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Campus Cop Murder. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 29, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] AUDREY DUBOSE, MOTHER OF DRIVER KILLED BY CAMPUS OFFICER: The Lord is clothed with strength. Where were thee have gurded (ph) himself. The word (ph) also established that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of all. Thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, oh, Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lift up their ways (ph). The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many wise (ph). Yea, then the mighty ways of the sea, by testimonies are very sure. Holiness becomeith (ph) thine house, oh, Lord, forever.

Bless the lord in all that you do because, see, you get to know God, you've - you've got something. God is almighty. And I'm so thankful that - that everything was uncovered because I've been a servant of the Lord for as long as I've been living on earth. I've been - I've been loving the Lord. And I knew - I know the Lord and I know the wrath of God. I also - I know the love of God.

So I just thank God that everything is being revealed. I knew that he loved my child. I knew that this was not going to be uncovered. And I pray that everybody out there, all the soldiers who was out there marching with me for the justice for my son, I thank you, and I hope that you continue to do this, not just for my son, but for many others because - and I'm ready to join the battlefield because my heart go out for so many that there's been unjust. But it's only - you've all got to realize that God is in the forehead. God is God. We're - we're - we're just the soldiers. He's fight the battle. Let him fight this battle and just be thankful.

All I want everybody to just lift up their heads in prayer and thank God because this one did not go unsolved and hidden. So thank - just lift up your heads and thank God and give him the glory. And we're going to continue to fight together. And God - with God, because he - we just the soldiers. And we're going to continue to lift him up. And I think more and more will be unveiled - be revealed and all these people who's going out here, these wicked people, we already got the victory. We just got to know that. And thank everyone for doing all that they've done.

QUESTION: Mrs. Dubose, would you share with us and the family your reaction to Prosecutor Deters (ph) telling you today that there has been a grand jury indictment and then showing the video because you and your family have been, for the last nine or 10 days, calling for the release of that video and calling for an indictment.

DUBOSE: Yes. I mean - I mean I - what I thought was is - it was going to be covered up. I heard many stories and everything. But I - like I say, I trust God and I knew that it was going to be all right. I knew that if this man, you know, went free and nothing was done to him, it was because he was a free - he was really a righteous man and he didn't do nothing. But I knew that my son was a righteous man. I knew what my son, he had the same spirit that dwells in me dwell in him. That's all he was fed. So and - and so if my son is righteous and he get killed, somebody had to be wicked here.

This is what - and I wanted to bring - bring it to front. I wanted to - with this I can rest because I knew it was somebody (ph) just done beforehand and I - and I thank everybody who came forward with the - with the information. I thought they should have - you know, I thought the person should have been locked up on day one. He should have never been released after they saw the film. Why is he still walking the streets because it was murder.

[14:05:11] QUESTION: Ma'am, this may be premature and I'm not talking necessarily the idea of the criminal justice system, but you're obviously a person of great faith. Could you see in your heart to forgive this person, this officer, whether he's convicted or not?

DUBOSE: If he asks forgiveness, oh, yes, I can forgive him. I can forgive anybody. God forgave us. But God - I (INAUDIBLE) already. See, I ain't even saying nothing about him getting convicted here because, see, I was told that this man was released and nobody can find him. But he can't hide from God. See, our God is almighty, so I wasn't worried about that (INAUDIBLE).

QUESTION: Audrey, you had said yesterday that (INAUDIBLE) wanted to see the video (INAUDIBLE) until you knew what happened.

DUBOSE: Yes.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) seeing that if you (INAUDIBLE)?

DUBOSE: Is that - seeing that video let me know that my son did absolutely nothing. Not nothing. Nothing to even provoke this man. See, my son was - he likes - he would love to get a laugh, you know, and I thought, well, maybe this man, he done tried to get a laugh and make this man, you know, just put a different spin on the situation. So - and he always had a joyful spirit. So I said, well, maybe Sam was playing with him and he took it the wrong way. And that could have been - you know, mistaken. And - and I - but I realize that this wasn't even the case. That wasn't even the case, you know?

QUESTION: Isn't it hard to make sense of this when you look at that video (INAUDIBLE)?

DUBOSE: No, because this wicked in this world, is this - it's terrible. I mean and it - but God is bringing it to the light. And through the people that love the Lord and serve him, they're going to (INAUDIBLE) this wickedness, you're going to bring it out. And he say what's done in the dark is going to come to the light. So this man was just one person that he knew that was wicked and he had - and he was going to bring this man to the light.

QUESTION: You said you were talking about - QUESTION: I wanted to -

QUESTION: Joining the battlefield and, you know, walking, marching with people.

DUBOSE: For people who - who they think killed by cops, by -

QUESTION: By anyone -

DUBOSE: You know, yes, but - for sure. But, no, no, no, why I'm focusing on cops is because so many people that came out and said about these cop killings - there's a lot of murders go unsolved. But my son - God - when God do something in your life, you know, that touches your heart. And my son was killed by a cop unjustly. I've got to believe - I got to know that it's many more people out there being killed by cops unjustly. And like people was on the battlefield for me, I want to be out there on the battlefield for them. But in God's name, you know. Let - knowing that God is - is going to fight the battle, not me. I'm just a soldier in it.

QUESTION: I want to - I want -

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

DUBOSE: I want to be there for others like - like they was there for me.

QUESTION: I want to answer the question to try to make sure I reflect the family's position accurately about -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you start it over.

QUESTION: I'm sorry. I want to make sure I reflected the family's position accurately about how this has turned out because so much has been said over the past week and a half to release the video and, you know, local media joined in a lawsuit regarding that you have many people calling the - so I want to - you know, as you have seen the video now and have heard the evidence that the prosecutor and now that there's been an indictment, do you think - are you satisfied that you feel the investigation so far has been handled the right way by waiting until now, until all the investigation is over, to release the video?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think any time that we get an indictment for murder for something like this, awesome. I mean, couldn't go any better.

QUESTION: What did you think when you saw the tape, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just thought that it was unprovoked, senseless.

[14:10:07] QUESTION: Sir, I want to make sure, the family - the family is and all along has been saying, don't do anything violent (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. QUESTION: Can you - can you tell us (INAUDIBLE), is that still your

message in light of this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's definitely our message. You know, Sam was peaceful. He lived peaceful. He lived peaceful, you know. And in his death, we want to remain peaceful, you know.

DUBOSE: Praise God. Praise God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like my mom said, you know, let God fight the battle, you know. I'm a lifetime Cincinnatian. I remember, you know, 2001, you know. We don't want none of that. That shouldn't happen. That's bad.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) against cops in America. You can look at Ferguson. You can look at (INAUDIBLE). But it's happened here for your brother. What does that mean to the family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it means that, you know, Sam had a higher purpose. It was God. This was God all the way from beginning to end. He had a higher purpose to serve. It's bigger than just him being a great brother, a great son. He had a purpose for the whole country, the whole world. Everybody can see these effects, his changes, and how Cincinnati handled things properly.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE), your name, sir, first name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aubrey.

QUESTION: Are - you're Aubrey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name's Aubrey (ph).

QUESTION: Yes, (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A-u-b-r-e-y.

QUESTION: And it's Audrey, your mom?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

QUESTION: Can you tell - tell us again (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Cleshawn, C-l-e-s-h-a-w-n. DuBose. D-u-B-o-s- e.

Terina. T-e-r-i-n-a. Allen. A-l-l-e-n.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You had asked that question about what does it mean that Sam would be in this with all of the other incidents. First of all, if it were not for that video camera, Sam would be no different than all of the other incidents because the second officer was ready to corroborate every lie that the first officer said in the report. So I just want to be very clear that we feel for a lot of families out there, and I wasn't even really big on video camera, but every day now I'm going to be marching for video cameras because my brother was being prosecuted for trying to kill a police officer.

He dragged him. He assaulted him. He gave him alcohol when there was never an open container of alcohol. He was everything violent because he had children and wee ticket - some wee charges that man shot my brother dead. This would be the same if it were not for that video camera and this would be the same, I guess, if it wasn't for this prosecutor and our attorneys who worked diligently to say this wouldn't be the same. I don't know what other people are doing or what other prosecutors are doing, but I do think the video camera is a big reason why this is different.

QUESTION: Terina, are you - are you pretty satisfied right now the way this has turned out because there's been so much said about release the video, release the video?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We - well, we had every - we knew the video was going to vindicate our brother. When you know somebody, you know somebody. So we knew the video was going to - it wasn't like, oh, well maybe, could have, should have. We knew the video was going to vindicate our brother.

I - my brother is one year younger than me and I've known him his whole life and I've known him to never ever run from a police officer. His record, as bad as anyone wants to make it, proves he has no problem being arrested. I am appalled every time I think about what I've been reading about my brother. I've been reading everything - you know, he's just one other thug in a neighborhood. You know, I don't care if he was a thug in a neighborhood. He didn't have a gun. He didn't do anything to that officer. No one deserves this.

So I'm - I'm angry, but I'm as pleased as I can be that we're actually going to get some kind of justice for Sam. But I don't think we would be getting it - to get back to that - I just don't think we would without the camera because they were ready to have two police officers say that Sam dragged - you have to understand, my brother got murdered on Sunday night and at 12:15 I got a call from my other brother to tell me that he was murdered.

[14:15:12] And when I got off the floor three and a half hours later, I started researched everything I could about this case because I knew when he said he was shot in the head by a police officer, that that just didn't register for me unless the police officer just killed him. Now, I knew I was never going to be able to prove that, but I knew that's what had to have happened. And I'm sure a lot of other families around the country know that, they just don't have any video camera or maybe they don't have a good enough attorney, which I think God for. I don't know. Or maybe there's not a prosecutor there that actually cares enough to do the right thing, or a grand jury, hallelujah, that will look at the case and say, let's really look at this case.

I think there's enough to prosecute without the video cameras. I think that. But I just think it would have been much more difficult because people don't listen, they just look at stereotypes. And my brother was about to be just one other stereotype, and that's not going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) very good. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you all very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much. Thank you.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you have been listening to members of Samuel DuBose's family. He is the 43-year-old man in Cincinnati who was shot and killed in a traffic stop 10 days ago now, listening specifically to a pretty stoic mother, a woman of faith who was speaking about the unjust murder of her son. And I say murder because the prosecutor here in this county, in Hamilton County in Cincinnati, has called it the most asinine act he has ever seen a police officer make. And today that officer here has been indicted on murder charges. As I mentioned, 10 days ago, an officer from the University of Cincinnati pulled this driver over, and after some back and forth ends up shooting the man in the head.

Now, this officer's account did not match what his body camera video revealed. And so we're going to play for you precisely what this prosecutor has just said in the last hour. His explosive remarks about what happened there on the roads in Cincinnati. But first, I want to play you this entire traffic stop in full, but I have to warn you, it is extraordinarily graphic and difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: Hey, how's it going, man?

SAMUEL DUBOSE: Fine, how's it going?

OFFICER: Good. (INAUDIBLE) UC Police. Do you have a license on you?

DUBOSE: Yes, what happened? Why are you stopping me?

OFFICER: OK. Is this your car?

DUBOSE: Yes.

OFFICER: It's going back to a female, actually.

DUBOSE: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) my wife. Her name is (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: OK. Well, you don't have a front license plate on your car.

DUBOSE: Oh, it's in my glove box. I have it.

OFFICER: What's that?

DUBOSE: It's right here. (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: Oh, OK. Yes, that's actually - that's got to go where the front plate's supposed to go.

DUBOSE: (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: You don't have to reach for it, that's OK. Do you have a license on you?

DUBOSE: Ah, yes.

OFFICER: What's that bottle on the floor there?

DUBOSE: (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: A bottle of what?

DUBOSE: (INAUDIBLE) aspirin (ph) (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: OK. Do you have your license on you?

OK. Do you know (INAUDIBLE) or what?

DUBOSE: (INAUDIBLE) I got my - my divers and stuff (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: OK, I'm going to ask you again, do you have your license on you?

DUBOSE: I have a license. You can take down my name.

OFFICER: So do you not have your license on you? I'm asking you a direct question. Do you have your license on you?

DUBOSE: I thought I did. (INAUDIBLE). Why did you pull me over for?

OFFICER: Again, the front tags.

DUBOSE: But it's not illegal to not have a front tag (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: OK. Actually it is. I'm going to ask you again, do you have a license on you?

DUBOSE: I have a license. You can run my name.

OFFICER: OK. Is that not on you then?

DUBOSE: I don't seem to have it on me.

OFFICER: Be straight up with me, are you suspended?

DUBOSE: No, I'm not suspended.

OFFICER: Why don't you have your license on you?

DUBOSE: (INAUDIBLE) I don't - (INAUDIBLE) I'm sorry (INAUDIBLE).

OFFICER: OK. Where do you stay at? Down here?

DUBOSE: It's right around the corner.

OFFICER: OK. Well, until I can figure out if you have a license - a license or not, go ahead and take your seatbelt off for me.

DUBOSE: I didn't do nothing. (INAUDIBLE). OFFICER: Go ahead and take your seatbelt off. Stop! Stop!

(INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:02] BALDWIN: You are about to hear from the prosecutor who said this was without a doubt murder. Said this is the most asinine act he's ever seen a police officer make. We're going to discuss what exactly happened here after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. We're back with our breaking news here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for staying with me here as we are following this story out of Cincinnati.

This grand jury has just handed down a murder indictment involving the case of this white police officer, his name is Ray Tensing, involving the death, the shooting death 10 days ago of an unarmed African- American man by the name of Samuel DuBose. It happened during a traffic stop back on July 19th. We just played the video for you and that fatal shot.

We now have learned that this police officer has just turned himself in. We have the video of that for you here in Cincinnati. There's the officer walking through those doors, officially turning himself in. What's key here, and to be honest, this is something I have never seen from a prosecutor, the detail he goes into to set up the news that this grand jury has returned this murder indictment, what he says about this officer is stunning. Watch.

[14:25:21] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE DETERS, HAMILTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Moments ago the Hamilton County grand jury has returned a murder indictment against Raymond Tensing, who was a University of Cincinnati police officer, for the murder of Samuel DuBose.

I will say this. I've been doing this for over 30 years. This is the most asinine act I've ever seen a police officer make. Totally unwarranted. It was - it's an absolute tragedy in the year 2015 that anyone would behave in this manner. It was senseless. And I met with the family just moments ago. It's just horrible.

The purposeful killing of another. That's what makes a murder. He purposefully killed him.

QUESTION: And when you say it's asinine and totally unwarranted, can you, in your mind, what contributed to a trained police officer doing something that you call asinine?

DETERS: He should never have been a police officer. I mean I - I work with police every day, and they are some of the best people I know. And he - Mr. DuBose simply didn't follow simple, nonviolent commands. He - he was subdued. The cop had his license plate number. I mean, it - it was - it was so unnecessary for this to have occurred. And the policemen I know and the investigators that I work with every day, this situation would never have escalated like this, you know. People want to believe that Mr. DuBose had done something violent towards the officer. He did not. He did not at all.

And I - I feel so sorry for his family and what they lost. And - and I feel sorry for the community, too, because we've worked so hard to develop great police relationships with the community and to have this type of a senseless act take place in Cincinnati, we don't - this doesn't happen in the United States, OK. This might happen in Afghanistan or somewhere. This just does not happen in the United States. People don't get shot for a traffic stop unless they're violent towards the police officer. And he wasn't. He was - he was simply, slowly - you're going to see it. He was simply slowly rolling away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We have a lot to unpack here. So let me just begin with CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll with more on the reaction.

But I think it's just really important to begin with the video. And I know you've seen it like five times.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BALDWIN: I had to watch it several times to fully sort of understand what exactly happened. But essentially this officer pulls Sam DuBose over -

CARROLL: Right.

BALDWIN: Because he doesn't have a front license plate.

CARROLL: Correct. Pulls him over July 19th for not having his front license plate. And as we see some of the video there in the monitor, you can see there's some back and forth there -

BALDWIN: Right.

CARROLL: About the license. Do you have a license? Is it suspended? And there's some back and forth. But the prosecutor made it very clear, the entire time Sam DuBose was not violent, did not have any weapon on him, and at a certain point the officer opened fire.

Now, there was - the officer put in his report that he was dragged by the car. Other officer indicated in the report as officer number b also said he thought he saw this officer being dragged as well. But you see there from the body camera video, in no way, shape or form was this officer dragged. Now maybe at one point his hand got stuck in the car, but was he dragged? No. The prosecutor made it clear, he said, when asked, was he dragged in any point on this tape? He said, after reviewing it over and over again, he said, no. He said, he fell backward after he shot Mr. DuBose in the head.

BALDWIN: That's right. CARROLL: A far cry from being dragged.

[14:30:00] BALDWIN: That's right. He said his body fell forward, must have pressed on the gas. He was dead instantly.