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CNNW CNN Tonight July 8, 2014

Plus it has been 50 years since the british invasion. If you want to know what it was really like, who better to talk to than one of the fab four. The one and only ringo starr tells us all about it tonight. But first i need to show you something that is causing a whole lot of controversy. Ready for it . Here it is. The newspaperaine. And it simply reads, the [ bleep ] in the white house. If you have watched me over the past couple years, the past few years, you know how i feel about this. Although i think this word is toxic and used gratuitously at a often by far too many people of all different ethnic backgrounds, i do think it should be used if it is pertinent to a news story or the conversation. We cant talk about it without actually saying the word. Was it appropriate to be used in this way in a headline . Did this newspaper go too far . The writer of this article had a by the way is white and insisted on this headline, he will join me alive to defend himself. And then there are the two images that you see behind me. It is from a fourth of july parade float. They show an outhouse with a sign that reads, obama. President ial library. Then there is a figure on the front that most assume is president obama. Some are outraged saying it is racist. Others saying it is political satire. Which is it . The man who created the controversial float will explain it tonight. We begin with some breaking news. Take a look the a these incredible pictures. Six flags Magic Mountain. It has hit a tree and it has derailed. Four people are injured. As you can see, up to 30 people still trapped on that ride some 20 feet off the ground. Were going to keep an eye on this situation and bring this to you as we get more right hear on cnn tonight. Stay tuned. Now to the tragic deaths across the country of the children left alone in broiling hot cars. Heres new york here in new york it is 85 degrees right now outside. And in hot spots across the United States, temperatures are rising look at them all across the country. Dallas, 98 degrees. 89 in albuquerque. And it is night time. More children are in danger now. We see it happening far too often. Cnn has more. Reporter its happened again. This time, el paso, texas. 911. A 2yearold female. A 2yearold left in the car parked at the family home. Reports the child left to suffocate overnight. An autopsy being conducted on the little girl before possible criminal charges. And again, in tennessee, Matthew Brown and britney arrested after leaving the 15monthold girl in their car after they shopped at the supermarket. She is okay after a firefighter smashed a car wind over to free her. They face up to six years in prison. And again, in new york. Melvin charged with endangerment for leaving his 2yearold daughter in his car. Win owes rolled up. A c off. Police broke the window and saved her. Estimated temperature inside, 120 degrees. He told police, he simply forgot she was there. Already this year, 15 children have died from heat stroke or suspected heat stroke. The researcher gathering this data says the number of close calls, in the thousands. Cars can heat up very quickly. Even in cooler temperatures. It is 91 outside. Inside, weve only been in here 10 or 15 minutes. It is 108 degrees. I can tell you im sweating through my shirt already. Im sweating just about everywhere. These cars can go from uncomfortable to deadly very fast. All these cases in the last week. Even though most of the nation is laser focused on the sickening case of 22monthold cooper harris. Sir, are you Justin Ross Harris . Yes, sir. The child discovered by his father Justin Harris who spent the day working at home depot, having lunch with friends and sexing women while his son spent seven hours strapped into his car seat. Scratches to his face, abrasions on the back of his head. The child apparently struggling to survive the heat. Harris charged with murder and Child Cruelty after police discovered he had searched the internet for information on how long it took pets to die in hot cars and living a life with no children. His wife leeanne may also be charged. During the probable cause hearing, suspicious evidence about what she said to her husband shortly after their sons death. She asked him, she had him sit down. And he starts going through this. She looks at him, did you say too much . The same week cooper died in georgia, 9monthold anna marie lily in florida died after four hours in the back of her father steven lilys truck. He told police he mental to drop her off at daycare before heading to work. Heres steven lily from the 911 call. Piers shes been in the car for hours. I absolutely forgot about her. Shes not alive. A shocking admission from a father at the scene of his own daughters death. As unimaginable as leaving a child in a car seems, experts say there will be more cases as the temperatures across the country rise. Cnn new york. Joining me now, legal analyst mel rob yinls, Janet Johnson and Shelby County District Attorney d. A. So amy, im going to begin with you. As a District Attorney general in memphis, how often do you see children left in hot cars . And theres a new law that went into effect there last week. The new law is a civil law that gives people immunity from civil lawsuits if they break someones car to rescue a child. But far too often we have incidents in Shelby County. Here in memphis it gets very hot. Far too often we have incidents where children are removed from cars. Oftentimes still alive but unfortunately, sometimes it is too late. What sticks out to you, if anything, about the harris case, amy . Well, what do you mean . Just the in general, if you see this happening a lot, rate . And then there is a new civil law where you are, is there something that stands out in this particular case as to what the father said or to the actions of either of the parents . Well, not really. Its a tragic, horrible situation. And i think what strikes us every time these situations arise, no matter where they are in the country, is how avoidable they are. That it just takes a few extra steps. The harris case, i guess is a little unique if there is praf that this was premeditated and intentional. But far at a often it is just accidental. It is just someone not doing their job, caring for the child in their care. Lets talk about what happened thursday. And many people may have been tang out because they did not get to see it because of the holiday. There was a probable cause hearing on thursday. I want you to walk me through daets that emerged about ross harris behavior on that day in question. And witnesses say his behavior seemed normal for a distraught parent. Well, some of the witnesses, don, say it was normal. And frankly, this is a case unlake all other cases that are p pending right now. It originally looked like a mistake but there is turn after turn after turn that makes everybody that hears all of the evidence that was in the probable cause hearing say, oh, my gosh. This is gut wrenching and disgusting. First of all, you have the fact that while this kid is scratching himself and banging his head against his seat because he is trying to get out of the seat. He is stuck in there. The dad is sexting six women. Then you have the fact pegs to the car and drops something off inside the car. The car was backed into the spot. So he had to walk past the child in order to open up the door and put something in. Now, investigators say, don, that the car had an unbelievable stench to it just four hours later. So you know when he opened up the door, there must have been something that he smelled. Then he gets in the car after seven hours of being at work. And the kid is already dead. You dont think the car smells . And then he drives for another two miles . Gets out. There are witnesses that say his Immediate Response is the kid is choking. When the police arrive, he is saying fu to the police. He says he cant reach anyone on the phone when hes actually made three phone calls. Lie after lie after lie after lie after lie, don. Do you agree with that . Police are continuing to build their case now with what mel has just said. Do you agree with what she said . As the only defense attorney i have to say, in the beginning, it always looks bad for the defense. At this point the only burden is on the prosecution. So on thursday, it was horrifying. I listened as well. Ive been a defense attorney for a long time. It was one of the most sickening proceedings ive seen. This is the burden on the state. So theyve put out all their evidence and it is the worst stuff. We havent heard from the defense so i dont want to rush to judgment. I think those things were particularly bad. I also think there was evidence that he is deaf. Theres a subpoena that went out today where theyre looking into his medical records. Will that be a defense . He had a head injury that caused deafness and memory loss . Are these things that well find out about . What happened thursday . It was a horrible proceeding. But there was a witness who said, my heart went out to him. This is a guy who didnt have a dog in the fight. He isnt somebody who is a defense friend. He was a stranger. And he said i looked at him and i thought, thats the way someone would look if he was grieving. In fact, i felt his pain. So i dont want to us jump on and say this could be premeditated. It couldnt be anything else. Ive represented people who have accidentally hurt and even killed their children. And it was an accident. So that does happen. I dont want us to try him right now. Heres a question to amy. You heard what janet just said. And it happens so often that you have to have a law to prevent it. Why do accidents happen like this so much . Who knows . If we had that answer we could save hundreds of children every year. Part of that, i think, is people being careless, being rushed, being forgetful. Unfortunately as we see playing out in the courts in atlanta, there are those intentional, premeditated crimes as well. The bottom line is it is a very simple thing to avoid. You have to make sure you get your children out of the car. You have to make sure you get elderly people that cant fend for themselves out of the car. And animals as well. So stick with me. And animals as well, yes. When we come back, what about the childs mother . What police are learning and saying about her. Also, open season on president obama . A fourth of july parade float that calls an outhouse his president ial library. A headline calls him the n word. Well ask the man had a wrote this column, what was he thinking . And reliving the glory days of beatle mania. The one and only ringo starr. Also aware keeping an eye on our breaking news story. That roller coaster derailment. Well bring you the very latest. [ male announcer ] hey, look at you youre an emailing, texting, master of the digital universe. But do you protect yourself . Apparently not. When you access everything, you give everyone access to everything about you. But thats ok. While you do your thing. [ alert rings ] well be here at lifelock, doing our thing. Watching out for things your credit card alone cant. [ alert rings ] and relentlessly protecting your identity. Get lifelock protection and live life free. [ alert rings ] take a look at this little boy. Cooper harris. He died after he was left in a hot car by his father for hours. The father is facing murder charges. Police have a lot of questions for coopers mother. Im back with mel robins, Janet Johnson and amy weirick. The case against ross harris, it seems pretty damning right now. Is there any evidence that works in his favor, do you think . Yeah. I think what we havent found out could work in his favor. What i wonder is, did he park in his usual stop at his job. Or did he park in a place where nobody would see baby cooper. Is he acting with consciousness with guilt. Thats what we look for in court. Or did he act normal . Most of the people who took the stand on thursday, those were state witnesses, they said he acted normal. So again, i dont want us to look at the little bit of evidence that we have and say, well, thats all circumstantial and it all points to him. Of course it does. Arent police say he was not normal and he used a profanity and he was on his phone with the boss the whole time . Those are people who didnt know him though. I think theres evidence that cuts both ways. What we need to see is what is on his cell phone and what searches was he engaged in and what lies did he tell during the day if he told any that go to his credibility. I want to you listen to this. This is Phillip Stoddard of the Cobb County Police department talking about what were talking about. Listen to this. What was he being emotional about . What was the main thing he was crying about or sobbing about . It was all about him. I cant believe this is happening to me. I cant believe, you know, this happened to me. Why am i being punished for this . It was all very one sided. He talked about losing his job. What am i going to do . Ill lose my job. Ill be charged with a felony. Is that a normal way to act after Something Like this happens . Theres not, you know. It is something that will be discussed in voyeur dire when you Start Talking about the praf. Theres no normal way to act. But it will be for the trier of fact to make that determination. Whether the state has the praf beyond a reasonable doubt. Lets talk about the wife. She isnt a suspect right now. She is only part of the investigation. There continues to be a lot of conversations surrounding her. Why do you think that is . I think it is easy to try to judge in a situation lake this how you think someone should act. I agree that we shouldnt rush to judgment to say someone is not grieving in the appropriate way. However, there are two things i found to be very troubling that im sure youll agree with, don. One is that when she arrived at daycare to pick up little cooper and was told he was never dropped off, her first thing was to say, oh, ross must have left him in the car. And when people tried to say no, no, no, she said it again. And so there was something about that that triggers in my mind. Wait a minute, she either knew he was capable of this or maybe she let go ahead. But mel, if she was in on it, wouldnt that be the last thing she would say . Wouldnt she say, gosh, i wonder what could have happened to cooper. Would she implicate him immediately and say, oh, i bet he left the baby in the car . If theyre that good at setting this up and that bad at then covering it up, i would find that shocking. I would think the last thing she would want to say at the crime scene. My theory is more not that she was in on it but that she knew something was up. Whether educated something in the middle of the day to her. Theyre going to have to look at her cell phone, at his cell phone to see if he had communicated anything. Maybe she knew he was capable of Something Like this. They were having marital problems. He was sexting six different women in the morning. Who knows what was going on behind closed doors. I found that to be a very, very strange thing to say if you show up at daycare, you think your kid is there. Youre told he was never dropped off and thats the first thing you say and then you insist. The other thing i found to be bizarre is when she said at the funeral, i love you, ross, im doing this for you. Wait a minute. What are you doing for him exactly . Backing him up or covering up . Thats what the police need to figure out. Thats just may two cents. Do you want to weigh in on that . I think were parsing words that we wouldnt do if it was anything other than this gruesome crime. I do know that ive represent women who were married to abusers and child abusers, who were in denial. And i think that that is probably, if it turnls out that hes guilty, what is going on with her. She is standing by him initially. She loves him. She obviously put up with a lot from him. Hes been cheating on her, sexting which i dont think is relevant in the long run. I do think that she probably is used to making excuses for him. This might be just one last excuse. Actually, something that youll probably agree with is the sexting might be relevant. Lets say it is a mistake. If his whole life is in shambles and he has six women blowing up his phone in the morning with all kinds of sex and erotic pictures, no wonder he is distracted. Thats a great point. So final question. You have so much experience with this. Is there, what can we do to help . Is there any way to prevent this . What advice do you have . Well, something we do here every summer. We get together with our Child Advocacy center and we have a press conference. It is so simple. Reminding the public, reminding the community, where are the kids . Are the kids out of the car . And it has to be instilled and become automatic in everyones conversation. Particularly in the summertime. The bottom line, it is never a good idea to leave your child in the car. Whether it is november or august. A car is a deadly weapon. Even if you think youre going for a little bit, youre right. The best thing we can do is give some advice to try to prevent it. Thank you all. Coming up, the n word. One newspaper was brazen enough to use night headline and in reference to the commander in chief. The writer of that article joining me next. Plus a small town fourth of july parade for a float that labeled an outhouse president obamas library. Is it racist . The cadillac summer collection is here. During the cadillac summers best event, lease this all new 2014 cts for around 459 a month or purchase with 0 apr and make this the summer of style. This is the truth. You cannot be the president of the United States and not expect to face criticism. Some of it very heated, right . Is president obama taking heat for more than his politics . And some of the criticism, is it really about race . And does it cross the line . Reporter whats red and white and black all over. A new york newspaper using the most racially charged word to describe president obama. A fourth of july parade float in nebraska shows a dummy depicted in front of an outhouse marked president ial library. Is it open season on the president s race . When you see it, if youre an africanamerican, if youre a minority and you felt at any point in your life that youve been subject to racism, there are certain things that will get your back up. Reporter using an outhouse for the first black president s library smacks of blat ant racism to many. Have you lost your mind . No maam burk youre about to. Reporter it brings to mind the 2011 Academy Award nominated film, the help. Late today, according to kntv, the floats creator said

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