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Minnesota Police Fatally Shoot Black Man, Inflaming Tensions During Chauvin Trial; Virginia Officer Fired after Pepper-Spraying Active-Duty Army Officer; Michigan Governor Asking for Caution as COVID Cases Surge. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 12, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:59:29]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, April 12, 6 a.m. here in New York. I'm John Berman. My friend Poppy Harlow with me all week. Great to have you here.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be here.

BERMAN: We do begin with breaking news. A fatal police shooting in Minneapolis ten miles from the courthouse where Derek Chauvin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd.

Twenty-year-old Daunte Wright was shot by police during a traffic stop last night. This happened in Brooklyn Center, about ten miles from downtown Minneapolis. His mother says he called her when he was pulled over and told her he was stopped because an air freshener was blocking his rearview mirror.

Authorities say they had an outstanding warrant on Wright. Police say when they tried to arrest him, he got back in the car, and an officer opened fire. He then drove a short distance before crashing and dying at the scene.

National Guard troops are deployed on the streets and a curfew was imposed after the protests turned violent.

HARLOW: Meanwhile, in Virginia, Governor Ralph Northam directed state police to investigate another very controversial traffic stop, this one taking place back in December, two police officers holding Caron Nazario at gunpoint. Look at this. This is in the town of Windsor, Virginia. Nazario, a black and Hispanic man, is a second lieutenant in the Army.

Body camera footage shows police pepper spraying him, striking and handcuffing him. Town officials confirming overnight that one of those officers has been fired.

Let's begin this hour, though, with our Adrienne Broaddus. She joins us live right outside of Minneapolis. That's where Brooklyn Center is, a proximity to where the Chauvin trial is happening right now, obviously in focus, as well. On the deadly police shooting overnight, what can you tell us?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, this is about ten miles from where the Derek Chauvin trial is taking place. If you look behind me, you'll notice a chair was used to bust the window of this business. Over on the sidewalk, scattered glass. And nearby, members of the National Guard on guard.

This after police say a black man was shot and killed during a traffic stop. Exactly what happened is unclear.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROADDUS (voice-over): Outrage and frustration in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, with crowds gathering in protest at the death of Daunte Wright, an officer shooting the 20-year-old during a traffic stop Sunday. Police say they were attempting to arrest the man after determining he had outstanding warrants and he got back into his car.

JOHN HARRINGTON, COMMISSIONER, MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: One officer had fired a weapon, striking the driver. The vehicle continued and eventually crashed, and medical resources were then deployed to the scene to aid the people in both the vehicle that was crashed into and the original group. The driver of the vehicle was -- was deceased.

BROADDUS: Authorities say Wright died at the scene of the crash, his mother arriving there after the incident, saying he called her when he was pulled over shortly before 2 p.m.

KATIE WRIGHT, DAUNTE WRIGHT'S MOTHER: That 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 rearview mirror.

BROADDUS: According to Brooklyn Center Police, both body cameras and dash cameras were activated during the shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an open investigation, and it's too early to make any real comment on it.

BROADDUS: Tension growing in the city overnight. Officers deploying tear gas on protesters outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department. In anticipation of more unrest today, the state deploying more law enforcement officials in the greater Minneapolis area.

COL. MATT LANGER, MINNESOTA STATE PATROL: What you will see is a greater law enforcement presence, a greater National Guard presence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROADDUS: And John, as I watched people loot these businesses overnight, it reminded me of what we all saw after George Floyd was killed. If you look behind me, you'll see here this T-Mobile destroyed, the front door entrance busted. Inside, boxes tossed about the office space. And we just saw people with bags of -- with bags, just pulling things, walking out of these businesses.

And this is all happening as we enter the third week of the Chauvin trial. Later today in that trial, we know a medical doctor is expected to testify, a doctor that was supposed to take the stand on Friday.

And as the prosecution ends the near -- or nears the end of its case, as it prepares to rest its case, it's likely a member of George Floyd's family will also testify. That family will be able to speak to George's character intimately -- John.

BERMAN: Our Adrienne Broaddus for us in Brooklyn Center in Minnesota.

Again, like ten miles --

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: -- from the courthouse where the Derek Chauvin trial is happening right now. Adrienne, stand by for us. We're going to come back to you in a little bit, because this is a developing situation.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers, also a lawyer. And CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow.

Look, this is all developing this morning. We're getting much more information.

Jonathan, I just want to start with the case as we know it, the killing as we know it. The mother of Daunte Wright says he was pulled over because of an air freshener dangling from the rearview mirror. He was shot, we are told, by law enforcement in the process of going back to his car after the initial encounter there. What questions does this raise for you, Jonathan?

[06:05:02]

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, listen, you know, any officer-involved shooting is going to be under significant scrutiny right now. Unfortunately, I don't want to rush to any judgment on the police actions as we really don't know the specific details as to the interaction.

You know, any time there's a vehicle stopped by law enforcement, it can be administrative, or it can be very dynamic. Right now, we just don't know how, absent of looking at the dash cam videos, the body- worn camera systems, and eyewitnesses, how that interaction went -- took place.

Right now, you know, it is -- it is tragic that an individual, Mr. Wright, you know, lost his lifer. However, we have to understand was this an appropriate use of force or not? And -- and what will happen is that law enforcement is going to be under a very critical review right now for this -- this action.

You know, this is the wild-card incident that nobody wanted at this time. You know, both the community and law enforcement had feared this for -- for a long time, and we're seeing the consequences of this type of event. Whether it was a justified shooting or not, the community is obviously responding, and the community already was destabilized destabilized, and it's further rolling into, you know, mass protests and acts of civil unrest right now.

HARLOW: So Bakari, you're an attorney. And I want to get your take on the warrant. We don't know what the warrant was for. What we do know is that we're going to learn a lot more. And that's because this police department, the Brooklyn Center Police Department, says there is -- that all their officers wear body cameras and that they believe the body cameras and the dash camera were on.

I'm not sure how long it's going to take to -- for that to become public. I think that's a really key question. Transparency is important, especially, now. Would you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that that become public as soon as possible?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You have to at this point. I think transparency is very, very important. The investigation has to run its course. We agree on that wholeheartedly. The investigation has to be completed, and, you know, there's this gulf of distrust between law enforcement and the community.

And so you want things like the body-worn cameras to come out and the dash cameras to come out. And I'm just actually glad that they were on. I have a case right now where body cameras, quote/unquote "fell off" the officers as they were pursuing a suspect who ended up beaten with his head slammed in a door.

So you -- this is one step, you know. This police -- this police station, this community precinct has to be transparent. You brought that up. They have to be transparent. That onus is on them.

But I will tell you, when you talk about the warrant -- and I believe that the -- that the police would have stated this in their statement -- I'm pretty certain that he did not have a warrant for a death penalty crime.

And so that's first and foremost. Nothing that he did at the scene, we would presume -- although facts have to bear that out -- would be the cause for a death penalty.

And the last thing that I will -- will say is that we have to get out of the notion -- because it's just not the case anymore that we have routine traffic stops in this country. I mean, especially for people of color, there's a heightened sense of fear that goes along with those traffic stops.

There's heart palpitations and anxiety that most people don't even understand that black folk and brown folk have in this country when they're stopped by police. There's no such thing in my community as a routine stop. There's a -- there's a stop that's riddled with anxiety. That's what we have most times.

BERMAN: We're going to see that in just a moment as we talk about what happened in Virginia. We'll get back to the specifics of this case in a second, Bakari, but I am struck by the fact that this happened ten miles from the courthouse where Derek Chauvin is on trial.

And I'm asking you this as an attorney who's been in the courtroom before. Will this have an impact on the Chauvin trial? I mean, these jurors live in the community where this is going on. The chances that they're going to see this, I have to believe it's something that the judge will be looking at.

SELLERS: This is a -- I can't say that this is something that I've seen before, where you have a case that has this much scrutiny. Very rarely do we have the entire world in a courtroom. Sometimes you have local media, et cetera, but you very rarely have CNN and other cameras in the courtroom. So that's first.

You compound that with the fact that we now have, ten miles down the road, this shooting. Whether justified or not is yet to be determined. Yes, I mean, that's something that will impact the jury as they go for deliberations. I mean, they -- although you want the jury to focus on the facts at hand that were delivered, I mean, they're human beings. They're wild cards, but they're human beings. And so they definitely will take it to the deliberations, and this is for better or for worse.

What's going on in the community around them? You try to shield them as much as possible from this, but when you have a protest ten miles away from your home, it's not as if you can avoid that. And so this is -- this is a very natural occurrence, unfortunately, in this country that these jurors will now take into account.

[06:10:09]

HARLOW: And I can guarantee you, being from Minneapolis, those -- those protesters are not just going to stay -- they're not just going to stay in Brooklyn Center. They're going to head right down Hennepin Avenue right through the middle of downtown, down Lake Street. That's what's going to happen, I think, in the subsequent days.

Jonathan, I just -- our colleague, Brian Stelter, just sent me the front page of "The Star-Tribune," the local paper this morning. And the big headline is "Fatal Police Shooting Sparks Grief and Outrage."

If you are a leader of the Minneapolis Police Department, the Brooklyn Center Police Department, how do you -- how do you speak to the community this morning? I mean, they haven't had a press conference yet. What needs to be said in addition to the facts that they can share at this point?

WACKROW: Well, listen, I go back to what Bakari just said, because it's really, really important in a moment like this. Transparency is critical to reassuring the public that law enforcement and the people who are reviewing this incident are fully transparent, and they're going to allow all of the facts to come out. And that, you know, the -- whether or not the -- if the shooting is justified or not, they will take the appropriate action.

Again, law enforcement since June has undergone a significant amount of training on how to engage in these types of incidents, especially in this critical area in the run-up to the Chauvin trial, I know that law enforcement throughout the region has had all different types of -- of training on how to prepare for -- for these types of incidents.

Again, transparency is going to allow the reassurances of the public that law enforcement is doing the right thing, that they're not the enemy. Bakari's point was critical here, is that there is a disparity between the way that the -- the community and police are engaging with each other. This is -- this is going to pressure test what type of progress they've made to date and whether or not that progress can be sustained.

BERMAN: Look, we're being transparent about what we know and don't know at this point. This is all developing this morning. What we do know is that 20-year-old Daunte Wright is dead. We know he was pulled over. A lot of the details will be filled in over the next several hours. So Bakari, Jonathan, thank you very much for being with us. Don't go too far, because this is developing this morning.

To the notion that Bakari brought up, that there's no such thing at this point as a routine pull-over. There's a different police encounter getting a lot of scrutiny this morning.

A police officer has been fired after body camera video captured him pepper spraying and pointing his gun at an Army officer during a traffic stop. We'll bring you all of the latest developments next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:52]

HARLOW: Developing overnight, one of two Virginia police officers who drew their guns and pepper-sprayed a black and Hispanic Army lieutenant during a traffic stop has been fired. The Army officer now suing over this. It was all captured on body camera video and cellphone video.

Our Natasha Chen joins us with the latest. Good morning, Natasha.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy.

We don't know exactly when Officer Joe Gutierrez was fired, but we know he was terminated following an internal investigation that found department policy was not followed.

Now, the other officer is still employed with Windsor Police. Their body camera footage, along with the personal cellphone video of the man they pulled over show us what happened in December.

Now, we've watched these videos many times to put the story together, and it does not get any easier. Viewers should be warned this video can be disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN (voice-over): Six-thirty p.m., December 5, 2020, Lieutenant Caron Nazario driving in his Army fatigues through the small town of Windsor, Virginia, saw flashing lights in his rearview mirror. He wasn't sure why he was being pulled over.

According to his lawsuit, he slowed down and put his blinker, indicating his intention to pull over, but didn't do so for another minute and 40 seconds, which he later explained was in order to find a well-lit area.

OFFICER DANIEL CROCKER, WINDSOR, VIRGINIA, POLICE: 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 his seatbelt on, Nazario began recording from his own cellphone 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.

2ND LT. CARON NAZARIO, U.S. ARMY: 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, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Get out of the car now.

NAZARIO: I'm serving this country, and this is how I'm treated?

CROCKER: Yo, guess what? I'm a veteran, too. I learned to 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?

GUTIERREZ: What's going on is you're fixing to ride the lightning, son.

CHEN: The lawsuit says Nazario thought "ride the lightning" meant he could be killed.

NAZARIO: I'm honestly afraid to get out. Can I -- I'm not sure what's going on.

GUTIERREZ: Yes, you should be. Get out now.

NAZARIO: I have not committed any crimes.

GUTIERREZ: You're being stopped for a traffic violation. You're not cooperating. At this point right now you're under arrest for -- you're being detained. You're being detained. NAZARIO: For a traffic violation I do not have to get out of the vehicle. You haven't even told me why I'm being stopped.

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 anyone. 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.

[06:20:12]

Gutierrez just sprayed Nazario, still without either officer having told Nazario what exactly he was pulled over for.

NAZARIO: This is (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. That's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up.

GUTIERREZ: Get out of the car now.

NAZARIO: I'm going to do whatever you say. I can't look (ph).

GUTIERREZ: Take your seat belt off and get out of the car. You made this way more difficult than it had to be. Get on the ground. Get on the ground.

NAZARIO: Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Can you please talk to me about what's going on? Why am I being treated like this? Why?

GUTIERREZ: Because you're not cooperating. Get on the ground. Get down. You're going to get Tased.

NAZARIO: 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.

CROCKER: 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 said that wasn't the problem.

GUTIERREZ: The climate we're in, 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 you not stopping, you're uncomfortable and you wanted a well-lit spot, that happens to us all the time. It happens to me a lot. And it's -- I'll say 80 percent of the time, not always, 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 gun blazing 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 this on your record. However, it's entirely up to you. If you want to fight and argue -- and I don't mean disrespectfully. 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 town of Windsor has also added police department-wide requirements for additional training after this incident, implemented starting in January.

Now, the town manager told CNN that they're saddened for events like this to cast a negative light on their community. Part of his statement reads, "Rather than deflect criticism, they've addressed the matter with their personnel administratively."

Poppy and John, back to you.

BERMAN: I've got to say -- thank you, Natasha. I've got to say, the calm with which Lieutenant Nazario approached the entire thing was extraordinary.

HARLOW: It was extraordinary. And his thought as soon as the lights went on and the police vehicles to keep driving to somewhere that's well-lit, something that one of our guests that's going to join us later will talk about that, wanting as much transparency as possible. And then to turn on his cellphone video, because he was scared, obviously.

BERMAN: Look, we were talking about the breaking news in Minnesota, moments ago. Bakari Sellers came on earlier and said there was no such thing as a routine traffic stop.

HARLOW: Especially for a black person in America.

BERMAN: For people of color right now, when we saw from Lieutenant Nazario, that -- that's how he was approaching it. He's like, I want to be in a well-lit area, because there was no such thing as a routine stop. I just -- I can't -- having watched this video now several times, including over the weekend, I don't understand the escalation. I don't understand. HARLOW: And the officer saying, You didn't have to make it this way.

BERMAN: Yes.

HARLOW: Well, the -- the officers escalated it in many respects, as well.

BERMAN: All right. A lot more on all of this coming up.

HARLOW: Yes.

Michigan's governor, meantime, is calling for more vaccine doses. This as new cases of COVID in the state and hospitalizations there surge. Is it a sign of what may come for other states across the U.S.?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): We are seeing a surge in Michigan, despite the fact that we have some of the strongest policies in place, mask mandates, capacity limits, working from home. We've asked our state for a two-week pause.

So despite all that, we are seeing a surge because of these variants, and that's precisely why we're really encouraging them to think about surging vaccines in the state of Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, calling on the Biden administration to surge vaccine doses to the state as cases surge. You can look at the graphic right there.

Hospitalizations also clearly on the rise. Look at that. Almost reaching the peak that we saw just before the new year. Nearly two dozen hospitals in -- in Michigan have reached 90 percent capacity.

Joining us now, CNN contributor Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, he's an epidemiologist and Detroit's former health commissioner.

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. The governor wants a surge in vaccines from the federal government to Michigan. What do you think of that idea?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, John, I think it's fine, but I think the obvious question here is why are we not doing what the governor has done in the past, which is a real pause? It's one thing to say, we encourage you not to go to a restaurant. We encourage you not to go to a gym. We encourage you to step out of high school sports. Those encouragements are fine, but they're not enough.

We are reaching what looks like a peak of a variant of this virus that is far more deadly, far more transmissible than what we've been dealing with in the past. And so, yes, sure, it's like asking for more fire extinguishers that

you can hold in your hand in the middle of a four-alarm fire. Would it help? Yes. It would help. But it's not the obvious answer.

What the obvious answer is, is that we need the fire station to bring the fire trucks, and what that looks like is a real pause where we -- we involuntarily shut these things down, at least for a couple of weeks to bring the cases down a bit.

And so it's a little bit frustrating to watch as Michigan.