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Cleveland Police Officer Found Not Guilty of Manslaughter and Assault in Police Shooting of Unarmed Suspects; Community Policing Discussed; Witness in D.C. Murder Trial May Have Lied in Testimony; Severe Weather Threatens Parts of Texas; Oil Spill Hits California Beaches. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired May 23, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:45] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. More on this breaking news out of Cleveland where today a police officer was found not guilty of all charges in the deaths of an unarmed man and woman. The Justice Department now saying it will review this case. And protesters are outraged over the acquittal and have been marching in the streets. Officer Michael Brelo cried after the judge read the verdict this morning. There it is, that moment. He was one of 13 officers who opened fire on a car after a high-speed chase back in 2012. Both people inside that vehicle were killed.

Listen to the judge's verdict on charges of voluntary manslaughter today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE JOHN O'DONNELL, CUYAHOGA COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT: I therefore find the defendant not guilty of counts one and two as indicted. The state did prove the lesser included offense of felonious assault on both counts by demonstrating beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly caused serious physical harm to both the victims. But the defendant proved by a preponderance of the evidence that he is legally excused for liability for those crimes because he caused the serious physical harm to the victims in a constitutionally reasonable effort to end an objectively reasonable perception that he and the others present were threatened by them with imminent serious bodily harm. I, therefore, also find the defendant not guilty of felonious assault, a lesser included offense on both indicted counts. And the defendant is discharged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Young is joining us now from Cleveland. So Ryan, it looks very placid behind you. Earlier there were a lot of people who were outside the Justice Center and who have converged on the streets marching, walking. And at the urging of a lot of city leaders, people were asked to remain calm as they expressed their concerns. What is happening there now?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, to be honest a lot of people are holding their breaths to see what happens next because they don't feel the word has spread throughout the community as of yet.

We were here as the people were marching through the streets and we're told they're rallying somewhere else right now. It's sort of a combination protest.

But I want to tell I was sitting right behind the officer in the front row. As each announcement was made, I could watch his hand under the table touch both his lawyers. And he had that emotional outburst where he started crying. You could tell he started to relax after the verdict was read.

One of the things the judge did was he brought out those two mannequins and he showed some of the shots that were fired and talked about it extensively. It's one of those things that we've seen develop in the justice system where now you see everyone that's an official try to publicly display and talk about the evidence that they have in this case.

But the people who are outside, they don't want to hear about that. What they hear is 137 shots, and they want to know what's going to happen next with these officers. Of course since then the mayor and the police chief have talked about maybe some changes happening, that the officers will still be suspended, and they still could be fired from their jobs.

The judge did talk about that Officer Brelo when he stood on top of the car and fired those shots through the window, that that was not a part of police policy, but he was trying to do that to stop a threat.

So a lot of people in this community have questioned. We've been talking to community leaders and family members here who say they want to see something happen and they believe justice should happen, but they want to make sure the streets remain peaceful. That's a conversation that's been going on throughout the afternoon. And the words here, "community policing," that's something we're hearing over and over again because people say they want a change from the police department in this community.

WHITFIELD: And what's so perplexing to so many of those protesters when you talk about that perceived threat that the judge kind of underscored, those two people were unarmed, and so that's the underlying question from so many, which was how was that threat displayed. Why did the officers feel that their lives were in jeopardy when these two people were unarmed in their vehicle?

YOUNG: A lot of talk about that as well. Just in the last five minutes or so we had a young man walk by us with chains around his hand and say this is the new slavery, his silent protest. We've also seen groups deciding to jump on the front of this building and start screaming and yelling and marching.

[14:05:01] But the crowds here are a lot smaller than what some expected. People now believe that those larger crowds could be headed here much later on. Once again, there is another protest across town and people think that one could grow. But honestly, I'll tell you, a couple of the pastors told me they are more worried about Monday and whether or not people will have a chance to gather their thoughts, get together, and hit the streets once again. But it's all been peaceful so far and they haven't confronted the officers who are outside. Everyone is keeping a safe distance from each other.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Young, thank you so much from Cleveland. We'll check back with you.

Let's talk more about what is next for Cleveland. I'm joined by HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson, attorney for Tamir Rice's family out of Cleveland, Walter Madison, who is right now joining me here in Atlanta, and CNN law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander also in Atlanta right now.

All right, gentlemen, let's talk about the what next. We heard from the councilman, Zach Reed, who said there's got to be better policing, and he underscored the need and importance for community policing. So I wonder, Cedric, explain to people what is community policing, because apparently there seems to be some confusion over what constitutes community policing, how it is beneficial, what are the tools involved, and why a city should be using it.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, let me go back to one or two things that Joey Jackson mentioned a few moments ago that I thought was very profound in his statements. And one is the fact that the chief is providing the type of leadership right now that needs to be done. I had an opportunity to meet Chief Williams a couple of months back, in fact right here in Atlanta, and I'll meet him again in July.

WHITFIELD: Meaning that he is admitting that there is a problem, there is reform necessary.

ALEXANDER: Absolutely. He is a new age chief. He inherited a lot of this that's going on. He's looking forward to change. And I think he's going to do everything that he can to do so. He's open to feedback, his willingness and his commitment being a long-time member of that police department to move that agency forward. I truly believe from him in my interactions with him he's very committed do so.

But let's talk about community policing for a second, and we often hear that term, but no one oftentimes has clearly articulated what it is. So let me make it very, very simple. It's this. It is a relationship that exists between community and police, they working in communities together hand in hand. Police depending on communities --

WHITFIELD: What do you mean?

ALEXANDER: Well, I'm going to get to that.

WHITFIELD: Because it sounds like just verbiage, but what do people envision?

ALEXANDER: It's not just verbiage. It's this, and it takes place in communities across this country. Not in Cleveland, clearly, but it does take place. And here's what it looks like. It's that you and I, I as a sworn officer, you as a civilian, we have an opportunity to meet. I come into the neighborhood. I get out of my car. I know people in the neighborhood, they know me my name.

WHITFIELD: You ask them what's their day is like. How are their kids doing, what's for dinner tonight?

ALEXANDER: We take part in programming together. We do things for young people. It is a relationship that is built on trust and it is built over time so that when you have --

WHITFIELD: It's not just driving through a neighborhood and saying this is community policing because we're presenting, and roll down the window occasionally.

ALEXANDER: But let me say this as well, too. We know that many of our police departments across the country are running from call to call to call because there's a high volume of calls for service. So oftentimes it may not be as easy as police departments like for it to be. But at the end, that leadership and that department has to make that a priority, because there are many number of things that we can do.

WHITFIELD: I remember the late 80s, I lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and the police chief at the time, Reuben Greenberg, he was known for community policing. And everyone saw the benefits of it and touted it. I had a girlfriend who became an Alexandra police officer. She engaged in community policing, which meant she had to live in the projects, that she was also being made available to police to serve, to be part of the community. So that was a long time ago.

Why is it there are major cities toady which are saying we don't do it, we don't embrace it? What's the obstacle? Is it costly? Is it that jurisdictions don't believe it's beneficial?

ALEXANDER: First of all, I have not heard of any police department in the country saying they don't believe in community policing.

WHITFIELD: Why aren't they doing it?

ALEXANDER: What we have may have seen police departments not demonstrating and maybe clearly understanding what community policing is. Here again I refer back to the 21st Century Task Force report. It gives departments, it gives community an opportunity to understand how to begin to build those relationships.

WHITFIELD: So not to get side tracked. The reason we're talking about this is because you have the Cleveland police officer and the mayor who said we've got to engage and do more, especially as a result of the verdict that came out today, not guilty. We don't know if community policing would have made a difference in this situation. This was a police chase. Police officers, according to the report, thought they heard gunfire when it was back firing of this old Chevy Malibu vehicle. And the next thing you know you have 60 squad cars descending on, you had 130 shots fired at these unarmed people.

[14:10:05] So there's more -- there's a big problem here when you go from what you think you hear to suddenly someone looks like they are life-threatening. They have no weapons that have been wielded or demonstrated, and you have a police officer standing on top of a vehicle and helping to carry out these fatal shots. So what is really the problem here?

WALTER MADISON, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF TAMIR RICE: Let me say it. Let me say it. And Cedric, you're absolutely right, in concept, that's exactly what we need. But when you have a police officer that doesn't perceive another person to be worthy of humanity, a police officer that doesn't value an African-American person's life, there is no coincidence that all of these incidents occur to unarmed African- Americans.

This type of policing doesn't occur in the suburbs. It doesn't occur where most of us who are doing well or on a different economic status, socioeconomic status, live. This doesn't happen. So how can you have -- how can you serve any person who you don't view as a human being or that you can't even see yourself loving? And if you can't love these people, you cannot serve the in any capacity.

WHITFIELD: Joey, I'm hearing your voice. We're talking about, now we're bringing these things together. You have community policing, you're talking about a relationship, you're talking about perception building, you're talking about changing some people react. So then, Joey, how do you bring these two worlds together? Because you've got the judge who says he sees how this officer was justified in responding the way he did, and then you've got city leadership who are acknowledging there's a problem. Now you have these two worlds colliding, but bottom line is you have two people who are dead and then you have some other police officers who have been disciplined, whether they have been suspended without pay for a period of time and you've got one officer who walks. So what are people supposed to think, feel and believe and how do they process all of this stuff that just unfolded.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Fabulous question, and here's the answer. Walter raises very real and legitimate concerns about how life is valued and how it's viewed and the discretion an officer has. Could they or should they take your life. That's the entire point of community policing. That is if you know the community, you know the people hey, officer so and so, how are you? What's going on? What's everything? That's just James walking up and down the block. He doesn't pose a risk to anyone.

Now what you have is you have a mutual respect. You have the gap that is bridged. You have people that know the areas that they're patrolling. And so as a result of that, there's less fear. I think Cedric Alexander can speak to the issue of officers and their perceptions and how they react in certain communities. And if an officer is fearful, I think that that raises a real concern as to whether they will take your life or let you live.

WHITFIELD: And we're going to continue the conversation on that point. We're going to take a short break right now. Joey Jackson, Cedric Alexander, Walter Madison, thank you so much. We're going to take short break. Remember where we were in that conversation. We're going to pick it up on the other side right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:55] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The Ohio governor John Kasich has responded to the acquittal of a Cleveland police officer. The governor just issuing this statement, saying in part "The court has spoken and we must respect its decision. Everyone must have the right for their response to be heard, including when they are angry and hurt and voicing that frustration in a peaceful way helps us all rise above those forces that would hold us back and tear us down. In Ohio, we are working hard to rebuild strong communities where every voice is heard and respected, and we're making progress. But we've got a lot of work to do." That coming from the governor.

Well, as a result of the decision by a judge, there have been a lot of people right outside the Justice Center who gathered there expressing their disappointment in the decision. And many others have taken to the streets throughout Cleveland, and they have expressed themselves in this way. Some of the images are being brought to us by our affiliate, WOIO.

All right, some of the demonstrators there gathering and walking through the streets of Cleveland there. Meantime let's talk more about what is happening across the city, the kind of reaction, how people are expressing themselves. On the phone with us reporter Ida Lieszkovszky is a reporter with the "Cleveland Plain Dealer," also a reporter with the Northeast Ohio Media Group. And so, Ida, give me an idea of what you're seeing. About where are you and what are you eye- witnessing?

IDA LIESZKOVSZKY, REPORTER, "CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER": So we're downtown back at the office now. I was in the Justice Center for the announcement of the verdict. As the verdict was being announced at 10:00 a.m., protesters did gather at the front of the Justice Center to express their opinions on what was going on. At one point they tried to get into the Justice Center, but because technically the building was closed, they weren't allowed in by sheriff's officers. And there's a couple of protests across various parts of the city focusing on various aspects of what's going on here.

WHITFIELD: Right. So a lot of the protesters were there outside the Justice Department. They came really close, face to face, with some of the police officers in riot gear. But then the police officers retreated carefully, going right back into the building. Perhaps the message initially was just that we are here but we want to allow you to continue with your peaceful protesting. There hasn't been any reports of any incidents, right? People are simply going through the streets and expressing their disappointment.

[14:20:01] LIESZKOVSZKY: Yes, we haven't seen any reports of violence throughout the city yet. There's a protest that was happening outside the Justice Center that sort of moved to other parts of downtown. There was a separate ongoing protest happening in the neighborhood and outside the house of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty who tried the case. That protest is now headed to Cudell Park which is the site of the shooting, another shooting, another police shooting here in Cleveland, the shooting of Tamir Rice.

WHITFIELD: OK. And the protesters who went to the home of the prosecutor, as you mentioned. What happened once they got there?

LIESZKOVSZKY: So they at one point were at a park near the prosecutor's house. They did a mock funeral for Tamir Rice. When they got to the prosecutor's house, they left a casket outside the house. And it's really sort of their symbolically telling the prosecutor they want to see an indictment in the Tamir Rice case. They want that process to go forward. The investigation in the Tamir Rice case is still in the sheriff's department, so the prosecutor's office hasn't even gotten that yet, that case.

WHITFIELD: And so have any of the protesters said anything about their response to what they heard from the mayor or the prosecutor or even the judge? Is anyone responding verbally to what they heard?

LIESZKOVSZKY: I'm not sure about specific responses to those individuals, but I think certainly to the judge and to his decision we're hearing a lot of people saying that they're disappointed in it. On Twitter there's a lot of action too. We're seeing people say, you know, the fact that other police officers shot in this incident, there were a total of 13 officers who shot in this incident, and Brelo was one of them. They're saying because Brelo wasn't the only one that fired fatal shots he should not be found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter charges, that that's not good enough for some people in the city.

WHITFIELD: And the city says there will be administrative charges that may still be imposed on some of the other officers. While 72 officers were suspended without pay ranging from one day to 30 days. Is that in any way appeasing some of the demonstrators?

LIESZKOVSZKY: You know, I'm not sure what's going to appease the demonstrators right now in this moment. Brelo might face some sort of internal charges. It's unclear. There's also going to be a trial for five of the supervisors involved in the chase for dereliction of duty. That hasn't been scheduled yet, but it's supposed to come up sometime this summer. But officials in the city are releasing justice was carried out via the justice system, and they're asking members of the community to really respect that.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ida Lieszkovszky, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.

All right, we'll have much more of our continuing coverage of this breaking story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:26:23] LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Spotify we've always gone to for music. Now we will go to Spotify for video. Why the decision? JEFF LEVICK, SPOTIFY CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER: What we found is people

are engaging in different content types. They're listening to music and they're also doing other things. So we've done a lot of testing and we found that people find it highly engaging to be able to switch and interact between video and music and spoken word contents all in the same place.

SEGALL: And you guys partnered up with quite a few different organizations. Take us through some of those.

LEVICK: Yes, so we're obviously working with what we think are some of the best content providers in the world, whether it be from ABC, NBC, Viacom, Comedy Central, Vice, Turner. We're really working with a variety of content providers, really understanding our audience and the types of things they want to engage in.

But the traditional way of thinking about music is you like country or your R&B. What we found is people are curating music around their mood. We have more than 200 billion playlists that have been created on Spotify, and what people title those tell us what they're doing.

We found as a result of that that sleep on Spotify is a larger category than R&B. One thing as a side project, the addition of Spotify running, and we found that one of the top things that people do with music is they run to it. And we basically rebuilt an experience that was made just for runners. And what users will see is a new tab called running. It basically allows you to choose the type of music that you'd like to listen, pick that genre, start running. Spotify will automatically detect your beat and give you music that will give you the pace that you want to run for as long as you want to run.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We continue to follow developments out of Cleveland today where protesters are now taking to the streets following a not guilty verdict for Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo. We'll continue to keep an eye on those protests.

Meantime, new developments in the D.C. mansion murder mystery. Police are looking for more suspects and looking into a witness's questionable testimony. Daron Wint is being held in jail without bond, charged with first degree murder for last week's killing of three members of a prominent Washington family and their housekeeper. Here's what the police chief told CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's pretty obvious that there was, you know, coordination to have money brought to the house and to get -- what he was looking for while he was holding the family hostage. Whether there was someone else that actually took part in the kidnapping and the murder is just -- it's going to take time to get this evidence together. And we just don't want to jump to conclusions or draw any conclusions too soon. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The attack happened the evening of May 13th when the family was held hostage and then ended the next day when the house was set on fire. CNN's Sara Ganim is on the case with us. So what more do we know about the witness and the testimony of this particular witness?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So this key witness, Fred, that this police report actually focuses a good bit on, because there are several discrepancies from this witness. Let's start with who it is. The person is not named, but the person is described as Mr. Savopoulos' driver and his assistant at his job, so he would run errands on a daily basis. And he says that he got a text from Mr. Savopoulos asking him to bring a large amount of cash to the home while the family was being held hostage, and then he dropped it off. But the key thing that police note over and over again is that he told several different versions of the story.

[14:30:00] For example, he said first that he got that text message on a Wednesday -- I'm sorry, Thursday, and then changed it again to Wednesday when police believed that the hostage situation began. He also changed his story over where he dropped the money, whether it was in a locked car or in an unlocked car. He had two different versions of how he delivered the money, whether it was in a manila envelope or in a red bag, which police now believe it was delivered in a red bag based on a text message picture that he sent to someone else.

And then there are other discrepancies, Fred, over whether or not he delivered four bundles of money to the home or two bundles of money, and whether or not they had the bank tape still on them. So was that money tampered with beforehand?

Now, police in this criminal complaint, which is the charging document for Daron Wint, not for this person, they call this person, this driver a witness. But they say over and over again that he admitted that he did lie about certain details -- again, where he dropped the money, why he dropped the money, whether or not it was in a locked car or unlocked car.

Another discrepancy is whether or not he was physically at the bank when another employee removed that money. And when you hear the police chief talk about whether or not other people were involved, this person is an employee of Mr. Savopoulos, and we know Daron Wint, who has now been charged with the family's murder, he also had been at one point an employee of the Savopoulos company. And that brings the question whether or not these people knew each other and whether or not this person was just an innocent bystander delivering potentially a ransom or whether or not he knew what was going on. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And so Sara, are investigators saying anything about this witness or entertaining things like might this person have been nervous and maybe that's why they got certain facts misconstrued, or was there a language barrier, any kind of benefit of the doubt explanations like that? GANIM: Right. You know, I read this police criminal complaint, and

I've read quite a few of them in the past, and you don't typically hear or see or read police say someone lied. And they use that word, "lied," over and over and over in this criminal complaint when they talk about this witness and what he told police.

Now, to be clear, it does not say that he did anything wrong. It does not even do anything more than imply that he was not truthful in his initial interview. But there is a good chunk of this criminal complaint that is devoted to his side of the story, what he remembers and the role that he played. And they do say that he admitted to changing that story. However, they still call him a witness in this court document and they still do not name him.

WHITFIELD: And investigators are still implying that there is some belief that there may be other suspects, others that may have allegedly been involved here.

GANIM: Police, of course, said yesterday that they don't believe this could have been done by Daron Wint alone. We heard them say that. And you know, we talk about the ransom money too, Fred. We also heard them say that $10,000 was found on Daron Wint when he was arrested, and we do know that the money delivered to the house was about $40,000, and it was supposed to be broken up into four bundles. So four bundles, you know, $10,000 you could reasonably assume could add up to $40,000 in cash.

WHITFIELD: All fascinating and still very sad. All right, Sara Ganim, thank you so much. We'll have much more from the newsroom right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:37] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're following breaking news out of Cleveland, the city on edge hours after a police officer was found not guilty in the shooting deaths of an unarmed man and woman.

Protesters have been demonstrating around the city. Officer Michael Brelo, you see him right there as he's hearing the verdict. He was one of 13 police officers who opened fire on the vehicle with the two unarmed people inside. Right now you're seeing when the verdict was read not guilty for two counts of voluntary manslaughter.

Now in total of the officers who were involved fired 137 rounds at that car, that Chevy Malibu there. Brelo stood on the hood of the car. He was the only one to face charges in this case. And he fired into the windshield. Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams were the two unarmed people who were killed. So this chase started after officers said they heard what they thought was a gunshot. It turned out to be the car back firing.

Today a judge acquitted Brelo of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault. The Justice Department now says it will review the case.

So let's talk about more about what's next here. I'm joined now by HLN's Joey Jackson, Cleveland attorney Walter Madison, who represents the Tamir Rice family out of Cleveland, and CNN law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander. Both Cedric and Walter are here with me in Atlanta.

All right, so let's talk more about the what's next here, Joey, because the city says that they are looking into more administrative charges. But is it also likely that the families could pursue some sort of civil suit given that the family members have expressed their very much disappointed in this? They even allege that the officers lied about the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

JACKSON: Sure, absolutely, Fredricka. What will happen is this. We've already heard from the prosecutor, of course, during his press conference in relation to other charges that are forthcoming. Apparently we understand that the grand jury has indicted five additional officers not relating to the shooting but related to the chase, and the according to the prosecutor earlier was for dereliction of duty, should in fact that chase have proceed so there was an actual shooting later on. And so there will be some accountability there in terms of an aggressive prosecution.

As it relates to Brelo, I think there are two things that are very important to point out.

[14:40:02] The first thing, of course, will be, as you mentioned, the civil aspects of this case. And of course Walter Madison is doing just that as it relates to Tamir Rice, although we just don't know yet as it relates to that 12-year-old shooting what will happen criminally. But in any event, as it relates to this case, I think we'll see a civil matter go forward, different standard of proof, preponderance of the evidence. Is it more likely than not, 51 percent versus 49 percent, that the officer engaged in the type of conduct that resulted in death. So I think you can certainly see a monetary settlement there.

The other thing, then, Fredricka, is the federal government. Of course we know and have been talking about the federal investigation that related to the pattern and practice of the entirety of the police department there.

WHITFIELD: So that would likely be used in the pursuit of that civil suit, right? I mean, there's already some precedence, the Justice Department already saying that there's a problem within that department even prior to the verdict today.

JACKSON: Well, you know what will happen, Fredricka, is the lawyers will attempt to isolate that and to say listen, the lawyers for the city, there may indeed be a pattern and practice issue, but as it relates to Brelo, we need to focus on his specific conduct or misconduct, if any, certainly in the civil aspect in terms of what filters into that.

But the federal claim and the federal government will focus on Brelo's conduct. And the standard will be, did he intentionally seek to violate the civil rights, that is Brelo, of the two decedents, the two victims here? And that's a very high standard because you have to demonstrate maliciousness and malice on his part.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder, Joey, we heard the mayor, Frank Jackson, say today that he said that the charge would be difficult to prove. And if the mayor is saying that even though he's not expounding on his personal views of this, he had said long ago that he thought the charge would be -- it would make this a very difficult case. So would that too be folded into any kind of civil suit?

JACKSON: Well, you know what ends up happening is, is that certainly -- and the mayor's comments we can understand, because whenever you're going after a police officer, there's a certain heightened standard that when you evaluate their conduct that's looked at that a civilian's would not be. And we've talk a lot, Fredricka, about the perception. Does an officer, do they perceive and is that perception reasonable that there's an imminent threat to them? And their response, is it proportionate to that threat? And so based upon them being police officers, you could see the mayor saying, well, from a criminal perspective, it may be very difficult. From a civil perspective, I think based on the standard of proof it's going to be a little different. And who knows if it even goes to trial. The city may be in a conciliatory mood looking to settle and to move on.

WHITFIELD: All right, Cedric, so the police chief, Calvin Williams, says -- he admitted today a lot of work has yet to be done. It came out after this verdict, saying there will be some administrative charges, but in terms of reforming police department, lots has to be done. He's not promising overnight success, however.

ALEXANDER: There certainly is not overnight success. It's going to take time. This is a police department that has been --

WHITFIELD: How patient are residents expected to be, though?

ALEXANDER: Well, I'm quite sure residents want this done ASAP, but the fact of the matter is that it's going to take time. Here again, Chief Williams inherited a lot of what's going on here in Cleveland, and I'm more than confident that he's going to seek out support, council from other colleagues and chiefs around the country, as we have seen, deemed necessary in order to help move through this process.

But this is a community of course that is in a great deal of pain, and we understand it, because the circumstances around this case certainly doesn't make sense to a lot of people. But the due process system has spoken. We have to respect that. And now we just have to figure out as a community how does Cleveland move forward. And I think we all have to be a part of that process.

WHITFIELD: We're going to have to leave it right there. We're going to take a short break. Thanks so much, Joey Jackson, Walter Madison, Cedric Alexander.

ALEXANDER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We're also going to talk about some severe weather on the way. A live report, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:11] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. An acquittal for a Cleveland police officer, our Martin Savidge takes us through the case.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: November, 2012, when a couple in car speeds away from an undercover cop their engine backfires. It triggers a police radio report of shots fired, and the chase is on.

Investigators say the pursuit involves as many as 62 police cars and speeds of 100 miles per hour through the streets of Cleveland. It ends in a hail of gunfire, killing two unarmed people. An investigation reveals a stunning 137 shots fired by 13 police officers. But only one, Michael Brelo, was on trial, charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter.

RICK BELL, PROSECUTOR: He is shooting repeatedly, he is shooting excessively, and he is shooting to kill.

SAVIDGE: Prosecutors say the 31-year-old former marine did what other cops didn't -- he reloaded. And when the car police were chasing finally came to a halt, Brelo is said to have jumped on its hood and fired 15 shots directly through the windshield. The prosecution believes those are the shots that killed 43-year-old Timothy Russell and 30-year-old Malissa Williams.

Brelo told investigators he thought he and his partner were in danger, believing the couple in the car were shooting, saying, quote, "I have never been so afraid in my life. I thought my partner and I would be shot and that we were going to be killed." Brelo went on, "at which point I drew my weapon a I shot windshield at the suspects."

Recorded police radio traffic at night gives conflicting accounts, at one point warning police about weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use caution. Occupants are armed.

SAVIDGE: While other officers on the radio report seeing no weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He does not have a gun in his hands.

SAVIDGE: Neither victim in the car had a gun. But defense attorneys say officer Brelo had no way of knowing that at the time, telling the court "He wasn't trying to be Rambo. He was just trying to survive."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's talk more about what next here. I'm joined by Walter Madison, who represents the Tamir Rice family out of Cleveland. That's the 12-year-old young man who police thought was holding a real gun. It turned out to be a toy gun. He was shot dead. And CNN law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander. All right, so I wonder, to you, Walter, first, because one has to wonder how influential this case and the outcome of this case may be for any upcoming case involving the police officers who shot Tamir Rice. Do you see there being any correlation?

MADISON: Absolutely. And I think it feeds to the public's distrust of the system. One of the things that I think needs more attention is that the prosecutor and only the prosecutor engineers, if you will, the inputs for a grand jury. He controls exactly what comes out of there because he controls what's presented.

[14:50:05] WHITFIELD: So meaning this case Timothy McGinty, the prosecutor, imposed a charge or charges for only one of the 13 officers, and you heard from the mayor earlier who said he didn't think it was going to be -- it was not likely to bring a successful outcome. He thought it would be very difficult to prove these charges.

MADISON: And the mayor went -- he pushed to the limit there with that. He's a lawyer. And the mayor and the police department, there's a fractured relationship there. But for a mayor to even say that much tells you, clearly, I never thought that this was going to result in a conviction anyway.

WHITFIELD: Why wouldn't the prosecutor feel the same way?

MADISON: Well, you have to ask him. You'd have to look at his website and his background and all of those things and see if that plays a part into his decision-making, which begs the question why is he even involved? Why isn't there a special prosecutor?

WHITFIELD: That similar argument has been made many times, Cedric, right, in Baltimore, the relationship between the prosecutor there and police officers and the whole political makeup there in Baltimore. We heard the same argument in Ferguson, whether the prosecutor McCulloch should have recused himself because of the close relationship with the police officer. So is that going to be a similar refrain in many cities whenever you have a police-involved shooting that perhaps the prosecutor's office typically too close to the police, and so the sitting prosecutor needs to recuse themselves from any prosecution or involvement with any of the police officers that they often work together with?

MADISON: Well, I think it's important to note in this is that -- because what you're saying is not just the police department here that is part of what's in question. It's the entire judicial system that's what's in question. So in some communities, of course, that community may feel that their prosecutor is more than able, capable, and trustworthy to try a case in which I'm involved in. However, another community such as what we saw in Ferguson, that may be a community that feels that is not the case.

WHITFIELD: But it seems like that's the common denominator in very jurisdiction these highly publicized cases there's the same kind of problem. So it almost speaks to, it can't just be a problem one city faces, but they were talking about a problem just across the country.

ALEXANDER: You can't just avoid the problem and step aside. You would have this second guessing, which is what Cedric is saying because then it falls all on the police officers. And there are good police officers.

MADISON: But there are also good prosecutors as well too, and there are prosecutors that are capable of doing those prosecutions without going outside, but that has yet to be determined.

WHITFIELD: We're going to leave it there. Cedric, thanks so much. And Walter, appreciate it, gentlemen. Thanks for being with me all afternoon long and trying to digest this very complicated case.

MADISON: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. All right, we'll be right back.

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[14:56:00] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Right now fears of major flooding in Texas. Just moments ago flash flood warnings were issued for several counties, and we just got this video in from Wichita Falls, Texas near the Oklahoma border. Three to five inches of rain have pelted several counties in just the last few hours. Mayor Glenn Barham had this warning for residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR GLENN BARHAM, WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS: I would rather in this case, you know, be safe than sorry. The last thing we need is for somebody not to leave an evacuated area and then something happen and you can't get out and the worst could happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Wichita River is up at least a foot and a half since Thursday and continues to rise. It is getting perilously close to major flood stage. And more rain is actually expected this afternoon and evening.

And two of California's biggest beaches are closed this holiday weekend thanks to a major oil spill. Work crews are cleaning up more than 100,000 gallons of oil along beaches near Santa Barbara, desperately hoping to save wildlife endangered by the toxic goo watching ashore. Here now is Stephanie Elam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The beaches should be packed here in Santa Barbara County for Memorial Day weekend, but instead on this strip of beach it's all closed off, and that's because of this oil spill. They are still working to clean it up. If you look out behind me you can see there are workers who have been out here since the break of dawn, digging on the sand, pulling out little bits of oil, collecting it, putting it in bags, and removing it from the beach. They have been trying to do as much as they can while the tide is out.

And also in the distance you can see that bright pinkish mass back there. That's actually a boom. And they're going to pull that out into the ocean and try to contain any more of the oil that can be seen out of there.

And yesterday we got some really interesting footage of a flyover. If take a look at what this little bit of beach looks like, you can still see that there is still oil in that water, and that's what they're looking to contain. They have got boats out here that are dragging basically big pieces of cloth behind them trying to control the kelp that may have oil on it as well and bring that in.

But as we know, despite the fact that this not one of the biggest oil spills that we've seen in this country, it can still have pervasive effects. There have been animals that have died. They are cleaning some animals as well that are covered in this gooey tar. And they are looking to make sure the wildlife will be able to live here again, and also to make sure that the plants around here are also are going to be OK, removing a lot that that was coated and tossing that away as well.

But as you look at today, they continue to work on these cleanup efforts, but they're saying it could take weeks or months before they really feel like things here will go back to somewhat normal conditions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much there in Santa Barbara.

All right, thanks so much for spending your Saturday with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Much more in the newsroom right after this.

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