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American Morning

An Interview With Eunice Stone

Aired September 18, 2002 - 08:33   ET

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

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


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Eunice Stone has been called a racist for telling police that she overheard three Muslim men making what sounded to be like possible terrorist plans, but Florida Governor Jeb Bush said she did the right thing, and he thanked her for her actions. The men, who were detained in Florida for 17 hours, while their vehicles and possessions were searched, are medical students. And on our show yesterday, they strongly denied Eunice Stone's claim that she heard them talking terror at a restaurant.
Eunice Stone joins us now, along with her lawyer, Michael Prieto.

Welcome. Good to see both of you.

EUNICE STONE: Thank you.

ZAHN: You have been subjected to hate mail, death threats.

STONE: Yes.

ZAHN: You were hospitalized earlier this week for chest pains?

STONE: Yes.

ZAHN: If you had to do it all over again, would you have made that call to police?

STONE: Yes, ma'am. I didn't hesitate. It was the right thing to do. If you hear something like that, you call the police, let them sort it out. That's how all of this is sorted out through tidbits and tips from people. So I did the right thing.

ZAHN: There has been much discussion about exactly what you told legal authorities and I think a bunch of the stuff has been twisted in the translation. Tell us exactly what you can remember seeing, hearing, and then translating to police?

STONE: I just told them about what I had heard in the Shoney's restaurant. I called the Georgia Highway Patrol as soon as the men walked out of the restaurant, because I wasn't about to take on three grown men, caught them after they were leaving and jotted down the license plate number, and called the Georgia State Patrol. They patched me through to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. And I gave my name, address, telephone number, everything, because I wanted to be credible. I wanted them to believe me, and it went from there, everything.

ZAHN: So what triggered your interest was the comment "bringing it down?" Were they specific?

STONE: What really triggered my interest in their conversation was when they were laughing about 9/11. That kind of got my ear. And then the rest of it was just tidbits. The part about "bringing it down," just "bringing it down." I had no clue. Anyone that would laugh at 9/11, I thought, you know, if they're going to talk about bringing something down, I need to contact authorities.

ZAHN: We spoke with these three medical students yesterday on "American Morning," and they said they never made any reference to any dates.

Let's listen to what they had to say and give you a chance to react to their accusations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMBIZ BUTT, FLORIDA DETAINEE: She said, we mentioned 9/11 we mentioned 9/13. These dates were never even brought up in our conversation at all. I really do think she had to add those statements to complete her story, because just to say they said "bringing it down" or connections is not enough. So I think she added these phrases to complete her story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: They're accusing you of gross exaggeration here? How do you respond to that charge?

STONE: They're calling me a liar, and I'm not a liar. And it's just I reported it just as I heard it, and I won't embellish on the story. It would be wrong to do so. I still feel that I done the right thing, after all this.

MICHAEL PRIETO, EUNICE STONE'S LAWYER: I also would like to point out that she has absolutely no reason to embellish whatsoever. I mean, she didn't go out to seek publicity in any manner whatsoever. She heard suspicious conversation at a restaurant. She called the authorities. In the matter of making the report, she gave her personal information to the 911 operator. She never called the press. She has never sought any of this attention whatsoever. She did the right thing, and because of that, she's been labeled a racist, she's been labeled a liar, and now, despite what the medical students are stating on -- to the press. I have been contacted by several attorneys stating they represent them in a potential lawsuit to be filed against Ms. Stone for slander.

So I really want people to understand that this lady should be celebrated. She did exactly what President Bush has asked our citizens to do. And what has she received? She's received death threats, she's received all of this negative publicity, and it's just not right.

ZAHN: What has been the most painful part of this for you?

STONE: Being away from my family and not being able to live my life the way I've always lived it, like sending my daughter to school and all of the things that I enjoyed that I just took for granted that nothing would change.

ZAHN: Because of these death threats, because of these accusations that you're a bigot?

STONE: Yes.

ZAHN: Do you feel like a pariah? Maybe not in your own community, but in some sectors of America?

STONE: Yes, yes. I know that everybody is not going to agree with everybody all of the time, but I wouldn't lie. And I don't take kindly to being called a liar.

ZAHN: So if you could face your three accusers face-to-face, what would you say to them?

STONE: I would say, be careful what you say in public. If you want to laugh about it behind closed doors, that's your freedom. It's your freedom to do -- to say what you want to say, but just be careful. In this day and time, we're under a high terror alert, and what I done, I reported what I heard to the authorities. It was up to the authorities to pick through this information and determine if they thought it was credible or not.

ZAHN: Very quickly, do you think they were tweaking you? There was one report that they saw you sneering at them and then they decided to play with you.

STONE: Oh, no, no. No, I wouldn't sneer at anyone. I'm not that type of person.

PRIETO: The big thing we would like for them to do is take responsibility for their actions, simply take responsibility for their actions. It is unfortunate that the hospital in Miami made the decision that they did. However, they brought this upon themselves, and they're not -- they need to be responsible and not point the finger toward Ms. Stone and play the victims.

ZAHN: Well, we appreciate both of you joining us this morning.

STONE: Thank you very much.

ZAHN: And sharing your side of the story.

STONE: Thank you.

ZAHN: Eunice Stone, sorry to hear you've been in the hospital. I can't even imagine what the last couple of days have been like for you. Thank you for your time, Mr. Prieto as well.

PRIETO: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 18, 2002 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Eunice Stone has been called a racist for telling police that she overheard three Muslim men making what sounded to be like possible terrorist plans, but Florida Governor Jeb Bush said she did the right thing, and he thanked her for her actions. The men, who were detained in Florida for 17 hours, while their vehicles and possessions were searched, are medical students. And on our show yesterday, they strongly denied Eunice Stone's claim that she heard them talking terror at a restaurant.
Eunice Stone joins us now, along with her lawyer, Michael Prieto.

Welcome. Good to see both of you.

EUNICE STONE: Thank you.

ZAHN: You have been subjected to hate mail, death threats.

STONE: Yes.

ZAHN: You were hospitalized earlier this week for chest pains?

STONE: Yes.

ZAHN: If you had to do it all over again, would you have made that call to police?

STONE: Yes, ma'am. I didn't hesitate. It was the right thing to do. If you hear something like that, you call the police, let them sort it out. That's how all of this is sorted out through tidbits and tips from people. So I did the right thing.

ZAHN: There has been much discussion about exactly what you told legal authorities and I think a bunch of the stuff has been twisted in the translation. Tell us exactly what you can remember seeing, hearing, and then translating to police?

STONE: I just told them about what I had heard in the Shoney's restaurant. I called the Georgia Highway Patrol as soon as the men walked out of the restaurant, because I wasn't about to take on three grown men, caught them after they were leaving and jotted down the license plate number, and called the Georgia State Patrol. They patched me through to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. And I gave my name, address, telephone number, everything, because I wanted to be credible. I wanted them to believe me, and it went from there, everything.

ZAHN: So what triggered your interest was the comment "bringing it down?" Were they specific?

STONE: What really triggered my interest in their conversation was when they were laughing about 9/11. That kind of got my ear. And then the rest of it was just tidbits. The part about "bringing it down," just "bringing it down." I had no clue. Anyone that would laugh at 9/11, I thought, you know, if they're going to talk about bringing something down, I need to contact authorities.

ZAHN: We spoke with these three medical students yesterday on "American Morning," and they said they never made any reference to any dates.

Let's listen to what they had to say and give you a chance to react to their accusations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMBIZ BUTT, FLORIDA DETAINEE: She said, we mentioned 9/11 we mentioned 9/13. These dates were never even brought up in our conversation at all. I really do think she had to add those statements to complete her story, because just to say they said "bringing it down" or connections is not enough. So I think she added these phrases to complete her story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: They're accusing you of gross exaggeration here? How do you respond to that charge?

STONE: They're calling me a liar, and I'm not a liar. And it's just I reported it just as I heard it, and I won't embellish on the story. It would be wrong to do so. I still feel that I done the right thing, after all this.

MICHAEL PRIETO, EUNICE STONE'S LAWYER: I also would like to point out that she has absolutely no reason to embellish whatsoever. I mean, she didn't go out to seek publicity in any manner whatsoever. She heard suspicious conversation at a restaurant. She called the authorities. In the matter of making the report, she gave her personal information to the 911 operator. She never called the press. She has never sought any of this attention whatsoever. She did the right thing, and because of that, she's been labeled a racist, she's been labeled a liar, and now, despite what the medical students are stating on -- to the press. I have been contacted by several attorneys stating they represent them in a potential lawsuit to be filed against Ms. Stone for slander.

So I really want people to understand that this lady should be celebrated. She did exactly what President Bush has asked our citizens to do. And what has she received? She's received death threats, she's received all of this negative publicity, and it's just not right.

ZAHN: What has been the most painful part of this for you?

STONE: Being away from my family and not being able to live my life the way I've always lived it, like sending my daughter to school and all of the things that I enjoyed that I just took for granted that nothing would change.

ZAHN: Because of these death threats, because of these accusations that you're a bigot?

STONE: Yes.

ZAHN: Do you feel like a pariah? Maybe not in your own community, but in some sectors of America?

STONE: Yes, yes. I know that everybody is not going to agree with everybody all of the time, but I wouldn't lie. And I don't take kindly to being called a liar.

ZAHN: So if you could face your three accusers face-to-face, what would you say to them?

STONE: I would say, be careful what you say in public. If you want to laugh about it behind closed doors, that's your freedom. It's your freedom to do -- to say what you want to say, but just be careful. In this day and time, we're under a high terror alert, and what I done, I reported what I heard to the authorities. It was up to the authorities to pick through this information and determine if they thought it was credible or not.

ZAHN: Very quickly, do you think they were tweaking you? There was one report that they saw you sneering at them and then they decided to play with you.

STONE: Oh, no, no. No, I wouldn't sneer at anyone. I'm not that type of person.

PRIETO: The big thing we would like for them to do is take responsibility for their actions, simply take responsibility for their actions. It is unfortunate that the hospital in Miami made the decision that they did. However, they brought this upon themselves, and they're not -- they need to be responsible and not point the finger toward Ms. Stone and play the victims.

ZAHN: Well, we appreciate both of you joining us this morning.

STONE: Thank you very much.

ZAHN: And sharing your side of the story.

STONE: Thank you.

ZAHN: Eunice Stone, sorry to hear you've been in the hospital. I can't even imagine what the last couple of days have been like for you. Thank you for your time, Mr. Prieto as well.

PRIETO: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com