Airport Death; Blackwater In Iraq
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Fire underground and unanswered questions.</s>STU NAY, CLEAR CREEK COUNTY UNDER SHERIFF: I can't confirm that. I'm not sure. I do not know.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are not at liberty to divulge that. I cannot confirm whether or not.</s>ROBERTS: Workers trapped in a pipe at least 1,000 feet down. How did some survive? $11 million message.</s>ANUCHA BROWNE SANDERS, PLAINTIFF: What I did here, I did for every working woman in America.</s>ROBERTS: This morning, why jurors decided against Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks. And dangerous ride. Inside a school bus crash as it happens. The dramatic new video on this AMERICAN MORNING. And welcome to the show this morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Wednesday, the 3rd of October. I'm John Roberts.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. There were a lot of questions this morning about a tragedy in Colorado. How did some workers at a power plant make it out alive but five others did not after a chemical fire. It happened deep underground at a hydroelectric plant in Georgetown, Colorado. That's about 30 miles west of Denver. Nine workers were working on a water pipe when the fire broke out. Here's a diagram of where the workers were trapped. The pipe 3,000 feet long. It carries water from a reservoir to a plant. Rescues say they had talked with the men just 10 miles after the fire broke out. Hours later they found their bodies.</s>STU NAY, CLEAR CREEK COUNTY UNDER SHERIFF: I found the parties that went down in the tunnel. There are five fatalities. At this point, we do not know exactly who they are. They're not positively identified by the coroner's office and next of kin has not been notified, obviously, since we don't know who they are. And recovery effort are continuing through the night. We're going to have the Colorado Bureau of Investigation assist us with the investigation as to the incident itself and removing the bodies.</s>CHETRY: As we said, four other workers did manage to escape. We're going to ask what went wrong when we talk with a spokesman for Xcel Energy in Colorado. That's coming up at the bottom of the hour. And to another underground tragedy. Family members of those who died at the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse in Utah are in Washington, D.C., this morning looking for some answers. They're going to be testifying at a House committee hearing. Six miners were trapped in the original collapse back in August and then three others died during the rescue attempts. Inspectors with the Bureau of Land Management found serious structural problems three years before the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse.</s>ROBERTS: Developing right now out of Iraq. A close call for a loyal U.S. ally. Brand new video from the scene today. Poland says its ambassador was bounded in a car bomb blast that killed a civilian. The ambassador was treated at a U.S. military hospital. No word yet on his condition. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is rejecting a proposal by fellow Democrats to make you pay more wore the war in Iraq. The proposed war surtax would require low and middle income Americans to pay an extra 2 percent in taxes. Wealthier taxpayers would see a 12 percent to 1 percent surcharge. Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey floated the proposal, but Pelosi and others have shot it down, saying the tax idea is just a political gift to Republicans. President Bush is expected today to veto a bill that would have expanded the children's health insurance program by $35 billion over five years. The president complains that its too costly and it's also moved towards socialized medicine. This is going to be the fourth veto of his presidency. It's expected to happen behind closed doors with no fanfare. Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Well, for the first time we're hearing from two witnesses that could shed some light on the bizarre death of Carol Gotbaum at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. They say they were stunned watching what they described as an emotional woman being "manhandled" by police. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has more now from our national update desk. What else are they saying about that incident at the airport, Alina.</s>ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, two witnesses spoke exclusively to CNN last night. The first detailed account, really, of Carol Anne Gotbaum's demeanor and how police responded to her.</s>MEL PITTEL, WITNESSED GOTBAUM ATTACK (ph): I saw her laying on the carpeting in the entrance to the concourse. Basically sort of just screaming and kicking. It turned out, of course, that she was just laying there. There were a couple of officers off to my right looking down the concourse. And then they sort of walked towards her a little bit, did nothing and she kept saying -- screaming. Then all of a sudden she said I'm -- don't call me a terrorist.</s>CHO: But according to a second witness, it didn't take long before police did respond to Gotbaum. And this witness says Phoenix Police were forceful.</s>PAIGE HARMON, WITNESSED GOTBAUM ATTACK (ph): Two other officers came up and they -- one threw her to the ground and then they -- it was as if they were tackling her. One of them pulled her arm behind her with extreme force. I thought that they were going to -- or they had separated her shoulder. It looked very, very forceful.</s>CHO: In fact, a private investigator who witnessed the autopsy of Gotbaum's body reportedly says there were bruising everywhere. The family's attorney says that's an indication of a struggle. Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting today that a second autopsy was performed last night by an independent pathologist hired by the Gotbaum family after the first autopsy came back inconclusive. Now as many know by now, Gotbaum died in police custody last night after she was arrested for yelling and screaming at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The 45-year-old mother of three was irate over missing her flight. Police say she may have accidentally strangled herself after trying to escape from the handcuffs. Her family disputes that saying she was on her way to an alcohol treatment center, was manhandled by police and should have never been detained. And, Kiran, this morning the family is still trying to decide whether to file a lawsuit against the Phoenix Police.</s>CHETRY: Alina, thank you for that. And coming up in our next hour, we're also going to be speaking with Sanjay Gupta about what this autopsy may reveal about the circumstancing surrounding her death. John.</s>ROBERTS: Five, almost six minutes after the hour now. Also new this morning. The House could decide if Blackwater security should answer to the same laws as U.S. troops do. Blackwater's founder was on Capitol Hill defending its use of force. Its contracts coming under fire for the shooting deaths of 11 Iraqi civilians. CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now with more on the Blackwater file (ph). So what exactly are they talking about, Barbara?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the issue is accountability. When something goes wrong with one of these security contractors, when there's a shooting incident or someone is killed, how are the contractors held accountable, under what law? Now as a result of all of these issues coming to the front, Congress, indeed, may consider legislation making the contractors more readily accountable for prosecution under U.S. law. That's an issue that's been very murky. But at this hearing yesterday, Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said his people are not out of control cowboys. He defended them and he spoke very passionately about the threat that they face in Iraq.</s>ERIK PRINCE, CEO, BLACKWATER USA: Most of the attacks we get in Iraq are complex, meaning it's not just one bad thing, it's a host of bad things. Car bomb followed by small arms attack. RPGs followed by sniper fire. An incident occurs typically when our men fear for their life, they're not able to extract themselves from the situation, they have to use sufficient defensive fire to get off the x, to get off that place where the bad guys have tried to kill Americans that day.</s>STARR: Mr. Prince repeatedly said that what his contractors are doing is trying to get out of the way when shooting starts. They're not military troops. He says they don't stay and engage in combat. But, of course, this issue, the controversy not going away, John. The Iraqi government feels very strongly that Blackwater and other security contractors need to have more accountability and it now appears that Congress is moving just in that direction. John.</s>ROBERTS: To clarify here, Barbara, though, regardless of what Congress does, private security contractors, like Blackwater, like Dyncorp (ph), like others, still would not be subject to Iraqi law, correct?</s>STARR: There is no indication that they would be. All of the moves, indeed, John, seem to be either to bring them under more -- readily under U.S. criminal law or even perhaps under U.S. military law. John.</s>ROBERTS: All right. We'll see which way that goes. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, as always, thanks.</s>STARR: Sure.</s>ROBERTS: Kiran.</s>CHETRY: There's news this morning about an E. Coli outbreak in Indiana that caused kidney failure in seven children. They all needed dialysis. In all, ten children were infected. All of them go to the same elementary school in Floyd County, Indiana. They're now doing testing to confirm more cases. Health officials have not yet identified the source of the E. Coli contamination. Two hundred thousand more toys recalled this morning. The Thomas and Friends toy recall is for a lead paint warning. RC2 Corporation previously recalled a million Thomas toys. And, get this, among the toys included in the new recall are 2,000 tow (ph) trains that were given as bonus gifts to customers who returned toys in the last recall. These toys in the first million were all made in China. EBay warning sellers not to sell their recalled toys. Sellers trying to get rid of these recalled items could be kicked off of eBay. EBay placing links to its recalled items policy in several places on its site. And Jenna Bush has been almost as busy as her dad in the past couple of weeks. She's been pushing her new book about a teenage mother with HIV. She's also planning a wedding. Last night on "Larry King Live" we found out that all of that hasn't stopped her from thinking about dad's post-White House life.</s>LARRY KING LIVE": We were discussing what your father might do after the White House. He'll still be a very young man. And we brought up the idea of commissioner of baseball.</s>JENNA BUSH, PRESIDENT BUSH'S DAUGHTER: That would be great.</s>KING: You would go for that?</s>BUSH: Yes, dad, would go for that, if he's watching.</s>KING: Yes.</s>BUSH: Yes.</s>CHETRY: Of course, President Bush once owned the Texas Rangers and was the man who traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox. Jenna was just a tot when he announced that he was the Rangers' owner back in 1989. He was managing partner until he was elected governor in 1994. So if you had the former president as the baseball commissioner, then you'd have the former secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, as the NFL commissioner. How about that?</s>ROBERTS: Can you imagine that? And when I was in the White House for that dinner a few weeks back, President Bush told an interesting story to a couple of us about how Jenna's fiancee asked for her hand in marriage. It's pretty interesting. Imagine asking the president of the United States if you can marry his daughter.</s>CHETRY: That's a nerve-racking moment.</s>ROBERTS: Yes. Ten minutes after the hour now and time to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new that we're following this morning. A tornado touched down overnight in northeast Missouri. Rob Marciano tracking the extreme weather for us today. Good morning, Rob.</s>ROBERTS: More bad news on the home front this morning. A big dip to report in pending home sales. Our Gerri Willis in for Ali Velshi for us this morning at the business desk. Good morning to you, Gerri.</s>GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Good to see you. Yes, pending home sales out for August and the news is bad. The worst number on record. In fact, the National Association of Realtors is blaming the mortgage meltdown, saying that as many as 10 percent of deals that were scheduled to be done in August fell out of bed. That proportion is typically just 2 percent to 3 percent. They say mortgage lenders are backing out at the last minute in record numbers. And, of course, what we've seen here, 10 percent of home sales fell through was because lenders are pulling out at the last minute. The part of the market that's been hit the hardest are expensive homes. Some $400,000 homes. Those are the places that are worst hit. And I want to tell you that Morgan Stanley is laying off some 600 people in its mortgage division, so it's hitting Wall Street as well. We'll be talking about Washington's response to this coming up later in the show. John.</s>ROBERTS: Meantime, though, Gerri, the Dow didn't seem to see much worry in it, right, only down a few point yesterday?</s>WILLIS: Yes, the Dow is inexplicable lately. Any kind of bad news only seems to makes it go higher. You remember the other day, Citigroup had some very bad earnings numbers and the market took off.</s>ROBERTS: Yes. All right, Gerri, we'll see you soon too. Thanks. Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Well, you've got to check this one out. It's a scary video that's just released. It's prompting some calls for seat belts on school busses. It shows just how vulnerable kids can be when things go wrong. You see the kids literally being tossed in the air as if they're on a trampoline. It was after a bus approached a bridge, slammed into the guardrail and then plunged into a ditch below. There you see the video again in slow motion of the kids literally flying around the back of the bus. Prosecutors released this surveillance tape of last week's accident to show the dangers. All students were released from the hospital with minor injuries. The driver was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving. Another possible strike by New York City taxi cab drivers topping your "Quick Hits" now. The Taxi Workers Alliance expected to announce today if there will be a second walkout in less than a month over some new technology rules. All New York City cabs must be equipped with global positioning and credit card technology by early next year. It's a move that some taxi cab drivers have been very opposed to. Also a missing parking meter mystery solved in Massachusetts. Police say they found more than 120 stolen meters. They were stashed in an apartment in Cambridge. They say the suspect cut the tops off and emptied the money out inside. It's just curious that no one noticed somebody lifting up huge parking meters and carrying them away. But officers say it was a lucky break that led them to it. They had gone into the apartment to arrest the suspect on something else having outstanding warrants. And the husband of one of the most powerful woman in politics stole the show inadvertently on "The View." Things got a little risque when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sat down with the ladies of daytime. We'll show you what happened. Also, it's a war of words. Democrats in Congress, Rush Limbaugh and talk of payback. That debate as well ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.