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North Carolina Man Shot and Killed While Deputies Served Search Warrant; Justice Department Launches Investigation into Minneapolis Policing; Report Warns Vaccine Supply Will Soon Outpace Demand in U.S. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 21, 2021 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, we are waiting on news conference to begin. The details on a man who was shot and killed while deputies were serving a warrant in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Office buildings are closed in response to this shooting. We're getting new details about this officer-involved fatal shooting. And we want to bring in CNN's Nick Valencia right now. Nick, what do we need to know?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I just got off the phone, Alisyn, with the man's family members. And they've identified him as 40-year-old Andrew Brown of Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

In fact, I spoke with Andrew Brown's grandmother, who's 92 years old, Lydia Brown, tells me that it was just a couple days ago that he had passed by her house to pick up some mail. She said she wants to know why this happened, what happened and who was responsible for this.

And here's what the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office is saying. They said they were serving a search warrant and a that Sheriff's deputy was involved in this fatal shooting. The state bureau of investigation there in North Carolina is now involved in the investigation.

You mentioned also government buildings were closed as of about 2 1/2 hours ago. And the city council there is convening an emergency meeting as crowds grow on the scene. I also spoke to the aunt of the man you're seeing there on the screen, Andrew Brown. Clarissa Gibson tells me that she says he was shot several times and they say -- the family says this man you're looking at on your screen there was unarmed at the time the search warrant was being executed.

And they want to know why he was shot if he was unarmed, this according to the family. I mentioned also they told me that he has children, several children that he cared for deeply, he loved them.

And as you mention, Alisyn and Victor, we are standing by for more details. But here it is again, another black man in America shot and killed in 2021. It's becoming a really unsightly and a familiar scene here in this short year -- Alisyn, Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: We've been on the air for an hour and a half. George Floyd, Ma'Khia Bryant, Daunte Wright, we just had on Lora Dene King, Rodney King's daughter 30 years after he was beaten by officers and now Andrew Brown. This is exhausting. It is exhausting.

[15:35:00]

Now we are still waiting for the details of this shooting, still waiting for more coming in from the case in Columbus, Ohio. But how many? The list goes on. And we still got 30 minutes left in this show.

CAMEROTA: You're not alone. I mean I'm sure that our viewers are feeling exactly the same way.

BLACKWELL: It is exhausting.

CAMEROTA: And look, here's the -- if there's good news or a silver lining. It's that there are investigations now. There's more transparency now. And that's what the Department of Justice called for this morning into looking into what's going on in Minneapolis. Is there something systemic? And now the Minneapolis Police Department says that they will cooperate fully into that investigation.

BLACKWELL: We're going to have a conversation about policing, police culture, the shootings that we're seeing and the statistics.

Listen, a lot of the questions we have about how many are happening, how this happened so many times. It's difficult to get answers to because they're not keeping the statistics federally.

We're going to speak with a man who is and we're going to speak with the professor who is studying the culture. Stay with us. We've got more coming.

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[15:40:00]

BLACKWELL: There are a lot of people who think that the Chauvin verdict represents the beginning of the work that needs to be done to achieve police reform. And there's pressure for the Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act.

Today the Attorney General announced a broad probe into the Minneapolis Police Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Today I am announcing that the Justice Department has opened a civil investigation to determine whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Rashawn Ray is a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. He's also Governance Study Fellow at the Brookings Institution

And also Phillip Stinson is with us, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University and the author of "Criminology Explains Police Violence." He's a former police officer and has done extensive research on police misconduct. Thank you both for being here.

And Philip, let me start with you. You compiled the data on police violence, police crime as well. Your reaction to that announcement from the Attorney General that there will be this investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.

PHILIP M. STINSON, PROFESSOR, CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAM, BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, I think it's appropriate. A patterns and practice investigation to look into whether the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in patterns and practices of unconstitutional policing is appropriate.

It will likely end, an investigation report and the entering of a consent decree or an agreement with the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Police Department with the Justice Department where an independent monitor would be appointed for a period of years -- at least five years. Conducting regular, periodic and ongoing audits.

But this is a good thing, actually, because with that process will bring a federal resources to the Minneapolis Police Department. They will be able to provide resources for training -- changing policies to mirror best practices in policing.

So overall, it's a good thing. We need to see what the investigation determines in terms of issuing a report. And that will dictate where it goes from there in terms of a consent decree.

BLACKWELL: All right, Rashawn, you have a new piece published today, actually, just the last few hours, which for my reading moderates the narrative that the Chauvin conviction is transformative in some way. That this is a new day. One man, one case. Do you believe some are overstating the implications of this conviction?

RASHAWN RAY, SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK: I think it could be. I mean, one of the things we know is that rarely are police officers convicted. Rarely are they even charged. Every year over 1,000 people are killed by law enforcement. And part of what happens is in the courts. The courts oftentimes over- individualize it's the bad apple narrative.

And instead, as I've written about, bad apples oftentimes come from rotten trees. And those rotten trees also can poison the good apples. Good apples don't simply supersede bad apples. Instead what happens they get swallowed up. And so part of what we have to focus, what people want is systemic change.

And one case is not going to do that, particularly a case where it was a slam dunk. Look everyone saw the ball go in the net, but everyone looked at the scoreboard to see if it was going to count because people know, as you all just highlighted, as the verdict was being read, there was another teenager in Ohio that was being killed by police. And what people want is broader systemic changes, not simply individual just officers being held accountable.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about that broader change, Philip. I participated in a special on CNN about fear in communities of color. And what I've said since is that we need to talk about the fear of communities of color. And you've written that what needs to be addressed -- and I want to use your words here -- is the core of the subculture in policing of fear of black men and boys. Talk more about that.

STINSON: Well, it's also a fear of black women and black girls. Many police officers exhibit a fear of black people. That's just a reality. I'm not suggesting that all police officers are racists but until we figure out a way to deal with that core element of the culture of policing, or as I call it, the police subculture, at the more than 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States. I worry that we're not going to be able to implement meaningful reforms because, as they say, culture eats policy.

[15:45:00]

We've got to change the culture of policing. We've got to change the way that officers think, the way that they interact with people of color and we've got to change the way that police officers behave.

BLACKWELL: Rashawn, after the recent killings in Minnesota, the Lieutenant Governor there, Peggy Flanagan, tweeted, that quote, Minnesota is a place where it's not safe to be black. And she talked about in the context of policing.

But you wrote for Brookings about the health disparities in black and brown communities that are heavily policed, higher rates of -- higher blood pressure, higher rates of diabetes, higher rates of anxiety disorders. Is there a correlation between heavy policing and these health disparities?

RAY: Without a doubt. So what some of my colleagues and I introduced to examine neighborhoods that are over-policed. Controlling for everything under the sun. And what we found is that men's mental health suffers, more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. Women's physical health suffers. More likely to have higher blood pressures, more likely to be diabetics, more likely to be obese.

And this is because we are continuously witnessing black pain and trauma in a way that people don't fully want to acknowledge. The people who witnessed George Floyd die and all the other people who watched it on video will never be the same again.

We heard that from Rodney King's daughter about her and him. So part of we have to look at is as you talk about this being exhausting, that exhaustion actually manifests in health disparities that leads to black people dying a slow death in spite of the fact that black people are 3.5 times more likely than whites to be killed by police we're not attacking or have a weapon.

That the fact that it doesn't matter if you have a Ph.D. or you are an anchor on CNN, that once you go down the street, you could end up like some of these people we're talking about.

BLACKWELL: Professor Rashawn Ray, Professor Philip Stinson, thank you both.

RAY: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Next, President Biden announces 200 million vaccine shots in arms, big milestone for his administration, but soon supply is expected to outpace demand. His message for hesitant Americans.

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[15:50:00]

CAMEROTA: The FDA announcing today that it has completed its inspection of the Johnson & Johnson facility in Baltimore and production of its COVID vaccine will remain on hold there due to several potential quality issues. Such as possible cross- contamination, lack of proper training and inadequate storage procedures. None that sounds good.

BLACKWELL: No.

CAMEROTA: This comes as President Biden makes a big announcement on vaccines and CNN's Nick Watt has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today we did it. Today we hit 200 million shots on the 92nd day in office.

NICK WATT(voice over): And in just a couple of weeks vaccine supply may outstrip demand in the U.S. -- so says a just published report. That is both good news.

BIDEN: Some experts say that the rapid vaccination effort has already saved tens of thousands of American lives.

WATT (voice over): And it's bad news. Just over a quarter of Americans are now fully vaccinated. That needs to maybe triple to reach herd immunity, it could be close. Only 61 percent of adults said they had or want the shot although that poll is a month old.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Obviously, there is an element of vaccine hesitancy or concern that we need to address.

BIDEN: I'm calling on every employer, large and small in every state to give employees the time off they need with pay to get vaccinated.

The IRS is posting instructions for how employers can get reimbursed for the cost ... WATT (voice over): South Dakota just joined the handful of others banning state or local government from mandating vaccine passports to prove inoculation.

KATHY BLACKWELL, RESTAURANT OWNER: Anybody who wants to come in my business, I would never ask them those questions. I think everybody has their own rights and we want to keep our rights.

WATT (voice over): And the actual virus, red is bad, means case counts are climbing and there's not much red on that map right now. Still, on average nearly 64,000 new cases are reported every day.

BIDEN: We all need to mask up until the number of cases goes down.

WATT (voice over): And the rest of the world really matters. Last week globally the most cases ever recorded in a week, says the W.H.O., and just look at that line in India. Cases and deaths are soaring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (on camera): Now Alisyn, you just mentioned the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It remains on pause here in the U.S., but European regulators just decided that the benefits of that vaccine outweigh the potential risks of blood clots. And France is actually going to start using the Johnson & Johnson this weekend, but they indicated that they may use it only in people aged 55 and up -- guys.

BLACKWELL: Nick Watt for us there. Thanks so much.

Policing in America is being scrutinized. Attorney General Merrick Garland just launched an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. More fallout from the Derek Chauvin trial just ahead.

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[15:55:00]

CAMEROTA: Tomorrow the Biden administration holds its big virtual climate summit. High-profile figures like Pope Francis and Bill Gates are expected to attend. President Biden is expected to pledge cutting greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by the year 2030.

And don't miss a special "CNN TOWN HALL" with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry and the White House Climate Team "The Climate Crisis" airs this Saturday night at 9:00 Eastern ...

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