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Cop Didn't Know Brown Was a Suspect; Calls Mount for Police Body Cameras

Aired August 15, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the bottom of the hour. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And here's what we know about the officer who shot and killed 18-year-old, Michael Brown. His name is Officer Darren Wilson. He is 28 years of age. He is white, has six years experience on the police force four with Ferguson PD.

And so we sent Ed Lavandera out, tried to knock on doors, learn more about this police officer. Ed, what did you find?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's the key to all of this, trying to paint as best a picture as we can of the situation here. And I think that's helpful for all viewers here. But we have tried going to the neighborhood where Darren Wilson lives.

And he lives in a suburb of St. Louis, about 25 miles away from here in Ferguson. Many of the residents that we met there this afternoon were reluctant to speak with us, very nervous about what the release of his name and knowing where he lives at this point might cause for the neighborhood.

But we did, besides the people that were a little bit reluctant to talk, they did share some interesting details. They said that in the days after the shooting, they noticed a large police presence or a consistent police presence in their neighborhood as people were trying to piece together what exactly was going on.

And then slowly they started getting a sense and understanding that this was indeed the officer, their neighbor, that was involved in this shooting. And then several people told us that either on Tuesday or a couple days ago, that Darren Wilson left his neighborhood, left his home, and he hasn't been back since.

So a great deal of anxiety and tension in that neighborhood among the neighbors that live around Darren Wilson, about 25 miles away from here in the town of Ferguson.

BALDWIN: Charming, quiet gentleman. These are all the different adjectives that the police chief used to describe this 28-year-old officer who, again, the police chief pointed out had that bruise or some kind of swollen face from some -- an altercation with Michael Brown. That's all we know. Ed Lavandera, thank you very much in Ferguson. Coming up next, we'll take a closer look at the confrontation between Michael Brown and the police officer who shot and killed him. What happened on the afternoon? Saturday afternoon that led to his death? We are telling you what police and witnesses say next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The shooting death of Michael Brown really has become an international story. An unarmed teenager shot and killed by a police officer has led to protest and outrage in the community and beyond. The question still remain about exactly what happened last Saturday. CNN's Tom Foreman walks us through what we know -- Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, for all of this new information evolving today, this is what it comes down to. Just north of St. Louis here in Ferguson, around the middle of the day, on a normal street out here right in this area.

Looks like this, if you're down at street level. Two different stories are being told about the specific events around this shooting. Here's what everyone agrees on. These two young men were walking down the street. The police officer came up in his car and they had an encounter with each other.

But beyond that, very different views. The police version is that as this officer spoke to the two young men, Brown confronted the officer, wouldn't even let him out of the car as he tried to open the door, then he attacked the officer, reaching through the window, and tried to take the officer's gun.

Only when Brown started to flee the scene did the officer pursue him, shooting at him and killing him about 35 feet away. Although police say there was one shot fired at the vehicle at the time. Very different story, though, if you listen to what this witness who was with Brown said, and other witnesses have said.

They say that the officer used his car to block the men, and then opened his door into them, trying to force them back. In addition, they say that when he couldn't open the door, the officer grabbed Brown through the window, yanking him toward him, threatening him, and that's when the first shot went off. Then as brown tried to run, the officer pursued him, still shooting.

Brown turned, raised his hands and then he was shot and killed. It all would have taken only a matter of seconds. But in this place in the middle of the day, two very different stories about how it occurred -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Tom Foreman, thank you so much.

And coming up next, we have new video for you. This is more video from inside that convenience store, and this is showing those moments before Michael Brown leaves. We'll play it for you, walk you through it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: We have some new video I just want to share with you. These are the final moments of 18-year-old Michael Brown. So we have taken you inside of this convenience store. We have heard from Ferguson police that they say he was without a doubt involved in what they call a strong-arm robbery.

It's basically shoplifting, but little use of force. He, according to police, shoved the clerk. So what we're looking at now, according to police, is Michael Brown in the white shirt and the red cap reaching on that store shelf for box after box of these cigars, which they alleged he stole.

Don Lemon, let me bring you back in Ferguson in touch with the community who were absolutely outraged that police have even released these videos especially since we heard just minutes ago from that police chief saying that the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown wasn't even aware of that strong arm robbery in the first place. To you, your read?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Again, this is the most inconsistency I've seen in a story that we have covered in quite some time. I'm looking at the video now, as we speak. It's interesting, Brooke, because why would he go up to a counter if he's stealing something? I don't know. It's just weird.

He appears to go up to the counter, he's talking to someone behind the counter. He's got the cigars in his hand and then he sort of moves around and talks to the person and then bends down and puts them in a bag and then the other guy comes up after he leaves and points at him about stealing something.

It's hard to really tell what's going on in the video. And as we were watching the video very closely, my producer and I now, if you look at the stills -- if you just look at the stills they released earlier, it looks a lot, you know -- worse than what it is.

Listen, I'm not saying it's right for anyone to steal anything or to push anyone around or to use violence. But if you look at the confrontation on the video, it's basically a shove of like get away from me, man, get out of here.

And it's not like the punch that had been described by police officers or it's not as dramatic as you see when it's in still motion. Again, not right to use physical violence. But I don't know exactly what this videotape shows, because he actually goes up to someone at a counter, I don't know if he pays for it at the counter.

We really don't know. It doesn't really say that much to me. The pushing and shoving shows a lot. But the second angle really, to me, doesn't say anything.

BALDWIN: Just looking at page 7 of the document drop from the police this morning, they used the words "Brown aggressively pulls -- they blanked out his name, the clerk, close to him, pushes him into a display rack." I think whether it's a shove or punch or what have you, clearly the clerk felt threatened enough to call 911. Don, stay with me.

I want to just bring in CNN commentator, Marc Lamont Hill and also senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter who is in D.C. Mark, I think -- I went immediately, once I saw this initial piece of video, and I went immediately to your Twitter page.

Because I know you have a strong voice and you have an opinion. And I was just curious your take on it. And I would think -- I would imagine your take remains now that we're seeing more and more pieces of video that it is the criminalization of a victim.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN COMMENTATOR: Yes. And we see this over and over and over again. Whenever there's -- particularly a black victim, we begin to delve into their life, into their behavior and put them on trial as opposed to the person who killed them.

And on this case, even before I knew that there was no connection between the shoplifting charge and the cop stop, I still said these two things are not connected.

This is not a capital offense. Even if he did commit a crime, that doesn't make you deserving of lethal force. In your hands are in the air, you shouldn't be shot.

BALDWIN: You know, if Paul Callan were sitting here basically arguing, it does matter. He said it matters because with this police officer who did not know about the robbery, Michael Brown knew about the robbery. And that would predicate aggressive behavior, potentially, toward an officer, which could then predicate the defense of force. That's --

HILL: That's a reasonable argument. That's a bit of a leap and not necessarily consistent with the witness reports we've heard all week and it's not consistent with where he was shot and how far he was from the police car.

BALDWIN: Right.

HILL: So those facts that we have access to don't bear that out. But as an abstract idea, that could matter.

BALDWIN: I want to broaden this out. Brian Stelter, to you, listen -- we, CNN, members of the media, play these videos and show these pictures. It's not like we just pop it up on the screen. There are very important people that sit in a room with the door closed really going over and churning whether or not we should play these kinds of items. Decisions are made.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: They are. And it's important not to run them endlessly on a loop. It is important to run them. We do need to see it, but we also need to be aware of all the context. And I love the banner. It was on the bottom of the screen when we were showing the video.

It says, police detail robbery but not shooting. That is where the focus still needs to be. If you're a cynic, you might suggest this press conference this morning happened and we heard all about the robbery.

But we still haven't heard the details of what happened with the shooting. And in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, when a young man's body laid on the ground there for hours and then was pushed into the back of an SUV.

If you're a cynic, you might think the police were trying to distract us from those questions.

HILL: Yes.

BALDWIN: Just reading your tweets, talking to a number of different people, including a woman who lost her son in a legal chokehold from New York police 20 years ago and she too was rattling all these different names of

unarmed young black men who have been killed. I can't apply this here because we don't know the facts, but you talk to a lot of people and there is a pattern.

STELTER: By the way, Brooke, I have to admit, I didn't know all of those names. I know many people in the African-American community do know those names. That is a disconnect that I think hopefully is somewhat being improved right now.

HILL: Absolutely. Just in the last few weeks with Eric Garner and Renisha McBride, the trial of her killer was a few weeks ago, we keep bringing names back out because we don't want people to forget them. It's a very consistent pattern of unarmed black people who are getting killed through law enforcement.

And so when they say give the police the benefit of the doubt, if this happens every day or every 24 hours, it's hard to give people the benefit of the doubt. We need more facts and evidence.

But the evidence does not look good and the release of a tape coincidentally on the day where we get the officer's name to me does nothing to undermine the argument that this is wrong.

BALDWIN: Apparently a lot of details haven't come out according to the prosecuting attorney because they don't want to take witness statements because what we don't know is what happened, what led up to those four, five, six shots that ultimately took the life of Michael Brown.

Marc Lamont Hill, thank you so much as always. And Don Lemon and Brian Stelter, thank you guys very much.

Coming up after all the events in Ferguson, a lot of people are saying why didn't the police have cameras rolling to record this encounter be it in the patrol cars or on the different officers?

Up next, we will take you inside a police department in a city in Florida to show you the benefits of that kind of 24/7 camera technology. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON MISSOURI POLICE: And clarifying one of the other questions that came quite a bit was on the role of two officers. Some were thinking it was the same officer who handled the robbery as was involved in the shooting. That is not the case. There were two separate officers. This robbery does not relate to the initial contact between the officer and Michael Brown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So again just to clarify, that was new information coming out within the past hour. That was the Ferguson police chief saying the officer who killed Michael Brown did not know he was a suspect that afternoon in a robbery of a convenience store.

How is the Brown family responding? Well, their representative attorney Ben Crump will be live on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper at the top of the hour to respond to what's coming out of Ferguson police.

So a lot of questions about cameras, police cameras. There is no police video to document the deadly confrontation between that police officer, Darren Wilson and Michael Brown.

So there is a growing call to put these dashcams on all police vehicles and not only that, but to have all police officers wear these body cameras. Alina Machado shows us why.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is a police cam. This is the actual camera. This is the recording device. Police here in Daytona Beach has been using these devices since 2011 and they say they've already helped ease tensions in a few cases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO (voice-over): This is video taken from two body cameras last September when Daytona Beach police officers knocked down a door and saw a man armed with a knife threatening a woman. Moments later --

Officers fired several shots, an action they say saved the woman's life. But that's not the end of the story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I arrived on the scene 15 minutes later. There's at least 100 residents screaming at me as I get out of my car that my officers gunned down a guy laying in bed.

MACHADO: The video Chief Mike Chitwood says helped ease tensions because it showed what really happened.

CHIEF MIKE CHITWOOD, DAYTONA BEACH POLICE: And what could have been a really bad thing in the community, people start to look and say, I understand what happened now. That's not what I was told.

MACHADO: That's not the case in Ferguson, Missouri, where the police chief says no video exists of the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. CHITWOOD: It would make a huge difference.

MACHADO: Chitwood's department is one of more than 1,200 law enforcement agencies in the country using body cameras.

CHITWOOD: The positive so much outweighs the negative.

MACHADO: Daytona Beach police have 75 cameras right now with plans to add 50 more by the end of the year. Each camera costs $950 and the department is paying $23,000 a year to store the video. It's a lot of money, but Chief Chitwood says it is money well spent.

CHITWOOD: I can tell you just from the few incidents we had here how it has been just a godsend for us.

MACHADO (on camera): Why is there so much resistance? Why doesn't every police department in the country have these body cams?

CHITWOOD: Change is number one. Cops don't like change. Cost is number two.

MACHADO: And another reason according to critics --

BERNARD KERIK, FORMER NYPD COMMISSIONER: Every single thing you say is going to be recorded, scrutinized and so forth. And I think that would put a hindrance on cops. It would create a problem with them in dealing with the everyday public.

CHITWOOD: I feel that I can do my job a lot better no you.

MACHADO (voice-over): Officer Dale Kelly uses a body camera every day.

CHITWOOD: This camera will protect me.

MACHADO: We were with him as he responded to a call. His body camera engaged, capturing his drive to the scene and what he did once we arrived.

CHITWOOD: What's your name?

MACHADO (on camera): When would you say the camera is most useful?

CHITWOOD: I would say anytime that you come in contact with the public.

MACHADO (voice-over): We wanted to see for ourselves how they work.

(on camera): Right now, you are recording.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, we're recording.

MACHADO: Everything you see, everything you hear is being captured by that camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct. MACHADO (voice-over): After a brief demonstration, Officer Mike Oteri helped me gear up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Line it up with the tabs and push down until it clicks.

MACHADO: The recording device on my belt, the camera on my head. It's not that uncomfortable, kind of like wearing a headband. I turned it on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You press the button twice.

MACHADO: And went for a walk recording my every move.

(on camera): Right now, we're in the shade. If I were to walk out into the bright sun, what would happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The camera will adjust.

MACHADO (voice-over): The technology, Chief Chitwood, says is invaluable.

(on camera): Is this future?

CHITWOOD: In my heart, this is the future. It's here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: The men we showed you at the top of the story, by the way, did survive the police shooting and was charged with a felony. Meanwhile, there are a handful of companies that make these devices and one of them tells us that their sales have increased 80 percent just in the last year -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Alina, thank you.

And stay right here. THE LEAD with Jake Tapper strats right now.