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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Police, Protesters Clash in Ferguson; Kurds Battle ISIS for Mosul Dam

Aired August 18, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans. Twenty-nine minutes past the hour.

We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

We're following that breaking news: violent confrontations between police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. Just ahead of the second night of a curfew, police in riot gear firing tear gas, smoke canisters and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd. Police were responding to civilians being shot in that crowd, vandalism and protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and firing shots at police.

We're also now learning that results of a private autopsy that was requested by the family of Michael Brown. It found he was shot six times, twice in the head, four times in the right arm.

All right. CNN's George Howell live in Ferguson for us with all of the latest on this, both the teargas being fired on the crowd and also the latest developments about that autopsy.

George, bring us up to speeds.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Christine, good morning to you. You talk about the teargas here. You can see an un-ignited teargas canister that was thrown at the crowd. Also police used rubber bullets. They also used smoke canisters to disperse the crowd.

They say they did this because two people were shot in the crowds, not by police. But again I remember a week ago when all this started, myself, photojournalist Jordan (INAUDIBLE), we were in the crowd, shots were fired in front of us, behind us. You know, you just have to take cover.

The same happened to my colleague, Steve Kastenbaum tonight, a situation where you just have to get out of the way when you hear this because you don't know where these shots are coming from. That happened, police say they had to move through the streets slowly, methodically to move protesters out of the way.

Two very distinct opinions, different opinions about what's happening here. You hear from police that they really have no choice. You know, when a person is shot in the crowd, if the protesters get too close to their command center, if, according to police, they're throwing Molotov cocktails back at officers, they have to use force. So in some ways, dammed if they do and dammed if they don't.

From protesters, though, what you're hearing is that the police are acting too heavy handedly. Keep in mind, this started as a very peaceful protest. Hundreds of people who came together to make sure the message is known, that they believe an injustice happened to Michael Brown. But what you're finding is a few bad apples in fact spoiled the whole thing because then, you see this strong police response.

I want you to hear from both sides here and you can basically understand for yourself. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI STATE HWY PATROL: There were multiple reports of Molotov cocktails being thrown. Police were shot at. Makeshift barricades were set up to block police. Bottles and rockets were thrown at police.

Based on these conditions, I had no alternative but to elevate the level of our response. For those who would claim that the curfew was what led to tonight's violence, I will remind you, it was -- this incident began before 8:30, three and a half hours before the curfew was to have started last night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We was marching peacefully. We was right in front of that command center just simply wanting to bend down to our knees with our hands up and say to the police, our hands are up. Don't shoot. And all of a sudden these (INAUDIBLE) turned around and start shooting tear gas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: There's a lot of outrage out here, especially when you consider, Christine, this autopsy. This new autopsy that was released from the private pathologist hired by the family that shows, according to him, that Brown was shot at least six times. A lot of people are very upset about that. We're learning more details about the autopsy.

As you can imagine, during the day, people come out to vent, to protest. People are outraged by this. Because the answers are slow to come from police. You know, we've learned information about Michael Brown before the shooting. Police released this video that also outraged the community that showed him in a store, allegedly involved in a strong arm robbery.

What we haven't seen yet, though, is any information, the details, leading up to the shooting. That's what people want. And as long as, you know, the information is slow to come, you do get the sense that people are growing angrier about that. But again we're expecting more protests today. And, you know, hopefully, we won't see what we saw last night happen again.

ROMANS: Yes, but anger has not faded. And that's the issue here. More than a week on. Every night, it just gets a little worse. And we know, George, that no school, they're not going to start.

Today would have been the start of the school, the school year. But there will be no school.

HOWELL: Correct.

ROMANS: They just want to wait until this dies down.

HOWELL: Seems to be a very unfortunate consequence of all of this.

ROMANS: I know.

HOWELL: Sure. I mean, you talk about the fact that, you know -- so Florissant Avenue. It's a very, very long street. OK. We're talking about one mile, about one mile of this very long street that seems to be ground zero, where we see these images that look like a police state, but putting it into context, it is just one mile of this town. And you do have homes on either side of that street, beside the businesses. These are homes where families are sleeping, where kids are trying to get a goodnight sleep.

And again we're finding that those kids will not be able to go to school for another day simply because both of these sides don't want to seem to budge. Police feel that they have to come through with force. There are some protesters, thousands who come together peacefully, hundreds, sometimes thousands who come together peacefully. But again, night after night, it seems to be just a small group that leads to chaos.

ROMANS: All right. George Howell for us in Ferguson. Thank you so much.

And we'll see if there's going to be a change in tactics by the police, George, because Missouri governor now taking action to keep the peace in Ferguson.

HOWELL: Right.

ROMANS: Jay Nixon releasing a statement overnight saying he's deploying the National Guard in the wake of the latest clashes between police and protesters. The governor says, quote, "These violent acts are a disservice to the family of Michael Brown and his memory and to the police -- the people, rather, of this community who yearn for justice to be served and to feel safe in their own homes."

The new chaos in Ferguson is being felt particularly hard for the man leading the police response. Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson.

CNN's Don Lemon taking a look at that for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Overnight here in Ferguson, Missouri, this is what you see. A very heavy police presence. This is called the hot zone here. And it's from West Florissant and all the way down to the command center, the command center where Chief Ron Johnson, the head of this response, held a press conference, sounding tired, frustrated.

He's exhausted and no doubt embarrassing. Embarrassing to him because he is the man they put in charge because they believed that he related to the community. He comes from this community. He's used to dealing with police profiling and discrimination. And now a few bad actors have made it worse for him.

At first, he took the large tactical units off of the street. He didn't want people pointing guns in people's faces. Now he is having to go back to that. It's not only embarrassing for him, you can hear it in his voice, but it's embarrassing for the family of Michael Brown as well.

A few bad actors taking the focus of what it should be a police unit, a police force that doesn't necessarily relate to the people it is serving and protecting and off of a young man who was gunned down in the middle of the street.

Don Lemon, CNN, Ferguson, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Don, for that. And now to Iraq and the battle for a strategic dam that supplies power to much of the country. The U.S. launching more than a dozen airstrikes against ISIS militants in an effort to help Kurdish troops fighting for control of the Mosul dam. Meantime, President Obama in a letter to Congress explaining those strikes saying the Mosul dam is critical to the security of the U.S. embassy there.

CNN's Anna Coren is following developments. She is live in Mosul.

And do we know what kind of progress the Kurdish troops have made? Have they been able to secure that dam?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, contrary to other reports out there in the media, the Peshmerga special forces have yet to seize complete control of this dam. I just got off the phone from the commander of the special forces who said that there's a fierce firefight taking place inside that complex, inside that site -- dam site. But he is confident that within the next few hours, that it will be in control of that facility.

And I just want to show you, Christine, where exactly we are. We are less than 15 kilometers from where that battle is raging. Forces won't let us any closer because of security problems. There's obviously a great deal of fighting going around here.

The village, which you can see over my shoulder, my cameraman Phil Littleton is zooming in. You can see the smoke rising. That was hit by heavy artillery and Katyusha rockets earlier today.

ISIS militants also detonating explosives as they retreated. This has been a major problem for the Peshmerga as they have pushed back those ISIS militants because in their path, these terrorists have been leaving, littering the area with IEDs. So this is where we are. We are hoping obviously to get much closer

to Mosul dam in the coming hours as security allows. But they are, as I say, hopeful of securing this largest hydroelectric dam in the country providing power, as you said, for most of the country, definitely Mosul and definitely Baghdad. It was a major blow when they lost it. And they need it back for security reasons and also because it provides so much power to the country -- Christine.

ROMANS: Absolutely. Anna Coren, and as part of the ISIS business model to frankly take over those important resources of the country so they can take more control of what's happening there in Iraq.

Thank you so much, Anna Coren, for that. We'll follow -- continue to follow that with you this morning.

We're also following breaking news overnight. Protests in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Police launching tear gas after peaceful protests turned violent. They say protesters firing guns at them. Dramatic new video ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Breaking overnight, violent confrontation between police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. Just over a week after unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed by police. There's dramatic video. Police in riot gear, firing tear gas, protesters responding. Police say shots were fired at police. Police say that there were shots in that crowd. We know two people were injured. One angry protester, though, says police overreacted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were walking peacefully down to the mall. A young lady was hit in the face with smoke bombs and tear gas and we --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that curfew --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we were peaceful. This is unacceptable. And this is not the law. This is unacceptable. Until we get justice, we will not stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Meantime, the results of an independent autopsy requested by Michael Brown's family found that Michael Brown was shot six times. You can see the diagram there. Twice in the head, four times in the right arm.

All right. In California, fire crews finally have a handle on a fast- moving brush fire that broke out in the Angeles National Forest. The blaze forced thousands of people to be evacuated from a campground Sunday. The fire scorched more than 400 acres. Hundreds of firefighters, several helicopters set to battle those flames. No residential homes were affected. And so far there have been no reports of injuries. Thank goodness.

Indra Petersons is here now with a look at your forecast this Monday morning.

Good morning, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's a Monday. Good morning.

ROMANS: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROMANS: Heating up. All right. Indra, thank you. Happy Monday to you, Indra.

Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Kate Bolduan joins us now.

Hi, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Hey there, Christine. A very good morning. Really it's just one big story that we all have our eye on this morning. The situation continuing to unfold in Ferguson, Missouri. Don Lemon is going to be there again. He's joining us live from the ground in Missouri with the very latest. He's going to be following another night of escalating tensions, that's to put it mildly.

We're also going to speak with a witness who is sharing some video with us. In a moment, some video from the moments right after Michael Brown was shot. Now we have details from one of three autopsies that are being performed. The question is, could the results give us a clearer picture of whether the teenager had his hands up when he was killed, what can it give us in terms of clarifying what happened that Saturday.

Broad daylight, middle of the day, what happened that left 18-year-old Michael Brown dead. We're going to be talking a lot about that this morning.

ROMANS: All right. Kate Bolduan, nice to see you this morning.

BOLDUAN: Thanks.

ROMANS: Kate, we'll be watching. Thanks.

We're also following more breaking news out of Missouri. Peaceful protests turning violent again. A journalist caught in the middle of the chaos shares his story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: We are following breaking news. New violence in Ferguson, Missouri, more than a week after the shooting of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown. Police in riot gear using tear gas, smoke canisters and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of protesters they say had encroached on their command post. They say there were elements in that crowd firing shots at police. A photo journalist on the scene says he was struck. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM SCHINSKY, PHOTOJOURNALIST: I was actually shot in the thigh with this rubber bullet. Just to show you the scale of these things, before I even realized what happened to me, I told myself, I was just shot out of nowhere. And it fell to the ground. I don't know it was. Someone else picked it up. I didn't know if it was going to explode. They picked it up and handed it to me. And I realize that it was just a rubber, big, giant projectile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And we're learning about a private autopsy that found Michael Brown was shot six times, twice in the head, four times in the right arm. The autopsy was conducted at the request of the Brown family.

All right. Doctors Without Borders now accepting patients in a new, larger Ebola treatment center in Liberia. The new unit is near two others that have been filled beyond capacity as the number of suspected Ebola patients has grown.

It comes after a health care facility at Liberia's capital was attacked over the weekend. And some Ebola patients fled. Meantime three doctors in Liberia stricken with Ebola are now receiving this experimental drug ZMAPP. The Centers for Disease Control has revised its Ebola numbers in four West African countries, 1,145 suspected or confirmed Ebola deaths, 2,127 suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola.

The two American Ebola patients Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, both face a very long recovery but will be able to isolation units at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

A man surrendered to police after shooting two police officers and a girl in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sunday, according to officials. Police say Brandon Jamorris Brewer fired a shotgun at officers responding to a domestic violence call. Brewer allegedly fired through the window of a home and hit a 10-year-old in the face. All three victims are in good condition and expected to recover.

In Chicago, five people were killed and dozens more injured after a deadly weekend of violence across the city. Police say a 16-year-old boy was found with a gunshot wound to the head early Sunday morning in Humboldt Park. A 16-year-old girl was fatally shot in the head during a drive-by shooting just blocks from her home in Englewood. Two teens were shot during a parade on Chicago's Southside Saturday.

All right. Stay with us. We're going to get an EARLY START on your money. What has so much optimism on Wall Street this morning? I'll tell you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It is just about 6:00 in the East. Let's get an EARLY START on your money.

Stock futures are higher this morning. Progress in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine driving markets higher today. In Europe that's spilling into the U.S. If the optimism holds today, stocks will add to last week's slight gains.

All right. Student debt has exploded in recent years and suddenly it's never been more important to find a boatload of financial aid to pay for it. The "Princeton Review" published its annual list of the best colleges for 2015 and found these schools offer the best financial aid. Pomona College tops the list, followed by Swarthmore, Princeton, University of Virginia and Yale. And while these schools have pretty high tuition, frankly they're all known for having generous resources for aid.

On average students at Pomona have about 80 percent of their tuition covered by financial aid. And most of that is in scholarships and grants. But even with aid, students are still taking a whole boatload of loans. In the U.S., total student debt is about $1 trillion.

The #Ferguson has been active since the police shooting there of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown. One very famous tweeter has joined the conversation, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, has a mix of videos and snapshots. Dorsey has been live tweeting from Ferguson since Friday.

He's a billionaire, he's also a native of St. Louis and has documented the demonstrations. Even having some words from Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. He called the overnight curfew, quote, "a missed opportunity to trust our people."

All right. Two minutes to the top of the hour. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, Missouri's governor calls up the National Guard after another night of violence. Two people shot. Police and protesters throwing teargas and Molotov cocktails, though many people say they just wanted to protest peacefully.

Don Lemon is live in Ferguson.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking the autopsy of Michael Brown, the medical examiner hired by his family releases his results. Brown was shot at least six times, twice in the head, most likely from the front, not the back.

We'll have the very latest.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Eyewitness. Exclusive new video of the moments after the shooting. The police officer who shot him walking near the body. The young woman who took that video joins us live. What does she say happened that day.

BOLDUAN: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.