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CNN NEWSROOM

Funeral for Slain Police Officer; World Refugee Crisis Since WWII; Texas High School Football Players Tackle Referee; 2 Police Officers Ambushed in Las Vegas; Dentist that Shot Lion Speaks Out. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 7, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring in CNN's Ryan Young, covering the funeral for us.

Ryan, the outpouring of support there has been huge.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really has been unbelievable, Ana. You can feel the community taking this to heart. Everywhere you look, you see blue ribbons like this tied up around the community, as you drive through it. If I step back and show down the street here, people are lining up down the way. They have been here since about 8:30 this morning. I can tell you we have been told that the funeral itself would be pushed back to 2:00. There's a reason why. We will show you that video from the inside. We're told the family wanted to make sure everyone that showed up here had a chance to do a viewing and go by the casket. That's been going on over an hour at this point. People just a steady walk of officers and people walking by the casket. They believe it should start at 2:00, after the line goes through. We believe a thousand police officers will be part of the procession.

As you walk back this direction, you can see the American flags put out here. Community members from all over coming to pay respects to the fallen officer.

I can tell you, we talked to a firefighter who had an outpouring of emotion about why he felt he needed to be here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW HAERTER (ph), FIREFIGHTER: Any time a law enforcement officer dies or firefighter dies, we are all one family, and while we may have a bit of a different mission, we're all there to help people and can't do that without supporting each other. All of us have personal experiences with things like this, we all know what it feels like, and it just makes it that much more important to support our brothers and sisters when they go through something like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So you can see the large flag in place. I stepped inside a McDonald's, in there with several dozen officers, all of them having conversations with people in the community, walking up, thanking them for their service. The idea that Lieutenant Gliniewicz could be serving here, this is his old high school, somewhere he graduated from, someone who served the community more than 40 years. They wanted to be here to remember him.

CABRERA: Beautiful to see the flags flying and people out showing that unity. What's the latest on the search for the suspects?

YOUNG: That's an excellent question. We know there's a $50,000 ward, they got significant new information but haven't shared it with us just yet. We are told tomorrow at 12:30, a news conference, they'll have a conversation about some new evidence they have been gathering for the last few days. And of course, a lot of people want to know if they developed a suspect or definite pictures. We are told they stitched together video from all over the area that will help hopefully paint another picture for what investigators are dealing with.

CABRERA: You wonder, when are they going to show the public.

Ryan Young, thanks to you for staying on top of this story.

Up next, the desperate journey of thousands of refugees fleeing war- torn countries heading to safer ground in Europe, but their journey is dangerous and troubling. CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joins me live from Paris when we come back. Stay with us.

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[14:37:12] CABRERA: It's a crisis like one the world has not seen since World War II. Thousands of migrants, mostly refugees, packed up what little they have and left their homes in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan in hopes of a better future for their families. Most are looking for a better life in Europe. Just today, this ship brought nearly 2500 migrants to mainland Greece, from the small Greek island. 10,000 more are stuck there now, waiting for their documents to get processed, just so they can continue on their journey. Hungary migrants are forced to wait at holding sites in what we hear are primitive conditions. Some tussled with police that are blocking roads to keep them from leaving until they register as refugees. Some nations are pledging to do more to help. Still others are saying they just can't keep up with the influx.

Let's bring in CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joining me live in Paris.

Christiane, today, you had a chance to interview a top E.U. official. Tell us more about that.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Indeed. I am in Paris on a day where the tide does seem to be shifting. You mentioned the poor refugees still stuck in limbo in Hungary. Hungary is Europe's poster child for the worst refugee response. Germany is the best. Now we're seeing France and Britain today announce, respectively, 24,000 and 20,000 refugees in each of those countries they'll take in. But over a period of years, whereas, in one day this past week, Germany took in 17,000 refugees in one day. We have a massive disparity of reaction in Europe. And the European

chief, the foreign policy chief, who I spoke to, said their aim is to try to get everybody to do their fair share, to take their fair share of the burden, or else they may face sanctions.

And when I asked her about the emotional impact of the horrifying picture of the poor little boy face down in the water off the Turkish coast, is that having an effect, this is what she said to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEDERICA MOGHERINI, FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHIEF, EUROPEAN UNION: Sometimes even political leaders need an emotional push, which is sad in my opinion, but if we do not manage to act united and fast in front of these tragedies, in front of these human tragedies, then what would move more courageous decisions if not these. The point is that people die, children die, women die at sea and at land, even when we don't see the pictures. We should remember that this is a tragedy that's going on now for years. It is going to stay probably for the next coming months and years, and we better face it rationally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:40:06] AMANPOUR: So it is also not just a European problem. It is not a German problem. This is a global problem. She was quite critical as many others have been for several days of the gulf Arab states, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates, Kuwait who have taken in zero Syrian refugees, despite fueling and paying for the militants in Syria, and the United States with its big heart, deep pockets, projecting humanitarian values, has taken in under 1500 Syrian refugees since the war began four and a half years ago. A lot of people need to step up to the plate -- Ana?

CABRERA: You talked about some of those gulf nations that have quite a bit of money and they're in that region. What is the reason for not accepting some of these refugees?

AMANPOUR: It is incredibly hard to decipher. They say officially we're taking X number of refugees from the Yemen war, but the U.N. and others say that these gulf Arab states, which are amongst richest per capita in the world have the capacity for two million refugees if they chose to take them in, remembering, of course, that the countries immediately bordering Syria have taken in nearing four million and are bursting at the seams, that's why they can't take more, which is why the flood comes across to Europe at great personal risk to the people.

Finally, as highlighted, the reality, and that is that unless the war in Syria is stopped, this is not going to stop the exit from Syria and other parts of the region.

CABRERA: I want to ask you about what we are hearing about attacks against refugees in Europe, that the attacks are apparently on the rise. Who is behind it?

AMANPOUR: For instance, in Germany, which has been the most generous, has taken in the most number of people. People have lined up at train stations to cheer on the refugees coming over. Ordinary citizens around Germany have gone out, provided enormous amount of private and personal aid to them as they come in. Even shoes are being put out at Frankfurt station, for instance. But like in many parts of Europe, there are horrible vicious neo-Nazi and extreme groups. In Germany, they had trouble with backlash the past several months to the point that the chancellor, Angela Merkel, had to go to one of the places that had been to pledge these places would be protected. Since that happened, the overwhelming narrative has been shifting now to this generous reception that Germany is taking. But yes, the German officials are telling their people we have to accept this is not a one-day crisis, not a month or a year. This is something that's going to be with us for many years and that we have to get used to the changing and shifting demographic of our country.

CABRERA: Right, when you talk about the sheer numbers we're talking here.

Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much for joining us. Great insight.

And up next, a shocking video. Take a look. Why did two Texas high school football players tackle this referee from behind? Now, could criminal charges be on the way? We'll discuss.

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[14:47:59] CABRERA: It looked like an ordinary play on a high school football field, a defensive back making a hard tackle, knocking his opponent to the ground. But in San Antonio, the move was carried out against an unsuspecting referee. You have to see this video. It is unbelievable. One player runs up behind the ref you see highlighted in the middle, tackles him. Once the ref is on the ground, a second player runs, jumps over, lands on top of him. School officials called the incident extremely disturbing and unsportsmanlike. It followed an earlier ejection of two of the students' teammates. Both players that hit the ref have been suspended from the team. And school and police just released a statement to CNN saying this was a targeted attack they believe, so they are investigating. No arrests made at this point.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst, criminal defense attorney, Danny Cevallos.

Does this amount to criminal assault on camera?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Sports occupies an odd place in America. Certain things you can do on a playing field or basketball court that would be an assault on the outside world but are allowed under the rules of that particular sport. There's a doctrine called "implied consent," which goes to the fact that athletes when we participate in a sport impliably consent to certain amount of contact. That includes behavior foul. For example, baseball. Routinely pitchers try to hit batters and they charge the mound and start fights. They don't end with criminal.

CABRERA: And hockey. CEVALLOS: Exactly. Whatever that reasonable zone is of implied

contact, then we have seen criminal prosecutions in Canada and in the United States. So would a referee consent, we have seen referees accidentally knocked by football players, it is a dangerous business being a referee. Football is a violent sport. That being said, if you can show something so intentional, so beyond what could be reasonably expected in the boundaries of a game, then you can go beyond the yellow flag and you can prosecute and we have done so in the past, in so much as we try to have a bright rule, I don't think you can, it has to be case by case. But it does raise the question, if you can't consent to physical violence in the outside world, it is a legal fiction that we allow it on the playing field.

[14:50:17] CABRERA: So in this case, does the referee have a legal course of action he can take?

CEVALLOS: Certainly, the police will investigate and prosecute if they feel a crime has been committed and that referee can separately file a civil action against those particular players, if he believes, if investigation shows their acts were intentional and well beyond the boundaries of even a foul in football, which again a foul is something against the rules but is reasonably foreseeable within the game. I think these players are going to have a hard time justifying this. I've watched that play several times. I played a little high school ball myself.

CABRERA: It is disturbing.

CEVALLOS: I don't think anyone I know would have done something like that or had a good explanation for it.

CABRERA: Real quick, do you think the coach has any responsibility in this?

CEVALLOS: Depends if he induced them, knew about it, allowed it to happen. I would hope any high school football coach would never counsel players to do something like that and I am going to operate on the assumption that no coach would do that for now until we get more evidence.

CABRERA: Makes you wonder, where did they come up with the idea.

Danny Cevallos, appreciate it. As always, good to see you.

Happy Labor Day.

CEVALLOS: Happy Labor Day.

CABRERA: Now to this from Las Vegas. Two officers ambushed at a traffic light over the weekend. They were in their marked patrol car waiting for the light to turn green when a man with a semi-automatic gun walked up to their car and opened fire. One officer was hit in the hand, the other officer was uninjured. He was able to chase down the suspect and make the arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KEVIN MCMAHILL, UNDERSHERIFF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: It is a rough time for our officers, as you know. We've already changed some deployment strategies. Have two officer units out there today because of the narrative on violence against police across the country and what we've also seen here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The officer that was hit is in good condition. He was the second officer, by the way, shot in Las Vegas over the weekend.

Coming up, the dentist who killed Cecil the lion is finally speaking out. Why he says everything about the hunt that led to the death of Cecil was done properly. That's next.

Any minute now, Hillary Clinton expected to speak in Illinois. This, as new polls show Bernie Sanders outpacing her in a key battleground state. And we hear Clinton is inside this vehicle pulling up as we speak. Stay with us.

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[14:56:48] CABRERA: The Minnesota dentist who sparked international uproar after killing a beloved African lion is about to go back to work. Dr. Walter Palmer left his practice after all of the backlash, after it was revealed he was the hunter that killed Cecil the lion.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is here with me now.

And Dr. Palmer just gave his first joint press conference of sorts, speaking out about what happened.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His first and only. He said this is his only interview, his only time to speak to the media. It is about 25 minutes for him to sit down with the A.P. and "Minneapolis Tribune," asking for privacy for he and his family. One thing, he declined to comment about whether he would fight extradition charges, if he were to face charges in Zimbabwe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Breaking his silence in his first interview, the Minnesota dentist that sparked an international fire storm after killing Cecil the lion on African safari, Walter Palmer was kept out of the public eye since killing the big cat in July, telling the "Star Tribune" and Associated Press that he will resume work at his suburban Minneapolis practice this Tuesday.

He says he is, quote, "Heartbroken at the toll this has taken on his dental staff and family," saying about his wife and daughter, quote, "They have been threatened in social media, and again, I don't understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all."

Since facing worldwide backlash after the hunt, including a clamoring cry for his extradition by Zimbabwean officials, Palmer has not been charged with a crime.

In previous statements, he said he relied on the expertise of his guides. In his interview, he expressed regret, but insisted that the controversial hunt was legal, saying, quote, "If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study, obviously, I wouldn't have taken it."

Palmer didn't address whether he would return to Zimbabwe for questioning, only saying, quote, "Zimbabwe has been a wonderful country for me to hunt in and I have always followed the laws."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Dr. Palmer hasn't faced any charges, unclear if he will. Two others face charges though, the hunter that organized the trip, guided it, and the land owner that owned the farm where Cecil the lion was killed.

CABRERA: If they're facing charges, even though he is saying everything about it was legal, sounds like there's a big gray area here.

SANCHEZ: There is a gray area. He may not face charges. His lawyers don't expect him to. Legal experts say extradition is highly unlikely. If he were to face charges, it would be potentially poaching, but proving that is difficult, so far along from the incident.

CABRERA: Interesting to see what happens.

Boris Sanchez, thanks so much.

[14:59:41] Hello, again. I'm Ana Cabrera. Thanks for being here.

Nothing brings out political candidates like a parade, especially on Labor Day in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire. New NBC/Marist poll from the Granite State giving people a lot to talk about. Donald Trump is still on top. You can see Ohio Governor John Kasich has moved into second, followed by Dr. Ben Carson in third. John Kasich was just there. He just walked in that Labor Day parade in Milford, New Hampshire. He was one of three presidential candidates, in fact, campaigning there today.