when you said greg loves vinyl he does, but it it is not albums. >> the underwear is a test meant to it. >> don't nothing it until this is a fox news alert. i'm geraldo rivera. all nine bystanders wounded in the terrifying shooting at the empire state building were hit by cops as they shot dead an assassin. surveillance video shows the man 53-year-old jeffrey johnson of manhattan shortly after he killed a former coworker, attempting to escape but you about pursued by eyewitnesses. johnson confronted by cops and draws his .45 semi automatic from his bag and points at the cops who instantly fired their weapons. 7 of their 16 shots hitting johnson who dies within seconds. the remaining bullets and fragments wounding the

bystanders. only three of whom remain hospitalized in stable condition. here is how the story unfolded outside radio he station window. >> the gunman was lying in the street, blood coming from his stomach, it looked like his arm but could have been from his heart. not sure. he wasn't that far away from me. >> as fate would have it one of the people in the midst of this drama, this drama, this blood shed this morning was my own producer jackie. >> tell me exactly what you saw. >> i heard four gunshots and then as i was crossing i saw people falling down on the ground. >> geraldo: you saw them falling? >> actually one woman fell at my feet. >> geraldo: our intrepid producer joins us live. how are you feeling? >> i'm okay. really shaken up still. it is a lot to process but i'm doing better. >> geraldo: i heard you had a sleepless night yesterday. >> it was hard.

i woke up and just kept thinking about it all night long. >> geraldo: what do you think about? how close you came. if a woman drops at your feet the bullets were close to you you. >> it is different to think and look back on it now. now, i'm really surprised that i wasn't hit or affected but at the time it is just instinct and i just didn't really think about getting shot or hurt at all. heardaldo: had you ever gunshot before? >> i had not. besides in a movie. when i heard it yesterday i assumed it was construction going on nearby. >> and when did you figure out it was bullets flying. >> when i was crossing the street i saw a couple of fema fall down and that is when i -- a couple of people fall down and i put two and two together and people were running from the intersection so i knew something happened. >> geraldo: describe the woman who fell at your feet. >> she had been shot it seems like in the abdomen or like the side and she just collapsed.

i really didn't know what to do. i ducked down so that i wasn't sure if the shooting was going keep happening and then i tried to help her when i thought it was safe and prop her head up and put it on the sidewalk because she was half in the sidewalk and half in the street so i tried to help her. emt and the police were on the scene within minutes so they took over from there. >> geraldo: what do you think about the story that says the bullets that hit the bystanders were the cop bullets but you don't blame the cops, do you? >> no, i mean it is a very busy area and i think that they were probably just trying to h help in the best way that they could and unfortunately there were a few stray bullets that hit bystanders. >> geraldo: i'm so glad it wasn't how. how did you tell your mom, your family? >> i called my mom right after it happened and she wasn't home so i left her a voice mail that i probably should have been a little clearer on. >> geraldo: what did you say?

>> i was like mom please call me back i was involved or i witnessed a shooting, bye. and she called me back and i was talking to the detectives and she was like are you okay, is everything okay and i was like i can't talk which probably worry ared her more. but everything is okay now. >> geraldo: you are okay now? >> yeah. >> geraldo: you did a great job. >> thank you, geraldo. >> geraldo: not only steadfast, an excellent reporter on the scene. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> geraldo: thank you, jackie. folks this is a fox news a veer weather alert. terrorism isaac has already disrupted the republican national convention. party officials announcing just evening they have postponed most of the activities planned for monday, opening day. governor rick scott declared a state of emergency. before we speak with gop officials and local law enforcement let's go to rick reichmuth for what is in store for the not so sunshine state. here is rick.

>> breezy and beautiful night on tampa bay but conditions expected to deteriorate rapidly with torrential downpours, possible tropical storm force winds and very dicey conditions for the 50,000 plus convention delegates, visitors, media and protesters expected to descend on tampa st. pete the next couple of days. >> the goal is everybody in the state to get prepared. that means have three days of water. three days of food. get your medicines. make sure you have plenty of gas in your car. >> reporter: the tropical storm force winds and downpours and possible tornadoes could force the closing of bridges or absolutely interfere with the rnc already delaying the start of the convention. the governor announced he was canceling his convention speech to focus on florida's 19 million residents and possible arrival and impact of this potentially dangerous storm. isaac was a tropical storm when it hit haiti with winds at 60 miles an hour but still

dumping about a foot of rain, flooding parts of the capital port-au-prince and now there are fears the flooding could ignite a cholera epidemic. cuba was next, brushing along the eastern coast, smashing into sea walls and ocean front homes and now heads for the florida keys where the airport has been closed and visitors told to get out any way they can. so for now it is the calm before the storm. but it looks like there could be some very rough weather here in the tampa st. pete area the next couple of days. geraldo. >> geraldo: thanks, rick. for the late evangelicals on the progress of the storm -- for the latest on the progress of the storm are let's get the wise counsel of our senior meteorologist rick reichmuth. how you bad is it going to be in tampa? who is going to be most affected? >> i tell you what i'm getting a lot more concerned about the storm as the hours pass not tore tampa. for tampa, feeling a little better than we have been feeling the rest of the week.

we already have rain across area of south, florida. this band that you see, the last little image that one right there is an outer band from isaac. we will see overnight tropical storm force winds moving to key west and eventually towards miami by the morning and also the rain throughout the morning. it will be getting stronger as the storm is strengthening. tornado threat all day tomorrow and even overnight tonight across the southern half of the peninsula of florida from around tampa to the south. we will be dealing with that on and off. take look at the satellite picture. an ugly storm on the satellite for quite awhile. however, that is starting to change. right here is where the center of the storm is over water and finally the last images we are seeing storms fire up right around the center. that means we will start to see it strengthen and probably gain a structure that is going to hold because it is going to stay over off unti over water. tomorrow afternoon probably as a hurricane.

miami big strong winds and rain. tampa dealing with a little bit of storm surge on tuesday but monday some wind and some rain. probably 40-mile an hour winds. a couple of inches of rain. take a look at this right now here. we have got this track that pulls us some where in towards the eastern gulf. but geraldo, i got to tell you, the models are all trending westward. when you see all of the models trend in a certain direction you start to pay a little more attention and take a look at this, geraldo. new orleans in the path of this possibly by the time we get to tuesday or wednesday. and that would be a horrible scenario. we will have enough time over the water we will probably see this strengthen. could be dealing with a major hurricane hitting some where in the central gulf, new orleans to pensacola, sometime tuesday afternoon, tuesday night. >> geraldo: not for new orleans again, oh, my goodness, rick. i'm flying into tampa and supposed to arrive early afternoon tomorrow. what are my chances. >> okay to get in there tomorrow. windy and rainy by tomorrow afternoon in tam about but shouldn't be enough that could

cause widespread travel problems into tampa tomorrow. monday a bit dicey. >> geraldo: thank you very much. speaking of florida, did you see the crazy car chase in miami, the grey vehicle, are the mercedes suv? i'll tell you why the driver of that vehicle was trying so hard to get away, after this.

>> geraldo: it was a wild car chase happening in florida at about the same time as the whole empire state shooting was is going down in new york. friday morning. four men in this mercedes suv attempting to flee after miami dade cops responded to their behaving suspiciously. they got a report. so as the officers approached the car, the driver rammed the first cop car and then he set off at high speeds well in excess of 100 miles an hour

going on for more than 20 minutes during which at least one weapon was tossed out the window. many other vehicles were rammed, banged up. the chase stretched through several miami area communities before a hard u h-turn put the vehicle into a fence along the palmetto expressway. still, the driver tried to run. he hopped the meridian fence and attempted to hide in the bushes before being cornered by cops and the cops you can probably see it in the video shoot the guy and critically wound him the driver and one of the three passengers also shot by the cops. he remains in stable condition. the driver is in critical condition. now, back to tonight's big story. gustav did it in 2008 when gop officials postponed day one of the convention back in st. paul, minnesota out of respect for the possible victims in new orleans during gustav in 2008. now, in 2012 the storm's impact on the convention much more

direct. isaac is coming. to tell us what republican officials and local cops are planning i'm pleased to welcome the chairman of florida's republican party lenny curry and the very well regarded sheriff of hillsborough county which includes the city of tampa, sheriff david ge joins us. sheriff, welcome. first, why did you cancel monday? in excess of caution or really expecting bad news? >> the governor of florida made a decision that it wasn't worth the risk. the safety of floridaians, he the governor of the state of florida comes first. and people within our state and traveling to the state. governor scott is decisive and a leader and decided to be nonpolitical and look out for the citizens of the state of florida. >> geraldo: get a lot of griping from the national party? >> no.

what governor scott did, he declared a state of emergency and then he canceled his events for sunday and monday which was the right thing to do and then from there we saw there were discussions with the rnc and with team romney and everybody agreed that it was the right decision. >> geraldo: all right. let me goo to sheriff david gee. the good news, sheriff you won't have to worry about joe biden the vice president announced he is not coming. you know, is that a relief? still have 50,000, 60,000 visitors. protesters plus isaac. how pressed ar stressed are ar? >> we are. >> that we don't have the extra burdens right now. we didn't need that with the storm coming in. we have been strained but the police departments in the area have come together and the federal government and we are ready and good to go. >> geraldo: the reason i really wanted to talk to you sheriff aside from the fact that we worked together and i hold you in high regard as i said is that you for an event like this must have been counting on state police, on cops from other jurisdictions to come and

help you deal with this extraordinary burden but now with the storm coming it would seem to me that a lot of those reenforcements will now not be coming your way if it that is a fact how are you going to deal with it? >> well, we are fortunate. all of the other agencies none of them have backed down and they all understand the situation we are in. numerous conversations with governor scott over the last couple of days so i'm pretty comfortable in the event that any agency did have to withdraw the resources the governor would fill them in with national guard troops and i think he has kind of bent over backwards to make sure that we don't have any personnel issues like 245. >> geraldo: do you think the occupy folks who announced they will demonstrate, sheriff, do how to think they will be dissueded by the storm or encouraged by the fact that other law enforcement will be elsewhere? >> well, we don't know. you know, it as new experience for us for sure. we are, you know, optimistic that we won't have any serious

problems here. if we just get some protesters that is not a big deal. we hope we don't have any real problems and how the weather affects them we don't know at this point. >> geraldo: lenny curry, when are we going to see the big, you know, alaska counts its six delegates for mitt romney, you know, alabama, its set a. when will we see the roll call that officially nominates mitt romney? >> thatle likely be thursday. i must say i'm disappointed that joe biden is not coming to tampa 86 was looking forward to having a spirited debate with tim. >> geraldo: really. going to seek him out? >> you know, when we thought there might be a hurricane coming, folks said hurricane biden tracking our way and i said it sounds like a drizzle to me. >> fighting words. thank you. sheriff, thanks. always a pleasure. thanks. i appreciate it. >> good seeing you, geraldo. >> geraldo: this has been a big week in the presidential race

but for all of the sound and fury what has the impact been on the polls? we have the very latest up to the minute polls right after this.

i don't really know him well. i think that the big arguments that i have with governor romney have to do with where we take this country forward. he is somebody who for whatever reason has not offered the kinds of solutions that are going to help america be strong in the future. >> do you want four more years of high unemployment? do you want four more years of declining wages? >> no! >> do you want four more years of home values in the basement? >> neglect do you want four more years of the big banks getting bigger and small banks getting smaller?

>> no! >> do you want four more years of barack obama? >> no! >> neither do i. >> geraldo: a tremendous jolt of energy and larger crowds for mitt romney since his pick of paul ryan. on the eve of the gop nominating convention what do the polls say? the ace scott rasmussen can tell us. welcome to the show. start with the head-to-head matchup. what does the number tell you today and then what it means? >> as of this morning barack obama 46% and mitt romney 45% and geraldo just to get a sense of how close this is. the last seven days of the daily tracking poll they have been within a point of each other five times. once obama was up two and once romney was up two. the race is dead even as we go to the convention. >> geraldo: so what about the, you know, the setup here. i asked why, you know, what impact paul ryan had on his selection had on the polls.

we know the crowds are energized. we know there is a lot more zest on the gop side. but aren't those poll numbers pretty as you say in the same for the last seven days, i think they have been the same for the last several weeks, haven't they? >> actually about the last 8 weeks or so the numbers have changed. what has shifted since paul ryan was selected is the way republicans are viewing the race. republicans have been a lot more interested in this campaign. all the way through because they want to go and cast a vote against barack obama. most people, most supporters of mitt romney said this election was nothing more than a choice between a lesser of two evils. with the ryan selection, some republicans are now saying okay, it might be all right to be enthusiastic about our team as well. >> geraldo: enthusiastic but does that -- first of all, who was polled? who were the -- was it registered voters, likely voters? how did you pick? >> we poll likely voters all

the way through the year. a lot of firms do registered voters through the summer and then shift after labor day or when the conventions is begin. our polls are always among likely voters. what we have seen consistently until the last week or so is that republican-leaning independents, republican constituencies have been discouraged about the choice they are facing but that did not discourage them from the desire to go out and vote against barack obama. now, there is a shifting a little bit in terms of motivation. but still following the race much more closely than democrats. >> geraldo: does a one point margin mean anything statistically? really mean barack obama is ahead of mitt romney or is it -- could it just be a fluke in the sampling? >> there is no way you you can tell right now. anybody who tells you how this race is going to end is either lying to you or lying to themselves. there are three things that could shift the numbers in the coming weeks. one is just the economic news.

obviously we don't have any idea which way that will go but if the economy is perceived to be much better o or or much weaker in two months that would determine the outcome of the race. the conventions could have an impact especially on the romney campaign. a chance to introduce the lesser known candidate challengers sometimes get a bigger bounce than incumbents. if that happens it is good news for team romney. but the conventions aren't as big a deal as they were when you and i were a little bit younger. we don't know the impact there. the final big decenter icive thing that could have -- decisive thing that could have an impact is the debates. we don't know how those will turn out. those are three items we can count on to determine who will win the race. >> geraldo: a hurricane coming up the west coast of florida probably, scott. going to just glance or soak tampa at worst on monday, be over by tuesday. then comes wednesday. then comes thursday and guess what, that hurricane is impacting some place along what

we used to affectionately call the red neck riviera, some place between pensacola and new orleans on thursday. wouldn't that be cat trophi cao if, indeed, thursday is consumed by hurricane news. >> catastrophic might be the word for what would happen on the gulf coast. i'm not sure it fit tion really with the republican convention. obviously it would hurt the republican messaging effort but these campaigns both have aloft money and they will get the message out and people will hear what they have to say. the advantage that mitt romney will have this coming week as he will be the focal point, his campaign will be the focal point and he will be able to try and define a positive message and that is something that people are looking to hear from him. >> geraldo: scott, they will be listening and we will they there. thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> it geraldo, thank you. >> geraldo: coming up we will talk more about politics, the

politics of the abortion issue. the politics of joe biden the unwanted visitor not showing up. plus, did you see that tape of the california skateboarding kid getting poun you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah!

large." are. >> geraldo: welcome back. all this week democrats have been bending over backward to remind women that the republicans often have a situation with abortion that can be very tough. can be very tough for some prochoice women and prochoice republicans to take. jillian manis joins us for the first time. a romney campaign donor and very active in women's issues. she was the chairman of the women's committee for meg whitman when she ran for governor of california and also for arnold schwarzenegger.

she represents i guess you would say the moderate or prochoice republicans certainly. are you a vanishing species? >> no, i'm not a vanishing species. i'm here. i'm very loud. very, very vocal. and i really hate that the media is portraying us that way because we do have a seat at this table. we are stating the obvious that there has so be some amendments to the party's platform that abortion really is very, very dangerous to keep in the platform and even more dangerous would probably be not making rape and incest an exception. >> mitt romney says that rape and incest are valid exceptions to an abortion ban and yet the plank says no exceptions no way and paul ryan coauthored a bill that suggestd that same language, the same very clear cut no abortion no way ever,ths

are trying hard to remind women of that plank in the platform and won't they therefore try to exacerbate and accelerate that whole gender gap that exists and the surveys indicate it does exist. >> it does exist. what i really have a problem with is we have to fight for this. we have to fight for change within this party. and abortion is an attack on our personal freedom. but this is part of a much bigger issue with women. we are fighting for our rights across the board. so this is to have this -- the democrats define the republican party on the issue is not acceptable to me and i don't think it is acceptable to any woman in this party. >> do you fear that the abortion issue will cost votes? >> it will if we let it. it will if we let it. i would like to remind the women and the moderate women in this party that we stand for much more than just this.

we stand for economic stability, opportunity and growth. and i have got to tell you, geraldo, i work at shelters and i have for my whole life and what is showing up at shelters right now are the middle class. they have home. they have no hope. and they do not want a handout from obama. they want jobs. that is what they want. they do not want band aids. they want tools of success. >> geraldo: a couple of things happened this week. you had the birther joke by governor romney. we'll talk about that in a second. and the whole flap obviously involving congressman akin in missouri -- not missouri, wisconsin. well, missouri. >> it is missouri. >> i spoke on both issues earlier with governor mike huckabee. we talked about abortion, akin and governor romney's comments on his own birth certificate. here we go. >> i love being home in this

place where ann and i were raised where both of us were born. ann was born at henry ford hospital and i was born at harper hospital. no one ever asked to see my certificate. they know this is the place we were born and raise. >> here to talk about the birther joke and staunch support of todd akin staying in the race in missouri for the senate seat, the former presidential candidate arkansas governor media mogul extraordinaire mike huckabee joins me. start with the birther joke. seems incredibly mistimed. a great roll going all the polls going his way. all he had to do was really keep his head down until the big convention on monday and tells the stupid joke that is going to dominate the weekend news cycle. >> it wasn't. it was a joke. i dark he took it lightly. he is dismissing it with a joke, not trying to raise it.

>> geraldo: you think this is a tempest in the tea pot. >> absolutely. we have joe biden out there saying far more outrageous things and only the conservative media cared so much that he was talking about people in chains. joe biden after that when got back on the trail after the few days in the time-out chair in delaware went out and said that republicans were sounding like squealing pigs. i defended joe. chill out. he didn't say we were squealing pigs. said we acted like them and sounded like them. i said relax that was a joke. same thing with romney. >> geraldo: governor romney was advised to put humor to liven up the message and brighten up things. you think he should get a joke writer now? >> probably not the best person to put on the stage for standup comedy. but we are not electing a comedian. i think fairly america is not looking for are mitt romney to be funny. they are looking for him to be confident and that is what he

is. >> geraldo: up until the birther joke all we talked about was todd akin the missouri congressman and whether or not he should bail out of the race after his incredibly dumb remark about legitimate rape. you have been surprising strong as can be, lie ca loyal as cane supporting todd akin's right to stay in the race. why? >> you were right when you said incredibly dumb remark. it was an incredibly dumb remark. he apologized for it. that is something a lot of people won't do. they won't own up and man up to their mistakes. he did. i think a lot of people in the republican party made this bigger than it had to be by rushing out and publicly hugh mill tateiateinhumiliating him. when you have a soldier wounded on the battlefield, first thing tend to the wounds. don't go over and shoot him and run over him with tanks and trucks and think that will take care of it. it only made it worse. >> geraldo: but one wound is the poll in missouri showing akin ten points down from clare

mccasskill. can he win and won't he so damage strategically the republican ambition to take the senate back that he should bail out? >> the question i would pose. did the poll numbers shift as dramatically because of what he said or because of this orchestrated cleverly arranged chorus of republicans who came out there and lamboosted him. if that base is lost it might have to do with the overreaction of republicans in the first hours as it did with what he originally said. i note he admitted it was wrong and he apologized for it. if he hadn't admitted it was wrong and if he tried to defend that statement i wouldn't be supporting him. i would have said hey, todd, we can't help you on this one. >> mitt romney let todd akin have it. he cut him lose and so did paul ryan who had been a buddy of akin. did they overreact? and because they tried to get him out of the race may have it both ways?

>> i think they have to run the race to be president and vice president. i respect that. you know, you didn't have to always agree in the republican party to still be republicans. i understand this. their focus is on winning the white house and frankly i'm with them 100%. i want them to win the white house. i really, really do and i don't want to do anything but help them get there. so i have got no complaints with what they have done. >> geraldo: excited about the big speech at convention? >> let me answer that question after the speech. we'll see if i get booed off the stage. fy survive it and nobody throws chairs at me i'm sure i will have a great time. >> geraldo: check and make sure you have no dandruff up there. >> governor you. always a pleasure, geraldo. >> geraldo: romney campaign donor and very active prochoice woman in the republican party. so what do you think of mike huckabee? room for you and mike? >> there is room for me and mike. but i really don't think that coming out and apologizing, akin coming out and apologizing

for what he said, the genie is out of the bottle. he did us a favor because it shines some light on a very, very difficult language that we have in this platform and that the party is really suffering to a certain extent because of this. and so i feel badly for him because he actually is quite an uninformed person. but on the other hand, i really actually thank him because this is a discussion this party needs to have and now the whole nation is in and debating this. and that is really actually a healthy thing. >> geraldo: you sound exactly like my kind of republican. but statistically there aren't a lot of us, are there? >> i disagree with that. where are you getting your statistics? the polls are really a vertical and slice very small this way. they don't cut across. they cut vertically. i think there are a lot of moderate women and i think they are really trying to be heard right now and i think it is the

liberal media really marginalizing us, geraldo. >> geraldo: the prochoice republicans? >> i really do. >> in the defense can't they point to the plank in the republican party platform. >> they can but it is a much bigger issue than that. women are really trying to fight to have their voices heard. once again, not just in the republican party. in the country. republican women and democrat women. we are trying to get our voices heard on everything from equality in pay, equality in say in terms of credit where credit is due. this is really part of a much bigger conversation where women unite and we come and we sit down with those who are not hearing us across the board. and these are not just about the parties. >> geraldo: you can argue that the antiabortion plank is going fire up the gop base but since you have mr. romney trailing so badly among latinos what about the harsh, talking about the

party platform, what about the plank about illegal immigration? we are going to have that debate. we have noelle joining jillian man us in whus who is doing a c job there. you should run for o

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>> geraldo: my guest is i think a relatively rare species, prochoice republican woman, very active in the romney campaign. jillian manou manus raises fund big in mobilizing women to vote republican. wouldn't you agree that republican prochoice women are demoralized right now? >> they absolutely are. i'm hot going to dispute that. what i'm -- i'm not going dispute that. what i'm going say to every moderate republican woman is do not run from this party. stay, fight for this party. fight with this party and fight for america.

i really -- if i could just reach out and speak to them like i'm speaking to you i know i could get through to them because i think that party really represents america's promise. >> geraldo: the republican platform we have been talking about the republican platform on abortion. the republican platform on immigration is another one i think is problematic. it calls for a lot of things. i know most of you watching right now agree with like strengthening the border fence, escalating crackdowns on illegal immigrants so that their lives here are so miserable that they self-deport and for the adoption by other states of arizona's mostly unconstitutional sb 1070 show me your papers law. the plank also calls for the federal government to withhold funding to universities that allow the dream kids, the undocumented students to get in state tuition and provides for are similar treatment the withholding of certain federal funding to sanctuary cities like, new york, and san francisco. i disagree with that.

i don't think it is a way to appeal to latino voters. mitt romney needs latino voters. don't how to thin you think thk is also problematic? >> i think it is problematic. i look lieu the education lense and that is how i view immigration. there are two pieces of legislation. the smart jobs act right now and star act and both of them are giving or allowing american or foreign born american educated students who hold -- who hold degrees in science, technology, engineer,ing, math, those are the people we are trying to keep here in america. that will create competitiveness. then we have the children of the undocumented immigrants. why is it that we cannot offer them and allow them to reach their potential? why is it that we are somehow cutting them off? >> you know the argument they

cut ahead of the line, their parents did. a lot of the people are doing it legitimately. why reward law brakiers. i understand the argument and emotion and passion. i don't think people that disagree with me are, you know, are evil people. it is just i don't think that that is the way you are going to get latinos to be sympathetic to a gop candidate. i think marco rubio had a chance. he was drafting a dream act of his own but he is not the vice presidential candidate. >> that doesn't mean we have to drop the revision of his dream act which did not provide amnesty. you understand. what it did is provided a path for the children who should not be held accountable for the wrongs of their parents. they are here and they are already in our system, right? and what they need to do, they are held to a certain criteria. finish high school. we have a huge high school

epidemic, dropout epidemic. need to have them stay in high school and go to college and have a clean criminal record, correct? >> geraldo: yes. >> and if this he do all this why shouldn't they be able to go? >> geraldo: you should go to tampa. >> me and the hurricane! will. >> geraldo: and me. >> hurricane jillian. >> thank you so much. >> up next, the lapd beating the crap of a kid on a skateboard. craig has the exclusive, after this.

skateboarding has been part of the culture for years. for ronald wheatley, his skateboard experience led to a brutal beating by the police that was caught on tape. >> hey, hey!

>> i have a disaligned nose. a concussion. and i have a broken cheek bone. it felt like i was being raped publicly. and there was nothing i could do about it. >> the 20-year-old college student said he was riding down this sidewalk just a few feet from his front door when without warning he was tackled by police. >> where were you riding? >> i was riding towards my house right here. i saw the police pulling forward to the stop sign and never said anything to me. i just kept on riding to my house. as i was going for the door, i got to the first and second steps when i turned around and the cops immediately grabbed me by my hair and my back. they managed to throw me. >> push him back. >> cops don't generally pull people over for no reason. there were any incidents? was there any interaction

between you and the police officers before this incident took place? >> no interactions with any police, law enforcement at all. >> they didn't say a word to you? >> after being hit twice i started screaming and yelling. i knew that what was happening wasn't regular and what i thought was i was going to be killed on my front lawn. a dozen people ran over with video cameras and right away the police officers started yelling stop resisting arrest. >> screams alerted neighbors who pulled out cell phones and recorded protesting the police action. his father ron senior a local minister was alerted and quickly arrived on scene but was blocked from his pleading son. >> the hardest part for me is

when the police were keeping me from my son and they placed him in the car and he is screaming dad. dad, dad, that is my dad. dad, dad, dad, dad. >> how did you feel when you you heard your son screaming for you? >> i felt helpless. i mean number one i didn't know what his condition was. i knew he was badly hurt. but the worst feeling i think a parent will ever feel is the feeling of helplessness to see your son or your child suffering or in pain and not able to do anything. >> lapd refused our request for an interview but claimed ron weekly, jr. was obstructing traffic, riding his skateboard on the wrong side of the road and then resisting arrest with force, a felony. >> my son was riding on a skateboard on the wrong side of the street in venice and that is why you stopped my son? >> the skateboarder quickly became a cause celeb for civil rights leaders but in an emotional appearance the

minister's son called for peace and reconciliation. i'm not walking away from what happened with hatred in my heart. i'm walking away with love and forgiveness in my heart and making a better situation after what happened. >> grateful for the video and protests by neighbors, ron's family now asks that the charges against their son be dropped and pressed our investigation into the arrest. >> i think it is because of how he looks as opposed to what he did? >> i think, yes. i do. definitely. i do. because he wasn't doing anything so what other excuse is there? >> hey! hey! >> so what is the cop's side of the story, craig? >> they are saying that we are only seeing snippets of what happened that day. they are saying we are only seeing the worst of the confrontation so we are not getting the full idea of what is happening. i asked was there a verbal exchange and they said there was but they couldn't give me

any details in terms of what was said by the officers to the young man. one thing they he did say that people should know that if you are approached by a cop or given directions by a cop you should listen to them immediately. >> geraldo: that is for sure. that is what i tell all my children. the cop says whatever he says you say yes, sir,, no, sir. there is an internal investigation. >> and they will be canvassing the area. if they got any information like i did there were other people said they were approached by the same police officer is that day. >> geraldo: remember, everything in public is on videotape now. >> exactly. >> geraldo: a shout out to astronaut neil armstrong. thank