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CNN NEWSROOM

California Train Wreck; No Charges for Zimmerman; Syrian Christians Abducted; Eddie Ray Routh Trial

Aired February 24, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Brooke Baldwin.

We begin with a scary scene for morning commuters in southern California and an investigation that's intensifying right now. At least 28 people are hurt after a Metrolink passenger train collided with a truck just before 6:00 this morning. Five cars derailed, three of which could be seen as you're watching these pictures. They're lying on their sides.

Now, this wreck happened between the cities of Oxnard and Camarillo while heading south to Los Angeles. A charred skeleton is all that's left of the truck and remarkably no one was killed in this crash.

Now, CNN has also learned that the driver of that produce truck involved was not injured, but he left the scene. He has since been found. He is currently being questioned by police. Both the NTSB and federal railroad officials are en route to the scene. Our CNN's Paul Vercammen live there now in Oxnard, California.

Paul, what have you learned?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, I'm right here on the scene. As we look over this way, as you pointed out, some of these cars are lying on their side. And what happened here was this train hit a truck that was on the tracks carrying a trailer. The trailer and that truck charred and over here.

Immediately, fire responded. You had four people with critical injuries. From what Ventura County Fire tells me, the worst of them went to the intensive care unit. You also had nine people who were delayed and treated on scene with moderate injuries. That's fractures, broken bones, severe cuts, head trauma. Then you had nine people - excuse me, 15 people with moderate injuries. So, in all, 20 transported to the hospital.

As you pointed out, so far no fatalities in this crash. They say that these are the modified Metrolink cars and that they did have the collision absorption technology that kept this from being worse and these cars from disintegrating.

As for the speed, they say this was about a mile and a half or two miles away from a stop. I've ridden these trains. There are frequent stops in this particular area of Oxnard and Camarillo. And that may have kept this from going at a top speed and making this a much worse of an accident.

The driver of the truck fled the scene, according to officials, and he was basically detained by police and fire. He is now being questioned and they say that he is cooperating. He's a 54-year-old man from Yuma, Arizona. And they're trying to determine why he was in this intersection on the train track.

As you come back over this way, you can clearly see this is a railroad crossing with the cross guards. It's got the signs that tell you, do not stop on tracks. And they don't understand, you know, how he wound up on this place. This is not the first collision, of course, involving Metrolink. But as they look back on what happened here, they feel very fortunate that there, you know, was not more severe injuries.

One of the things that they did is they had to simultaneously fight a diesel fire that came here, that broke out here involving the truck and the trailer. They say there was a lot of diesel out here and they think that perhaps the truck was carrying diesel as well. And then begin all of this emergency triage. And they had this trailer that they set up and that had everything you want from back boards on it and the collars for neck injuries and all of the rest of the bandages and that sort of thing.

If we catch a break here, live TV, I do see a Metrolink spokesman over here. And, Tracy (ph), if you can see me, that gentleman in the orange jacket, if you can pull him over here, that would be great. He can give us a lot more clarification on how this train was able to survive this collision and, you know, basically avoid much more serious injury.

We should also note that there were 23 other people who were brought off the train who were uninjured. All of them, of course, will be interviewed to try to determine why this happened in the early morning hours here in Oxnard, California, Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Paul Vercammen, we'll let you gather more details for us. Thanks for that update.

Again, 51 people total on the train, 20-plus injured, but only four people with critical injuries and no deaths.

Let's bring in John Zaragoza on the phone with us, a county supervisor in that district where this train crash happened.

You were on scene there. Tell us what you saw, John.

JOHN ZARAGOZA, VENTURA COUNTY SUPERVISOR (via telephone): Yes, thank you, Ana.

You know, this morning myself and the fire chief, Mark Lorenzen and our CEO, Mike Powers, went over. We got a text this morning from our fire fighter - our fire chief, excuse me. Any time that we have an incident, you know, he will text us immediately. So we went over to the scene and, of course, you know, we found out that 51 people were injured, you know, and 28 transported to the VCMC, which is Ventura County Medical Center here in Ventura, and also to St. Johns.

And as I mentioned before, there was nine -- when we were there, nine individuals that were sent to the trauma center in Ventura VCMC, Ventura County Medical Center. And three or four were critically injured and six with minor injuries. And, again, I definitely want to thank, you know, our county and the city first responders, our police, Oxnard PD, the sheriff in Ventura County, the Oxnard fire department and the Oxnard PD.

CABRERA: A lot of people involved, responding, for sure, and that is -

ZARAGOZA: Absolutely.

CABRERA: That's great that they were able to get there and there weren't more serious injuries. And that - that itself, as we look at these pictures, is pretty amazing. Do you know if the passengers were preparing for an impact? Did they have a warning of sorts?

ZARAGOZA: Well, probably apparently not because, you know, that train was pulling out of Oxnard heading toward Camarillo and Los Angeles. And that happens every single morning. And there's numerous trains, of course, but that's one of the trains. But I'm not sure if the people were even expecting something like that. It's just -- when I first saw the flames in the morning, I just -- I just could not believe, you know, the horrific accident and then the derailed cars derailed off the railroad. And it was just absolutely horrible. We're just very lucky. We mentioned that earlier that we did not have any fatalities.

CABRERA: And one reason perhaps that the cars didn't crumple was because of this collision energy management technology. We know Metrolink invested in this technology after the 2008 crash that killed 25 people there. That technology is meant to sort of absorb the shock of the crash. Did it work like it was supposed to?

ZARAGOZA: And that's absolutely right. Yes, absolutely right, the Metrolink, you know, we did that retro fit. I belong to VCTC, Ventura County Transportation Commission, and also, you know, we were part of a -- funding that mechanism that really helped. That probably saved a lot of people -- lots of lives and I'm very, very glad that we had that in the Metrolink trucks - I mean railroad.

CABRERA: All right. And we are getting a little bit more information from Joe Garsis (ph) with the fire department there in Oxnard saying that the driver made a mistake and turned on to the tracks, they believe, instead of going on to the highway and then got stuck on the tracks. So we'll continue to follow this story throughout the next couple of hours and bring new information as we get it. John Zaragoza, again, our thanks to you.

ZARAGOZA: Thank you so much.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CABRERA: The Justice Department has just announced there will not be federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. Now, Zimmerman is the former neighborhood watchman in Florida who was acquitted in the shooting death three years ago this week, in fact, of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Martin was not armed when he was killed. This case setting off massive protests across the country. Our justice correspondent Pamela Brown is joining us from Washington now.

Pam, what have we learned?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you point out, the Justice Department just released this statement, Ana, saying that it's declining to bring civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin. So essentially, one year and a half after the jury acquitted George Zimmerman of second degree murder, federal prosecutors have found there is not sufficient evidence to prove Zimmerman intentionally violated Martin's civil rights. In other words, that he targeted him because of his race.

And Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that was just released here, "through a comprehensive investigation, it found that the high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution cannot be met under the circumstances here. This young man's premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface." So notice there, Ana, that they did not find sufficient evidence with the high bar for civil rights violations.

This is really the culmination of a lengthy civil rights investigation, Ana, that's taken place over the last three years since Zimmerman shot and killed Martin after that confrontation in 2012. And as you pointed out, this was a case that sparked a lot of controversy and national debate about race here in America.

Ana.

CABRERA: Sort of the first case. After that we had Ferguson. Then we have the Eric Garner case. And we know that the Department of Justice is also conducting civil rights investigations in both of those. We also know that the Department of Justice's Eric Holder is saying he wants to wrap up all these investigations before he leaves office. Any more details or updates on the status of the other ones?

BROWN: Well, we know, as we reported on in the civil rights investigation with Ferguson, that it's unlikely that the Department of Justice will bring civil rights charges against Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Brown. There's also that other ongoing investigation into the Ferguson Police Department. And we reported, my colleague Evan Perez reported last week, that the Justice Department could sue the police department unless they make certain changes. So we are awaiting to find out the results of those cases, of course.

As you point out, Eric Holder will be leaving soon, sometime this spring, and we expect to find out those findings once he leaves office, so before then.

Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Pamela Brown, our thanks to you. We are also following a developing story overseas. An American woman,

working as a missionary in Nigeria, is now the victim of a brazen kidnapping. Her attackers demanding a ransom. We'll have a live report from that region.

Also ahead, under pressure. We are expecting the secretary of Veterans Affairs to soon address the media and the nation after admitting he embellished his military service. We'll bring that to you live here on CNN.

Plus, a mystery in the sky over Paris. What was spotted late at night over some of the city's most iconic landmarks? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Right now, a potentially tragic situation is unfolding. The fate of some 70 to 100 Syrian Christians is unknown. Last night the terror group ISIS stormed their homes in northern Syria. And this is according to a human rights group. While hundreds were able to run for their lives, dozens were captured. Among them, women, children, and the elderly.

Let's talk more about this with Brigadier General Anthony Tata, retired U.S. Army. He was the deputy commanding general of all coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007. He's also the author of "Foreign and Domestic," a book that releases today, in fact, about a Delta Force team in Afghanistan. Also with us, Ben Wedeman, the senior international correspondent, who is in Erbil, Iraq.

Now, Ben, I want to start with you. This terror group is referring to these Christians as enemy crusaders of Islam.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the standard reference by ISIS to any Christians. And what we understand is what happened is that around 4:00 a.m. local time, ISIS fighters entered several Syrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria in the Hosica (ph) province. They entered the homes and they abducted, according to the Syrian Human Rights Network, somewhere between 70 and 100 people. As you mentioned, women, children, the elderly. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another organization that monitors the situation in Syria, 90 Syrian Christians have been abducted by ISIS.

Now, there are reports, for instance, that ISIS, in fact, ISIS fighters were overheard on their radios talking about capturing what they called crusaders. Now, we understand from the Syrian Human Rights Network that around 700 families have fled that area. They've taken refuge in churches in the city of Hasica (pH), which is the capital of that province.

Now, it's important to keep in mind that the Kurdish fighters, the group in Syria, the YPG, have been pushing ISIS back since they retook the town of Kobani right on the Turkish border. And this appears to be some sort of counter move by ISIS to open a new front. And many of the Syrian men, who weren't in that village, have actually joined with the Kurdish fighters to fight ISIS. So what we may be seeing is a form of revenge.

Ana.

CABRERA: General, what do you make of this? It doesn't seem like that long ago we were talking about the Yazidis, another minority religious group that was threatened in Iraq. And now it had kind of quieted down. Suddenly, these innocent Christians are under attack and not long after the Egyptian Christians were beheaded.

BRIG. GEN. ANTHONY TATA, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, you know, Ana, there's about 800,000 Syrian Christians throughout Iraq and Turkey and Syria and they're being persecuted by ISIS. There's no doubt about it. They consider it a religious war, ISIS does. They're waging war on the west. And, as we tipped our hand that we are coming to Mosul, I can see that ISIS is strategically now trying to open up a northern front to diffuse the effort of the coalition.

So ISIS is a very strategic thinking enemy. They're trying to do some things here in the homeland. They're recruiting in the homeland. They've now captured Syrian Christians in Syria and the surrounding regions, and it's really more fresh meat for their terror campaign and sensationalize terror campaign. And they know that they've got to defend against Mosul. And so they're really trying to diffuse our military efforts and our strategic efforts to defeat them and push them out of Mosul by fracturing the coalition and diffusing our efforts so that we cannot concentrate in one area.

CABRERA: And when you talk about that timing, it comes really just hours after ISIS released more propaganda videos. They showed more captives in cages, some video of what appeared to be dozens of children being trained to become ISIS fighters. Is this just strategy, or are they trying to really put out a bigger message through this onslaught of horror?

TATA: Yes, ISIS is totally focused on the propaganda war, the information war. Ana, there are several elements of power that we can use, that they can use as a burgeoning nation state. There's information power. There's economic power. There's diplomatic power. And, of course, there's military power. And what ISIS is doing is really leveraging the information domain to great effect. They're having recruits from Great Britain. They're having recruits come from America. And they are training children.

You know, images of Nazi Germany come to mind on that. And so ISIS has taken the playbook from everybody who's been evil in history and trying to do it in one, you know, one act here in the Middle East and wage war on the west. And, you know, the goals are to destroy our economy, to make us spend blood and treasure. And so what we need to do is have a concerted effort, use our elements of power, diplomatic, political, economic to leverage those in the Middle East so that we can wage an effective campaign against ISIS.

And, you know, Qatar plays into this. You know, they - they're playing both ends against the middle here. It's been revealed that we have inside contacts with the Qatar leadership. And, frankly, we've got to, you know, leverage them to cowboy up and make sure that they are doing the right thing for our coalition. We've got New Zealand coming in and joining coalition. That's a good thing.

And so this is a war against the west. This is not just an isolated thing happening in the Middle East. This is serious business. And we need to take it very seriously. And I'm glad to see the administration finally coming to the table and General James Terry (ph) out there in Iraq is a great leader. And we should all have good trust, faith, and confidence that he's going to do the right thing for American forces and coalition forces.

CABRERA: Let's talk about what's happening on the ground there, Ben. You are there. You can feel it. You can see what's going on. We know we have the Peshmerga, the Kurdish fighters on the north that have had some of an impact -- somewhat of an impact on ISIS. We have the Iraqi military that's sort of regrouping in Baghdad under the guidance and the training of this coalition. The U.S. has even talked about retaking Mosul as early as this spring. Does this latest development, this mass kidnapping impact strategy in terms of the fight against ISIS?

TATA: Yes.

WEDEMAN: Really, there are several fronts. Now certainly what I think we are seeing with this instance, the attack, the abduction on the Syrian Christians is really the weak underbelly. That is a weak front when it comes to the fight against ISIS. Those are isolated, rural villages, easily approached, easily captured by ISIS.

We were out on the front lines. We - there - we saw an ISIS flag about a kilometer where we -- away from where we were. We were with Kurdish Peshmerga forces. And for the most of the day, most of the fire was coming from the Kurds, going in the direction of ISIS. So that front is fairly firm. ISIS fired back a few mortars in the direction of the Kurds, but really the front lines are pretty firm as far as the Kurds are concerned, as far as the Iraqis are concerned.

Yes, the Pentagon did put out that statement, or one official there, talking about the possibility of an offensive to retake Mosul in late March or rather late April, early May. But most people in the know don't seem to think that's going to happen. It's much more likely, given that the Iraqi army simply isn't ready for the task, that it will happen sometime in the fall rather than in the spring.

Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Ben Wedeman and General Anthony Tata, thanks to both of you for the insight and information.

Up next, closing arguments expected any time now in the trial of Eddie Ray Routh. He's the man on trial for allegedly killing American sniper Chris Kyle. Why the suspect's marijuana use could play a crucial role in the prosecution's case.

Also ahead, officials say five drones were spotted hovering over Paris near sensitive sites like the Eiffel Tower, even the U.S. embassy, all in the middle of the night. What were they doing there? That's ahead. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The trial for the man accused of killing American sniper Chris Kyle is nearing an end. Closing arguments could happen today or tomorrow, and the prosecution and defense have shown the jury over this two-week trial that they agree on a couple points. One, the defendant, Eddie Ray Routh, seen in the center here, shot and killed Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield two years ago. So no question about who did it. They also agree that Eddie Ray Routh has a mental illness. But the defense says that Routh's mental issues from PTSD, also schizophrenia, among others, were so severe he was not sane when he pulled the trigger and therefore is not guilty. However, prosecutors counter that. Routh knew right from wrong when he committed the killing and so Routh cannot claim legal insanity.

Let's get some analysis now from HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson and CNN's legal analyst Danny Cevallos.

An interesting angle come up today as a psychiatrist testified for the prosecution. We're talking about Dr. Michael Arambula, who found that the defendant was intoxicated from smoking pot at the time of this shooting. And because of that alone, he could not claim insanity under Texas guidelines.

Danny, we'll start with you. Explain what he means.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It sounds counterintuitive, but intoxication in this case is good for the prosecution, not the defense. Here's why. At the close of the case, the prosecution will request, and they will get, an instruction under Texas law, which is this, jurors, voluntary intoxication is not a defense to a crime. So every shred of evidence you've heard about drug use, anything else like that, will not be a defense to a crime.

Ultimately, your decision is, as jurors, whether or not this defendant knew the difference between right and wrong. And right and wrong simply means, did he know it was illegal? If I'm the prosecutor, this is my closing, my finger. I use it to push a button on the VCR, that's how old I am, on the VCR and it plays two pieces. Number one, where he admits on camera that he knew what he was doing was wrong. And, number two, is the high-speed car chase where he knew he was fleeing because he knew what he did was wrong because you flee from the police because they're the people who arrest you.

Joey.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: You want the however point?

CEVALLOS: However. Here we go. And cue Joey.

CABRERA: Yes, I was going to say, how do you - how do you defend against that argument?

JACKSON: OK. Here's the however.