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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Another Night of Protests; Missouri Governor Orders More Guardsmen to Ferguson

Aired November 26, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Breaking news: another night of protests in Ferguson. A night after businesses were torched to the ground, a dozen of them. The community outraged after Officer Darren Wilson was not indicted for killing Michael Brown, a sense that no justice was served. We are live.

The protesters spread from coast to coast. Demonstrators marching from New York to L.A., dozens arrested. We're going to show you what's going on.

Welcome back, everyone to EARLY START. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for John Berman and Christine Romans. It is now 30 minutes past the hour. We begin with breaking news in Ferguson, Missouri, where there was another night of protests and violence.

Demonstrators torching a police car, pepper spray filling the air to disperse the crowds. Police making 44 arrests overnight, but with some 2,200 National Guard troops all over Ferguson. The situation was significantly different.

Chris Cuomo is standing by live for us in Ferguson. Chris, police initially underestimated the level of violence that was going to take place. They did not repeat the mistake last night. What was the mood there yesterday?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Much bigger numbers, much more aggressive tactics, Deb. That's what I'd say. The National Guard was out doing what we were originally told by the governor that they would do which is to protect property.

They're out in vulnerable areas like municipal buildings and police and fire department, and when something happened instead of waiting to see if a situation would build, they were very aggressive early, making arrest to try to stop little things from becoming big things.

While the quantity of what we saw last night was less, the quality was the same, meaning that the unrest, the feelings of disenfranchisement, of desperation, of anger are still very real here and perhaps even more so than the first night. Because as the reality is setting in, it's starting to really make people feel here that there's a legitimate question as to whether or not there is any hope that things will get better.

FEYERICK: You know, it's so interesting, because initially, police over the summer were criticized for using excessive force, too much force. Then on the first night, they believe that having had conversations with the community, that the protests would -- it would not be a cakewalk, but certainly more modified.

Do you think last night, they found a comfortable balance between what happened in the summer and then what happened immediately after no indictment was issued?

CUOMO: You know, Deb, look, it's a good question and it's hard to know the answer because the nights change. Every situation is different. But here's what we do know, this is unsustainable. This is not the way this community can function. It's not a community at all, right now. It's us and them.

Those are the only two pronouns that you hear out there. There is no "we." So you have to get pass this. You need leadership, it's not about figuring out the right way to stop them from destroying the city.

It's the right way to calm the need for that level of outrage and to channel it to something else. That's what missing, leadership on the grounds. I see local clergy. I see people of conscience out there. I do not elected leaders in a numbers that you would expect in a situation like this that you usually see in a major situation like this.

It's not a major city, you know, Ferguson's only 21,000 people. Now you have this other layer of this. Everybody had been wanting to see Officer Wilson's story get tested that was the push for justice.

They wanted to see a trial. They're not going to get it. Now, the interview comes out and the officer gives his story. And it seems as though it's been largely unchecked and accepted as true because he said it and that is certainly fermenting tension as you see around the country.

FEYERICK: Yes, absolutely. And let's take a listen as to what Wilson said about Brown having his hands up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARREN WILSON, FERGUSON POLICE OFFICER: When he stopped and turned and faced me. When he does that his right hand immediately goes had his waistband and left hand is a fist, and he starts charging me.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: What do you think?

WILSON: I didn't know. I mean, my initial thought was, is there a weapon in there?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Even though he hadn't pulled something out earlier when he was confronting you.

WILSON: It was still just the unknown. And again, we're taught to let me see your hands.

STEPHANOPOULOS: As you know, some of the eyewitnesses have said at that moment when he turned around, he turned around and put his hands up.

WILSON: That would be incorrect. Incorrect.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No way?

WILSON: No way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: So Chris, as a lawyer, how would you have cross examined him on that one question, quickly?

CUOMO: Well, look, it is hard to deal with his recollection. Where did you see the hands? Why did you do it? What was it facing? You know, why did you think what you thought at the moment? A lot of that would be dismissed as his acting at the moment.

But he did decide to pursue whether it was duty or not. His perceptions of whether or not he was going to die at the car from another punch given his injuries. Every step of it goes through the choices that were made and why they were necessary and why he has the reasonable fears that he says he did.

Here's the larger problem here, OK? You have the need to test it, but you also have what the function of the system was. Many people feel, legal and lay people that grand jury operated as a trial jury here and decided, well, there's not enough for him to be convicted.

And that the prosecutor wasn't doing what they usually do, which is he says he didn't put his hands up, he was charging, he had to shoot. Other people say he did have his hands up, he didn't charge and he got shot anyway.

That's called probable cause that a crime was committed, conflicting stories. Otherwise, it means that only officer was found as credible and everybody else is not credible on that issue --

FEYERICK: There's a lot of evidence and the prosecutor was very clear to point out that the witnesses who were most credible are the ones whose statements matched up with the physical evidence. All right, Chris, we know you have a lot more coming up at the top of the hour. So we are going to let you go to prepare for that.

Now, we are going to switch. We're joined by Pastor Robert White. He is with the Peace of Mind Church of Happiness in Ferguson. Good morning, Pastor White. We spoke to you yesterday. A very different night last night, what do you think changed?

ROBERT WHITE, PEACE OF MIND CHURCH OF HAPPINESS: Well, I don't know what changed, but I do know that the citizens of this state, particularly in this area are sick and tired as being test dummies for our commander in chief. If you look at what he said in August when the first state of emergency was given. He said this is a test.

Well, this test is continuously failing and it's failing at the expense of the citizens of this community. When are we going to be shown the training and tools and techniques that the commander in chief, Governor Nixon is performing, to make sure that our citizens are safe.

Every night there's a different plan. Every night there's a different test being fulfilled on our citizens and we're sick and tired of it.

FEYERICK: Pastor, you were out there with a number of people, you were trying to maintain the peace. Were you surprised and perhaps disappointed having put so much effort in preventing violence that in fact that's exactly what happened?

WHITE: Well, absolutely. And let me just say this, continuously, we are not condoning the violence. We're not condoning the looting and rioting and the tearing up of our community. In fact, we've met with those who have made known that that's what their attempt would be during this time.

But what we also need say partnership with our governor. With our mayors and with our chiefs and captains, so that we can work together to prevent as much as we possibly can. But what we also have to understand is the citizens of this neighborhood are sick and tired of being pushed into the corner, not allowing our voices to be heard.

And to be told that we are doing what we are trained to do. What type of training is being taken place that a young man is constantly being killed at the hands of officers following this training?

FEYERICK: And just in terms of the businesses that were burn to the ground and the looting and the rioting and all of that, there have been suggestions that in fact those people are going to be found. They're going to be tried, and if guilty, they're going to go to prison.

Do you think that is the right response? Do you think those responsible for this violence, whether it be in grief, whether it be -- whatever the motive, do you think that they should be tried and imprisoned if in fact they're guilty?

WHITE: As a law abiding citizens of this great country, we expect all criminals be brought to justice. We just wish that Darren Wilson would be brought to justice. Of course, those damaging property be brought to justice and tried, but policing the facts, by not police before the facts.

We had information that certain businesses were going to be bombed. Why didn't police protect those businesses? We were told that they had a plan over and over again. Well, if this is the plan that we had in mind, why is it that these businesses in the black part of this community were burned to the ground and as we're leaving yesterday are still burning. What type of plan is that?

FEYERICK: You as a community leader, what do you think you will do to work with the community to make sure they're also doing their part? Because it's got to be hand in glove with law enforcement and other community members, otherwise, it doesn't work? There's got to be personal responsibility.

WHITE: Absolutely, in talking with the so-called leaders our job is to go and talk to the community and make sure with Dr. King and others proclaim, and that the nonviolent approach to be able to get our rights. So we're going to talk to them with whatever we have been doing to continue to push nonviolence so our voices can be heard.

We want to emulate what our sister cities in Philadelphia and L.A. have done, to move through the streets in a nonviolent way to be heard. That's what we're out here as clergymen and as tax paying citizens we want to be able to speak and protest and do that freely.

FEYERICK: Pastor White, thank you so much. I know a lot of citizens there who have demonstrated peacefully are grateful for your presence and the presence of all the clergymen who have been out in Ferguson the last few days and months. Thank you.

WHITE: Thank you, Deb.

FEYERICK: And the events in Ferguson Monday sparking protests across the country overnight. In New York City, gridlock, people protesting the grand jury decision in Ferguson, shutting down traffic in Lower Manhattan and also in Times Square. You can see the buses there stalled.

Demonstrators holding signs reading "we will not silent, a badge is not a license to kill." protesters tried to walk into the Lincoln tunnel that connects Manhattan with New Jersey. They were turned back with police.

We'd like to make a quick correction to a story from last hour. We said it was Brown family Ben Crump who told Don Lemon that outbursts played no role in ensuing arrests. That was incorrect. It was a different attorney for the Browns, Darryl Parks, who said that. We apologize for the misstatement.

Much more on the breaking coverage in the protests in Ferguson and across the nation.

Plus, we're going to look at a winter storm that are going to create headaches for millions of people who are now told that their planes aren't flying heading out for the Thanksgiving holiday. What you need to know.

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FEYERICK: Ferguson is still a powder keg this morning after a second night of protests. Many things are calmer than the night before. Police had to use tear gas for a car set on fire outside of city hall after a police car was set on fire. We are told that most of the windows in city hall were smashed. More than 2,000 National Guardsmen kept it in calm.

Stephanie Elam is standing by in Ferguson. Stephanie, 44 people arrested. The majority of them misdemeanors but there were two felonies. What do you see of the arrests?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I watched some of them happen, deb, outside of Ferguson police station. We saw people arrested here. Some of them just not moving out of the way fast enough.

But what we've also seen other nights is that you'll see people being arrested because they're demonstrating then you'll find out that there's something else, and that's the reason they're arrested, all in all, a much more peaceful night. There was one police cruiser that was torched here tonight.

But this section is where you saw most of the people and if you went to West Florissant where I was the previous night and last night as well, it was all blocked off. There was no one down there.

That's the street where you saw the fires and looting and mayhem earlier in the evening two nights ago. There was no one it there. So that presence that we expected, deb, really showing up in force last night.

FEYERICK: Stephanie Elam for us. Thank you very much. Police did confiscate a .9-millimeter and Molotov cocktails and other things thrown. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY."

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, Michaela and I are covering home base. Chris is live in Ferguson covering the protests and the aftermath there and all over the country. Police are trying to get the situation under control as response builds to the first interview with Officer Darren Wilson. We are getting closer to peace or is it more of the same? We'll bring it all to you live.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": The community certainly does need to heal. We know it's a very long process, but how it can begin and how can it be productive? There are so many conversations that need to be had.

We're going to bring in local leaders and local officials to talk about what is next in Ferguson and what is next beyond Ferguson. Chris Cuomo is going to lead our coverage from Ferguson when "NEW DAY" begins at the top of the hour -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: All right, thanks so much, looking forward to it.

And much more on Ferguson, but we're also tracking a major storm that could impact Thanksgiving travel for millions of people. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FEYERICK: And a second night of angry demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri. Protests did start out peacefully, but then got a little agitated and torque a turn towards violence. Demonstrators broke out the window of a police car and then they lit it on fire.

The anger spread to other cities including Boston. Over 1,400 demonstrators were outside police headquarters in Roxbury before marching to the Massachusetts turnpike in Southeast Expressway.

Police made dozens of arrests trying to turn everybody away from getting on to the highway. We'll get right back to the breaking Ferguson coverage in just a moment, but first, all of you traveling want to take a look at that big story, a major storm hitting the east coast.

That's going to affect Thanksgiving travel for millions of you. Pack up your bags and get out. Let's get to Indra Petersons live at LaGuardia Airport in New York. You are watching this like moment by moment.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Literally moment by moment. You can see the board here behind me and this is probably the best it's going to be all day. Notice all arrivals and departures right now LaGuardia on time. We know it's not expected to stay that way.

In fact, many flights are already cancelled ahead of the storm that we know is moving in. In fact, 30 million of us in the northeast are going to be threatened by winter weather today.

Let's take a look at the snow totals here. It's all the major cities. We are talking about the major airport hubs, Philadelphia, Boston, D.C., New York City, all looking for a huge change in the weather pattern really in just the next few hours.

The totals in the big cities themselves, Boston, New York City, about 3 to 6 inches, they're not the heaviest total. You go farther inland, you're talking 8 feet of snow. Same thing in Northern New England, other places 6 to 10 inches of snowfall so a lot expected to change today literally hour by hour.

Right now, we're talking about rain. New York City, it is 50 degrees right now. It's expected to get colder by the hour. In fact, about 10 a.m. or so, temperatures are dropping to the 30s. That is the critical point.

It say race to get out before the rain switches over to snow. If you're in D.C., New York City, about 10:00 a.m. before you get that wintry mix by nightfall. Boston, a little farther north, 1:00 p.m., keep in mind if you're driving the I-95 corridor. It's almost like a dividing line.

To the east, we're talking mostly rain. Right to the west of you, heavy amounts of snowfall. Prepare for that. Do not get caught up in your car. A lot of dangerous travel on the roads today. The only good news, Thanksgiving Day parade unlike last year not looking for strong winds at least the balloons will be flying -- Deb. FEYERICK: You're already right on your forecast, a lot of people hoping that you're not going to be right. Probably like you, since you're on a plane in the next few hours. Happy Thanksgiving, boy, let's hope they take off.

PETERSONS: I'm never afraid to be wrong, Deb.

FEYERICK: Indra Petersons, thank you so much.

And we are following the latest protests around the country and in Ferguson. More ahead.

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FEYERICK: So much more to cover about the protests and the mood and how Ferguson will rebuild. Protests all across the country, plus reaction to Officer Wilson's first interview, "NEW DAY" has all of that and more starting right now.