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Bridge Destroyed in Kharkiv; Video of Fatal Shooting in Michigan; Amazon Charges Sellers Surcharge. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired April 14, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:15]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine's military says this morning that its special operations unit destroyed a key bridge in Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, just as Russian military vehicles were crossing it. You can see the satellite image there as well from the Ukrainian military. These photos released on social media appear to show the bridge and Russian vehicles in shambles there. Officials say the bridge wiped out with an explosive device planted after anticipating the Russian convoy's path.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: It comes as officials report heavy fighting in the Kharkiv region.

CNN's Nima Elbagir just visited the area and witnessed the intense shelling firsthand.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Desolate, bare, lifeless, this is what it looks like after weeks of relentless Russian shelling. Saldefka (ph), the most densely populated district in Kharkiv, it's being bombed day after day, night after night.

There are very few people left, the elderly mostly. One man stayed behind to keep his mother safe.

ELBAGIR (on camera): Igor says that he lives on the 16th floor of one of these buildings with his mother. He says his mother is deeply religious and deeply committed to staying here, even though they're almost entirely surrounded and she won't leave, so he won't leave.

ELBAGIR (voice over): But this is a front line under a new pressure. The Russians are pushing hard.

ELBAGIR (on camera): That is so close. Those are Russian positions. They're shelling towards us. We are just over a mile away from the Russian forces. This is their route into Kharkiv and then on into Ukraine. For now, this is the front line. That could change at any moment now. They are trying as hard as they can to push that front line inwards.

ELBAGIR (voice over): The soldiers want to show us more evidence of the heavy bombardment.

ELBAGIR (on camera): The soldiers want us to move very quickly because Russian snipers are operating in this area. We've got to move.

ELBAGIR (voice over): The rumble you hear is the constant shelling.

ELBAGIR (on camera): The shelling's just been absolutely relentless. From the moment that we've arrived, we've been hearing it.

We have to be careful where we step because the Russians are also dispersing mines from the rockets that they're sending over into here.

ELBAGIR (voice over): The shelling has intensified over the last few days. Regional officials told CNN this is evidence of the renewed Russian military push.

ELBAGIR (on camera): Yes, let's go. So, from where we are, we're pretty much surrounded by Russian troops on three sides. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are believed to be amassing to come into Kharkiv, to come into Ukraine, from this direction. We've got to move.

ELBAGIR (voice over): The soldiers wanted us out of there. It was becoming too intense. Just 30 minutes later, we saw why. This warehouse is in the south of Saldefka (ph). It took a direct hit. This is an area that, after the initial aborted invasion, has been beyond the reach of Russian ground troops. But now, once again, nowhere is safe.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Kharkiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: We've seen it. Bianna, we're seeing it every day in so many cities there. And, remember, as she was walking through those neighborhoods, that's a civilian neighborhood. Those are apartment buildings, desolated, right, devastated and now desolated. People have fled for their lives.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. The country's second largest city. We saw what they did to residential areas outside of Kyiv, and now it appears they're doing that in Kharkiv as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Nima for that incredible report.

Well, outrage is growing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after an officer fatally shot a black man. Many now calling into question the use of deadly force. What police and the man's family are saying. That's next.

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[09:39:00]

GOLODRYGA: Newly released video showing the fatal police shooting of a black man after a traffic stop sparking outrage and protests in Michigan. Twenty-six-year-old Patrick Lyoya was shot in the head in Grand Rapids ten days ago.

SCIUTTO: Authorities say that Lyoya was killed after an officer's gun discharged during a lengthy struggle. But a representative for his family claims Lyoya was killed, quote, execution style.

CNN's Omar Jimenez has been following this story.

We do want to warn you, the footage of this is disturbing.

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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A struggle, a gunshot, a black man dead on the streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan. A police officer now under investigation for shooting 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya in the head. A frustrated community demanding answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay in the car!

JIMENEZ: On April 4th, police say Lyoya was pulled over for improper registration on the car he was driving, though did not elaborate on why they were looking in the first place.

[09:40:03]

Just a few minutes into the stop, Lyoya starts to run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No. No. Stop. Stop. Put your hands up in the air.

JIMENEZ: The officer catches Lyoya. The two begin to wrestle. Then, the officer uses a Taser, but it fails to make impact. The officer's body camera turns off during the struggle. Police say it was unintentional. But the passenger in Lyoya's car was recording this cell phone video and captured what happens next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop (ph) Taser!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are determined to get this right.

JIMENEZ: Authorities now facing tough questions, like whether the officer's life was in enough jeopardy to draw his gun.

CHIEF ERIC WINSTROM, GRAND RAPIDS POLICE: So, a taser is not per se a deadly weapon. The Taser is what would be known as an intermediate weapon. Intermediate weapon would have the potential to cause death, it would have the potential to cause great bodily harm, but not necessarily.

JIMENEZ: Lyoya was a Congolese refugee, the chief saying a potential language barrier is part of the investigation. The family's lawyer, Ben Crump, contends Lyoya was confused by the encounter and terrified for his life.

The NAACP adding, an unregistered license plate should not be a death sentence.

The still unidentified officer has been stripped of his police powers, but remains on paid leave, pending the official state investigation.

BRANDON DAVIS, DIRECTOR, OVERSIGHT AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY: And we will seek transparency. We will seek truth.

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JIMENEZ: Now, even though that state investigation is still ongoing at this point, the video was released now in the name of transparency. Once that investigation is complete, the results will be sent over to the police department for potential disciplinary action, but also to the state prosecutor for any potential criminal charges.

Later today, we're going to hear from the Lyoya family, along with their attorney, Ben Crump, who has called not just for the firing of this officer, but for the arrest and prosecution of this officer as well.

Jim. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Omar Jimenez, thank you.

Well, here to discuss is former acting Baltimore police commissioner and CNN law enforcement analyst Anthony Barksdale.

Anthony, good to see you.

So, from what you gleaned from that video that we've just seen, and obviously the investigation is ongoing, does the officer's action, is it justified as self-defense, or as the victim's family is claiming, excessive?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: When you have an individual that is at some point in time during a struggle trying to take control or has control of the officer's equipment, especially a Taser, then lethal force is the next level above a Taser. So, it's -- you know, it -- the test is, what would a reasonable officer do? So, with -- the issues with the Taser, I could see lethal force being used by these -- by this officer.

GOLODRYGA: So as justified. And we see in the video here, where you see the struggle to grab that Taser from the police officer, I'm curious to get your analysis as to why -- and this isn't the first time, we've seen body cam footage cut off. We don't know the exact reason why it stopped in this case, but does that tell you that that was something intentional, that the police force says that it was not intentional. But what do you make of that?

BARKSDALE: It's disturbing. I don't like it at all. It makes me question how that equipment is functioning in the field. Of all times, when you need something recorded, it goes dark at that -- during this horrible tragedy. So, I am concerned about the equipment. And it's a -- it's a significant issue that needs to be looked into. GOLODRYGA: And as we have said, this man was an immigrant. He had been

in the United States, I believe, since 2014 from the DRC. And now there's questions as to whether there was a language barrier. As far as investigating this crime, and this scene, what role does that play given that he is no longer living?

BARKSDALE: I've watched this video numerous times and there is one video that shows, the officer does ask if he understands him. And the -- at this point to me he's a victim -- the victim says he can understand. And then we go through the, hey, my license is in there, inside the vehicle. And he starts to move away when the officer goes in to take custody of him. So, the language barrier thing for me as far as initially, it's not -- it's not there. It's not an issue, initially, for me.

[09:45:02]

GOLODRYGA: Well, Anthony Barksdale, as we said, we will continue to follow this investigation as it unfolds. Thank you so much for joining us with your analysis. Thank you.

BARKSDALE: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: He is the largest shareholder already of Twitter. Now Elon Musk wants to own the entire company. Up next, what might happen if his multibillion dollar cash offer is declined by shareholders.

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GOLODRYGA: New this morning, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter, all of the shares he does not currently own, for $43.4 billion in cash.

[09:50:03]

He also says he wants to take the company private.

Musk, of course, made this announcement on Twitter.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins me live to discuss.

So, Christine, first of all, this appears to be a serious offer, right? He's going from owning 9 percent stake in the company to now he wants to go to 100.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And he, in a letter to the board last night -- delivered last night, said he wants to transform the company and what he needs to do to make it competitive and to do -- and to -- and to fill the duty of free speech, he needs to do private.

A lot of questions this morning about how serious he is. Is it some sort of a joke or is this something that's -- that he really wants. There's an SEC filing. There's an offer to the board. In here he says, I must need -- I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder if you don't take this.

He goes through -- you know, usually in SEC filings it's very investment banker speakee (ph), but he just says, look, I'm not playing the back-and-forth game. I have moved straight to the end. It's a high price. Your shareholders will love it. If this deal doesn't work, given that I don't have confidence in the management, I might have to back out from the investment that I already have in the company.

These are some of the things he has said, seriously or not seriously, by the way, in the past about things he would like to do with Twitter, including changing its name and dropping the w, something he polled his followers on recently.

But he's got the money.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

ROMANS: I mean he's got $100 billion more than the next richest person in the world, Jeff Bezos. $100 million -- $100 billion more than Jeff Bezos. So this would value the company at something like $43 billion.

GOLODRYGA: And he's been toying with this for the last few months, no doubt. But does this now go to the board? Isn't it their final decision?

ROMANS: So, the board will have to meet and will have to discuss what to do next. And whether this offer is reasonable and whether they want to accept it and can accept it.

Again, their fiduciary responsibility is to their shareholders. He is one -- he is their largest shareholders, but their fiduciary responsibility is to their -- is to their shareholders.

It's really interesting to me that this is coming now. He has SpaceX. He has Tesla. Is there enough Elon Musk to go around? Is this, some say would say, is this just, you know, a big ego at work here? Is he toying with investors? Is he toying with the twitterverse? Unclear.

GOLODRYGA: He's been polling Twitter users, right?

ROMANS: Right.

GOLODRYGA: What should we do with Twitter? As you said, this now is up to the board.

Stock price up a little bit this morning. We'll see what that means.

ROMANS: Yes. And I would watch what Tesla shares are doing because how is he going to come up with this money. His net worth is a lot of unrealized, right, unrealized wealth.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

ROMANS: Would he have to sell something or would this take his attention away from Tesla? What do Tesla shareholders think? GOLODRYGA: We'll continue to follow it all.

ROMANS: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Christine, thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, for the first time, Amazon will now charge sellers a 5 percent fuel and inflation surcharge. The new fee set to start April 28th. The company's response to the highest inflation rate in this country in 40 years. The move comes ahead of President Biden's remarks this afternoon on the administration's ongoing efforts to lower costs for Americans and take the kinks out of the supply chains.

CNN's Matt Egan is live with more.

Are we going to see a lot of companies doing the same?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, Jim, this really does show how companies are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to high costs for everything, including fuel. You know, they're passing along these costs to the firms they do business with and eventually those firms pass them along to you and I, the consumers.

And, right now, you know, we have consumer prices rising at the fastest pace in 40 years. Supply is weak. Demand is strong. And, you know prices have nowhere to go but up. Amazon says this is the first time that they've done this in the company's 27-year history. They had hoped not to. They expected that inflation would sort of get back towards normal this year. But, obviously, that has not been the case.

And so this is what the president has to address in his remarks in North Carolina today. You know, unemployment is low right now, GDP is high. But all too often, the high cost of living is eating into people's paychecks.

Now, these investments that he's going to be talking about as far as supply chain, infrastructure, that should help, but that's going to take some time. And, Jim, people are running out of patience.

SCIUTTO: Yes, listen, the administration, it's gone for some time saying that companies are taking advantage of higher inflation, and raising prices on their own. We have now the New York Attorney General Leticia James launching an investigation to find out whether the oil industry is doing similar on gas prices. What's behind that New York action?

EGAN: Well, clearly people are frustrated with the high price they're paying for gas right now. And this investigation from the New York attorney general is a big deal because it's believed to be the first of its kind to specifically addresses these allegations of price gouging in this current bout of high prices.

And what's important here is that the New York price gouging law gives authorities wide power here to investigate really the entire supply chain. And I'm told that's exactly what's going to happen here, where the New York AG is going to be looking at not just the super major oil companies that we can all know the names of, but also the refineries and some of the independent companies that own terminals and pipelines.

[09:55:15]

And, again, this is all in response to high gas prices. As you can see, the national average at $4.07 a gallon. That's not cheap. But it actually has come down.

I want to read you the statement from the American Petroleum Institute in response to news of this investigation. The API says that this is an industry of price takers, not price makers. And countless investigations throughout history have shown that changes in gasoline prices are based on market factors.

Jim, we'll see what this investigation in particular turns up, if anything.

SCIUTTO: Matt Egan, thanks so much.

EGAN: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Coming up, in our next hour, as we closely monitor what is happening in the ongoing war in Ukraine, thousands continue to flee the country for their lives. We're going to take you onboard an Estonian cruise ship that has now been converted to house refugees.

That's coming up.

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