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Search Intensifies for Missing Indonesian Submarine; Funeral Held for Daunte Wright in Minneapolis; Deaths at the Hands of U.S. Police Spark New Outrage; Lawmakers at Odds Over Policing Reform Bill; India Sets Global Record for Daily Cases Second Day in a Row; Movie Industry's Fight for Survival. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 23, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Navy officials say that this particular sub, the Nanggala-402, has a dive capability of 500 meters but is currently believed to be at a depth of about 700 meters. Now if that's the case experts say the submarine could implode under the pressure. Now it's also worth noting that this particular sub built in the late 1970s does not have a rescue seat and rescue -- submarine rescue experts have told CNN that its salvation is entirely in its own hands -- Kim.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it sounds at this point from those experts it would take a miracle, but I guess there's still hope. We will stay on the story. Thanks so much, Blake Essig in Tokyo.
Mourners say good-bye to Daunte Wright, the young black man killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in Minnesota. Ahead we will bring you how he was honored and why his death is reigniting conversations about racial injustice.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, it was another emotional day in the Minneapolis metro area where a black man killed by a police officer was laid to rest as cries for justice and accountability grow louder. Daunte wright's death 12 days ago during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center set off days of demonstrations. The Minnesota governor called for a two-minute silence to honor him at the start of the funeral. His mother described Wright as warm and loving and a jokester who lit up the room. He was 20 years old and a father to Daunte Wright Jr.
[04:35:02]
So looming large over the service the guilty verdict earlier this week in the death of George Floyd. It was just one of the racially-charged events that happened in the past week.
Omar Jimenez has details on the latest police shootings, a warning here his report contains images you may find disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than 48 hours after the celebration for the murder conviction of former police Officer Derek Chauvin ...
CHOIR: And go home to my lord and be free.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The funeral for Daunte Wright.
REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: You thought he was just some kid with air freshener. He was a prince, and all of Minneapolis has stopped today to honor the prince of Brooklyn Center.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): During Chauvin's trial in nearby Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Wright was shot and killed by former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter attempting to arrest him during a traffic stop for misdemeanor warrant.
KIM POTTER, FORMER BROOKLYN CENTER POLICE OFFICER: Taser. Taser. Taser. Holy sh**. I just shot him.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): And in the struggle, the city's then Police Chief claiming she missed took her gun for her Taser. She's been charged with second-degree manslaughter. Wright was 20 years old. And in the span of less than two weeks, hardly alone the day of the Chauvin verdict.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) you shot my baby.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Sixteen-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant was shot and killed by Officer Nicholas Reardon after she appeared to lunge at another young woman with a knife, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
CROWD: I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The morning after the Chauvin verdict, Andrew Brown Jr. was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies serving a warrant. A repeated American pattern, leaving some fearful.
CHRISTIAN GILYARD, COMMUNITY MEMBER: To grow up in an area where automatically as soon as you walk out your door and the police stereotyping is scary. A lot of people don't know what that feels like. A lot of people have never, you know, witnessed that.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): But it's a pain reverberating across the country, especially in the Minneapolis area.
MEL REEVES, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: We can't even get a rest from
the last one. The question is -- not for all my neighbors are what are we going to do and then how we -- what is the government going to do to stop this once and for all. This is tiring. I'm a fairly old guy now. I've been doing this for a long time and it's the same story over and over and over again. JIMENEZ (voice-over): With the pain, some hope. An alternate juror in the Chauvin trial says she's optimistic the guilty verdict will lead to real change.
JIMENEZ: What was this like? What are you going to remember most?
LISA CHRISTENSEN, CHAUVIN TRIAL ALTERNATIVE JUROR: I hope some good comes out of it. I really hope this is a changing point, a turning point. I hope Minnesota does the world proud.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): There's a pride in concluding one fight, but also reminders of so many more that remain.
ELIZA WESLEY, "GATEKEEPER," GEORGE FLOYD SQUARE: We're going to do everything we got to do to keep the justice for us, for us. They see bad ill about us over here. But if you come through here and if you see the people, it gives you a whole different perspective. It does not happen to everybody. It happens to us and we're going to do we got to do.
JIMENEZ: And this idea of work still needing to be done is part of why the U.S. Department of Justice has already launched a probe into practices at the Minneapolis Police Department, something local leadership has embraced. Not to mention in D.C. lawmakers are pushing with renewed momentum to pass the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act that would, among other things, ban police choke holds but also make it easier to prosecute police officers. All of it combined to try and make at least a step toward long-term change for policing in America.
Omar Jimenez, CNN, Minneapolis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: So it's not entirely clear what led to the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. in North Carolina. That's one of the cases mentioned by Omar Jimenez a moment ago. Witnesses describe a chaotic scene as police opened fire into the car Brown was driving. Police say it happened while deputies tried to serve an arrest warrant on drug charges.
Authorities haven't said why police felt the need to shoot, nor have they released bodycam footage of the incident. The killing has sparked two days of protests in Elizabeth City. Authorities have opened an investigation and a local sheriff vows that the deputies involved will be held accountable if evidence shows they violated the law.
Following the wave of police shootings U.S. lawmakers are looking at law enforcement reforms, but despite a consensus that things need to change, how should they change remains a major sticking point. CNN's Manu Raju explains.
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[04:40:00] MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Talks are intensifying on Capitol Hill about how to deal with the episodes of police violence that we have seen devastating communities, particularly communities of color all across the United States. And there are signs that there could be a possible deal in the works, but there are also some serious hurdles ahead on a bipartisan basis. Several members of Congress are negotiating. They say both sides say in good faith to try to get a deal.
But there are some key sticking points. One, Democrats are trying to push to make it easier to prosecute police officers if they were found to do something that broke the law. They could take them to court so they could be charged with a crime, lower the threshold in order to do that. Republicans have resisted that.
Tim Scott, the top Republican who is a chief negotiator on this issue said that is off the table, but the top Democratic negotiator on the House side, Karen Bass, told me that is essential to any final deal. And that is not the only issue.
Also the issue of what's called qualified immunity, providing police officers with liability protections in civil court. That is also a key issue. Democrats have wanted to do away with that standard, Republicans have resisted. Tim Scott has come back and proposed an alternative that police officers themselves cannot be sued in civil court, but police departments can. That has attracted some interest, also some opposition from the left and the right.
But Karen Bass said to me she still wants changes to that. She is not satisfied with that Scott proposal. Now people in the negotiations don't just include those two members, but also Cory Booker of New Jersey who is a close friend of Scott's and has indicated that they are making progress. But there are still some other issues. How to deal with whether there should be a federal ban on choke hold. Whether or not a no knock warrants should be out lawed.
Democrats want to make a national standard to outlaw those, Republicans are trying to push to incentivize state and located at police departments to take those actions instead. The question is can they get something done and can they do it by what is the deadline made by Democrats, May 25th. That is the anniversary of the death of George Floyd at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
They want to get a bill done by that time. But they still have to get a deal among these key members. They have to get support within both sides. Gets the votes in the House and Senate and get it to Joe Biden's desk. Even as both sides see a need to do something, a lot of questions still about whether they can do just that.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Senate has almost unanimously pass a bill denouncing hate crimes against Asian-Americans. The bill passed by a vote of 94-1. Among other things it creates a new position at the Department of Justice to expedite investigations of possible COVID-19- related hate crimes. The bill will now go to the House for another vote. And, by the way, the lone nay vote came from Missouri Republican Josh Hawley. He later tweeted that he opposed the bill because it gave the federal government too much power to police free speech.
India's COVID surge is turning from a crisis to catastrophe as the country hits another global record for new daily cases. We will have a live report next. Stay with us.
[04:45:00]
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BRUNHUBER: India is facing a worsening COVID crisis as new infections continue to climb at alarming rates. The country has shattered the global record for daily new coronavirus cases for a second day in a row. India reported more than 332,000 cases Friday. In just four days one million new cases have been added to the nation's total. As you might imagine, India's health care system is severely strained. Hospitals nationwide are running out of beds and are in dire need of oxygen.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is following the latest developments from Hong Kong and joins us now live. Things seem to be going from bad to worse, what are authorities doing to try to get this under of control?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, you know, India is battling mass death at a record level and the situation is getting increasingly dire. We know that right now that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been chairing a high-level meeting to address the COVID-19 crisis in his country as he should.
You know, today India reported over 332,000 new cases of COVID-19, this is a new record. This is the world's highest daily rise in cases since the start of the pandemic and the death toll in India as a result of the coronavirus continues to spike and experts say that they believe that the numbers are actually underreported given the nonstop cremations that are taking place across the country.
The health system is struggling if not in collapse in many areas of the country. There are reports of hospitals in the having enough beds. We know that the Delhi health minister is saying that the city needs 5,000 more ICU beds. Hospitals are running out of oxygen. At least six hospitals in Delhi have completely run out of oxygen.
The vaccination drive inside the country is woefully slow. Doctors are telling patients to stay at home and desperate people are resorting to social media. They're taking to Twitter to literally beg for much needed supplies for their sick loved ones. They're begging for medicine, for blood plasma, for oxygen and for intensive care beds.
I'm just going to run through a couple of tweets as examples. These are verified tweets from media professionals inside the country who are not only reporting on this health crisis -- or, rather, catastrophe -- they have to find a way for them and their loved one to survive it. This tweet from Stutee Ghosh, a media commentator, asking for this.
Looking for an oxygen concentrator. Very urgent. Location Delhi, any leads? Please help.
Next one from an editor is says -- name, Sandeep Verma, COVID positive, lung infection found as pneumonia. Need plasma of any group.
People are desperate, they're angry and are blaming the government -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, and not only are records breaking but it sounds from what you were just saying spirits are breaking there as well. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thanks so much for that.
All right. Well a change of pace coming up on CNN NEWSROOM. The Oscars are this Sunday, might have crept up on you, did on me, and movie theaters are struggling to survive. So we'll from one theater owner about his battle. Stay with us.
[04:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and it comes at a critical time for the movie industry. The coronavirus pandemic has shut down some movie productions for more than a year and with streaming services now showing new movies online theaters are struggling to survive. Clare Sebastian has the story.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At Cinema Village in New York's West Village, they been turning on the projectors every few months just to check their working. Over the past year, owner Nick Nicolaou says he's exhausted his savings, burned through government aid and risk a divorce to keep his three independent theaters from going under.
NICK NICOLAOU, OWNER CINEMA VILLAGE: This past year has been a bad horror movie because one thing, right after the other was going wrong. At one point, we had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Department of Finance for property tax. So that cleaned us out.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): He can now open at limited capacity according to New York rules. But first, he has to repair the damage from frozen pipes that burst. The result of the buildings sitting empty for so long.
SEBASTIAN: The posters are still up from the last movie they showed here in March of last year. Business came to a sudden stop, and it has now been more than a year with zero customers. And this is a story that's been repeated in movie theaters around the world.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): In 2020, the global box office fell by almost three quarters according to Boxoffice Pro. Some theaters, including the iconic Cinerama Dome in L.A. have now closed for good. And big chains like AMC entertainment, came close to bankruptcy.
Not the kind of climate up and coming director say Sasie Sealy would have chosen to release her debut feature film, Lucky Grandma.
[04:55:00]
SASIE SEALY, DIRECTOR, LUCKY GRANDMA: We made the decision to do a virtual release in May, versus a physical release in August. Just because we had no idea like what was going to be happening in August. Our red carpet was over Zoom, like Q and A with audiences were over Zoom. So, this is a very surreal thing, when like good that really happen.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Virtual releases via through independent theaters or on streaming services like Disney Plus, and HBO Max, became common place in 2020. The pandemic accelerating an ongoing power shift in the industry.
SEALY: Netflix makes more movies per year now than, you know, Warner Brothers. I mean, the number of movies that they are financing is crazy. So, I mean, if you had a film that you want to get made, it certain like where you're going for financing and I think is changing.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): For new filmmakers, Hollywood's future talent pipeline, the survival of both movie festivals and independent theaters, where they traditional got exposure will be critical.
NICOLAOU: You will not be allowed to sit anywhere. Another patron within six feet.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And despite strict new safety, Nick Nicolauo isn't giving up.
NICOLAOU: I've succeeded through many difficult times, and I will succeed again. That energy that's in the movie house when you are watching and crying and laughing together. These are the memories that should mean something to people.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "EARLY START" is next. You will want to stick around because we will have much more on the SpaceX launch in Florida which is scheduled to happen in the next hour.
