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At This Hour

WHO Urges Caution As Countries Lift COVID Restrictions; Dangerous Winter Storm Brings Ice, Snow to Much Of U.S.; CT Officers Suspended Over Investigations Into Deaths Of 2 Women; Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 02, 2022 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Fell again, it's a key question because you're talking about, like the Colin Kaepernick example, how do you show progress if you don't show progress, right?

CARRON PHILLIPS, SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR, DEADSPIN: Correct. But to answer your question, no, it's a wrap for Brian Flores and for the people out there watching these and having this conversation and think, oh, no, let's be hopeful. Let's -- you know, if this situation changes thing, let's hope he gets a job, let's stop doing that because hoping that this League will do the right thing is why we keep being in this situation.

And even if for some reason, he was given a job with the Texans, just Google the history of that franchise and the racist past that they had. And even if he did get a job, like the Saints as another opportunity, that does not act like we didn't see David Kelly with Texas last year, get hired, as the lone black head coach that got hired in the last cycle didn't get fired within a year.

So, if he does get a job, it will be probably something that's given to him for a PR stunt and then I wouldn't be surprised if he got fired soon after, but do I think he's going to get out of it again, no, his career is done because this is the NFL. And when you have a smoking gun or some type of proof of the type of things that we know have been going on, they find a way to banish you.

BOLDUAN: Well, and this gets to a really important question here, Elie, which is what is the solution here? How do they move forward with this with any credibility? The Rooney Rule clearly doesn't work, Elie, how do you advise the league or what do you -- what would you say?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, yes, the lawsuit definitely exposes the Rooney Rule as more honored in the breach than in practice. But the lawsuit itself, what Coach Flores is asking for here, he asked for monetary damages, but he also asked for what we call specific relief.

He asked for the NFL to adopt new policies to make sure that people of color are at the table, to make sure that decisions about hiring and firing are documented with objective specific reasons so there's no easy way to fix this, this is deeply embedded, this goes back many years, many generations. But what Brian Flores is seeking here is not just money for himself and for others, but specific remedies that may help the NFL get back on track.

BOLDUAN: Elie, thank you. Carron, thanks for coming in.

Coming up for us, a new warning from the World Health Organization, we are not out of the woods yet. Why they are pushing back as more countries loosen COVID restrictions next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:00]

BOLDUAN: Now to the latest on the pandemic. Denmark is making big moves this morning becoming the first European country to lift all COVID restrictions. And in nearly two years of lockdowns, mask mandates, and limited gatherings, as more countries are beginning to move in that direction, the World Health Organization is speaking up and urging caution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WHO DIRECTOR-GENERAL: We're concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines, and because of Omicron is high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's premature for any country either to surrender or to declare victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now for more on this is Dr. Richard Besser. He's a former acting Director of the CDC. It's great to see you, Dr. Besser. So the World Health Organization is worried about moving on too soon even now. But at the same time, we have former CDC Director Tom Frieden, saying that he's cautiously optimistic this week about where things are heading with the pandemic. Where are you on this?

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING CDC DIRECTOR: Yes. You know, Kate, it's really tricky messaging around this because, you know, I do have a sense of optimism as I see the numbers -- I see the numbers of cases due to Omicron declining dramatically, especially in those areas that were hit early on but at the same time, I worry that we were accepting more than 2500 people dying of COVID every day as a normal state. And that can't be. So trying to message around being hopeful, seeing signs of things moving in the right direction but needing to make sure that we do everything possible to prevent transmission, reduce transmission, so we can save lives, that's critically important.

BOLDUAN: So well, you are a PD -- a very well-known pediatrician as well. I want to ask about Pfizer's announcement that they're now asking the FDA for emergency authorization for its vaccine for children younger than five seeking approval on a two-dose regimen even as they continue testing the third dose with this group of kids. What do you think of this, does? Does this make sense?

BESSER: Well, you know as a pediatrician and a parent, I know it's so important to get vaccines that are safe and effective for children of all ages. You know, when I talk to parents of young children, they worry. They worry about their children being out and about because they're not vaccinated.

[11:40:00]

BESSER: And you know thankfully, the younger children are the less likely they are to have severe disease, to be hospitalized, or to die. But we are seeing -- because of how contagious this Omicron is, we're seeing children getting this said in very high numbers, and we're seeing a lot of children in the hospital. So the goal of having a safe and effective vaccine, I think, is the right one.

I'm going to be watching the committee hearings, the FDA advisory committee hearings very closely those take place on February 15. And the reason for that is that there's a bit of a trade-off here. Pfizer, when they released their information in December, said that the vaccines were not as effective as they'd like to see in really young kids and that they think there's -- they're going to need to see a third-dose and see what that does.

It's very likely a third dose will increase the level of protection. But the FDA, I don't know that they've ever in their past approved a vaccine or authorized a vaccine in this kind of situation where they're expecting the results of un yet presented information -- un yet collected information to push them over the finish line in terms of what they want to see.

The committee of experts, I'll want to see how they weighed this. Is the desire to have a safe and effective vaccine as quickly as possible? Does that outweigh their desire to see the full amount of information before they say let's go ahead? And I'm not sure how they're going to come down on that. I want to see -- to see their deliberations and thinking before I decide what I would want to say to my patients.

BOLDUAN: And then I'll be leaning on you to hear exactly what you think afterward. It's great to see you, Dr. Besser, thank you so much.

Coming up for us, why did it take weeks for Connecticut police to investigate the death of a black woman? I'm going to talk to her family next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:00] BOLDUAN: Developing this morning, a dramatic new video shows the moment police in Virginia took a suspect into custody after they say he shot and killed two college police officers. The shooting happened on the campus of Bridgewater College yesterday afternoon. According to officials, suspect, Alexander Wyatt Campbell, open fire on the officers when they responded to reports of a suspicious man on the Bridgewater campus. Campbell is now charged with four felony counts including capital murder for killing those two officers.

We are also tracking a major winter storm we want to tell you about blanketing a huge portion of the country. Over 100 million people from Colorado to Vermont and as far south as Texas are under Winter Storm Warning. Snow and freezing rain are already causing thousands of flight cancellations across the country. Let's go to our CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers who has a forecast for us. Chad, what are you tracking right now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm tracking 48 states -- contiguous states here, and only 23 don't have some type of watch or warning. A big storm coming out of the Rockies all the way up to New England spreading for 2000 miles, its pain. And part of the pain is going to be rain changing to freezing rain changing to sleet and then all snow.

So if you're shoveling here, you're going to be standing on snow that is on top of a frozen rink -- ice rink your driveway. This is going to be a very dangerous situation to be shoveling in, it's not going to go away anytime soon either. You can't just wait until Friday afternoon, wait for the sun to come out. This is going to be a cold airmass behind it, it's going to snow for hours, there's going to be a snow event and it's going to stop and it's going to start again for some of you like Indianapolis and in Cincinnati all the way up even to most of Ohio.

And then some of this is actually going to get into the Northeast. There could be a big area of ice all the way up into New York and New England itself. So that's what we're looking at. The ice accumulations could be one inch. Now, that's going to put down some power lines. It's going to bring down trees and power lines to the north and west of there. That's where the snow is going to be major to extreme impacts all the way from the Great Lakes all the way down to Dallas, Texas, even where you expect it to be warm. It's not warm enough. It's going to be an ice event there as well, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Another remarkable one. Chad, thank you so much for that, I really appreciate it. I'm going to keep close on that.

We also check this out now. A plane was forced to abort its landing seconds after the wheels touched down because of crazy high winds at London's Heathrow Airport impacting this British Airways plane as it was trying to come in for a landing. I mean you can see it wobbling right there as it's going back up. The good news here is the plane successfully did land 15 minutes later and no one was injured.

Still ahead for us, two Connecticut police officers are suspended over how they handle the death investigations of a black woman. I'm going to speak to the family of one of them, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

BOLDUAN: Months ago, the Bridgeport Connecticut NAACP has announced that it will be looking into whether police violated the civil rights of two black women during the handling of their deaths. Lauren Smith- Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls were both found dead on December 12. The two police officers investigating their deaths are now suspended, the city's mayor, expressing disappointment in his police department. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE GANIM, MAYOR OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT: The Bridgeport Police Department has high standards for officers' sensitivity, especially in matters involving the death of a family member. It is an unaccepted failure if policies were not followed. To the families, friends, and all who care about human decency, that should be shown in these situations, in this case by members of the police department. I'm very sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And joining me now is Shantell Fields, she's the mother of Lauren Smith-Field, and two of Lauren's brothers, Lakeem Jetter and Tavar Gray-Smith.

[11:55:00]

BOLDUAN: Shantell, I am so sorry. This is a nightmare that you have been living for almost two months now. What is your reaction to the mayor suspending these officers? Do you consider this progress?

SHANTELL FIELDS, MOTHER OF LAUREN SMITH-FIELDS: It's a step in a way of progress. It took this long since the 12th when my daughter passed away on the 13th, I found out about her. I mean, we didn't get no apology from the mayor or anything up until he just made an apology a couple --

LAKEEM JETTER, BROTHER OF LAUREN SMITH-FIELDS: A couple of days ago.

FIELDS: -- A couple of days ago actually.

BOLDUAN: What came, you all are planning to file a lawsuit against the city and the police department over how they handled or mishandled your sister's death. Can you talk to me about why?

JETTER: Due to the way they handled the case it didn't go through none of the evidence stating they still have to this day the MS that we gave them still not in the medical lab. It wasn't handed over by the Bridgeport police department, I mean, how long did it take to tell us about what was going on? How are the cop administrators I spoke towards so they and rough and disrespectful? He had no respect for human lives, have no respect for how my sister died, nothing. He didn't care about nothing. He treated was like garbage. Though, my words definitely speak on a lot more of those terms when those are the basis of it.

FIELDS: Basically, to me, it was a racial injustice.

TAVAR GRAY-SMITH, BROTHER OF LAUREN SMITH-FIELDS: Definitely.

BOLDUAN: Tavar, I want to read a statement released by the Bridgeport police chief that we've received on this, which is the Bridgeport Police Department continues to treat the untimely death of Lauren Smith-Field as an active investigation as we are now refocusing our attention and efforts to the factors that led to her untimely death. We've engaged several partners to assist with this portion of the investigation. And once again, we offer our sincerest condolences to the friends and family of Lauren Smith-Fields. What's your reaction to that, Tavar?

GRAY-SMITH: Um, I feel like the police are trying to clean up a mess that they know that they made. And honestly, I don't feel like they would have even gone to this extent if the story didn't catch fire like it did and went as viral as it did. They honestly tried to just sweep my sister's existence underneath the rug and act like nothing happened and it wasn't of any importance to them, it's just another last life.

So, I feel like the police know that they did something wrong, the mayor knows that the police didn't handle the case the way they should have and now they're trying to clean up the mess after it's been publicized like it has been. Like, we all said, it's a step but there's still more that needs to be done, for sure.

BOLDUAN: And look, a lot of people see this and think this speaks to a much bigger problem in America. This speaks to a much bigger issue. There -- your daughter's death, your sister's death speaks to that. And I have to say I do not want to forget about your daughter and your sister. Whoever would like to do -- what do you want people to remember about Lauren?

GRAY-SMITH: We want people to remember that Lauren -- from us losing our sister, our daughter, Lauren was destined for greatness. Lauren was destined for greatness. Lauren was a big -- a big spirit. She was -- she was just the life of the party. She was -- she lit up rooms. Everyone loved her. Anyone that she ever came across and encountered beat she left a mark on them.

And the way that her name is running across the nation international as well, it's because she was going to be destined for great things is you can't stop someone, whether they passed or while they're living, you can't stop someone's story. And this is -- this is what Lauren was destined to -- like her name was destined to be to touch the masses.

JETTER: Definitely I had that feel the same way as my brother is seeing Lauren. No man can take away what God has for you. And Lauren was going to be a great star regardless of life or death. In a way that her name was spread across the whole entire globe, that speaks so many volumes.

I mean, Lauren is a beautiful person. She was beautiful inside and out. She was very smart, had driven. She did great things. I mean, just in our community along with friends, she was such a tight-knit person, so close as a family so when people read this story and stuff, just remember this is a human being, this is a life that's long --

BOLDUAN: This is indeed a human being.

JETTER: Yes, this is --

BOLDUAN: And that's one thing I want to make sure is not forgotten as we continue to cover her story her death and this investigation.