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Dash Cam Video; Obama and Castro to Meet; Tornados Hit Midwest. Aired 2-2:30p ET
Aired April 10, 2015 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:03] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here we go. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here on this Friday afternoon.
Some huge, huge developments here out of South Carolina today. The former police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of Walter Scott has now been placed in isolation and is being monitored for his mental health. All of this now as the second video has emerged, dash cam video. This was taken from inside of Officer Michael Slager's patrol car. And what you'll see, it reveals the final minutes leading up to the deadly shooting and it shows the moment Scott runs. It is a deadly chain of events beginning in a parking lot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER MICHAEL SLAGER: (INAUDIBLE). Do you have your license, registration, and insurance card?
WALTER SCOTT: (INAUDIBLE).
SLAGER: What's that?
SCOTT: I got my license, but (INAUDIBLE).
SLAGER: OK, let's start with your license.
The reason for the stop is your - your brake light's out.
SCOTT: Oh, OK. (INAUDIBLE).
SLAGER: OK.
SCOTT: I don't have it with me. (INAUDIBLE) because like I said, I just bought the car from a neighbor.
SLAGER: Uh-huh.
SCOTT: And I was planning on (INAUDIBLE) on Monday. (INAUDIBLE).
SLAGER: So do you have insurance on the car?
SCOTT: No, I don't have insurance on it. He does.
SLAGER: OK. Well, if you don't have insurance on your car, and since you bought it, you got to have insurance. SCOTT: Well, I haven't bought it yet. I'm saying I've got to do that Monday. (INAUDIBLE) drive the car.
SLAGER: You told me you bought it? Oh, OK.
SCOTT: Yes, cause my car is down, so (INAUDIBLE).
SLAGER: Oh, OK.
SCOTT: (INAUDIBLE).
SLAGER: (INAUDIBLE). Let me - let me have your driver's license. So, you don't have any paperwork in the glove box?
SCOTT: No, sir.
SLAGER: No registration in there, no insurance?
SCOTT: No, he has all that stuff.
SLAGER: Why is it? OK. But you're buying this car?
SCOTT: Yes, sir.
SLAGER: Did you already buy it?
SCOTT: No, not yet, I'm about to buy it Monday.
SLAGER: Just a minute ago you said that you bought it, and you're changing everything over on Monday.
SCOTT: (INAUDIBLE). I'm sorry about that. (INAUDIBLE).
SLAGER: Oh, OK. All right. Be right back with you.
Gotta stay in the car!
(INAUDIBLE) running (INAUDIBLE). Black male, green (ph) shirt (ph) (INAUDIBLE).
(INAUDIBLE)
Taser, Taser, Taser!
Get on the ground now! Get on the ground!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: All right. So, again, that's the dash cam video. We wanted to play that for you in its entirety. But, of course, even with that video, there is still a short but incredibly significant gap in time between the video we just played and the cell phone video that, as you have seen, captures the fatal shooting some 250 yards away.
I want to talk about the legal ramifications of all of this now with this dash cam video. This is Tom Mesereau, defense attorney and partner in Mesereau Law Group and former defense attorney for Michael Jackson.
Tom, welcome.
TOM MESEREAU, DEFENDED MICHAEL JACKSON: Well, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.
BALDWIN: So let's just begin with - you know, and obviously you're not in this situation, you don't have access to all the details as, you know, you would imagine the defense attorney in this case would. But if you were defending this police officer, Tom, and you know what we know and now you've seen this dash cam, how would you defend him?
MESEREAU: Well, the defense, always in case like this, exploits the gaps. The defense always says the gaps really reflect the threat the police officer was under. I think they will try to argue that this man assaulted him. That when he took off it was not someone who was simply stopped for a damaged taillight. That this man actually assaulted a police officer, which conveyed to the police officer that he was very, very dangerous. And the police officer is going to try and say that's why he shot him to death. I don't think it will work. I think this looks like a cold-blooded, premeditated murder. But in answer to your question, that's what the defense will do, they will exploit what the public cannot see.
BALDWIN: And what the public cannot see, according to the person who took that cell phone video in which we see Mr. Walker (ph) shot and killed. That person even says, indeed there was a tussle. So to your point, exploiting that gap, do you think it would be possible, even if it may not be successful in your opinion, that in the end - I mean he's charged with murder - might it be dropped to manslaughter because of your precise point?
[14:05:06] MESEREAU: There always is an emotional and psychological presumption in favor of the police in cases like this. People want to believe that police are honorable and courageous. That they're selfless. People feel vulnerable if police officers can't be trusted. So there's always a presumption in favor of the police officer who's being charged. However, the cold-blooded nature of this is very disturbing. You have the police chief in North Charleston come out right away and convey how disturbed he was by that video.
BALDWIN: Right away.
MESEREAU: So I think it's an uphill battle. But, remember, there may be people on that jury who want to believe what police officers say and want to give them the benefit of every doubt possible.
BALDWIN: I mean that's what was stunning. It wasn't just the chief of police of North Charleston, it was the mayor, it was the governor, it was, you know, two senators all coming out really before sundown condemning all of this.
Let me - let me talk to you about something - up until 1985 there was a law and it was called the Fleeing Felon Doctrine. So if you committed a felony and the police were pursuing you, they could shoot you down if you tried to escape. What does the law state now? MESEREAU: Well, generally speaking, the police officer must use reasonable force. I mean you see police chases on freeways all the time. You don't see police officers driving up to those cars and raining them with bullets.
BALDWIN: Right.
MESEREAU: That's effectively what this person did. It was reckless. It was irresponsible. It was way out of proportion to the amount of force that was necessary to try and capture this person. And it looks like cold-blooded murder.
BALDWIN: To the point that we see in this dash cam video in which you see, you know, what appears to be a routine traffic stop over one of these brake lights in the back of his Mercedes, you know, there is the issue, of course, of racial profiling. Even the NAACP coming out yesterday and calling it that. But again, when you look at the traffic stop, what was your read when you see this officer get out of the car and ask him for his registration and papers and ask him if he'd bought the car or not?
MESEREAU: I don't see any threatening behavior by the driver. I don't see any threatening words. I don't see any struggle. I don't see the police officer on the defensive or worried or surprised by any type of conduct by the driver. It looks like a routine traffic stop to me. And it's going to be an uphill battle to try and say that this person was a dangerous felon who should have been gunned down. It's going to be very uphill.
BALDWIN: But the - the incident didn't escalate until Walter Scott, in the driver's seat, hopped out and ran.
MESEREAU: That's correct. But what was he running from? He was running from a stop because of a defective taillight. That's not a bank robber fleeing. That's not someone who shot a police officer fleeing. I think the defense of the police officer will try to make it look like something it's not. And don't forget, there's video footage where it looks like they may be planting a Taser near his body.
BALDWIN: Right, you see an object be dropped.
MESEREAU: There also may be a false police report.
BALDWIN: That's right.
MESEREAU: There also may be a false police report. All of that will impact on the credibility of this police officer.
BALDWIN: That's right. That's right. Tom Mesereau, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
MESEREAU: Thanks for having me, Brooke.
BALDWIN: You got it.
Just ahead here on CNN, this man bolts from police on horseback. And then after he's caught, police are seen on video beating him. We will examine this frame by frame by frame as an investigation there has been launched.
Also, new video of deadly tornados that ripped through this region. See what happened next as storm catchers got precariously close.
And just in here, another American charged with trying to blow up a U.S. landmark in the name of ISIS. Hear what his alleged target was. Stay right here. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:12:55] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
You know, before the break we showed you the entire dash cam video providing more details about what happened before a deadly encounter between a white South Carolina police officer and an African-American driver. The video shows former North Carolina Officer Michael Slager pulling over 50-year-old Walter Scott for a broken brake light. After this brief exchange here, Slager goes back to his patrol car. And then moments later, Scott - here you go - bolts from his car and takes off running.
The dash cam video does not capture what exactly happens next, but some shouting can definitely be heard in the background. CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish, host of "Smerconish," joins me now.
And so, sir, you know, as I always do, I like to comb over your Twitter to see what you're fired up about or what some of your listeners are fired up about.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you for that.
BALDWIN: You're welcome. And specifically today you post this question, in a state where only one brake light is required, should a driver be pulled over when one of three brake lights is out. By the way, it is law, I mean if any of your lights are out, it is lawful to be pulled over.
SMERCONISH: Right. However many you have, they need to be functioning.
BALDWIN: Right.
SMERCONISH: But the state does permit one. If you, Brooke, had an antique car that only had one taillight on it, that would be permissible under the law. And many of my callers find it very interesting that there were three lights in this car - in this particular vehicle, the Mercedes. It's the rear window light that was not illuminated.
BALDWIN: That's right, the little brake light.
SMERCONISH: It was defective. He was pulled over as a result. That's all according to the law. The police officer, you know, did the right thing. But some would say, hey, if a white guy - you know, a bald white guy like me were driving a Mercedes and two of three were functioning, would I have been pulled over? And therein lies part of the debate.
BALDWIN: Sure. So what were people saying, because you can see it from different - different pieces and just reading a little bit about the history of North Charleston.
SMERCONISH: Right.
BALDWIN: I mean this is apparently one of the most dangerous cities in the country in a point in time and so police came in and this police chief, it was in '07 when they decided to really come down, aggressive police tactics, on seemingly minor infractions, i.e. a brake light being out. And since then, you know, data shows that the crime has gone down.
SMERCONISH: Exactly.
BALDWIN: That's one way to look at it.
[14:15:00] SMERCONISH: Right. The broken windows theory of law enforcement.
BALDWIN: Exactly.
SMERCONISH: Here in New York City, the squeegj (ph) men, who used to greet your car when you'd come through the Lincoln or Holland (ph) Tunnel, they're gone because Mayor Giuliani said it's part and parcel of an escalating pattern of crime.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SMERCONISH: So in this case, some people will say, well, it's smart because the person who has the broken taillight probably doesn't have a vehicle that's inspected or the person that has a broken taillight probably doesn't have insurance. So, you know, why don't we thwart those incidents as early as we can? Others will say, no, that's a way to prey on minorities, that's a way to prey on people who are economically -
BALDWIN: Lower income.
SMERCONISH: Lower income. And therein lies a disparity if he had two out of three lights, then, frankly, why did you pull him over to begin with?
BALDWIN: You've seen the video, the dash cam video, when he is pulled over and his seeming routine exchange between this officer and Mr. Scott. What did you make of that and does that change at all how you view this entire ordeal?
SMERCONISH: I was surprised by the demeanor of the cop. You know, we saw part two before we saw part one.
BALDWIN: Part one, right. SMERCONISH: And so I was - I was a little surprised because I thought that his demeanor was much more calm than I would have anticipated. I would have expected, if you didn't show me the video of the - the initial part of the sequence and you said, what do you think it will show? I would have said the cop was agitated from the moment he arrives at his window, which was not the case. So that was surprising. And I - you know, I like to zabruder (ph) thee tape, break it down sequentially, right? Nothing, nothing can explain that which we see in the end.
BALDWIN: In the end.
SMERCONISH: I mean he really kind of -- everybody says oh he sprints away. He lumbered away from the officer.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SMERCONISH: How hard would it have been for him to tackle the man?
BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. And then, of course, as I was talking to Tom Mesereau, a famous defense attorney, he was saying, really, Brooke, what's also significant is the period of time that we don't see, the tussle, and how the defense will use that probably toward their advantage saying that Walter Scott was aggressive and that he provoked him, et cetera. We'll wait to see if that -
SMERCONISH: I tried to learn my lessons in these police video cases that, you know, usually there's more to the story.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SMERCONISH: And so I've tried to be open minded. What else could have taken place that would justify this? Nothing that I can come up with.
BALDWIN: Yes. It's tough in this case.
SMERCONISH: Right.
BALDWIN: Let's pivot and talk about Cuba and U.S. and the fact that the president of the United States, at this historic meeting in Panama and so tonight, for the first time, at least that the world will have seen them, you know, in this photo op between Raul Castro and President Barack Obama since the Nelson Mandela memorial service and it's significant that we'll be seeing them tonight. This is the first time since President Obama came out in December and said, we want to normalize relations with Cuba.
Let's throw the picture up of Nixon and his dad, Fidel Castro, because in was 1959, that was then Vice President Richard Nixon meeting with then Prime Minister Fidel Castro. This is in Washington. And this will be the highest level meeting since that moment. What do we expect of this, other than a great picture?
SMERCONISH: I think it's been a long time coming. I am of the mindset that the Cuban embargo has succeeded in one respect, it has kept the Castro brothers in power. And that we should have gotten away from it a long time ago. That the best way that we can open Cuba is to give them a taste of capitalism like we have here in the United States. Let people trade, let people travel. I think it will be a good thing for us. I think it will be a good thing for them.
There's a generational divide in this country. I mean here comes Senator Rubio announcing his candidacy on Monday.
BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE). Right.
SMERCONISH: And I'm sure he'll make reference to this particular meeting when he makes his comments on Monday. But, you know, that plays well to older Cuban-Americans. Younger Cuban-Americans, not so much.
BALDWIN: I can't let you go without just quickly showing the picture of this man here with Fidel Castro back in -
SMERCONISH: Right, 2002.
BALDWIN: Look at this.
SMERCONISH: Yes, lecturing me, by the way. Lecturing me.
BALDWIN: Was that -- with the finger he looks like he's saying no, no, no, Mr. Smerconish.
SMERCONISH: Yes, giving me a wrath on something, right?
BALDWIN: That's a great picture. Thank you for sharing. Michael Smerconish, thank you very much.
Make sure you tune in tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, for Smerconish here on CNN. As always, wonderful to have you on.
SMERCONISH: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Still ahead here, this horse chase resulting in yet another case of police violence captured on video. We'll show you that video straight ahead.
Also next, we will take you inside the heart of this tornado outbreak in Illinois. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh. He's over. He's over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Go, go, go!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: My goodness. Just incredible scenes here followed by heartbreaking destruction. We will show you much more from the intense storm chaser video as we learn about the warning system that likely kept the number of deaths from rising. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:23:44] BALDWIN: We are getting an incredibly frightening inside look at the devastation left behind after this deadly swath of springtime tornados just grinded across the Midwest. At least 14 tornados were reported, most of them in the state of Illinois. The violent storm system killed two people and nearly demolished this small community of Rochelle. These tornados, as you'll see here, were just incredibly ferocious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) those cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh no (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get closer, get closer, get closer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Watch out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I see what you mean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) my God. This is violent. You guys, it's right there. Right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, stop. You're good. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hit - it hit cars. It hit cars.
[14:25:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, it, there goes - there goes cars. What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw headlights go flying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at it. (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). He's over! He's over!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 911. Call 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 911.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So that was the tornado video from these storm chaser in the distance. And, obviously, what you're looking at now, the aftermath. Homes just absolutely ripped from their foundations. And we have a look at a before and after photo here of a local landmark restaurant. This is Grub Stakers (ph). About a dozen diners inside left. They got out of there and went down to this cellar and hunkered down for at least 90 minutes until that storm passed. Thankfully, everyone survived. Search teams are hoping they don't find victims now, of course, trapped beneath the rubble.
I've got my college, CNN national correspondent Ryan Young. He's live right now in Rochelle, just surrounded by devastation.
I mean it is one thing to talk about these images and see them on television, Ryan. It is quite another, it's also surreal, to be walking amidst this.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, you've actually stood here before and covered stories like this. i can honestly tell you, watching everybody arrive here and just look at the powerful storm, you can understand why everyone is taking pictures and so awestruck about what's going on because you see the twisted medal like that silo over there. it used to have grain on the inside that was just tossed across this farm like it was nothing.
I'm actually standing in front of an irrigation system that was at one point in the middle of this farm land and now has been tossed over here like it's nothing. And it's very heavy to lift. But you can see it's just twisted up metal now. Now that restaurant that you talked about is just down this way, about 100 yards and across the street.
We actually talked to the people who were on the inside, the owners, who owned that restaurant for 11 years. They talked about the moment where they watched that storm take a turn and start heading that direction. They went down into the storm shelter. And then all of a sudden they heard a big boom. That was the roof landing on top of where they were trying to hide from the storm. It took two hours before they were freed by firefighters who cut that roof in half.
But we're hearing stories all over about subdivisions being flattened. And when you look at the scene here and you see the devastation, it's amazing that only two people were killed. And, of course, it's hard to even say that, but you could understand why this community is trying to come together, especially after a night like this when you see that video of how big the storm was.
BALDWIN: And when you - when you talk about, you know, thank goodness it could have been so much worse. Were the sirens going off? Were people given a warning?
YOUNG: They were given a warning. In fact, they talked about maybe 20 minutes beforehand getting a heads up and maybe that saved more lives. I can tell you, so many people that we bumped into were saying thank God they had that time to hide themselves. Even the people across the street were happy to get down into that shelter before it hit. There's actually blood on the walls where people cut their hands as the glass started to explode inside the restaurant. And you can understand why they'd be running from a storm of that size and that magnitude that did all this damage.
BALDWIN: And then juxtapose it today, the destruction with that beautiful blue sky. Ryan Young, thank you so much, in Rochelle, Illinois.
YOUNG: Thank you.
BALDWIN: All right. Let me share this with you now. We're getting some breaking news about this foiled ISIS- inspired plot to bomb a military base in Kansas. Federal authorities have just arrested a 20 year old man from Topeka who they say tried to join the U.S. Army last year. The feds say John T. Booker Jr. wanted to launch an attack on American soldiers similar to what we saw at Fort Hood back in 2009. We're told he was arrested this morning as he was making his final preparations to detonate the suicide bomb which was in fact fake. That's right, the so-called bomb was a decoy planted by the feds, he actually thought were his conspirators in this attack. Obviously the plot, thank goodness, was thwarted. But in an exclusive interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Defense Secretary Ash Carter says ISIS may be gaining ground, but al Qaeda remains a huge threat to the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: What's a bigger threat to the United States right now? Is it ISIS or al Qaeda?
ASHTON CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Al Qaeda has now suffered more than a decade of constant pounding by the United States. So they are much reduced compared to what they were and their ambitions. However, they still have a serious preoccupation with direct attacks upon the United States, particularly several branches of them like AQAP. And so I think we have to remain worried about al Qaeda because of their determination.
[14:29:59] BURNETT: And you said AQAP is growing right now in strength.
CARTER: Well, AQAP has opportunities in Yemen that it didn't have when there was a government that - and Yemen's in the middle of a civil war now. That obviously creates opportunities for terrorist groups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That is just a piece of Erin's interview. Tune in tonight "Erin Burnett, OUTFRONT," for more with the secretary of defense, Ashton Carter.
