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Bodycam Video Shows Petito Confirming Laundrie Hit Her During Dispute; Newly Released Audio Reveals January 6th Protesters Overwhelmed U.S. Park Police; Mayor Joey Bouziga (D-Golden Meadows, LA) Discusses Thousands in Louisiana With Power 1 Month after Ida Landfall, Delay in FEMA Housing Help. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 01, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:33:35]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Disturbing new police bodycam footage shows Gabby Petito describing her injures from an altercation with fiance, Brian Laundrie.
On August 12th, police in Moab, Utah, pulled over the couple after a witness called 911 reporting they'd seen a man hit a woman and drive away in a white van.
Here is part of what Petito told officers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: You say you hit him and I understand if he hit you. And we want to know the truth if he hit you.
(CROSSTALK)
GABBY PETITO, FORMER FIANCEE OF BRIAN LAUNDRIE: I guess, yes, but I hit him first.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Where did he hit you? Don't worry. Just be honest.
PETITO: On my face. Like, he held my face like this. Like I guess, he didn't like hit me in the face. He didn't punch me in the face or anything.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Did he slap your face or what?
PETITO: Well, he grabbed me with his nail and I was cut right here and I could feel it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: CNN national correspondent, Nadia Romero, is in North Port, Florida.
So, Nadia, what did we learn from the bodycam video and the new 911 calls.
NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we're seeing quite a difference in this bodycam video from the images that we saw on social media of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie seeming happy and in love. This is a different aspect of their relationship.
And we saw a difference between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie. Laundrie was almost nonchalant, telling officers that she hit him and him the victim, whereas, Gabby Petito was very emotional.
[14:35:02]
It was painful really to watch her as she pleaded with officers not to arrest her or Brian Laundrie.
In that video, you hear the officer telling her he's limited on choices. And that is part of the reason why the officers involved are under an independent investigation to see if they handled this call in the right way.
Utah law mandates that someone has to get arrested if there's possible cause and when it comes to a domestic violence issue or a domestic dispute call.
Neither one of them were arrested. Instead, Laundrie was taken to a hotel to separate the two for the night. So that's under independent investigation.
And here in Florida, the search still continues, Alisyn, for Brian Laundrie. The family says they haven't seen or heard from him since September 14th. We're now in October, so it's been more than two weeks.
And Gabby Petito's family believes that Brian Laundrie has all of the answers to their questions -- Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: And, Nadia, do you also have some new details about the Laundrie family's movements in the days after Brian's return from Wyoming?
ROMERO: Yes, so we know that, once Brian Laundrie came back to Florida on September 1st, he was without Gabby Petito but was in her car.
And the family had a camping reservation. It is only supposed to be two of them and the reservation changed to three.
So people have been questioning, what do these parents know? What were they told what happened to Gabby Petito?
They left together and they lived in this house together before the cross-country trip but did not turn. So what exactly did the family know and what did Brian tell them?
The other question comes on September 11th. That is the day which Gabby Petito's family reported her missing. And we have a police report from that day but everything has been
redacted, which leaves us to believe, Alisyn, there's a lot more to this story that we just don't know about.
CAMEROTA: Nadia Romero, thank you for the reporting.
So the Gabby Petito case has highlighted just how many missing person cases there are every year in the U.S.
Here is another one we want to highlight. This is in Florida. The FBI is searching for a 19-year-old Orlando woman who went missing one week ago.
Mia Markano has not been seen since last Friday when she vanished from her apartment complex.
Earlier this week, the Orange County sheriff said a person of interest in the case, who worked at that apartment complex, was found dead of an apparent suicide.
If you have any information whatsoever about Mia's whereabouts, call the Orange County sheriff. The number is on your screen. It's 407-836- HELP, 407-836-HELP.
The search is also intensifying for a New Jersey woman missing since June. Police say 30-year-old Lauren Cho was in California with her boyfriend this summer before she disappeared.
Cho was last seen in Yucca Valley near the Joshua Tree National Park. Police say Cho was reported missing after she apparently left an Airbnb resort where she was staying with her boyfriend and other guests.
Investigators believe she walked into the desert without any of her personal belongings, with no food, water or cell phone.
If you have any information on Lauren Cho, you can call the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office at 760-956-5001. If you don't have any pen, you could also just call your local 911 and ask them to put you in touch with San Bernardino.
We also have newly released audio from police on January 6th. And it gives us fresh insight into the chaos from the insurrection. We have that to play for you ahead.
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[14:43:13]
CAMEROTA: Newly released audio tapes provide a ground-level perspective of what the U.S. Park Police were experiencing on January 6th.
These radio recordings reveal, hours before the capitol was attacked, unruly protesters overwhelmed the Park Police.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
UNIDENTIFIED U.S. PARK POLICE OFFICER: Park Service has requested that the Flag Circle is closed. We have about 300 people out there. They're all refusing to leave. Do we have any react squads so we can have a small show of force to get this area closed?
(END AUDIO FEED)
CAMEROTA: This was obtained by an oversight group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Let's go to CNN law enforcement correspondent, Whitney Wild.
Whitney, what did we learn from these tapes?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Over the seven-hour period that the tapes capture, it became clear really quickly, Alisyn, that this crowd was prepared for a potential fight and simply wasn't going to listen to police.
What we heard over and over were police saying, we're telling people to leave and they're not going to do it. And further describing that these people were in riot gear, carrying shields.
For example, in some cases, carrying a pitchfork was some of the observations in the radio transmissions.
Here is a brief snippet of some of the seven hours of audio captured by crew.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
UNIDENTIFIED U.S. PARK POLICE OFFICER: We have a mob of onlookers inside of the Flag Circle of the entrance to the monument. So just be advised when you come up to tell that prisoner to stand by for now.
UNIDENTIFIED U.S. PARK POLICE OFFICER: We have an arrestee on the Washington Monument. We're going to temporary close it right now so we could further assess what we need to do with the prisoner. There's a large crowd surrounding the monument right now.
DISPATCHER: The prisoner is inside of the base of the monument with multiple Park Police officers saying they are completely surrounded with protesters and they're trying to figure out a plan on how to get the arrestee down to the wagon.
[14:45:12]
UNIDENTIFIED U.S. PARK POLICE OFFICER: We have individuals with shields and gas masks at the statue.
DISPATCHER: OK, they're at the Lincoln statue with shields and masks?
UNIDENTIFIED U.S. PARK POLICE OFFICER: 10-4. They're taking pictures right now. With a flag that says "(EXPLETIVE DELETED) Antifa." UNIDENTIFIED U.S. PARK POLICE OFFICER: Myself and 21 directs for the
141, monitor only. Do not take any type of enforcement action. Let it happen.
(END AUDIO FEED)
WILD: So it also shows there were basically these little flare-ups, Alisyn, throughout Washington. There were problems at the Washington Monument and there was a problem at the Lincoln Memorial.
Further, there was also the issue because people were trying to get into the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse and they didn't know they couldn't bring backpacks.
So they left like a thousand backpacks outside of the rally and Park Police were trying to figure out what to do with that because all of those pose a security risk because they're unattended bags.
So there were all of these issues throughout Washington hours before the riot broke off.
Alisyn, it shows how dynamic and how much that situation evolved from even the early hours of January 6th.
CAMEROTA: Absolutely. And how outmanned they clearly felt. They just said we're just going to have it let it be at one point, it sounds like in the audio.
Whitney Wild, thank you very much.
OK, so one month after Hurricane Ida, thousands of families are still without power. I'll talk to the mayor of one town whose residents are still suffering from that deadly storm.
Also, we're live on Capitol Hill where President Biden is expected to meet with House Democrats soon. Can he persuade them to take action today?
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[14:51:10]
CAMEROTA: It's been one month since Hurricane Ida devastated parts of Louisiana but for thousands of residents in the hardest-hit Parishes, the lights are still off.
In the small town of Golden Meadow, in Lafourche Parish, at least 35 percent of energy customers still cannot connect to power, according to the mayor.
The mayor also says people are still eating cold meals and sleeping in tents on their lawn or putting tarps over their houses if their homes are still standing.
Joining us now is the Mayor of Golden Meadow, Joey Bouziga.
Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for being here.
It sounds like it has just been hell there in your town and parish. Has FEMA been there to help at all?
MAYOR JOEY BOUZIGA (D-GOLDEN MEADOWS, LA): Yes, ma'am, FEMA has been here on the ground going door to door getting information from the people in the community.
But it's taken a while to get any housing or camper trailers here to get shelter for our people. It's taken quite a while to get there.
But they are on the ground feeding the information to their superiors, but we're still waiting.
Like I said earlier, people are living with blue tarps on their roof. When it rains, it's raining in their homes, you know.
CAMEROTA: How many people do you think are still homeless there? How many people would you say are in tents right now?
BOUZIGA: Oh, I can't tell you how many. There's a few in tents. Some of them sleep in their vehicles. We've got about 35 percent of residents that you can't even live in -- their homes are destroyed.
CAMEROTA: I mean, people sleeping in their cars. It's been a month. What's the answer?
BOUZIGA: The answer is we need help from the federal government to send us campers or trailers that powers our people. That is the answer.
CAMEROTA: So just so I understand, FEMA has been going door to door to assess the situation but you haven't gotten any FEMA trailers for people to move into?
BOUZIGA: No, ma'am, not one.
CAMEROTA: What's your plea today to the federal government?
BOUZIGA: My plead is we need help. We need housing for our people.
There are motels for some of our people but motels are three and a half hours away, four hours away, so they got to commute back and forth, those that want to commute.
But we need people -- people want to be home. They don't want to leave their property. They want to be in their community. They don't want to be living three hours or four hours away in a hotel.
CAMEROTA: Of course. Of course. So has FEMA told you what the holdup is? Why haven't they gotten you trailers?
BOUZIGA: Gathering information.
CAMEROTA: That's really hard --
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Mayor.
BOUZIGA: Gathering information. You know, they can give us -- they can't give us a direct answer, can't give us a date, you know.
CAMEROTA: That's really hard to hear, Mayor.
I just want to show a map of where Golden Meadow is because you're on this little spit of land, basically, it looks like, surrounded by water. So you're south of New Orleans so, of course, you were so hard hit.
I read that more power outages were caused by Ida than Katrina, Rita, and Zeta combined.
What's the status of kids there in Golden Meadow? I know that the roof was torn off the high school. What's happening with kids going to school?
BOUZIGA: Well, kids are not in school yet. They are in the process of sending them to school in the next couple of weeks in different phases.
But we lost a roof on our old high school. Used to be the old high school and now it's a middle school. We lost the roof on that. The last time I saw the roof come off that building was Hurricane Betsy.
[14:55:09]
CAMEROTA: And Mayor --
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Sorry, go ahead.
BOUZIGA: Our town is devastated with Hurricane Ida. We really got punched in the face hard by this storm. Our people are suffering right now.
Right now, you've got people in line a mile trying to get food in line with the local churches feeding every day.
CAMEROTA: Well, Mayor Joey Bouziga, we will try to get in touch with them on your behalf and see what's going on because, obviously, you need a lot more help than you have gotten.
Thank you for taking the time to tell us what the status is there.
BOUZIGA: All right. Thank you for having me.
CAMEROTA: OK, minutes from now, President Biden is going to head to Capitol Hill. He's going to meet with Democrats and try to rally members around his agenda. We have much more on what it to expect, next.
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