wait until you see the full video on this. these folks were sent home crying. college students pepper sprayed at a school board meeting, some of them hospitalized. they say they did not get a warning that the pepper spray was coming. the school says they were an angry mob. did police overreact? we talk to a tune who the was there. one minute past 5:00. conflicting stories are emerging about the night trayvon martin died in florida and the racially charged shooting tens to spark harsh words and protests. martin's parents were among the many people who gathered in miami to mark the 44th anniversary of dr. martin luther king's assassination as well as to remember the death of the unarmed florida teenager. >> zimmerman's father is defending his son's actions in a primetime television interview. zimmerman's attorneys also spoke with cnn's piers morgan where things get a little tense. alina cho is here with all of the new developments for us. >> a lot has changed in the past 24 hours and a lot of people have spoken out. good morning. as you mention, the father of george zimmerman and his lawyers are speaking out. very few people know for sure what happened when trayvon martin was killed on the night of february 26th inside that gated commune in the sanford, florida. the two people who know for sure are george zimmerman and trayvon martin. one of them is not alive anymore. george zimmerman, of course, called 911 after seeing someone that he thought was suspicious. the operator told zimmerman he did not need to follow the unarmed teen, meaning trayvon martin. so in an interview with fox's sean hannity, zimmerman's father said that's when his son started walking back to his car. >> trayvon came from his left side, asking him did he have a problem. george said no. at that point trayvon said, well, you do now. he punched him in the nose, knock him to the concrete and started beating him. george was there yelling for help for at least 40 seconds. it's clearly him on the tape. there's absolutely no doubt about who it is. >> of course, george zimmerman's father in silhouette there because he said the family has received numerous death threats. that's been widely reported. meanwhile, the tape that robert zimmerman is referring to is a 911 call made by a neighbor. on it, you can hear someone yelling. the question is who? no one has been able to determine if the person yelling was trayvon martin or george zimmerman. meanwhile, the family attorney told piers morgan last night he had a different take on what happened. watch. >> could it be that he did attack and jump on george zimmerman? >> well, i don't think we can say attack. we could say he defended himself because trayvon martin had every right to defend himself against george zimmerman who approached him. and think about it. george zimmerman didn't have a badge or anything official. he had on a sweatshirt and some jeans. we've all seen the video now. we believe trayvon martin went to his death not knowing who this strange man was that was approaching him. >> so now we're hearing from george zimmerman's attorneys as well who are taking to the television airwaves to get their side out. >> as i mentioned, no shortage of people speaking out about this case. emotions running very high. trayvon's lawyers say once they came to town, they turned the shooting death of trayvon martin into a racial event. >> on morning of february 26th, we had a peaceful town where people went to town and sat together in multiracial congregations, stood in line at the grocery store. we didn't have a seething town of unrest. jesse jackson and al sharpton turned that to town. they turned this into a racial event when it never was one. once all the evidence is out, this is a pretty clear case. >> a pretty clear case of self-defense is what zimmerman's lawyers are saying. listen to this detail, the "miami herald" is reporting that a white separatist group, the national socialist movement, has announced plans to conduct patrols in sanford, florida, that ensure that, quote, white citizens will be safe from any potential racial violence. the group says the move is to counter threats from the new black panther party which, remember, made plans and announced that it would put a $10,000 bounty on george zimmerman's head. >> oh, my gosh. >> it's extraordinary. >> we have a new enhanced video that -- >> the 911 call. you'll remember that we had two audio -- two experts really analyze that video yesterday. we had our own audio team take another closer look at that. enhance the video, using a plug that cleans up the ambiant noise. what you heard a lot in the background is the wind. listen to the audio of this 911 call. watch. [ audio playing ] >> frankly it's difficult to hear. our cnn audio says that plug-in he used to enhance the audio will not change a word, only making it clearer. but again, it is so difficult. you can listen to that. soledad said she listened to it 500 times. you were saying you could listen to it 1,000 times. >> you try to listen so carefully and yet -- >> if somebody tells you what you should be listening to, you're more inclined to hear that. >> if someone doesn't tell you what to listen to, you have no idea why cnn is playing a bunch of static on the air. it's a problem for juries as well if they get this kind of thing, if they ever get that kind of thing. >> one thing to keep in mind, too, zimmerman's lawyers made it clear yesterday, our piers morgan said to him, listen, there's been so much reporting on whether george zimmerman had a broken nose. why not release an x-ray or give us some sort of proof? he said, listen, this man has been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. i'm not going to try this case on your show. i'm going to do it if it gets to court and so, you know, he does make an important point. a lot of people on that side of the case are saying there's been a rush to judgment. let's take a step back and let's really look at the case first. >> he said he does indeed have a broken nose. >> he did. >> yes, he did. >> alina cho, thanks very much for that. we appreciate it. >> you bet. the l.a. coroner's office releasing the full autopsy report on whitney houston. preliminary findings said the singer died due to an accidental drowning. the final report says houston was face down in a tub of water about 12 inches deep. a white powdery substance were found near her body in a hotel bathroom. dr. drew pinsky said her death may have been related to drug and alcohol withdrawal. >> the fact is, this autopsy report shows that she had nominal, nominal heart disease, almost none. not sufficient to explain what happened to her. you also mention she was found face down in water. how do you have a heart attack or take too much medication and slip into the water and drown and end up face down? the way that happens is seizure. and i add the entire score up and i get seizure here. >> dr. drew also says the autopsy suggests houston was using cocaine in the hours or perhaps even minutes before her death. former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky is due in court in just a couple of hours. he's facing 52 counts of sexually abusing ten boys over a 15-year period. he's pleaded not guilty and he is currently on house arrest while out on bail. his attorney, joe amendola is asking the court to dismiss many, if not all, of the charges related to this story. we are live in pennsylvania where the hearing is scheduled to take place today. there are serious concerns sandusky's lawyer has in this story, aren't there, jason? >> reporter: many concerns. basically what he's trying to do is, if you look at what's happening, all charges thrown out. basically what he's going to argue on later on today is when it comes to seven of the accusers, it is his belief that not enough information and evidence has been provided to date about seven of those accusers, not where the allegations of abuse happened, when it happened so he says. those charges related to those seven accusers should be thrown out. again, there are ten. he says with the other three, the information that has been provided is not specific enough, so he says that's why the charges related to those three should be thrown out. prosecution basically saying here that this is an ongoing investigation, they are still in the process of gathering information and when that information and evidence comes to them, they will in turn turn it over. what is likely to happen here, the judge will look at both sides, look at what both sides are arguing here and rule on it at a later point. in terms of whether or not these charges will be thrown out, the likelihood of that happening, highly, highly unlikely. >> fascinating nonetheless because there are serious legal arguments that can be bantied about in court. we were all fairly surprised, i this i, it was last time that he was at court, jerry sandusky emerged and spoke to reporters. is anyone expecting that he's going to be showing up and talking again today? >> oh, yeah, i know you remember that. it was shocking to a lot of us. joe amendola, jerry sandusky's attorney, not unusual for him to face the camera as you know that. but when jerry sandusky came out here in front of the courthouse proclaiming his innocence, you know, all the cameras were rolling when that happened. jerry sandusky is expected to be in court today, his wife dottie also expected to be at his side. at least one of his sons. but it's unclear at this point if jerry sandusky will come outside the courthouse later on today and speak again. >> keep those cameras rolling, jason carroll. thanks very much for that. it is 11 minutes past the hour here. an investigation is under way this morning into a very chaotic scene at a college board meeting in california. a campus police officer at santa monica college used pepper spray on the students. that's a community college. three students were taken to the hospital, 30 others were treated at the scene for burning eyes and throat irritation. about 100 students were demonstrating against a pilot program to create a two-tiered tuition plan. the college said police acted with restraint against an unruly mob that crashed the meeting room. students say the police overreacted. later this hour, we'll speak with caylee wade, one of the students who was pepper sprayed. and this just in, gas prices raising 0.8 cent in the last 24 hours. new national average for a gallon of gas is $3.94 a gallon. aaa posting this on their website. gas prices affect everything, not just your tank. they affect air travel. you should probably expect to see higher ticket prices to are your summer travel unfortunat y unfortunately. sorry. bearer of bad news again today. >> 12 minutes past the hour. still ahead, it looked like a movie scene. a man with a gun takes a hostage at a bank in texas. s.w.a.t. teams and snipers fix their sights on him. we are going to show you how it all ended. and twisters that hurled tractor-trailers across yards, tore apart houses. we're now starting to get some official numbers. look at the mess those twisters left behind. the damage done mostly outside of dallas, but oh, month, what a mess. you're watching "early start." okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. it is now 16 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to check top stories making news this morning. christine romans hard at work ghaithing this for us. good morning. a lawyer for trayvon martin's parents says there's proof that the former prosecutor met with the now former police chief to make sure no charges were file. the father of george zimmerman, the shooter says the evidence will show his son was acting in self-defense. the last coroner's office releasing that final autopsy report in whitney houston's death. it says the singer drowned, lying face down in a bathtub with a foot of hot water in it. there was cocaine in her system. investigators found a white powdery substance and drug paraphernalia, not far from her body in the hotel bathroom. a tense hostage situation in texas, in a texas holdup ends peacefully. police in lubbock says a man armed with a handgun took a woman hostage at a citibank. the gun man surrendered after an hour of negotiations. a rainmaker at the white house thanks to a construction mishap. a geyser of water shot up after equipment mistakenly struck a water main at the white house. the leak was quickly plugged. white house press secretary jay carn carney, funny guy, later joked that the workers were drilling for oil as part of the president's initiative. for a look at all these stories, head to cnn.com/earlystart. >> very smart. >> put on your bathing suits, go play. was it warm out there? thank you, christine. >> you're welcome. the tough cleanup continues after a dozen tornadoes tore through the dallas-ft. worth suburbs. we're going to go to alexandra steele, live in atlanta with the latest for us. nice to see you. >> good more than, guys. they have gone out, 11 now confirmed tornadoes but they say the number could be as high as 15. here's a look at what we know so far, the kenyondale-arlington tornado, maximum sustained winds, 135. on the ground for 4.6 miles. the lancaster/dallas, ef-2 intensity, maximum sustained winds 130, on the ground for 7.1 miles. and the ef-3 in forney, texas, maximum winds of 150 miles an hour and on the ground for 8 miles. we have tornado watches including jackson, mississippi, new orleans, birmingham, atlanta, also could be under the gun. right now, though, these are in effect until 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. tornado watching mean be the atmosphere poised for some severe weather today. here's the quadrant of concern, guys. hail, isolated tornadoes and gusty winds as high as 50 to 70 miles per hour. it's actually the same atmospheric set, i've shifted further eastward this morning. >> alexandra, thanks. 1 the minutes past 5:00. when you wake up you probably look at your big stack of newspapers like you do and "the wall street journal" would be one of your first reads. you have to dig deep for the story we'll tell you about. it's about high heels. it's a high heel story. it's big business, $38 billion. >> oh, yes. >> we spend $38.5 billion in america last year, ladies. >> for your feet to hurt. >> you know something, it isn't just about heels anymore. it's about uber, uber high heels. designers are thinking of any way they can to make them higher without hurting us. the rule is that you can't ben your foot past about 4 inches. >> sure you can. >> i think so, too. maybe for a quick cocktail party and then straight home. what the deal is, i know you know this, they've been adding the platform to the shoes. guess how much higher than can go? you can get your heels up to 5 1/2 inches if you throw on a 1 1/2 inch platform. >> 0, my god. >> they say the bigger the ha hair -- the taller the heel, the closer to god. >> these don have a platform. that platform is essential in order to make you feel comfortable. >> yes. >> somebody this morning is wearing the platform. >> alina cho. >> you have to see this. >> you will not believe what alia lealien -- alina cho is wearing. >> they have what's called a hidden platform. >> yes, yes. >> when you're vertically challenged as i am, you need all the help you can get. >> i agree with that. >> get another camera shot. those are remarkable. >> they're very high. >> by the way, these make great gifts for the ladies in your life. >> i'm so glad you're here today. >> i'm giving you the story. >> glad i could be of help. >> we appreciate it. you're awesome. >> coming up, the first few months of 2012 were good for your 401(k). the last few days, not so much. it's a time to worry. don you always worry? christine romans is back to talk about that right after the break. one world. 5 weeks. the only thing that didn't change was my razor. 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