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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Where is Bella Grogan-Cannella?; Mom and Four Kids Mistakenly Pulled Over at Gunpoint; Justin Bieber Charged with Assault and Dangerous Driving
Aired September 03, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... testing to solve the crime. Without science and the new technology that`s available, both these homicides would remain
unsolved and probably remain unsolved forever.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Breaking news tonight in a desperate race against time to find this precious missing child. Right now, police, FBI
and search crews are combing a small desert community in search of this 8- year-old girl.
Bella Grogan-Cannella was reported missing from her home at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday. Could this little girl have been snatched right from her bed?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILLIAMSON, CHIEF, BULLHEAD CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: The girl was missing. She was no longer in her bed or anywhere to be found in the
residence. Bella is 4`8", approximately 80 to 90 pounds with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Help look for this girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live. This is breaking news. Happening right now, police canvassing this little
child`s neighborhood in Bullhead City, Arizona. That`s about 100 miles outside Las Vegas.
Now, according to her neighbors, she was seen outside Monday night, Labor Day, playing hide-and-seek with friends before heading home. Police say
there are no signs of break-in at the family home. Did somebody abduct this little child and if so, who?
Call me with your thoughts and theories. We want to find her. 1-877-JVM- SAYS, 1-877-586-7297. And you can also join the conversation. Go to my Jane Velez-Mitchell Facebook page. You can talk to me on Twitter; @JVM is
my handle.
Straight out with breaking news to Julie Fairman, the editor of "The Mohave Valley Daily News." You`re all over this story, Julie. You`ve got some
new information just in. What do you know?
JULIE FAIRMAN, EDITOR, "THE MOHAVE VALLEY DAILY NEWS" (via phone): Well, right now, the Bullhead City Police Department is sitting at a house about
a half mile east of the house where Bella lives. And they have crime scene tape around it. They`ve blocked off the neighborhood. We`re hearing
rumors, chatter that -- that Bella is there. We don`t know anything further.
They actually were called to that house about three hours ago. Again, we can`t get closer than a block. But all indications are that there is
something going on. And this is certainly in the same neighborhood that Bella lives.
Also, the search dogs that were looking this morning came very near to this residence. So it`s looking like she may have been found.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I pray, I pray that this precious child is found OK. But we don`t know what happened to her. We don`t know if she was abducted
from inside her home.
I think it`s significant that we had talked to her mother, and her mother told us she was going to join us. And we were expecting to talk to her at
the top of the show. And we`ve called her, and she hasn`t picked up. If you`re watching, please get on the phone and talk to us, because we want to
do everything we can to help find your child. If you have a good reason not to talk to us, we totally respect that. It sounds like the situation
is changing.
Don`t go anywhere, Julie. I`ve got questions for you. Just hang on for a second. Now want to set the stage for our viewers.
Bella and her family live in Bullhead City, Arizona. This is a city of about 40,000 people. And it`s about 100 miles, as I mentioned, outside Las
Vegas. Search crews have been canvassing the Colo [SIC] -- Colorado River, it runs just outside Bella`s home. It`s literally on the edge of her home,
right in her neighborhood.
Her home is also not far from Interstate 40. That leads west to California; it leads east to New Mexico. This is a relatively remote
desert landscape. It`s not a simple area to search. You`re looking at Google street maps of the region. And that`s video of the desert in that
area.
Now, Julie, you said that they are surrounding a home that is in the neighborhood. Give us a sense of exactly how far away. Are we talking
blocks from the family home? Are we talking a half mile? Are we talking a mile?
FAIRMAN: I`d say it`s about a half mile as the crow flies. To get there it`s a little farther. But it`s essentially directly east. And in just
another neighborhood east of there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What does...
FAIRMAN: It`s at the end of a cul-de-sac. There`s arroyos that run through that area, and it`s at the end of a cul-de-sac on top of an arroyo.
VELEZ-MITCHEL: Well, first of all, I think this is absolutely hopeful breaking news. So stand by, Julie. Don`t go anywhere, because you`re
right there at the scene.
I want to bring in get Gaetane Borders, president of Peas in Their Pod, advocate for missing children.
Now obviously, Gaetane, in any missing children`s case, you have to look at sex offenders in the area. We did some digging. We found out there are 34
registered sex offenders in Bullhead City, Arizona.
GAETANE BORDERS, PRESIDENT, PEASE IN THEIR POD: Wow.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is a tiny little place. That`s a lot of sex offenders.
BORDERS: It is.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That certainly doesn`t account for all the sex offenders who fail to register.
And very interesting: Bullhead City is also right across the Colorado River from Laughlin, which I know personally is a popular gambling destination.
So this is just generic file footage of gamblers, nobody involved in this case. But gambling always increase the numbers of transients who could
have been in the area...
BORDERS: Sure.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... widens the pool of possible suspects.
So that`s the big picture. What do you make of this new information that`s just come out about them surrounding a house with crime tape about half an
hour -- excuse me, half a mile away from the family home?
BORDERS: Well, I would like to say, Jane, that I wish that I thought that that was positive news. But for it to be surrounded with crime tape, it
certainly doesn`t mean that she`s alive if that`s her in there. So it depends on how you look at it. I don`t see that as positive necessarily.
But from what you described, that area certainly has a lot of negative influences there. And who knows what could happen?
But I don`t think an 8-year-old walked that far, barefoot allegedly, in the middle of the night. I don`t see that as what probably happened.
I want to know more so what the time line is. When she got home from playing hide-and-go-seek, when did she go to bed? Who saw her? Those are
the types of questions that I need answered for me to get a better clear picture of what`s going on here.
But there`s too many loose ends.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: People are just totally sickened by this possibility of something horrible happening to this precious little girl who, my gosh,
she`s 8 years old. She`s 4`8." She`s only 80 to 90 pounds, blue eyes, shoulder length dirty blonde hair. Last seen wearing a green ruffled
sparkly tank top and dark shorts. And again, last seen quite possibly barefoot.
Sarah says, "OMG, why does this happen to kids?" Jennifer: "Don`t people lock their doors? I even have a bell on mine." Julia on Twitter: "Just
sickening. Little Bella needs to be OK."
Let`s go out to Francis in New Mexico. Francis in New Mexico, what do you have to say tonight?
CALLER: Hi, Jane. Thank you for taking my call.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sure.
CALLER: This just really infuriates me. My kids are grown. And I`m a grandmother, as well, you know, raising them. And I watch them 24/7.
I think this is just outrageous. Where are the parents? Family members to? It shouldn`t be happening at all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Elizabeth Espinosa...
CALLER: It doesn`t make any sense. It`s like what -- she`s only 8 years old. Where are these parents?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, my understanding, Elizabeth Espinosa, KFIM 60 talk radio host, my understanding is that the mother at 1:30 in the morning on
Tuesday happened to see that the child was not in bed. And that`s all the information we have.
I have a list of questions this long to ask her, if she does call. But sometimes...
ELIZABETH ESPINOSA, TALK RADIO HOST: Why isn`t she calling you?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I don`t know. Maybe whatever`s happening, God forbid, the police have said something to her that`s negative. Let`s hope
it`s positive. But they have surrounded another house in the neighborhood with crime tape. And as Gaetane said, that may not be a good sign. We
pray that it is. But we don`t know whether it`s a good sign or a bad sign.
ESPINOSA: We don`t know, Jane. And you`re...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, go ahead.
ESPINOSA: And you`re absolutely right, Jane. It`s like I pray for this little girl, Bella. What is an 8-year-old girl going to do leaving her
bedroom at 1:30 in the morning? It makes no sense.
Cleary -- and I hate to say this, but I`m sure that any detective with a very lengthy amount of experience in the business will tell you the first
suspect, the first person of suspicion in this case are going to be Mom and Dad. So I`m not surprised to a degree that Mom isn`t calling you right
now, because in light of this developing, you know, this developing story.
We now know that there`s something happening. Maybe that she was found well or it may be that she was found and she is harmed. And I pray that
she was found alive.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I pray so, too.
Julie Fairman, editor of "Mohave Daily News" -- "Mohave Valley Daily News," you`ve been doing an excellent job; all over this story.
I had heard reports that there was some talk possibly of a family friend having stayed at the home. We have no independent confirmation of this.
But that somebody had been apprehended. Do you know anything about this?
FAIRMAN: Yes, we heard rumors that there was a family friend staying in the home. That was never confirmed by the police. Of course, they`re
keeping pretty closed-mouthed about this.
But that individual was located and questioned about the situation. I don`t know how much further that`s going on. He was arrested, but it was
on an unrelated charge. They did question him about Bella`s disappearance.
And, again, with the investigation still ongoing, the Bullhead City Police Department is not revealing the results of that inquiry.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So now we have all these various possibilities, and I want to stress, because people call and say, "Well, somebody must have -- this
person, that person." Police have not mentioned any suspects whatsoever. In fact, they did not issue an Amber Alert, saying that this did not meet
the criteria, because they can`t say that an abduction occurred, which is a controversial decision.
And some people are like, issue an Amber Alert. A child`s not going to walk off by herself. But let`s pray they`re right. Let`s pray that it
isn`t an abduction. But it certainly shows the signs of a child disappears in the middle of her bedroom at 1:30 in the morning, that`s not good.
So let me go out to the phone lines again. Norma, Maryland. Norma, Maryland, what do you have to say about this mystery?
CALLER: OK. She was playing hide-and-go-seek. Where was the parents at when she was supposed to be playing? That`s the whole bottom line. Where
was the parents? Why the mother couldn`t, you know, look around or go find her child if she was playing?
The bottom line is these parents nowadays need to watch their kids more often. None of this would happen if they just look and pay attention.
I`m a mother to a child who`s 7 years old. Wherever my child goes, I`m with my child. If he wants to go outside, I`m outside watching him.
Parents need to pay more attention to other kids and stop doing whatever they`re doing and keep their eyes on their children.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Kent Zimmerman, attorney, you`ve been hearing anything. Again, I`m going to stress that this mother is the one who
called law enforcement. She`s going through a horrible time right now. And I certainly don`t want to pile on.
This woman may have a very, very good reason for not calling us. Because she may be on the phone with police right now doing what she needs to do.
What do you make of this situation?
KENT ZIMMERMAN, ATTORNEY: So Jane, I`m with you that I wouldn`t want to pile on about the mom.
However, I worry that it`s possible that this -- somebody is involved who knows Bella. And the reason why I say that is, there`s no sign of forced
entry. As has been noted, they often look at family and people close to her first.
I read today that the girl lives with her mom, her grandma, a few other people. No mention of the dad. I`d be curious to know -- and maybe the
dad`s totally not involved. But I`d be curious to know, when`s the last time the dad saw her? Where does the dad live? What`s the dad`s
relationship with the mother? Does he live nearby?
I`d also like to know, she probably just went back to school recently. She`s 8 years old. I`d like to know, who has she come into contact with at
school, on the way to school? I think we need to make sure that police are talking to everybody who knows her and has come into contact with her. It
could be somebody who knows her, unfortunately.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we do not have independent confirmation of what Julie Fairman, the editor of the "Mohave Valley Daily News," is telling us. But
she is right there at the scene in Bullhead City, Arizona. She is talking to us on the phone.
There`s the family home from which this precious child disappeared. And then about a half a mile away, authorities have surrounded another home, a
mystery home. And they have a whole crime scene set up there. We pray that it`s not nefarious. We pray that this child is found OK. But this is
an evolving story. It`s changing as we speak second by second.
We`re going to take a short break. Be back with the very latest as it unfolds.
And then a bit later, this story is just wild. A traffic stop turns into a total, unadulterated nightmare for a terrified mom and her four kids who
were just coming home from shopping, doing nothing. Cops draw their guns. And it`s a mess. Was it an honest mistake or was this innocent woman
cuffed and targeted because of the color of her skin?
Our "Naked Truth" debate is coming up. We want you to be part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s OK. No, no one`s going to jail. Stop crying. It`s OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMSON: Isabella Grogan-Cannella, on 8-year-old girl, was missing. She was no longer in her bed or anywhere to be found in the residence.
Bella is 4`8", approximately 80 to 90 pounds with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Help look for this girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is such a gut-wrenching situation. Right now, we`ve got breaking news. As we speak, there is activity at a house approximately
a half a mile from the home where this young child lives and from which she disappeared. So half a mile away from her family home, there is police
activity, according to Julie Fairman, editor of the "Mohave Valley Daily News."
The little girl, just 8 years old, 4`8", 80 to 90 pounds, blue eyes, shoulder length dirty blonde hair. Last seen possibly barefoot, wearing a
green ruffled sparkly tank top and dark shorts.
Julie Fairman, editor, "Mohave Valley Daily News," you are there in the very area where all this is happening. You`re looking at Google street
maps of this desert community across from Laughlin, about 100 miles outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
You said that half a mile from the family home, authorities have now converged on another home. Now, they had also earlier this afternoon been
going around with search dogs and helicopters looking elsewhere. Has that -- we`re trying to get a sense of what is happening inside that home that
they`ve focused in on. Have they abandoned all other searches and they`re just focusing in on that home because that would say that they`re, really,
honing in on whatever it is on that home?
FAIRMAN: I haven`t heard any official word that they`ve called off the other searches. It does appear to me that things maybe have calmed down a
little bit. There was a helicopter in the air earlier this afternoon. I haven`t seen that helicopter flying since this home was targeted.
There -- as far as the searchers on the ATVs and so forth, I haven`t seen any activity along those lines or with the search dogs.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you have any idea of who lives in this home? And please do not mention names. But what -- is this -- is this a small little
home and just out of nowhere, they just target this other home in the neighborhood?
FAIRMAN: I don`t know how they got there. I do know that the dogs brought them close to that area. How close and what they found outside of it, I`m
unsure.
From what I`m hearing from my sources, there is evidence scattered throughout that area that includes the home.
So -- and as far as who lives there, we`ve checked. There is -- it`s held in trust. So no -- don`t have any individual name. And it`s an out-of-
state-based trust.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me say this. Thank you for giving us the information you have. We cannot independently confirm any of this
information.
Gaetane Borders, president, Peas in Their Pod, advocate for missing children, what do you make of the information that is coming in right now?
We`re all hearing it together for the first time.
BORDERS: Again, Jane, it`s not good news. It`s not looking good. But I can say this, and I agree with what was said earlier, that if she was
abducted from that home, if she left that home, she went with somebody that she trusted. That`s why there was no forced entry. So whoever it is that
had her, has her, she knew them, and she trusted them. But the fact that they`re honing in on this house, it`s not -- it`s not good news. It`s
definitely not good news.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Elizabeth Espinosa, so often in these tragedies we cover, it`s somebody from the neighborhood. I`m not saying that`s the case
here. I don`t want to jump to conclusions.
ESPINOSA: No, no.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But if you remember beautiful Somer Thompson. She was abducted and murdered by a neighbor. The same thing with little Jessica
Lunsford. These are famous cases now where, again, it was somebody right in the neighborhood who did it.
So the fact that they`ve converged a half a mile away from her family home at this other home, it is...
ESPINOSA: Let me -- it`s heartbreaking. And let me tell you something because I will say that covering these stories, truthfully, they start with
the closest member of the family, right? So let`s say your wife disappears. The husband is the prime suspect.
So I know for a fact that right now, they are speaking to Mom and Dad very closely to find out what`s going on. I don`t understand the situation yet
with Dad, where he is in the picture. But everyone that lives in that home is under the microscope. Where were you? What time did you put her to
sleep? Who usually does it? What`s the protocol?
You know, and again, there`s no forced entry. Maybe there`s surveillance video possibly in that neighborhood. And so maybe that`s where they`re
piecing it back and that`s how they`re actually able to go back...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think it`s very interesting.
ESPINOSA: I just pray she`s OK.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I pray she`s OK, too. But it`s very interesting that dogs were apparently what drew authorities to this other area. Again, we don`t
have any independent confirmation of this.
We`re going to stay on top of this for the hour. If something happens, stay with us, because we`re in contact with Julie. She`s on the ground.
Meantime, cops draw their weapons on a horrified mother and her four young kids during a traffic stop. We`re going to play you the whole thing, the
dashcam. It`s unbelievable.
So my question to you is, is this a case of racial profiling or did police simply make an honest mistake? You get to decide as we debate it next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lord, please don`t let them shoot me in front of my children. That`s what I asked. I was afraid I would die. Because that`s
goes through my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We are monitoring the situation in Arizona with the missing child. But meantime, we`ll update you if anything -- we learn
anything new. But meantime, I want you to help us get to the "Naked Truth" on this case.
It seems like every day there`s another accusation that cops are racially profiling people. The latest has just happened in Texas.
An African-American mom with four little kids in her car, one as young as 6 years old, coming home from a Wal-Mart says out of nowhere cops appear with
their guns pointed, yelling, terrorizing her and the kids and handcuffing her. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see your hands! Everybody stick their hands out the window.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is wrong? My kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old are they?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re 6 and 8 and 10 -- 9. What are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on a second, OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is going on? Oh, my God. You are terrifying my children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank God for dashcam video, right?
Police have apologized saying, oops, it was a big misunderstanding. They were looking for somebody else, somebody waving a gun. They stopped the
wrong car, the wrong person.
But this terrified mom, she is not taking that apology. She has just announced she plans to sue the cops.
So what is the "Naked Truth" here? Our panel is ready to debate this starting with Mo Ivory. Mo Ivory, attorney, radio personality, give me the
"Naked Truth." Was this an honest mistake or do you believe this woman was treated the way she was treated because of the color of her skin?
MO IVORY, ATTORNEY/RADIO PERSONALITY: Absolutely, Jane. The "Naked Truth" is that they were looking for a car that wasn`t even the color of her car.
When the call came in, it said tan or beige car. And it said four men.
When does all of a sudden a burgundy car with a female look like a tan car with four men in it? It was because they stopped the first black person
they saw. And that is the "Naked Truth." And that is a problem we have throughout America.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Kent Zimmerman, you`re an attorney, do you think that this woman would have been treated the same way if she had been a
blue-haired white lady -- do you think they would have yelled at her, they would have cuffed her or maybe would they have asked her a couple of
questions respectfully?
ZIMMERMAN: You know, I don`t know the answer to that. And I personally would have been terrified if I was in her shoes. And I think it would be
an extremely frightening experience. I think -- at the same time, though, you say she`s going to sue, Jane. And I think unfortunately she`s going to
have an uphill battle in that lawsuit. And I say that based on the legal precedent. And the reason why I say that is, usually when people sue in
this situation and they win and they recover big money, they usually are --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t care about it. What I care about is what you feel --
ZIMMERMAN: -- they`re typically arrested. And they`re typically are in jail. So, I think based on the --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look, the lawsuit yada, yada, yada, I want you to know what the intent was. What was the intent of these cops?
ESPINOSA: The intent was obvious.
IVORY: Right.
ESPINOSA: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead.
ESPINOSA: I`m sorry. I just -- this is appalling. You`ve got to be kidding me.
IVORY: Right.
ESPINOSA: Where is the common sense in this?
IVORY: Right.
ESPINOSA: I mean, as an officer, the moment you even hear the tone of the woman`s voice, she`s innocent. She`s like, what are you doing? Why are
you stopping me? And then when you see a six-year-old get out of the car, I don`t think that`s a suspect. Breaking news, hello! Take the badge away
from this guy. That`s scary because that person has power, that person can use deadly force and kill somebody in the name of the law. That`s scary.
And that`s the naked truth.
IVORY: That is so right.
ESPINOSA: And that was racial profiling.
IVORY: Absolutely. And also Jane, I just want to say that I disagree with Kent that she has an uphill battle. The law is very clear on false arrest.
She does not have to have been taken into the station to have waited in a cell for ten hours. If there is no warrant and there is no probable cause
to arrest somebody and to hold them from leaving on their own, then she has a case.
ESPINOSA: Exactly.
IVORY: And also --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Hold up. Let Kent jump in.
ZIMMERMAN: I don`t think she was arrested --
IVORY: She was handcuffed.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She was cuffed.
IVORY: She was handcuffed.
ZIMMERMAN: But she wasn`t arrested. She wasn`t arrested as far as I know.
IVORY: She doesn`t have to be arrested.
ZIMMERMAN: Listen. We`ll see how it plays out. I`m just saying based on the precedent, based on what`s happened in past cases, people usually in
this situation held for a short duration and then let go after a major error, they usually don`t win a lot of money. Maybe it will be different
in this case.
ESPINOSA: Yes. But these are kids.
IVORY: Right.
ESPINOSA: The father is a paramedic. And the father has even said that his 6-year-old who he grew up seeing men in uniform doesn`t even trust them
anymore. This kid doesn`t sleep well at night. This is terrible.
IVORY: Terrible.
ESPINOSA: I mean, this is what they did. They just traumatized these children for the rest of their lives.
ZIMMERMAN: I completely agree. It`s traumatizing. And I agree it`s terrible. I don`t think it`s going to be easy for her to recover money
from the police based on what`s happened in the past.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s listen to the kids. I`m sorry to jump in. We`re short on time and I want to get to some of the key video. Kametra Barbour
is upset because she said to them, hey, I`ve got kids in the car, I`ve got kids. In fact, the kids were eight, six, nine and 10. Listen to their
screaming and their comments as they interact with the police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Do they look young to you?
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: They do to me.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Gun down, gun down. Come on back here, son. Come on back here. It`s all right.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I`m scared.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: It`s okay.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Are we going to jail?
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: No. No one is going to jail.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Everything is fine.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Hey, stop crying. It`s okay.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: It`s okay.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Everything`s fine now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wendy Walsh, you`re a psychologist, you`re also a mother. Apparently these kids are having nightmares now.
WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes. This kind of trauma, Jane, I would like to offer to the attorneys here some evidence of damages. OK. Damages used
to mean that there was some physical ailment that happened. But more and more courts are starting to recognize that emotional damages are equally as
harmful. And they can have very long-term effects. This is a trauma for these poor children. Watching their primary security -- their attachment
figure, their mother, being handcuffed and taken away. They`re left with what they perceive the bad guys, the monsters with guns, who are calling to
them. You hear the screams. This is a terrible, emotional travesty for these small children.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
How could police have handled this differently? Let`s assume -- and I want everybody to think about it. Because we`re going to play this again, the
interaction, the dash cam video on the other side of the break. Think about how police could have handled it differently, even if they made the
honest mistake of stopping the wrong car. Let`s give them that. OK? Because the 911 caller, they say, led them astray. So there was
conflicting information, even though they were looking for a tan car and four black males, they stop a burgundy red car of a different make and
model with an African-American female -- wrong gender, wrong number of adults, wrong color, wrong mate.
But let`s say that was an honest mistake. Once they stopped the car, was there something they could have done to defuse the situation and make it
less terrorizing for this woman and her kids? Think about that. We`re going to answer it on the naked truth on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMETRA BARBOUR, PULLED OVER AT GUNPOINT: Oh, my god. You are terrifying my children.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: We got a complaint -- a vehicle matching your description and your license plate pointing a gun out the window.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We want your help to figure out the naked truth. There`s a woman in Texas who`s now suing cops saying she was
terrorized. They pulled her over with guns drawn. She`s saying, I`ve got kids in the car. They handcuff her. The kids are having nightmares.
Thank God for dash cam video. Listen and watch the dash cam video and see if you can think of any way the cops could have handled it differently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Driver, let me see your hands! Everybody stick their hands out the window.
BARBOUR: What is wrong? My kids.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: How old are they?
BARBOUR: They`re six and eight and ten, nine. What are we doing? Sir, what is going on? Oh, my God. You are terrifying my children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So the big question is, is this a case of racial profiling? Would they have treated, for example, a similar female who was
white in the same manner by cuffing her immediately? What I notice is they don`t seem to listen to her. It`s like she`s talking gibberish to them
when she says, I`ve got kids six, eight, nine, ten in the car. Then later they say, and according to the press release that they issued, as soon as
we saw the child, we immediately de-escalated. But before they saw the child, they heard the mother say, I`ve got children in the car.
Meanwhile, the door is open. What if the kids had walked out into traffic? So my question is Wendy Walsh, psychologist, is the racial insensitivity
sort of the negative assumption that she`s sort of guilty until proven innocent as opposed to listening to what this woman who happens to be an
executive married to a paramedic firefighter has to say?
WALSH: You know, Jane, I think you know that my children are multiracial. And I lived with an African-American man for ten years. And he was late a
lot because he was caught driving while black. So I`ll tell you this happens all the time. My niece who`s an attorney was pulled over in a
beautiful sports car one time and handcuffed in the back of a police car. Again, a case of mistaken identity. And she`s an educated attorney with a
master`s degree. Yes, this happened. I don`t have any white friend in the world that this has ever happened to. So enough said, right?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I want to hear what the folks at home are saying. Let`s go to our social media producer, Jackie Taurianen in a #hub, what are
people saying, Jackie?
JACKIE TAURIANEN, PRODUCER, "JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL": Jane, you know, what? People are absolutely fired up about this story. And the interesting part
is that comments are really coming in for both sides. Let`s take Sandy for example. She says, this was so wrong on all levels. I understand cops
have a job to do, however, shaking my head, not stuff like that. It`s giving good cops a bad rep. Then Cindy actually says, she`s defending the
cops, he says, "At least they were respectful and didn`t manhandle anyone by throwing them around. They realized their mistake right away."
And finally you have Fern who says, "I pray I never get pulled over because I`m actually afraid. That is crazy." And it`s crazy that stories like
this we cover like all the time -- and people are actually afraid, they are afraid to get in their cars, they`re afraid to leave their homes. You
know, it`s turning into a state of mass chaos.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Let`s go to the phone lines. Robert, Louisiana, what do you have to say? What`s your naked truth?
ROBERT: I was just saying to your lady that answered the phone that these guys do stop while driving while black. But the problem is, that they knew
that when they approached her car that it wasn`t the car and it wasn`t the people. So what they do is they stop us and hope that they stumble onto
something else. And, you know, they don`t really --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s true.
ROBERT: -- stop us just to stop us. They stop us because they`re hoping that they stumble on to something big like drugs or something because they
think everybody with a nice car, especially African-Americans, we have to be doing something dirty to have it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Robert, thank you for your insight. I think it`s shocking to hear what we all hope was a post racial society. I mean, we
have a country that`s elected an African-American president not once but twice. But back to this, thank God there`s --
(INAUDIBLE)
Oh, I am not saying it means anything. I`m just saying that it`s interesting that all this is coming up now. I mean, this is one day after
the next, we have one story after the next, it seems like we`re having a rash of these kinds of stories now. I want to get to this because I think
it`s really interesting. The cops have apologized and said, oh you know, it was a big misunderstanding. OK, we`re going to show you the video where
the cops say, they were told to look for a car matching this woman`s car. OK? She`s driving a burgundy red Nissan Maxima. OK? The police
dispatcher whoever actually told the cops to look for a totally different make and model car. Check out both stories and we`re going to talk about
it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It is going to be a beige or tan color Toyota occupied by four black males.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: We got a complaint about a vehicle matching your description and your license plate pointing a gun out of the window.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, that doesn`t exactly match up. Kent Zimmerman, they`re saying they got your license plate but then you hear the dispatcher
saying a totally different make and model car.
ZIMMERMAN: You know, I think that there was confusing stories about what they`re supposed to be looking for. I noticed in a statement that the
police released to this show today that I read before we came on the air, that the police say that a witness who called dispatch led them to this
car. And it ended up being a big mistake. So the police are saying that they`re relying on a witness who called dispatch and they thought they had
the right car. So if you`re in the police`s shoes and they say they think they had the right car based on a witness, they believe there`s weapons in
the car, that would cause some people to believe, look, they need to approach this car very cautiously because they think they have the right
car. They think there`s weapons in it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right.
ZIMMERMAN: But the minute they realized they made a mistake, they should not have done what they done. And I would just say, there is a way I think
that they could have avoided this. They could have, for example, when they got to the car, asked everybody to exit. They would have immediately seen
that they had the wrong car. They would have seen the kids and this could have been over much more quickly, so that could have been another way to
approach it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mo Ivory -- go ahead.
ESPINOSA: Sorry, it just upsets me. Because I realized the little boy is six years old. He has his hands up in the air. I think that`s good enough
for you to realize you have the wrong -- these are not your --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: At that point, they immediately de-escalated. The point is --
ZIMMERMAN: Exactly. The second they saw that kid, they stopped.
IVORY: Jane, the problem, though, is there was a witness telling them where they were going and everything. But the witness continuously said it
was a tan Toyota. They were going and that tan Toyota got off the exit. The car behind the tan Toyota was her car, the burgundy Nissan. They just
decided, let`s just stop this car. That`s where the policing goes wrong. But when they could have secondly gone correct is when they saw a woman get
out of the car, how does that reflect a male at all? Right then and there, they should have said, we have the wrong car. Let`s get in the car and
keep trying to find the one that we`re looking for.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I just want to say one thing. And that is that when you`re in the heat of the moment, you may not think as clearly as we can
when we`re looking at this situation. I don`t think what they did was right. I think they should have really put together -- wrong color, wrong
gender, wrong number of people, and listened to her when she said, I`ve got a 6-year-old, an 8-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 10-year-old in that car and
given her the credibility that she deserved. Why doesn`t she get as much credence as the caller who`s calling from who knows where?
But the other point is that I have played police officer for a day and gone through all the tests and my responses when I took these tests were not
good. And I did things that had I had a real gun would have been -- in fact, they told me, you`ll never be a police officer. So they taught me
it`s easy to sit here and say, oh, you should have done this, you should have done that. It`s a lot harder to be in the moment when you`re out
there in the field. We need to talk about this more, though. It`s healthy that we`re talking about it. We`ve got to get to the naked truth.
Justin Bieber, we all know who he is. Yes, he`s back in trouble again. Arrested again. On the other side, I`m going to talk to famous Attorney
Gloria Allred. She`s representing somebody who claims the pop superstar caused an ATV accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Give us some space, guys.
(Bleep)
(Bleep)
(Bleep)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JUSTIN BIEBER, SINGER: I like to keep things private. Like you got to have some sort of privacy, or else you`re going to end up -- everyone`s
going to know everything about you and you`re not going to have anything for yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Trouble superstar Justin Bieber arrested charged with assault and dangerous driving after his ATV collided with a minivan in his
home town in Canada. Cops say Justin got into a physical altercation then with the driver of the minivan. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Justin`s demeanor when we dealt with him was very positive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Justin`s been spotted riding ATVs before. Here he is riding one on the a beach earlier this year. On again off again girlfriend
Selena Gomez spotted cruise, around on the ATV with Justin just before the accident. We don`t know if she was actually on it when the accident
occurred. Justin`s attorney say, he and Selena were enjoying a peaceful retreat at his dad`s home when the paparazzi found him and started chasing
him down so he`s blaming the paparazzi.
Straight out to my very special guest, Attorney Gloria Allred, you represent the people who got into the crash with Justin. What do your
clients saying about what happened?
GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIM`S RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, it`s very clear that there`s only one person charged with a crime, and that`s Justin Bieber
who`s charged with assault and also with dangerous driving, Jane. My clients were parked in their vehicle. They were there. They were not on
Mr. Bieber`s property. They were not on Mr. Bieber`s father`s property. They had every right to be where they were. So any reports to the contrary
are false.
Also, the reports said that somehow there was an argument before Mr. Bieber rammed his ATV into my client`s vehicle are false. There was no exchange
of words by my clients or Mr. Bieber before Mr. Bieber rammed his ATV into my client`s vehicle. So what I want to say is that it`s very clear that my
clients are innocent victims in all of this. I have notified the Hollywood division of the Los Angeles Police Department of these new charges against
Mr. Bieber. Because Mr. Bieber is on probation in Los Angeles County for the crime of misdemeanor vandalism to which he pled no contest.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Gloria, I`m sorry to have to wrap it up. We`ve had breaking news. We want to thank you for coming on. We love you and Justin
you`re invited on anytime. Nancy next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
