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LAPD Shooting; Netanyahu on Iran; U.S. & Israel; Cleveland Responds to Lawsuit

Aired March 02, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Brooke Baldwin.

We begin with a video that is intense and disturbing. It shows nearly half a dozen Los Angeles police officers surrounding a homeless man on the city's infamous skid row. Investigators say he was a robbery suspect. A scuffle ensues. There is a tasing. What happens next is chaotic and ultimately deadly. The suspect is shot to death in broad daylight. It was all caught on tape. And we're going to show you what happened. But I have to warn you, you might find this disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) tase. You all got a Taser. Why you all shoot that man?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just killed that man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just (EXPLETIVE DELETED) man like that. There's nine (EXPLETIVE DELETED) police out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to record this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Ain't nobody got (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Yes. Ain't nobody -- they just shot that man right here, man. Just shot that mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) man right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Five shots were fired. The incident now under the microscope. An investigation is underway. I want to bring in CNN's Stephanie Elam following the latest developments.

Stephanie, the LAPD says that victim reached for an officer's gun. Is that right?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is what we're hearing, Ana. And this investigation does continue because when you watch this video, you can see that there are six officers that are there, two that become involved with a woman who picks up a baton on the street that one of the officers lost. And then you see the other four officers behind that with this man and you hear a lot of yelling, a lot of arguing going on about a gun. And then you hear those five shots that are fired. So they're saying - what they're saying is that the officers, one of them at least, said that the man on the ground was reaching for their gun and then that is what led to this - the officers to then go ahead and use their firearm after trying to tase the man several times, the police department is saying, before he would go down. He was not responding to that and that's when they moved to lethal force, Ana.

CABRERA: You mention the Taser being used, but a lot of people are asking, with so many officers involved, couldn't there have been a less lethal force used to subdue this man? How are investigators responding to that?

ELAM: That is a question that keeps coming up. If you have what looks like four officers there, three of whom we understand actually used their weapon, shot their firearms, why couldn't they just -- why were they not able to subdue him? Now, one other thing I can tell you about this video, in the very beginning of it, you can see the man actually swinging at the police officers there. It's middle of the day. It's broad daylight on Sunday when this happened. So it wasn't like anything was absconded or you couldn't see what was happening there. But this is the reason why I think you're seeing a lot of attention played to this video is because there has been a movement in the country as we know when you look back to Ferguson over police brutality and whether or not there's been too much excessive force being used, and that is why this issue is coming up again. You're seeing with this story, although this one is different than what we saw in Ferguson from what we can tell right now.

CABRERA: Yes, it's early in the investigation. Stephanie Elam, you're on top of it for us. Thank you.

Now, after this deadly shooting, one of the officers was then heckled as he approached bystanders to push them back. He was slammed with a barrage of insults. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the one that killed him right there. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). That's the one. The black (EXPLETIVE DELETED) killed him right here. The black (EXPLETIVE DELETED) right here. The black (EXPLETIVE DELETED) killed him right there, yes. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (EXPLETIVE DELETED). He killed him. He killed him (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why you saying he killed him? Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) the black man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you back up? Can you back up? Can you back up (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Take the gun off (EXPLETIVE DELETED). They got a man laying down there. He's dead as a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I understand it's probably hard to make out what's being said. A lot of bleeping because of many swear words that are used, but you do hear them tell that officer, "you're a sellout." that officer, an African-American man, many accusing that officer of being the one who killed the homeless man. Joining us to continue the discussion here is former Missouri Police Officer Rashid Abdul-Salaam.

Now, Rashid, thanks for being here. The officer in this video under a huge amount of stress and pressure I would imagine.

RASHID ABDUL-SALAAM, FORMER MISSOURI POLICE OFFICER: Oh, totally. And that's to be expected. You know, it's going to be an emotional, explosive-type situation. However, this is the time that the officers and everyone involved that are professionals need to fall back on their training and these officers would have gone through situational training where they were, you know, attacked and belittled and received a barrage of heckling in their situational training. So this is a time for you to just remember your training, suppress your emotions, stay calm, and then just go forward based on your knowledge and your experience.

CABRERA: And based on your experience, and what you are witnessing in this video -- while we don't have all the answers and know exactly what's transpiring -- what do you see?

ABDUL-SALAAM: Well, what I see initially is, is that first you see two officers coming in contact with the individual, which is actually proper, because in defense-type tactics or in tactics where you're trying to arrest a subject, you're taught in your training how to defend yourself one-on-one. Then if it escalates and there are other officers around to support you, then another officer joins and then another as it progresses that way.

But by no means should all the officers converge on a situation without properly assessing it and give the appearance that there's like a pack or a gang because at that point no one's in control. So what we have to do is, we have to look at this frame-by-frame and see what were the actions of the officers and see if those actions mimic the training that they received.

CABRERA: Would you have done anything differently in this circumstance? ABDUL-SALAAM: Well, I mean, it's hard to say that. You know, this is

4,000 miles away. It's a totally different situation or scenario. And it's not -- it wouldn't be proper for me to be an armchair quarterback to say what I would have done differently. However, we -- when we're evaluating these type of situations, the fair tool that you use to gauge or to come to a summary of what should have been done is based on what was the training in these type of scenarios. So you start talking about --

CABRERA: And perhaps what you know going into that scene. Again, we mentioned at the top that there had reportedly been a robbery. This is happening on skid row, which we understand is a transitional neighborhood now. But how might the location and the circumstances have played a role and then what later transpired?

ABDUL-SALAAM: Oh, it definitely plays a role. And we would be naive and we would be, you know, disingenuous to think that it doesn't affect an officer's mindset going into a scenario like that. They're going to go into that scenario with a different mindset than they would Beverly Hills. That's for certain. And this is something that director -- FBI Director Comey touched on last week, a couple of weeks ago, when he addressed the nation's police officers about looking deep inside trying to gather ourselves and to remove the element of cynicism as we approach practicing our jobs. So it would be disingenuous to say that it doesn't affect them, that the people involved, the location and the area and those type of demographics.

CABRERA: I want to bring in Eugene O'Donnell, former NYPD officer, into the conversation here.

Eugene, based on what you have seen in this video, what's your take?

EUGENE O'DONNELL, FORMER NYPD OFFICER: Well, the cops are thinking worst-case scenario, of course. There's a robbery call, which is the top of the violence pantheon. They get there. They're being fought with actively by somebody. They try to use nonlethal weaponry. That's unsuccessful. There's -- it sounds like there's information floating around in the air about a gun. Somebody's yelling things about a gun. So you can imagine in the police business this is at the very top of the concern level for cops about whether this will end lethally for them or somebody else.

CABRERA: The Los Angeles police commander has been trying to seemingly get out in front of this. He sat down with our Sara Sidner last night. Police just held a news conference. How do you rate the response by officials in terms of their communication with the public?

O'DONNELL: I think they're doing fine. They're getting the information out. The video is there. As a prosecutor, I've investigated these cases and I do know that invaluably are the accounts of the people in the neighborhood who will have seen this.

So -- and I also know that often when you jump to conclusion, those conclusions are wrong because the facts will turn out to be different than they initially appear. But just on the basis of what you can see on the video, which is somewhat of -- less than a full picture, the officers seem to do everything they possibly could here not to have this end badly. It's a very unusual situation. Any cop will tell you to arrive on the scene and have a full-frontal assault directed at you, which is what's captured on this video.

CABRERA: All right. Well, I appreciate both of you. Eugene O'Donnell and Rashid Abdul-Salaam, thank you so much for joining us.

Up next, after weeks of debate, it is finally here. But as Israel's prime minister gets ready to address Congress with a controversial speech, he just had a warmup laying out his thoughts on President Obama and the Iranian nuclear deal.

Plus, the battle for Saddam Hussein's hometown in what could be Iraq's biggest test since ISIS forces arrived. And, right now they're waging an assault to take back this key city.

And, mystery in Russia. Who assassinated one of Vladimir Putin's biggest critics? You're about to hear from the girlfriend, the woman who was walking with Boris Nemtsov when he was fatally shot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: In less than 24 hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a rare and controversial speech to Congress to try to derail U.S. support of a nuclear deal with Iran. And this is happening as Reuters is just reporting that Iran is being, quote, "slow to cooperate" with the nuclear inspectors. Now, today, Netanyahu began making his case before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, this is the pro-Israel group, and one of the most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill.

Now, Netanyahu, who is up for re-election in just a couple of weeks, received a victor's reception of sorts when he walked on to the AIPAC stage. Watch. Right away, though, Netanyahu acknowledged the elephant in the room, his strained relationship with the White House and the fact that he won't be seeing President Obama or even talking to him during this visit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both.

Iran envelops the entire world with its tentacles of terror. This is what Iran is doing now without nuclear weapons. Imagine what Iran would do with nuclear weapons. And this same Iran vows to annihilate Israel. If it develops nuclear weapons, it would have the means to achieve that goal. We must not let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, joining me now. She's been traveling with Netanyahu.

I know you were in the crowd of the 60,000 or so hearing the prime minister speak. Elise, National Security Advisor Susan Rice is going to speak at AIPAC this evening. She, of course, made headlines last week, calling Netanyahu's visit, quote, "destructive" to the U.S./Israeli relationship. What is she expected to say?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, I think she's going to lay out more about the U.S. case on Iran and why they think that they can reach a deal with Iran that is really going to protect Israel, the United States, and the world. I think it's going to be more technical on the aspects of Iran trying to kind of rebut, if you will, the controversial remarks that Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected to make tomorrow.

We're told by his aides traveling with him that he's going to lay out what he knows to be in this deal. What he -- the information that he has and explain why he's going to ask Congress to ask more questions, try and push back that March 24th deadline for a political framework and really try and, you know, put an - a fly in the ointment, if you will, of this deal.

Now, I think, though, he was trying to lower the temperature, but make no bones about it, he is trying definitely to thwart the deal on the table. And for its parted, the administration also trying to lower the tone because the bickering between the White House and the prime minister has made this speech all the more - and what he's going to say about Iran all the more important. Take a listen to U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Powers, speaking about the U.S. support for Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NETANYAHU: Working together has made Israel stronger. Working together has made our alliance stronger. Israel and the United States will continue to stand together because America and Israel are more than friends. We're like a family. We're practically (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Now, disagreements in the family are always uncomfortable, but we must always remember that we are family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: Well, that wasn't Sam Power, but let me tell you what she said. She basically said the U.S. relationship with Israel has a bedrock of bipartisanship and it should remain as such, and she said that there would be no sunset on U.S. commitment to Israel security. U.S. would never let Iran have a nuclear weapon. They would never let Israel down in that way. And really trying to just show the breadth and the depth of the U.S. relationship with Israel. She also, Ana, got a very warm reception by that crowd, because as you know, as U.N. ambassador, the United Nations, Samantha Powers, really almost on a daily basis defending Israel at the United Nations because that's an audience that has a lot of criticism for Israel, Ana.

CABRERA: Well, certainly the U.S. and Israel agree on the goal, but it's how they get to the goal that is causing such division. And we're going to talk more about it. Thanks so much, Elise Labott, to you. And we know you'll be covering his visit throughout. So we'll be talking to you as well. Now, Benjamin Netanyahu ended his speech today gushing over the bond

between Israel and the United States. A bond that he said has lasted because it goes beyond politics. So what's behind this current family rift we heard him say between him and the president? I'm going to talk to the person who just wrote about this rift on cnn.com today. Stephen Collison is a senior reporter for CNN Politics.

And, Stephen, you say it's much more than just a personality conflict between Netanyahu and Obama. So what is the root of their struggle to see eye to eye?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: That's right. Well, the bond between Israel and the United States, you know, unarguably is very strong, but there's not a sort of complementary bond between President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. It's no surprise that they're - there's no secret that they're not the best of friends. They really have divides deeply between them on politics, on ideology, and even on temperament. They both put Iran at the center of their political legacy.

President Obama has made Iran the top foreign policy priority of his second term. He wants to get a deal to push the threat of an Iranian bomb perhaps a decade or more away through diplomacy. Prime Minister Netanyahu has also placed Iran at the center of his political legacy. He believes history almost has chosen him at this key moment in the history of the Jewish state to meet this threat from Iran. He believes that the proposed deal that world powers, backed by the United States, are trying to do with Iran will not eradicate the bomb and he believes that this will create an existential threat to this -- the very existence of the state of Israel. So they're both very much diametrically opposed on this Iran issue.

CABRERA: And as you mentioned, I mean, they come from sort of different viewpoints all around on the issue, but yet they do share the same goal, and that is that Iran cannot obtain nuclear weapons, that Israel and its people must be protected, then why is there seemingly such distrust of each other?

COLLINSON: Well, first of all, the goal, though it's shared, they both define it slightly differently. The United States talks about stopping Iran getting a bomb. That is the moment when it gets the nuclear material and technology where it can actually create a bomb. Israel wants the process to stop much further away from that point and that is, you know, eradicating all Iranian nuclear material and expertise and technology. The United States, by the way, says that is a deal that just cannot be done.

But, you know, President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu are completely different sort of cats, if you like. The president is a sort of - is a college professor type. He's very intellectual. He doesn't like, you know, confrontation in public. He tries to use diplomacy as the first stop in solving a dispute. You know, Benjamin Netanyahu has lived for many years in a very dangerous neighborhood in Israel. He's deeply suspicious about Iran. He believes that Iran - the whole purpose of the clerical regime there is to destroy Israel. So there's a complete disconnect on the nature of the threat, and also in the sort of temperament and the personalities of the two, you know, formidable political figures involved here.

CABRERA: Well, Stephen Collinson, thanks for helping us understand that relationship and the dynamics involved. We appreciate it.

COLLINSON: Thank you.

CABRERA: Up next, he was the 12-year-old boy who was carrying a pellet gun when police shot and killed him in Ohio. Up next, who the city of Cleveland says is to blame in the death of Tamir Rice. Nancy Grace is joining me with her take.

Plus, on the offensive. Iraq's military launching a full-scale attack against ISIS forces to reclaim Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. We'll take you live to the battlefield, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A 12-year-old with a pellet gun shot dead by Cleveland Police and now the city of Cleveland is responding to a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the child's family, essentially blaming the boy for his own death. Now, Tamir Rice was playing with this pellet gun in November when he was killed by an officer who says he thought Rice's gun was real. The city released a statement saying, quote, "Rice's injuries were directly and proximately caused by the failure of the plaintiff's descendant to exercise due care to avoid injury."

And I want to bring in HLN's Nancy Grace to talk more about this.

Nancy, the city of Cleveland and its police department, we know, were just recently part of a Department of Justice investigation that found it has used unreasonable force in the past and that changes to address this issue haven't happened. And now they're blaming a child for his own death. What do you make of this?

NANCY GRACE, HOST, HLN'S "NANCY GRACE": Well, I understand the study and I believe the study may be correct. However, in a court of law, studies and statistics are inadmissible unless they touch directly on the facts before the jury, which that does not touch on these facts. Now, to you and me, it may -- we see a connection, but not in front of a jury.

I don't know if you've seen the video of the actual shooting. It's very, very disturbing. And I'll tell you why. The cops pull up and there's no time for them to say, "put down your gun." Nothing. They pull up. This is it, right -- right there.

Now, remember, this young boy, he's 12, but he's 5'7" and he weighs 195 pounds. Now, at a distance, you might think he's grown, but that close, couldn't they tell -- he's a cop, they pull up. You're showing this in slow mo because, in reality, the cops pull up and he gets shot within two seconds of the car pulling up.