Rick Santorum got the grand total of 388 votes in Burlington, Iowa, and he went on to win the Iowa caucuses. So, you know, to get 388 votes and win and to have 3,000 to 4,000 people show up for you at the same town, that says something's going on there.

WHITFIELD: So it's interesting, Jeffrey, because you say, you know, in politics, you have to be a divider. So, if you can be a great divider when you're running for something and then you perhaps get to that pinnacle, you win the race, and then suddenly become a unifier, who's buying that?

LORD: Well, that's the way it goes. I mean, as Ronald Reagan, you know, was certainly known as uniter in the country, but he first spent the time dividing himself from George H. W. Bush and then later from Jimmy Carter. Notably he would say that, you know, a recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job and recovery begins when Jimmy Carter loses his job. He was pretty blunt about these things and yet went on to be one of the more unifying presidents in American history.

So that's just sort of standard fare if you're running for president not to mention being president. And unfortunately as I think Donald Trump has said, President Obama hasn't achieve a sort of did the unifying thing when he was running, interestingly, but as president he has turned out to be pretty divisive.

WHITFIELD: Alright, perhaps this exemplifies a unifying moment for Donald Trump yesterday in Jacksonville. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:15:08] TRUMP: A day ago I get these two polls -- remember, I don't believe them. I don't believe them. In Iowa, one place. And I love Iowa! And, look, I don't have to say it, I'm Presbyterian. Can you believe it? Nobody believes it. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian! I'm Presbyterian. Boy, that's down the middle of the road, folks, in all fairness. I mean Seventh Day Adventist I don't know about. I just don't know about. But so I'm Presbyterian. I get these polls. And I'm losing by a little bit. So headlines all over the place for two days, headlines, Trump losing in polls!

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's kind of interesting because the conflict that we had a couple of months ago is he thought I was questioning his faith and he went ballistic on that, so it seems a little interesting that he would now be doing that. I really refuse to really get into the mud pit. You know, Hillary actually was right when she said, you know, the Republicans are there, you know, trying to destroy each other. I really think that was a huge mistake in the last cycle. And I'm certainly not going to get into that no matter what anybody says.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. So Jeffrey, he said he's not going there, period.

But, Ross, I want you to respond to this because we're talking about Donald Trump, you know, making a jab at the religion of Ben Carson saying I don't know anything about it. That again is saying us versus them. Right?

DOUTHAT: Well, but what you see there is both of their styles, right? And I mean, what's interesting about the race is they're right now running sort of completely opposite styles of campaign, right? And Trump is, as Jeffrey said, running a sort of quintessential, you know, divide and conquer whoever seems like its biggest rival. He attacks them and goes after them and tries to goad them into a fight. You know, he calls Jeb Bush low energy. Now he cracks about Carson's religion. And Carson's response, and you know, we saw this in the debates, too, is to be very placid, very low key, very genial, and just sort of let it roll off his back. And it's working for both of them, right, for now. I mean, it presumably can't forever, but that's what's fascinating is that they are appealing seemingly to, and you can see it in the polls, they're appealing to different constituencies. And Carson is winning voters who are, again, I think primarily religious, many of them evangelical, who are attracted to his demeanor, his perceived, you know, his decency, his life story, and Trump is winning voters who are angry and want someone to channel their anger and, you know, take it to Washington and negotiate the most awesome deals ever. And they sort of, you know, are like ships in the night passing when they sort of work against each other.

WHITFIELD: Go ahead, Jeffrey.

LORD: They do have different styles but they're both outsiders and I think that's why both of them are doing so well.

WHITFIELD: I guess you've got it right on that.

Thank you so much, Jeffrey Lord and Ross Douthat.

LORD: Thanks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. All right, have a good one.

All right, vice president Joe Biden, he is opening up about his decision not to run for president in his only interview since his announcement. He and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, sit down with "60 Minutes" to explain why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I came home and Hunter, our son, was upstairs with mom, with Jill. And I walked in and I said, you know, I just don't think there's time. I've just decided I don't think we can run the kind of campaign we have to run to be able to win. And I remember Jill just got up off the couch, gave me a big hug and said, I think you're right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All Right. The full interview with vice president Joe Biden and his wife on CBS' "60 Minutes" airing tonight on CBS.

All right, straight ahead, the bold hostage rescue that resulted in the first U.S. combat death in Iraq in four years. We'll show you the dramatic video.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:49] WHITFIELD: All right. I want to take you to Stillwater, Oklahoma, a day after that tragedy where a car driving into a crowd leading to the deaths of four people and the injuries of many others. Let's listen now at the Oklahoma University medical center.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least not at the time obviously critical, but there was one critical that was still in Stillwater that was probably going to probably need surgery and so while I was here, we were finishing up the case, I made the anesthesia and nurses and everybody was here, nobody left, we had everything set up and ready to go so that when the patient got here we were able to do what we needed to do. We got five, I think, four -- three or four directly at children's,

one or two came to Presby (ph) but all wound up at children's eventually. So I don't know if I can give a whole lot of information on injuries and stuff because only one family's given permission, but I'm happy to field any questions.

The other thing I had to do at the time was when I was at our pediatric intensive care unit is usually packed to the gills and so- called Dr. Cunningham, who was the intensives on that day, and let him know as soon as I knew that we were probably going to need a bed and we were able to start shifting things around so that we could there's have one or two beds available if we need them.

But we'd done it before with the tornadoes. So I guess that's a good thing. In some ways, is that we've at least been through this when we've expected mass casualties. Hate to have to do it when it could have been preventable, but at least we've had practice and I think we were able to provide excellent care and service in a timely fashion and do the best we could.

Happy to answer any questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about questions after we do it all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Do you have anything else you would like me to say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We'll bring you back up later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Doctor?

[15:25:07] JEFFREY BENDER, SURGEON: Good morning. Good afternoon, rather, everybody. How do you want me to start, Scott?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say your name and spell it. Jeffrey Bender.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your title.

BENDER: Professor of surgery and I'm a general surgeon and I also do trauma surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. So what did you see?

BENDER: So I first learned about this situation from a call from Stillwater about 11:00 in the morning because I was the trauma surgeon on call. And the emergency department physician there said there was a mass casualty situation and he had been informed there were at least ten critically ill patients that were going to be need to transferred to our facility. Even a level one trauma center would be overwhelmed with ten critically ill patients potentially arriving in a short period of time. So we have a mass casualty situation where there's basically a phone tree where we get additional people to come in and help out in the emergency department. It is extra nurses, therapists, x-ray techs, even cleaning crew called to help out in addition to a few extra surgeons.

It was my job as the attending on-call to provide triage. Somebody has to know exactly how many patients are in the emergency department or en route at any one time and make a decision as to which one is the most critically ill and requires immediate use of our not-unlimited resources.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

BENDER: There were four patients eventually brought to our facility from this event. One was a child, the 7-year-old we heard about, and we had three adult patients who had mostly major extremity but also vascular and head injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you talk a little bit about the trauma system and how you were prepared?

BENDER: We're prepared, as Dr. Lenton said, we have a mass casualty drill, i.e., we don't actually have patients there, we just pretend there are patients so everyone knows their job. We've had unfortunate practice over the years mostly with natural disasters. Occasionally there will be a major automobile smash-up involving multiple vehicles which will activate the same system. But we have learned over the year how to adapt. And we've learned from every event, and I'm sure we'll learn something from the event as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a seat and we'll bring you up for some Q&A. Mr. Bates. Mr. McNett, I'm sorry.

MARK MCNETT, STEPFATHER KILLED IN PARADE CRASH: Hello. And we were at the scene yesterday during the parade and wanted to put a face to my stepfather, Leo Schmidt. We were all there at the parade at the end of the route and first time we've been back to homecoming for multiple years. And met up with some additional friends there. And, you know, just kind of towards the end of the parade when the situation occurred, and there was, as you would imagine, quite a crazy scene.

And the only thing I can relate it to is maybe some type of a bombing or something. It just -- nobody knew what was going on, and all we were really concerned with was our family and friends and everybody that was injured.

And everyone sprang into action. The cowboy nation really came together at that moment, you know, just random people on the streets, the army National Guard had just participated in the parade. They were there. A lot of the Stillwater medical and police were there. And if there was any blessing towards the end of a parade usually is when the fire trucks and the ambulances kind of bring up the rear, and they were all right there.

Leo was hurt pretty bad, but he was breathing and had a pulse and we -- a lot of folks gathered around and helped out, and they determined he was had to go, airlifted to OU medical. And, you know, for a few hours we weren't 100 percent sure where he was in the state or if he had flown to Dallas or where he was, and a lot of us that were less injured went over to Stillwater medical center. We, as quickly as we could we came back down to Oklahoma city and kind of stumbled and fumbled, but we found where he was and found the rest of the cowboy family that were there with their loved ones and stuff and just waited for the good news. And -- or just what was going on.

Wanted to mention Dr. Joshua Jeerman and Dr. Martin at the trauma center, they kept us posted on Leo's condition. News is starting to improve, 24 hours later. And, you know, I apologize. We're still in our clothes from yesterday. It's been -- a crazy 24 hours. But, you know, the OU medical center really has helped out. And to say the least, you know, best doctors around. And everybody kept a cool head. And I think Leo and the rest of the families with children are in the best hands they can be.

We have some medical folks in our family, and they're kind of interpreting the medical jargon, and like I said, it's starting to sound better for sure. And so, it's good to have family and, you know, today we're all. So we appreciate the kind words and didn't realize how big of a story or what this would be so we wanted to put a face to Leo. Good guy. Everybody loves him. Would do anything for you. You know, loves horses and works hard and loves to have a good time and never -- any opportunity to see a cowboy football game, he's there. So we missed the game, but we feel the love and we'll get through this and move on.

[15:32:34] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point we'll go ahead and open it up for Q&A.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Mr. Bender, if you could kindly approach the microphone. I know you said you activated the phone tree and there was a protocol in place, extra nurses, hospital therapists. I know medical staff for the victims, but how important is that for the family members coming down to get information on their loved ones?

BENDER: I think extremely important. And I didn't mention the extra chaplains came who are generally function as our liaison with the family because they don't have to be involved in the actual medical care. Like a nurse or something like that having to interact with the families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: I know it was chaotic, maybe an understatement. What do you remember? When it happened, what did you hear? What did you see? What did you think?

MCNETT: Yes. Probably for several reasons don't want to go into too much detail of exactly what we saw. We're releasing statements and so are police. But apparently, you know, the car came through, hit I believe a police motorcycle. The police motorcycle may have saved us. Things were ricocheting everywhere. We're all injured. They said 40- some were at Stillwater. I can tell you there was more than that. I was -- you know, a lot of us didn't need medical treatment. We got bumps and brews and were pulling fiberglass out of our clothes and stuff, but -- like I said, a bomb, like a bomb, just the screaming and just a little bit of chaos -- a lot of chaos, I guess. But what was just a little bit of a stroke of luck was there were so many police, medical, everyone was there. Obviously during a college football game there's a lot there to begin with. But just -- that was still three, four blocks away at the end of the parade route. We were lucky in that regard. And everyone jumped in.

[15:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motorcycle was deflected the car? How --?

MCNETT: Well, I didn't see any of it other than we were all facing the parade and everything came from behind us. A few folks have mention they might have seen something out of the corner of their eye. I think there's a video or something out there. But all I remember is a gush of wind and then the sound. And Leo, who was standing next to me, wasn't standing next to me. He was -- he was, you know, off to the side. And at that point there was a lot going on. I'm just one person. I just went to help Leo and make sure he was breathing and had a pulse and trying to flag down whoever I could to get some help. And of course there was a hundred people doing the exact same thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

MCNETT: Well, just the four of us immediately. You know, Leo and myself, my wife, and my mom. And we met up with -- just happened to see friends, you know, at a parade you see other family and friends. There's probably -- I don't know, there's video of how many people were there at the scene. Lots of people were at the end of the parade route.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

MCNETT: He's my stepfather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: We've heard a lot about people saying this could have been avoided. Would you like to address the driver of that truck if you could say something to her that you want to say?

MCNETT: Yes. I mean, a lot of thoughts go through your head. You know, you're upset. You're worried about that person, you know, was it some kind of -- something national type of event, was it just an accident, a medical -- we don't know. And we talked about that. All we can say is we hope everyone comes out OK. And the Stillwater police have been reaching out to us and taking statements and stuff. I'm sure they're going to -- patrol will probably do a thorough investigation. But as far as the driver, I just don't want to comment on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Have you talked to Leo today?

MCNETT: We talked to him. He is heavily sedated, but he is looking at least better than I was expecting, so I'm fairly optimistic. A lot of family, his parents drove in from Iowa and we're all trying to stay positive for him. You know, and all the families. There's a lot of cowboys up there with their little -- with the little ones, the children and stuff like that, and we're obviously upset about all the injuries and just trying to keep a positive attitude.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

MCNETT: They've asked me not to mention that or, you know -- he's -- you know, it's going to be probably a long recovery, but he's OK. He is doing OK. He's in the best hands I think we could be in here in the state.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

MCNETT: Yes. I did think about that. We haven't really -- we really haven't had time to even think about it. I mean, we're still in the same clothes from yesterday. We're just -- managed to get a meal in us today and get a few hours' sleep. So honestly, we, you know, I had to get a car key fixed. I actually remembered to get the car key out of Leo's pocket and it was bent over in his pocket. So we didn't even have a car to get down here. But, you know, we'll figure that out. We haven't done it yet. But, you know, I guess, you know, like any situation, you know, donate to the Red Cross or the local folks, to the universities, you know, where they can help. I think we'll be talking to the university, Dr. Hargus might be here later. We'll see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Can you comment on what sort of injuries you suffered?

MCNETT: Yes. It's severe, but I really don't know. I'm not a medical person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Your injuries.

MCNETT: I just have a wound on my calf. It's OK. It's just like a ball bat hit me. But I came out very lucky.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Was your wife injured at all?

MCNETT: That's my mother right there. She had a few stitches in her leg. A lot of it was kind of the leg area, knees and stuff. But, yes, we were fine. And at Stillwater medical it was a little chaotic but they had -- a lot of people were coming in, bringing in food, and they had a plan and they knew that a lot of them were needing to come down to the trauma one center here. So they all did a great job.

[15:40:23] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going once. Twice. Yes, sir. Come on up. Yes. You bet.

BENDER: I just want to emphasize how important the trauma center is to the state. Events like this are tragedies, but -- and these people were badly injured, but these were not the most severely injured patients brought to our trauma center yesterday, nor were they the majority of the severely injured patients brought. We did literally operated more literally twice as many people for acute traumatic injuries in the last 24 hours than we did from the victims of this Oklahoma state tragedy. And I want to thank everyone that makes this possible. Not only the state dollars that fund it, the administration that funds it. WHITFIELD: All right. You're hearing from the trauma and general

surgeon there describing the capabilities of the Oklahoma State University medical center. He described earlier they had treated lots of cuts and even head injuries as a result of that accident yesterday when a driver careened into a crowd at a homecoming parade there for Oklahoma State University. It resulted in the deaths of four people and many dozens were injured and many of them ended up at that hospital right there.

Earlier, we heard from young one man there who described that he suffered a bruise, his mother suffered some stitches and it's his stepdad that remains hospitalized with a host of injuries. Of course, we'll continue to update you on the situation. One person has been detained. The woman who was behind the wheel. She is now facing DUI charges, but more charges could come.

Of course when we get any more information about the circumstances of what happened yesterday, we'll bring that to you.

Much more right to that.

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[15:45:21] WHITFIELD: Pope Francis delivered a sharp rebuke to catholic bishops at the close of a historic three-week summit known as Synad (ph). The meeting focus on two issues, once considered taboo for the Catholic Church, divorce and same-sex marriage. All cleric did agree to leave Francis on his desire for divorce Catholics to participate more in church. They did not badge on matters of homosexuality. Pope Francis shut back at bishops stating quote "a faith that does not know how to grow roots into the lives of people stays barren. And instead of an oasis, it creates more deserts."

CNN religious commentator and host of the Sunday mass Father Edward Beck joining me now.

Good to see you now, Father. So your reaction to this summit?

FR. EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGIOUS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the headline is that for divorce and remarried, they're going to be able to use the internal forum to decide where they proceed as far as church involvement. That means that they talk to their pastor or priest and use their individual conscience as to what their state is.

Now, this is kind of remarkable that it made it to the document. It was the most contested paragraph. So out of 265 bishops gathered, you need a two-thirds vote which means 177. It got 178. So it passed by one vote which means that most didn't want any change at all with regard to divorce and remarried receiving communion but this did pass.

Now Fred, it's important to note that Pope Francis can do whatever he wants with this. He has now time to put together his own document. His only consultative and then we'll see if he takes it further and leaves it as it is. We know he's a Pope of surprises so we don't know where he may yet take this. WHITFIELD: So under his direction, however, do you consider this, you

know, quite the victory I suppose, that either has been his message conveyed, there has been sort of an acknowledgement or a willingness to discuss further evolution?

BECK: You know, Fred, it's a compromise victory, because the more liberal bishops would have wanted the document to actually say if someone is divorced and remarried without an annulment they can still receive communion and we'll work toward getting them fully regulated in the church. This document doesn't say that. It says an individual case-by-case, come to talk to your pastor or priest and see what your situation is, acknowledging that each situation is different.

So note, though, the document from the synod does not communication communion at all. Interestingly, it probably wouldn't have passed if it had put communion or Eucharist in the paragraph. It just says each couple has to deal individually with their situation. So it's a victory for liberals in the sense that it got that far, but conservatives will say, look, it doesn't mention communion so nothing really has changed.

WHITFIELD: One catholic analyst put it this way at "the Washington Post" saying Francis has the same problem Obama had. He promised the world, but Congress wouldn't let him deliver. So, do you also see that there might be some frustration here?

BECK: I think there's been evident frustration in the meetings thus far. I mean, the bishops and cardinals have been bickering back and forth. The German bishops who are more liberal put forth this more progressive agenda. It was fought about. Francis seems to have pushed that agenda. There was some pushback about him pushing a more liberal agenda.

So I think, you know, it is somewhat political and that's been seen in these meetings. But, again, Pope Francis has the final say which sometimes you can't say of the president because he doesn't always have the final say. In this case Pope Francis does. So it will be very interesting to see over the coming weeks and months as he puts together his own document based on this consultation where it winds up.

WHITFIELD: All right, Father Beck, thank you so much. Always good to see you.

BECK: You, too, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

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[15:52:57] WHITFIELD: All right. What's left of hurricane Patricia and another system are now heading toward Louisiana. And that has put more than six million people under a flood watch in the area.

Meanwhile, Texas is getting some relief after being soaked with more than 20 inches of rain in the past day or so. In Houston authorities are still watching several highway ramps into

the city that had to be closed because of rising water.

CNN's Ryan Young made his way today from Texas to Lake Charles, Louisiana.

So, Ryan, what are the conditions there? What are people bracing for?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are still trying to dry ourselves out from the earlier times when we were in Houston. We started at 3:00 this morning and the rain there was steady and heavy all morning long. And we actually saw some of the bayous rising with the waterfall there, six to 10 inches expected and more than 45 road closures.

But where we are now you can see the water and the rain haven't started to hit just yet. In fact, as we walk towards this creek and we decided to come down here because we saw a gauge back toward this direction where the water is. And look, a lot of the homeowners tell us this is not something they are worried about just now because the water has not started hitting this area significantly.

Now, when you talk about what happened in Houston, there was so much water. We actually saw cars being submerged by all the water that felt very quickly in that area. In fact, some drivers got stuck trying to take the chance going through rising waters only to have their car shut down in the middle of the water.

The good news so far, we haven't heard of any injuries or anyone that needed to be evacuated because of those situations. They were able to get themselves out of the car. But look, this is the situation that residents are paying attention to.

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GAYE MCDONALD, RESIDENT: We will not flood this time. And we stay up with the weather. Watch CNN and you-all will tell us the, you know, whether we leave or whether we stay. But we don't intend to leave, you know, ever and we're very safe up here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So, Fred, look, we drove around. We wanted to see what was going on in this area. You can see the gauge over there, it's not even a foot in this area. So look, nothing to worry about just right now. Of course, they're expecting more rain to come through this area. But everybody is kind of watching and waiting to see what happens. We haven't seen any significant property damage. And a lot of people have been telling us it's been so dry that all this extra water has been getting absorbed pretty quickly.

[15:55:15] WHITFIELD: Interesting.

All right. Ryan Young, keep us posted on the developments there from Lake Charles.

All right, the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right after a short break.

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[15:59:39] WHITFIELD: Happening now in the NEWSROOM --

CARTER: The car hit me, like, as it was stopping and then I flew over some strollers.

WHITFIELD: A time of celebration shattered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Didn't think someone could hurt people like this is just unfathomable.

WHITFIELD: The homecoming parade at Oklahoma State University, a scene of terror when a driver crashes through the crowd. Four killed. Dozens injured and a woman behind bars. Today the community wants to know why.

Plus, dramatic new video reportedly showing that U.S. raid to save hostages in Iraq --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

END