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Officer Slams Female High School Student in Class; Columbia, SC, Mayor Talks Student/Officer Conflict; Second Female Arrested in Colombia, SC, High School Incident; Kurds Battle ISIS in Raqqa; CIA Directs Talks E-mail Hack. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 27, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And what we are understanding is that apparently this officer, Ben Fields, sheriff's department deputy, called to the school. And he is also an SRO officer. Called to the school there after this the student in question refused to leave the classroom. Why she refused to leave the classroom, and was it because she was on the cell phone and refused to get off, that is some of the things that the investigators are still looking at. When the teacher asked her to leave the classroom, and she refused, and administrator brought to the classroom and asked her to leave the classroom, and once again, she refused. Then the officer was brought in and asked her to leave the classroom and she refused. And now you have seen the action that we have seen and gone across the social media. And that officer in question, Ben Fields, has been placed on the administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation. We know at this point that law enforcement there, and the sheriff's deputy is going to be holding a press conference at some point at 4:00. And there is a picture of him there, Wolf.

In terms of the background, we have been looking into that as well, and it is a mixed bag. Last year, awarded the Culture of Excellence Award. This is for outstanding work there in the community. And so clearly, he does have a number of people there in the community, students as well, who support him as well. But then, when you look at the social media, Wolf, you will hear from a number of students who said he had a reputation of being rough handed with the students there. And these are things that are going to be looked at as the investigations are moving forward.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: They certainly will be.

All right. Jason, thanks very much.

And Hillary Clinton has tweeted about this very disturbing video. She says "There is no excuse for violence inside of a school. #assaultatspringvalleyhigh is unacceptable. Schools should be safe places. Signed H." Which means she personally verified that is her tweet.

Joining us for more on what's going on, the Colombia, South Carolina, Mayor Stephen Benjamin, is on the phone.

Mayor, thank you for joining us. I know that you are outraged by the video, and so many people are.

Based on the understanding, what happened here? What led up to this?

STEPHEN BENJAMIN, (D), MAYOR, COLOMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA (voice-over): Well, the account that your reporter laid out seems to be following the account that I have received as well. You know, this is incredibly disturbing, Wolf. Obviously, I want to make sure that people understand that this is not a city of Columbia police officer, and outside of our jurisdiction. However, I want to say that we can't and we won't accept this behavior from any law enforcement officer. We need to make sure that the sheriff has called for the independent investigation into the FBI and the Department of Justice, and that is the right way to go. And we have to get to the bottom of the incident, and make sure that justice is served. These incidents do real damage to the progress that so many law enforcement agencies have been trying to make over the last several years. And we have several hundred police officers at the police department who work their butts off everyday running towards danger to keep the community safe, and the action of one officer can do incredible damage to the reputation, and we have to be dealt with it swiftly and transparently and decisively.

BLITZER: And it was not a Columbia, South Carolina, police officer, Colombia, South Carolina, police officer. He was a deputy sheriff from Richland County, which is the county in which Columbia is. Have you ever seen anything like this before in the history of Columbia, South Carolina, an incident like this in one of your schools?

BENJAMIN: Well, Wolf, I have the experience of running a law enforcement agency, and director of the second largest law enforcement agency 15 years ago. We have the responsibility of training, hiring, and firing officers in the past. This is, I think, it actually belies a much larger question about the presence of law enforcement officers in schools, the utility of the school resource officers. The officers need to be there at the gates to make sure that the students are safe from any type of madness that we have seen occasion our schools. But we have to make sure that we are not criminalizing behavior that you might have participated in as an adolescent or might have as well that kids don't develop a criminal record, and wind up in the school-to- prison pipeline. So much work to be done here. And we have taken a lead here in the city with Justice for All reform, and enhancing the training for officer, and the accountability, and the transparency, and the police department, and we think that there are lessons that all of us can take from this incredibly sad incident. But again, I think that the painful moments give us a chance to recommit ourselves. I have heard the story of the second student also arrested. And I think that when you see the injustice occurring, you have to stand up to speak out. And that student deserves some accolades for that.

BLITZER: And what is the -- why was this second student arrested?

[13:35:09] BENJAMIN: My understanding is, according to what your reporter just said, speaking out and disturbing the schools.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Is that enough to arrest a student?

BENJAMIN: It is tough. And I will say this, Wolf, every single meaningful social movement in the history of this country has been led by young people, young people who recognize some injustice that has to be corrected. Young people standing up and speaking out on this issue of exactly how police/community interactions ought to be handled in a burgeoning democracy are the spear. And so we have to follow up with real good structural reforms that we do law enforcement in the country. Our police department is leading this. The African-American Mayors Association and the Conference of Chiefs are leading in the peaceful training and conflict resolution training, and including transparency and accountability. People don't expect the officers to be perfect, because they are human beings like the rest of us, but they do expect us to be professional, and expect, obviously, when people make mistakes, and grave mistakes for people to with be held accountable. And the hope and prayers is that the sheriff's deputy gets a fair hearing in court, but he is held accountable at the end of the day.

BLITZER: And one final question, Mayor. How old were these two girls?

BENJAMIN: My understanding is they are both seniors. That is my understanding.

BLITZER: Seniors, so 17 or 18 years old, presumably.

All right. Mayor, thank you for joining us.

And Stephen Benjamin is the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina.

And good luck to you, Mayor, and the folks there.

BENJAMIN: Thank you.

BLITZER: We will stay on top of the story.

We'll take a quick break. Cedric Alexander, we will speak him, the former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. You'll hear what he has to say. There he is right there. Stay with us. Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:23] BLITZER: We have been talk about that disturbing video from Columbia, South Carolina, from a high school where the officer throws down the female student. And the FBI has now been brought in, together with the Justice Department to investigate. We have also learned that a second girl was arrested in the incident. And both of the girls, we are told, are seniors in the high school.

Let's bring in our CNN law enforcement analyst, Cedric Alexander. He's also the former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives You have studied the video, and all of us have seen it multiple times by now. What is your take on potentially what could have justified, if anything, this kind of behavior by a police officer?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Well, I think that this is going to be very hard for that sheriff's deputy to justify, Wolf, under the circumstances of what we are seeing in the individual video there. And regardless of what happened before or after, it is going to be hard to make sense of why you would use so much force used on a young student in the classroom. It had a real bad optic to it.

But at the end of the day, we have do what we always do, Wolf. We have to conduct an investigation and allow the process to take place. You had witnesses in the classroom, both the teachers and the students. As this investigation is going to be moving forward from the civil rights' perspective and also from the local investigative perspective, it is going to be interesting what the outcomes are. But, again, it is very disturbing to look at upon first blush.

BLITZER: President Obama is where you are right now, in Chicago, and getting ready to address nationwide law enforcement officers who have gathering there, giving a major speech. There's been tensions as we know between the police and the communities across the country, and after Ferguson especially. What is the most important thing that you want to hear from the president?

ALEXANDER: Well, it has been a great week here in Chicago with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which is the granddaddy of all organizations. We have over 15,000 members here from around the world.

The main theme here quite frankly is police and community relations, and building those relationships. We will hear a lot from the president in regards to that. And we may even hear something on prison reform in the country as well.

But we are at this place in American policing, as you well know, Wolf, where we are trying to do better. I have been in a lot of classrooms, and spoken to a number of chiefs and administrators throughout the week, and everybody is doing the darnedest, and they are all working hard to build those relationships. We are looking at the best practices and we're learning from each other. We have over 250 different classes being attended over the course of the weekend as well, too. It is a good time for the policing. It's a very timely conference as well. And with the president being here today, it even makes it that much more important, and it highlights his commitment to the 21st Century Task Force and advancing policing in the 21st century. We are all delighted that he is going to be here, and look forward to hearing from him later.

BLITZER: And we will speak to you after that as well.

Cedric, thank you.

ALEXANDER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Cedric Alexander, our CNN law enforcement analyst.

ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.

[13:45:43] BLITZER: And still ahead, we will take you to the front lines of the war against ISIS in Syria. These are the Kurdish fighters. The challenges are enormous. We will have a live report from the region when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As the U.S. considers expanding its role against ISIS, Kurdish fighters are already on the front lines in Syria. They are battling the terror group, trying to reclaim some lost territory. They pushed ISIS out of one city and may now be preparing for another move forward.

Our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, got an up-close look from the front lines in northern Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[13:49:47] CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These men are at the core of America's latest strategy to defeat ISIS. Manning positions along a vast and desolate front line with ISIS entrenched in villages just through the haze. They are fighters with the YPG, a force of roughly 30,000 Syrian Kurds, which, backed by coalition air power, has dealt decisive blows to Islamic militants across northern Syria.

Commander Bahus (ph) is in charge of this front line position in the city, which they took from ISIS in August after months of fierce clashes.

COMMANDER BAHUS (ph), YPG COMMANDER (through translation): They try to attack us 10 days ago. We weren't prepared so they didn't reach their target.

WARD: But they keep trying.

(on camera): ISIS has control of the next village along, which is just over a mile in that direction. But the men at this base tell us that ISIS fighters often go at night to that building just over there so that they can launch attacks on these positions.

(voice-over): The U.S. hopes the YPG will soon move from defense to offense taking the fight to the stronghold in Raqqa. But in makeshift bases across the front lines, the fighters we saw were lightly armed, poorly quipped and exhausted by months of fighting.

And Senior Commander Lawand knows the battles ahead will be even tougher.

(on camera): Can you take Raqqa without heavier weapons from the coalition?

SENIOR COMMANDER LAWAND, YPG COMMANDER (through translation): The weapons we have are not high quality. For this campaign, we'll need new heavy weapons.

WARD (voice-over): The most important they do have, but don't want to talk about, is this device, which helps the YPG get exact coordinates for enemy positions. Those coordinates are sent to a joint U.S./Kurdish operations room and minutes later fighter jets come screaming in.

Rezwan told us he was given a week of training before using the device.

(on camera): Who trained you how to use this?

REZWAN, YPG FIGHTER (through translation): Believe me, I can't say. When you finish the training, it's a secret. But they weren't speaking Kurdish.

WARD (voice-over): A mystery as is so much of the unfolding U.S. strategy in this critical corner of Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Clarissa is joining us live from Irbil in northern Iraq.

Clarissa, let me get your sense. The breaking news we have been following this hour. For the first time in a significant shift the U.S. going along now with an invitation to not only bring Russia into the peace negotiations as far as Syria is concerned, but Iran now as well, despite Iran's strong support for Bashar al Assad's regime in Damascus. How is this likely to play? You have spent a lot of time in the region. What's your sense of the reaction?

WARD: Certainly, this is a significant shift. For years, the U.S. has been adamant that Iran does not have a place at the negotiating table when it established the so-called friends of Syria, Iran was not invited. But it's the also not surprising that we're seeing the shift because Iran, from day one, has been so heavily involved in this conflict. They have been bankrolling Bashar al Assad's regime. They have been supplying weaponry and supplying fighters, military leadership on the ground. And I think the U.S. really came up against the limitations of what it was willing to do in Syria and how much influence it could actually excerpt on the ground. So it's fair to say there cannot be a diplomatic solution to the situation without having Russia and Iran on board. They are simply two powerful players. At the same time, Wolf, you can be sure that this will not be music to the ears of many of the U.S.'s allies on the ground, particularly rebel fighters and those groups that are backed by the gulf.

BLITZER: The Saudis are deeply concerned about this as well.

Clarissa Ward, our newest international correspondent.

Welcome to CNN. Be careful over there. I know, like all of our correspondents, you're a very, very courageous journalist. Thanks very much for that report. The CIA director here in Washington is now opening up for the first time about the hack of his personal e-mail account. You're going to hear what he's saying about it, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:58:29] BLITZER: Here in Washington, the CIA director says he's outraged and annoyed by the hack of his personal e-mail account. John Brennan spoke about the incident for the first time today, saying it shows that everyone is vulnerable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: I was certainly outraged by it. I certainly was concerned about what people might try to do with that information. I was also dismayed at how some of the media handled it, the inferences that were in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A self-proclaimed high school student claimed to have gotten into Brennan's personal e-mail account last week. WikiLeaks published some of the contents later.

China is warning the U.S. Navy to stay away from three artificial islands it's building in the South China Sea. Chinese warships issued the warning to a U.S. destroyer as it sailed through an area the U.S. considers international waters.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter was asked about it just a little while ago during a Senate hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law permits.

UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Did we send a destroyer yesterday?

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: -- to do that. There have been naval operations in that region in recent days and there will be in the weeks and months ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Inside the 12-mile zone? Where China --

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: -- that particular operation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We're going to stay on top of this story.

That's it for me. Thanks for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in "The Situation Room." CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.