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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Thousands Protest Freddie Gray's Death; 100+ Arrested in Riot Released Without Charges; Teen Rescued from Kathmandu Rubble. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired April 30, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:17] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands protest from coast to coast. Demonstrators demand answers in the death of Freddie Gray, mysteriously injured during an arrest.

This morning, streets of Baltimore are calm, but there are new explosive allegations about how Freddie Gray may have been injured.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, April 30th, 4:00 a.m. in the East, in Baltimore this morning, right in front of Baltimore City Hall

And it's interesting, because right here where I'm standing just a few hours ago, there was a very large, very peaceful demonstration. This park all around me was filled with people. They were serving food and they were gathered together in a very peaceful way. It was nice to see.

Now, the crowds dispersed from the streets just after curfew at 10:00 without incident, a much calmer transition into the curfew period here in Baltimore. You can see the pictures here, just small handful of people in some cases, just some handful of people, in some cases, the media outnumber the people on the streets.

As quiet as it was here in Baltimore, thousands of people were on the streets across the country, calling for justice in the death of Freddie Gray. Now, this is coming as we learn more. Some new information this morning about what may have caused Gray's fatal spinal injury while he was in police custody. We will get to that, a new report this morning in "The Washington Post."

But, first, I want to bring in CNN's Athena Jones.

And, Athena, you have been out the past few days in the peaceful demonstrations during the day into the evening last night. And then last night, the transition of curfew, wow, what a difference.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, it was another night of positive news for Baltimore. As you mentioned peaceful protests throughout the day. There were 18 arrests, two of those juveniles as of 8:00 p.m. We have no update on further arrests.

So, it was a largely peaceful night and was successful. We saw a very diverse crowd marching and chanting, carrying signs, college students. People wearing shirts that said, "Black lives matter."

We also saw Congressman Elijah Cummings, who represents about half of the city of Baltimore. He'd been very visible throughout all of this. He was out on the streets at curfew time in the key intersection on West Baltimore that saw destruction on Monday night.

Here's part of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: I had my turn. I want them their turn. What I can do is fight for them. And I've got to make sure that we hear them. See, they feel as if nobody hears them. I think we're beginning to get that. But I'm telling you, Baltimore can happen anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Now, Cummings was last night in that intersection with a bull horn, telling people to go home. Of course, the people who are out of the streets, some of that was directed at the media.

BERMAN: Right. There were a lot of press out there watching that intersection because the night before, there had been a fairly tense although brief confrontation. Now, we have news also overnight, Athena, about the initial wave of arrests, 200 plus arrests they made Monday into Tuesday here. A lot of those people have been released.

JONES: That's right, John. This is interesting. It's about 101 I believe the number is that the police captain announced were released, 101 still remain in custody. But the police captain said they simply -- those people could still face charges as the police continue to investigate what happened Monday night. But just at this point, it's too difficult, too complicated to try to put together all of the documentation needed to charge them.

Of course, you can't hold them indefinitely. The governor --

BERMAN: Legally, you can't hold them indefinitely.

JONES: Exactly. The governor issued an order saying you can hold them for 48 hours instead of 24 hours, but you've got to charge them at some point. So, 101 people were released.

But it's one more positive sign you could say, another positive night as the city tries to move past the negativity and the destruction of Monday night.

BERMAN: Right. It's so interesting, you need the police to fill out the documentation to formally charge people. But they can't get the police off the streets to sit down and do the paper work which is why it's not getting done. Athena Jones, great to have you here with us this morning. Thanks so

much.

JONES: Thanks.

BERMAN: So, there is new information coming from "The Washington Post" about how Freddie Gray may have sustained that injury in police custody. "The Post" reports that a prisoner who rode in the police van along with Freddie Gray told investigators he could hear Gray, quote, "banging against the walls of the van." Again, this is a witness account in "The Washington Post."

The prisoner believed Gray was intentionally trying to injury himself. This is important to note the prisoner was separated by Gray by a metal partition. He could not see Gray. And "The Post" information comes from a search warrant at location.

[04:05:00] Gray's family doesn't believe it. They strongly deny the claim that Gray tried to injury himself. Their attorney told "The Washington Pots", "We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord. We question the accuracy of the police reports that we've seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident."

We're also hearing now indirectly from the Baltimore police officers under investigation. Someone close to one of the officers involved in the arrest sat down with CNN's Don Lemon, she says, to give his side of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: What did he say happened?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He believes that whatever happened to Mr. Gray happened before he was transported.

LEMON: According to your loved one, what took so long to get medical help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't know. They have not discussed that. We didn't ask what took so long.

I think the officers that chased him and handcuffed him and had him on the ground and he said he was hurting, I think they should know that he needed medical attention. Shouldn't that be their call to make?

LEMON: Is the department racist? Do you think this was racist?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a fair question. Do -- are there some bad apples? Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Interesting.

Now, the Baltimore Police Department all the officials in this city are looking toward tomorrow as a key day. They want to make sure people have the right information. Tomorrow is the day that the police turnover their findings from an initial investigation over to state prosecutors. State prosecutors will ultimately in the coming days and weeks whether they will file charges.

Now, I want to make this clear, because officials are making this clear and community leaders are making this clear. There is an expectation on the streets here that tomorrow, Friday, will be a day when people are in a great deal of information. That everything happened in that police van comes forward. That maybe there could be charges against the officers.

That is not going to happen tomorrow. And now, community leaders and elected officials and police are trying to dampen the expectations that there will be a lot of new information. Still, there is the notion on the streets and concern that the expectations are set too high.

More news now: protesters calling for justice in the Freddie Gray case. They took to streets across the country overnight. In New York, at least 60 people arrested in protests organized on social media. People marched for miles. Traffic was snarled across Manhattan. The protesters chanted "New York is Baltimore. Baltimore is New York."

CNN's Alexandra Field in the middle of those protests.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, protesters followed by police officers for a lot of the night. It started in Union Square, hundreds of demonstrators coming together. They said they were there to express sadness and their outrage over the events in Baltimore.

Police were prepared for a large group to gather there, but they started the evening warning people over a loudspeaker that if they obstructed the sidewalks or got into the streets, arrests would be made for disorderly conduct. Once the people started to move out of Union Square into 17th Street, police cut them off, intercepting them, making a number of arrests. The crowds moved uptown, moving on to the West Side Highway, walking into traffic on 8th Avenue, where more people were arrested and into Times Square where police made arrests.

Tensions running high as the crowds chanted, saying that they were showing support for Baltimore, calling for justice for Freddie Gray. A long line of NYPD offices following them throughout the city, oftentimes on foot, and a lot of the times, following in a line of mopeds and motorcycles -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Alexandra Field on the streets of New York.

There was a new night of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, as well. Dozens of demonstrators marching down West Florissant Avenue demanding justice for Freddie Gray here in Baltimore. On Tuesday night, 300 protesters clashed with police in the St. Louis suburb. Four patrol cars were damaged there, three people were shot. Again, that was Tuesday, that wasn't last night.

About 500 peaceful protesters gathered in Washington, D.C. They were playing music and chanting, "All night, all day, we're going to fight for Freddie Gray." That crowd disbursed after preaching the White House.

Now, the nation's new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, she made her first television appearance since being confirmed. She is pledging the support of the Justice Department to try to diffuse the tensions here in Baltimore and she's urging everyone to stay calm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: These senseless acts of violence are not only a grave danger to the community and they must stop, but they are also counter-productive to the goal here, which is developing a respectful conversation within the Baltimore community and across the nation about the way our law enforcement officers interact with the residents that we are charged to serve and to protect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:10:07] BERMAN: A surreal scene in Baltimore's Camden Yards yesterday afternoon. So, the Orioles won 8-2. Great game. But look at that. There is no one in the stands. Fans barred from the stadium for security reasons.

You know, you could hear reporters typing in the press box. You can hear people spitting in the dugout. It was really, really nuts. I was standing outside that game as it ended. It just ended and they played the organ music but there is no one cheering after the Orioles.

There were some people outside on the streets, Christine, trying to peer through the fence to see the end of the game, a collection of 10 or 20 people. I think it is interesting and important to know, people are saying things are returning back to normal here -- normal-ish in Baltimore. It is not normal when you play a baseball game in front of a stadium with zero people. It just goes to show there's a long way to go here, Christine.

ROMANS: That was just something, something definitely for the record books, and not because of sports.

John, really interesting. You know what? I know on the streets there, you are hearing a lot about this, John, for the events in Baltimore raising questions about race, opportunity and unemployment and poverty and widening gap between rich and poor.

Here are the numbers: Baltimore is 63 percent African-American. Nearly a quarter of residents live below the poverty line of $20,090 for a family of three. The median household income in Baltimore for African-American families, under $34,000. Compare that to more than $60,000 for white families. A lot of that inequality is because of the job market. Decades of

decline in manufacturing and shipping, plus a shrinking population had left big sections of the city in despair.

I want you to look at this particular -- this figure really shocked me. For young black men, between the ages of 20 and 24, the unemployment rate, an astounding 37 percent, compared to that same demographic for white men is 10 percent. A lot of discussion over the past few days of economists and social scientists, and residents of Baltimore about opportunity, about unemployment, about the root causes of some of this despair on the city streets. Some of the trigger, maybe the back drop if not the trigger for the riots that we saw Monday night.

A lot of discussion of are you spending money on policing, John, putting police out there, is the money spent wrong? Should other things be addressed on the front end and not the back end? There's been an interesting discussion and to be even hear some of these big name economists really discussing the causes of this, John.

BERMAN: Representative Elijah Cummings who we saw briefly earlier, I mean that's the point he's trying to make here. He's like, let's get through this week, but remember, we've got to address some of the situations. He throws jobs fairs here in the city, because he wants to get people working.

I went to the home of Freddie Gray lived last. It was 1:00 in the afternoon. There are many, many working aged people, a lot of men, just out an about because it doesn't look like they have jobs right now. So, these are the problems that will need to be addressed for some time, Christine.

ROMANS: Absolutely. A discussion I think that's just beginning. John, thanks for that.

We're going to be following the latest from Baltimore all morning long. But, first, the death toll rising from the Nepal's devastating earthquake as dramatic rescues play out. We are live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The numbers are staggering, the scene on the ground sobering. The death toll from last week's earthquake in Nepal topping 5,500. Nepal's prime minister warning that number could double; 1.7 million children are now in urgent need of aid.

Six days after the earthquake, hopes are slacking many will be pulled from the rubble alive. But I've got to tell you, this is just a miracle. Just hours ago, a miracle rescue. A teenage boy, 18-year- old boy, pulled from under a collapsed building alive.

CNN's Sumnina Udas is live in Kathmandu with that story.

And what a remarkable tale five days after the quake. This young man apparently felt the quake coming, he dove behind a motorcycle to manage from being crushed. SUMNINA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right,

Christine. It's an amazing story. This was a nine-story building. He was all the way in the basement.

If you look at the pictures, if you look at that little space where he was hiding, he was practically underneath the motorcycle. That is what he used to seek shelter. And the huge slab of cement over the motorcycle, because of that motorcycle, he is alive.

So, the Nepali police have actually been digging around the area for quite some time, because they found a survivor two days ago. And then this afternoon, a little while ago, they heard a noise. So, they started digging. The USAID got involved and other crews got involved.

After a five-hour ordeal, they got him out. He was in a state of shock, but good condition. The person who pulled him out, the Nepali police officer said it was an incredibly difficult task. They had to dig 200 feet down underneath the rubble to find him, and then he had to crawl ten feet into the little hole to pull him out.

The person was actually, the boy was actually, covered with a metal slab as well. So, incredible story of survival. He has been taken to hospital and he's in decent condition.

ROMANS: Unbelievable. Again, diving behind a motorcycle in a 9-story building, managing to survive all these days. Thank you so much for that. Hopefully there will be more stories of being able to find people.

Eighteen minutes after the hour.

It appears Hillary Clinton won't have a clear path to the 2016 Democratic nomination after all. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders getting into the race. The 73-year-old independently will formally announce his candidacy today. Sanders is considered the most liberal member of Congress.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, he is also expected to enter the Democratic race.

Hillary Clinton, meantime, is addressing the unrest in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. In a speech Wednesday, in Columbia University in New York, Clinton called for an overhaul of America's criminal justice system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My heart breaks for these young men and their families. We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Clinton endorsed the use of body cameras in police departments nationwide, and an end to mass incarceration. Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz fixing

blame for the Baltimore riots and growing racial tensions across the country, fixing the blame on President Obama.

[04:20:07] Cruz says the president missed an opportunity to be a unifying leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's made decisions that I think have enflamed racial tensions and divided us rather than bringing us together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Cruz contends the administration is, quote, "exacerbated racial misunderstandings."

The video went viral of a Baltimore mother smacking her son, pulling him out of the Baltimore protests. Now, that son is speaking to CNN about happened, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: There is one family here who in some ways become symbolic of the struggle to move forward in the city of Baltimore -- a teenager who was slapped in the head and removed from Monday's riots by his mother.

This all happened on national television. Everyone saw it. Toya Graham, who's a single mother of six, said she has no regrets about embarrassing her son, Michael. She insists that he was doing a good enough job embarrassing himself.

Both of them talked about this experience with Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Why did you go down there?

MICHAEL SINGLETON, PULLED FROM RIOTING BY MOTHER: It was like, I felt just, my friends down there, a couple of my friends were beaten by the police, killed by the police.

[04:25:02] So, I felt I needed to go down and show my respect.

COOPER: So, when you saw your mom, when you first made eye contact, what went through your mind?

SINGLETON: I was like, oh, man, like --

COOPER: You're like, oh man?

SINGLETON: Yes, like, my mother? What my mother doing down here? Why she'll be down here? Like --

COOPER: Did you know instantly that she recognized you?

SINGLETON: When I saw her, I didn't really see her. When I heard, "Put that brick down", I was like, oh, that's my mother.

COOPER: What did you think when you heard that voice?

SINGLETON: I know that's my mother. I know it's my mother. Ain't nobody else talk like that but my mother.

COOPER: And then what happened?

SINGLETON: It was World War III from right there.

COOPER: World War III?

SINGLETON: Yes. It was just like --

COOPER: What did you think? Were you embarrassed?

SINGLETON: I was embarrassed a little bit until she started talking to me, when we got home. She's telling basically like she did it because she cared about me. It was not to just embarrassed, just because she cared.

COOPER: She was worried about you.

SINGLETON: Right. She didn't want me to get in trouble by the law. She didn't want me to be another Freddie Gray or anybody else that got killed by the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She cared about me. She did, cares about her son. That son loves his mother and he should.

Thousands across the country, protesting the death of Freddie Gray, who, of course, died in police custody or at least injured during his arrest and died a week later. This morning, there are new allegations about how he may have become injured. New allegations that may shine a new light on this case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)