Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Police Documents: Ex-Memphis Officer Charged With Murder Texted Pic Of Nichol's After Beating; Stepdad: Tyre May Not Have Died If Congress Had Passed Police Reform; Gabby Petito Selfie Shows Facial Injuries On Day Of Traffic Stop; Task Force: Expand Blood Pressure Screenings For All Pregnant Women; Drug-Free Vibrating Pill For Chronic Constipation Available For Doctors To Prescribe This Week; Biden Speaks From Battleground Wisconsin. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 08, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:32]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Today, a troubling new admission surrounding Tyre Nichols' death. According to internal Memphis police documents, Demetrius Haley, one of the five former officers who were charged with murder, admits to taking pictures of Nichols after that deadly beating and texting one of them to several people.

Now, surveillance video did capture that moment.

And there's a warning here for you watching at home that we're about to show you something that may be difficult to watch.

Here is Nichols already handcuffed, propped up, bloodied and appearing to lose consciousness, when Haley grabs his phone and snaps a photo.

Now according to a police document, Haley sent the memo to five people, including one civilian employee and two P.D. Officers and one female acquaintance.

With us now to discuss all of this is Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey, retired Los Angeles police sergeant.

Sergeant Dorsey, hearing that and seeing that video, what goes through your mind to just hear also that Haley admitted that he did this?

CHERYL DORSEY, RETIRED LOS ANGELES POLICE SERGEANT: Well, it just speaks to the immaturity and the lack of humanity that this officer and the others who were on scene displayed.

I think it's so important for officers to be psychologically re- evaluated on a regular basis.

And now I'm going to say, you know, particularly before you unleash, in this case, unsupervised, ill-trained miscreants onto an unsuspecting community, you're going to put them on a specialized unit where they're out there hunting elephants, then you need to make sure they have the right skill set and temperament. And when they get out of that unit, they need to be psychologically

evaluated again. Because let's face it, officers in patrol see gnarly stuff and it can get you twisted if you're not careful.

PHILLIP: And Tyre Nichols' parents attended the State of the Union address last night. And this morning, they spoke with CNN's Don Lemon and they shared their message to Congress.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODNEY WELLS, STEPFATHER OF TYRE NICHOLS: My message to Congress is that if they had passed a George Floyd bill initially, my son may not have died tragically the way he did.

So, I think that Congress needs to get together, both parties, and get this bill passed so that no one else has to suffer the way we're suffering right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:35:07]

PHILLIP: What do you think about that? Would the George Floyd policing act -- could it have saved lives -- could it have saved specifically Tyre Nichols life if it had been passed?

DORSEY: It's really unfortunate and almost unconscionable that the handlers and the folks who are often speaking for them and through them have convinced this family that somehow passing the George Floyd reform act would have saved their son's life.

Be clear. What the president talked about last night was banning certain activities by federal officers. He said that, "federal officers," for a reason.

Federal officers did not shoot Breonna Taylor. Federal officers did not murder Tyre Nichols. Federal officers didn't sit on the neck of George Floyd. Nor did federal officers choke Eric Garner.

And so, the problem is local. And it needs to be addressed with mayors who have police chiefs who are looking the other way. Those chiefs serve at the pleasure of those mayors. And that's where change is going to come. Not federally.

I don't say no to whatever the president might want to do, but the George Floyd Justice and Reform Act, in many cases, does a disservice to the man's legacy. It would change nothing.

PHILLIP: It's an important point that a lot of this is happening at the local level and requires local solutions as well.

Sergeant Dorsey, thank you, as always, for your insight into all of this. And lawyers representing the family of Gabby Petito have released a

selfie photo found on her cell phone after she was murdered by her fiance.

It shows her face bloodied and scratched on the very same day police stopped her and Brian Laundrie to investigate a domestic disturbance call.

Her family's lawsuit accuses the officers of ignoring how serious that assault was and not providing the protection that ultimately could have saved her life.

CNN's Jean Casarez joins us with more.

Jean, how significant do you think this photo is for the purposes of this lawsuit?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've never seen it before, Abby. This is the first time. The allegation was made in the wrongful death complaint with the Moab City Police Department and Moab city itself. But we've never seen the photo until now.

I spoke to the attorney, Brian Stewart, one of the several representing the Petito family. Her phone was never recovered.

And yes, she originally took this photo, they believe, on the day prior to that Moab stop with her phone. But it was recovered from the Cloud because they don't have that phone and they believe Brian Laundrie threw it away at some point in time.

Now Brian Stewart tells me that their experts have looked closely at the photo. What that they're assessing is, first of all, there was a scratch, a gash on her face made by Brian Laundrie and that it was bloody.

And they believe his hands grabbed her in the face area quite a few times, enough times that his fingers got blood on them because they say it smeared blood on the forehead, on the eye, to the side of the eye and to the side of the mouth.

Now, in the wrongful death lawsuit, here's what they say, quote:

"At some point prior to their interaction with Moab police officers, Brian grabbed Gabby by the face so forcefully that he cut her cheek and drew blood. Gabby took a photograph of her injury, which shows blood across her nose and her left eye."

And in that body cam video that we have all watched over and over again -- it goes for an hour and a half -- they talk to Gabby. You never see a close-up of her face, though.

The allegation is that officers saw these injuries. They asked her about them. They never questioned Brian about them. They seem to take more of an interest, if you watch that tape, on injuries that Brian had.

And they ultimately determined that Gabby was the aggressor in this whole situation. And they almost arrested her.

They told Brian there would be a no-contact order. But he could go to the police department the next day, the prosecutor's office, and undo that very easily, so they didn't do that.

We're waiting to see what the defendants in this wrongful death case, the Moab City Police Department and other officials, how they respond to all of this. They have not yet filed an answer to the wrongful death complaint -- Abby?

PHILLIP: Jean Casarez, thank you for that update.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

[13:39:37]

PHILLIP: And doctors now have a new way to help their patients shake things up. It's a vibrating pill that does not contain medication. How it promises to get things moving. We'll have all of the details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIP: An alarming problem among pregnant women is now inspiring a new U.S. task force. Their goal, expand blood pressure screenings across prenatal care. This is coming as the CDC is warning hypertensive disorders in pregnancy appear to be rising.

CNN's medical correspondent, Dr. Tara Narula, joins us now to discuss.

Dr. Narula, why is this new recommendation so important at this particular moment?

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a draft recommendation that's open for public comment until about march 6th. And expands on the 2017 recommendation that all pregnant women be screened at prenatal visits for eclampsia.

[13:44:59]

Now natal groups say we shouldn't just be screening for eclampsia, but pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, chronic hypertension, so all hypertensive conditions of pregnancy.

Why is this important? As you mentioned, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are on the rise over the past 10, 15 years.

Most likely because, in some instances, many pregnant women are getting pregnant older. They may already have underlying risk factors for hypertension. They may be obese or overweight.

But we know that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of maternal mortality. And predominantly that mortality is coming from the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

In addition, we know a lot of these deaths take place within the first six weeks, postpartum. They predominant disproportionate affect people of African-American decent.

So there's so much to be done around this. It's simple to screen for blood pressure.

But what really needs to happen is not just screening but plugging women into in postpartum care. So if they screen positive, not only should they be treated during pregnancy but they should be connected to a cardiologist or a primary doctor for every close follow up after.

Because the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are risk factors for the development of hypertension in the future and cardiovascular disease in the future.

So, every doctor should be taking a pregnancy history because that informs us a lot about a woman's future risk of cardiovascular disease.

PHILLIP: Yes. I hope this just leads to more doctors following these best practices. Especially given what you mentioned, black women three times more likely to die in childbirth in this country.

But before you go, there's another story that really had my team talking today. There is this new drug-free vibrating pill that is designed to help constipated people to get things moving again.

Explain to us what is going on.

NARULA: As you mentioned, it's meant to shake things up. This is a very small essentially cleared by the FDA that can now be prescribed by doctors that would be taken every day. Normally, how you would take a regular medication, except there's no drug in this.

It's swallowed, it passes through the intestinal tract. When it reaches the large intestine, it vibrates, very small vibrations that trigger the mechanosensory cells in the large intestine.

And it increases peristalsis or contraction of the large bowel, which can help the 10% to 20% potentially of Americans who suffer from chronic constipation.

This is approved for people who have failed traditional over-the- counter prescription constipation medication or have side effects from it.

There are two groups that shouldn't take something like this. Those that have gastro paralysis with the ability of the stomach to work properly or individuals who have history of bowel obstruction.

It's interesting and exciting and something very different. It's made of the same material we use in the capsules with cameras that gastroenterologists sometimes use to look at the intestines.

Unfortunately, it's not covered by insurance yet but the company that makes it is giving a coupon so that the out-of-pocket cost now is limited to about $69 for a month.

PHILLIP: That is very interesting. I still have a lot of questions about it.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIP: Dr. Tara Narula, thank you so much for all of that.

And speaking of interesting practices, coming up, why star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, says he's going on a darkness retreat. And what it could determine about his future in the game.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:53:02]

PHILLIP: All right. Happening right now, we're going to take you to battleground Wisconsin where President Biden is speaking right now.

JOE BIRDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- the people of Turkey and Syria. You know, the -- the death toll is rising. It's one of the worst earthquakes in that region in over 100 years. And we mourn the loss of so many lives, and we offer our deepest condolences.

You know, it's amazing watching these people try to pull out -- pulling out from under the rubble and the terrible buildings. The earthquake was incredibly powerful, significant aftershocks and a second quake.

But you see dads and moms pulling little babies out from underneath this rubble. So many people dying. And our thoughts are also with the survivors who have been torn apart by this tragedy.

As I told President Erdogan -- and I called him immediately when the first quake hit -- that the United States is offering our full support, full support, rescue-and-recovery teams.

And our NATO allies deploying teams with the USAID, International Agency for Economic Development, drawing additional resources, including our armed forces in Europe to assist Turkey's teams on the ground.

In Syria, the U.S. is supporting humanitarian partners and are responding with equipment and assistance and have been conducting urgent, urgent search-and-rescue missions from day one even in the face of a staff member's death and injuries in that first day.

The United States is the leading donor, leading donor across all the areas of Syria no matter who controls the territory. It's about saving human life.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting the people of Turkey and Syria in this time of need.

Last night -- last night, I reported on the State of the Union. It is strong. It is strong.

(APPLAUSE) BIDEN: It is strong because of you, because the soul of the nation is strong, the backbone of this nation is strong, and the people of this nation are strong.

[13:54:59]

And I've said so many times, often told the Democrats and Republicans, we can actually work together. We actually work together.

All the things we did were bipartisan, all the major initiatives. And besides, I signed over 300 bipartisan bills beyond the big ones.

Folks, look, last night, I said if we couldn't work together in the last -- if we could work together in the last Congress, there's no reason we can't get things done as well this time. And I mean that.

You know, people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting gets us nowhere. We're getting things done!

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIP: All right. President Biden there in Wisconsin the day after the State of the Union address. We're going to keep an eye on his remarks there in DeForest, Wisconsin.

But that does it for me here in CNN's NEWSROOM. It continues right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)