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Erin Burnett Outfront

Police Video Shows Brown In Store Robbery; Texas Governor Rick Perry Indicted For Alleged Abuse Of Power; Police: Video Shows Brown in Store Robbery; U.S. Doctor Risks Life to Fight Ebola; Thousands Greet Pope Francis in South Korea

Aired August 15, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, breaking news, bombshell video released allegedly of Michael Brown robbing a convenience store. Does it explain why a police officer gunned him down? We're live in Ferguson, Missouri, where tensions are high.

Also out today, the name of the cop who fired the fatal shot, has the six-year police veteran gone into hiding?

Plus the pope's new pope mobile. We're going to show it to you tonight. Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, outrage and confusion in Ferguson, Missouri. Protesters are again gathering tonight six days after Michael Brown was shot and killed.

Today, police finally broke their silence and identified the officer who killed Brown. His name is Darren Wilson, a six-year veteran with a clean record. But that announcement paired in was the officer who shot him.

But that announcement paired in comparison to video of a man that police say is Brown minutes before he was gunned down. I want to show it to you. This is surveillance video from a convenience store.

It's believed to be Michael Brown, the big man, there as you can see with the white shirt and the St. Louis Cardinals hat, stealing a box of cigars. Now this video is becoming a flash point in the case. Brown's parents are outraged claiming that police are in their words trying to assassinate the character of their son.

We have a team of reporters standing by. Ed Lavandera is in Ferguson along with Don Lemon, who has been speaking to protesters and residents there, and Tom Foreman who is standing by to break down the two very different versions of events that now are out there over the shooting of Michael Brown.

I want to begin though with you, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erin, residents here in Ferguson are gathering once again tonight and the captain for the state police department is hoping it will be a quiet night. But throughout the day there have been many moments of contention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The Ferguson police chief says this surveillance video shows Michael Brown engaged in a, quote, "strong- arm robbery" just moments before he was shot and killed.

Police say Brown stole a $49 box of Swisher sweets cigars and when the store clerk confronted him, police say Brown shoved the man into a display rack and walked out.

CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON POLICE DEPARTMENT: A further description more detail was given over the radio.

LAVANDERA: Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson released that information at the same time he announced that 28-year-old Darren Wilson was the officer who killed the teenager, leaving the impression that the robbery and shooting were related. The chief's announcement instantly angered Ferguson residents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why we never hear about the robbery just now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have to get their lives together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe this is the tactic that this police chief and his administration are using to try to make this young man be deserving to be gunned down in the street like a dog. This is crazy.

LAVANDERA: A few hours later, Chief Jackson said the confrontation between Michael Brown and Officer Wilson had nothing to do with the robbery.

JACKSON: Because they were walk down the middle of the street blocking traffic.

LAVANDERA: Darren Wilson has worked as a police officer for six years. Four years with the Ferguson Police Department. He is described as a gentle, quiet and distinguished officer, but the department refuses to release his picture.

(on camera): Darren Wilson lives here on this street in another St. Louis suburb about 25 miles away from the town of Ferguson. Many neighbors are reluctant to talk about him. But they since last weekend the shooting they have seen a great deal of police activity here in the neighborhood. And that several neighbors also say Darren Wilson left here several days ago.

(voice-over): Officer Wilson now has an attorney and a law enforcement source tells CNN, Wilson has been interviewed twice by detectives once right after the shooting and then the second more in depth interview later. But the release of the officer's name has done little to calm the anger over Michael Brown's death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All we want is the truth. That's all any person want. If it was your child, wouldn't want the truth? (END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Erin, we just wrapped up an interview with a high school friend of Darren Wilson. We couldn't get it in that piece, but we will come back in a little bit and share the insight that his friend just shared with us moments ago.

And hopefully, it will kind of shed some light into Darren Wilson's mind set and what made him want to be a police officer, and how he approached the job.

BURNETT: All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you. And Ed, as we said everybody, we call it feeding, he will be feeding the interviews in because everyone needs and wants to know so much more about this police officer, Darren Wilson. We'll get that for you, bring it to you in just a few moments.

But the timing of the surveillance video that we are showing, the time of this release, the video of Michael Brown in that convenience store when he allegedly stole the $49 box of cigars as many in the community outraged.

Don Lemon is OUTFRONT in Ferguson tonight. Don, you have been speaking to residents there all day. What has their reaction been to this video?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They think it is suspect. Many people in the beginning didn't believe it until the attorneys for the family came out and said it was indeed Michael Brown. It is indeed Michael Brown in the video.

And also, the young man who is with him, his attorney admitting it is him as well, but what they're saying, Erin, is that they don't believe the two incidents have anything to do with each other.

They're saying if something did happen in the convenience store, then it's separate than the altercation that happened with the officer. They also believe that the Ferguson Police Department is trying to besmirch the reputation of Michael Brown.

And also trying to paint him to be a bad character and taking the focus off what they believe is a shooting. This is the outcome. This has been the outcome of some of what happened today, people coming back arriving to this Quick Trip where we have been showing you all day.

Showing up in force, but it has been mostly peaceful this time. Again this evening, Erin, lined up down the street and you can hear it, no justice -- no peace. And people are honking their horns. They are lined up again for about a mile down the road.

It is not as big a crowd as it was the other night, but it is still a big crowd and it's still a forceful presence that is happening here in Ferguson -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Don Lemon, thank you very much. As Don continues to walk around the crowd there we will continue to watch as people gather tonight.

OUTFRONT now, Neil Bruntrager, general counsel for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, our legal analyst, Paul Callan here for CNN, and Natalie Jackson, a civil rights attorney.

Neil, let me start with you. The police say that the robbery of that convenience store is not related to the shooting. This is something that people in the community say. You just heard Don Lemon reporting. They are very anger.

They think it's only been released to assassinate Michael Brown's character. The police say they released it because media outlets demanded it with freedom of information request and they had no choice. Does the video of Michael Brown allegedly robbing the store change the case?

NEIL BRUNTRAGER, GENERAL COUNSEL, ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICER'S ASSOCIATION: I think it does and let me tell you there is a choice in terms of release of this video. I have to question the timing of this and the wisdom of this as well. I've advocated from the beginning that they shouldn't be releasing information piecemeal.

Because it doesn't answer questions, it only creates more questions. Now, if you look at the timing of this video itself in terms of the actual time of occurrence, it is within 10 minutes of the shooting.

Certainly it does change the landscape quite a bit because now you have a situation where at least under Missouri law this would be considered a robbery. I mean, again, there is force that is used in the scheme of things.

And I believe that you could get to a jury with a case alleging that this was a robbery within 10 minutes. Now there are so many things that we need to know about what happened once he left that store and what happens in the confrontation that we have no idea of.

So it is certainly changes the landscape. It certainly is a different situation. I don't know how anyone could say it's unrelated. It's certainly relevant in the scheme of thing and it's part of the timeline. Within 10 minutes, I don't think anyone can say we don't have to think about that.

BURNETT: And of course, they are saying, because this isn't related, as our viewers know, they were allowed to release -- that they are not releasing anything else that is related saying, that's part of the criminal investigation. So there may be an inconsistency there.

Natalie, let me ask you, though, because the same day they release the video and they say it's because of all of these freedom of information requests they also release the name of the police officer.

Now in our opening of this program tonight, we talked about both things. But had we not had the video, we would only have been talking about Darren Wilson, the police officer.

NATALIE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Exactly. And I think what the police is not saying is more telling than anything that he is saying. Here he released the name of the officer. He released the videotape. He did not tell that the officer, himself, admitted that he encountered Mike Brown because he was in the traffic.

He didn't say that until he was questioned by a reporter and I think that is what people are tired of. People just want to know the truth. They want to hear from their public servants.

They don't want to hear transparency. They want to hear truth. They don't want to hear piecemeal or sides. It's not the chief's job to defend his deputy. It's the defense lawyer of his deputy's job.

BURNETT: Paul, let me ask you because part of the issue here has been the manipulation, both sides, have been trying to manipulate the national media and public opinion. This is a case that has captured the attention of the country and so everybody wants to influence that.

The police chief describes the cop who did this with the word "gentle." And I wanted to play this, it was sort of bizarre that he went into this detail and here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACKSON: He was a gentleman. He is a quiet officer and he is and has been an excellent officer. It is devastating. He never intended for any of this to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Quiet, gentle, charming, pretty similar description to what the friends of Michael Brown have used and here's one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORIAN JOHNSON, FRIEND OF MICHAEL BROWN: He was a gentle giant. He was big. He was careful. He was loving, everything. I loved everything about this young man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Aren't both sides, Paul, here guilty of trying to control the narrative? Over simplify it, you have two blameless, gentle, wonderful people, who would never hurt a soul and yet something horrible happened.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, with respect to the police chief, I think the thing we have to remember is, this is a town of 21,000 people. This is a small town. This is small town America to think that they are sophisticated enough, to have staged the release of this information in some public relations campaign, I think, is overestimating the sophistication of the police force.

BURNETT: You don't think they --

(CROSSTALK) CALLAN: Absolutely not. This is an inept release of information. The transparency of the investigation should have happened early on. People would have been more sympathetic to the officer.

And by the way, I have to say one thing, people saying that this video of a robbery being committed by a person who we thought was the -- entirely a victim in this case indicates that at the time of his apprehension, he knew that he had just committed the robbery.

So it's relevant on what was in Michael Brown's mind when he was apprehended by the police officer. Did he think the officer was apprehending him for the robbery and then react violently?

BURNETT: All right, I want to get to that in a moment. But before -- and you all are going to be staying with us. But Natalie, I want to ask you one more thing before we take pause in this conversation for a moment. And that is something that the Brown family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said today. I want to play it for you and get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, BROWN FAMILY LAWYER: They cannot be justified, the execution style murder of this kid in broad daylight and not telling Ferguson, but America wants to know so we can start the healing process of why an unarmed teenager was shot down like a dog in the street. You release everything, not just character assassination to try to justify this execution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I mean, Natalie, he uses the word "execution" multiple times and then uses the "assassination," "like a dog in the street," are these inflammatory words given we don't know all the facts. There were protests that have turned violent or is it appropriate to be using those words?

JACKSON: I think it's very appropriate. He is an attorney for the family and that's why it's inappropriate for the chief to use the same words because he is a public servant for the community and that is the difference.

People try to frame Attorney Crump in the same vein as they try to frame the chief. The chief has a totally different obligation to the community and he should not be on television expressing sympathy and doing all of these things.

He should be fair and impartial not leaking information that he wants to help his friend not doing those things. That is why the officer that shot Michael Brown, he got an attorney. Now his attorney has a right to come on television and defend him but not the police chief.

BURNETT: All right, we're going to hit pause on that for just a moment. All three of you are going to be back with us.

But next, we're watching the growing protest in Ferguson as people are gathering and as tensions rise especially after this video was released today of allegedly Michael Brown robbing a convenient store just 10 minutes before he was shot and killed.

Plus many new revelations today about what happened in those moments leading up to his shooting death. We are going to piece it together for you. If you've sort have been watching this from a far this week. The beginning of this, from A to Z and the questions that come from that.

And also breaking tonight, this, Texas Governor Rick Perry has been indicted. That breaking story is after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And the breaking news just in now, a grand jury has indicted Texas Governor Rick Perry for alleged abuse of power. This literally crossing just moments ago. Our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar is OUTFRONT.

Brianna, I mean, this is a headline. It catches your attention. You say, Governor Rick Perry, was a presidential candidate, likely to be one again, indicted.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right and that's why this is such a big deal. He has been indicted by a Travis County, Texas grand jury. And this has to do, Erin, with his efforts last year trying to force a district attorney there named, Rose Marie Lemburg to step down.

This came after she was arrested for driving under the influence. He tried to force her to step down by withholding more than $7 million of funding for a public integrity unit, which she oversaw. This is a unit that Many Republicans feel is used for political purposes against them.

So the charges, two of them, one is felony, a first degree felony abuse of official capacity. The second, coercion of a public official. This is really a political brawl playing out in the courts there in Travis County. To give some context here, this is a liberal enclave.

We have seen political brawls play out there in the courts before it was actually a different district attorney that managed to take down, House Majority Leader Tom Delay years ago. So really no stranger to this kind of battle playing out.

Burnett: So Brianna, has the governor's office responded? Because obviously when you look at the charges here, if he were to be convicted of what this grand jury has indicted him for, he would obviously go to jail.

KEILAR: Very possibly. And so this is -- we have not heard. We are seeking response at this point. This is the indictment. It just came down. This is all very fresh and we are waiting to see what he says.

I think what we would expect, Erin, is that he and his supporters would say this is politics playing out. We are already seeing some Democrats, for instance, Congressman Joaquin Castro is urging Rick Perry to resign. So right now, we're still awaiting response. I'm sure we will be getting that very soon.

BURNETT: All right, we are awaiting that and when you get that, Brianna, obviously, we'll be going to you. Thank you so much.

And now the breaking news coverage continues here OUTFRONT, protesters in Missouri outraged over the unarmed black teen who was shot and killed by a police officer. This is a case that no matter where you are in this country who are now a bit familiar with.

Today, a new bombshell, Missouri police revealing that Michael Brown, 18 years old was a suspect in a convenience store robbery. That is Michael brown that you're looking at there. This was taped just moments before he was shot dead. About 10 minutes before according to the latest information that we have.

Police say, though, that this robbery was not why Brown was stopped. They say that the officer who shot him was not aware of the robbery. As anger builds over the case, there are major questions about exactly what happened the day Michael Brown was killed.

Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT. Tom, you have gone through painstakingly the timeline of what happened that resulted in Michael Brown being shot to death.

FOREMAN: Erin, you were hinting at it right there. The police were simultaneously connecting and disconnecting these events that happened in this northern suburb of St. Louis.

Here's how they are connecting them, by time and by Michael Brown. They are saying at 11:51 a.m., police are saying Michael Brown was in this store. He was stealing these cigars and roughing up the shop owner.

And they're saying 11:51 to 12:01, 10 minutes later, Michael Brown was on this street and it was only 10 minutes later and they're saying on that street, this is the same place that they are disconnecting it.

They are saying while Michael Brown was here just as you noted, the police officer on this same street had no idea the man he was encountering was suspected in this alleged robbery moments earlier -- Erin.

BURNETT: So the two versions then of what happened on that street are widely different based on what the police officer has said, reports of what the police chief has said reports of what, you know, the police chief has said that the police officers said to him and what witnesses had said.

Now look, they all agree Brown and his friend were walking down the street, police vehicle pulled up, conflict developed and a young man ended up dead. But they don't agree on how.

FOREMAN: They do not agree on how. Let's look at one version here. This is going to be first the version told by police. What police are saying is this officer came up here. He spoke to these young men in some fashion and they say that Brown basically came in and confronted this officer.

That he pushed the officer back into his car, striking him in some fashion that he would not have anything to do with the officer, reached in sort of fighting the officer trying to take his gun. Police say the gun went off once in the car and only then, did Brown run away.

His friend had already backed off. Did Brown run away. The officer pursued him and about 35 feet away even though Brown was unarmed, he shot him another multiple of times. He was shooting along the way here and Brown died. That's the police version.

But let me just reset this real quickly and tell you the version being told by this friend, who was along with Michael Brown and some of the other witnesses there.

They are saying they were walking here. The officer came up, cursed at them and said get on the sidewalk and when they didn't immediately comply the officer whipped his car in right in front of them and tried to open his door into Brown.

That's their account. When he hit Brown with his car door then he reached out and grabbed Brown, sort of yanking him into the car, threatening him. There was at least one gunshot according to the eyewitness.

Some others say they might have been more, but in any event at some point then, Brown started running, the officer pursued him and again the shooting happened some distance away. So very different views with very clear differences between them, Erin, of everything that happened in a very short period of time.

BURNETT: All right, Tom, thank you. So now back with us Neil Bruntrager, Paul Callan, and Natalie Jackson. Neil, let me just start with you. You just heard Tom so perfectly lay out the two different versions of the story.

Let's just assume for a second that the police officer's version is true. That would be the most -- the version most in favor of him, right? Would that version even justify the use of force under Missouri law against an unarmed person?

BRUNTRAGER: Let me very careful to say, the problem with all of this is that what we don't have now so that we can't build this into the narrative that we are talking about is we don't have the logistics. We don't have the medical examiner's report. We don't know what they did in terms of the car itself --

BURNETT: Why don't we?

BRUNTRAGER: That's a good question, but those things are not there. And they have to be done in time. There's a process that people follow in these things and again, labs do this work. It takes time to do these analysis.

There is toxicology questions. The medical examiners have to do all this work. That's not something that gets done in a week. So I have to be really careful to say, given the narrative that you have given me, which is a fairly narrow scope there.

If all I'm doing is pulling up on this young man and I'm jumping out of the car, do I have authority to discharge my weapon and use deadly force to kill him? No. But we don't know what all the other facts are. That's the problem with speculation.

JACKSON: There are three witnesses --

BURNETT: Natalie's point -- we are speculating because we don't have the information, which they are not revealing because they face part of the investigation, which is a separate question --

BRUNTRAGER: It takes time.

BURNETT: Do you agree, Paul, that it is a punt they should put the autopsy report out there? So we could see, for example, whether this young man was shot in the front or shot in the back?

CALLAN: I would like to see toxicology to find out what he had in his blood stream. I want to see all of those things and it's why and Natalie Jackson knows this because she tries cases. One of the charges a judge gives to the jury is don't make up your mind until you hear all the evidence in the case. But --

JACKSON: We are only getting the pieces of the evidence.

CALLAN: We're not the jury, Natalie. We are not the jury.

JACKSON: I'm not trying to try this case.

CALLAN: And my point is --

BURNETT: Hold on.

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: -- the citizens of Ferguson, Missouri are going through. They are being fed information piecemeal that they recognize is only beneficial to the cops. That is not fair.

CALLAN: That's simply not true.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: And Ferguson didn't --

BURNETT: And Neil, go ahead and respond.

BRUNTRAGER: Erin, let me tell you this, Ferguson is not doing the investigation. It has been removed to St. Louis County Police. That is an entirely different agency. Ferguson doesn't have the information other than they had apparently the --

JACKSON: They know.

CALLAN: What is that we don't have? We don't have the officer's statement as to --

BURNETT: Hold on -- on that point, we asked today and we confirmed that all Ferguson police officers have tasers and they have pepper spray. There are other things that this police officer theoretically could have used --

CALLAN: The police have said now that Michael Brown was somebody who had just robbed a convenience store.

BURNETT: Which they say is unrelated.

CALLAN: It's total -- it's totally related because what was going through Michael Brown's mind when the cop pulls up may have been, my God, I'm being pulled in for the robbery. So that could have caused him -- let me finish please. That would have caused him possibly to become more violent with the cop. The gun is discharged.

JACKSON: He is running away.

BURNETT: We don't know that?

JACKSON: We have three witnesses who have said so. Why are you so quick discount three witnesses?

CALLAN: The same witnesses --

JACKSON: They do not know each other or -- only one of them knows him.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: One of those witnesses, of course, was with him in the convenience store and was not honest about that.

JACKSON: What about the young lady who came out that had the same story? What I am saying is you have three eyewitnesses, who have told you what happened and who have sort of similar corroborating stories and you have the story of a local officer. Why does his story weigh more than three individual eyewitnesses?

CALLAN: Because we haven't had a trial yet. It is wrong to hang anybody --

JACKSON: This is not about trial. This is about an arrest.

CALLAN: You base an arrest on three witnesses --

JACKSON: Yes, they do it all the time.

CALLAN: That's not the way justice works in this country. BRUNTRAGER: Somewhere along the way, you have to stop and you have to look at all the information. You know, there's other things that we haven't talked about. There were 911 calls and there would have been dispatch tapes that would have at least indicated what was put out over the air.

All of those things create a footprint and those are things that you have to consider along with toxicology and medical examiner's reports. All of those things are necessary before you really understand everything.

We cannot sit here right now and say it's enough that one person has said something. Certainly, the annals of history and the law in the United States have indicated sometimes people embellish.

BURNETT: Yes, that certainly true. Thanks very much to all of you. I will say this, though, of course, they haven't released any of that information that Neil is talking about.

OUTFRONT next, we now know the name of the officer who fired the shot that killed Michael Brown. You are going to hear from one of his friends next. He's been a complete mystery until right now.

Plus, the World Health Organization says Ebola, the outbreak is much worse than thought. Why is an American doctor headed to the hot zone right now? A special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news and new revelations in the shooting of Michael Brown, the unarmed teen who sparked massive and violent protests when he was killed in Ferguson, Missouri.

Much of their frustration is focused on the videotape. This was released today. According to police, what it shows is Brown involved in a convenience store robbery. That's Brown there with the white shirt and cardinal hat, in sneakers, just moments before the deadly confrontation with the police officer, just 10 minutes before, according to the information we have.

Tonight, we actually know the name of that officer. It was released simultaneously with the video.

His name is Darren Wilson and he is 28 years old. He is a six-year police officer. He had a clean disciplinary record, we are told.

But we don't know much more about it.

Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT live in Ferguson.

Ed, who he is, what he is like, what his character is like, is going to be central to whether he goes to jail, whether he committed murder. You have an exclusive interview with a friend of Darren Wilson.

And what did he tell you? ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Obviously, this is part of the

process to get that insight, because Darren Wilson isn't speaking publicly and we spoke with a man by the name of Jake Shepard, who went to high school and played on the same hockey team with Darren Wilson. And he says that as long as he has known as Darren Wilson, that he's always been a courteous and well-mannered person. That he became a police officer because he has a big heart, and he wanted to help other people.

That in no way does he have any kind of hatefulness in his system, in his being, and that he said that the last thing he's convinced that even though he hasn't spoken to Darren Wilson since the shooting last weekend, that he's convinced, that there is no way that Darren Wilson would have wanted to ever as a police officer take someone else's life.

Listen to that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SHEPARD, FRIEND OF OFFICER WHO SHOT MICHAEL BROWN: I could never imagine him even in that situation taking someone's life. Let alone, taking someone's life with malicious intent, you know, he's just the last person on earth you would think would do something like that. I mean, it's just shocking.

I can say without speaking to Darren, without even having heard his statements that, at that moment in time he was scared for his life. I am 100 percent positive of that, because I could never imagine him even in that situation, taking someone's life, let alone taking someone's life with malicious intent, you know? He's just the last person on earth that you would think would do something like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Erin, this kind of goes with what other police officers here in Ferguson have been saying about Darren Wilson that he was a quiet person, dignified in how he went about his job. As you mentioned, he has spent the last years working as a police officer, four of those years with the Ferguson police department -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Ed Lavandera.

And OUTFRONT now, our legal analyst, Mark O'Mara. He was George Zimmerman's defense attorney.

So, Mark, when you see this, I know you got to be having some sentiments of deja vu. Yes, go ahead.

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Amazing. Just amazing the similarities.

You know, we look at what the Zimmerman case brought to the forefront and now, it's back here again. I initially said we learned lessons from the Zimmerman case, hopefully law enforcement did, but, my God, we have to look now at the way Ferguson PD did and realize what a great job Sanford Police Department actually did do not just the investigation but in handling the public outcry that came from it.

BURNETT: Certainly, that has not been something handled well in this case. I mean -- so, we don't know anything where the officers, is who shot and killed Michael Brown. Darren Wilson, 28 years old, we know his name. People that lived on the street, our Ed Lavandera went to the street where he lived. They said, look, he hasn't been there in a few days. So, you know what happened with George Zimmerman.

What happened to Darren Wilson? Is he in a witness protection program right you?

O'MARA: He pretty much has to be just like Zimmerman who could not go home because of the death threats and bounty on his head. The animosity is going to be now focused on the officer. For his own safety, he's got to be kept out of the public view just like Zimmerman who had to wear body armor and was in hiding for a year and a half. I'm not sure how anyone can protect this officer from those people who want to do them harm.

Again, it's not the general population and their anger it's meted out. It's concern we had over people who want to make a name for themselves by, you know, taking out the guy who shot Mr. Michael Brown.

BURNETT: So, who is responsible for protecting this police officer until they decide whether there are charges and whether he's arrested?

O'MARA: I think the Justice Department will probably take that on. The FBI, they are certainly involved in the investigation. They have the abilities. They have the talents and they have done it a lot before with their witness protection.

So, hopefully, the federal government will step in and help.

BURNETT: And, you know, you did defend George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case. How hard is it going to be to defend Darren Wilson? A case where -- this was in broad daylight, there were multiple shots. Four to six possibly, we've heard. How hard is it going to be to defend this?

O'MARA: I tell you, I hope whoever the defense team is, that they look closely at the Zimmerman case and maybe some learn lessons from the difficult way we handled the animus that was out there against Mr. Zimmerman, and how to deal with the sensitivities of it. The true way to handle this case is all going to be based upon the forensics.

We know that this happened in a several-second period. I don't think that it's going to come out that this officer went on a rampage to go kill a black kid that night and I don't think that Mr. Brown decided it was a time to take out a cop. It is a second by second decision and the forensics will help. When he was shot, how he was shot, people say his hands were up, if it was a close shot we're going to have forensics and stippling that might show that.

BURNETT: The stippling obviously everyone means just a little piece of chards that you would see on the front of his form showing that his hands had been up. All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate it, Mark.

O'MARA: Sure, Erin.]

BURNETT: Now, OUTFRONT next -- as the United States is pulling Americans out of West Africa over the Ebola crisis, very worried about it coming to American shores, we have the exclusive story of an American doctor who right now is going and risking her life to fight the disease.

Plus, the pope tries to reach more people by making speeches in English for the first time. So, why did he go all the way to South Korea to do it?

And wait until you see the pope mobile.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Today, the American doctor infected with Ebola speaks out. In a statement, Dr. Kent Brantly says as my treatment continues in the isolation in Emory University Hospital, I am recovering in every way. There are still a few hurdles to clear before I can be discharged.

Now, meanwhile, the World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak is worse than anybody thought. The number of cases in the death toll now top 1,100 and according to the WHO are, quote, "vastly under- estimating the crisis." Despite this, one American doctor is risking her life to fight the disease, leaving the United States and going to the epicenter of Ebola.

Alina Machado reports for OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak ever, already claiming more than 900 lives and the numbers keep growing.

(on camera): Can you stop this?

DR. AILEEN MARTY, FLU PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE: We can stop this, but like so many things, it's dependent on people believing, and human action.

MACHADO (voice-over): Dr. Aileen Marty is an infectious disease specialist and one of dozens of doctors tapped by the World Health Organization to go to the heart of the outbreak.

(on camera): Why would you leave Miami to go to a hot spot like that?

MARTY: I -- because it's my job, because it's what I do. That's what I'm trained to do.

MACHADO (voice-over): The 56-year-old knows the risks. She worked for the WHO in 2010 when she helped prevent outbreaks of communicable diseases during the World Cup in South Africa. (on camera): Are you scared?

MARTY: Of course, I am. But I think you have to have a healthy fear.

MACHADO (voice-over): A fear of the unknown.

(on camera): Have you ever seen an outbreak like this?

MARTY: Not of Ebola. This is completely out of control.

MACHADO (voice-over): She has received all of her vaccinations and stocked up on medications and prepared her family for her absence.

MARTY: It is stressful for my family. They are my family and they do know is it my nature to do what I can to be helpful. We need lot of people like myself to go out there and do this, because it's not a one-man job.

MACHADO: Dr. Marty has been sent to Nigeria, where at least three people have likely died from the disease. There, she will be treating patients and trying to figure out how to get ahead of the virus and if the worse-case scenario happens and she gets infected she hopes to have access to the same experimental drug given to Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol.

(on camera): So, you were for it 100 percent.

MARTY: For myself, absolutely. I would definitely say yes, and if these people --

MACHADO: Would you ask for it?

MARTY: Absolutely. We're not talking about something that I have a 2 percent death rate chance. You know, chance of death. I instead -- we're talking about something if I don't do something radical my chances of survival are less than 50 percent. So, under that circumstance, wouldn't you take the experimental drug?

MACHADO: It's a circumstance Dr. Marty hopes she won't have to deal with.

Alina Machado, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And also in West Africa, tonight, a story we have been following closely in this program, brutality at the hands of Boko Haram. A local Nigerian leader says at least 97 young men and boys have been kidnapped by the terror group during an attack on a village.

Twenty-eight people were killed, dozens of homes burned down in the raid. Keep in mind, this comes more than four months after nearly 300 girls were kidnapped by Boko, the majority of those girls remain missing, hundreds more have been taken since.

OUTFRONT next, the story of a thief who tried cracking the state in a very unconventional way, and he's been called a rock star. Now, the pope is looking to expand his base and he's taking selfies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Pope Francis is on the road. He's been greeted by tens of thousands in South Korea. This is the first trip by a pope in 25 years.

Today, Pope Francis led a mass at a 50,000-seat stadium and it was overflowing. Talk about a rock star. During the mass, he encouraged Koreans to resist materialism and see the things that really matter.

Paula Hancocks has been following the pontiff's pretty incredible journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dubbed the "rock star pope", the Catholics of Asia could not agree more.

Breaking away from his prepared speech on Friday, he delighted the young crowd.

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH: Are you ready to say yes? Are you ready?

(CHEERS)

HANCOCKS: This is why Pope Francis came to South Korea, only about 10 percent of the population is Catholic but the church is growing fast, and across Asia, the congregation is young.

Surrounding himself with Asian youth, there was, of course, the inevitable selfie, which the pontiff didn't seem to mind. His transport from the airport, a Kia hatch back. It had to be South Korean.

The next day, another Kia modified into a pope mobile. The open top and the wind proved a tricky combination.

POPE FRANCIS: May the Lord welcome the dead into his peace.

HANCOCKS: He offered words of simple though and hope for the parents of school children killed in South Korea's recent ferry sinking and for those who survived.

Pope Francis is making speeches in English on this trip for the first time. Officials say he's been practicing to reach more people. He called for peace and reunification for the two Koreas.

POPE FRANCIS: Korea's quest for peace is close, close to our hearts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: North Korea test-fired three short range projectiles just before the pope got here, and in a couple more after he arrived. But they say it wasn't a message to the pontiff. They say it was a celebration of independence day and North Korean Catholics were invited to a mass here on Monday. They said no, blaming upcoming U.S.-South Korean military which basically start on the same day, Erin.

BURNETT: Paula, thank you so much. Just an incredible story. The pope mobile in a Kia.

BURNETT: OUTFRONT next, a criminal not so much in disguise. He has that as a safe tied to the back of a car and in a moment, we're going to tell you who is driving the car taking the video. Jeanne Moos is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: An alleged burglar scheme to steal a safe goes south.

Here's Jeanne Moos on the so-called "clumsy crook".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This alleged burglar may not know how to crack a safe, but he apparently knows how to tow one.

DEPUTY CHIEF DWAYNE TAYLOR, SWANSBORO POLICE DEPARTMENT: When I pulled up on the scene, I was, like, you got to be kidding me.

MOOS: We think of safe crackers to be suave, like James Bond, listening for the right combination. But instead of a satisfied sigh, 22-year-old Ryan Mullins must have been grunting after police say he broke into this Swansboro, North Carolina pharmacy, through the drive through window and tried to put the safe in his trunk.

Witnesses watched him struggle.

SHAWNA MCCARTHY, WITNESS TO SAFE BURGLAR: When he could not do so, he started to tie it to his bumper.

MOOS: He drove for a couple miles, came up behind a police car, this is the dash cam view as the officer noticed in his rearview mirror that an object was being dragged. The officer let Mullins pass and caught up and arrested him. He was charged with DWI, breaking and entering in larceny, among other things. Police say he was after the controlled substances kept in the pharmacy safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stupidity.

MOOS: But at least the drugstore safe didn't wreck havoc, like the gigantic one that pummeled pursuers in the movie "Fast and Furious 5."

(on camera): Mullins has already had the honor of being inducted into a Web site called "Clumsy Crooks".

He joins the ranks of dumb suspects, the guy police say ate his bank robbery note, the purse snatcher who ran for the mall exit, ran through the mall exit, the burglar who broke in on one side of the glass door but tried to leave through the other, the thief who grabbed a diamond ring but found the store door locked so he swallowed the diamond, police just waited for his digestive system to produce the evidence.

As for the would be safe cracker --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A funny thing about people is they always put their safe behind a Renoir.

MOOS: Behind a Renoir? How about behind a 1999 Lincoln town car?

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: So, there is someone out there wearing an engagement ring that somebody popped out.

All right. Wolf Blitzer starts right now for "AC360".