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American Morning

Chaos in France; Digging Through the Rubble in Southern Indiana

Aired November 07, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chaos in France continues. Rioters set fire for 1,400 vehicles and take aim at police. And now apparently one person is dead. We're live from Paris just ahead.
Digging through the rubble in southern Indiana after a line of tornadoes flattens homes in several counties. Twenty-two are dead. Rescuers back at work this morning. We are live from the scene.

And breaking news overnight. A manhunt for an escaped death row killer ending in a drunken scene outside a liquor store. Charles Victor Thompson back behind bars on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Good morning.

It's Monday.

We're glad you're with us.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are glad you're with us.

I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad today.

O'BRIEN: That manhunt and ultimately capture of Charles Victor Thompson was quite a story, wasn't it?

COSTELLO: It's just he so cleverly escapes and then he's found riding a bicycle -- actually, he was in a phone booth. The bike was nearby. And he was so toasted that investigators couldn't even ask him questions.

O'BRIEN: There are so many questions about how he got out, but also so many questions about why he allowed himself to get caught in that way. We will try to answer as many as we can for us this morning.

But let's start in France. Another night of widespread rioting yesterday. Authorities now say one man has died since the violence started 11 days ago now.

CNN's Chris Burns joining us live now from Paris -- Chris, Give us the latest.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, we know a little bit more about this man. He was a 61-year-old man, the director of one of these housing projects outside of Paris, in these very, very violent suburbs where the rioting has been going on. In fact, in this little town of Sten, where he was attacked, that is on the road, on the way to Charles DeGaulle Airport. You can actually see those housing projects as you're driving in.

And he was attacked by a group of youths, knocked to the ground, fell into a coma, has been in a coma for several days and has died today, according to authorities.

This, of course, causes even further concern and raises tensions even further. The government trying to bring an end to this. Jacques Chirac, the president, met with his key cabinet ministers last night, came out and said that he wants to end this. He is saying that the priority is restoring order. They're going to send out more police. And we saw a lot of police on the street last night. He's also calling for respect, for justice and equality, paying a bit of tribute to, or attention to, the demands by people in those communities for the government to do more to fight unemployment, sometimes over 50 percent.

These are areas where there are immigrant youths, Arab and African, and that is where the rioting started. They think that they are being treated badly, that they're not getting enough opportunity, that they're victims of discrimination. And that seems to have conflagrated beyond Paris and has gone to some 200 cities across the country -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Chris Burns in Paris watching it for us.

Thank you very much -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Here in the United States, a killer tornado. Searchers back at it in Evansville, Indiana this morning. Nearly two dozen are dead. Hundreds more are still missing.

Ed Lavandera is in Evansville, where Indiana borders Kentucky -- Ed, are they still searching for survivors or has that been called off?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they think they've gotten pretty much all of that work done. But they are coming back this morning to continue that search. The sheriff here in the Evansville area says that there are still about 200 people unaccounted for. And this is really the area that took the hardest hit. This is a mobile home park where so far 17 people were found dead in here.

The last bit of good news that came from here was yesterday afternoon when a young child was found alive here.

But, you know, to give us a sense of where this tornado came from, it came from that direction over there. And it's clear when you walk over this way, walk with the line, this is kind of where they have news reporters set up at this point. But you can see what has been -- has -- the storm and the winds blew through here, essentially blowing all of the debris from the mobile homes and the insulation dangling from the trees. And this goes back quite a ways. It's -- I don't know if you can tell just how deep this forested area is here.

We're told that this area has been checked out thoroughly over the last 24 hours or so and that no one is back here. But there is a lot of debris and it really gives you a sense of how powerful the winds were in this tornado, because this stretches back as far as the eye can see with all the debris and the insulation. It's almost kind of a very eerie sight.

Many of these residents, as we've been reporting, were asleep, were unable to hear the sirens from the storm. And they describe some harrowing tales.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY LOCKHART, SURVIVED TORNADO: When I woke up, it sounded like hail hitting the window and all of a sudden the whole house just exploded. And then I was spun around a couple of times. And all of the -- the roof and all of the debris come in on top of me. And it took me about a half an hour to dig myself out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: You know, not only was it a weird time of day when this tornado hit, 2:00 in the morning, of course, catching many people by surprise. But the other weird part of all of this is that we are months after tornado season. It's a very chilly day here in Indiana, definitely not the kind of conditions that you would expect to see this kind of weather -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Not at all.

I just can't believe Casey Lockhart made it out of his house, because behind him was the wreckage of his home. There's nothing left. But he made it out alive. It's just amazing.

LAVANDERA: Right.

COSTELLO: Ed Lavandera reporting live from Indiana this morning.

O'BRIEN: An escaped killer, as we told you, back behind bars this morning, probably nursing a nasty hangover. Charles Thompson escaped from a Houston, Texas jail on Thursday. He was there for a re-sentencing. Police caught up with him last night about 200 miles away -- Shreveport, Louisiana the location -- after he went on a bender.

Keith Oppenheim is outside the Harris County Jail in Houston, where there's a lot of questions this morning about how he slipped from their grasp -- good morning, Keith.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

A lot of those questions unanswered. We do know that the task force that was looking for Charles Victor Thompson started to get a lot of tips pointing to Shreveport, Louisiana. And at 8:00 local time last night, they found the escapee in front of a liquor store in Shreveport. He was on a pay phone. Not sure with whom he was speaking. There was a bicycle by his side, which police say was his mode of transportation. And as you're indicating, he was not sober.

When they confident him, police say, he said, "You know who I am" and he was fairly cooperative when he was arrested.

The spokesperson for the Harris County Sheriffs Department here in Houston talked about the fact that he never should have been on the loose in the first place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. JOHN MARTIN, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Of course, we're embarrassed about it. It's certainly not something we can take pride in. And from that moment, we got very busy trying to locate him, trying to get him back into custody. We also have an extensive investigation going on right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: Thompson was taken to the Cato Parish Jail in Shreveport. There is to be a hearing later today, we're told, and the hope here in Harris County in Houston is that he will waive extradition and then be brought back to the jail he escaped from and then ultimately back to death row. But the department is somewhat realistic about the way things are likely to go. They don't think he will waive extradition and it could be a couple of weeks, they say, before he is brought back to Texas.

So, Miles, we'll see.

O'BRIEN: Wherever he is held, let's hope they're watching him very closely.

Keith Oppenheim in Houston, thank you very much.

Let's get some more headlines.

Kelly is back with that -- hello, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles.

And good morning, everyone.

We're beginning in Iraq with the first American fatality in a new assault against senior Al Qaeda members in that country. Some 3,000 U.S. troops backed by Iraqi forces are going door-to-door in an operation known as Steel Curtain. Troops have found caches of weapons threat the city, including Iraqi Army uniforms and a rocket that could take down a helicopter.

We are waiting to hear from President Bush in Panama. He is expected to meet with Panama's leader shortly and we may hear some remarks in the next hour. The president and first lady arrived in Panama last night after stopping in Brazil and Argentina. The president was attending the Summit of the Americas. His trip to Latin America focusing on trade and promoting democracy.

And the insurance industry is reporting its first ever tests on how minivans hold up in side impact crashes. The Toyota Sienna and Nissan Quest earned the group's highest rating of good and best pick for side impact protection. The Honda Odyssey also earned a rating of good in that test.

But the Ford Freestar and MPV models without side airbags earned the lowest rating, or poor.

And you can find out more results on those crash tests at cnn.com.

Some important information there, Carol, for people to check out.

COSTELLO: Yes.

That was our top story on cnn.com so a lot of people want to know.

Thank you, Kelly.

Let's head to the forecast center -- you know, Jacqui, I was watching TV last night and we had a deadly tornado. And, of course, we had hurricane Rita and Katrina. And CBS has a movie on called "Cat 7." And the storm is so powerful that you see the Statue of Liberty crumbling and her head rolling along the ground.

Is there anything -- is there any such...

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, my.

COSTELLO: I know. I know.

JERAS: I missed that one.

COSTELLO: Is there any such thing as a category seven?

JERAS: No. It doesn't get beyond cat five, Carol.

But they do have super typhoons, I guess, in the Pacific, which may be a little stronger than the, you know, cat five storms that we can see on occasion around here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Still to come, more on those deadly tornadoes -- the real thing -- in the Midwest. We'll get a damage assessment in one of the hardest hit areas.

O'BRIEN: And later, an ex-Marine says his comrades committed unthinkable atrocities in Iraq. But one U.S. journalist says he can prove it's nothing but a pack of lies.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Sunday morning about 2:00 a.m. local time, Evansville, Indiana area -- most people asleep and not certainly paying attention to any warnings or watches at that hour. And look what came through -- a tornado, a very powerful one. Winds in excess of 158 miles an hour, it is believed, according to the Weather Service. And left this terrible trail of destruction.

It started in Henderson County, Kentucky, actually. Then it jumped the Ohio River into Indiana, ended up in Warrick County, just east of Evansville.

The sheriff there is Marvin Heilman and he joins us now.

Sheriff, good to have you with us.

A tough morning there, I know.

Bring us up to date on the search for those that are missing right now and the recovery and rescue operation, such as it is.

SHERIFF MARVIN HEILMAN, WARRICK COUNTY, INDIANA: Well, good morning.

I understand there is still search and recovery going on here in the Evansville-Eastbrook Trailer Court area.

In Warrick County, we have completed our search of the damaged homes. Our path of destruction in Warrick County extends almost 30 miles. So we have an extensive search that went on throughout yesterday. But we've pretty much recovered and made that search complete yesterday.

O'BRIEN: Sheriff, that scene behind you really is striking. It just looks as if the largest piece of some of those homes is no bigger than five feet long, two by four or so, or maybe even less than that. Tremendous damage.

Have you ever seen anything quite like this?

HEILMAN: No, I certainly have not. I've been in law enforcement here almost 30 years now. We have occasional touchdowns of tornadoes almost annually, but nothing of this magnitude, certainly with the path of destruction that I described earlier. I've never seen anything like that, with the destruction and loss of life.

O'BRIEN: So what lies ahead? You're pretty much -- there are still some people unaccounted for. You're going to work on that, I presume.

HEILMAN: Well, actually, in Warrick County, there's not. Here in Vanderburgh, I understand that is the case, right behind us, at this location. But in Warrick we have accounted for those who were missing yesterday and have made the search of our damaged area.

O'BRIEN: And a couple of hundred people are injured. Are there any really serious injuries? Are you concerned about people making it through on the injury list?

HEILMAN: Well, I think that's a reality that there are several that have life threatening injuries. And one in Warrick County specifically, I know the gentleman has extensive injuries that are life-threatening.

O'BRIEN: Give us a sense, Sheriff, about the warning on this one. Did the sirens blare in time? People asleep, of course, might not have heard them. That's kind of problematic on a Saturday into Sunday night.

HEILMAN: Well, that's my understanding, that the warning sirens did function in Warrick County. We have audible sirens that are strategically located throughout the county.

I can speak from my own personal experience. There is a siren within one mile from my home. At 2:00 a.m. I did not hear that siren. And I'm sure it was the same situation with most of our residents.

O'BRIEN: So, Sheriff, you slept through it, too?

HEILMAN: Yes, I did.

O'BRIEN: OK. Let's talk about those weather radios now. We've been talking about them all morning. Don't you think it would be a good idea if everybody had them, especially the sheriff?

HEILMAN: Well, that would be a good idea, I suppose, in the sense that my home is located within about a mile of this path of this destruction, as well. So I consider myself very blessed and fortunate this morning and, again, there are certainly technology now that could be utilized to warn our residents maybe more adequately than it has been in the past.

O'BRIEN: Sheriff, you should get one of those radios and you should tell your dispatchers to give you a call when the sirens start blaring, don't you think?

HEILMAN: Well, of course, all the power was off and the phones were out. A deputy beat on my front door to notify me.

O'BRIEN: Oh, is that how you found out? Wow!

HEILMAN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Just tell us what's next, then, for today? What's the plan?

HEILMAN: Well, we're basically in the security mode, so to speak. The governor was here yesterday. The National Guard is in place, with local law enforcement, to secure the disaster areas. We've got checkpoints set up and we're basically not allowing people in and out of the disaster area unless they're residents there.

O'BRIEN: All right, good thought.

Thank you very much and we wish you well there as people get back on the road to recovery.

Sheriff Marvin Heilman, Warrick County, Indiana -- Carol.

HEILMAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the political battle between two Hollywood heavyweights. Warren Beatty crashes Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's party. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: To politics now, California style. With Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pushing some controversial ballot measures, actor and activist Warren Beatty is pushing back.

CNN's Bill Schneider has more on the battle of the Hollywood heavyweights.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): The California campaign has turned into a celebrate smack down -- Senator Bullworth versus The Terminator. What did Warren Beatty and his wife, Annette Bening, do on Saturday?

ANNETTE BENING, ACTRESS: You know, we spent the day today chasing the governor around, trying to scare up some attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, I am putting you down...

SCHNEIDER: They succeeded when she and her husband tried to crash a Schwarzenegger campaign rally.

WARREN BEATTY, ACTOR: We were not allowed in. We didn't have the right wrist band and we -- our names were not on the list.

SCHNEIDER: What did Beatty want?

BEATTY: I would be happy to challenge him but I think he'd probably say well, I don't want to -- I don't want to debate an actor. But I say debate anybody. Debate, debate anybody. He hasn't debated in the given theme. And that's kind of a strange thing, isn't it?

SCHNEIDER: OK, let's have that debate.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: I'm sick and tired that the union bosses take money out of the paychecks of our government workers without permission and they're using it for political campaigns.

SCHNEIDER: Mr. Beatty?

BEATTY: This is simply a union busting way to hamper union leadership.

SCHNEIDER: The governor says he's campaigning on a reform agenda.

SCHWARZENEGGER: We can change the broken system.

SCHNEIDER: Mr. Beatty?

BEATTY: As nearly as I can tell, the broken system that he wants to change is called democracy.

SCHNEIDER: So, are we going to see a Beatty versus Schwarzenegger race?

BEATTY: I've never wanted to run for office. I don't shut it out of the -- take it off the table completely, because I don't think a good citizen does that.

SCHNEIDER: What does a good citizen do?

BEATTY: The first amendment gives us a guarantee of free speech. It does not give us a guarantee of being taken seriously. So I have to be very careful, because I'm in the entertainment field, to not say anything too wacky.

SCHNEIDER: The same could be said for the governor.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: I'll bet Warren Beatty doesn't have any interest in running for office. Uh-huh.

California, by the way, holds a special election Tuesday on four ballot initiatives. And all are backed by Governor Schwarzenegger. And I think experts say maybe one will pass.

O'BRIEN: You remember that movie, "Bull Feathers," right?

COSTELLO: "Bull Feathers!"

O'BRIEN: "Bullworth." Life imitating art in California. It's all about the actors out there, isn't it, you know?

COSTELLO: It is, indeed.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It's just a full slate of actors running for office there.

Hey, did you see that marathon? Oh, you wanted to just...

COSTELLO: Speaking of running...

O'BRIEN: There -- oh, excellent segue, I'd say. Let's look at the finish of the New York City marathon. Look at that! They've run 26.2 miles, actually, 26.1 at that point, and off -- oh, look at that sprint.

COSTELLO: Unbelievable.

O'BRIEN: And that was an interesting view, by the way, that chopper view there from -- I think that was NBC who did that first.

COSTELLO: The winner won by a step, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Right.

COSTELLO: Two hours and 24 minutes.

O'BRIEN: Let's -- Paul...

COSTELLO: I mean two hours and nine minutes.

O'BRIEN: Paul Tergat of Kenya won. The defending champ, Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa just nosed out. And there's the third place winner. Nobody cares about him. Let's see that again.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes, they do.

O'BRIEN: Let's see it again.

Well, we do care, but I mean this finish is something.

Look at that!

OK, on your -- on the top part of your screen there, that's the defending champ, South African Hendrick Ramaala. It looks like he's got it there, doesn't it? It looks like he's got it...

COSTELLO: Oh, that guy is tired.

O'BRIEN: And then -- oh, and then no, no, he just didn't have the gas there.

COSTELLO: He was just tired.

O'BRIEN: And Tergat wins it.

Now, let's go to the women. Not quite the stunning finish, but it was still good. Latvian Jelena Prokopcuka.

COSTELLO: Very nicely done.

O'BRIEN: Did I do OK? Prokopcuka or Prokopcuka?

COSTELLO: Two hours, 24 minutes, 41 seconds. And she beat out two Kenyan women.

O'BRIEN: Yes. And the first...

COSTELLO: And usually the Kenyans win.

O'BRIEN: The first Latvian to win the marathon. COSTELLO: Yes. Actually, I saw the awards ceremony live on television and she was lovely.

O'BRIEN: Excellent.

COSTELLO: She's crying. I mean she was just so happy. It was her dream.

O'BRIEN: Well, yes. She's also in a lot of pain. Thirty-seven thousand runners took part. Thirty-seven thousand runners and in -- hey, the 9:00 hour Eastern we're going to talk to three people from the New Orleans area that participated. They wore -- you know, when you wear a t-shirt in the New York marathon, if you put a little thing on there like "I'm from New Orleans," you get a big cheer. And they got a lot of support from the crowd.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's awesome.

O'BRIEN: So we'll talk to them about what that was all about.

Coming up, long lines, cramped seats, rude ticket agents. It's just another day at the airport, right? Is there anything to like about flying anymore?

COSTELLO: I don't know.

O'BRIEN: I like it when I'm driving. I flew in my own plane yesterday and I treat myself very well.

We will check -- I feed myself a nice meal and I get to go first in the plane. It works out real well.

We'll check the new Zagat -- no.

COSTELLO: Zagat. It rhymes with cat.

O'BRIEN: Zagat. Zagat. Zagat airport and airline ratings survey. Great quotes from you and, of course, we'll talk to Mr. Zagat. And we'll get that straight before we see him, all right?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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