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CNN NEWSROOM
More Arrests In Baby Killing; "Breaking Bad" Script Stolen; Professor Suggests Pay What You Weigh
Aired March 26, 2013 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: New developments today in that cold blooded killing of that one-year-old baby in Brunswick, Georgia. The mother and aunt of one of the teen suspects have been arrested for allegedly making false statements to police, in addition to other charges we're hearing. Seventeen-year-old suspect De'Marquise Elkins and another teen, a juvenile, were arrested last week. They appeared in court yesterday. Brunswick Police also say they may have found the murder weapon. That will be sent to the state crime lab for forensics testing. But this mother, Sherry West, the mother of this
juvenile, were arrested last week. They appeared in court yesterday. Brunswick police also say they may have found the murder weapon. That will be sent to the state crime lab for forensics testing, but this mother, Sherry West, the mother of this dead baby, talked to Piers Morgan about her nightmare.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERRY WEST, MOTHER: I was approached by a young man, and some other boy that was hiding behind him. And he yelled at me, give me your money. And I proceed to tell him that I don't have any. And he shot -- pulled out a gun and shot at the ground.
And I didn't see any shells, so I thought the gun was a cap gun or bb gun, I thought he was just using a toy gun to scare me. And then he shot at my head, and the bullet grazed my ear, on the side of my head, and then he shot me in the leg, and I still thought that it was a fake gun.
And I -- neighbors had bb guns and it stung. I injured my leg, moving furniture days before and I was on pain medicine, so I didn't feel it, but I felt stinging. And then it got numb, and I didn't realize, you know, that it was real. It didn't look like a real gun.
And apparently, he kept asking me and I kept telling him, I don't have any, and he shot my baby in the face and then I knew it was a real gun. And I screamed, and I was scared to scream because I thought he was going to shoot me in the head. And not miss this time.
And then when I kept screaming for someone to call the police, and the EMT, he shoved me and grabbed me and then he ran. And then I -- I wasn't sure if he was gone. But I quickly, limping, wheeled my baby into a yard next to me, into the gate, and I took him out of the harness.
And I laid him down on the ground, and I proceeded to do CPR. And I saw his lungs inflate, but there was no pulse. No pulse. And I kept proceeding CPR, and I still couldn't get a pulse and finally the police arrived, and a policeman took over, clearing the air way and continuing CPR, and they couldn't get a pulse.
But the EMTs arrived, and they took my baby in the ambulance to work on him, and they wouldn't let me see him, and they just kept working on him and nobody knew if he was alive or dead. And I limped the whole way over to the ambulance where they placed him in, and the detectives and the police asked me why I was limping.
And we weren't sure. I looked at my knee, and there was nothing wrong. And then they said, pull your pant leg all the way up and I was shot in the leg in the thigh. And didn't realize it, they got to call another ambulance to take me to the hospital.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN LIVE": In terms of the investigation, we know that these two boys have been charged. One is 17, we believe. One is 15. Do you have any doubt that the two that have been charged are the ones that committed this crime?
WEST: I have no doubts that the shooter they have in custody, I've seen his photo, another reporter's cell phone of the men that they have in custody, and it is definitely him. They're being charged with felony murder.
And I just -- I just hope, you know, that -- that the shooter dies. I mean, I had to watch my baby die. And I want him to die, a life for a life. And the young one, he was an accessory, an accomplice. I hope that he gets a juvenile correctional facility to age 21 and a consecutive life sentence in state prison.
MORGAN: You chose to cremate your little baby, Antonio, you had a private memorial service. How would you like to remember his short life?
WEST: Alive, walking around, waking me up. He didn't even get to say his first words. I'll never hear his first words.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You clearly don't know who you're talking to. Let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Schuyler. I am the danger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Only the brave or the crazy would break into the car of Bryan Cranston's meth-making character on the AMC series "Breaking Bad," but in real life, Cranston has fallen victim to a car break in, but it's not his car that the show fans are worried about.
It is what was inside, a script. CNN entertainment correspondent, A.J. Hammer in L.A. for me with the latest here on this stolen script. People love this show. I imagine they're going nuts over this.
A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You don't want to mess with Highsenburg. Not at all, listen, count me among as well the fans, the millions who consider "Breaking Bad" to be one of the best shows on television right now. So we're eagerly waiting, of course, his fans to see how the show's final season plays out.
Not surprisingly, producers really want to keep those scripts full of all the twists and turns for their ending a big secret. That leads us to star Bryan Cranston and his automobile.
Now according to police report, Cranston's car was at Santa Peak in New Mexico back in December when it was broken into. The thief got away with an iPad and a script for the show, given the timing, the thinking is the script isn't for the series finale, thankfully.
But considering there are only a few episodes left, any details obviously are important details and in this day and age when anyone can post anything online and see it go viral, if the script was posted online, it would be everywhere pretty quickly.
Fortunately, for the fans that hasn't happened yet, but there is a lead in the case. The local sheriff's department has a suspect and got the suspect after a confidential source contacted Cranston's assistant and accused someone named Xavier McAfee of bragging about breaking into the car and showing off iPad and the script at a bar.
Well, our local affiliate caught up with this guy McAfee and got him denying everything on tape. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XAVIER MCAFEE, ACCUSED OF BREAKING INTO CRANSTON'S CAR: I don't even know what they're talking about. I work for a living -- they have me mistaken for somebody else, man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Now, we have reached out to reps for Bryan Cranston for an official comment and he's not talking right now. But the studio filming that produces the show tells me they do applaud the efforts of the police. They look forward to sharing the incredible last season when it premieres later this year.
Again, Brooke, as a fan, I don't know about you, I don't want to know what's coming. Read in between the lines here, but let it happen organically. I'm not interested in spoilers. If the story breaks further and there is a script out there, I'm calling in sick. I don't want to talk about it.
BALDWIN: Done with the internet, phone, cold turkey. All right, A.J. Hammer, we appreciate it. I can't believe the show is almost over. Thank you.
Coming up next, my hot topics panel facing off, first, we'll talk about Tiger Woods. And when it comes to this elite golfer, does winning trump everything? You see this Nike ad?
Also, one economist has the suggestion for folks who like to fly, the passengers should pay more if they're a little heftier, if they're overweight. How might that fly with my panelists? That's revealed next.
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BALDWIN: All right, hot topics, shall we. It is the long road back to the top of the golf world for Tiger Woods. Take a look, a little look-see how we got here. Late 2009, the cheating scandal, public and tearful apology, remember this? All leading to the divorce from his model wife that was just his personal problems.
To say he struggled professionally would be an understatement. Flash back to 2010, he didn't win a single golf tournament, zip, zero. But, now, 2013, he looks to be back in top form, boom. Started with three wins this season, including yesterday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and that is good enough for Tiger Woods to regain the number one spot on the world golf rankings.
But there is more. He also went public, Facebook official if you will, last week, look at the cute couple, telling world he and downhill Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn are smooching. It seems like there is a sports cliche we could hang the Tiger Woods saga on.
Luckily, Nike has done that for us. Look at this with me because they are now tweeting this new ad, Nike golf, quote, "Winning takes care of everything." This is the Tiger Woods quote, world number one. That ad is definitely get something criticism online and tweets as well.
So let's open this up to the panel. Here you all are. David Begnaud, host of "Newsbreakers with David Begnaud," L.Z. Granderson, CNN contributor and senior writer for ESPN, Jenny Hutt, author and Sirius radio talk show host and Alyona Minkovski, host on "Huffpost Live."
So welcome to all of you. L.Z., as our sports writer on the panel, I want you to kick this off. Because, you know, when you look at this quote here, wrong message or a-OK?
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is a message.
BALDWIN: Yes, it is.
GRANDERSON: As a parent, it makes you cringe. But as someone who has been covering sports as long as I have and someone who is a fan of sports and continues to play in sports, I will say more often than not if a coach is fired, it is not because of the team.
If a coach is fired, it is not because of the reasons you were once acquired, such as having players accused of sexual assault or pulled over too many DUIs. Usually a coach is fired because they're not winning.
So it may make me cringe as a parent, I can't help but think of the fact that winning does seem to solve a lot of problems and if you're losing, that's when everything else is more highlighted.
BALDWIN: Who says this winning takes care of everything, this is a- OK?
DAVID BEGNAUD, HOST, "NEWSBREAKERS WITH DAVID BEGNAUD": No. In the context of Tiger Woods it doesn't make sense. I mean, somewhere, some PR machine should have said, look, Tiger, we get it, you're winning and this is good, but we're not going to put out this quote.
He had problems. I'm a fan of his game. I'm not a fan of the man necessarily. You just don't do this when you've gone through all of that. This guy is a role model. You don't want somebody coming out of a scandal like that, say, well, look at me, boys, winning takes care of everything, wrong message.
BALDWIN: Go ahead.
JENNY HUTT, AUTHOR AND SIRIUS TALK SHOW HOST: It has been several years since the scandal. I agree this was a super ugly scandal and winning does not take care of everything. But in our society, winning sure does take care of a lot of things. So, yes, I don't want to be married to Tiger. I don't want to be dating Tiger. I like who I'm married to, but he's winning again, he got his golf game back and is a supremely talented --
BEGNAUD: You don't put that on an ad.
BALDWIN: Especially in the sports world, shouting out to my team today, we were thinking Kobe Bryant, Ray Lewis, we were thinking Michael Vick for folks who all have -- in the sports world. You can continue the list.
In sports world and entertainment as well, if you continue to win, fans are forgiving. Do you think it is possible that then people will see him as, he's not necessarily an infallible person, maybe more realistic, make his likability will increase. Is that possible?
ALYONA MINKOVSKI, HOST, "THE ALYONA SHOW": Everybody loves the comeback story in our culture, right? But I think it is also highly representative of the hero worship that we have for a lot of athletes and so while this is a really bad PR move.
On the part of Nike, they should have thought this through. I think that unfortunately it represents the emotions a lot of people have out there, which is just that if you do win, if you stay on top, we're going to love you no matter what.
BALDWIN: Some of the --
GRANDERSON: Bad quote as well. It is our fault because we refuse the word redemption. Too often when it comes to athletes, we equate their winning or on field performance with redemption. We do not do a good job of talking about morality being connected with redemption, it is all about victory.
BALDWIN: It is true. Americans love a good redemption story, the fall from grace and the climb and the climb back up. Let me just read one of the tweets from the haters and then we have to move on.
Would Nike put that slogan under Lance Armstrong's picture? Mike Vick? Being a better human fixes everything. Not winning. Got to move on. How much do you weigh?
OK, I'm not asking how much you weigh. It is rude to ask. Don't ask me. One of the economists say that airlines could start asking that very question, making, you know, folks who weigh a little bit more pay a little bit more to fly. Is it fair? Is it good business strategy? We're going to talk about that next.
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BALDWIN: OK, let's start with the fees here you pay when you buy a plane ticket. You have early boarding, extra leg room, how about having to pay a fee for your extra pounds? One economics professor in Norway says your weight should be factored into the ticket price. Why, to cover the cost of the extra fuel.
The heavier the plane, the more fuel it takes to move, the more it costs you and me. Here is part of the professor's so-called fat tax pricing. Total weight, this is how much you and your luggage weigh together.
Let's say you weigh 240 pounds together, you have to pay price that as a passenger who weighs 120 pounds with his or her bags. So, panel, Alyona, I'll pick on you here off the top. Do you think it's great business strategy or discrimination?
MINKOVSKI: I think it is an incredibly discriminatory policy here if it were to actually go into effect. It is ridiculous. Sure, there are a lot of things they charge you on based by weight, how much luggage you can have, but let's not pretend this might keep anybody safe, there are safety measures that might go into effect. This is solely for making money, for the airlines to line their pockets and really ludicrous. It is getting out of hand.
BALDWIN: David?
BEGNAUD: Wait, wait, I just took a flight from Houston to Los Angeles and I was sitting in between two obese men, OK. And it was as if their stomachs were cushions on both sides.
And I remember actually thinking on the flight, why is it -- I'm serious, why is it -- why shouldn't you have to pay a little bit extra if for the three-hour flight I am absolutely going to be inconvenienced. Brooke, I got up and stood up for half of the flight.
BALDWIN: You're kidding me.
BEGNAUD: Discriminatory or not, you cannot give the obese person the same seat you give somebody like me. BALDWIN: Let me jump in. We were talking about this, smokers pay more for life insurance, if you skydive, riskier behavior, you have to pay more, and so, you know, if you're burning more fuel because you are a chunkier passenger, is that fair to the average weight passenger -- Jenny.
HUTT: Brooke, I used to be very overweight and this would have been unbelievably humiliating for someone like me. It would have stopped me from going anywhere by plane, frankly. And weight is a complicated issue.
It is not as simple as to not just eat whatever you want to eat all the time. It is emotional. It is complex. I think this is discriminatory. I think it is sad. I think it is one of the last acceptable forms of prejudice against fat people. And I don't like it. I don't like it.
BALDWIN: OK.
HUTT: It is not about how comfortable you are sitting on the plane, and who is skinny sitting next to you and how much room they have. This is about fuel costs and solely for ling the airlines pockets, not about those people that sometimes actually have to buy two seats because they can't fit into just one.
BALDWIN: To this point, let me just say, this is a big if, we're all paying more, once you get a crack at this, but I want to move on, this other story I want to talk about as it pertains to flying as well.
"New York Times," if you read this blog, they're reporting that the FAA may be loosening the rules that apply to electronics when you take off and you land, like the tablets, your E-readers, Kindles, so, you know, you soon may be able to keep them on for takeoff. Let me just ask an honest question of all of you. Do you really turn them off?
HUTT: Never, never.
BEGNAUD: No.
BALDWIN: I love honesty.
GRANDERSON: I do. I turn it off, but I try --
BEGNAUD: I tried tweeting on takeoff.
GRANDERSON: I have actually never -- I've ridden a lot of corporate planes and private planes and never had the pilot tell me to turn off my electronics before we took off.
HUTT: Listen, if our electric devices, which going to bring down the plane, I don't want to fly.
BALDWIN: Listen, when you read, they say that doesn't necessarily effect it and this is not talking about cellphones. This is just talking about if you want to keep -- on your, you know, iPads, you can. But my next question and we have to wrap it up is, is this you give an inch and then ultimately this is going to lead to cellphones. I mean, do you think that this could ultimately lead to people yapping on the phone in the air?
BEGNAUD: It should lead to the discussion and the study of whether phones can be used. I don't think phones really have anything to do with it. Have I not turned it off and use my phone? Yes, I'm guilty, but you know what? We should have Wi-Fi and we should be able to do it.
I think this is a good discussion because people like you, Brooke, people like me, we fly all the time. And sometimes I feel like it's just my mom saying, put that away. You know, I don't need a mom --
BALDWIN: Although it is sometimes nice to sort of have that pocket of quiet where you can't look and turn anything on and on the phone. And I sort of appreciate that. Got to go --
BEGNAUD: What about the screaming baby on the side of you?
BALDWIN: That's a whole another story, my friend. Alyona, thank you guys so much. Thank you. Got to go.
Coming up next, Buzz Bissinger, ring a bell. He is the guy who wrote "Friday Night Lights." He just wrote a very personal column admitting he is addicted. When I say addicted, I mean, addicted to some high end shopping. It has a lot of you talking. We're going to hear from an expert coming up.
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