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CNN Live Saturday
Interview With Kendall Coffey
Aired February 22, 2003 - 18:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: People are still trying to find their loved ones. Some don't even know if they're missing relative is alive or dead. CNN's Jason Carroll has one mother's heart-wrenching search for her daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICIA BELANGER, MOTHER OF MISSING VICTIM: I'm just praying to God that she's still alive.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN SATURDAY NIGHT: The wait for Patricia Belanger is agonizing. The only thing worse than waiting is not knowing whether her daughter, Dina DeMaio, survived Thursdays' fire at The Station nightclub.
BELANGER: You feel like this is a nightmare. It's going to be all over soon, hopefully. But you just can't believe it, that this happened.
CARROLL: DeMaio worked part time as a cocktail hostess, but she did it to earn extra money to take care of her son Justin, who is seven. DeMaio normally would not have been working at the club on a Thursday night, but since the popular '80s metal band, Great White, was scheduled to play extra help was brought in to serve the crowds.
BELANGER: I found her license, so she has no I.D. on her at all, none, none. I called up the dentist that she goes to, he's going to do what he has to do.
They're they go, showing it again.
CARROLL: Belanger says every time she sees the infamous videotape of the disaster her anxiety turns to anger. She blames Great White for using pyrotechnics in a place where they were not allowed, even though the band says they had permission.
BELANGER: They should have never done that. That is way too much. Way too much, you could see how low the ceilings were. You could see the ceiling -- it -- it -- I don't know, I blame them. I blame that band. I really do.
CARROLL: Dina's family checked area hospitals and gave her name to authorities, it is a frustrating process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The emergency management group ...
CARROLL: They don't have a report.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... they don't have a report on Dina.
CARROLL: But you say you already filled out a report.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We gave them a picture. We left them a picture.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I filled it out. I signed it.
CARROLL: You gave them a picture, you filled out the report?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CARROLL: So, now you are going to have to do it again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CARROLL: The Belangers spend much of their time at an emergency center set up for the victims' families. They'll give as much information about Dina as possible including her age. Dina is 30 years old, her birthday was Thursday.
Jason Carroll, CNN, West Warwick, Rhode Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: So, what happens next? Well, with nearly 100 people dead, nearly 200 total injured, some one will surely held to account for this disaster. Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney is our legal guest tonight.
Kendall, good to see you.
KENDALL COFFEY, FRMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: Good to see you, Carol.
LIN: When you take a look at what you know about what happened out there, who is to blame? And how is that going to be determined?
COFFEY: Carol, there are basically two different directions that blame is going go. One is, of course, criminal responsibility. And there I think the issue is going to be who really set off the fireworks, because it clearly violated the law. And it is probably going to be chargeable as an involuntary manslaughter, either under the theory that it was reckless, or that whoever was igniting the fireworks was committing a misdemeanor --
LIN: Well, the band, the band ignited the fireworks, right?
COFFEY: That's right. They are front and center in this. And I don't think it gets them very far to say they had a verbal OK. Rhode Island has very demanding laws for the use of fireworks, and they should. And all of those provisions were ignored here.
LIN: What about the owners?
COFFEY: The owner's principle liability, from what we've seen so far, is civil. You hate to even talk about lawsuits but we saw how quickly a lawsuit was filed with the club tragedy in Chicago. And the net for civil liability, for damages, is going to be very, very wide. Everyone from the club owners to whoever put that foam, that insulation foam in the drop ceiling, that apparently spread very, very fast.
LIN: Is there a difference between the body of evidence that you need in a civil suit versus the body of evidence in a criminal case?
COFFEY: It is critically different in two regards. First, it is criminal purposes you zero in on the individual actor, as opposed to company or the entity itself. And, of course, the other thing we know is the standard of proof. In a criminal case it is beyond to the exclusion of reasonable doubt, civil standards much less. So, expect a lot, a lot of defendants ultimately civilly. From a criminal standpoint, it will be a very small number of targets once they sort through the facts.
LIN: And how troublesome is it for the band members that the club where they played just previously, one of the managers or the owners said, when he saw that the band was trying to light pyrotechnics in his club, he jumped up on stage and said, what the heck are you doing? And made them put out the flames.
COFFEY: Carol, that is very critical, because if you have a swearing contest, the club owners say there was no permission, the band says there was. And if the band is, in effect, a repeat offender and has done this before, I think it is pretty clear where the responsibility is going to be assigned.
LIN: So, in a civil case, with the club owners -- I mean, how many lawsuits do you think? You just hinted at it, but his assets may have been tied up in this club. What is it likely that these families, if they do sue, are they going to end up with?
COFFEY: Well, you even hate to talk about it at this point. But it is going to happen and let's not be shocked if there isn't a lawsuit within a week or so. And we're going to see so many targets, the club owners, the owners of the property, whoever put the foam in there. The city itself may be looked at, because they inspected it in December and apparently no one complained about the fact that you had highly inflammable insulation in a drop ceiling. A lot of issues, too early to tell, but there is going to be a flood tide of litigation here.
LIN: All right. And a lot of grief spurring them.
COFFEY: A lot of grief.
LIN: Thank you very much, Kendall Coffey. We'll follow up with you.
COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 22, 2003 - 18:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: People are still trying to find their loved ones. Some don't even know if they're missing relative is alive or dead. CNN's Jason Carroll has one mother's heart-wrenching search for her daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICIA BELANGER, MOTHER OF MISSING VICTIM: I'm just praying to God that she's still alive.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN SATURDAY NIGHT: The wait for Patricia Belanger is agonizing. The only thing worse than waiting is not knowing whether her daughter, Dina DeMaio, survived Thursdays' fire at The Station nightclub.
BELANGER: You feel like this is a nightmare. It's going to be all over soon, hopefully. But you just can't believe it, that this happened.
CARROLL: DeMaio worked part time as a cocktail hostess, but she did it to earn extra money to take care of her son Justin, who is seven. DeMaio normally would not have been working at the club on a Thursday night, but since the popular '80s metal band, Great White, was scheduled to play extra help was brought in to serve the crowds.
BELANGER: I found her license, so she has no I.D. on her at all, none, none. I called up the dentist that she goes to, he's going to do what he has to do.
They're they go, showing it again.
CARROLL: Belanger says every time she sees the infamous videotape of the disaster her anxiety turns to anger. She blames Great White for using pyrotechnics in a place where they were not allowed, even though the band says they had permission.
BELANGER: They should have never done that. That is way too much. Way too much, you could see how low the ceilings were. You could see the ceiling -- it -- it -- I don't know, I blame them. I blame that band. I really do.
CARROLL: Dina's family checked area hospitals and gave her name to authorities, it is a frustrating process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The emergency management group ...
CARROLL: They don't have a report.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... they don't have a report on Dina.
CARROLL: But you say you already filled out a report.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We gave them a picture. We left them a picture.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I filled it out. I signed it.
CARROLL: You gave them a picture, you filled out the report?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CARROLL: So, now you are going to have to do it again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CARROLL: The Belangers spend much of their time at an emergency center set up for the victims' families. They'll give as much information about Dina as possible including her age. Dina is 30 years old, her birthday was Thursday.
Jason Carroll, CNN, West Warwick, Rhode Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: So, what happens next? Well, with nearly 100 people dead, nearly 200 total injured, some one will surely held to account for this disaster. Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney is our legal guest tonight.
Kendall, good to see you.
KENDALL COFFEY, FRMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: Good to see you, Carol.
LIN: When you take a look at what you know about what happened out there, who is to blame? And how is that going to be determined?
COFFEY: Carol, there are basically two different directions that blame is going go. One is, of course, criminal responsibility. And there I think the issue is going to be who really set off the fireworks, because it clearly violated the law. And it is probably going to be chargeable as an involuntary manslaughter, either under the theory that it was reckless, or that whoever was igniting the fireworks was committing a misdemeanor --
LIN: Well, the band, the band ignited the fireworks, right?
COFFEY: That's right. They are front and center in this. And I don't think it gets them very far to say they had a verbal OK. Rhode Island has very demanding laws for the use of fireworks, and they should. And all of those provisions were ignored here.
LIN: What about the owners?
COFFEY: The owner's principle liability, from what we've seen so far, is civil. You hate to even talk about lawsuits but we saw how quickly a lawsuit was filed with the club tragedy in Chicago. And the net for civil liability, for damages, is going to be very, very wide. Everyone from the club owners to whoever put that foam, that insulation foam in the drop ceiling, that apparently spread very, very fast.
LIN: Is there a difference between the body of evidence that you need in a civil suit versus the body of evidence in a criminal case?
COFFEY: It is critically different in two regards. First, it is criminal purposes you zero in on the individual actor, as opposed to company or the entity itself. And, of course, the other thing we know is the standard of proof. In a criminal case it is beyond to the exclusion of reasonable doubt, civil standards much less. So, expect a lot, a lot of defendants ultimately civilly. From a criminal standpoint, it will be a very small number of targets once they sort through the facts.
LIN: And how troublesome is it for the band members that the club where they played just previously, one of the managers or the owners said, when he saw that the band was trying to light pyrotechnics in his club, he jumped up on stage and said, what the heck are you doing? And made them put out the flames.
COFFEY: Carol, that is very critical, because if you have a swearing contest, the club owners say there was no permission, the band says there was. And if the band is, in effect, a repeat offender and has done this before, I think it is pretty clear where the responsibility is going to be assigned.
LIN: So, in a civil case, with the club owners -- I mean, how many lawsuits do you think? You just hinted at it, but his assets may have been tied up in this club. What is it likely that these families, if they do sue, are they going to end up with?
COFFEY: Well, you even hate to talk about it at this point. But it is going to happen and let's not be shocked if there isn't a lawsuit within a week or so. And we're going to see so many targets, the club owners, the owners of the property, whoever put the foam in there. The city itself may be looked at, because they inspected it in December and apparently no one complained about the fact that you had highly inflammable insulation in a drop ceiling. A lot of issues, too early to tell, but there is going to be a flood tide of litigation here.
LIN: All right. And a lot of grief spurring them.
COFFEY: A lot of grief.
LIN: Thank you very much, Kendall Coffey. We'll follow up with you.
COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
