Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY SUNDAY

Darren Wilson Resigns from Ferguson Police; Holder in Atlanta Tomorrow for Ferguson Forum; Alabama Avenges 2013 Iron Bowl Loss

Aired November 30, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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


VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Always good to be with you.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We want to begin this morning with Officer Darren Wilson. No longer, we should say, a member of the police force in Ferguson, Missouri.

BLACKWELL: Wilson has resigned five days after grand jury decided no to indict him for killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown. His attorney tells CNN Wilson feared for the police department which had been threatened with violence if he stayed.

PAUL: Wilson said he hopes his departure will, quote, "allow the community to heal." But as protests continued overnight, a lot of people say it's just not enough.

Our Ed Lavandera is in Ferguson right now.

So, Ed, is there any better sense of whether Wilson was forced out and where might be he right now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think there is anybody here on either side, supporters of Darren Wilson and those who have been against him who really envision in any kind of way that Darren Wilson would continue to work as a police officer here in the city of Ferguson. We've been reporting for several weeks that these talks of resignation had been in the works for quite some time. But Darren Wilson, we're told, had been waiting for the grand jury's decision to ultimately make that announcement.

You can read from the statement that his attorney released on his behalf last night where Darren Wilson says, "I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers, put the city of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow." He goes on to say, "It was my hope to continue in police work but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me."

And it was interesting, his lawyers have been telling us over the last few days that Darren Wilson only wanted to be a police officer but now he must figure out another career at some point. But many people here in Ferguson say getting to this point is simply taking too long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he did resign or did step aside, I don't think he would have had necessarily a fair chance. He would come back as a police officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd figure it was a given. I mean, there's no way to work in law enforcement again. It's just sad. It's unfortunate chain of events, but sad on both parts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Wilson's lawyer told us last night that there were some threats being made to the city of Ferguson police department if Wilson had not resigned by Saturday night. So, perhaps that sounds like that had something to do with the timing of last night's announcement.

But many people here in Ferguson say despite the grand jury not to indict Darren Wilson, that they're still looking forward and have hopes that there might be something that comes of the federal investigation into the shooting death of Michael Brown and some sort of punishment for Darren Wilson, in that regard. Although legal experts have been saying that that is a much higher threshold and the federal investigation, we're waiting to see how that plays out -- Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Ed Lavandera, live for us in Ferguson this morning -- Ed, thank you so much.

President Obama said better police training and diversity in law enforcement is needed for us to build trust between the police and the community.

PAUL: So, he's sending Attorney General Eric Holder to Atlanta tomorrow to hold the first of what is going to be several meetings to discuss these very issues.

CNN's Erin McPike is live from the White House right now.

So, Erin, good morning to you.

What's the administration's plan for handling the situation not just in Ferguson, but the protests around the country?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, he wants to repair or try to repair at least the tension between law enforcement and the community so he is really going to send Eric Holder on a listening tour. Listen hear to President Obama describe early in the week what he wants to accomplish.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country and this is tragic because nobody needs good policing more than poor communities with higher crime rates. The good news is we know there are things we can do to help. I've instructed Attorney General Holder to work to build better relations between communities and law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now, what the administration has not said yet, they haven't determined really this, whether or not President Obama and/or Attorney General Eric Holder should go to Ferguson because they are not sure yet whether that would help or hurt -- Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: So, Erin, do we know the agenda for these meetings tomorrow? We just had Reverend Warnock on from Ebenezer Baptist Church. What do we expect to be that exchange?

MCPIKE: Victor, first it's a presentation and then followed by a meeting at a church. And it is the faith community, law enforcement, and students. And it's really just trying to get the temperature from all of these people about what they want to see happen first and where they can go from there to institute new programs because the Justice Department is really looking at how they can make some deep structural and programmatic, as they say, changes, Victor.

PAUL: All righty. Erin McPike, thank you very much. Good to see you this morning.

BLACKWELL: You got to listen to this one. It's almost unbelievable. Neighbors say that it's another example of how you never know exactly what goes on behind closed doors. A young boy is reunited with his mother after being missing for four years. You won't believe where police found him and how he got them to look in the right place.

PAUL: Plus, some are calling last night's Iron Bowl shootout an instant classic. Highlights from the historic slugfest between long time rivals Alabama and Auburn. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: This morning, a mother and her missing 13-year-old son are finally back together.

PAUL: Oh, my gosh. This reunion and the hug you're going to see here, look at this -- four long years in the making. This is an incredible story. Police went to a home after getting a phone tip. They didn't find anything the first time. But they had a hunch and they went back.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and police won't say what that hunch was or what inspired it. But while they were, there the boy sent a text to his mom. She told police to look behind a false wall in the house and they found him. The boy's father and four other people are under arrest.

Mark Winne of CNN affiliate WSB has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. JOANNE SOUTHERLAND, CLAYTON COUNTY POLICE: We opened the compartment where he was and I saw him and asked him to come forward and he was horrified. He was frozen with fear.

CHIEF GREG PORTER, CLAYTON COUNTY POLICE: Good police work and hard determination by the victim who wanted to be reunified with his mother.

SOUTHERLAND: And he retreated away from us until he knew that those people weren't around him.

MARK WINNE, WSB: She says the child reached out for rescue. Clayton County Police Sergeant Joanne Southerland says a 13-year-old boy downloaded a phone app so he could text his mother in Florida he hadn't seen in four years.

SOUTHERLAND: We got a welfare check in reference to a child saying he was beaten. We came here to the home and were able to get inside the home, talk to the people inside after several minutes of denying the child was here, his existence was here, there was ever any assault or anything like that. We were able to find him in the linen closet.

PORTER: The police department did an excellent job of coming out here and responding to this 911 emergency call. We have five individuals who have been charged with various charges.

DANIEL DAY, CLAYTON COUNTY POLICE: I just can't believe it. I mean, we found him. We saw him. It was to say it was a great feeling was an understatement.

WINNE: What did he say to you?

DAY: He just can't thank us enough. He just kept saying thank you, thank you, thank you. Just overjoyed that we found him.

WINNE: Sergeant Southerland indicated the biological father and stepmother faced charges of false imprisonment, cruelty to a child and obstruction.

SOUTHERLAND: Children who are being abused need to reach out by any means necessary, whether it'd be cell or text to get help and don't stop. We will find you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: That was WSB's Mark Winne reporting for us.

Now, the boy's father and stepmother are scheduled to appear in court this morning.

Let's talk more about this and bring in CNN commentator and legal analyst Mel Robbins.

Mel, good morning. MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good

morning, Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: So, the mother here initially reported her son missing to child welfare authorities but not police. Here's what I don't understand -- investigators say she might have been confused about the process because she's from another country. But child welfare, they know the law. They should have called police, right?

ROBBINS: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, it's very interesting, and this is such a fabulous outcome in this case. So, absolute bravo to the police.

According to the FBI, there is almost half a million kids that were listed missing by the FBI last year and the number one cause is family abductions, inner family abductions like this. So, yes, this is a failure on the part of the agency that didn't advocate for this woman and tell her that yes, in addition to going to us, we also need to file something with the police, Victor.

PAUL: OK. So we know that there are charges against the father and the stepmother but there were three other people arrested and they were juveniles. How might that play into this? I'm assuming maybe the juveniles covered up for them, say they didn't know the boy was there. But, I mean, this is a lot of people for one child missing for four years.

ROBBINS: Yes. And you know, we don't know a lot of the details right now. Some of the things that the local media, WSB, has been reporting is that neighbors saw the young boy outside but clearly what you have in this situation is we're starting to patch things together, guys, is a situation where the dad and the stepmom kept this boy. If he's downloading an app, he doesn't have a cell phone, I'm assuming that the juveniles involved were either kids of the stepmother or other kids that were in the household that knew and perhaps when police showed up and I'm just kind of supposing right now affect scenario, maybe when the police showed up on other occasions to investigate, maybe they asked the kids if there was anybody there and the kids told them no. So, they're probably part of a cover-up.

You know, I was a little surprised that we didn't see an interference with custody charge, because in the state of Georgia and in fact, in every single state in the United States, there are very strict laws that make it criminal to violate custody orders and to hide and to keep kids away from a custodial spouse. And in the state of Georgia, if you do it across state lines like we see in this case where the mom is in Florida and they hid then kid in Georgia, that's a felony that can be punished by up to five years in jail.

BLACKWELL: And that was going to be my question. I mean, did the authorities have not said yet which parent has custody. So if this father had custody, would that be -- play a major role into the charges?

ROBBINS: Oh, absolutely, because all of these charges, I mean first of all, we do have charges where this child is saying that he was held against his will. Also, clearly, if he's hidden behind a wall there is something extremely screwy if not abusive going on with this young boy. He was cut off from his mother.

So, there could be lesser charges even if the father is the custodial parent. But there is no indication in the reporting thus that he is. But if he's not, then the charges become much more serious, Victor.

PAUL: So, how -- what is the consequence possibly for this father and the stepmother?

ROBBINS: Well, I would think that they're going to throw the book at them. If you're talking about purposefully -- and that means on a day to day basis, you have somebody with you that you are hiding from their mother. I mean that is not just something that you have done over the weekend. That's something you've done for day in and day out for four years. There is really something sick about that. I hope they pursue the charges, they add the interference with custodial on an interstate basis, and that they throw the book at them because it takes a depraved human being to do something like this to a child and to the mother of the child.

PAUL: Well, you know, when they say that when there are these battles within a family, because a lot of people will say it's a missing kid, but it's probably one with of their parents so it's not that bad. This is an indication that it really is that bad. And secondly, when people steal kids, statistics show it's because they want to get back at the other parent. It's not because they want that child themselves.

BLACKWELL: I also wonder how thorough these searches are. We've heard stories like this one, the boy who was in a basement in Detroit, Jaycee Dugard you hear the police went to the home where the girls were kept in Cleveland. I mean these people are in these homes. They just -- the police I guess haven't found them in these cases specifically.

Mel Robbins, thank you so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Mel.

ROBBINS: Great to see you, both. Have a great day.

PAUL: You, too.

BLACKWELL: All right. Still to come, we got to talk about the wild plays, turnovers, revenge as well the major motivator here. Highlights from last night's high scoring Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. If you did not watch the game, you got to watch this report much it's all anybody will be talking about today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: I hear last night's Iron Bowl lived up to the hype and then some. PAUL: Neither Alabama nor Auburn played a perfect game, we're

told. But this slugfest between the two rivals had everything. Big plays, well turnovers, record setting high score and the revenge.

BLACKWELL: It is a motivator.

Rashan Ali joins us now with the "Bleacher Report".

RASHAN ALI, CNN SPORTS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: This I hear is an instant classic.

ALI: It is definitely an instant classic. You can call this the college football equivalent of a heavyweight fight. So, put the boxing gloves on the hands of Crimson Tide wide receiver Amari Cooper. Cooper came up big with 224 receiving yards and three touchdowns, breaking his own school record. Records continue to be shattered at Alabama outlasted Auburn in the highest scoring Iron Bowl in history, 55-44.

Alabama looks to be the SEC's last hope at making the college football playoffs. But they must first face Missouri in the championship game next week.

Ole Miss and number four Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. Well, the Rebels were all over their rivals from the opening kick. The big play of the game came when the running back took a handoff from the Mississippi 9-yard line and went 91 yards to give the Rebels a 14-point lead. Ole Miss stayed the course and upset Mississippi State, 31-17. Now with the loss, the Bulldogs play-off chances are very slim and things weren't better on the ride home.

The Bulldog team bus was involved in an accident. But thankfully, no one was hurt. And third ranked Florida State remains perfect this season despite a far from perfect performance from the Heisman Trophy-wining quarterback Jameis Winston, threw four interceptions against instate rival Florida. But the Seminole still rallied to find a way to win, beating the Gators 24-19. That sets a FSU school record winning streak to 28 straight games. Next up is the ACC championship game against Georgia Tech.

PAUL: Oh, finally, clearly, you're not going to forget OSU.

ALI: Of course not. It's simply called the Game. Ohio State versus Michigan. The Buckeyes won the game 42-28. It came at a high price.

Yes, Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett suffered a broken ankle early in the fourth quarter. In true essence of sportsmanship, Devin Garner gives Barrett words of encourage as the trainer staff tend to him. The Heisman Trophy candidate is out for the season. That was a nice moment between these rivals.

PAUL: Yes. I loved to see that.

BLACKWELL: Yes. PAUL: I'm a sucker for that.

BLACKWELL: Because as deep as that rivalry goes --

PAUL: You know it, you know it, baby.

ALI: That is one for the ages right there.

BLACKWELL: Thank you. Rashan.

ALI: You're so welcome.

PAUL: Thank you.

So, the crowds, the lines, the delays, you're sitting here if our pretty little studio. You might need to pack extra turkey sandwiches if you're flying home later.

BLACKWELL: Oh, folks are tired (ph) of turkey, though. Make it a PB&J.

Today is expected to be the busiest travel day of the year. We'll have the holiday forecast for you in a couple minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We feel for you. I'm going to tell you, those of you flying today, the busiest travel day of the year.

BLACKWELL: Yes, according to a group of representatives of the airline industry, it's the busiest day. Look at all the flights in the sky right now.

PAUL: It doesn't look too bad, although there is a huge congregation of them there on --

BLACKWELL: Right around New York and right around New Jersey. This morning already reports of more than 200 delays plus another 160 cancellations, more than actually across the country.

PAUL: So, CNN's Jennifer Gray is joining us with our weather and travel forecast. Travel on the ground, I'm sure, probably much better.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, travel on the ground is going to be good, unless you're on the West Coast. California, we're going to be looking at quite a bit of rain pushing in. But as far as the East Coast, we know a lot of the airline delays can come from bad weather along the East Coast.

This is looking fantastic. Temperatures in the 50s and 60s, the South looking good. Very cold in the Northern Plains if you're driving up there. A little bit of snow across the Rockies. But this is the radar, guys.

Look at the interstates, roads, everything. We are looking at quiet conditions for today as far as the weather goes. But look at these temperatures, 35 degrees below zero. That's what it feels like in Minot right now, 20 degree below zero in Bismarck, 20 below in Rapid City.

So, very, very cold temperatures in the Northern Planes, and those temperatures are going to sty cold. Minneapolis, 16 today, single digits tomorrow. That's your high temperature, Chicago, we'll be at 44 today, below freezing tomorrow, bouncing back up.

So, a little bit of a yoyo going on here. Dallas at 77 today. Atlanta will be close to 70. So, feeling very, very nice. We do have another cold front on the way, though.

That will cool us off by the middle of the week. This is a big story, though. Look at California. Much needed rain. San Francisco all the way up. We could pick up rain in Southern California. We could see some areas getting three to five inches in the northern portion of the state. We're also going to be looking at a little bit of snow. So very, very good news.

Here is your rainfall totals. Three to five from San Francisco, all the way up to Redding, even Oregon picking up on that. St. Luis Obispo, and points south possibly about an inch, guys. Good news there.

BLACKWELL: They certainly need it.

PAUL: Jennifer Gray, thank you.

GRAY: All right.

BLACKWELL: We'll see you back here at the top of the hour, 8:00 Eastern.

PAUL: "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." starts for you now.