Transcripts For KNTV NBC Bay Area We Investigate 20160410

Returning home from war. John jones oaklands really a beautiful city. Stephen in the shadow of the homes of hightech tenants such uber, ask, and pandora john this is where it starts at. Stephen we walked the streets of east oakland. Stephen so i see cops already here. Is this a nightly occurrence . John oh yes. Absolutely. Stephen where residents say theyve been left behind. John there was money here. It moved out. Stephen we met john jones here. He grew up in this neighborhood, where he said there was little hope, and lots of drugs and violence. This, according to more than a dozen people we talked to, is ground zero for the problem of gun violence in america, on streets like this one, where guns are a way of life. John and im not talkin about, like, just one set of gunfire. Like, it could be three, or four, five different sets of shootins. Stephen we walked past the spot where last september two people were gunned down. John every night, papapapa, all kind of guns. Stephen and in a sixblock radius around where we walked, another half dozen people had been murdered since october, all with guns. John you get to a point where could begin to identify em. Well, thats a 9 millimeter right there. Okay, thats a 12 gauge. Ooh, thats a ak. Or thats a tec9. Stephen in the same time period in this neighborhood, Oakland Police also made 37 different arrests on gun charges, another 946 assault charges. John and then you start hearin about, oh, well soandso just got killed last night. Stephen this is the reality for john jones and his neighbors. John three people got shot this time, right . Stephen jones himself got caught up in the gun violence cycle. He served time for his involvement in a gun murder as a teenager. John and then it started gettin close to home when it started bein your friends. Stephen our Investigative Unit mapped the numbers. Of the 30 murders in oakland since last august, all but 5 happened either in west or east oakland, mostly along or near international boulevard. Similar clustering can be found for arrests involving guns and assaults. John no child in america should have to go through this. Not in america, the most wealthiest nation on earth. Stephen as jones showed us around his old Stomping Ground male my family has been on 89th since the 70s, right . Stephen we met up with tim smith and his 8yearold son. Tim hes seen five dead bodies now, in east oakland. My little guy, right . Stephen thats right, tim smiths 8yearold son has already seen five people shot dead. Tim i mean, we came out of the store, and a body is on the ground. And youre telling your guy, hey, look over here. And its just, its inescapable. Stephen the data also shows this violence can almost be a daily presence in the lives of people who live here. Looking at oakland shot spotter numbers, we discovered that in the first 9 months of last year, nearly 10 shots a day were fired on average. In fact, medical experts now say they see clear evidence of mental trauma among residents of neighborhoods and cities such as oakland, postTraumatic Stress disorder, or ptsd. Anne marks its absolutely true that people have ptsd. Stephen anne marks serves as executive director at youth alive based in oakland. Anne its not the same as a soldier. A soldier goes to war and they come home. Stephen marks is a specially trained psychological counselor who deals with the results of this violence while trying to break the cycle. Anne we work with young people who get shot, go to the hospital, get their treatment, come back to the same community, maybe the same home where they were shot in front of. Stephen youth alive visits every family victimized by gun violence in oakland. Their Crisis Response team is often at the home of the victims family before police are finished investigating. Anne so theres no post to the Traumatic Stress, right . Its continuing Traumatic Stress disorder. And thats unique. Jessica aguirre postTraumatic Stress disorder, you most often hear about ptsd stephen and as the Investigative Unit first reported back in 2014 in partnership with the Investigative Group pro publica, chicago found more than half of its gunshot wound victims had signs of ptsd. And a study of nearly 8,000 atlanta residents found about 30 had symptoms consistent with ptsd, a rate as high or higher than veterans returning from war. Stephen do you think you have ptsd . John absolutely, absolutely, not a doubt. I, like i say, if i go into a restaurant, or store, or business, i cannot sit with my back to the door. I dont like to sit with my back to a window. Like, even when im on the streets now, its why im lookin around. I dont like havin my back to traffic. Its just too much. Stephen we also discovered that experts are only now beginning to talk about treating these residents for ptsd. Bigad up next, are cops recording on their body cameras when it matters most . Chris magnus there have to be consequences if you dont turn on your body camera. Bigad we investigate how often officers hit record during useofforce incidents. Thank you so much. Did you say honey . Hey, try some . Mmm that is tasty. Is it real . Of course. Are you . Nope animated you know im always looking for real honey for honey nut cheerios well youve come to the right place. Great, mind if i have another taste . Not at all mmm youre all right bud . Never better i dont know if he likes that. Yeah part of the complete Breakfast Police agencies across the country, including agencies here in the bay area. Senior Investigative Reporter vicky nguyen looks into how often those cameras are actually turned on and record. Doug i was slowly moving to the ground. Vicky nguyen youre watching cell phone video recorded by a Mountain View Police Officer during the arrest of doug huff. Doug protect and serve my male sir, stop resisting. Doug im not resisting vicky huff shared this video with us, admitting it doesnt show him at his best. But he says what this officers video also doesnt show, the Moment Police tased him in the chest and neck. Female he never moved his hands vicky huff says he and his wife were waiting at a doctors appointment when they got into an argument with another patient. Doug he started swinging his cane vicky huff says he pulled out his pocket knife with a 3inch blade, and thats when office staff called 911. Female and he has the knife. What kind of knife is it . Female a pocket knife. Vicky what happened next is in dispute. Officers say huff ran out of the building and continued to run after they told him to stop. They say huff reached down toward his waistline where an officer saw a knife clipped. That officer tased him. Huff was arrested for charges including brandishing a weapon and resisting arrest, to which he pled no contest. But he wants to know why theres no video of what happened before he was tased. He claims it would show officers caused these cuts and bruises. Female my husbands head was just going straight into the curb. Vicky Mountain View police declined to speak on camera because huff has filed a complaint against the department. But mvpd said none of the four officers on scene had a body camera because the incident took place during the voluntary phase of the departments body cam program. Doug this is mytax dollars at work. Chris i think the trend, frankly, is gonna be towards greater and greater openness. Vicky chris magnus just took the top cop job in tucson, but he served as chief of richmond pd for the past decade. Vicky do you think that all Police Departments should move in the direction of getting body cameras . Chris i do, i think that not only should they do it, but i think the publics going to expect that they do it. Vicky magnus oversaw the implementation of richmonds body camera policy. Male it operates, it feels just like a real gun. Vicky and training for its 188 officers last year. Male and just so you know, we have body cameras now so the incidents being recorded, okay . Vicky officers go through drills like this every 3 months to keep their skills sharp, skills that now include turning on their cameras at the beginning of any call for service. Male keep your hands right where i can see em. Dont move. Dont move. Vicky data from richmond pd shows in the first 2 months officers were equipped with cameras, the department logged 28 useofforce incidents. That means anything from an officer displaying a taser to firing a weapon. But none of those incidents was recorded. Data shows over time the numbers steadily improved to 48 in the first 6 months. And most recently, 92 of useofforce incidents were caught on camera. Chris youre expected to have the camera on vicky magnus says there are times officers can turn off their cameras, including when theyre dealing with victims of sex assault, or juveniles. But repeatedly not rolling during a useofforce will result in discipline. Chris there have to be consequences if you dont turn on your body camera. And we have, in fact, disciplined some folks for that. Vicky the Investigative Unit requested similar data from all bay area Police Departments with body cams. But here at oakland pd theres no way to know how often the cameras are turned on, recording, or broken during useofforce incidents, even though the department has had more cameras, and for longer, than almost any other bay area department. The Pilot Program started in 2010 and became official in 2013. A spokesperson for oak pd says the agency doesnt have a tracking mechanism to show when cameras are rolling. We requested multiple interviews with chief sean whent to ask why, but we were told he could not accommodate our request. Seth you cant have some officers turning on their cameras and some officers turning cameras on other times. Vicky seth morris is a deputy public defender in alameda county. His office represents 40,000 people a year. Vicky why do you think its so important to have that data . Seth because in a useofforce, you have a Police Officer whos taking one of the weapons that theyre armed with and deciding to deploy it against a civilian. Male im officerwhats wrong . Seth and in those moments, thats when the community is most concerned about an officer acting correctly. Vicky morris says not only is it troubling if the department doesnt track whether its officers are recording during useofforce incidents male drop the gun drop the gun vicky hes also seen another change at opd. Seth theyll say to the other officer, i think we need to have an administrative conversation. Vicky is that code for, turn off your body camera, well talk about this later . Seth it is, it is. Its an unwritten code. Vicky opd says its policy allows officers to turn off cameras when they are discussing administrative, tactical, or Law Enforcement sensitive information. Vicky what do you make of that . Seth i think its bs, to be honest. I think that there should be ultimate transparency. Doug i got assaulted in thewaiting room and i get tased. Vicky as for doug huff, a judge ultimately sentenced him to 1 day in county jail and anger management classes. Vicky some people might say you were taunting the officers. Doug i was more overcome just with the situation. Vicky but he says he wishes the officers were wearing body cameras and rolling from the start. Doug i thought i had the right to remain silent. Vicky to capture the good, bad, and ultimately, get as close to the truth as possible for both sides. Doug cameras might be a starting point. Stephen now, since this report originally aired, vicky did sit down for a oneonone interview with Oakland Police chief sean whent, which will air in the coming weeks. Bigad coming up, children living in governmentfunded group homes victimized by the people who are supposed to protect them. Bigad how were you treated . Female like an animal, basically. Bigad up next, the dangerous safety violations the nbc bay area Investigative Unit discovered. Most fast food places use formulas to create their combos. But all that math, doesnt always equal something tasty. At my place, you can get a mouthwatering sourdough bacon ranch combo. With a full size beef patty, bacon, and creamy ranch sauce, on toasted sourdough bread. Plus hot salty fries and a freestyle drink for just 4. 99. Because flavor always beats formulas. The sourdough bacon ranch combo, just 4. 99 for a limited time. Combos done my way. But we discovered theyre being victimized all over again in governmentfunded homes. Were talking about children who are already victims of abuse and neglect, then placed in childrens group homes. Investigative reporter bigad shaban spent the last 3 months looking into the issue. He found examples of children suffering disturbing physical and sexual abuse. Mariah oh, yeah, 2009. Bigad for most of her life, 16yearold mariah quarter was raised by strangers. Bigad how were you treated . Mariah like an animal, basically. Bigad she and her sisters were placed with separate foster families after their father was set to prison for murder. But mariah was later relocated to a group home, a sort of modernday orphanage funded by the government to care for kids and teens whove been pulled from their families because of abuse or neglect. Mariah says over the years, she was shuffled to at least 6 Different Group homes. Mariah there was always a lot more accountability in foster homes. You had more of a family structure. Whereas in group homes, its just, its kind of like a warehouse for children. Bigad did the staff there ever get physical with you . Mariah yeah. Bigad did it ever leave a mark, or were you ever injured . Mariah ive had twist ankles, bruises all over, scratches all the time. Bigad there are 166 group homes across the bay area that can house anywhere from 4 to over 100 children. We discovered that over the past 5 years, there have been 815 violations at Bay Area Group homes that posed an immediate risk to children, according to data we obtained from the California Department of social services. Bigad to find out what those kids and teens had to endure, we obtained hundreds of pages of inspection reports from the state. What we discovered were serious and disturbing allegations that government inspectors determined were true. Bigad a group home employee sexually abused a child, staff did drugs with a child, an employee brought a loaded gun into a group home. Investigators also found cases of delayed medical treatment. In one example, staff failedo provide medical attention to a child after a seizure. At the same group home, a child was injured, resulting in two broken bones. But the facility did not report the injury. That home was also cited for using behaviormodifying drugs as punishment. After acting out, one child was given benadryl on at least 30 documented occasions, which can cause drowsiness. The state even found a group home employee physically abusing a child, and using an unnamed object like a whip. And all of these group homes are still open. Bigad is the system failing children right now . Mark yes, yes, thats the point. Bigad we showed our findings to california Assemblyman Mark Stone of monterey, whos fighting for a complete overhaul of the states Child Welfare system. Mark when you look at all of the negative outcomes for the foster care population, the lack of the number of kids going into higher education, just the absolute lack of success, thats the danger that the system puts the kids into. Bigad stone recently got legislation passed to eliminate group homes in california by 2021. Theyd be replaced with shortterm residential facilities, which would provide housing and medical services to the most atrisk children, in hopes they could be transferred to foster homes after about 6 months mark if theres severe trauma issues, theyll go into a shortterm treatment center. Bigad there are about 3700 children in group homes across california. Most are between the ages of 6 and 17, and many are there because there just arent enough foster families willing to take them in. So to close down all the group homes, counties across the state would need to recruit more foster families than they ever have. Mark if theres not enough foster families, we may need to have some group homes. But i tell you, i will be one. And im hoping that the department of social services will look to that very skeptically. Bigad the States Department of social services is in charge of licensing and inspecting group homes. So we wanted to talk with the director, will lightbourne. But the agencys spokesperson, michael weston, told us he would be the only person available. Michael weston we have quality providers out there. And when they care for children in the structure we have, those childrens needs can be met. Bigad but if you some group homes that are abusing children, that arent giving them enough food, arent kids being put in danger . Michael well, in those cases, the department has the tools to deal with that. Bigad weston said that can include meeting with a group home to discuss improvements, putting them on probation, or even shutting them down. Weston defended that process repeatedly. Michael and the department has a process. And theres a process for dealing with that. Its an administrative process that does take time, but it is effective. Bigad but if these kids are getting hurt in the meantime, can you honestly say thats happening fast enough . Michael well, the department has a process for dealing with that. Bigad weston eventually admitted that process isnt quick. Michael its a very long process in order to investigate and close a facility from start to finish. Bigad mariah quarter is now out of the group home system and living with her mom. Shes also working alongside other teens at the california youth connection, a Nonprofit Group thats been advocating for Child Welfare reform for the past 2 decades. Mariah says if changing the system will take years, the state needs to do more to ensure children like her are protected in the meantime. Stephen now, last year the state shut down six group homes. We posted the violation records for every group home in the bay area on our website. Just go to nbcbayarea. Com. Bigad coming up, the wellknown but littletreated crisis facing college athletes. Jennifer medina theres no riskfree sport. Bigad the nbc bay area Investigative Unit looks at how local colleges are screening for eating disorders. music plays from one way or another im gonna find y im gonna Getcha Getcha Getcha Getcha one way or another im gonna win ya im gonna Getcha Getcha Getcha Getcha one way or another im gonna see ya inhales cigarette making a College Sports team can be a dream come true. But that intense drive to succeed can also fuel a Serious Health condition. Senior Investigative Reporter vicky nguyen talked to students and medical experts who say eating disorders among athletes get little attention. And in some cases, the disorders are ignored by coaches and administrators. Vicky mary wright earned a scholarship to run Cross Country for ucla, achieving a goal shed had since she was a little girl. Mary wright and was super excited. It had always been my dream school. Vicky but she says the pressure to perform at the collegiate level triggered new anxiety, worries about her weight, reinforced in the locker room. Mary youd stand in a line of girls and you get, you know, a number. Everyone hears what your body fat is. I mean, they dont announce it. But, okay, youre 12 . Youre 9 . Oh, shes 9 . Shes running faster. Vicky nervous about her spot on the roster, mary looked to a teammate for guidance. Mary she was losing weight, and then she was running faster. And then you realize that shes restricting her food completely. And so, without really even noticing, i was emulating what she was doing. Vicky by the end of her freshman year, losing weight became an obsession. So much so, mary chose to leave the team. Mary and i just was completely done. Vicky former cal Soccer Player Jennifer Medina says she also began restricting food. Jennifer medina i kinda was just barely functioning. Vicky but her shortterm solution led to longterm health problems. Jennifer when they did a bone density scan, you know, i was already in my 60s. Vicky your bones were weak. Jennifer yeah. Vicky from the eating disorder. Jennifer mmhmm. Vicky median says her coach reacted by forcing her to out herself to the entire team. Jennifer and i just mortified. I knew his intentions were right. His execution was just wrong. And his execution is not uncommon. Vicky now, as a therapist, she helps students struggling with eating disorders, and wants to change the game. Vicky what kinds of sports do you see eating disorders in . Jennifer it runs the gamut. Theres no riskfree sport. For guys as well, though. Vicky to see how deep the problem runs here in california, the Investigative Unit asked all Public Division 1 and division 2 programs how many student athletes theyve treated for eating disorders in the last 5 years. The 28 schools educate nearly 10,000 student athletes each year, but none of them had any idea. Some schools told us they dont track that information. Others said they didnt refer any students for treatment. Vicky to someone who says, well, this isnt happening in california, what would you say . Jennifer bull i dont know of any College Coach that could look me in the eye and say that. I just, i cant, just not true. Vicky in 1999, the ncaa surveyed 1400 student athletes, and found 34 of women at risk for anorexia, and 38 of men with signs of bulimia. Those results prompted both the ncaa and the Athletic Trainers Association to give schools screening guidelines using questions like, has anyone ever set a target weight for you . And, do you ever limit food intake to control weight . But our review of medical history forms found those best practices are often ignored. Out of the 28 california schools that offer ncaa scholarships, at least half a dozen dont ask any recommended questions about weight and body image. Dr. Jennifer carlson i think it is key to have some type of question were at least asking about these issues. Because otherwise they may never come up. Vicky pediatrician Jennifer Carlson works with student athletes as part of the eating disorders care team at Lucile Packard childrens hospital. Jennifer carlson we have seen athletes who, at age 20, 21, have fractures that you should not be seeing until somebody is more at the age of 50 or 60. Vicky carlson is now working to design a scoring system that will identify students at risk using medical histories from stanford sports teams. Jennifer carlson we looked over the course of their College Career to see, did they sustain any stress fractures or bone injuries . Roger elrod so what were trying to do is identify as many students as possible. Vicky san jose state Student Health director roger elrod says his department has a Team Dedicated to treating all students with eating disorders, including athletes. For the first time this spring, that team will meet with the entire Coaching Staff to help them identify athletes at risk. Roger the problem is, theres still just a whole lot of shame and stigma associated with eating disorders. Vicky but not all schools are as proactive. Unlike other medical conditions, including concussions, schools arent required to follow best practices for preventing and treating disordered eating. We asked to speak with the Chancellors Office for both the csu and uc system. Both declined our request to discuss problems on their campuses. Vicky you, as an athlete, were you educated about the signs and symptoms . Mary not at all. Vicky mary wright says its a health risk that needs attention now so that more athletes dont follow in her footsteps. Stephen we posted information for parents, coaches, and athletes on how to prevent these eating disorders on our website, nbcbayarea. Com. We thank you for watching. Youre invited to join us regularly, right here on nbc bay area. Why . Because we investigate. An epic idol finale. Welcome to access hollywood im liz hernandez. After 15 seasons, thursday night marked the final episode ever of idol. Former contestants winners and all the original judges returned they even wheeled out season one host, brian dunkelman. I was backstage as trent harmon was crowned last ever american idol. He cant beep wi with us ton. That was happening. Talking out to the audience the i have a monitor. I could hear them screaming. Im not saying anything, theyre screaming and then i saw him, like i could see him. I could tell by the unbuttoned shirt and the mike. And there he was. Simon cowl, ladies and gentlemen. The crowd exploded into tears when simon surprised ryan and idol judges, originals, simon, paula, and Randy Jackson on stage. You were in the dark about simon . Yeah, we thought he was. And then we heard he wasnt. Went back and fort. We were shocked. Like my whole life flashed in right in front of me. Its just incredible. I didnt think i would get so