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Ferguson, Missouri Hires New Interim Police Chief; Dashcam Video of Sandra Bland's Arrest Released; New Information about Chattanooga Gunman Revealed; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 22, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:11] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We are following breaking news this morning. We're waiting right now for a news conference to begin in Ferguson, Missouri, where the city will announce a new interim police chief. His name is Andre Anderson. He's a former commander with the Glendale, Arizona, Police Department.

Actually he's the second interim chief. The town has been without a permanent police chief since the shooting of Michael Brown and all the protests that followed.

I want to bring in correspondent Sara Sidner now. She's been -- spent a lot of time in Ferguson. She's following this for us this morning.

Why a second interim chief?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, they've been looking for quite some time. And I spoke to the city this morning and said that look, we're still in the process of trying to find someone who is going to be the permanent replacement for Former Chief Jackson.

This is a city that's gone through a lot of turmoil. The whole world knows it. And so I suspect that it's been a difficult search. This is a place where whoever comes in is going to have a lot to deal with, not only with the community trying to gain their trust but also with the city council trying to gain its trust. So it's going to be a very difficult position to be in.

We do know that there's an announcement that's coming up very quickly. We hope to hear more details about this new interim chief. I asked specifically, is this going to be the permanent person and the answer back to me was no. So we're going to have to wait and see. We don't know how long this interim chief will be in place. Maybe he will go for the permanent job. We just don't know that at this time.

We also know that he replaces someone who is from the rank-and-file in Ferguson. The deputy chief became the interim chief for quite some time. Almost, what, six months now? And so we're just kind of waiting to see what happens. But that was Deputy Chief Ikoff. He is now going back to his regular position. And we're going to see this new interim chief and hopefully we'll hear from him as well soon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We're waiting him to take his place behind the podium. He has not as of yet. We'll take you back to Ferguson when that happens.

Sara Sidner, thanks so much.

"I will light you up." That's the threat made by a Texas state trooper to Sandra Bland during what started out as a routine traffic stop. Bland was found dead in her jail cell three days later.

The newly released police dash camera video shows the rising tensions between both Bland and the officer before the trooper ultimately draws his taser and then physically removes Bland from her car.

Ed Lavandera live in Hempstead, Texas, to tell us more. Good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, from the very beginning of the video and the interaction between Sandra Bland and the DPS trooper, you can tell, and in her own words, Sandra Bland says she is irritated by being pulled over for failing to signal. But at that moment, the DPS trooper then asks, as he's about to issue her a warning, asked Sandra Bland to put out her cigarette and from there everything escalates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out or I will remove you. I'm giving you a lawful order. Get out of the car now or I'm going to remove you.

SANDRA BLAND: I'm calling my -- and I'm calling my lawyer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to yank you out of here.

BLAND: OK. BLAND: OK. You're going to yank me out of my car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out.

BLAND: OK. All right. Let's do this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're going to.

BLAND: Yes. Let's -- don't touch me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car.

BLAND: Don't touch me. I'm not under arrest. You don't have the right to take me from my car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are under arrest.

BLAND: I'm under arrest for what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 25-27 County FM, 10-98.

BLAND: For what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Send me another unit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car. Get out of the car, now.

BLAND: Why am I being apprehended? You try to give me a ticket for --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said get out of the car.

BLAND: Why am I being apprehended? You opened my car door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to drag you out of here.

BLAND: So you guys are going to drag me out of my own car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car. I will light you up. Get out.

BLAND: Wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Carol, you know, that goes on for nearly 10 minutes, that intensity between Sandra Bland and that DPS trooper. Also there have been a great number of questions swirling around this video which is nearly a little over 50 minutes long over various video glitches on that -- on that recording that it appeared to be edited or some sort of glitch.

We have reached out to Texas DPS officials for some sort of explanation a short while ago. We haven't gotten back to them. If you've seen that video, various portions of it seem to repeat and a white car comes in and out of the shot, rather odd the way it appears. Texas DPS officials insist that this tape was not edited in any way. They say it was a technical malfunction that they are working to correct and will repost that video here shortly.

[10:05:05] COSTELLO: All right. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

I want to bring our viewers back to Ferguson, Missouri. The mayor is now speaking about naming a new interim police chief in the city. Let's listen.

MAYOR JAMES KNOWLES, FERGUSON, MISSOURI: The city government and our city services. The city of Ferguson has made several changes -- sweeping changes over the past several months. We were the first in the region to implement broad reforms for our municipal court system. Many of the actions taken in Ferguson will be modeled by municipal court around the region.

The council has established new leadership in our courts through the appointment of a new judge who just committed to the council's policy of reforming our courts, making them more fair, equitable and user friendly. We have improved our outreach to our community through the adoption of a community policing strategy that will seek to engage every segment of our community and build trust between our police and our citizens.

As of September 2014, our officers are among the first in the region to be fully equipped with body cameras to provide more transparency in police and citizen interactions.

These are just a couple of the reforms being made by our city. And we have been committed to making these reforms and committed to making more in the future. To institute these reform policies established by the council, we have named Mr. Ed Beasley, our interim city manager. He has helped bring stability to our day-to-day operations of our city government.

Mr. Beasley's vision and commitment to the city of Ferguson has been evident since joining the city over the past 30 days. He has continued the charge from the city council to move our community forward and to live up to our city motto which is to be a community of choice.

I'd like to now welcome Mr. Ed Beasley to the podium.

ED BEASLEY, INTERIM CITY MANAGER, FERGUSON, MISSOURI: Thank you, Mayor. Good morning. It's my pleasure as the interim city manager of Ferguson to introduce Mr. Andre Anderson, commander, as our interim police chief.

Commander Anderson has 24 years of experience in law enforcement. He's exceptionally known, nationally, for his ability to not only lead but also his innovation. He also is known as an excellent person in areas that I think are particularly important to our community, in community policing, community outreach and community interaction and exchange. He's also supervised special agents for the FBI, the DEA, and also for U.S. Marshals.

I would like to also say that he's an excellent, exceptional person individually and as part of our team will help us to not only face challenges in the future but also be able to do the training and also assist our officers and our staff to reach the next level of expertise.

I'd like to introduce Mr. Anderson.

CHIEF ANDRE ANDERSON, INTERIM POLICE CHIEF, FERGUSON, MISSOURI: Good morning. Well, first of all, let me start by saying that I want to acknowledge my wife who's here who's very important in my life.

So, Wife, Christine Anderson, thank you for coming. My parents are here from Philadelphia, both Joe and Rosetta Birch. Thank you for being here as well.

So let's get down to business.

Mayor and members of the city council, I want to thank you for this honor and this opportunity to serve. With respect, I am truly humbled and honored that our city manager, Mr. Ed Beasley, selected me for this position. And as you've already been told, I have over 24 years of experience as a police officer, 16 of those years at the leadership level. And I believe that I am here to help serve the city of Ferguson and the community.

My experience includes leading the Glendale Police Department's 80 detectives within the Criminal Investigations Division. I have led the activities of patrol officers to the tune of over 125 patrol officers that covered an area of 25 square miles and over 110,000 people.

I believe that I am the right person for this particular job.

So let's talk about my first plan of action. And that is simply to build trust, to develop community policing in this area with exception. In Ferguson, the president's task force on 21st Century Policing and recommended practices will be my first call of duty. That in conjunction with recommendations from the Department of Justice will serve as a template that I will use to cultivate relationships that we know and hope will reshape our direction here in the city of Ferguson.

[10:10:08] Now to do this, I am going to need your help. I am going to ask members of the community to assist me because we cannot do this without you. I believe that together we can forge better relationships and we can incorporate procedural and constitutional justice training, as well as de-escalation training and bias awareness training, and many other community policing community training concepts that will help us be better as an organization.

My second priority is simple. We want to place an emphasis on attracting, hiring qualified applicants that can exemplify character, respect, cultural awareness and the professionalism this community deserves.

Now I want it to be our goal to assure that we reflect the demographics of the community as we serve this great emphasis on placing police officers in place with ethics, good decision-making skills and character.

Lastly, I am asking the city of Ferguson, community members, mainly the community members, and leaders if we can set a course in the history books that clearly proves that peace prevails. The resurgence of peace, inclusion and resolve is a national trend. And it endures. And it can reshape our image.

So I want to thank you. There's a lot of work to be done. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work and I appreciate this opportunity. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Police chief, we're not quite sure why he's interim but he's ready to take on the challenges that Ferguson, Missouri, has been facing these past seven months. Of course we'll keep you posted.

All right. Let's go back to Hempstead, Texas, and that terrible story involving a woman named Sandra Bland. In Hempstead, Texas, she was pulled over by a state trooper for a routine traffic stop. And then everything suddenly escalated when he asked her -- the trooper asked her to put out her cigarette. Let's watch and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you mind putting out your cigarette please? Would you mind?

BLAND: I'm in my car. Why do I have to put out my cigarette?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you can step out now.

BLAND: I don't want to step out of my car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the car.

BLAND: Why am I --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the car.

BLAND: No, you don't have the right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the car.

BLAND: You do not have the right to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do have the right. Now step out or I will remove you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: All right. So shortly after that, he threatens to tase her and then she gets out of the car, and things further escalates from there.

So let's talk about this. I want to bring in Tom Verni. He's a former NYPD detective and law enforcement consultant, along with Marc Lamont Hill. Marc is a CNN political commentator and host of Huff Post Live.

Welcome to both of you.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

TOM VERNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: And as you both well know, three days later, I mean, Sandra Bland was placed under arrest, she was put into a jail cell. Three days later, she was found hanging in her cell. Some in the department were alleging suicide but her death is being investigated as a murder right now.

But let's go back to that initial exchange, Tom, when the police officer asked her to put out her cigarette and she refused because in her mind, it wasn't illegal to smoke in her car. What do you make of that? VERNI: Well, as was reported earlier, I mean, this was not your

textbook traffic stop. She was also not the textbook motorist either. So yes, there's enough blame to go around here in this initial part of this exchange. Ironically, I just went to a training for a company called Blue Courage. Bluecourage.com. They actually do trainings now with police officers across the United States.

And they -- a lot of this training revolves around something exactly like this, where the need to escalate this didn't necessarily need to happen. As we've discussed in a lot of other incidents like this, though, if someone is pulled over for a violation, they are already at a disadvantage. They've already violated the law in some way. So now the officer -- we would hope that they would act professionally. That's what they're trained to do. And that's -- our expectation when we are pulled over by the police.

In a case where you have an officer who's agitated for one reason or another, whether it be her fault or otherwise, once she's acknowledged that he's agitated, she further agitates him by not complying with that. And that's where this whole thing goes downhill. That's why I try to advocate to people that, you know, regardless of why you believe you shouldn't have been pulled over or not pulled over, and once the officer has pulled you over, now he's giving lawful orders, you really should comply with them ideally.

[10:15:10] COSTELLO: And you have to legally, I believe, according to Paul Callan, Marc Lamont Hill, he says you should obey everything a police officer asks you to do. But this really got out of control, got out of control to the point, as I've said, he threatens to tase her. She gets out of the car. He puts her in handcuffs. She's on the ground. He has her knew in her back and then he takes her to jail and something terrible happens.

HILL: Yes.

COSTELLO: I just want to get your general impressions of this whole incident, Marc.

HILL: Well, I think the most tragic thing about all of this was that it was entirely avoidable and preventable. When he pulls her over, he walks up to the woman and says, what's wrong? You seem to have an attitude. Many people have their attitude when they're pulled over. Many people are frustrated when they get pulled over by the police. Whether they did it or whether they didn't do it. No one wants to get pulled over by police.

But he was essentially egging her on. He was asking her questions that prompted her to give the responses that she gave. To me, she was following instructions. Just because she asks why she was pulled over and to my knowledge she asked about 14 times by my count why she was pulled over, he never responded.

Again this was preventable. He could have told her why she was being pulled over. She said that she didn't want to put the cigarette out because it was in her car. It was at the moment where she said she didn't want to put the cigarette out that he tells her to get out of the car. That suggests that it was her refusal to put out the cigarette that got her taken out of the car.

Now again, she has a right to smoke in her car. Do you have a responsibility legally to do what a police officer says? Yes, within reason and within the boundaries of the law. But police can't just tell you to do anything. But in this case, she was asserting her rights, she was asserting her dignity. Did she have a chip on her shoulder, an attitude as some commentators have said? Perhaps. But many of us just call that dignity.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about that chip on her shoulder because we're trying to figure out whether she committed suicide later in that jail cell or something more nefarious happened.

This is what Sandra Bland posted on her Facebook page a short time ago. I want you to watch it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAND: White people. Yes, black people know that all lives matter. But what I need you guys to understand is that being a black person in America is very, very hard. Although you all love to say, oh, nobody should see race, people are the reason that racism is still alive. Well, what kind of people are the reason? Black races have no power whereas white races do. They have power because they are in positions of control or they're in positions where they can influence the control over black people. Yes, that is very true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So Miss Bland already had that in her head, Tom, and here's this police officer and you can sort of understand why this thing escalated the way it did perhaps.

VERNI: Yes, I mean, again, I couldn't begin to imagine how it is to be a person of color. I'm not a person of color. I am, however, a former detective with 22 years in the NYPD and white and most of my interactions were with people of color for 22 years. And I was able to do that professionally and do it safely. No one died in my custody. I didn't have to take anyone's life or take that level of force and action.

But, you know, so I understand how people -- there's perceptions about the police and what police do, there's realities about what police do. And somewhere in the middle there is the reality --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: But I would say, Marc, that investigators are taking that video into account when they investigate whether Miss Bland possibly committed suicide in that jail cell. Your thoughts?

HILL: I don't see the connection. If every black person who had a critique of white supremacy in state power killed themselves there wouldn't be any black people left. What you saw on that video is an articulation of a certain understanding of American politics and American racial life that many black people share. She didn't show up to that car stop with any, you know, extravagant chip on her shoulder. She showed up there as a black woman in America who understands how law enforcement and how white supremacy works.

And the fact that she put it on Facebook shouldn't be used as something exculpatory -- in favor of the officer. It should be understood in terms of her frame of mind, perhaps with regard to race. But again all of us have that. She just happened to have it on Facebook.

I think what we need to do is investigate this officer. We need to figure out what happened at that crime scene. We need to make sure we get the full unedited videotape, glitches or whatever we want to call it, we want to make sure to get the full unadulterated tape. And then we also want to find out what happened in that jail cell and see if there's a connection between the two.

There may not be. There may be. But we need a full investigation instead of trying to get into this woman's head to somehow decide that she somehow deserved what she got or somehow we can explain away what happened to her.

COSTELLO: All right. So supposedly a full investigation is under way.

Thank you both for your insight, Tom Verni, Marc Lamont Hill.

HILL: Pleasure.

VERNI: Any time.

[10:20:00] COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the family of a "Washington Post" reporter held in Iran for a year speaking out and calling for him to be released.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Authorities in Chattanooga are working right now to release more information about the shooting spree that killed five service members. The FBI actively looking for anyone who may have had contact with the gunman, Mohammad Abdulazeez, leading up to the massacre.

This as authorities say Abdulazeez conducted an Internet search on martyrdom, a day before his rampage.

CNN has just obtained text messages between the gunman's friends right after the shooting in which they discussed TV reports about the shooting. One friend asked, quote, "Did he ever talk about jihad?" The response, quote, "Dude, he just had a new job and everything. This is out of nowhere."

Here's another, one friend writes, quote, "May Allah forgive him and us all." The response, quote, "Well, there is no forgiveness for taking innocent lives."

[10:25:02] Alina Machado is in Chattanooga with more for you this morning. Good morning. ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know,

those text messages seem to suggest that at least some of Mohammad Abdulazeez's friend seemed to be just as shock as anyone by the rampage.

Investigators here continue trying to figure out exactly what prompted the attack but we're told new evidence is increasingly pointing to political and possibly terrorist motives. We've learned that the FBI has examined writings that date back to 2013. The writings indicate anti-U.S. sentiment and they also make references to Anwar al-Awlaki. He is the Yemeni American cleric who has been linked to several terrorist attacks and plots.

Now investigators are also looking at those Internet search as you mentioned in which Abdulazeez is believed to have searched whether someone could use becoming a martyr to atone for sins. His family has said that he was struggling with depression and a friend has told CNN that he was also heavily abusing drugs.

The investigation into what happened here nearly a week later is still very much active, very much ongoing and again the FBI is looking to talk to anyone who may have had contact with the shooter leading up to the rampage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alina Machado, reporting live this morning, thank you.

Checking some other top stories for you at 26 minutes past.

Citibank is paying a price for deceptive marketing techniques. Citi ordered to pay $700 million to $8.8 million dollars to customers. Between 2003 and 2012, Citi enrolled customers in credit monitoring services and other programs promising to defer payments in the event of hardship. The government says Citi overstated the benefits and misrepresented fees. The bank says it is cooperating and has closed down all programs associated with overcharging.

The government gives AT&T -- the AT&T and DirecTV merger the green light. The SEC is ready to approve the $49 billion merger with a few conditions. Essentially AT&T can't give its own video services a leg- up over streaming video competition like Netflix and Hulu.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, more scares in the sky. New reports today of lasers being aimed at airplanes.

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