[Chetry:] Welcome back. Eleven minutes past 6:00 here on the East Coast. Some of the most incredible shots of the morning in your "Quick Hits" now. And this is a look at an entire town in Colombia under water. Hundreds of people homeless after a river overflowed. It's been an extremely active rainy season and it's just ravaged parts of the country with hundreds of reported floods and landslides. Well, closer to home, this one in Miami, a car plunging into a canal and an incredible swim to safety. Police say an 18-year-old driver veered off of the Don Shula expressway in Miami. It happened early Sunday and then plunged into the water. He managed to pull himself out and swim to shore. And then a family found him 10 hours later. Police have not said yet if speeding played a role in the accident. They do say the teen was driving fast enough to break through an aluminum guard rail and skid across 75 feet of grass and land on far end of the 50-foot-wide canal. Well, a robber is messing with the wrong vet in Florida. This is surveillance video. And at the top right of your screen, you can see a 71-year-old security guard at a juice shop kicks the gun out of a guy's hand. There you see that going down. He then pulls out his own gun and starts firing at three of the armed suspects. They all took off in a dark gray car. Police say that that guard has military experience John?
[Roberts:] Wow. News overnight of another man dying after being tasered by police. At least three cases reported in the last week, the latest in New Mexico. A 20-year-old man was tasered after struggling with police as they tried to take him into custody. He died after being rushed to a hospital. In Florida, a 21-year-old man died after being tasered three times. Jacksonville police stopped Christian Allen on Sunday night because his car radio was too loud. According to police, Allen got out of the car, pushed the officer, and tried to run away.
[Assistant Chief Rick Graham, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office:] Physical confrontation occurred between Officer Hurley and Allen. During the struggle, Officer Hurley deployed his taser in an attempt to gain control of the suspect.
[Lisa Jackson, Allen's Mother:] I'm not saying that he was, you know, innocent in any of it, but I think that they did use excessive force.
[Roberts:] Allen was checked by rescue personnel and cleared, but during questioning he became unresponsive. He went into cardiac arrest and was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. And over the weekend, a 21-year-old man in Maryland died after police used a taser on him to break up a fight. The deaths come one week after a video surfaced of a Polish immigrant who died in the Vancouver airport in Canada after being tasered by the Mounties. These stories are raising a lot of questions about the safety of tasers and how police are using them. AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst Sonny Hostin joins me now with more. Amnesty International is saying, since 2001, more than 150 people have died after being tasered. Yet at the same time, there are other studies that say these things are, quote, "generally safe" for police to use.
[Sonny Hostin, Cnn Legal Analst:] Yes. It's very confusing. But I think, when you look at it, certainly law enforcement officers need options. They don't you don't always want them to pull out guns. But what we are finding is that many, many people are dying. I think, statistically, we have 300 taser-related deaths and there are a couple of things that need to be looked at. You see the deaths when there are multiple shocks. And some folks have been stunned three to 21 times. Now, we're talking about 50,000 volts of electricity. We're not just talking about a little zip, John. We're talking about a lot more than that. I think what you're also seeing is taser-related deaths or tasers are a factor when you have someone that has poor health, someone that's intoxicated, someone that's maybe mentally challenged. And so, law enforcement officers certainly need more training at the very least. There needs to be more research done because now we're learning that this is maybe not such a wonderful option because people are dying.
[Roberts:] Yes. Taser International, which is one of the world's leading manufacturers of tasers, say that people don't die from the taser. They die because of, quote, "other events" that may be associated with their physical health or perhaps the situation. But you have to wonder, somebody like this 21-year-old in Jacksonville.
[Hostin:] Sure.
[Roberts:] Running down the street. Apparently, the person was armed, had a gun in his pocket.
[Hostin:] Yes.
[Roberts:] There was also cocaine found in the car.
[Hostin:] Although he didn't pull the gun.
[Roberts:] No, he didn't pull the gun. There's no telling whether or not there was an actual threat against the officers, just running away.
[Hostin:] Exactly.
[Roberts:] But would this person have died if he wasn't tasered? Would he have walked another three blocks and dropped dead?
[Hostin:] That's a wonderful point, John. This is a 21-year-old or, you know, a 20-year-old. And so, you would imagine probably in good health, maybe no history of heart-related issues. And so my guess is maybe multiple shocks in that case. And, again, it's something that really needs to be looked at. Of course, the company that makes the tasers saying, this is a much better option than having someone shot 18 times. Yes, but we're still dealing with someone dying. We're going to see a lot of lawsuits. Families are going to come out and start suing civilly.
[Roberts:] And our police officers much quicker to pull a taser than they would a gun or a billy-club, as well.
[Hostin:] Absolutely. No question.
[Roberts:] You know, the province of British Columbia after this death in Canada now looking for full public inquiry on this. Perhaps, it'll shed some light on all of this.
[Hostin:] I think so. I think so.
[Roberts:] Sonny Hostin, good to see you. We'll get you back a little bit later this hour for some of the legal news.
[Hostin:] Terrific.
[Roberts:] Apprecite your coming in. Your 'Quick Hits." Rising energy prices could be the Grinch that forces you to spend less this holiday season. According to a report by two leading consumer agencies, 35 percent of you have promised to cut back on spending. That's up from 32 percent just a year ago. Rising prices in gasoline and heating oil were seen as the main culprits. The Smithsonian is launching a public appeal for private donations. Officials say the money is needed to fill gaps in funding. The funds will also go to work hiring new researchers and bring new exhibits to the museum. This is the first time that the Smithsonian has launched such a widespread appeal. A key witness speaking up for the first time about missing Madeleine McCann. Was she the last person to see the little girl before she vanished? We'll tell you what a new documentary has to say. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.