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New Day

A Look at New CNN Series; NYPD Officer Not Indicted in Death of Garner; Garner's Cause of Death

Aired December 04, 2014 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here's the five things for today.

Demonstrators in New York City and nationwide demonstrating after a white New York City cop wasn't indicted in the death of a black unarmed - black unarmed man. The Justice Department is now probing the case.

An al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen now threatening to kill American hostage Luke Somers as he pleads for his life on newly obtained video. The threat coming after U.S. special forces narrowly missed freeing Somers during a rescue operation last week.

Fewer members of the military are being sexual assaulted. More victims are now willing to come forward. But, according to a Pentagon report, nearly 5 percent of active duty women still say they were the victims of unwanted sexual contact in the last year.

Three more women have come forward new with claims that they were sexually abused by Bill Cosby. Attorney Gloria Allred says Cosby should wave the statute of limitations or set up a fund to compensate victims.

We are still in the waiting game for the liftoff of the unmanned Orion space craft. It's been delayed several times this morning. Now over an hour and a half behind schedule. No new launch time is set. The capsule is designed to eventually take astronauts as far as Mars.

We will update those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, thanks so much, Michaela.

Well, if you were excited for gas below $3.00 a gallon, we have a surprise for you this morning.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah!

CAMEROTA: Gas is now under $2.00 a gallon. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here with more.

Hi.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And it could be a reality for more and more people across the country, you guys. Right now, some gas stations in Oklahoma are selling gas below $2.00. And Tom Kloza (ph) from GasBuddy tell us drivers in Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas and those of you in New Mexico could see gas stations cutting prices below $2.00 by this weekend.

Now, remember, that's not the average price. Just a few gas stations here and there. but it shows you what the trend is. The national average for a gallon of regular has been falling. It's now $2.73. Look at that from earlier this year, the summer peak, guys, down more than $1.00. It is a huge stimulus for you, for consumers. It acts like an immediate tax break in the economy.

So why is it happening? Well, first of all, the U.S. is producing a heck of a lot of oil and the world is using less. And there's a game of chicken in the oil market. It's the U.S. against OPEC. OPEC has not trimmed its output. Many feel OPEC hoping to chock off new production in the U.S.

And oil prices just keep falling. $67.00 a barrel right now, down almost 40 percent from the summer peak. I've seen speculation oil could fall as low as $40.00 a barrel if the standoff continues. You can expect gas prices to stay low through the end of this year, all the way into next year with this trend like this.

CAMEROTA: Wow!

ROMANS: Isn't that something?

CAMEROTA: That's great news.

ROMANS: It's such - so good for consumers. I mean it's real money in your pocket ever single week. We've been talking about wages that are stagnant and how things don't feel good even though the jobs market's getting better. The gas thing is what you feel right away.

CUOMO: True stimulus.

ROMANS: True stimulus. Oh, yes.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CUOMO: Thank you.

Cnn.com's original series "Wish You Were Here," features a look at the lives of adventurous people around the world. Today, we meet a man leaping off bridges and loving it. Go to cnn.com/wishyouwerehere. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCUS ELLISON: I'm Marcus Ellison and this is what it's like to jump off a 900 foot bridge.

Base jumping is sport parachute jumping from fixed objects. When I'm standing on the edge ready to jump, I feel completely alive and full of freedom. There's always a little nagging thing in the back of your mind when you start to jump, but once you leave the platform, all that goes away and you're just flying.

Everything on the peripheral is kind of a blur, but what you're focusing on is the landing area mainly, so you're pretty much looking down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Want to see awe inspiring moments, check out the new series where you see the world from the insider's point of view. CNN's "Wish You Were Here" presented by Lexus. Feel what it's like to go there. Introducing the first ever Lexus RC Coupe. Once driven, there's no going back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: The grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo came the same day the New York Police Department announced an accelerated plan for body cameras on cops. Many suggest the cameras could help resolve questions about arrests. But the officer in the Eric Garner case was exonerated even though the entire incident was caught on video. How do we explain all of this? Let's bring in Jeffrey Toobin. He's our CNN senior legal analyst and a former federal prosecutor, and Errol Louis, a CNN political commentator and political anchor for New York One News.

Gentlemen, great to see you here.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You're going to ask me to explain how this happened?

CAMEROTA: I am.

TOOBIN: Beats the hell out of me. I mean this is a - this was - this was - this was an ugly day in New York history, I've got to say.

CAMEROTA: So you don't agree with what the grand jury found in its decision that somehow the videotape did not tell the story, the witnesses testimony better told the story.

TOOBIN: Well, here's a big distinction between the Mike Brown case and this one. We have the entire grand jury transcript and we can make an informed judgment in the --

CAMEROTA: In Ferguson.

TOOBIN: In Ferguson.

CAMEROTA: Right. TOOBIN: Here, with the understanding that there is evidence I did not see, I find the grand jury's decision in Staten Island very hard to explain.

CAMEROTA: Errol, shouldn't they release it in the hope of transparency and quelling all of the frustration that the city is feeling. Why aren't they releasing the grand jury's test - the findings?

LOUIS: Well, different states handle this different. There's sort of a commitment to transparency and there's some history in Missouri of doing that. In New York it would be extraordinary if they were to sort of make known of all of who testified and the transcripts and so forth. It's normally not done at all. The district attorney in this case has made an application to the court to release part of what went on in the grand jury, just to sort of answer some of these questions.

But it's especially perplexing because New York City, you know, for a lot of viewers who don't understand this, there are five counties within New York City. So there are five different district attorneys. And, you know, I'm sure Jeff would agree, if this had happened in the Bronx, if this had happened in Brooklyn, if this had happened with a different district attorney, its - it would have probably been a very different outcome. And so you get different kinds of standards that are being applied within the same city, it makes it that much more confusing.

CAMEROTA: Why? But, why? Staten Island, the borough of Staten Island, the prosecutor is more aligned with the police than in other boroughs?

TOOBIN: Exactly. Exactly. Staten Island is very different borough than the other four. It is the smallest, it is the whitest, it is the most conservative. For example, it's the only member of Congress who's a Republican in New York City comes from Staten Island. Many, many cops live in Staten Island. It's a very different place. So I don't think you can understand how this result came about without understanding the geographical context, the fact that it's Staten Island.

CAMEROTA: Another head scratcher for people is that all of the officers weren't somehow called upon by the prosecutor for some action. They were exonerated I guess is the right word or they were -

TOOBIN: No, they were given immunity.

CAMEROTA: That's it, they were given immunity. That's the right thing.

LOUIS: They were given immunity, right, right, right. According to the attorney for Officer Pantaleo, the other officers had immunity, went in and they gave testimony, which I guess ended up in him being sort of let off by the grand jury.

CAMEROTA: And what was that strategy?

TOOBIN: Well, here's where we get into the weeds a little bit. Under New York law, if you testify in the grand jury, you have immunity. You - anything -- nothing you say can be used against you. Well, no, that's not right, I'm saying that wrong. What is it? It's - LOUIS: You - you can negotiate it. It's either qualified or it's unlimited, but - but the reality is -

TOOBIN: Chris Cuomo's going to help me here. What - what's the rule?

LOUIS: If you walk in, you're going to walk out. You're --

CUOMO: Anything that the defendant uses at the grand jury can be used in the trial, which is why you want to keep defendants out of it. But if you have an immunity deal going into it, which is what the officers had, then you don't have to worry about ever being prosecuted for what you say.

TOOBIN: So the rule's the same in the federal - in federal court. That's what I thought. But to get - to get those other officers in the grand jury, you had to give them immunity.

CAMEROTA: Give them immunity.

TOOBIN: But that meant that they had no risk and they could exonerate their friend when they went in there.

CAMEROTA: Errol, the bottom line is this. Now in two cases, the grand jury process feels unsatisfying on some level to all the people that we see protesting. Now, mind you, there's lots of people on social media, there are lots of people in New York City who say, he should have just complied with the officers. We wouldn't have been in this situation had he just complied. There's another side to this.

LOUIS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: But once we get to the grand jury process, it feels as though it's not working the way people want it to. What's the answer?

LOUIS: Well, it's an interesting question because, you know, every few years something like this will come up. But there are longstanding complaints about the grand jury process, which is centuries old. This has been going on for hundreds of years that you'll have a grand jury that meets in secret, that issues indictments based on evidence that nobody ever hears about. This is - you know, there are grand juries sitting in virtually every jurisdiction in the country right now and they're going to go about their business in exactly the same way. It's only when a case like this comes up that people realize, it's like, hey, people get indicted, people face prison sentences, very serious consequences based on the decisions of a bunch of laymen whose names we don't know, based on evidence we never see.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, Jeffrey.

TOOBIN: Can I just push back on this idea, that this was resisting arrest. He --

CAMEROTA: He wasn't complying. He was non-compliant.

TOOBIN: You know what? That is how virtually every arrest in every city takes place. People usually don't volunteer to be arrested. It's generally an unpleasant process. That was not resisting arrest. And more importantly, we do not have the death penalty in this country for not volunteering to be arrested. And that's why this was so excessive.

CAMEROTA: All right, we also don't have it for selling cigarettes.

TOOBIN: Correct.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey Toobin, Errol Louis, thanks so much for your perspective. Great to get it.

So, how can Eric Garner's death be ruled a homicide by the coroner, yet no one criminally accountable for his death? And what exactly did kill him. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to break down that medical report for us straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Cause of death often comes to light in criminal proceedings. Eric Garner's death has been ruled a homicide, so what exactly killed him, and should it have made a difference in whether he was charged, that officer? For some insight there's only one man to turn to, our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

I so appreciate you walking through this with me, Sanjay. First of all, we know that there was a combination of factors that are said to have killed Eric Garner. Break down for us what exactly the medical examiner said.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the language was pretty precise here, Michaela, first of all. You know, as you mentioned, cause of death homicide, and I want to talk about that in a second. But what they specifically said was the chokehold, as well as compression on the chest, and the fact that he was in prone position, meaning he was on his chest, and belly on the ground, those three things in combination caused his death.

Now, all those three things, if you start looking at them in the aggregate, they all sort of make it more difficult to breathe because the pressure on the chest, the pressure on the throat, and obviously just being on the ground that way. That's the case the M.E.'s clearly making. Now, when it comes to homicide, you know, they have to make a decision, medical examiners, as to what category of cause of death. I want you to look at the list of categories we have to choose from. Was it a natural death, was it an accidental death, was it a suicide, was it undetermined, or was it homicide, as it was in this case. But, look, they didn't say undetermined, the didn't say this was natural, they didn't say accidental, they said this was homicide. So, that's very important, and again, we didn't see the whole autopsy report, but that's how the medical examiner broke it down, Michaela.

PEREIRA: And we also know they brought attention to several factors that were contributing. The fact that he was a big man, he was heavy, he suffered from asthma. There were some signs of cardiovascular disease. They talk about all of that but, Sanjay, that makes me wonder if it were not for this altercation with police, was he sick enough that he would have dropped dead? GUPTA: That's exactly the right question, Michaela. And, look, when

you look at these types of reports on any kind of death, they always have other what could be contributing factors.

PEREIRA: Right.

GUPTA: And that's usually some indication of the person's medical history. But I think your question is absolutely right. The way people look at this is, would he still be alive did he not have obesity, did he not have asthma? And, you know, we can never know the answer to that. But the real question, the next question, would he be alive had he not been in a chokehold and pushed on the ground the way that he was, and the answer is yes. He would be alive.

So, he wasn't eminently going to die from any of those other things, and just coincidentally he died at the same time. Those really are not that relevant.

PEREIRA: Another thing I want some clarification on, and a lot of people are making a lot about this, is we hear him say repeatedly on this tape, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe." We know he suffered from asthma, as one of the other underlying conditions he had, but he kept saying "I can't breathe, I can't breathe," and some are saying well, you can talk, so you could breathe. Is there a discrepancy there, or do they have a point?

GUPTA: I mean, look, part of this is just a pragmatic answer, and part of this is a mechanical answer. Pragmatically he was in distress. I can't breathe, maybe he was having increasing difficulty breathing, people who are having difficulty, they say, "I can't breathe." Some of that is just semantics, but from a mechanical standpoint, think of it like this, you know, when you speak, you're pushing air across your vocal chords. It makes noise, and you make words. Air is coming from the chest out, and that's how you speak. What's challenging in a situation like this, is being able to take breath back in. Can you expand your chest and your rib cage to bring air back in? So yes, you could push air out, speak, but getting the air back in would be challenging. That's just a mechanical thing. So, I think, again, you know, I can't breathe, basically it's a sign that he's in distress, and that's probably what was happening.

PEREIRA: And in distress, you're making an organic, visceral sort of fight or flight response. You're not pragmatically thinking what would be the best answer? What would be the best course of action here? You're responding as your body would.

GUPTA: Right, you don't say I'm having 80 percent difficulty breathing, or 70 percent difficulty breathing. You're saying I can't breathe. You know, you're sort of, that's how people often respond. So again, I think that some of that's just semantics, but there's no question someone who is saying that kind of thing, they're sort of trying to indicate, signal, that I'm in some sort of distress here.

PEREIRA: And he certainly was and we know that he later died, and it's interesting that this we know that the grand jury had to consider all of these things. But we wanted to walk through this with you from a medical standpoint. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, always a pleasure. Thank you so much for that.

GUPTA: You got it, Michaela. Thank you.

PEREIRA: Chris?

CUOMO: Alright, so at the opposite spectrum we have the "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE" set to air this Sunday, it's hosted by our own Anderson Cooper, of course. He made sure to address a longstanding gripe from his New Year's Eve partner, comedian Kathy Griffith. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST "AC360": You've been trying to get involved with "HEROES" for a long time now.

KATHY GRIFFITH, COMEDIAN: First of all, you have a lot of nerve even bringing up "HEROES" to me.

COOPER: Why?

GRIFFITH: Okay, talk about a wounded warrior, okay? I have been wanting to present at "HEROES" forever because I think it's a truly amazing award show, and I believe I confronted you New Year's Eve about it.

COOPER: All right, let's watch.

GRIFFITH: Let's talk about "HEROES", let's talk about "HEROES." "CNN HEROES" is an amazing show.

COOPER: An amazing night.

GRIFFITH: Exactly. Number one, not only was I not even invited --

COOPER: Not invited?

GRIFFITH: They told me that they didn't trust me.

COOPER: Do people not know you were actually volunteering and going overseas to Afghanistan and Iraq? That would seem to be - -

GRIFFITH: No, I guess apparently over at CNN you guys are so worried of my potty mouth that they actually said you can't come to the show or present. However, what if we showed you mopping up at a soup kitchen?

COOPER: To make up for past wrongs, I would very much like you to present at "CNN HEROES." Is that something you'd be willing to do?

GRIFFITH: You trust me?

COOPER: I absolutely trust you.

GRIFFITH: I'm excited to go.

COOPER: Well, thank you, I'm glad you'll be there.

GRIFFITH: Do I have to mop a floor now?'

COOPER: No.

GRIFFITH: Just tell me now.

ANNOUNCER: "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE," Sunday night, December 7th at 8:00 Eastern.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA (voice-over): Welcome back. You're looking at live pictures from Cape Canaveral where the launch of NASA's test flight of the Orion spacecraft continues to be delayed we're sorry to report, for nearly two hours. First it was a boat nearby we're told that delayed it, then winds, now a fuel and drain valve is causing some trouble. But assuming it does launch at some point, Orion could eventually pave the way for putting man back on the moon, and even in the future on Mars.

CUOMO (voice-over): The plan they say is 2021.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (on camera): That's when this craft will be ready to take men back into space, and women.

CAMEROTA (on camera): Thank you. I appreciate that.

PEREIRA: We appreciate that. We'll tell you how to get there. Look at the directions.

CUOMO: I know where I'm going. It's that star, right.

All right, so how about a little Good Stuff, what do you think? All right, this man's quest to hand out fettuccine to the masses has gone viral in a big way. It's great.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): Listen, Matt Tribe, he's in Utah, recently took advantage of a promotion at the Olive Garden. You've heard of it, right? It's 100 bucks, all-you-can-eat pasta for seven weeks. But he didn't take advantage of the food. Instead, he ordered it to take out and gave it to neighbors, friends, family, anyone who needed it.

BEN TAYLOR, FRIEND AND PASTA RECIPIENT: : I thought, what have I done to deserve it this? And he explained to me what he was doing, he was just giving out random acts of pasta to neighbors, friends and even homeless people.

CUOMO: Random acts of pasta. That's right.

PEREIRA (voice-over): I kind of love this.

CUOMO: He started giving it to the homeless, who better, right? That's when the value of what he was doing really became clear.

MATT TRIBE, FED HOMELESS PEOPLE FREE PASTA: I didn't realize, you know, it might be stupid to think, oh yes, I just give them pasta. How does that make their day better? But somebody did something nice for them. How often does that happen, how often are these people just ignored?

CUOMO: Absolutely. And they're hungry. Now, a lot of you internet cynics out there, especially on Twitter, think this Matt and his video are forgazy (ph), that it's all just some promotion for the Olive Garden.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (on camera): Well, Matt says it's not so, and he tweets back, to your tweets, "This breaks my heart. It's not a PR stunt. I genuinely wanted to do something nice for people." And by the way, the Olive Garden says that, to set things straight our only role was selling Matt a pasta pass and fulfilling his orders.

CAMEROTA: Now, is he somehow taking advantage of the promotion?

PEREIRA (on camera): Why not? Let him do it. He's feeding people that need to be fed. I'm okay with it.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unlimited, a couple bucks a day, literally small things create - -

CAMEROTA: Pasta is very cheap. You make a great point, and Olive Garden seems to like this.

CUOMO: Haters are going to hate, but the Good Stuff rolls on. Good Stuff rolls on. A lot of news, let's get you to the "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello. She likes the fettuccine.

(LAUGHTER)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You betcha. I'm going to have it tonight.

CUOMO: There it is.

COSTELLO: Yes. Have a great day.

"NEWSROOM" starts now.