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CNN Saturday Morning News
911 Audio on Moore Released; Obama on Military Sexual Assault; Teen Accused of Lewd Behavior
Aired May 25, 2013 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: It is good to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell, 9:00 here on the East Coast. Thanks for starting your day with us.
An elderly woman's voice cracks with fear, people trapped under rubble cry out for help and a day care staff member pleads for his kids' lives. These are the voices from Moore, Oklahoma, now being heard for the first time. The state's Department of Emergency Management has released the 911 audio recordings from when the tornado hit Monday.
Now we have edited in video of this twister but listen to these voices. Listen to the calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moore 911, where is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is the tornado at?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last we heard was 19th and Western.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're able to take shelter, you need to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moore 911, what is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got hit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Is anybody injured?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are any of you guys injured? My dad can't tell, there's a bunch of stuff right on top of us. I'm able to get out but I don't know if they'll be able to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Are they trapped or they're just injured or what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you trapped? Can you get up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't get up!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have debris on us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can possibly get them out. Are you guys trapped?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they're trapped?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they got it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can they get out at all, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just stood up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, I need to, are they trapped or not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can they get out of this in any way?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have several places hit. This is very important. I need to know this now. I understand it's crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can find a way out but everything in front of us from what we can see is wiped out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Try to get out if you can, if something happens and someone cannot get out and they're trapped just call me back. You have to be careful where you walk, make sure everyone has got shoes on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, ma'am. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moore, 911.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're stuck under rubble, my leg -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting them out there as soon as we can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please hurry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll get them out there as soon as we can, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moore 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a day care full of babies, we need help bad. We need help bad. We got a day care that just got cremated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moore 911, where is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) We're trapped in the closet, it fell on top of us, we can't get out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The closet? OK. Are you injured? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, just can't breathe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moore 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we just got a call from a gentleman that lives in Moore that his house has collapsed on his kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: The tornado damaged or destroyed around 12,000 homes. Insurance claims are expected to top $2 billion.
ANCHOR: Well, British police this morning are investigating the death of a female zooworker after she was mauled by a tiger. You are looking at older footage of tigers at the Southland Animal Park. That is where the attack took place. Police say the 24-year-old woman was inside the big cats' enclosure yesterday when the mauling happened. She was rushed to the hospital by a helicopter but unfortunately she later died from those injuries. Of course the zoo is calling this a terrible, terrible incident.
BLACKWELL: Back here in the U.S., new surveillance video shows the collapse Thursday of an interstate bridge north of Seattle. Now, amazingly look at this, no one was killed when the i-5 bridge fell into the Skagit River after an 18-wheeler hit it. The government of Washington state says it will cost $15 million to fix this bridge and he's declared a state of emergency in the three counties that rely on this bridge to get the goods back and forth and commerce there. In the meantime, NTSB, the inspectors plan to spend as many as 10 days investigating this collapse.
HARLOW: And the man who calls himself America's toughest sheriff is facing some tough justice. A federal judge on Friday ruling that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has engaged in racial and ethnic profiling as sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. The judge said that Arpaio and his deputies have to quit considering those factors when they make law enforcement decisions. Arpaio who calls his strategies tough on illegal immigration denies the claims and his lawyer says he will appeal.
The Obama administration meantime is addressing America's outrage over military sexual assault cases. Last week, as you know, the president addressed his military leaders and demanded action. Today defense secretary Chuck Hagel is expected to deliver that message once again when he speaks at West Point.
Our Athena Jones is live at the White House this morning. Good morning to you, Athena. What are we expecting to hear today?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy. We expect Secretary Hagel to echo the sentiments of the president on this matter. The president has said that stopping sexual assault in the military is essential to making sure that the military can continue to function effectively as a team, in those units. Now we don't expect the secretary to speak about this extensively but to at least touch on the matter.
Let's listen to what the president had to say about this just yesterday at his commencement address at the Naval Academy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong. That's why we have to be determined to stop these crimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Now the president has promised to redouble the efforts to stop this problem and I should mention that Secretary Hagel is speaking at West Point, giving that commencement address at a place that's facing its own scan scandal of sorts, not a sexual assault scandal but a different kind of scandal involving sex as well. A U.S. army sergeant first class has been accused and charged just a couple of weeks ago with allegedly videotaping female cadets in their shower and latrine areas from 2009 to 2012, and so more than a dozen female cadets are being contacted because they may have been captured on that videotape. So a little bit of a different problem but still in the same ball park and obviously a big issue that needs to be dealt with.
HARLOW: And very disturbing. Athena, before I let you go, can you talk to me about the numbers here. How prevalent the problem is, the problem that the president addressed and we expect to hear from Chuck Hagel today? How prevalent is this?
JONES: Well, it appears to be rising in prevalence. The Pentagon has estimated that there were 26,000 cases of unwanted sexual contact in the military last year, that is a 35 percent increase from 2010. So it's something that appears to be an increasing problem, Poppy.
HARLOW: Thirty five percent in just a few years. All right. Athena Jones, thank you.
BLACKWELL: A girl in Florida has rejected a plea deal in a case of teen sex that has grabbed national attention.
HARLOW: 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt has been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior of her 14-year-old girlfriend. The case has sparked controversy across the country and our Sarah Ganim has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARAH GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities in Indian River, Florida, say this is a sexual predator.
KAITLYN HUNT, CHARGED WITH HAVING UNDERAGE SEX: I'm scared of losing my life, not being able to go to college and be around kids and my sisters, my family.
GANIM: Instead of trying out this month for a college cheer team, 18- year-old Kaitlyn Hunt is defending herself against charges she sexually assaulted a child except that child is Hunt's high school classmate, a freshman, age 14.
KELLEY HUNT-SMITH, KAITLYN HUNT'S MOTHER: To hold someone accountable for a felony for having a relationship with a peer seems outrageous to me.
GANIM: It's not just the law that seems outrageous to the family, but the punishment. Kaitlyn Hunt is facing 15 years in jail and a lifetime labeled as a sexual predator. She turned down a plea that would have offered house arrest and probation because it would mean two child abuse felonies on her record.
KELLEY HUNT: A decision like that is like the lesser of two evils. Her life has been destroyed already.
GANIM: But the parents of the younger girl say Hunt knew the relationship was not appropriate.
LAURIE SMITH, ALLEGED VICTIM'S MOTHER: We had actually told Ms. Hunt that this was wrong.
GANIM: Court documents show police believe based on a Facebook message "she knows she's 18 and there can be consequences for their relationship."
JIM SMITH, ALLEGED VICTIM'S FATHER: We had no alternative but to turn to the law and use it basically as a last resort.
GANIM: The sheriff of this small town near Vero Beach says this is not about anyone's sexual orientation. In Florida a 14-year-old can't consent to sex.
SHERIFF DERYL LOAR, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA: We have had cases in the past where we have had same-sex, similar circumstances, albeit some of the evidence may not have been as intriguing, I guess. We've also obviously had 18-year-old males with relationship with 14-year- old females.
GANIM: But her family believed the younger girl's parents wouldn't be upset if Kaitlyn was a boy.
KELLEY SMITH: We would not be here if the parents were not dated, to take it criminally I feel they're using the law, the age law to pursue their agenda.
GANIM: A claim the other family rejects.
JIM SMITH: It didn't come from us because that's not how we feel.
GANIM: When Hunt goes to trial in June, she'll have the backing of the ACLU. The state attorney, Bruce Colton told CNN "I do think it's a shame that this case couldn't be settled in some other way."
(on camera): Now that Kaitlyn Hunt rejected that plea bargain what she's risking is trial where she could be convicted and if she is, she's facing 15 years and a lifetime labeled as a sexual predator.
Sarah Ganim, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: I just wonder how common that is in high school. You have someone who is just over the age and someone who is just below and maybe it happens more often than we hear about.
HARLOW: Everyone is paying attention to it now. That's for sure.
BLACKWELL: And we're going to hear more about this story, out legal expert Paul Callan is going to come back to tell us what could be ahead in this case that has really captured national attention.
HARLOW: We're also going to get his take on Hunt rejecting that plea deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Well, we've been talking all morning about the charges against an 18-year-old, her name is Kaitlyn Hunt. She is being charged for her sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl. The two of them attended the same high school and Hunt has rejected a plea deal that could have saved her from potentially up to 15 years behind bars.
Let's bring in our CNN legal analyst Paul Callan. He's been reading into all of this. Paul, thank you for joining us this morning.
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Poppy.
HARLOW: First of all, I want your take. Are you surprised that Kaitlyn Hunt rejected this plea deal, this offer and also how do you read it? What was offered to her?
CALLAN: Yes, I'm very surprised she's rejected it. I think she's making a big mistake here because this lewd and lascivious conduct charge that she's facing you can go to prison for 15 years in Florida and be forced to register as a sex offender. This is what she's being offered and I don't think it's been accurately reported in the press. She's been offered a plea to two counts of child abuse.
Now, both of those counts are serious counts, they're felonies but the prosecutor said she can plead no contest and then she can do 150 hours of community service and she'll have to submit to what's called community control. Now it's being reported as house arrest but it's not really house arrest. She basically has to stay in the county where the court is, Indian River County, I think, in Florida so she's limited her ability to travel and there are other requirements. She's going to be under probation and parole for a period of years and then when that's over a lot of lawyers think it's the equivalent of the charges being dismissed. Others say it remains on her record for others to see in the future. So it's a serious charge, but it's a big difference than 15 years in prison, Poppy. BLACKWELL: Paul, we also - I mean, we all know maybe some teenagers in high school who were freshmen who dated seniors and had sexual relationships. Aren't there Romeo and Juliet laws in some of these states to prevent this type of problem if they're within four years of each other within on side of the other of the age of consent?
CALLAN: Well there are what are called Romeo and Juliet laws and of course that's what the law looks for, you know, how close in age are they. As a prosecutor you look, how close in maturity are they. You know, sometimes you have an immature senior and a very mature freshman, and I think a prosecutor, a good ethical prosecutor looking at this fact pattern would try to decide that, you know, were they sort of on an equal level in the relationship or did the senior lure this 14-year-old into a sexual relationship.
And it's tough, tough stuff because the flipside of this is maybe a strange boy, 18, seducing a young girl, that's what the law was sort of meant to protect against but you can't write a law so that it says well, if it's a same-sex situation and they played basketball together it doesn't count. You need a prosecutor to look at it and be fair about whether he brings the charges or not and I'm not so sure that this prosecutor brought the right charge. I think he's treating it a lot more serious than it is. And it sounds like a Romeo and Juliet situation. And unfortunately, Victor, we know how that one turned out. It didn't turn out well for anybody concerned. So let's hope this one turns up better for both these kids.
HARLOW: And quickly, Paul, before we let you go, tell us what the law of the land is when you look at Florida and you look at 14 and you look at 18, what that tells us and how high or low the bar is here, therefore, for the defense in court.
CALLAN: Florida is very consistent with other U.S. states, we're very tough now on cases where children are lured into sexual relationships, and in most states they look and they pick an age, now Florida says if you're 14, you are too young to consent to sex and if an adult age 18 has sex with you, that is a crime. And Florida's law is not different than the law in the majority of states and you know, it works, everybody thinks it's a great idea when it's a stranger who lures a young girl into this situation but it gets really hard when the two people know each other and maybe have fallen in love with each other and then it's complicated by the same-sex relationship and the fact that a lot of people are still somewhat let's say opposed to those kinds of relationships, so complicated situation but Florida can't be criticized for the law. It's a law that most American states have and we need sensible prosecutors and police officers to prosecute the right people and if that's the case, justice is done, and I think we don't have situations that we're looking at like this one.
HARLOW: Paul, appreciate the analysis, thanks so much. We'll be right back.
CALLAN: Nice being with you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: All right. Coming in to CNN now a video of two freight trains that have collided in Missouri. You see the flames here, they hit an overpass which then collapsed.
HARLOW: Two vehicles were on the overpass at the time. We know at this hour that seven people have been injured, but six of them have already been released from the hospital, that is good news that is coming to us from the sheriff there. The scene now we are told is under control but looking at that fire, very dangerous situation.
BLACKWELL: Just hours after that devastating tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma, this week a team led by 2008 CNN hero Tad Agolia was on the ground to help on the search at Plaza Towers Elementary School.
HARLOW: Since 2007 his first response team of America has brought manpower and its fleet of specialized equipment to more than 50 disaster stricken communities all across the country, all for free.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen anything like this.
Watching the news and literally seeing this tornado touch down right before our very eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god!
TED AGOLIA, 2008 CNN HERO: We knew it was powerful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is. It's a mile right down the (INAUDIBLE).
AGOLIA: My first response team was prepositioned. We were able to get here within two hours after the strike. We saw massive destruction right off the bat. We were able to get police escorts and we were bright right to the school. Search and rescue had just begun. We had some equipment on site that really was needed, cranes to lift up heavy debris, CAT machines with grapple buckets to move the debris out of the way.
We were digging through an area of the school where we thought there could be young children trapped. Seeing the desks, pieces of paper children had written on and it stopped me in my tracks and reminded me of why I do what I do every day.
My team has been to over 50 large scale disasters, places like the earthquake in Haiti, superstorm Sandy. This could be almost as bad as Joplin. I'm not a scientist, but something is changing. The disasters are becoming more epic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is CNN breaking news -
AGOLIA: But thanks to the news, meteorologists, thanks to technology.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to be in your tornado shelter immediately. AGOLIA: People are becoming more aware of how to prepare and get out of harm's way when these large scale disasters strike.
We've come here to help, to be a part of the community, but it's always vitally important for me and my team to remember every house had a family living in it, and they need a helping hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Well, it is shaping up unfortunately to be a rainy Memorial Day weekend across much of the country. So will it dampen your plans or maybe mess up that road trip?
HARLOW: I hope not. Let's bring in meteorologist Karen Maginnis at the CNN weather center for us this morning. Let's look at the country. How is it looking?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we do have a problem especially across the Central Great Plains, take a look at this in Nebraska, also into Iowa, very heavy downpours being reported here extending along the interstate from Omaha all the way through Des Moines. This is where you'll see some pretty big trouble as you go through the morning.
Now this should taper off and we'll see that shift of rainfall more across the northern plains, more in just a second but into the northeast, you have gray skies, cloudy, low visibility in New York City but this area of low pressure is expected to pull away.
Now here's what I was talking about with the threat of severe weather, all the way from eastern Montana, all the way down into Nebraska. We are primarily looking at a high wind event and a hail event. Doesn't look like tornadoes figure in, but you never can rule that out when you talk about some thunderstorms.
All right, temperatures warming up in Chicago, should be around 71 degrees, going into Monday. If you're traveling to Salt Lake City, you start out with 80s, drop off into the 70s and still hovering around the triple digits into the desert southwest.
All right, how much rainfall have we seen? Well, we head down towards Junction, Texas, also into San Antonio, where they have already broken a record for the date with seeing just over three inches of rainfall, this is where we are also seeing some localized street flooding, they're saying the roads are very treacherous to travel on. So drive carefully this weekend. Back to you, Poppy, Victor,
BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you, Karen.
HARLOW: Thanks, Karen.
All right. Well, you know, we all take things for granted sometimes and we often need to be reminded that we don't need to be dying to start living, that is what 18-year-old Zach Zobiak said before he died on Monday but what he left behind is larger than life, next hour, we will bring you his incredible story with the filmmaker who is telling it.
BLACKWELL: Well, that's all for me this weekend. Poppy is back at the top of the hour.
HARLOW: Good to be with you.
BLACKWELL: Likewise. Thanks for watching. "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.
