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CNN Live Today

Inside High-Speed Police Chases; 'Mr. Moviefone'

Aired March 03, 2006 - 10:30   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, a manhunt is underway for a Kentucky fugitive who apparently betrayed not only the trust of authorities, but also the love of his critically ill son. Destin Perkins was hoping to get a life-saving kidney transplant from his father, a man authorities call a career criminal. Byron Perkins has a list of arrests for bank robbery, gun possession, home invasions and drugs. Before he was sentenced to a minimum 25 years in prison a judge allowed him out of jail for final testing before the transplant. Perkins fled with his girlfriend.
A Washington state couple saw Perkins photo on CNN and told police that they vacationed with the couple in Mexico. They were in a small fishing village near Puerto Vallarta. Authorities say the lead appears genuine, and the search is intensifying.

Police car chases. There are few things more harrowing for the officers or the unlucky motorist who just happen to find themselves in harm's way. Remember this dramatic end to the bus hijacking -- wow -- in Los Angeles? Or how about this military tank rumbling through San Diego streets like an armored juggernaut. And of course, the granddaddy of all televised chases, the slow speed pursuit of O.J. Simpson.

But as the speed increases, so does the danger. Buckle up as CNN's Rick Sanchez drives home that very point of the story that first aired last night on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at the smoke coming off...

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They have called off the chase in Seattle, Washington. Police here now have a no pursuit policy.

However, in surrounding King County, the chase is not only on, but being perfected. Here at Pacific Raceways, a virtual chase training academy where police are taught to ram, to use spike strips and to employ the pit maneuver, where a suspect's vehicle is literally spun into submission.

TIFFANY ATWOOD, INSTRUCTOR: Stay hard on the brakes, real quick steering.

SANCHEZ: Instructors say the most important lesson they teach here is to avoid danger, by learning when to call off the chase and how to avoid collisions when they don't. Watch what happens when officer tries to come to a full stop at 55 miles per hour while maneuvering around a set of cones.

DEPUTY JAY MILLER, KING COUNTY: They did hit a cone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened? What went wrong?

MILLER: I'm not quite sure what went wrong.

SANCHEZ: Apparently it's all in the hands.

PETER LINDY, KING COUNTY: His hand position was all wrong. He was probably just turning the wheel too far, trying to jerk it back and forth.

SANCHEZ (on camera): As you watch these officers train, you begin to wonder just how hard it would be to learn something like this. Let's give it a try.

DARREN JENKS, INSTRUCTOR: The first thing we want to do is think about our seat position and where our arms are in relationship to the steering wheel.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Soon, I am zooming down the roadway. I'm told to hit the gas and get it to 50 miles an hour and then slam on the brakes when I'm only 30 feet from those five cones. But I chicken out. I take my foot off the gas.

(On camera): If I told you I wasn't scared, I would be a liar.

Here's why I chickened out. This is what it looks like from my vantage point. We placed a camera on the hood of the car. Look how fast those cones seem to be coming at me. Daunting, isn't it? Now I'm told to crank it up to 55 miles an hour. It seems totally illogical. My instruction is to slam on the brakes and then steer the car around the cones. It's a disaster. This is tough.

ATWOOD: Remember, I talked about quick steering?

SANCHEZ: Quick steering, quick steering, I tell myself. Finally, on my fourth try, I get through the obstacles, but I released the brakes.

ATWOOD: That was so nice...

SANCHEZ: I did it, Anderson! Oh my God, look at me!

ATWOOD: ... and you released the brakes.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): What you come to realize is it's all about trust. This car and probably yours too, has an antilock braking system that allows us to steer while braking. But who gets to practice something like this?

At 60 miles an hour, it's even more intimidating. Those five miles make a mountain of difference. I hit a cone. Close, again. But no cigar.

ATWOOD: Actually, that was a pretty nice job.

SANCHEZ: This is my last try and I want to get it right. Keep my foot pinned to the brake, trust it. My hands at 2:00 and 10:00 o'clock, and steer quickly. What an incredible adrenaline rush.

ATWOOD: That was his best one.

SANCHEZ (on camera): It was my seventh try, and I finally nailed it.

(Voice-over): It's scary. It's heart thumping. And it's what officers deal with when they choose to pursue.

(On camera): There is some new technology out there that's being developed now that could possibly take this away from officers. Two things. One is a dart the police are working on, that they'd shoot into a vehicle that would work like a GPS tracker, that they'd be able to watch on a monitor.

Another one is a gadget they would use to zap a vehicle which essentially sends a charge that would conk out its engine. The car would basically stop, as if it had run out of gas.

Two technologies. They're still working on them, though. They're not quite there yet.

In the meantime, these officers say they'll continue to train for the inevitability of police pursuits.

In Seattle, Rick Sanchez.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: That story, as we said, first aired on last night's "ANDERSON COOPER 360." And you can watch that show and its unique look at the stories of the day weeknights at 10:00 Eastern. That's 7:00 Pacific.

And this just in. We mentioned just a couple moments ago the sentencing was scheduled today for the so-called cell phone bandit Candice Martinez. Well, the sentence is in. Candice gets 12 years in prison for her role in four bank robberies. She is on the phone in those robberies. That's why she was dubbed the cell phone bandit. She was on the phone with her boyfriend. Candice Martinez gets 12 years. That matches the sentence of her boyfriend. He also received 12 years. So once again, the so-called cell phone bandit gets 12 years in prison.

Have you heard about this story? The ACLU is suing a West Virginia police chief over the death of a gay man. The federal lawsuit names both Welch, West Virginia, and Police Chief Robert Bowman. Now, Bowman is accused of blocking CPR for Claude Green, a gay man who suffered a heart attack last June. The suit claims Bowman refused to allow Green's friend to perform CPR, and told paramedics that Green was HIV-positive when he was not. Bowman calls the accusations a bold-faced lie. The ACLU sued on behalf of Green's sister and his now deceased mother.

The Justice Department, taking a closer look at online music downloading, looking not at those who download songs, but at the music companies.

And securing our borders. What the future holds for tightening it up. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, all this week CNN is looking into the future of security and today our focus is on the U.S. border with Mexico. You're about to meet a woman who lives on the border and never leaves her house without a gun because she says she doesn't feel safe. What's being done to protect border residents, along with the rest of the country?

CNN's Miles O'Brien reports "Welcome to the Future."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I live seven miles north of the U.S./Mexico border and right in the middle of the human smuggling trail. Thousands of illegals come through our neighborhoods per night. They're carrying drugs and AK-47s.

When I bring my daughter up to the school bus stop, I always have a firearm with me. Border Patrol is totally outnumbered. Alls I want is a secure border. I want a wall. This is not homeland security.

If it's so easy for people to be backpacking drugs right past my bedroom window, why can't terrorists get through?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): More than 1.1 million illegal immigrants were arrested last year by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. And yet Cindy still doesn't feel safe. But there may be a way to fill the gaps in our borders with new technology.

(voice-over): Thousands cross the nearly 2,000 mile-long U.S. border every single day. Some scale walls, some brave rapids. Others tunnel their way in. But according to San Diego chief patrol agent Darryl Griffin, it's not just drug smugglers and violent criminals we need to worry about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real and immediate challenge is the threat of terrorism. We are attempting to identify and locate the needles in the haystack that wish to do harm to our country.

O'BRIEN: To reduce the size of that haystack, the agency has installed stadium lighting, secondary fencing and night vision cameras. But even more advanced video cameras and heat sensors may be on the way with the government's newly proposed $2 billion secure border initiative.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would do everything that we can to ensure a secure border, because a secure border is a safe border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Darryl Griffin says the three most pressing issues for the border patrol are increased violence, immigrant tunneling and maritime smuggling. Case in point, Griffin says there has been a 108 percent increase in assault against border patrol agents along the Southwest border.

(MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: LIVE TODAY is going to the movies. Mr. Moviefone is looking at this week's new releases, including Bruce Willis's new flick. Surprise, it's an action film. And Sibila Vargas on the red carpet, or at least the spot where the red carpet will be Sunday night. With a look at who's aiming for Oscar, all that and more right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: At the movies this weekend, Bruce Willis and another urban adventure, a teen twist on "The Little Mermaid" and the latest sci-fi action figure.

Here with your weekend movie preview is Mr. Moviefone himself, Russ Leatherman.

Russ, good to see you. Good morning, sir.

RUSS LEATHERMAN, MR. MOVIEFONE: Thanks for having me aboard.

HARRIS: All right, here's the thing. It's just 16 blocks. My goodness, all you do is you get a cruiser, you get a cab or something and take the guy, Mos Def, 16 blocks and you drop him off. How tough can that be?

LEATHERMAN: What can happen in 16 blocks? Well, let me a lot can happen. You have Bruce Willis, he's playing a burned-out cop who has to transfer a grand jury witness, played by Mos Def, from lock down 16 blocks to the courthouse to testify. But this odd couple, well, they end up having to rely on each other, because those 16 blocks are filled with corrupt cops and hired guns who want the witness dead.

HARRIS: Well, what can be -- what could he have done that would have caused this kind of outrage. What you've got is -- I'm looking at the clip here -- buses ramming cruisers. Did you like the movie?

LEATHERMAN: Well, you know, I liked it OK. It's not a great movie. We certainly seen Bruce Willis do this a lot. We saw him play this exact character in hostage last year. But I got tell you, I really like Mos Def. He's one of the crossover artist that's really doing the job. He's a good actor. He's getting better as he goes, and he's getting bigger and bigger roles. So if somebody asked me how much woe pay for this movie I'd say I'd pay $4.50 to see 16 blocks..

HARRIS: That doesn't get you in the door these days.

All right, let's drop -- what do you say, Russell, we drop that movie -- what is it "Ultraviolet?"

LEATHERMAN: Yes, they wouldn't screen it for us so it doesn't exist. It's dead to me.

HARRIS: It's dead to you. OK, so we're going to drop that. And let's put in its place this new Dave Chappelle movie, "Block Party." What is that about?

LEATHERMAN: Yes, I want to talk about this one, because I think it's one of the best movies in theaters right now.

HARRIS: Wow.

LEATHERMAN: Comedian Dave Chappelle, you know him. He was from Comedy Central. He had a great show going. He got a $50 million contract and he bolted. He went crazy. He went to Africa, didn't tell his wife where he was going, just splitsville. But in between that time he made this movie, "Dave Chappelle's Block Party." It's really a huge concert in Brooklyn, featuring Kanye West, The Roots, Dead Prez, the Fugees reunion.

And the thing I loved about this movie is went to his hometown, he handed out tickets to people who could never go to a concert like this. He Recruited the local college band to play in the concert. And the thing I really loved about it is you felt like the artist. You felt like Dave Chappelle. You felt like the audience. They were all doing it for the right reasons. A lot of times when you get these concert films, there's a lot of posing, a lot of posturing, and you know that they're doing it for the motion picture itself.

Here, it felt like a guy who is real, he has a real audience with fantastic music. One of the best concert films I've seen in years, really. I really like "Dave Chappelle's Block Party."

HARRIS: All right, Russ, before we run out of time here, what are your authorities on "Aquamarine?" Is this a teen coming of age? Is that what this is?

LEATHERMAN: Yes, it's "The Little Mermaid" on land, is what it is.

HARRIS: Got you.

LEATHERMAN: It's about these two girls. They find this mermaid in their swimming pool. And, see, the mermaid has to find true love on land or her marine father is going to make her marry some crustacean she doesn't want to marry.

HARRIS: That's good.

LEATHERMAN: So we've seen this before. If you've a 12 or 13- year-old girl, they might like this movie OK. But I actually asked my 12-year-old what she would pay to see "Aquamarine." The only thing she was willing to volunteer was like a juice box out of her lunch. So really not much for anybody else.

But I would say the movie of the week, no doubt about it, "Dave Chappelle's Block Party." And also on DVD, let me mention, "Walk the Line," is out this week, if you want to have at least seen one of the Oscar contenders before big Sunday.

HARRIS: Russ, good to see you.

LEATHERMAN: My pleasure. Have a great day.

HARRIS: Mr. Moviefone, all right.

The Academy Awards are just two days away. And the anticipation in Hollywood is palpable.

Here with the Oscar buzz, CNN entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas. She is live in Los Angeles.

Sibila, good morning to you.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony, trying to keep warm and trying to stay dry out here in beautiful sunny California. But it's a little rainy today.

But I want to take about the best pictures, whether it's controversial gay love story of "Brokeback Mountain," or the racial tensions explored in "Crash," it doesn't even matter, you know, when it comes to the best nominees in the best picture category, they've one thing in common, and that's guts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS (voice-over): Journalistic ethics explored in "Capote" and "Goodnight and Good Luck." A controversial gay love story in "Brokeback Mountain." The hot button issue of racism in "Crash." And terrorism and its legacy in "Munich." The Oscar nominees for best picture are a mix of movies with political and social themes.

DAVE KARGER, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": As opposed to the years past when the Oscars have really been dominated like more big-budget special effects movies like "Titanic" or "Lord of the Rings," this year's best picture nominees seem to be smaller movies that have a lot more on their mind.

VARGAS: What is behind the season of thinking films?

KARGER: The last few years have been a very politically divisive and politically vibrant time in this country, and I think the film industry this year has really started reacting to that.

VARGAS: And the country appears to have embraced these message- laden films. All the best picture candidates are moneymakers. But the Oscar-nominated stars are focused on the big night. FELICITY HUFFMAN, ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE: I am feeling completely ecstatic.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I'm good. I just wrapped a movie, so I'm tired. I'm excited.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I think it's going to be amazing to sit down and people watch. It should be cool.

VARGAS: Winners to watch for? "Brokeback Mountain" will be tough to beat in the best picture category, but "Crash" may have a chance.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who has already won numerous awards for his work in "Capote," is considered the frontrunner in the best acting category.

And industry experts say Reese Witherspoon will likely walk away with the best actress Oscar for her performance in "Walk the Line."

But until the envelopes are open, and the winners are announced Hollywood is bustling as the Oscar statuettes are delivered. Party preparations are finalized and that famous red carpet is rolled into place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: And "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart will be hosting the event for the first time, and of course the Oscars will be given out Sunday. And we will be here live on the red carpet, which right now is kind of covered right now with cellophane, but it will be out here come Sunday. So stay tuned to CNN and our very special show at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: OK, Sibila, thank you.

All right, CNN can take care of all the Oscar needs. Join for us the red carpet, for the interviews, with the nominees, presenters, and the first look at the best and the worst of Oscar fashions. That's Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

And CNN confirms that -- can confirm that President Bush has landed in Pakistan for his trip there. We will have a live report from Pakistan on the president's arrival and his plans while in Pakistan coming up at the top of the hour.

It is raining, it is pouring and in Hawaii they are rushing for cover. We'll show you the flood and damage, and we'll talk about when it might let up. Also ahead, from a quiet night for 300 to the massive blowout it is today, a look at the history of Oscar night. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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