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20th Day of Nationwide Protests Against Racial Injustice; Moments Leading Up to Police Shooting Captured on Video; District Attorney Criticizes Police Shooting of Brooks; Autopsy Shows Rayshard Brooks Shot Twice in Back; Beijing Neighborhood on Lockdown as New Cases Emerge; New Cases Linked to Xinfadi Market, the Largest in Beijing; New York Tames COVID-19, While Some States See Spikes; Some EU Nations Reopening Borders Monday. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 15, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Angry protests across America following the killing of this weekend of yet another black man by police.

Beijing also back under lockdown. Dozens have tested positive for coronavirus with most linked to a local food market.

Also this hour, the pandemic on the minds of investors. U.S. futures plunge as global stocks look set for another volatile week.

We're live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Thank you for joining us. Our top story. Powerful public demonstrations from coast to coast pack U.S. streets for a 20th straight day as people continue to speak out against police brutality and racial injustice. These protests playing out both day and night have now found new momentum and renewed anger after a black man was shot and killed by an Atlanta police officer on Friday. Rayshard Brooks was killed outside a fast food restaurant. Police had been called after he fell asleep in his car in the drive through. And we're now getting a clear look at the moments leading up to that shooting. The deadly encounter captured on police bodycam and other video. Our Boris Sanchez has more from the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Large crowds of people have come and gone from the Wendy's in south Atlanta where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed on Friday night. Many of them protesting. Some of them setting up a makeshift memorial.

What is captured on camera of the incident Friday night paints a complex picture. Brooks at different points joking with police officers, engaging in polite conversation but in one fell swoop everything changes. We should warn you, some of this video is graphic and difficult to watch. (voice-over): Responding to a call from a Wendy's in south Atlanta

Friday night, officer Devin Brosnan approaches Rayshard Brooks car.

OFFICER DEVIN BROSNAN, ATLANTA POLICE: What's up, my man? Hey, my man. Hey. Hey, man, you're parked the middle of a drive-thru line here.

Hey, sir. What's up, man? Hey, you're parked in the drive-thru right now.

Hey, sir. You, all right?

SANCHEZ: Asleep in the drive-thru lane, police bodycam footage shows the 27-year-old does not respond right away.

BROSNAN: Are you tired? All right man, I'll move my car -- just pull somewhere and take -- all right. All right, are you good?

RAYSHARD BROOKS, VICTIM OF POLICE INVOLVED SHOOTING: Yes.

BROSNAN: All right.

SANCHEZ: Brooks eventually wakes up and agrees to move his car before he appears to fall asleep again.

BROSNAN: My, man. Man, you don't need to go back to sleep. You've got to move your car. Go on back to sleep.

SANCHEZ: Brooks moves to a nearby parking spot where Brosnan asks --

BROSNAN: How much did you drink tonight? How much? How much not much? When you say one drink, what kind of drink was it?

BROOKS: It was just one little margarita.

BROSNAN: How about have you had any drugs today?

BROOKES: I don't do drugs.

SANCHEZ: Brooks struggles to find his license and tries to step out of the car.

BROOKS: I want to get out the car.

BROSNAN: No, just stay in the car for me, all right. Stay in the car, man. I just want your license.

SANCHEZ: Brosnan then radios for another officer to conduct a DUI test.

BROSNAN: He's pretty out of it. Definitely got some good amount of liquor right now.

SANCHEZ: When Officer Garrett Rolfe arrives, Brooks denies ever having been asleep. OFFICER GARRETT ROLFE, ATLANTA POLICE: The reason why we're here is

because somebody called 911 because you were asleep behind the wheel while you were in the drive through. Right? Do you recall that?

BROOKS: I don't, I don't.

ROLFE: You don't recall that? You don't recall just minutes ago where you were passed out behind the wheel in the drive through?

BROOKS: No.

SANCHEZ: He agrees to a breathalyzer test, says he can't remember how much he had to drink, and then he tells police.

BROOKS: I know. I know. You just saw you draw.

SANCHEZ: When Rolfe tries to handcuff Brooks, he resists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, stop that.

SANCHEZ: Witness video shows Brosnan readying his taser.

BROSNAN: You're going to get tased.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop.

SANCHEZ: Brooks grabs it out of his hand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up (BLEEP).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop.

SANCHEZ: Breaking free, Brooks punches Rolfe who fires his stun gun as Brooks takes off, and here's the moment the altercation becomes deadly. We slowed this down for you.

[04:05:00]

You can see Rolfe chasing Brooks, each man now carrying a taser. Watch as Rolfe moves his taser from his right hand to his left and reaches towards his handgun. That's when Brooks turns and fires the taser and Rolfe shoots firing three times at Brooks as he flees.

Bystanders almost immediately begin cursing and shouting at the officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both of your careers are definitely gone because you just shot a man, for no reason.

SANCHEZ: A few minutes after he shot, Officers Rolfe and Brosnan begin to provide medical treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Brooks, keep breathing.

SANCHEZ: A short time later, Brooks is rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he is later pronounced dead. (on camera): And Officer Rolfe who opened fire has been terminated. Officer Brosnan who first responded to the scene here has been placed on administrative duty and Erica Shields, the chief of police in Atlanta resigned over the weekend. Of course, there is an ongoing investigation potentially with charges coming later this week.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: The district attorney here in Fulton County, Georgia, said the decision on whether to bring charges for the killing of Rayshard Brooks could come as soon as Wednesday. He spoke with CNN after watching the police bodycam video of the shooting. Here's what he told Fredricka Whitfield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL HOWARD, FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: One good thing about video, Fredricka, because in the video we actually get a chance to hear the officer's first statement after the shooting took place, and what the officer said is not that his life was saved, but his statement was, he said, I got him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And here's what the Brooks family attorney told CNN's Ana Cabrera about the officer's statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN MILLER, ATTORNEY FOR BROOKS FAMILY: That was a very disturbing to myself, my partner Chris and Tamika, his widow. Very disturbing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The mayor of Atlanta says America will get through this crisis but more needs to be done. Keisha Lance Bottoms tells CNN the issues go beyond biases and police training and that there is a bigger conversation the country needs to have.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, ATLANTA MAYOR: I've watched the bodycam video. I watched it for 30 minutes. I watched the interaction with Mr. Brooks and it broke my heart. When he talked about his daughter's birthday party that he was planning for. This is not confrontational. This was a guy that you were rooting for and even knowing the end, watching it you're going, just let him go, let him go. Let him call somebody to pick him up. And I think that's the challenge that we're all facing as leaders right now. People are looking to us to lead, but when these things continue to happen over and over again, we're asking ourselves the same questions, how do we lead during this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: The Atlanta mayor added that everyone, not just police officers, have so many biases they don't recognize they have and it happens every day.

Joining me now from Los Angeles is retired Los Angeles Police Chief Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey. She is also the author of "Black and Blue." Sergeant Dorsey, thanks so much for coming on.

SGT. CHERYL DORSEY, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT, RETIRED: Thank you for having me.

ALLEN: First question for you. The district attorney has said he will decide this week whether charges are filed in the death of Rayshard Brooks. What are the questions the DA will be looking to answer as this footage is reviewed?

DORSEY: Well I mean, probable cause is a very low threshold. And he's already telegraphed he's there. This was an unjustified shooting. Mr. Brooks was compliant. He was polite in the beginning. And what ultimately happened is inherent to police work. When you tell someone they're about to go to jail or when you make a move to put a handcuff on someone, it's not uncommon for someone to run. And so, these officers dropped the ball. They should have anticipated this. They spent 20 minutes with Mr. Brooks.

And as I'm watching and listening, the more I hear the more problematic it is. You have someone who's asleep behind the wheel of a car and you wake them up and you tell him to drive some distance away and park it. What if he had driven and been involved in a traffic collision and killed someone? Those officers would be liable.

ALLEN: Right. They asked him to park the car there from the drive through. I want to ask you, when a person you were trying to arrest as they attempted to do takes off running, he did strike the officer, he had his taser gun, but how are officers trained vis-a-vis using deadly force when someone is running away from them?

[04:10:06]

DORSEY: You can only use that force reasonable to overcome resistance. You can't use deadly force because you can't catch someone physically. And so we know, we see now, we hear the officer fired his taser and it was ineffective. This is a veteran officer. He should have known that quite possibly hit if his taser was ineffective, then the one in the possession of Mr. Brooks could have conceivably been ineffective. And so, you don't get to shoot and kill somebody because you can't catch him.

And listen, I said from the beginning, this was about punishing Mr. Brooks because after all he did take his taser. And now we've heard the officer in his own words, he took my f'ing taser. That's what bothered him. And then when he got him, he did a little victory lap by saying I got him. This was punishment. This was unnecessary.

ALLEN: And Mr. Brooks also offered to walk home. He said his sister lived nearby. Could that have been an option they would consider or no?

DORSEY: Not an option I would have considered if you believe that he's under the influence. Now he's in your care and custody. And you have an affirmative responsibility to make sure that that person gets somewhere safely. Now if that somewhere -- if you don't want to make an arrest and you know the officers have great discretion. If you don't want to arrest him then take him to the police station and call a family member to come and pick him up. But you can't leave him on the street. You can't allow him to drive away. Because by their own admission, he was under the influence. Again, city liability. If he gets involved in a traffic collision and hurts somewhere or himself, the officers are liable because they knew that and they allowed him to continue on behind the wheel.

ALLEN: Well as this country grapples with how to restructure police departments, Sergeant Dorsey, do you believe from serving in the LAPD for so many years that officers necessarily wouldn't want some of their duties to respond to everything and anything reduced.

DORSEY: Well listen, there are certain things that officers respond to that you know some are not equipped and don't feel comfortable handling. But you know, that's part of the job as well. When we become police officers you understand that part of what we do is keeping the peace. Part of what we do is resolving conflict, it's counseling. You know, we respond to domestic disputes where folks are not getting along. Neighbor disputes and we're there to keep the peace and were there to counsel. We're there to be a cooler head, to give advice. And that's inherent to police work. And so, if that's not really what you want to do, then you're probably in the wrong profession. You have to do it based on your training and a little common sense and good judgment.

ALLEN: Right and you know, I think it's what's been troubling for so many people but this particular story is that it started out just as someone falling asleep in a drive through at a fast food joint, you know. And we saw George Floyd die because he allegedly passed a $20 counterfeit bill. That hurts.

DORSEY: Listen, what if Mr. Brooks was having a medical emergency? It's almost as if police officers, when they're dealing with black folks, don't think maybe we could be suffering from some kind of a medical emergency. This is not the first time a had fallen asleep at a drive through. Willie McCoy of Vallejo, California shot and killed. Officers didn't take into consideration that maybe this wasn't someone who was under the influence of drugs or someone who had been drinking. Maybe they were having a medical emergency. Because we get sick, too.

ALLEN: We appreciate your expertise and your insights. Thank you so much, Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey for us. Thank you.

DORSEY: Thank you.

HOLMES: Next here, the latest on the coronavirus outbreak as Beijing sees a second wave after a cluster of new infections. We'll tell you where that cluster occurred. Also, France is among many European Union nations partially reopening.

We've got details on where EU travel is resuming and where people still have to wait.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: At least 11 neighborhoods in Beijing are now under lockdown after the Chinese capital reported 79 new coronavirus cases since Thursday. Most linked to a new closed food market. Beijing had gone nearly 2 months with no local infections and now this.

Let's go live to Beijing now and our senior producer Steven Jiang standing by. Steven, I saw one headline about this resurgence and it said, Beijing has gone into war mode over this.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Natalie, that's right. That's the word officials have been using, war time emergencies in increasing number of neighborhoods. Now as you mentioned, the city had not seen any new cases for 56 days until last Thursday. Since then these newly emerged cases are almost all of them linked to this Xinfadi wholesale food market which housed thousands of vendors and used to see huge crowds on a daily basis. That's why the authorities are now conducting very extensive contact testing as well as mask testing for anyone who had visited the market since May 30th and their close contacts. And on Sunday alone they had tested more than 76,000 people in this process is ongoing as we speak. Now the government has not only shut down the market but also sealed it off along with its surrounding area. And as I mentioned, they're also placing a growing number of city neighborhoods with newly reported cases under a very strict lockdown.

And you know, they are also, of course, bringing back a lot of these very rigorous and obsessive health checks and screening measures because things have been easing up for a few weeks as we had not seen cases until last week. School students, for example, they have returned to school but now they are being told they have the option of studying from home again. Really another sign of how seriously concerned the government is about a situation which officials have described as severe with a lot of lingering uncertainty -- Natalie.

ALLEN: Right, so this market is closed.

[04:20:00]

We know that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan at a wild animal market there. What do we know about this market and suspicions that might be surrounding it -- Steven?

JIANG: That's right. This market, so far there's no suggestion of wildlife trading going on there. Now it is the country's biggest wholesale food market that sells everything from vegetables and foods to meat and seafood. And normally it supplies 70 percent of Beijing's vegetables and 10 percent of its pork. That's why when authorities closed it down on Saturday, there was a lot of concern among local residents about their food supplies. There was a bit of a panic buying initially but then the government came out saying they would deploy resources from elsewhere to ensure the non-disruption of the capital cities food supplies.

But there was other concerns about the fact that authorities have said they found traces of the virus in multiple environmental samples taken from the market including chopping boards they used to chop imported salmon. And that has caused quite a bit of panic prompting restaurants and supermarkets to pull the fish off of their shelves and menus. So even though officials say they're not sure how this surface got contaminated, they are vowing to strengthen inspections of all cargo shipments from overseas -- Natalie.

ALLEN: All right, we know you'll be following it for us. Steven Jiang in Beijing. Thank you, Steven

The United States is seeing another surge of coronavirus cases. With cases spiking in at least 18 states as more states reopen and summer has people swarming to vacation spots. Florida reported more than 2,500 new positive cases on Saturday according to Johns Hopkins University. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the state has tamed the beast, his words, of COVID-19. But warns there is a very real possibility that reopening would be rolled back if people violate safety guidelines.

And on Twitter the U.S. Surgeon General said wearing masks would reduce asymptomatic spread of the virus.

And although President Trump has usually refused to wear a mask -- well actually, he has, period -- his top economic advisor told CNN's Jake Tapper that supporters attending a Trump rally this week should probably wear them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: People must observe the safety guidelines, OK -- must. The social distancing must be observed. Face coverings in key places must be observed.

JAKE TAPPER CNN ANCHOR: I'm glad to see you calling for people to wear masks and I assume that also means --

KUDLOW: Absolutely.

TAPPER: -- at the Trump rally into Tulsa people should be wearing masks at the Trump rally in Tulsa this Saturday?

KUDLOW: Well, OK, probably so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Probably so. But how can U.S. states prevent a resurgence of the virus. I asked Dr. Raj Kalsi, an emergency medicine physician, and here's his response.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. RAJ KALSI, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: The lesson to be learned is that every uptick is important and has to be scrutinized very importantly by us doctors, scientists, epidemiologists. New York clearly was the hardest hit in the country and perhaps they are primed to be more apt to protect themselves moving forward. And maybe that's part of the momentum of their success because they saw so much death and destruction so much in terms of hospitalizations, ventilations. Whereas may be like a state like Florida didn't see that and so they may be a bit more lax in how they're going to process that type of exposure.

ALLEN: Well what do you make of these alarming spikes we're seeing now in some 21 states. To hear some tell it is because there's more testing. Is there validity in that reasoning?

KALSI: There is, absolutely. You know, we are exponentially testing more people, Natalie, which is a wonderful thing. This is what we asked for early on. If you remember the chimes it was more testing. Everybody needs to be tested. Whoever needs a test from the executive branch should get a test. And we're not quite there yet but we're getting there. And so my number I want to look at is hospitalizations, the length of stay for patients in the hospital and of those people who stay in the hospital, how many of them died. Those are the most important for me as a doctor.

ALLEN: And do you believe the increases are a reflection in some respect of what happened three weeks ago -- Memorial Day weekend? And what are you seeing in particular in your practice?

KALSI: It's a wonderful question. When you and I spoke about Easter a few weeks ago we did see an uptick. And when people got together for that holiday, we are seeing a little bit of an uptick.

[04:25:00]

But I'll tell you that in the Chicago suburb and the rural counties around Chicago, we're starting to see a steady decline, which is wonderful. And of those people who are coming in with COVID-19, they seem less sick and we can send more people home because we're just better at treating this now. And we're not doing things that we fundamentally initially thought were helpful to patients but it turned out to be harmful. So we're getting better and smarter as time goes on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Dr. Kalsi also said people should continue social distancing and wearing masks as each person's actions could affect their loved ones as they could transmit the virus to them.

The European Union borders were closed weeks ago amid the pandemic, but this Monday cross border travel resumed in some EU nations, France, Germany and Greece among them. Spain, however, will wait another week. Let's get details on that from Atika Shubert. She is with us from what looks to be a lovely day in Valencia, Spain. Hello, Atika. ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Yes,

it's an absolutely brilliant, sunny day here. And these are the beaches that Spain is getting ready to welcome tourists. Not quite yet. It's a little slower here in Spain because they're trying -- they're saying they that they want to be the safest holiday destination in Europe. So they're taking more precautions.

But the holiday island of Mallorca has actually brokered a deal with the German tour agencies to allow in early thousands of German tourists and that's happening starting today. And what it means is that those tourists arriving in Mallorca are a test case. They won't have to be tested for coronavirus. They won't be quarantined for 14 days. They will have their temperature checked on arrival and they'll have to give any contact details just in case they need to do contact tracing. But otherwise, their free to enjoy their holiday there. Now if all goes well then Spain says it will open up to EU travelers next week and they will open up to those outside the EU in July.

Now again, as I said Spain is a little slower than some of the other countries because they're taking more precautions. But France, for example, has gone ahead and opened its borders. I believe we've seen traffic between France and Germany already this morning. And French President Emmanuel Macron told the French people yesterday in a speech that France as proved its resilient and has saved thousands of lives with the lockdown measures but that it was now time to reopen.

So what we're starting to see here in Europe is that slowly reopening. And if all goes well, then it will go from opening within the EU to the rest of the world as well -- Natalie.

ALLEN: Yes and, Atika, when some beaches started to open here in the United States, there are restrictions like you can go in the water but you can't sunbath yet. What measures is Spain taking vis-a-vis beaches?

SHUBERT: Yes, you know, each locality basically sets their own guidelines. But we've seen across the board some general principles which is that -- the beaches need to be disinfected. So I've actually seen in the last few minutes here cleaners coming through disinfecting all the showers, all the beach loungers, for example. In addition to that each umbrella and beach stand needs to be two meters apart.

And what a lot of municipalities are doing is saying, you're welcome to come to the beach but what you should do is book ahead -- and they provide an app -- for a space that will be nine square meters by nine square meters. And that will make sure that you and your family are safe. That you're not mixing with other people. And so that way they say it'll try and contain the coronavirus spread. It's just one of the ways that many of the beaches here are trying to be the safest holiday destination in Europe, which is what Spain hopes to be.

ALLEN: Hope so. Well the beach looks huge behind you. So it looks like there's ample space for people to spread out. All right, thanks so much, Atika Shubert, good assignment there in Valencia, Spain -- envious. Thanks. Protesters turn out begin across the United States, including here in Atlanta where a deadly police shooting is sparking new outrage. More about it next.

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