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CNN Live Today

Cry For Help; Immigration Nation; Chicken Little?; Gas-Tritis

Aired April 10, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking about sneezes. She just had her (INAUDIBLE).
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I know. I'm sorry. Why don't you go ahead and do this reading and get it together.

MILES O'BRIEN: So I better press on, because I haven't been sneezing.

Daryn Kagan is here for the next couple of hours.

Hello, Daryn.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thank you for helping me, Miles.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. And bless you, Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thank you. I appreciate that, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let you get a little tissue.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thank you. I'm all set.

KAGAN: You'll all set. You have a great day in New York City.

Things already hopping around the country, including here in Atlanta. A number of immigration protests. Tens of thousands of people expected. This is Atlanta. This is along Buford Highway. About 30,000 people expected at this particular demonstration. And similar demonstrations planned all across the country, all in response to immigration legislation that's been moving both through the federal government and here in Atlanta.

One of the more restrictive measures is expected to be signed possibly by Governor Sonny Perdue. If the governor does sign the bill for here in Georgia, it would require verification that adults seeking many state-administered benefit, you have to prove first that you are in the country legally. So we'll be watching what happens in Atlanta and in other communities all across the country.

Meanwhile, though, a very disturbing story about a little boy in Michigan. A five-year-old boy dials 911 hoping to save his mother's life. Instead, his cry for help gets him threat, a scolding, overwhelming heartbreak. We're going to spend the next several minutes on a tragedy that should not have happened. How did it happen? How could it have been avoided? I'll have a chance to talk to somebody who trains 911 operators. First, though, Fredricka Whitfield has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One afternoon in February, five-year-old Robert Turner found his mother unconscious in their Detroit apartment.

ROBERT TURNER, 911 CALLER: And then I had felt her tummy. She wasn't breathing. And I had called 911 and told them to send an emergency truck right now.

WHITFIELD: But the 911 dispatcher didn't take Robert seriously.

911 OPERATOR: Emergency 911. What's the problem?

TURNER: My mom has passed out.

911 OPERATOR: Where's the grownups at?

TURNER: (INAUDIBLE).

911 OPERATOR: Let me speak to her. Let me speak to her before I send the police over there.

WHITFIELD: The police were not sent. Some three hours later Robert called again with the same result.

TURNER: (INAUDIBLE).

911 OPERATOR: I don't care. You shouldn't be playing on the phone. Now put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you going to be in trouble.

TURNER: Ugh!

WHITFIELD: When police finally arrive at 9:22 p.m., they found 46-year-old Sherrill Turner dead. The family is now planning a wrongful death lawsuit against Detroit police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was a child calling. There was no laughter. And he repeated what he was saying.

TYRONE PATTERSON, VICTIM'S SON-IN-LAW: Everyone should be trained to treat every situation as an emergency. People do not just call 911 as a joke. My mom has passed out. The message was clear.

WHITFIELD: The union that represents dispatchers says about a quarter of all 911 calls are pranks.

KIMBERLY HARRIS, LOCAL UNION PRESIDENT: That operator could have had five prank calls, kids calling prior to that call. And, please, don't, you know, think that I'm trying to make an excuse, you know, that was a tragedy.

WHITFIELD: The dispatcher who took the second call, an 18-year veteran, remains on the job. HARRIS: I know that operator. I know that she is a very good operator. She is very thorough.

WHITFIELD: Detroit police say the department is investigating the handling of the calls. For Robert, now six, the rights and wrongs of the case are less important than the sadness he feels.

TURNER: Every time somebody talk about her, I just bust out and start crying.

WHITFIELD: Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So as you heard, this case is headed to court. Well- known Attorney Geoffrey Fieger is filing a wrongful death suit on behalf of Robert. The two appeared earlier on "American Morning" and spoke with Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Who taught you how to call 911, Robert?

ROBERT TURNER: My mom.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Your mommy taught you. And when you called, the woman said she wasn't going to send police until she could talk to your mom. So I know you waited a pretty long time, like three hours, and you called back again. What did you -- when she scolded you, which is what we just heard, when she scold you and said stop playing around, what did you think?

TURNER: No, she said stop playing on the phone.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Stop playing on the phone, uh-huh. So you must have been pretty worried. What did you think?

TURNER: I was worried about my mom.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, I bet you were.

Geoffrey, let me ask you a question. It was even long after that before police came to the house.

GEOFFREY FIEGER, ROBERT'S ATTORNEY: : Hours. Hours.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And found Sherrill Turner. She was dead by then. This is a case, obviously, that has lawsuit written all over it and probably criminal charges, too. What are you looking for this case.

FIEGER: I'm not sure about criminal charges, but certainly we need to alert the public and hopefully 911 to take the lead in not allowing this to happen again. There is no excuse for this. Children are taught. My children are two and four years old. Robert has just turned six. They're taught by their parents, in the face of an emergency, call 911. When they call they can't be intimidated. They can't be scolded. They can't be threatened. That's just counterproductive. And in this case it resulted in the loss of a life.

It also isn't an isolated occurrence. This happens far more often than people think. And if we did not have this tape, no one would believe Robert that he had done this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: So Detroit police are investigating. Chief Ella Bully- Cummings warn against any rush to judgment and says, "the citizens of Detroit can be assured that our department is meticulously examining every aspect of what occurred. And if disciplinary action is recommended following the completion of the investigation, then that is the course that will be taken."

All across the country people teach their children to dial 911 in an emergency. So how does a tragedy like this happen? Joining me in St. Louis is George Deuchar. He is with Powerphone, a company that trains 911 dispatchers.

George, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

GEORGE DEUCHAR, TRAINING DIRECTOR, POWERPHONE: Good morning. My pleasure.

KAGAN: First, let's talk about protocol. First protocol when children call 911. What do you teach dispatchers?

DEUCHAR: First of all, a child is a very different type of caller. And at Powerphone training, we talk about to be very specific with the child, age, vocabulary specific and just realize that who you have on the other end of that phone and to talk down to a child or to talk in a loud voice to a child as they perceive it is quite differently than with an adult. But this has a classic what we call a Powerphone 300 call syndrome all over it.

KAGAN: I'm sorry. What kind of syndrome?

DEUCHAR: Three hundred call syndrome. We have call takers that take 299 calls and they may be nothing at all. And then they take the 300th call and they're in that same mindset and then they assign that same priority to it. As, you know, as was heard earlier in the broadcast, she may have received five prank calls prior to that. But each call -- the training has to be that each call has its own importance.

KAGAN: Now let's talk about hoaxes, because we heard that union representative say as many as 25 percent of the calls are hoaxes. What's protocol in trying to figure out what is, what isn't?

DEUCHAR: Well, it is. It is a lot, 25 percent. And it's also related to another issue we have right now that's the 911 hang-up call. And how many of those are -- you know, some departments call back. There's no uniformity really between departments. And sometimes in our training we find there's no uniformity among shifts.

KAGAN: Wow.

DEUCHAR: Each shift may handle that call differently than the next. So, I mean, there has to be one protocol for that agency to do no matter what shift you're working. Call that 911 hang-up back. Give it the importance that each call really needs.

KAGAN: how do you train the people in your programs to handle and to know the difference between hoaxes and kids that might really have a problem on the other end of the line?

DEUCHAR: Well, as I said earlier, we have to train to Powerphone's theory of 300 call syndrome. We have to give each call its own importance. We use tapes in our classes. We use actual 911 caus. We dissect. We critique. In some cases, it is (INAUDIBLE).

KAGAN: So, George, if you had this call in one of your classes, which maybe might be a good idea going forward, what would you do with it? What would you point out?

DEUCHAR: Well, I'm sure we will talk about it in the classes that are coming.

One of the things I would point out is that, OK, it's a child. The child didn't have that much to say. What is their emergency? A lot of time it's not just the individual operator that's at fault, it's the entire system. A lot of times they are large urban centers. They don't have the time or the manpower to address each call or each 911 hang-up.

But in this one you could see that it is a child and give it the importance -- how much could a child be telling us. But they were -- he was making reference to his mother not being able to speak.

KAGAN: As we've said, this is under investigation by Detroit police. If you were doing the investigation or at least taking part, what would you want to know? What would be the questions you would ask?

DEUCHAR: I would certainly want to know, as far as what the dispatcher, what the call taker was thinking at that time. I'd also like to have some other background information about what kind of training -- previous training has she had? Was there any previous disciplinary issues with her? If there were, in fact, was there corrective actions taken by the supervisor?

KAGAN: It's two different people. He called twice and he got two different women. So it kind of happened -- it happened twice.

DEUCHAR: OK. Yes, as I said, it's a system issue as well. But, I mean, we're used to dealing with calls like that. And they're so busy -- they're so inundated with phone calls, if this one doesn't appear to be real, let's move on to the next one because the phone is ringing.

KAGAN: Right.

DEUCHAR: And I'm not saying that's right, but each new caller is potentially a new tragedy.

KAGAN: George Deuchar, thanks for your expertise on 911. Appreciate it.

DEUCHAR: Thank you.

KAGAN: Now here are some facts about the nation's 911 emergency call service.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): National Emergency Number Association, an industry group, says 190 to 200 million calls are placed to 911 operators nationwide every year. That equates to more than 500,000 calls every day. Response times to 911 calls vary by jurisdiction.

For medical emergency calls, the national standard response time is nine minutes. For firefighter, the optimum response time is six minutes or less. Ninety-nine percent of the U.S. population is covered by 911, but there are a few rural areas without even basic 911.

A presidential commission recommended creation of a universal emergency number back in 1967. In February 1968, the first 911 call was completed by State Senator Rankin Fite in Haleyville, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: They're trying to show power in numbers. Numbers growing here in Atlanta today. Immigrant, tense of thousands, taking to the streets across the U.S. These are live pictures from here in Atlanta. They are set to deliver a strong message to government leaders. We are live from at least one demonstration, which you can see by how the camera is moving around.

Also a startling sight for guards at a Pennsylvania hospital. A car driving right toward them on fire. We'll tell you what happened to the driver.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go back to these live pictures that we're watching. This is Atlanta, Georgia. One of about 60 protests that are planned all across the country today. They're expecting about 30,000 people here in Atlanta alone.

This activity is a sharp contrast to the inaction on Capitol Hill. The Senate is now at in a two-week recess. Lawmakers couldn't come to any points of agreement on an immigration bill. Protesters don't like a House-approved bill. That would make it a felony to be in the country without permission. As I said this, this protest here in Atlanta, one of just many that are planned all across the country. You can look at the map of the places we know that protests are planned today. Amanda Rosseter standing by here in Atlanta with more on what we can expect.

How many -- I heard they were expecting about 30,000 people here in Atlanta alone, Amanda.

AMANDA ROSSETER, ATLANTA: That's right, Daryn, they are expecting about 30,000 people. Right now we're guesstimating there are about 4,000 to 5,000 people. And if you take a look over my shoulder, they are pouring in. We arrived about 8:00 this morning and there were just a few hundred and they have been coming in, in droves.

As you can see, most of them are wearing white shirts and carrying U.S. flags. They were all encouraged to do that after some marchers at previous protest across the country had carried Mexican flags. And they were criticized for that, saying that they were not going to be able to assimilate into our society, into the American society, if you will.

Again, the big concern here today is jobs. On both sides there is a protest area that has been set up around the corner. They are concerned about jobs and the people here are concerned about jobs.

I spoke to a couple of young college students who go to Georgia State University. They told us that what they're seeing is that many of their classmates, and they as well, are good students. They graduated with very good grade point averages. They graduate with honors. They go on to college. But they have no hope for the future or for getting professional jobs.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Amanda, any plans for any counter protesters today?

ROSSETER: There is a protest area that is set up around the corner here. Police have them cordoned off and they're sort of keeping them away from the rally site here. There was a pre-rally meeting with the organizers of this event with police and this is expected to be very peaceful.

KAGAN: Amanda Rosseter here in Atlanta. Amanda, thank you.

Well, one thing that illegal immigrants live with is this constant fear of being deported and that fear is multiplied when kids are involved. CNN's Allan Chernoff has one family's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Mary Beth Sanchez (ph) is only 12 years old, but she has a message for Washington.

MARY BETH SANCHEZ: We are not criminals. We just follow our dreams. CHERNOFF: Mary Beth is the daughter of Fernando and Ana Sanchez, undocumented immigrants who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexican board 15 years ago. Fernando Sanchez works on construction sites, says he didn't have the option to come to the U.S. legally and only intended to stay for a few years. But after having four children, all U.S. citizens because they were born here, Fernando wants to remain in America legally and says he wants to live the American dream.

FERNANDO SANCHEZ, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT, (through translator): For me it means to be able to have progress, to have a better life than the one I would have in my country.

CHERNOFF: The entire Sanchez family will march on city hall Monday, joining thousands of expected protesters to support the right of illegal immigrants to seek U.S. citizenship. Community activist Ana Maria Archila says illegal immigrants are eager to have their voices heard.

ANA MARIA ARCHILA, LATIN AMERICAN INTEGRATION CENTER: People feel like they don't come here to break the law. That they come here to do jobs that are hard jobs, that are low-paying jobs, that are really risky jobs and they feel like there is a lot of lack of gratitude from the members of Congress that are instilling fear and hatred against immigrant communities.

CHERNOFF: Ana Sanchez agrees and says life is hard as an illegal immigrant. She and her husband live in constant fear of deportation and they have not been able to visit their family back in Mexico for 15 years. But it's all worth it, she says, to raise her family in America.

ANNA SANCHEZ, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT, (through translator): You have to struggle and that you cannot give up for what is good for -- I cannot give up for what is good for myself, for my husband and for my children.

CHERNOFF: Mary Beth Sanchez and her brothers will carry their homemade signs to Monday's rally and hope their voices will be enough to reach lawmakers in Washington so their parents and other illegal immigrants can finally call America their country and their home.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: A fiery response to the immigration rallies. The group is called the Border Guardians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Burn, baby, burn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Burn, baby, burn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Burn, baby, burn. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby, burn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All (INAUDIBLE) towards Washington. God bless America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Group members burned a Mexican flag to protest the protesters. It happened in front of the Mexican consulate in Tucson. The head of the Boarder Guardians is promising more flag burnings when illegal immigrants take to the streets.

The sky may not be falling, but a really big ice cube did. Chicken little, a big mystery, coming up.

And it doesn't matter what you drive, you're likely feeling the pain of rising gasoline prices. What is the cost these days? We're going to tell you what is driving up the prices ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The markets have been open about 52 minutes. The Dow is moving a bit. It's up 34 point. The Nasdaq, as we say in the biz, it's flat, unchanged, not doing a lot. We'll continue to watch as the day goes on. See, not even up a point.

Well, maybe want to take a look at this. This is Canada. This is the St. Lawrence River near Montreal. This is a whale that has beached itself. Why that has happened and the type of whale we're not really sure at this time. We're just getting a chance to get -- see these live pictures. We will work on getting you more information on that very unfortunate whale.

Well, maybe chicken little was on to something. A big block of ice plunged from the sky and crashed into a city park in Oakland, California. You can see the crater. It's about three feet and two and a half feet deep. Here's the mystery. It's the ice. The ice was pure water and that means it wasn't from some airliner's toilet or something gross like that, which is a common source of falling ice. Experts say that weather conditions weren't right for that chunk to form on a passing plane. So hmmm.

Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And no storms in the area.

KAGAN: So?

MYERS: Clear skies.

KAGAN: What's your explanation?

MYERS: You know, I've been searching Google all morning on that and I don't have one. Except that this phenomenon actually was seen first in Spain a couple years ago, like in 2000.

KAGAN: Random ice.

MYERS: And they really have no idea where it comes from.

KAGAN: No ice.

MYERS: No.

KAGAN: No idea on the ice. What about any other answers on weather, though?

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Hey, let's talk a different kind of number.

MYERS: OK.

KAGAN: Gas prices.

MYERS: Yes.

KAGAN: What's the last price you paid when you filled up?

MYERS: $2.69.

KAGAN: I paid $2.68. Crazy. It used to be you could . . .

MYERS: We must live in the same neighborhood.

KAGAN: It used to be you could brag to friends out of state about how cheap the gas was here in Atlanta.

MYERS: Yes, no more.

KAGAN: No more. No more. I guess it's expensive everywhere.

MYERS: Yes.

KAGAN: And people are feeling pain at the pump. Gas is up nearly 17 cents in just two short weeks. The national average, Chad, for self-serve regular, $2.67.

MYERS: Yes, people in Hawaii would swim for $2.67, because they're like $3.50.

KAGAN: Yes, they would like that. Well I've got news for you, people in Hawaii are swimming, but that's a different weather segment.

One analyst is blaming new government regulations to for pumping up prices. That's what they're saying. Why? Keep that in mind next time it costs you all that money to fill up your tank.

Thank you, Chad.

Coming up, it is make or break time. An Enron player takes the stand over the company's fall. A live report from the Houston courthouse. Also, a Pennsylvania woman trapped inside her burning car. We will share with you the amazing outcome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: More live pictures from here in Atlanta. Tens of thousands of people showing up to protest immigration reform and some of the laws that could be soon on the books. This is just outside the center part of Atlanta and most of the protesters wearing white. They say they've chosen to do that because they say white represents that they intend a peaceful protest. More on that and the many, many other demonstrations planned all across the country today.

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