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One Killed, 14 Hurt in St. Paul Bar Mass Shooting; Bodycam Video Shows Dayton Cops Dragging Black Paraplegic Man Out of His Car During Stop; Attorney for Paraplegic Man Says Filing Civil Suit Against Dayton PD; Toddler Missing for Several Days Released from Hospital. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired October 11, 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]
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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: This past holiday weekend was an especially violent one. In Georgia a police officer was killed in an ambush while working his very first shift.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: In New Jersey, a nurse died after being knocked to the ground in Times Square. One person was killed, 14 others injured in a mass shooting in Minnesota.
These are just a few of the violent incidents reported across the country over the last 48 hours. CNN's Omar Jimenez is here with an update. First, what do we know about this Minnesota shooting. Any arrests?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, while an arrest in the Minnesota shooting, three men were arrested. And in the Georgia shooting as well, a man has been taken into custody and charged with murder.
We'll start in Georgia, 26-year-old Dylan Harrison was the police officer shot and killed during his very first shift on the job. Police say he was ambushed outside the Alamo Police Department. And about a mile away from where the shooting took place, Damian Ferguson was taken into custody, and he's now been charged with murder. The officer is survived by his wife and six-month-old son.
[15:35:03]
And in St. Paul, Minnesota, three men were arrested in connection with a shooting at a bar that killed 27-year-old Marquisha Wiley and injured over a dozen others. Take a listen to the DJ at the time who described what was happening when those shots first rang out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER PARKER, BAR DISC JOCKEY: I'm kind of spinning on the stage, and having fun in my moment, and I hear it, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, everybody goes down. I'm like, OK, they're still shooting, pop, pop, but the music's
playing so I reached up and turned the music off. And then I was like, OK, let me peek the scene. I look around and I could see people were really frantic, and they wanted to get out of there really fast.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: And when police got there, there were already gunshot victims on the ground both inside and outside. Police described it as a hellish situation -- Victor.
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, just horrible, both of these -- all of these stories. What have you learned about the nurse who was killed in Times Square?
JIMENEZ: Well, yes, Alisyn, the nurse, a 58-year-old oncology nurse from New Jersey, she was shoved to the ground, and hit her head. She was taken to the hospital afterward, but sadly did not -- sadly succumbed to her injuries, I should say.
The man who pushed her was accused of stealing another person's phone right before this. He has now been charged with murder. And when you look at the weekend and its context, this has come as part of a year we have seen violent crime raised, even compared to the especially violent 2020. Much of those trends carrying over.
And in fuller context, even though the numbers are high now, they're 40 percent lower than what they were in the 80s and 90s. But that's no comfort to families of those continuing to go lose loved ones today, and of course the families of those continuing to grieve from this weekend -- Alisyn, Victor.
CAMEROTA: So true. Omar Jimenez, thank you.
BLACKWELL: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Now to this story, a paraplegic man is accusing the Dayton Police Department of unlawful arrest and profiling after the release of police body cam video showed officers yanking this man from his car during a traffic stop.
BLACKWELL: So, we're going to show you some of the video. Police asked the disabled man to get out of his car. But he said he couldn't because of his condition. Now we want to warn you, that the video is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLIFFORD OWENSBY, PARAPLEGIC MAN DRUG FROM CAR BY POLICE: I'm not getting out. I just told you, I'm a paraplegic, I cannot get out.
OFFICER: I do not want to have to -- I, I do --
OWENSBY: Can you call your white shirt, please? If you pull me out of here, you better expect -- OFFICER: Here's the thing, I'm going to pull you out, and then call a white shirt because you're getting out of the car. It's not an options. You're getting out of this car.
So, you can cooperate and get out of the car or we'll drag you out of the car. Do you see your two options here? Now which would you like to do sir?
OWENSBY: I know my rights. I would like for you to call your white shirt.
OFFICER: I will when I'm done. Get out of the car. Get out of the car. Get out of the car.
OWENSBY: Come on, bro.
OFFICER: Get out of the car. Get out of the car.
OWENSBY: Listen. I am a paraplegic, bro, you can f**king hurt me, bro. You can hurt me.
OFFICER: Get out of the car.
OWENSBY: What are you all doing, bro, I'm a paraplegic bro. I'm a paraplegic. I'm trying to tell you I got help getting into the car. Y'all can f**king hurt me, they can hurt me, bro.
OFFICER: Get out of the car. Get out of the car.
OWENSBY: Damn, bro (scream). Can anybody help?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: They pulled him by his head and his hair there. The driver has now filed a complaint with the NAACP saying the police treated him like a dog.
CNN's Polo Sandoval has more. I can see, Polo, the hand controls, I mean they didn't see those.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right by his right leg, Victor. That's right. If you look closely, you can actually see that. Now this is video of an event or incident that took place on September 30th and in it, you can actually see that encounter that happened between Clifford Owensby, and Dayton Police officers.
Now in terms of what initially led up to this traffic stop, according to Dayton Police, they had spotted him leaving what they suspect to be a drug house. Now that combined with felony weapons and drug history, that is why they initiated or is was planned to initiate a K-9 search of the vehicle and this is when there's this altercation that takes place.
Now just before this, it's also important to point out, there was this back and forth that lasted about two minutes between the officers and between Owensby. Owensby makes it very clear that he does not have use of his legs when the officers asked him step out of the vehicle.
And then the officer asks if he can help him actually step out of the vehicle. You see the policy is that everybody exit the vehicle when a K-9 actually goes around them, so that can ensure the safety of both the K-9 officer and the occupants of that car.
Well, he then declines that offer for help and that's when things take a turn, things get tense, that scuffle takes place.
And now in terms of what we're hearing from his legal representation, Owensby's attorney telling our colleague, Mina Ashaier (ph), that they believe the actions of the officers were illegal on multiple fronts.
You mentioned a little while ago profiling, unlawful arrest. But also, they're alleging illegal search and seizure, failing to read him his rights before being jailed.
[15:40:00]
So, what we expect to happen here -- according to what we're hearing from the attorney -- is a lawsuit filed not just against these officers but against the Dayton Police Department and the State in general.
Now we do want you to hear directly from him and what he's recently told CNN affiliate WKEF, about what he remembers that went down that day?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OWENSBY: This is it. This is how I go out. Just like every other black man I watch go out on TV. And this is my turn.
The way that they have treated me during that traffic stop, I only feel like I was an actor in a movie out of "Roots," a movie I was taught growing up about racists and slaves.
I think this type of stuff probably happens all the time. I'm just thankful, if they were willing to do all of that stuff while the cameras were rolling, I can only imagine what would happen if no cameras were rolling.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: And police did find a little over $22,000 in cash inside Owensby's vehicle. He explains that those were actually his savings and also went on to say they did not find any drugs or weapons in his vehicle, and also there were no drug related charges filed.
But as for the Professional Standards Bureau, they are investigating. The Mayor of Dayton saying everybody in that video is owed a thorough investigation, and we're hearing that that's what is beginning right now.
BLACKWELL: All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you. SANDOVAL: Thanks, guys.
BLACKWELL: So, you've seen gas prices are rising. The highest now in seven years. We'll take a look at what's behind the Biden administration and what they are considering.
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BLACKWELL: If you've been to the gas station lately, you know that prices are skyrocketing.
CAMEROTA: Gas prices are at their 7-year high and could threaten the country's economic recovery. CNN's Matt Egan is here to explain why prices have gone up so much. Why?
MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, Listen, you know, this has been a very long time since Americans felt sticker shock on the energy front like this. The last time oil and gas prices were this expensive, Joe Biden was the sitting Vice President, and Donald Trump was still "The Apprentice" host.
So, it's been quite a bit, but gas prices at $3.27 a gallon now nationally on average. That's up $0.07 in just the past week. Up more than a dollar over the past year.
And as far as why, you know, like everything else it comes back to supply and demand. Now demand has really recovered as the economy has reopened, people are driving more, they're flying more. They're commuting, but supply has been slow to catch up.
OPEC and its allies, they took off an unprecedented amount of production in April of 2020 when oil prices crashed to negative $40 a barrel. They have been pretty slow to add back supply, that's despite the fact that the White House has urged them to ramp up production.
U.S. oil companies, they've also been reluctant to add supply. You put it together, you get $80 oil and some on Wall Street say 90 or maybe even a $100 is around the corner.
BLACKWELL: And how long are we on this climb until we crest and head back in the right direction?
EGAN: Yes, it's a good question. I mean there's no easy fix here, and we have to remember, this is a political thing too. I mean voters, understandably, do not like high gas prices. It's something that they see every day when they drive. It's something that they feel whenever they fill up at the pump, so this is certainly a negative for the White House. But there's no magic wand for President Biden to turn $3 gas into $2 gas.
And there's been talk about maybe tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the stockpile of oil, but the analysts I talked to don't really think that's really going to do much. They say that that would be kind of like taking a squirt gun to a fight. And basically, their best bet is to try probably to try to convince OPEC to ramp up production.
One other option would be to try cut regulation to ramp up U.S. oil production. But that would go against the President's climate agenda.
CAMEROTA: OK, it's complicated. Matt Egan, thank you for explaining all that.
EGAN: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Thank you. Matt.
CAMEROTA: All right, wait until you hear this, a mother is reunited with her missing toddler. He was missing for several days. How this little boy survived in the woods, next.
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CAMEROTA: OK. We have some breaking news here. You are just looking at live pictures in from KGTV. This is a plane crash. The San Diego Fire and Sheriff's Department are announcing that they are responding to this. It's in Santee, California. It's near a high school. But they have -- the high school, Santana High School has tweeted out that all students are secure and that this incident happened a few blocks away from there.
BLACKWELL: Yes, so the San Diego Sheriff's Office is warning people to stay away from the area. Now although we know from the high school that the students are secure, we don't know about any of the damaged homes that we're told and buildings nearby. If there are any injuries in those. Of course, we'll follow this breaking news out of Santee, California.
All right, now to a happy ending to a terrifying story. This 3-year- old boy who disappeared last week in Texas, he was released from the hospital today.
Now he was found over the weekend alive and well. Remarkable, because Christopher Ramirez vanished after chasing the neighbor's dog while the adults unloaded the car after running some errands.
CAMEROTA: Then the dog returned but Christopher did not. And of course, the family started looking for him. More than 100 volunteers searched and finally on Saturday, he was found. CNN's Rosa Flores is following the latest. How did they find him? Rosa, what happened?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Alisyn and Victor, this is one of those stories where you just cannot believe the outcome.
According to the Sheriff, at some point, there were up to 300 people trying to look for this little boy, and it turns out it was actually a good Samaritan who found him, but he was not part of the search. He had not watched TV. He didn't know this boy was missing. He actually learned about it in Bible study and he said that something told him to go search for this boy. [15:55:00]
The boy's mom was asked if she thought this was a miracle and here's what she says. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): He asked if she thought it's a miracle. Definitely, it is a miracle.
ARACELI NUNEZ, MOTHER OF LOST SON, CHRISTOPHER: (In Spanish)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Definitely, it is a miracle.
NUNEZ: [In Spanish]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): God put everybody in this path for this reason, to find her son.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: I talked to the Sheriff this morning. And he said that this little boy wants to be a police officer or a firefighter. So, the Sheriff took this opportunity to deputize him as a junior deputy. You see the video right there. Alisyn and Victor, you also see, if you look closely, you'll see scratches on the little boy's face in that press conference. But, of course, the little boy is found and well.
CAMEROTA: Ok, well, I mean this is the kind of ending we always pray for in these situations. So, thank God. Thank God that it worked out this way. Rosa Flores, thank you very much.
BLACKWELL: Thank you, Rosa.
CAMEROTA: OK and "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts after a very quick break.
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