bullying is the reason an eight-year-old girl is in the hospital after being threatened for more than a year. did the school ignore her pleas for help? a national day of prayer, a tradition for over 60 years. now a judge wants to do away with it. she says it's unconstitutional. what do you think? do you agree, or has this judge gone too far? >> controversy, opinion, your point of view. this is prime news. welcome, i'm mike galanos. four police officers have been success pinnspended in a maryla

beating last month. it's pretty tough to watch. march 3rd, he joins a rowdy campus celebration after a big football win, maryland beats duke. then you see riots and police beating him. at first he pressed charges, and then the charges were dropped. >> let's take a look at the incident one more time as we see your client, jk mckinna. he's celebrating a win, and he comes up to the horse, the officers. what has he described happened to you? what has he told you? >> as you can see from the video, he's skipping down the road. we have another audio source. there was someone with a cell phone down on the sidewalk, and you can actually hear the audio. he's singing a fight song, and he clearly doesn't see the police line, and you can see that from his body language and

his demean or. he actually stops, and before the police assault him, he takes a step back, and obviously, they jump him and start clubbing him. >> again, there is no excuse for what we see on this video how officers treated him. but did he say anything that might have provoked an officer? >> no, absolutely not. absolutely not. and again, you know, we have another -- it's not the video that you're looking at, but we have another video from a cell phone. the quality is not that great in terms of visually, but we can hear the audio. he doesn't say a thing to the police, they don't give him a command, he's simply, you know, assaulted. >> okay. again, it's just starlt ling to look at. let's pick it up a little bit later. your client is alleging there is a cover-up, that police told him don't say anything about the injuries. what more can you tell us about that? >> sure. the cover-up starts with his being charged with a crime. i mean, he's charged with

assaulting a police officer, and the charging documents indicate that he received his injuries when he's kicked by a horse. clearly that's false, and that was intended to cover up the officer's misconduct. but he's then taken to a staging area where he's given some cursory medical treatment, a bandage is applied to his head and the officer drives him to the county jail. on the way to the jail he's told, look, if you complain about your injuries, you're going to spend the weekend in jail. if you want to get out of here tonight, don't complain. don't request medical treatment. and he actually removed the bandage from the young man's head, and when he got to the jail, you know, officials there at the jail saw that he was injured and demanded that the police take him to the hospital. but again, that was intended to try to cover up the misconduct. if they have to take him to the hospital, then they have to explain his injuries and they have to prepare certain reports

that would have led people to know who had done this to him and why they did it. >> again, chris griffiths, the attorney for josh mckenna. we're talking about charging documents that does not mesh with what happened on that video. how does the department go about investigating a matter as sensitive as this? >> that police department does have a very good internal department. so far the sergeant who was in charge of the scene, along with the officer who wrote the arrest report, the charging documents, mr. griffiths we just talked about, both of them have been suspended. you're probably going to see two, at least three, more officers suspended. mike, when you talk about the charging document, when you write that out, that is what you're going to swear to in court. so, you know, is there a problem with possible perjury here?

absolutely. and there is a lot of other things, too. the transporting officer, don't know if that was the officer who was the arresting officer or if that was just someone who was transporting him to the jail. i'm sure they'll find out who that officer was also. and the whole thing isn't good because, see, once you use force like that and you're bandaged up at the area mr. griffiths was talking about. he took the bandage off. but then he got to jail and he said, wait a minute, you didn't receive that here. we're sending you back with the officer who transported you here and you're taken to the hospital. once that happens they have to write a use of force report on how those injuries were sustained. and now the fbi involved, mike? that's not a good thing, either. >> now, the victim or the man who was assaulted here, whatever, we've seen the videos, his name is jack mckenna. his grandfather is a judge. it's his grandfather, but he said we could be looking at criminal charges, battery

charges with intent to maim. do you see criminal charges here? >> there's a good possibility that after the investigation is done, there could be some criminal charges here, mike. again, there's going to be a lot of witness statements that are going to be taken. the fbi are in the investigation right now to look to see if any of his civil rights violations were violated. i mean, we're talking possible false arrest, false imprisonment, all kinds of battery. going along with what the maryland code is. so, i mean, it's not over yet, mike. and you know me, i was a cop in d.c. right over the line. i had friends on the police department up there. this just doesn't look good for those officers involved with that video and the use of force that they did use. >> mike, we're going to continue to follow this. always appreciate your insight on this. coming up, still trying to make sense of this one. a tennessee mother sends her adopted son back to russia. he's only seven years old. now, she says he's psychotic, violent.

officials in russia, they're not buying that story. what do you think? and what about -- what avenues of help did she have? who could she have gone to? let's say things weren't going well and he had some real issues? you can't just trade him back like a car. will everyone with constipation please report to gate 17? thank you so much. constipation's uncomfortable enough, so why take a harsh laxative? phillips' caplets work naturally with your colon... for overnight relief without cramps. phillips' caplets.

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a lot of you have chimd in on this story. you're outraged that a woman from tennessee would send her seven-year-old adopted son back to russia. there are no signs of any psychotic or psychiatric problems. >> how can you imagine this

seven-year-old boy can be an immediate danger for the family? >> tory hanson and her mother have not been charged, and critics are saying if there were problems, they had plenty of opportunities to get help. the kid was seven, he had been in an orphanage all that time. the family had to expect there would be problems along the way, you would think. joining me to talk about this, patric patric patricia kogen, author of the book, "parenting your internationally adopted child." patricia, it was fascinating talking about some of the serious challenges that you had with your adopted daughter. what i'm gathering from this is that you believe the hansons should have been ready. in interprnational adoption, th should have been ready. it sounds like you don't think they were ready, true or false? >> it's absolutely true. if you're going to do an

international adoption, there is every opportunity on the internet and through your agency to become knowledgeable about what are typical behaviors for children who come through these kinds of circumstances. and the description of the behaviors that the hansons gave are pretty typical. they tend to be extreme behaviors, they tend to be scary, because these kids are scary and they're acting that out. >> so you're saying, again, here's what the hansens are saying, that justin, the seven-year-old had a hit populist. the adopt actiive mom was at th of the hit populist and he supposedly tried to set the house on fire? that doesn't surprise you? >> i've heard those types of stories before, but when the family comes, and justin had been here for approximately seven months, those are not typical behaviors when a child first comes. and they weren't, apparently, when justin first arrived. but according to what i

understand, justin received treatment in such a way that that's where he ended up. and all i can think of is that his mother and grandmother, and i believe an aunt was involved in raising him, that they were not apprised of how best to work with a child who came from an orphanage. so that this would be his ultimate resort to trying to get help, that he was so frustrated and overwhelmed because literally kids from orphanages have brains that are shaped by the stress and neglect of being in an orphanage. >> let me bring janelle into this. janelle, help us clear this up. what kind of help did the han n hansens try to get for this situation? >> that's a great question, but unfortunately, not one we have the answer to. what exactly this family did to try to get help for this child or where they might have gone to seek those services is, by and

large, going to be shielded from public view and not something that would be accessible via public records. however, the department of children's services has said that they have no record that this family contacted the department or community agencies that are designed to try to help families that are facing these kinds of difficulties. here in tennessee, we do have a law that requires post-adoption services to be made available to families that have adopted children out of state custody, however, those same services are available to families such as this one that participated in a private adoption, but those services are going to be made available on a sliding fee scale. >> angela is with us in north carolina. hi, angela. your comment or question? >> caller: yes. i think that lady should have done more than what she did than sending that boy on a plane by himself, like getting some kind of counseling or help if she thought he had some type of

problems. >> that's what we're all wondering here, and janelle was talking about that. because on this program, what we had heard from different reporters was they made a phone call to a psychologist, also sought out help on line from an attorney. patricia, let me go back to you. there's got to be more help in a situation like this, isn't there? >> there absolutely is, and there's no reason why someone is savvy about the internet has mrs. hansen seems to have been couldn't have gone on line, which i did just before i came here, and i put in "bad behavior international adoption" and what i found was over 2,000 entries, and the fifth one actually turned out to be my own book. that, of course, isn't just a description of bad behavior, it's suggestions how to deal with the very typical behavior and challenging issues these children bring. apparently this woman didn't think therapy was the right way to go, but therapy is really considered standard part of life for these kids and their families. >> patricia, let me get the

til title of the book out there again. it's called "parenting your internationally adopted child." a baseball player tragically lost his leg in a boating accident two years ago. he almost died. but now he's back firing fast balls. he has a true fighting spirit and this hour he will join us to tell us his inspiring story. care your engiit

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the government's response after hurricane katrina and that story is making news in our what matters segment. barely five years since the storm, amnesty international said the federal government in gulf coast states have consistently violated the human rights of hurricane victims. the report is called an unnatural disaster, and it says the demographics of the region are being permanently altered. it says government actions in housing, health care and policing have prevented poor minority communities from rebuilding and returning to their homes on the gulf coast.

amnesty international took particular aim at new orleans where public housing was bulldozed. hospitals have been slow to reopen and there have been a number of complaints about police and the judicial system. a white house spokesperson says the obama administration has worked to free more than $2 billion for rebuilding the region, but it's stalled for years and bobby jindal says they've worked diligently to recreate their state. here's a chance to take a look at some stories in the african-american community that affect all of us. you can check out the may issue of essence magazine, and you can also log on to cnn.com wh cnn.com/whatmatters. we have a hero in our midst. we're going to honor and pay tribute to james king. he fits the bill here. he set out on his own to look

for 11-year-old nadia bloom in a dense wooded area. he found her. she went on a bike ride, went to the woods, but after four days of searching, lots of prayers, james king said he was just following a lead. >> it's definitely a miracle. i mean, i didn't know where she was. the only person who knew where she was was god, and so i asked him, and he led me directly to her, about as straight as you can go through the swamp. >> when he found nadia, she had on no shoes, covered in insect bites, but otherwise she was fine. listen to this 911 call. it just came in to us. >> i'm going to put you on speaker phone. hold on a second. okay. >> hi. this is nadia and i'm the girl that got lost. >> nadia, you okay? you're not hurt in any way? >> no, i'm fine.

>> it's so nice to report on a story where a little girl is found alive and well. nadia's mom thanked james king in a news conference. let's lirsten to that. >> we're so thankful god used him to get her back to us. thank of the is not the appropriate word for what he did, bringing us back our child. one thing that's really neat, she was really, really praying during this time. she was quoting proverbs, which is the same verse that mr. king said when he came out. >> it's the happy, content mom there. mr. king says he hopes to be able to see the family again and nadia even hinted she would invite him to her pizza party. nice ending there. this next story is truly a maze and go an inspiration. 16-year-old matt winner lost his leg almost two years ago. now he's back playing the game

he loves: baseball. we'll meet this courageous young man, coming up. [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer 360 dteteer, yo oldter. anyo [ female announcer ] switch to swiffbut don't worry. ha ♪ sex [ female aouncer ] iffer 36ster eder w tla♪ clns high anlow wihill-around fibers thatttctoc uptws an a featheruster. who's that lady♪

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welcome back. my opinion here, i think it's a sad day when a federal judge rules a national day of prayer is unconstitutional. u.s. district judge said it calls for religious action. the freedom from religious foundation, a group of atheist agnostics argued the day violated the separation of church from the state. the judge agreed. here's a ruling. recognizing the government may encourage citizens to tas during the month of ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves.

we asked you in a facebook poll, is the nashl day of prayer unconstitutional? joining me to talk about this, rob boston with americans united with the separation of surchurc from state. a legal counsel for the alliance defense fund. doug, let's start with you. i think this is a bad ruling on many fronts. i don't see how the judge made this ruling. i think it's voluntary, i don't think it's co eersive, i don't think anybody is being forced to pray. your thoughts? >> absolutely. this judge got it wrong, and the alliance stands with a majority of citizens who don't want their authority gutted by a single judge. this goes over the head of 250 years of american history going back to even before the

constitution was in place, that this is a bad ruling, and the alliance defense fund is urging americans and the president of the united states to appeal this ruling. >> president obama, in his proclamation, said this, and i'm quoting throughout our nation's history. americans have come together in moments of great challenge and uncertainty to humble themselves in prayer. rob, what's wrong with that when we're not forcing it on anybody? you pray if you want to. >> the ones calling them to pray is the church, not the state. the government shouldn't be calling them to pray. they have that choice. laws are supposed to be secular, they're not supposed to have a religious purpose. obviously, establishing a national day of prayer has a religious purpose. the judge made the right call. >> again, we're taking your calls 1-877. penny from oklahoma. penny, your thoughts on this?

>> caller: yeah, my thoughts on this are each to their own. if the government doesn't want it, that's fine, but if there's people in the government that choose to pray, who are they to say that they cannot, regardless whether it's in public or private? a day to pray, that's just on your own. whether you should do it every day, that's on your own. whether congress, the president or anybody should do it, that's their choice. it should not be up to this judge. >> penny, thanks for the call. doug, let me go back to you. do you think this decision is going to stand? >> i don't think so, because again, it's contrary not only to our american heritage and the american people don't want this. they want us to be able to recognize the rich heritage that we have, our faith traditions. this statute doesn't force people to pray. it doesn't cause anybody to do anything they don't want to do, it simply recognizes that our country is made up of people of faith, it was founded by people that believed in god, it's written into our founding documents. it's simply an acknowledgment of

our rich traditions and it shouldn't be gutted by a single judge. >> let me get a facebook in and then i'll get rob back in on the conversation. angela writes, this is the great thing about living in america. you shouldn't be forced to observe the holiday but shouldn't hinder others from it, sort of echoing our caller. rob, comment on that. >> it's fine, people can get together every day and pray if they want. they don't need a director to advise them or tell them to do it. i would just say something about the history argument. the national day of prayer goes back to the 1950s. in 1988, it was adopted by congress, the first thursday in may. not every president agreed with the sentiments throughout our history. thomas jefferson denied the proclamation from prayer. james madison didn't do it. so there were many people prominent throughout history that thought the government just doesn't play a role throughout

our religious lives. >> doug, go ahead. >> history goes way back when. george washington, they had a day of prayer of thanksgiving, even during the prayer of congress. in 1863, to bring the nation together for healing. this is an established religion and violation of the constitution. this establishes a recognition that we are a people of faith, a nation under god, and that we are made up of different faiths and different walks and that's okay. this law shouldn't be stricken simple y because we have a few people who have a radically different view of what america should look like that sanitizes everything in the public square of anything religious. that's not america. >> let's get another facebook comment in. ashley says, even if they ban it, it's not going to stop people from observing. all the more people want to do it. i never observed but now we will and president obama will still recognize the day. it's going to be may 6. rob, i'm sure you've heard this,

but people say what's next? christmas, thanksgiving? we want "in god we trust" off our money? is that what's coming next, those fights? >> laws have to have a legal purpose and no religious purpose. there is no reason to call people to pray and it does clearly advance religion. if a law falls under those rules and it violates it, then yes, it is going to be struck down. but i think we need to remember, nothing will keep people from voluntarily engaging in an activity. that's one of the great things about this country. they don't need the government to tell them to do it at a certain time, when to do it or even this they should do it. >> doug, go ahead. >> i don't think the american people want this statute stricken down. i think if they go to the web site and sign the petition and get the obama administration to appeal this, i think at the end of the day, people are going to pray, this does not violate the

constitution. our american heritage should be preserved and not rewritten. coming up, here's another story i know you're going to want to chime in on. bullying is the reason an eighth grade girl is in the hospital, suffering from emotional distress after her classmates tormented her for over a year. >> this is constant, constant emotional terrorism. >> did the school ignore her pleas for help? wh that?ly ] th effectsbacteria li all my lifandity waiu.v=bt idoppe

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prime news parent alert, and we're going to continue to sound the alarm on this story. bullying is out of hand. we're heard of stories like young phoebe prince who committed suicide, and this girl is in the hospital. the mom said the school did not do enough. >> this is constant, constant emotional terrorism. >> carla carey tells me her

daughter suffered months of bullying by other 14-year-old girls. it happened here at the middle school in foxborough. >> it's demeaning speaking to her, demeaning her, making her the butt of jokes in front of friends, talk to go her like she was an infant. there were days she stayed home, and she's a healthy child. her grades went from honor roll to d's and f's. >> so this frustrated mother went to school officials. >> it's probably three or four face-to-face meetings and multiple e-mails. we kept reporting instances. they kept saying go to the guidance counselor. the guidance counselors wouldn't do anything. >> i would disagree with that. i think we've been very diligent about this. i think the plan we put together was comprehensive. i know we were checking in regularly. >> but carey says she remembers last winter's meetings very differently. >> eventually the school in february told us that it was all in my daughter's head, and she

was misinterpreting circumstances all the time. >> reporter: carey says it came to a head last weekend with a series of crank phone calls. >> very vicious, calling her names, during her birthday party. her mood started going downhill, and she started saying, this is hopeless. my life is horrible. it's never going to get any better and no one can help me. >> reporter: her daughter is now hospitalized for emotional distress. >> bullying by teenagers has become a national issue, and we're going to pursue this until we can discover if, indeed, a crime has taken place. >> the national issue. thanks to gail huff from prime news affiliate wcdb. we want you in on this conversation, and what about that? we need a sense of urgency on this issue. we need schools across the country doing something and doing it now. we'll take your questions, your

comments. call us. it's 10:00 a.m. in san diego, and cheryl howell was just arriving on a flight from atlanta. but she's not here for vacation. she's is heading south to tee juan a to have laparoscopic surgery. >> we looked up the facility, the physician, saw that he was highly credentialed. >> her experience so far? >> incredible. >> and the price tag, about $6,000. that's about half the price than the united states without insurance. >> it's a different economy, different cost structure, insurance costs for the facilities, for the doctors. a bunch of different factors that if you add them up, some are up to the lower cost, but it

does not in any way affect the standards of quality. >> but there can be risks when seeking care abroad, says emery university's dr. john sweeney. >> the risk is the long-term follow-up and continuity of care that is going to be difficult to achieve. >> also it is important to research the types of certifications both the hospital and the surgeon hold. and patients should be prepared to pay out of pocket for complications that may arise once they return home. those who receive poor or damaging treatment abroad often have no recourse. but sweeney does note that just because a hospital is outside u.s. borders doesn't mean it's bad. >> we tend to be very closed minded and not realize, hey, there are countries outside the united states that do this as well as we do, or better. >> for sharon, she says all the travel has been worth the cost saifgs savings. >> i work in a hospital institution, and this is very well run. >> dr. sanjay gupta, reporting. imagine being at thirty thousand feet with a plane full of kids.

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this is constant, constant emotional terrorism. demeaning, speak to go her demeaningly, breaking her down in front of friends, making her the butt of tjokes. there were days she stayed home and she is a healthy child.

her grades went from honor roll to d's and f's. >> that's a mother who is under constant duress after her daughter went through months of bullying. here so you are clinical psychologist. i think many people wonder, wendy, what goes on with an eighth grade girl. mom said it went on for about a year. it went from honor roll to d's and f's. how does any eighth grader internalize this and not demand the help they need? >> you know, mike, what i've learned is there are all kinds of profiles of victims of bullying, and some studies show kids are missing kind of a social chip and don't pick things up are more likely to be bullied, or people as young as first grade are more likely to be bullied by fourth grade. we all take things in differently. this is not to dismiss this young girl's entry by any means.

if someone is hospitalized, that means they're a danger to themselves or a danger to someone else, so that person who hospitalized did it with good thought process, all right? the point is we're all different with how much anxiety we have, how susceptible we are to depression and how much we can take. we need to teach our kids that everyone is different and it's a zero tolerance policy when it comes to bullying. >> we have a middle schooler here, and they're often not very talkative. what cues do you look for as a parent to think, gosh, something is not right here. >> you're looking for changes in eating patterns, sleeping patterns, you're looking for changes in grades, you're looking for social isolation, when there were lots of friends and tweets going on and texts and it's not happening so much anymore. in boys you're looking for angry and aggressive behavior that's not normal. those kinds of things should cue parents that something is going on emotionally in this child's life. >> hi, tom. comment or question here?

tom is gone. i think the point come wanted to make was that the bullies need to be held reasonable. let's split the deck here, wendy. how do you know if your child is a bully? >> we use this broad term, bullying. it is such an aggressive term that implies almost the threat of physical violence. but we have to remember that what's going on, especially in girl's circles, is a version of public shaming. it's gotten much bigger because of facebook and twitter. what we're talking about are young adolescents who are vulnerable to feelings of embarrassment and groups who target them and don't realize the danger and power of their words. >> it increases with the power of cyber bullying. text message, e-mailing, facebook, social networking. let's get a call. tammy in pennsylvania. >> caller: i just wanted to make a comment that i feel a lot of

teachers need to be held accountable. my son has been bullied since sixth grade. his grades have gone down, eating has been different. i've had the police called in. the teacher and superintendent do nothing. >> did you have to pull your child out of the school? what did you do? >> caller: i made him stay in because he was an honor student and he has perfect attendance. we just, i just kept going to the school, making track of it. my attorney has visited them twice. i've had parent advocates go in on behalf of me. >> so you're going to have to be at that school until he graduates. when we come back, a school with an innovative program that may help this issue. her. this. lives. how ?

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