Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Police Killing of a Minnesota Black 20-Year-Old Man Spark Protests; Member of George Floyd's Family Set to Testify Today; Virginia Police Officer Fired After Pepper-Spraying Active Duty Army Officer. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired April 12, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, we have reports from Berlin, Kiev, Jerusalem, the White House, and from the U.K.. This is EARLY START this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans.
LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: So great to have you back Christine --
ROMANS: Thank you --
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett, it's Monday, April 12th, it's 5:00 a.m. here in New York, and we begin with the big breaking news overnight. Just 10 miles from where former officer Derek Chauvin is on trial, police shot and killed a black man during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center. That's just north of Minneapolis. Authorities say officers were attempting to take 20-year-old Daunte Wright into custody over an outstanding warrant. Police say Wright got back into his car and then an officer fired his gun. Wright was able to drive several blocks before crashing into another car and he died at the scene. His mother says she spoke to her son right before police opened fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE WRIGHT, MOTHER OF DAUNTE WRIGHT: He said he was getting pulled over by the police. And I said, well, why did you get pulled over? He said he had -- they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from the rear-view mirror. A minute later, I called and his girlfriend answered, which was the passenger in the car and said that he had been shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: By Sunday evening, a large crowd grew and marched toward Brooklyn Center Police Headquarters. Police say protesters threw rocks and other objects, and that they had reports of shots fired in the area. At least 20 businesses were broken into and the city's mayor has declared a curfew until 6:00 a.m. local time. The Minnesota National Guard is being deployed and Brooklyn Center schools are closed today out of an abundance of caution. JARRETT: Sunday's shooting in Brooklyn Center likely to add tension
in Minneapolis as week three begins in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin for the murder just miles away of George Floyd. Today, a doctor whose testimony was postponed Friday will take the stand and we are also likely to hear from a member of George Floyd's family who will talk about his love for his family and especially his children. After that the prosecution is expected to rest its case and Derek Chauvin's defense can begin.
ROMANS: All right, new overnight, a Virginia police officer fired for pepper spraying a black army lieutenant during a traffic stop last December. A Windsor police officer Joe Gutierrez and another officer pointed guns at Caron Nazario during a traffic stop for what they say they thought was a missing license plate on his new SUV.
JARRETT: Nazario now suing over the incident. CNN has not been able to reach either police officer involved here, and it's unclear whether they have legal presentation. CNN's Natasha Chen has this report and we should warn you, it is difficult to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six-thirty p.m., December 5th, 2020. Lieutenant Caron Nazario driving in his army fatigues through the small town of Windsor, Virginia, saw flashing lights in his rear-view mirror. He wasn't sure why he was being pulled over. According to his lawsuit, he slowed down and put his blinker on, indicating his intention to pull over, but didn't do so for another minute and 40 seconds which he later explained it was in order to find a well lit area.
DANIEL CROCKER, FIRED POLICE OFFICER: Driver, roll the window down, put your hands out the window! Turn the vehicle off, put your hands out the window.
CHEN: Hearing these different commands while sitting in his car with the seatbelt on, Nazario began recording from his own cell phone and put his hands out the window as ordered. Turns out, officer Daniel Crocker had not seen the temporary license plate taped to the back window of Nazario's brand new Chevrolet Tahoe, and seeing tinted windows and a driver not stopping right away, Crocker decided it was a high risk traffic stop. But this was never explained to Nazario who for several minutes continued to ask why he'd been pulled over.
CARON NAZARIO, U.S. ARMY LIEUTENANT: What's going on?
CROCKER: How many occupants are in your vehicle?
NAZARIO: It's only myself, why are your weapons drawn? What's going on?
JOE GUTIERREZ, FIRED POLICE OFFICER: Get out of the car now!
NAZARIO: I'm serving this country and this is how I'm treated.
CROCKER: Guess what? I'm a veteran too, I'd rather obey! Get out of the car!
CHEN: Body camera footage shows officer Joe Gutierrez gun drawn unfastening the Velcro around what may be his taser at this time.
NAZARIO: What's going on?
CROCKER: What's going on, you -- ride the lightening, son?
CHEN: The lawsuit says Nazario thought ride the lightning meant he could be killed.
NAZARIO: I'm honestly afraid to get out.
CROCKER: Yes --
NAZARIO: Can I actually --
CROCKER: You should be. Get out now!
NAZARIO: I have not committed any crimes.
GUTIERREZ: You didn't stop when I try to holler at you, you're not cooperating at this point right now, you're under arrest.
NAZARIO: What?
GUTIERREZ: You're being detained, OK? You're being detained for --
NAZARIO: For a traffic violation, I do not have to get out the vehicle, you haven't even told me why I'm being stopped.
[05:05:00]
CHEN: About two to three minutes in, officer Crocker tried to open the driver's door, in his report, he wrote, quote, "when I attempted to unlock and open the driver's door, the driver assaulted myself by striking my hand away and pulled away from officer Gutierrez's grip." But in his own body-camera footage, Nazario is not seen striking any one. Crocker's report also says that at this point, Gutierrez quote, "gave several more commands to comply with orders or he would be sprayed with his OC spray." But no such warnings could be heard. Gutierrez just sprayed Nazario still without either officer having told Nazario what exactly he was pulled over for.
NAZARIO: Just stop. Just --
GUTIERREZ: Get out of the car now!
NAZARIO: I don't even want to reach for my seatbelt, can you --
GUTIERREZ: Take your seatbelt off and get out of the car. You made this way more difficult than it had to be.
CROCKER: Get on the ground. Get on the ground.
NAZARIO: Can you please talk to me -- CROCKER: Get on the ground now!
NAZARIO: About what's going on? Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Why am I being -- why?
GUTIERREZ: You do not cooperate, get on the ground right now or you're going to get tased.
CHEN: The officers handcuffed Nazario, then stood him back up. He told them his dog was in the back seat and was choking from the pepper spray. Medics arrived and the conversation mellowed.
NAZARIO: Well, what would have been a two-minute traffic stop turned into all this.
CHEN: Nazario explained why he didn't immediately pull over.
NAZARIO: I was pulling over to a well lit area for my safety and yours. I have respect for law enforcement.
CHEN: But Gutierrez says that wasn't the problem.
GUTIERREZ: The climate we're in, the -- with the media spewing with the race relations between minorities and law enforcement, I get it, OK? So, like I told you, as far as not stopping, like you weren't comfortable, you wanted a well lit spot, lieutenant, that happens all the time. It happens to me a lot. And it's -- I'll say 80 percent of the time, not always, 80 percent of the time, it's a minority.
CHEN: And while the officers couldn't understand why Nazario didn't get out of the car as instructed --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why wouldn't you comply?
CHEN: Nazario said he didn't know why he was being stopped.
NAZARIO: I've never looked out the window and saw a gun shown immediately.
CHEN: Gutierrez eventually told Nazario that he had a conversation with the chief of police and was giving him the option to let this all go.
GUTIERREZ: There's no need for this on your record. I don't want it to be -- however, it's entirely up to you, if you want to fight and argue, I mean, and I don't mean to disrespect you, OK? I mean, you have that right as a citizen if that's what you want, we'll charge you. It doesn't change my life either way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN: The officer said his life wouldn't be changed whether Nazario was charged or not. But now with the video of the incident widely shared, all three lives are undoubtedly changed. Politicians are weighing in, including Virginia Governor Ralph Northam who on Sunday directed Virginia State police to conduct an independent investigation. Christine and Laura, back to you.
ROMANS: Really something, right, Natasha, thank you for that. COVID caution. The state of Michigan grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases. Will a surge in vaccines follow?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:10:00]
ROMANS: Important new evidence. It is not the time to let your guard down about COVID. The state of Michigan, case in point now facing an alarming surge in COVID cases. Governor Gretchen Whitmer begging residents to take a voluntary two-week pause on indoor dining, in- person learning and youth sports. Emphasis there on the voluntary part, a reality check not just in Michigan but for all Americans who have been returning to old habits prematurely.
JARRETT: Even as the pace of vaccinations pick up, 15 percent of COVID tests in Michigan have been coming back positive. The rate has not been that high in a year. Nearly two dozen Michigan hospitals are 90 percent of capacity and officials in Michigan want the Biden administration to surge vaccines to the state, but Lansing and the White House aren't exactly in sync.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): We are seeing a surge because of these variants, and that's precisely why we're really encouraging them to think about surging vaccines into the state of Michigan.
GARLIN GILCHRIST, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN: Vaccine doses and administering them is how we're going to get through this. And the state of Michigan is now a hotspot. Actually means responding differently where there's the most need. And right now, the most need is in the state of Michigan.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: We have to do this in a fair and equitable way. We are in the middle of this process. We have -- we're still in the middle of it. We still have a lot more people to vaccinate. And so, we're offering personnel help. You mentioned the federal help that we're bringing down to Michigan to help with -- to be vaccinators.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Nationally, COVID deaths continue to fall. Last week, the case numbers and hospitalizations, those are leading indicators. Those rose. President Biden's deadline to make all adults eligible for vaccine is now just one week away, but distribution of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine will fall 84 percent this week, and with some of the manufacturing challenges J&J faces at an independent plant, it's unclear exactly when the supply will pick back up again.
JARRETT: The White House ramping up its push for the $2 trillion infrastructure plan today. President Biden will hold a meeting in the Oval Office aimed at selling the plan to both sides of the aisle and both houses of Congress. CNN's Jasmine Wright is live at the White House with more. Jasmine, good morning to you, we already see some lawmakers signaling that they think the price tag is too high. So, what does the president hope to achieve today?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, the president hopes to have an entry conversation, Laura. Because his meeting with those eight lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, that's going to be the first that the White House has had now that Congress is back since the plan has been rolled out. So, he is looking to have those entry conversations, see where people are at because the White House is really defining infrastructure broadly and they're not backing down. They're saying that infrastructure is not just railroads, bridges, filling potholes. They're saying infrastructure is making sure that you can afford to have your children taken care of if you go to work, have your elderly parents taken care of if you have to go to work, make sure that you can access Broadband at your own home, high speed internet.
[05:15:00]
And we can tell that they aren't yet backing down from that broad definition. Infrastructure-plus, we can kind of call it. Of course, those are the things that are in part stopping Republicans from signing off on the bill, but it's also what is making the bill so high. But yesterday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg doubled down on that broad definition on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION". Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: This package both in terms of the individual parts and as a whole is enjoying enormous support from the American people, including Republicans. So, I know, here in Washington, folks are getting into this semantics debate. Look, I very much believe that all of these things are infrastructure because infrastructure is the foundation that allows us to go about our lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: So in terms of that semantic debate, we heard from Republican Senator Wicker yesterday who will be at the White House today, who said that Republicans are interested in an infrastructure bill, but they are not interested in paying trillions of dollars, paying for that infrastructure plus that Pete Buttigieg and others are talking about. All those things that don't fall into those traditional infrastructure things that we can think of, right? And also, on the other side, Senator Joe Manchin has continued to rail against that 28 percent proposed corporate tax hike to pay for this thing.
And he says that other Democrats are with him, but, again, energy transportation -- I'm sorry, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm kind of called him out on that, and she said that West Virginia needs Broadband. This bill would be really good for West Virginia. So, listen, the administration has been upfront in saying that President Biden wants a compromise, that he is not going to wait forever. Buttigieg set a deadline of memorial day to see some movements. So, of course, we're going to be seeing these conversations kind of unfold over the next few months, but the White House wants to see movement, bottom line. Laura?
JARRETT: All right, we will see what comes out of today's meeting. Jasmine, thanks to you.
ROMANS: All right, what could slow that economic recovery? Hear from the Fed chief Jay Powell next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:20:00]
ROMANS: The economy already looking past the pandemic. Vaccines reopening, strong fiscal support and warmer weather have the economy at an inflection point. That's the wording from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: We feel like we're at a place where the economy is about to start growing much more quickly and job creation coming in much more quickly. So the principle risk to our economy right now really is that the disease would spread again. You know, it's going to be smart if people can continue to socially distance and wear masks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: We're almost there. The virus will dictate this recovery and how well it holds. Almost 1 million jobs were added back in March, a great number, but the economy is still down some 8.4 million jobs in the pandemic, trying to crawl out of a very deep hole here. A recovery, yes, but don't expect the Fed to raise interest rates any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: I'm in a position to guarantee that the Fed will do everything we can to support the economy for as long as it takes to complete the recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There are hopes for more improvement ahead with widespread vaccination and the boost from the latest round of emergency relief from Congress.
JARRETT: Christine, it's pretty rare to hear from Jay Powell like this. I mean, he doesn't usually give a sit-down interview to anyone, but I think that, obviously, "60 Minutes" is a different platform. But were you surprised?
ROMANS: I think the inflection point verbiage was really kind of interesting to me because you've got an economy that clearly looks like it's going to be very strong, the strongest since the Reagan administration if all these forecasts hold. But he's also promising there is fragility in that big economic recovery. And that is the path of the virus, so keep your guard up. So I thought -- I thought it was a -- I thought it was a sage and cautious bit of optimism, really.
JARRETT: All right, well, speaking of the path of the virus, England begins rolling back its coronavirus restrictions today. Non-essential shops, gyms, beauty salons and zoos can reopen with proper precautions in place. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning Brits behave responsibly during these easing period. The U.K. is outpacing much of Europe with its vaccinations. Now, Germany is considering a major new step to catch up as its ICUs nears peak capacity. Fred Pleitgen is live in Berlin for us. Fred, so what is the plan? What are they going to do in terms of vaccines?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Laura, what's still really a dire situation here in Germany. I was just looking at the number of new infections for this Monday, and it's about 5,000 higher than it was last Monday. And so you can certainly see things are going in a wrong direction here in Germany. Really what Angela Merkel said she wants to do is tougher lockdown measures. One of the things we could see over the next couple of days is even a night time curfew here in Germany. But in general, the contact restrictions with -- between people could be tightened up once again here in this country as Germany is having a lot of problem trying to get out of the pandemic.
One of the maybe silver-linings that you do however have in this country is that vaccinations have been picking up somewhat. Last Wednesday, Friday and Thursday. So a record number of people here in Germany get vaccinated, and the big key to that quite frankly, was doctors practices. General practitioners joining in the fight to vaccinate, and that really lifted up those numbers. Nevertheless, the ICU capacity here in this country remains a dire problem.
[05:25:00]
One of the things that we saw last week is that ICU occupancy, people in ICU because of the pandemic jumped by 5 percent in a single day, clearly some really dire numbers here for the Germans, and right now, Angela Merkel is saying, look, at the moment, the vaccinations simply aren't fast enough to keep up with all of this. And so, therefore, we're looking at stronger lockdown measures, at least in the interim, probably for another couple of weeks here in this country, Laura.
JARRETT: All right, Fred, thank you so much for that update. All right, we're continuing to follow breaking news overnight in Minnesota. The National Guard deployed there after protests over the police killing of a black man in Brooklyn Center.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JARRETT: Good morning everyone, this is EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: Nice to see you. It's 30 minutes past the hour this Monday morning.
