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Stowaway Without Plane Ticket Gets Through TSA and onto Delta Flight; Numerous Flights Delayed During Holiday Travel in U.S.; Former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Agrees to Plead Guilty to Federal Civil Rights Violations for Using Excessive Force against Transgender Man. LA Deputy Fired, Agrees to Plead Guilty to Assault on Trans Man; Second Black Box Recovered at Kazakhstan Plane Crash Site. Aired 8- 8:30a ET.

Aired December 27, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: -- stable condition according to police. Alvelo, though, now facing a bunch of charges, including for home invasion with firearm, attempted murder, kidnapping, and aggravated assault.

A family in Florida had their Christmas wish come true with their beloved dog, who had been missing for a week, showing back up on their doorstep Christmas Eve. And not just that, the dog rang the doorbell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE COMER, ATHENA'S OWNER: It was about 2:30 a.m. and she came pawing at the door, ringing the doorbell, which was Christmas Eve. And then that morning I woke up to she had made it on everybody's camera. She's like, I think this is her. I think this is her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The family says their community really stepped in to help search for Athena. The German Shepherd, went through hours of doorbell camera video in hopes of finding her. And it's hysterical, every time she pushes over the ball. And they called her return home a Christmas miracle. Of course.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We have some new details on that Christmas Day plane crash that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan. We'll have that for you in just a minute.

And then for the second time in a matter of weeks, Delta has discovered someone had sneaked onto one of their flights without a ticket. What the airline is saying this morning about the stowaway.

And heading home today from a holiday trip, millions of people will be right there with you in the airports and on the roadways, and severe storms just might have an impact on your travel plans. So check in with those airlines. And a suspect Boston resident called the Tom Brady of stealing packages is behind bars now. What police say they found on her when she was arrested.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan. John Berman is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

All right, for the second time in a matter of weeks, a stowaway without a plane ticket managed to get through TSA and on to a Delta flight. This time it happened at Seattle Tacoma International Airport. The flight was headed to Honolulu and taxiing out for takeoff when the stowaway was discovered. This all comes weeks after this woman that you're seeing there traveled all the way to Paris after sneaking on to a Delta flight in New York. CNN's Carlos Suarez is at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, one of the busiest in the world. Carlos, what can you tell us about this latest incident? She managed to get on a plane and go through security, but she didn't have a ticket.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Sara. Good morning. So this passenger was able to get past a TSA security checkpoint without a boarding pass the night before the flight. And so this passenger, it appears, was able to spend some time at the terminal before boarding this Delta flight on Christmas Eve without a ticket.

And so, as you noted, the flight was about to depart. It was taxiing out from the gate when the crew members on board the flight realized that they had a passenger without a ticket, and so they were able to get back to the gate. However, this passenger was able to get off the plane before authorities arrived at the gate, although, we're told that they were able to take the passenger into custody at a bathroom at Seattle's airport there.

Delta did put out a statement that said, in part, that they of course, nothing is more important to them than safety and security. And so Delta people, according to them, followed the procedures to have this un-ticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended. The passenger's identity has not been released, though were told that the passenger was charged with trespassing. Sara?

SIDNER: OK, so today is known to be one of the busiest travel days of the year. I think Monday is where what has the traffic been like there? It doesn't look too terrible behind you right now.

SUAREZ: Yes, it's not too bad right now, Sara, though we expect a lot of this traffic here at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport to pick up throughout the day. And of course, as we go into Saturday and Sunday, as you noted, the next three days are really considered among the busiest travel days of the entire year here in Atlanta. The folks here expect us, tell us that they expect to see well over 357,000 passengers make their way through this airport here in Atlanta today alone, making it the busiest travel day of the year for the folks here in Atlanta.

Of course, we are going to see some cancellations and some delays. The latest numbers that we have from FlightAware in the U.S. show that about 934 flights as of this hour have been delayed, though only 64 of them have been canceled.

[08:05:01]

And of course, Sara, if you're not flying, you're going to hit the road, there are some better and worse times that you might want to get behind the wheel to where you need to get going. Over the next couple of days, if you're going to hit the road, chances are you're going to want to do that in the morning. The worst time to travel is really the next -- today is going to be really midafternoon into the early evening. And then on Saturday, anywhere between 1:30 and 7:00 p.m. is when you're going to want to avoid trying to get out onto the road. And then on Sunday, the worst time to travel then, we're told, is between the noon and 6:00 hour. Your best bet, Sara, just try to get your traveling done early in the day, in the morning.

SIDNER: Carlos, like it used to be when I was a kid leaving before the sun comes up. Didn't like it then, don't like it now, but it does get you there. Carlos Suarez, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Says the woman who has to get up every morning to do exactly this, but she does it with such joy.

SIDNER: Joy and happiness.

BOLDUAN: Of course, spreading cheer all around.

Let's talk about one of the things that we're talking about is when it comes to delays and cancellations is, of course, weather. And we are looking at severe storms threatening the south today, just as, as you're seeing, millions of people are hitting the road and heading to the airport. Tornadoes and hail already hit parts of Texas and Louisiana yesterday.

CNN's Elisa Raffa is tracking all of this for you. Elisa, tornadoes in December is not something that I'm generally familiar with, but where are the biggest concerns right now?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, on the rare side for sure. And we could be looking at some pretty strong tornadoes as we go into tomorrow. So problem spots across the south because of that, the pacific northwest has continued to be a problem spot from Seattle to Portland and San Francisco because of an atmospheric river. Rain, snow, gusty winds have really just been nonstop, and that continues through the weekend as well.

The severe storm threat across the south is not too terrible today, but really ramps up going into tomorrow. We have a level three out of five enhanced risk from eastern Louisiana across parts of Mississippi. That's where we can find damaging winds, large hail, and strong tornadoes likely. We're talking EF-two or greater. And then this risk starts to shift east as we go through the rest of the weekend. Now, you're mentioning December tornadoes. Again, not that not that

common. If you get them, they would be along the Gulf Coast. Thats where we could find them this time of year. We already had some yesterday, but overall December is our least likely month to get tornadoes, averaging only about 40 in the entire month, much less than about the 200 that we get in March and April. So again, very rare, not impossible. And it's already been a pretty active year for tornadoes, more than 1,700 tornadoes reported already this year, way above the average. So staying pretty active.

So again, the storms will continue to blow up across the south today. The rain stretching up the east coast. But they get even more severe going into tomorrow, an intense line of storms capable of those tornadoes.

Even if you don't find too many major airports in the way here, any planes would have to fly around all of this. You cannot fly through a storm that is capable of creating a tornado. That thunderstorm would be tall and packed with a lot of lightning. So flights would need to detour around all of those storms around the south.

So as we go towards tomorrow, you can see where some moderate delays are possible because of all of those storms even stretching towards Atlanta. And then as we get towards Sunday, it stretches up the east coast, Washington, D.C., New York, where all that rain is possible. And then again, notice the pacific northwest just continuing with these problems through the weekend. Kate?

WALKER: Elisa, thank you very much for that.

Coming up for us, still breaking news this morning. Azerbaijan Airlines says preliminary investigations already found that the deadly plane crash of the passenger jet occurred as a result of physical and technical external interference. More on that.

And one sheriff's deputy agrees to plead guilty. Now several more have been relieved of duty, accused of trying to cover up an investigation into the use of excessive force.

And holiday spending surged this year. A new read on how much shoppers shelled out and why it blew past expectations.

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[08:13:14]

SIDNER: A former Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy has now agreed to plead guilty to a federal civil rights violation for using excessive force against a transgender man. The 2023 incident that was caught on camera sparked a federal probe, and now multiple other deputies are under investigation for their role in possibly covering the incident up. A warning, this is some of that disturbing video that sparked the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here. I just stopped you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No you didn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your hands off of me!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell joining me now. This started, I think, with a hand gesture, and ended that way. How did this all unfold?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara. It might be uncouth and disrespectful, certainly, to flip off a police officer, but it's not illegal. And officers across the country are continually trained to not let that kind of behavior get under their skin. Here it appears that a flip of the bird led to a full-on assault that started when the victim here, Emmett Brock, was driving by a deputy that he saw, Joseph Benza. Brock says that the deputy was gesturing aggressively towards a woman, and he flipped him off and kept driving. Benza then actually abandons the disturbance call he's on, starts following Brock turn by turn.

Brock gets concerned. He calls 911, says, hey, there's this cop behind me, he's following me. The dispatcher said that as long as he doesn't have his lights and sirens on, just continue as you will. Brock then pulls into a convenience store parking lot. The deputy pulls in behind him, turns on his lights. An altercation ensues. Again, we warn our viewers that this is very graphic and disturbing, but this is that incident.

[08:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here. I just stopped you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you didn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your hands off of me!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is happening? What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) are you doing? Get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off me. Get off me. You're going to kill me. Help! Help!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And, Sara, we actually heard from the victim himself speaking about this incident. Have a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROCK: The punches were so hard, and I just felt like there's no way I'm going to get out of this without dying. I couldn't breathe. I was screaming for help with every breath that I had. And I just -- was like, there's no way that that I live through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, the deputy here, Joseph Benza, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge. And I'll read you part of that plea agreement that they say that the victim here sustained serious bodily injury, including suffering a concussion, contusions and abrasions, and experiencing vomiting and head pain.

We're also learning from that plea agreement about what authorities accused the deputy of doing. They say that he admitted to another deputy at the time that he was intending to use force as he drove after the victim here, Brock.

Authorities also say that there was a conspiracy of sorts, that this officer, this deputy had with other deputies to essentially alter the police report. Other deputies coaching him to leave out the fact that this all started because the victim here flipped him off. In fact, with the deputy, ended up writing, is that he pulled over this individual because of an air freshener that was hanging from his rearview mirror. He's also been accused of lying to the FBI.

We also hear in this plea agreement, just some really troubling details. It appears some of these deputies actually texted each other saying, hey, let's delete all these messages before this federal probe. So, a lot of concerning behavior there. We're learning that other potential deputies could also be relieved of duty. If convicted, Benza, faces up to ten years in federal prison.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: What's the Sheriff's Department saying about all these? Not just this -- the fact that one of their deputies has pleaded guilty to this, but that there was a potential cover up.

CAMPBELL: Yes, and I should note that we've tried to reach out to Benza's attorney for comment on this, but the sheriff in Los Angeles coming out, slamming these allegations in this case, saying that this does not uphold the values of the Sheriff's Department. Reading part of Sheriff Luna's statement, he said that "Based on statements and reports provided at the time, the department deemed the use of force to be within policy."

"However, the ongoing federal investigation has revealed disturbing evidence of false statements and egregious actions to cover up misconduct."

Luna says that his department continues to work with the Feds as this investigation continues. As you know, Sara, this is a department that has faced some past challenges, including allegations of deputy gangs within the ranks, something that Luna has tried to root out, but obviously very serious allegations here. If this actually proves out you had several deputies that were essentially involved in a cover up.

SIDNER: Josh Campbell, I appreciate you. Thank you so much. Have a great rest of your Holiday weekend.

All right, new details this morning, a second black box has been recovered in the deadly plane crash overseas. As some of the survivors are starting to now finally make it back to their homes.

And, a massive sinkhole, look at that, takes out a whole section of highway. And that's going to have to -- it's going to hurt if you're driving that way. Man, we'll talk about it, coming up.

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[08:22:44]

SIDNER: Breaking this morning a preliminary reason for that deadly Christmas Day crash. Russia tried to blame on a bird strike. Azerbaijan state media is reporting that the airline has initially found the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan experienced, "physical and technical external interference" just before it plunged to the ground, killing 38 people on Christmas Day.

Also overnight, we are learning that the second black box has been recovered from the wreckage. CNN's Nadia Bashir is joining us now from London. What are you hearing about this sort of preliminary report that talks about technical and physical interference?

NADIA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this information is coming from the Azerbaijan Airlines' officials, Sara. We are still waiting to hear more from the commission, which has been set up by the Kazakh government to essentially carry out an investigation into what led to this crash.

But as you mentioned, there has been a lot of speculation, a lot of questions swirling around what may have caused this fatal plane crash. And of course, earlier reports had been suggesting that there may have been a collision with a flock of birds that was coming from Russian aviation authorities. Then, of course, there had been questions around nearby drone activity.

The plane actually crashed shortly after a drone strike hit Southern Russia. So questions as to how that may play into it all. And then, of course, yesterday we heard from a US official telling CNN that the plane may well have been downed by a Russian anti-aircraft systems. And that would be a huge point of concern and that line also echoes reporting that we had heard earlier in the day from Reuters, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the ongoing Azerbaijani investigations that essentially -- this may have been caused by Russian air defense system.

So, that will certainly be a huge point of focus as this investigation continues. The fact that Azerbaijan Airlines is now saying that the plane faced external physical and technical interferences has also raised concern. And we've seen the videos and the images emerging from the aftermath of that crash. Images of the wreckage as well, holes and perforations in the fuselage, which seemingly suggests that there may have been some shrapnel hits there.

That has also raised questions. But again, this is all at this stage speculation and analysis. We have not had any firm conclusions, and the discovery of those two black boxes or recovery rather, will play a crucial part in piecing together this puzzle with flight data being available as well as potentially recordings from within the cockpit. So, that will be an important focus for investigators.

[08:25:19]

We know, of course, that as well as that commission that has been set up, aircraft manufacturing officials will also support in this ongoing investigation. A lot of questions as to what led to this. But if, in fact, it is found that this has been caused by Russian air defense systems, that will really bring into question the safety measures that are in place for commercial airliners flying in this region, as we know, of course, 38 people killed, remarkably, 29 people survived. But some of those survivors are still said to be in a critical condition -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, Nadia Bashir, you can see for yourself some of the damage to that plane. Those holes just from the video. So it will be interesting to see what investigators find, ultimately. Appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us right now is CNN aviation analyst, Miles O'Brien.

Miles, on this new line that were hearing from the airline via state media that the disaster occurred as a result of physical and technical external interference. Does that close off any possibilities on the cause?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It's such an interesting and kind of flowery phrase to describe what is quite obvious from the wreckage that this was struck by, you know, surface area missile, the shrapnel tells no lies here.

And I think it's very difficult to come up with another scenario -- the tail section of the aircraft -- so, I do think, you know, some of the things to consider here is if there was an active military activity in that area, why wasn't the airspace closed down? And on the airline's part, that's part of their responsibility as well before you dispatch an airliner.

One of the issues that the dispatchers should consider is the security in the area. And so, the airline has to account for this as well.

BOLDUAN: Actually, that's exactly what I was going to ask you, because the airline has now suspended flights from the country's capital to Baku to seven cities in Russia. But that highlights this exact question that you've raised, which is, why didn't Russia close the airspace if military activity was in the area? And what is the responsibility of the airline with regard to that? Where is the line there?

O'BRIEN: There's responsibility on both sides here. Russia didn't close down the airspace to civilian activity. I could speculate and presume that Russia didn't want to, you know, cause any -- attract attention to the fact that it is in the case maybe on its back heel in that ongoing conflict in that region. That's possible.

As for the airline, um, you know, it might have been a situation where they've been flying so long in that context of an ongoing conflict that they assumed it would be okay.

I will say this, that generally speaking, the way that surface to air missile batteries avoid civilian airliners is making sure they know the schedule and the flight corridors. In this case, the aircraft had what we call a missed approach, which means it would have had a deviation from the norm. And so, the aircraft would have been in a place that they would not have expected it. And in a hair trigger environment that could have led to what you saw.

BOLDUAN: A lot to learn here. This investigation continues. They now have a recovered second black box. So, there will be much more flight data that they will be able to gather from that. While I have you, Miles.

I want to ask you also about a very different incident. But the second incident of a stowaway on a Delta Air Lines flight.

You're reporting on it this morning, this happened in Seattle. It was a flight departing for Hawaii. The stowaway obviously did not have a ticket. Got through security, got on the plane. They were taxiing, had left the gate and then discovered the stowaway and returned. I mean, this is pretty wild for Delta, pretty wild for TSA. I mean, the second time in just a matter of weeks.

O'BRIEN: That's all kinds of holes in the Swiss cheese here. You know, I will say this. We should not forget that the individual, according to TSA, was screened as all passengers were for prohibited items. So that's the good news that we can take away from this. There's a lot of bad news, though.

The TSA evidently did not do an ID check on this person. And part of the reason we do an ID check is to see if that individual is on a no fly list, or might be in any way suspect as a potential causing harm to the to the flight.

As for Delta, you would think after what happened three weeks ago, or I guess it was around Thanksgiving on that flight to Paris, where the individual actually made it to Paris, having flown across the Atlantic without a ticket, you would think they would have upped their game a little bit.

It seems to me that that busy jetway entrance at the time of flight is boarding, with one individual being responsible for making sure the right person gets on at the right time. That is definitely a weak spot in the in the web of security. And not just Delta, all airlines need to really take a look at that and think if there are better ways. I know Delta in many cases is now using facial recognition at those checkpoints Maybe that's something they need to do more of.

[08:30:50]