0 century link. your link with what's next. good morning, everyone. i'm ashleigh banfield. it's monday august 12th, and welcome to our first edition of "the legal view. "we' here is where i want to begin with breaking news, legal news, out of new york city. a federal judge has just ruled that the nypd, the police department here, and its controversial stop and africa policy, well, it is unconstitutional. that's a policy that allows new york police officers to stop and frisk anyone they consider suspicious. it did not sit well with a lot of minority men and minority men sued saying they were being unfairly targeted for no legitimate reason. joining me now is cnn legal correspondent jean casarez. this is a big issue. this took nine weeks to litigate, and the judge came down and said, you're right. we have this little thing called the fourth amendment and you can't break it. >> that's right, constitutional rights. this information is just coming in right now. it was a ruling this morning, and this judge is saying that the stop and frisk, the way it is done in new york city, is unconstitutional because it promotes racial profiling, and it violates someone's constitutional rights. you know, ashleigh, we want to show everybody exactly what the law is in new york city and how that stop -- question and frisk is what it really is. an officer can stop someone if they reasonably suspect that person is about to commit a crime a felony or a penal misdemeanor. >> is that probable cause? >> yeah, exactly. and then they can ask the questions, your name, your address, explain your conduct for us. if they believe and reasonably suspect they're in physical danger, they can then frisk the person, and they can get the weapon or anything that could harm them, they hold it, they continue the questioning, then they either give it back to the person or they arrest them. >> here is the problem. that all sounds like it's a great way to reduce crime until you start to break down the nmen numbers and it turns out nine out of ten people who were stopped and afrifrisked under t policy were african-american or hispanic. and isn't that where the judge said you can't isolate like this. >> this particular case was four minority individuals that believe they were stopped, questioned, and frisked because of racially who they were, and so what the judge is saying, she's not abolishing this, she's saying let's have a monitor here to really monitor internal policy changes. so we're going to have to see how this evolves in real life, but it's quite a ruling. >> so i did not sit through all nine weeks but i wish i had because the new york city police had a very good argument that they brought to the table and that was this, nine out of ten is a high number, we get that, we're not ignoring that at all, but we are dispatched to high crime areas, and in these high crime areas black people are being inordinately targeted as victims and it happens to be heavily populated by black and hispanic people, thus the automatically would be higher for black and hispanic people. >> i think the judge has yet to answer on that. she is saying as a blanket rule there is racial profiling. what you're talking about a officer safety. i'm sure officers all around new york city will be concerned about and we'll have to see how the changes impact reality. >> so, again, look, the idea here -- this is all just breaking right now. they've said a monitor. this is what the group sued for. they didn't sue to stop stop and africa. they sued so modify stop and frisk saying this is like burning down a house to get rid of a mice problem. but how do you modify it when the police have said this is the area, it is heavily plaque and hispanic, thus anybody we stop -- >> they may not be allowed to frisk anymore -- >> but the crime rates have dropped. this is the problem. they have shown successful numbers. they have gotten handguns out of the community. the crime rate numbers have dropped where this policy has been in effect. how do they get around it? >> they're going to have to not target or racially profile as the judge in her ruling said. remember, the city also said we already have internal policies. we have internal review committees. we focus on this. so what will the changes be with a monitor versus the internal policies already set in place? >> i always wonder how you get around that fourth amendment. i know probable cause, but a lot of cases the probable cause was hey, you, that was about it. >> case by case. >> we'll see how many monitors they're going to need on this one. jean casarez, stand by if you will. i have a lot of questions for you throughout this legal question because you're a lawyer and correspondent. i want to take you to this astounding story out of florida. you ever probably heard a lot about sinkholes. they're fairly routine in that state, but this one defies the odds. it did not just swallow a car or a house. it took out a three-story resort. the pictures are astounding. evan lambert of wkmg joins us live from the scene. the nighttime shots are nothing like the daytime shots. so, evan, set the scene for me. what happened overnight and how much actually disappeared? >> reporter: yeah, ashleigh, you're right. as soon as you see the daytime shots, really it sets in here. but apparently a 60-foot sinkhole is responsible for a building collapse here just about 20 feet behind us here at the summer bay resort. this is ten miles from walt disney world and apparently this all started just before midnight when security guard said he heard some loud noises, some pops, some banging, and then people inside were reporting some shaking, they saw windows burst, and he ran door to door to get people out. people were running for their lives, throwing things out the window, whatever they could to get out of here. but as we -- >> evan, are you there? do we still have you? >> reporter: yeah, yeah. i'm here. so basically the security guard went around trying to get people out of this building and there were no injuries. fortunately, everyone did get out. about 36 people were evacuated from the building that's half in the sinkhole. also some of those surrounding buildings that firefighters were worried about. there are crews here that are monitoring, trying to make sure that this sinkhole doesn't spread. at this point they're not sure if it's going to grow. they're bringing in some sinkhole specialists to take a look at it and see if it will impact the buildings. you might be able to see how close this is to the other two buildings. no one is near that area now. everyone is safely out of the way and crews are making sure this thing doesn't spread. >> it's just remarkable seeing these helicopter shots above because i was watching the story last night, and it looked like a little bit of cracks in the foundation and some leaking water but overnight, kaboom. it looks like almost 50% of that building just disappeared. evan lambert, let us know if something breaks on that case and what the geologists are able to determine. thank you to our affiliate as will. i want to take you from those incredible images of the sinkhole to this. a raging river of black. the most riveting image of the colorado flooding and mud slides triggered boo eed by last week' rain. imagine watching that go down alongside the highway because they're all stuck in traffic watching that come by them. one person is still missing. of course, this is just going to be a massive cleanup. a lot of damage that's been done by all of these raging waters. jake walker of kktv joins us from colorado. it is not often you see that. are you still in a critical situation, jake, or are things getting back to normal now? >> reporter: yeah, you know what, ashleigh? things are just a mess out here. as you know, one man has died and one woman is still missing after she was last seen hanging from a tree along that flooded creek. now, crews out here right now trying to clean up this mess. not to downplay the flood that we had earlier this year, but this flood just multiplied everything. it's just that much bigger of a mess. i'm going to step behind the camera and give you that better view of just exactly what i'm talking about here. as we pan off to my left, you can see these giant mounds of mud and debris. you can see a mattress even in the debris, a desk, and a bicycle. even a basketball hoop. so just things you do not expect to see, you know, out of someone's home in the middle of the park here. even as we pan over this way, a sink just sitting in the park here. again, just something you don't expect, and as we pan off to my left again, you can see the type of destruction we're talking about here. police officers have closed off canyon avenue here, one of the streets, main streets in town for this cleanup process. as you can see, crews working around here, and as we take a look, i believe we have some of the video to show you of the cleanup process. as we take a look at that, it's just a very long cleanup process here. during these floods last -- earlier this year, it took maybe a couple days before things started looking better here. but that's definitely not the case here this time around. it's been a couple days already, and still it's just a mess out here, guys. but some tind of good news, if any, to come out of this is officials were telling me they are just pleased to see how many people have really come out here and come together to help manitou springs clean out from all the mud, as we come back out here live. we're going to tay out here and pass along any updates to you if we can about that missing woman, but a long cleanup process ahead. back to you, ashleigh. >> our thoughts go out to the family of that missing person. do update us, jake, if there's any resolution there. jake walker fromk ktv for us in manitou springs, colorado. an update on a case we've been covering for a long time. 17-year-old josh young acquitted in the murder of his stepbrother and walking free on friday night. >> verdict form number one, murder, we, the jury, find the defendant joshua young, not guilty under instruction number one. verdict form -- >> that is the face. that is the kind of emotion that is raw and real, unbelievable relief on the face of that very young looking 17-year-old. 15 years old at the time of the crime. his father already pleaded guilty to the murder but claimed he did it alone, that josh wasn't a part of it. but the prosecution as well as the victim's dad believed that father and son had worked together. >> pretty much he got away with murder. i have had two years to prepare myself for this kind of verdict, and as i said, i really wasn't planning for anything. i lost two years ago. and not guilty or guilty, i was still going to lose. the justice wasn't going to be fair to me. we all have to live with the choices we make in life. he'll have to live with his. >> his son trey zwicker was beaten to death in 2011. a bombshell for drug convictions in this country. today the obama administration is releasing a brand new plan to lighten up on the sentences for nonviolent, nongang related drug convictio convictions. also an outrageous story out of new jersey, a disabled man, a man who fought for this country 19 years and yet kicked off a new jersey boardwalk because of a dog, and not just any dog. a service dog. plus, a judge in tennessee legally changes a child's name from messiah to martin despite the fact the parents wanted him called messiah. the judge said that's a name that is a title that's only been earned by one person and that person is jesus christ. hold on, how about church and state and all that separation stuff. more coming up on this hour of "the legal view." i'm ashleigh banfield. stay with us. 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