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The Shooting Death of 18-year-old Near Ferguson, Missouri; Was North Korean Internet Hacked?

Aired December 24, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, I'm Randi Kaye in for Carol Costello, thanks so much for joining me.

Chaos near Ferguson, Missouri again, this time over the shooting death of 18-year-old Antonio Martin. Watch carefully here. According to police, this surveillance video shows Martin pointing a gun at an officer during a routine search at a gas station. Officials say the officer fired multiple shots at the victim out of self-defense.

Meanwhile, officers are still looking for a person of interest who they say got away. Let's bring in Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal. She's live this morning from Berkeley, Missouri, where that shooting took place. Good morning to you. First, set the scene for us, if you can. I mean what are you hearing from officials there on the ground about this latest shooting?

MARIA CHAPPELLE-NADAL, MISSOURI STATE SENATOR: Well, here's what I have to say first. There are three commonalities in this case. One, the unfortunate death of another young African-American man. Number two, there are officers who were not wearing their body cameras. And number three, the definition of deadly force in the state of Missouri has yet failed this community again.

But after that, the narrative changes. This is a situation where a young man had an illegal gun and pointed it at a police officer and that is certainly not acceptable. So we now have to start asking the question who knew that this young man had a gun illegally?

KAYE: And let's talk about the body cameras that you mentioned. I mean from what we understand from police, he wasn't issued it at roll call, it was delivered to him, the officer, during his shift. He clipped it somewhere inside his vehicle. How critical is it, do you think, that these officers do wear these body cams?

CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Well, first of all, I have to say that body cameras are important not only for victims but also for police officers. They need to be protected as well as victims from being blamed for something that is not right and so in this circumstance had the police officer worn his body camera, then we would have known what actually happened. Luckily there is video that shows that there's a young man with an illegal gun pointing it at the police officer and the police officer had to respond. KAYE: Let me keep you here because the presser there, the press

conference has just started where we're hoping to get some new information on this shooting. So stick with us. Let's listen in for just a moment.

MAYOR THEODORE HOSKINS (D) BERKELEY, MISSOURI: The city of Berkeley will be doing the investigation along with the St. Louis -- in parallel with the St. Louis County. And our overall, our goal is to project the truth to the residents. Because the first thing occurred last night was, and when I got there we are all saying the same thing is a white policeman killing a black young man. So when does this stop? And I can assure you, that did not happen last night. We had a policeman responding to a call protecting the residents of the city of Berkeley and the call came through the dispatch office in reference to this young man was shoplifting. When the officer came there, the video shows that the thief pointed a gun that has been recovered at the officer and I think that the officer because he stumbled might have saved his life. Because when he stumbled and had the chance to fire and take this young man's life, he was fortunate (ph) enough in his stumble that one shot was necessary to take his life.

So the St. Louis County now is doing their investigation. City of Berkeley is doing its independent investigation and we don't want to jump ahead and provide to you with some information that later, similar to the Ferguson, we have to retract. So, what we're going to do now, city of Berkeley police Department will be doing this investigation independently from St. Louis County, OK? And let me first thank all of the cities that responded last night to protect the property. Because if call 1000 - and they had not responded, a quick trip probably would not be standing today and because of their quick reaction of going over to protect that, the city of Berkeley is grateful for what those officers - you know, officers put their life on the line every day and we are proud of that. So, with that, we'd like to ask if any one of you would like to ask a question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

HOSKINS: Can you please say that again, sir? Do you mind? Your name and who you're representing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

HOSKINS: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). It sounds from your brief statements that you appear to be saying they were justified in the action? Or the conduct of the police officer?

HOSKINS: We are presently in an investigative state. We haven't made a decision. As I indicated, we reviewed the video and it appears that there was a gun pointed at the officer before the officer fired. But we've got to complete our investigation before we take a position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

HOSKINS: Please. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you say that this can't be compared to what happened in New York City, can't be compared to what happened across the road in Ferguson ...

HOSKINS: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you expand on that? What do you mean by that?

HOSKINS: Well, first of all we are a majority of black officers in our city. OK? The mayor is black, city manager is black, the finance director is black, the police chief is black. In a city that's 85 percent black, we have a majority police department. So our experience is different from a city that has 50 out of 53 police officers. Our police officers are more sensitive and it's because of the black-and-white relationship and because they interact and there's a majority of black policemen so you get a better understanding. That's why I believe we're different from the city of Ferguson in addition there was no video in the city of Ferguson. Any other?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would that mean, sir? I'm sorry. Let me just follow up. That means that - are you concerned with what the dash cam wasn't turned on and that the body cam wasn't in place?

HOSKINS: No, I'm not concerned at this point. That's relatively new. In reference to the body, we are in the process of trying to implement that - we only have three, so if it had been six months from today and we've gone through all of the training I would have some concerns but since it's relatively new, no. And because we have a video that indicates basically probably what the body camera would have caught or the dash camera would have indicated, I don't have no problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surely that would have been helpful.

HOSKINS: It would have been - it would have been helpful. And in the future when we get well trained there will be severe penalties for any officers that doesn't turn it on. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Public Radio.

HOSKINS: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from St. Louis public radio.

HOSKINS: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm curious what you've learned from what happened (INAUDIBLE) in Ferguson and what you might do in the future?

HOSKINS: I haven't learned anything. All protests are different. Last night everybody -- you would have thought I was in Ferguson again. There is this jump to conclusion that all policemen are guilty. And we all know 80, 95 percent of our policemen serve our community well. So jumping to conclusion before investigating is not acceptable. I have some fine officers in our police department that I can assure you in their investigation it was thorough and to the point. Yes. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

HOSKINS: Well, as I indicated, we're not jumping to the conclusion. We have not completed our thorough investigation. You know, from the naked eye and from a layman such as yourself and looking at that maybe you cannot determine, but we intend to have an expert evaluate that video.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

HOSKINS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

HOSKINS: No, no, no. The call came in that an individual was shoplifting, OK? And when the officer responded these two individuals approached him. OK? Any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mentioned that your police department is majority African-American?

HOSKINS: Yes, it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many officers do you have (INAUDIBLE).

HOSKINS: 31. The last time I looked we had 31. It was 17, 18 African-American.

KAYE: All right, you've been listening there to a press conference by the mayor there in Berkeley, the site of another police shooting late last night in Berkeley, Missouri. Let me bring back in Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Missouri state senator, who is there in Berkeley for us this morning. Maria, you've been listening to that press conference along with us, the mayor saying there that the officer may have actually saved his life by shooting this man. Can you tell me what you think -- how you think that's going to sit with the community there?

All right, she might still be listening to the press conference there. We will get back to Maria Chappelle-Nadal if we can as soon as we can. In the meantime, we'll take a very quick break and we'll be right back. Oh, I'm told she's good. OK, Maria, let me get back to you on this, you've been listening to the press conference there with me. You heard the mayor there say that the officer may have saved his life, actually by shooting this man. How do you think that's going to play in the community?

CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Well, I have to tell you that the community needs to understand that this is a different narrative. This is not an Eric Garner situation. It is not a Michael Brown situation, but for a young African-American man dying. This is a different narrative in that he had a gun. And the police officer not only had to protect himself, but also protect his community and that's why we do have police officers who service all of everyone who is in this community, and so we didn't want anything to happen and I think that the police officer in this situation did the best job that he could, although he should have had a body camera on and it should have been on.

KAYE: All right. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, thank you very much. Appreciate your insight there as well. We'll take a very quick break and be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a sound system in here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no, no, no. Don't - don't touch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katy Perry? I've never heard this before in my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love Katy Perry!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?

(LAUGHTER)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Oh, boy, the clips, they just keep getting better. Just into CNN, YouTube has tentatively agreed to release "The Interview." Yes, that is big news. CNN's senior media correspondent, host of "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter is here with me along with CNN legal analyst Paul Callan.

All right, so you're just getting this news on this. Breaking this news here for us. What do you know about the deal?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an extraordinary moment because we've never seen a big Hollywood studio release a movie in living rooms on the same day it comes out in theaters, but that's what Sony is intending to do here. And all of my sources are now telling me that YouTube has tentatively agreed to do it. And I say tentatively because this deal could still fall apart. Yesterday Sony was close to a deal with Apple for the iTunes store, then that deal fell apart, but this one does seem much closer to completion. And by the way, YouTube won't be the only one. Sony would like to have other partners put this film on line as well in a rental form, so that, you know, you probably have to pay ten or maybe even more dollars to watch it, but that's the same amount you might pay to go to the movie theater to watch it.

KAYE: So, but that's the question before I bring Paul in. I mean that's a lot of people are going to - YouTube, hey can actually charge to watch something?

STELTER: You know, people aren't really aware of this. But a couple of years ago YouTube started to try out movie rentals on the servers. You can rent TV shows and movies in the same way that you can on iTunes, for example. It's not the most popular thing, a lot of people don't know it was there, but this will be a big test for YouTube to see if they can have this reach a wide audience. And of course, this is the way for Sony to recoup some of the money that they've invested in this movie. It will be in theaters, but it will also be available online as long as this deal goes through.

KAYE: So, Paul, what do you make of this?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think it's fascinating. Actually, if North Korea gets their Internet up and running, Kim Jong-un can actually watch the movie in North Korea now.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: I'm not sure he would, but OK.

CALLAN: Yes. But I mean what lawyers will be looking at and what I find to be kind of fascinating about this is all of this is governed by contractual agreements between the distributors and the makers of the movie. And this is changing how that works now because bear in mind the theaters never want an early distribution because who is going to go to the movies if you can get it at home on YouTube?

So, I'm thinking Sony must have negotiated with its distribution chain because they would have to get a waiver of contractual rights. But, of course, the distributors were saying we don't want to play it in the movies because we're afraid mothers won't bring their kids because there's a Disney film in the next theater. So, I think it kind of was in everybody's interest to do this and if it works out I think it's a great solution.

STELTER: My impression is that when Sony went to these independent theater owners on Monday and Tuesday and said "Do you want to play the movie on Christmas?" as we now know about 300 said yes. Sony told them at the time we're also going to release it online so they wouldn't be surprised by it. The big theater chains, you know, the AMCs and Regals, they are opposed at this. They don't want this to happen. Because this might be a ground breaking moment where more films can come out at the same time in theaters and online.

CALLAN: And I think, Brian, you know, the thing that I like about it is, it preserves First Amendment rights in the United States and it sends a message abroad yeah, you can try to threaten us but we have distribution chains.

The message will get out to the America.

STELTER: So, this is Google doing this. You know, this is one of the bigger companies in the world doing it. If anybody can withstand threats from hackers or more cyber-attacks it's Google.

KAYE: But that's the thing. That's what I was going to ask you about. If, you know, North Korea we know it's having a lot of trouble on the Internet. Maybe they're blaming the U.S. for this. Should we be concerned about somebody hacking into Google or hacking into YouTube and then ruining the fun for everybody? STELTER: That's definitely been the concern. One of the other potential partners here told me they didn't want to go it alone, they didn't want to be the only ones to step up to the plate and help Sony because they would seem vulnerable. I do think we will eventually - we'll have more partners so it's not just YouTube doing this. If that deal go through. It will be others as well.

CALLAN: And Randi, there is a larger question here that we are going to have to deal with eventually, and that is when a thief in the night steals your information, as happened with Sony. Is it right to publicize the information, the stolen information? And American law hasn't caught up with this concept in terms of the Internet, and I think we're going to have to. Because big companies are going to get data stolen. Individuals are going to have their data stolen and we have got to find a way to discourage people from doing that.

STELTER: The hackers did say that if this film ever saw the light of day, then they would release more of that stolen information. Well, now this film is about to see the light of day.

CALLAN: And they were talking about a Christmas surprise, as you will recall ...

STELTER: Right.

CALLAN: ... which I think still hasn't been revealed as to what that Christmas surprise is.

KAYE: And do you have concerns at all about it being shown in the theaters?

CALLAN: No, I don't. Because I think that there will be adequate security. We've already had information that suggests that the government, the U.S. government, doesn't think it's a realistic terrorist threat. So, I think it's an idle threat just to panic the American public and try to diminish movie going at the holiday season which, of course, is the biggest season of the year.

STELTER: The bigger part.

KAYE: Yeah.

STELTER: And Sony has been coordinating with the White House. They've been in close touch for the past few days to assure the White House about their plans and the White House, they liked their strategy here to release the movie in theaters.

KAYE: Amazing. It's really exciting that it's going to be on YouTube. We'll see what happens.

All right, thank you both, appreciate that.

CALLAN: Thank you.

KAYE: Still to come, let the Grinch jokes begin. UPS and FedEx announcing they're not going to deliver all the packages this Christmas? The gifts that won't be making it under the tree. And who the companies are blaming coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Was this year's Christmas crunch time just a little too much for UPS and FedEx? The companies announcing this morning that they might be limiting some of their package deliveries. Insert your Grinch jokes here right now. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. And Alison, I know it's been a great morning there, you're going to get to that in just a moment. But first, what's up with the packages?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, so, if you've waited until now to shop for holiday gifts the reality is you may be out of luck because UPS and FedEx are recognizing they're not supermen. So over the past several days what's been happening is there have been a lot of packages, a lot of volume going on and these companies have put a cap, have put a limit on how much they can deliver by Christmas. Now, FedEx told us that way in advance what they wound up doing is working with its retail and online customers to try to understand what their needs would be but the "Wall Street Journal" also says that these delivery companies also want retailers to plan ahead and not to promise customers the moon and the stars as far as deliveries go last minute.

Especially after getting burned last year because what happened last year was UPS couldn't handle the volume of air packages because it makes the bad weather and an overload of packages so many gifts didn't make it under the tree in time. So in an effort not to have a repeat of last year, what delivery companies are doing, they're sticking to their guns. They're sticking to their negotiated deals with retailers so expectations are met. So I guess the advice is if you waited until the last minute, I wouldn't expect your gifts to get there on time, I think I'd call them up with an IOU.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: Those procrastinators are in trouble for sure. How is the morning going there?

KOSIK: It looks like the holiday cheer, Randi, is rolling on as the Dow is continuing its run past 18,000. Dow up 51 points. This is the first time, yesterday, actually, that the Dow hit that 18,000 level, a stronger-than-expected report on economic growth got the Dow to that milestone. Randi?

KAYE: All right, Alison, I'm sure you have big plans for the holidays, I certainly hope that your packages get there on time. Thanks so much, have a great holiday, a great day today and thank you, everybody, for joining me today. I'm Randi Kaye in for Carol Costello. I hope you have a wonderful holiday. "At This Hour" starts right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Another police shooting just two miles from Ferguson, Missouri. A teenager dead at a gas station. Only this time police say he was pointing a gun straight at an officer of the law. We are there with the latest.

It is a holiday travel mess throughout a good portion of the United States. But just how bad is it where you are? Stay with me, you're going to find out.

And George H., George Herbert Walker Bush hospitalized.