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New Day

Second Night of Protests after Police Killing of Daunte Wright; U.S. Calls for Pause on J&J Vaccine over Blood Clot Concerns. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired April 13, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

AARON BOONE, NEW YORK YANKEES MANAGER: Aaron is hurting in a huge, and I think in a way felt like it's probably the responsible to take himself out and knowing that it was going to be hard for him to be all in mentally.

[07:00:06]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: And Hicks no stranger to that community there in Minneapolis, Poppy. He was drafted by the Twins, played his first three seasons in the big leagues there in Minneapolis.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEW DAY: Yes. You know what, when they talk and they take a stand, people listen and it makes an incredible difference. And I'm proud of all of them in Minnesota and those teams for doing that. Thanks, Andy.

New Day continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, this is New Day. I'm John Berman. Poppy Harlow is with me this morning.

The city manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota has been fired. President Biden is calling for peace and calm. And this morning, we are hearing from Daunte Wright's angry and heartbroken family. The anger is over the killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop.

Police say the officer identified as Kim Porter, they say she fired her gun instead of a taser. They say it was an accident. She has been placed on administrative leave.

There was unrest overnight. Police used tear gas and stun guns to disperse protesters who police say launched bottles, fireworks and bricks at officers in Brooklyn Center.

HARLOW: All of this is happening just miles from downtown Minneapolis where prosecutors will wrap up their case today in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. The brother of George Floyd, who you will remember died under the knee of a Minneapolis Police officer less than a year ago, described his brother Floyd as a big mama's boy, who was devastated by her death in 2018. And you'll also remember Floyd called out for his mother as he was dying.

The defense will begin their case, begin calling their own witnesses today. Closing arguments could come next week.

Let's begin with the breaking news overnight. Our Adrienne Broaddus joins us live on the ground in Minnesota.

Yes, there was unrest in a community stunned that in less than a year this has happened again to one of their own.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Poppy, someone told me yesterday we haven't even hit the year mark. George Floyd was killed on Memorial Day last year. It's still April. This community is broken. And now the unrest we're seeing night after night following the killing of Daunte Wright. Hundreds of protesters were in the street overnight. And as members of law enforcement tried to disperse the crowd who was gathering past that 7:00 P.M. curfew, they used tear gas and flashbang grenades.

You know, the emotion swelled in this community after folks saw that video, the body cam video leading up to the final moments of Daunte Wright's life. I want to warn you, what you're about to see is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not doing anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should stop, bro. Don't do it. Don't do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll tase you. I'll tase you. Taser, taser, taser.

oh, I shot -- I just shot him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: People asking how many times do we have to hear folks like you, Adrienne, members of the media warn us that we're about to see graphic video. Yesterday, the Hennepin County medical examiner ruling Wright's death a homicide.

We also heard from Wright's mother as well as the mother of the child Wright leaves behind. She spoke to CNN's affiliate WCCO. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHYNA WHITAKER, MOTHER OF DAUNTE WRIGHT'S CHILD: It just made you feel better when you came around. And I'm just hurt that he's gone, like I can't believe it. I didn't get to say goodbye to him and just to see him again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: And here we are, Poppy and John, about ten miles from where the trial of Derek Chauvin is playing out. Last year, folks thought they would see change at the intersection of 38th and Chicago, that's where Floyd's life ended from Minneapolis across the globe folks said the name of George Floyd. Now, people are saying the name of Daunte Wright.

HARLOW: And both leave behind small children who will never get to fully know their parents. Thank you, Adrienne, for your exceptional reporting on the ground.

[07:05:01]

Daunte Wright's aunt spoke in an incredibly compelling interview with our colleague, Don Lemon, about her nephew, about what happened to him. Her words are nothing short of heart breaking. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NAISHA WRIGHT, AUNT OF DAUNTE WRIGHT (voice over): Everybody is hurt. This is a young man that had life in front of him. He had a son. How can I explain that? I can't explain it. My family is hurt. You've seen his mother.

And for one minute, you all, don't forget that my brother is there as well, his father. This is not a broken home. This is not a broken home. They've been together over 23 years. Over 23 years, they've been together. My brother has been there. Please do not disregard his feelings because my brother is in pain.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: What went through your mind when you heard the police chief say that the officer fired the gun by mistake? She intended to use her taser.

WRIGHT (voice over): You don't want to know. You really don't want to know what I felt, but I'm going to tell you like this. You know the difference from a fully loaded pistol versus a stun gun. You know the difference. And if you're a police officer, you should know that.

I've seen that camera. I saw she held that gun out in front of her for a little while. You mean to tell me she didn't see it?

But let me ask you all something, how would you all feel if you all got the call that that was your nephew, if that was your son, if that was your brother? How would you all feel? And then to sit here and people are trying to drag my nephew's name through the dirt, it don't mean nothing. It don't mean nothing. He didn't deserve to die.

My nephew was a damn good kid. He loved his family and we loved him. Accident? An accident? No. Come on now. Everybody in this world saw that gun. You mean to tell me you thought it was a taser? I've owned over 20,000 volt taser. They don't feel nothing like a gun, nothing like a gun.

So you all tell me how would you all feel if y'all got that call. That was my nephew. That was my blood. That was my heart. My brother is my heart. Katie is my heart. They took my man's life from him. My great nephew has to now grow up not even knowing, not even being able to touch his father. You tell me, is it all right to take somebody's life's over a misdemeanor warrant just for some weed? You got these politicians out here smoking weed. They ain't dead. You got all these people that just shot up the man that killed them Asian women. May they rest their souls. May they rest in peace.

You got the people at the grocery store. You got the people in Bryan, texas. You mean to tell me all three of them is still living? But my nephew is dead because now they want to use the justification of it was a mistake? You don't mistake a stun gun from a gun. You don't mistake that. If I made a mistake like that, I would be in the jail cell. They would be trying to put me under.

This is not fair. We got several police officers in all of our family. I don't have nothing bad to say about them, but what I got to say is she needs to pay for what she did to my family. My family's blood is on their hands. My brother, my sister is hurting. How do we put life back together after this?

Some people say, oh, it's God's plan. That was not God's plan. There's no peace in this. Say his name. Keep saying his name. My nephew did not deserve this. Daunte Wright did not deserve this. Katie Wright, Arbery Wright, they did not deserve this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Joining us now CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Charles Ramsey and CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson.

[07:10:00]

Chief, what do you say to that? I mean, what do you say to Naisha Wright who says, my nephew, Daunte Wright, did not deserve this? What do you say to that anguish, to that exhaustion we're hearing from her.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: There is nothing you can say that will make up for the pain and the loss that she feels right now. Absolutely nothing you can say. I've taken a hard look at the video to see exactly what took place. And she's right. I mean, there is a difference between a handgun and a taser. Assuming they're using the model taser, not just in the weight, in the size of it, but also the taser, which is a conducted electrical device has a yellow -- bright yellow handle on it.

And when you look at the tape, you'll see one of the officers on their weak side, you see this flash of yellow. That's their taser, again, another way to distinguish that from the handgun.

But there were some tactical errors that were made in this, which I can get into, if you would like, but there is absolutely nothing you can say that will lessen the pain that she feels and also that community.

HARLOW: Joey Jackson, why on earth was he even taken out of the car, told to get out of the car? I mean, the details that we know now for expired tag, expired tags that the police chief of Brooklyn Center admitted yesterday in the press conference he and his staff knew there was a two or three-month delay in getting those tags from the DMV even if you'd already bought them because of COVID. Guess what happened to me when I got pulled over for expired tags, right? It's unbelievable that this aggressive tactic was taken from the beginning for that.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, it really is. Good morning, Poppy, John, and Chief Ramsey. Listen, I think the answer to your question lies in something we call discretion. And when you're on the street and doing your job, it's important that you exercise that discretion in a way that favors life, in a way that values the sanctity of life.

We've heard that testimony, right, just last week from the very chief who is in charge of that department talking about the values of the department and what they should instill, talking about the work and the outreach they need to do to the community. And you look at that and it's totally counter to that.

And I think there has to be some recognition, Poppy, and understanding that at the end of the bullet is a person whose life had meaning, value and significance. Daunte Wright, a son, a brother, a nephew, a friend, so many things to so many.

And so, it's part of a whole larger discussion. It's part of a discussion concerning how communities of color are treated, how they are policed, how they are dealt with, how there's an implicit and explicit -- I mean, what's the harm and fear? And we're talking about this constantly.

This comes in light of even the other case with respect to a person wearing a veteran's uniform whose street with the -- I mean, it just is a tough conversation to continue to have.

And, final point, poppy, And then we talk about, oh, will the officer be charged and this and the other and is it negligent? Of course it is. But is that what the woman who we heard his aunt wants to hear or does she want the value of his life and is hopeful that how did this have to happen?

And so it's just really awful to continue to have these discussions. And something has to be done not only there but throughout the country to address it.

BERMAN: Yes. I mean, look, I don't know. I mean, at this point I don't know if it was an accident or not. What I do know, chief, is that Daunte Wright is dead. You know, we know the result. And we know, you know, if it was an accident, there can't be these accidents. If it wasn't an accident, this can't happen and it keeps happening. So, I mean, I guess they just understand the anguish, the anger.

RAMSEY: Yes. In this particular case, I believe personally that it was an unintentional discharge but it doesn't get around the negligence that was involved in this particular case. Again, as the chief mentioned and as standard in most departments, you carry the taser on your weak side, your opposite side of your gun in a cross draw fashion so that you can't make that mistake. But when you look at when they make the stop and apparently he had a warrant of some kind on him, which is the reason why he was taken out and handcuffed, I believe, but they did right next to the driver's door. The reason you see police officers escort someone to the rear of the car so they can't jump back in and take off on you, you know. And he's right by there. And that's very tempting, you know, for an individual that doesn't want to go to jail to try to get in the car.

I believe there was a passenger in the car. When I watched it, I thought I caught a glimpse of someone in the passenger side. Had she shot -- she did shoot, had that bullet penetrated Mr. Wright, it would have struck the second person in the car as well, and so because she caught him right in the side there.

[07:15:05]

And so, you know, that is -- everything about it in terms of the tactics is just not good. But that doesn't bring him back.

There are two areas that I think we have to take seriously in policing and totally revamp. One is our hiring and recruitment of individuals to be on the job. Derek Chauvin, Gutierrez, people like that shouldn't be policemen to begin with, let alone be involved in these kinds of incidents. And then training, training is not sufficient, it's not long enough and it doesn't cover the areas sufficiently that I believe need to be covered in order to be an effective police officer.

HARLOW: You know, for all of us, it's difficult to watch doesn't even begin to describe it, but being from this city, I cannot believe it keeps happening. Philando Castile, 32 years old, Joey Jackson, the cop cleared of manslaughter charges. Guess how many times he was pulled over, 32 years old, 46 times for traffic stops. George Floyd, now Daunte Wright, pulled over for expired tags the middle of a pandemic with a one-year-old son left behind.

Should our police be -- if this is what happens to black people in America when they get pulled over far too many times, should the cops be doing this? Should they be the ones in charge of traffic stops?

JACKSON: I mean, listen, Poppy, you need police and you need policing out there, right? And just to be clear, my dad, may he rest in peace, was an officer and he always used to tell me in our conversations, you know, he said, son, of all the equipment that I have around me, my gun, my night stick, everything else, the most effective thing I have is my mouth. By speaking to people, by treating them with courtesy, by treating them with respect, by allowing them to know I value them, I appreciate them, we can work this out. And that goes to the larger issue of de-escalation.

And so just to be clear, I recognize and understand that there's law enforcement out there every day who are giving their all to protect communities. I salute those people. To those, however, who transgress that and who don't do it or who operate in a negligent way or who jump to execution straight away. And I get that they're suggesting or this was apparently an accident, you don't get a free pass for an accident. When you have a gun and a badge, it can take a life, you have to exercise due care because someone on the other end of that is going to suffer. A family is going to suffer. A family is going to be pulled apart.

And so there has to be something that's done not only in that community but throughout the country so that we could stop having a conversation of another African-American young man who is dead. It's just tragic, it's sad, it's awful, and it's preventable, and it needs to stop now.

BERMAN: All right. Joey Jackson, Chief Ramsey, thank you both for being with us this morning.

We have important breaking news regarding the pandemic. The CDC and the FDA raising serious safety concerns involving Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine. We'll give you these details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking news. The CDC and FDA just released a joint statement. I was reading it now that is calling for a pause, an immediate pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson single- dose coronavirus vaccine. This is after six recipients in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of the vaccination.

Joining us now is Dr. Carlos del Rio, he is the executive associate dean at Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System.

This is these adverse side effects, rare blood clotting in six women, by the way, ages 18 to 48, 18 to 48, six women, out of 6.8 million doses administered, Dr. del Rio. So what's your take away here?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, thank you, John. I think the first take away is that it's a very rare event. I mean, you're talking about one per million. And when you give millions of doses of vaccines, you will see events like this that you couldn't see in the clinical trial just because you didn't have millions of people enrolled. So, it probably is related. It's rare.

But I want to congratulate the CDC and the FDA for very quickly jumping on it, halting the vaccinations until we know more and really trying to understand what's going on. I think vaccine safety has always been a priority. And I think this is exactly the right move until we understand what's going on and what's the way forward.

HARLOW: I have a lot of friends who have gotten this vaccine. So, I think anyone who has gotten it in the past few weeks want to know what to look out for. Here is what the FDA says, people who have gotten this vaccine in the past few weeks who develop a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their healthcare provider. That's what they should do.

Does this though, show, Doctor, causality, right? That's the big question. Is it coincidence or causality or do they not know yet?

DEL RIO: I don't think we know yet. What we know and we need to understand this further but what we know, for example, there's data coming out primarily from Europe and the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also an anti-virus vector vaccine, so it may be related to the vector. The anti-virus vector vaccine may have something to do with it. What we --

HARLOW: What does that mean for people? Put that in laymen, speak for us.

DEL RIO: Well, let me put it in very simple terms. What it means is that certain types of vaccines, such as the AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson, which use a cold and activated virus to deliver the spike protein, may be precipitating in very few rare individuals the development of anti-bodies against a platelet factor 4, which causes this immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis.

So what it means to people at this point in time is I think you're likely going to be okay. I mean, when you think about one in million event, that's -- you cross the street every day. You have a much higher chance of getting run over by a car.

[07:25:01]

So I think what people need to be is don't freak out. I would be going on with my life but I would be very attuned to my body. And if I develop shortness of breath, if I develop leg pain, if I develop a headache and I'm within two to three weeks of having had Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I would immediately notify my healthcare provider.

BERMAN: So, people get a sense of the numbers again, 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered in the U.S. so far. You can see it on your screen right next to Dr. del Rio. That's out of about 190 million doses administered total. So more than 180 million doses that have been administered in the United States have been either been Pfizer or Moderna, right? Johnson & Johnson is a very small number of this.

So, Dr. del Rio, are you concerned at all that people are going to see this and say, well, I've been nervous about getting a vaccine? This justifies my anxiety.

DEL RIO: Well, I think the concern about any side effects is that it would likely, as you say, potentially increase vaccine hesitancy. But, again, I want to emphasize that the risk/benefit ratio is way in favor of benefit. These vaccines have saved thousands of lives already. People have -- we have seen mortality in the U.S. continue to decline despite cases going up and that's because we're vaccinating people.

So the chances -- I mean, I would still recommend people to get vaccinated. I would not say do not get vaccinated just because of this very rare side effect. But I would say that it's the right thing to do for the CDC and the FDA to halt the vaccinations with the J&J vaccine until we understand further what's going on and until we understand, as Poppy asks, is this just a casualty (ph) or is this actually causality.

HARLOW: John rightly pointed out something that struck me right away, they're all women, six women, and they're young. They're between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman died and a second woman has been hospitalized in critical condition. Again, coincidence or why would it be women that are having this impact and young women.

DEL RIO: Well, that's a very good question. And I think it's a question that experts in coagulation are definitely working hard to try to answer it. We know women, for example, have more thrombosis when they're smokers, when we know with birth control pills and hormone replacement, women tend to have more thrombosis.

So, again, there may be a hyper coagular issue related to hormone levels and estrogens. But what the European regulators have done, again, not with Johnson & Johnson but with the AstraZeneca, where very similar thing was found, young people, usually women, having the similar side effect, they have recommended the vaccine be used only in people over the age of 60, in some countries over the age of 50, most countries, over the age of 60.

It may be very well that we say this is a vaccine for people over the age of 60 because younger people could have this side effect.

BERMAN: All right. Dr. del Rio, stand by for a moment, if you will. We just got word that the FDA is going to hold a news conference at 10:00 A.M. There are a lot of questions that people have. Hopefully, the FDA will be as transparent as possible and make clear why they made this decision.

Also with us now, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, this is big news. It's one of the three vaccines albeit the one that has the least numbers in terms of people getting but it's one of the three approved vaccines in the United States. People are watching this very carefully.

Your take on it and what does this do overall to the Biden administration's goal of getting 200 million doses in people's arms by the end of this month?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as far as the second part goes, you know, if you look at some of the models and the way that the administration was sort of calculating how they would get to these numbers, it was largely based on the Pfizer vaccines and the Moderna vaccines, which are two-dose vaccines. So, obviously, those will have some impact. But because J&J came later, because they didn't hit their initial goals, the impact is probably going to be blunted here. So I guess that's the good news.

But the bad news is this is -- I think, every time we hear a report like this, people who are sort of on the fence a little bit about vaccine and whether or not I should get are a little hesitant, this fuels that, to some extent. And on one hand people look at this and they say, you know, this is evidence of the post-vaccine monitoring system sort of working, finding these sorts of side effects, even if they are rare. On the other hand, it's going to fuel this hesitancy, I think, having reported on this now since the rollout that we saw with AstraZeneca, we're probably going to see that to some extent with J&J.

It may not be fair and they may need to figure out exactly what is causing this but that is likely the outcome.

BERMAN: Sanjay, I'm seeing already it on Twitter. I'm already seeing people saying, I told you so. We were nervous about vaccines. This is exactly why. Is this justified? Again, this is six cases out of 7 million doses.

[07:30:00]

GUPTA: Yes. You know, it's less than one in a million. And we know that even when we talk about vaccines overall, the idea of one in a million sort of rare side effect.