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Cop Accused of Murder; We Do Not Condone Wrong; Every Cop Will Have Body Cam; Officials Speak on Deadly Shooting; Pray for Victim's and Officer's Family; Chief Says He Was Sickened By Tape; Tsarnaev Trial. Aired 1-1:30p ET
Aired April 08, 2015 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Moscow, 9:30 p.m. in Kabul. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.
And let's get to the breaking news. We're waiting to hear from the mayor and the police chief in North Charleston, South Carolina about a deadly police shooting caught on camera. News conference set to get underway any moment now. We'll bring you live coverage once it begins.
Earlier the chief, the mayor and a chaplain visited the family of the shooting victim, Walter Scott. Relatives described Scott as an outgoing person, well known in the community who got along with everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: About 40 protesters gathered outside city hall this morning. The shocking video of the shooting led authorities to file murder charges against the police officer. A word of caution, the video is graphic and disturbing. It shows Walter Scott being shot in the back as he runs away from the officer.
Let's go to the news conference right now. The mayor and the police chief about to start. KEITH SUMMEY (R), MAYOR, NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA (live):
Good afternoon. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us for this press conference. I will tell you that the chief and I, along with my wife, visited the family this morning. A wonderful down-to- earth family. A wonderful group of people. And we let them know how we felt about their loss and how bad it was. And we do not condone wrong. It doesn't matter who it is. And we're there to support them as we can for the future.
I will also let you know that the officer that was terminated, his wife is eight months pregnant. And while she -- he's been terminated, the city is going to continue to cover the insurance on her for the baby until after the baby is born. We think that is the humane thing for us to do and we're going to do that.
I also will tell you that thanks to Senator Marlon Kimpson and also one of the members of the state legislature, we received a grant to purchase 101 body cameras. Those body cameras are on order.
Today, I made an executive decision and have notified my council, we have already ordered this morning an additional 150 body cameras, so that every officer that's on the street in uniform will have a body camera.
Now, I want you to know that it takes a while. Once the cameras come in, we have to train them on operation of the camera but we also have to establish a policy. We have already been drafting a policy for -- through the police department for our legal department to look at and make sure it meets muster.
This has been a horrible tragedy within our community. There have been two families that have been harmed greatly by what occurred. Both the victims' and the officer's family. And our hearts go out to both of them.
[13:05:02] We -- I was taken back by the warm and kind reception that we received today from the family. They are an outstanding family within our community. And the mother and father are wonderful people and the other family was there. They're suffering. Those of you, however you choose to offer up prayers, please pray for this family and the time that they're going through.
We will be there to support them for the funeral with a police escort, to make sure that we get them moved properly and give them the utmost respect and the respect that the gentleman that is deceased deserves.
We're going to allow you to ask questions after the chief speaks for about 10 minutes. I want to let the national media know, we will respect you. We are not going to do any national interviews until after the burial.
I'm not going to make this a political forum for me and the city. What we're trying to do is make sure that the family has an adequate time to put their son to rest.
And after that, we will start talking. We will be working within the community to have open dialogue on policies that we have, looking for ways to develop a closer working relationship with the individual communities. Our chief has been doing that for the last two years.
You've got to remember, we are the only city in the state that has a police officer in every school. And it's not just to create security in the schools. It's to create relationships between those officers and the young people within our community.
And we will continue to look at ways to enhance the quality of service that we provide to our citizens. And by that, I mean all of our citizens. So, we'll be having some good open dialogue within the next 30 days. And those of you that are interested in taking part in that dialogue, if you would contact our office and let us know, and we'll be glad to consider you for that role.
With that, I'm going to turn it over to Chief Driggers and let him have some remarks.
EDDIE DRIGGERS, CHIEF OF POLICE, NORTH CHARLESON POLICE DEPARTMENT: So, my heart goes out to the family today. Had a good visit with them. I got to meet a daddy who is in mourning, a momma who is in mourning. And we talked father to father. So, it was a good visit with them.
And I just -- I would ask you to however you give respect to individuals, give them the respect that they deserve during this time. And just know that we are -- we are doing our best here not only as a city but as a police department, not only to serve during this time but to protect you, all of you. And to serve this community as best we can, even though we've got a whole bunch going on. We're going to continue to strive to do what's right. We're going to strive to do what's right.
I would just ask you to keep -- I have been praying for peace, peace for the family and peace for this community. And I will continue to stand on that as I strive to protect and serve the people I took an oath to do so.
So, with that said --
SUMMEY: Any questions that you might have --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, chief --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief. Chief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, there were other officers --
SUMMEY: We -- may I make one statement? We only have 10 minutes that we're going to allow these people to ask their questions. We understand how you feel and what you're saying. We don't have any issues with that. But if we can have an opportunity to answer their questions because Mr. Pryor (ph) said he's going to cut it off (INAUDIBLE) and he'll (INAUDIBLE.)
[13:10:13] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll go one, two right here (INAUDIBLE.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief. Chief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were other officers in that video. Did any of them ever come forth and say that Slager was not telling the truth?
DRIGGERS: To my knowledge, nobody was witness to anything but Slager.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, two of your --
DRIGGERS: To my knowledge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- two of your sergeants have said in statements that CPR was performed by Officer Habersham. Officer Habersham just says he did pressure and did not perform CPR. Was CPR ever performed on this man, as far as you know?
DRIGGERS: I'm going to be -- I'm going to be totally honest with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do that.
DRIGGERS: I am. And give me just a second. The honesty comes from my heart. I have watched the video and I was sickened by what I saw. And I have not watched it since. But in that end, as I was -- because I've been receiving a lot of phone calls and a lot of e-mails. In the end of it, what I saw was a -- I believe to be a police officer removing the shirt of the individual and performing some type of life- saving. But I'm not -- I'm not sure what took place there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you don't -- you don't know if CPR was performed?
DRIGGERS: I do -- I do not know -- I was told that life-saving -- that they tried to save his life by when we got to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if I could further elaborate. Should there have been -- should CPR be performed right away in a situation like that after you know that everybody is safe? And who was the --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And who was that first officer on the scene, the African-American officer? Is that Habersham?
DRIGGERS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should that have been performed --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see them dropping something -- we saw the officer dropping something near the body and it's not clear what that is. A lot of people have suggested that what the officer is dropping was a taser. Do you have any information on that?
DRIGGERS: We have turned -- and I -- we're under no obligation to turn a -- an investigation over. We could have investigated this ourself. But --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, right.
DRIGGERS: -- but we chose to turn it over to SLED because that's the right thing to do to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all (INAUDIBLE) --
DRIGGERS: -- have an independent agency do the investigation. There are questions that I have in my mind that I can't answer right now. And those questions are going to have to be answered by Scarlett Wilson, the Solicitor, and by SLED. And I can't answer those questions. So, I would just refer those specific questions to the people who have investigated this to the fullest extent.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) next question (INAUDIBLE.)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have police procedures in place?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have police procedures in place and what are your procedures and did -- were they following them?
DRIGGERS: Obviously not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have procedures in place for dealing with a wounded suspect or victim or are there procedures in place?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the normal procedure, should they handcuff him after he's shot?
(CROSSTALK)
DRIGGERS: Let me -- let me get -- hold on. You're -- wait a minute. Let me answer the questions for you that we can answer. First of all, we don't have all the information --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) mayor. DRIGGERS: Both.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chief of police or the mayor. Which one?
DRIGGERS: I'm asking you to respect me as I'm going to respect you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course. Of course.
DRIGGERS: OK. And I'm talking to the media, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people are (INAUDIBLE.) The people (INAUDIBLE.)
DRIGGERS: The people can hear --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our community member was killed, not the media.
DRIGGERS: We are about to close this press conference.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not the media. Not the media.
DRIGGERS: We are about to close this press conference. I am -- Skyler (ph), you had a question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you saying that the city did not turn into a [INAUDIBLE] given that you have a shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer? What do you think prevented [INAUDIBLE] in that immediate 24-hour period after the shooting (INAUDIBLE.)
DRIGGERS: I think it's because we did what was right. We turned the investigation over to an independent agency that does not work for the mayor and does not work for the chief. We also then tried to get all the information that we could and turn it over to them.
[13:15:00] And that's why some of the questions that are being asked today -- we don't have that evidence. That evidence was presented to SLED. We gave them all -- everything that we have. They're the ones that really need to ask -- answer any questions about investigation.
(CROSS TALK)
SUMMEY: And - well, hold on, I'm still answering (INAUDIBLE).
Yes, sir.
QUESTION: When did you start to believe that there was something wrong with the officer's story and there might have been a videotape explaining or showing that it didn't match?
SUMMEY: We - I saw the videotape yesterday for the first time.
QUESTION: Did you believe your officer until you saw the videotape?
(CROSS TALK) SUMMEY: I had no reason to rely on anything but the evidence that we have and I was not engaged in the investigation, so I did not have the evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're the mayor. Where's the chief of police. You're the mayor, we want to talk to the chief of police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This young lady right here.
Let's go to the question of this young lady right here.
SUMMEY: Young lady, yes, ma'am?
QUESTION: Officer Slager was exonerated in 2013 for (INAUDIBLE) who was there said that this is not the man that (INAUDIBLE) crime had been committed. How's he exonerated for (INAUDIBLE) not the suspect?
SUMMEY: He went through a process that goes through the department and that's part of the personnel file. We'll be glad to release it to you.
QUESTION: Chief, the only -
QUESTION: Chief, did the - did the Taser -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, with the exception of the (INAUDIBLE) -
(CROSS TALK)
SUMMEY: Yes, sir.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What have I done?
SUMMEY: The Taser does not have a camera.
QUESTION: And second question. A lot of this community, about half of this community, is African-American and 80 percent of the police department, as I understand it, is white. Is it time for that to change?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SUMMEY: Let me - let me say that we recruit African-American members to the police department. We - anyone that can become certified as a police officer, we're more than willing to hire. The problem is, we have a very limited number, even to the point that we've started going out and recruiting from other departments, where we can get certified minority police officers to work for us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This gentlemen right - with the hand (ph).
QUESTION: Was there - was there ever a fight over the Taser? And was there any truth to what the officer originally said? SUMMEY: I think that if you get all of -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the video shows - what are you (INAUDIBLE). The video showed it!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) no one respects (ph) you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) answer.
SUMMEY: The answer to your question, sir, is that if you are made privy to all of the video, I have not seen all the video, so therefore I can't answer your questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have not seen all the video?
(CROSS TALK)
QUESTION: Has Officer Slager provided (INAUDIBLE)?
SUMMEY: There's the car video. SLED (ph) has that. And what I understand, the video that I saw was not all of the video that exists. We only were able to look at what was given to us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
QUESTION: OK, so you haven't seen it?
SUMMEY: I haven't seen it, no.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here.
SUMMEY: Yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want the chief of police. We want Driggers (ph)! We want Driggers!
CROWD: We want Driggers ! We want Driggers. We want Driggers. We want Driggers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead.
SUMMEY: Yes, sir?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
SUMMEY: We need it a little bit louder.
QUESTION: What is the make and model of the handgun that was (INAUDIBLE) officer was carrying?
SUMMEY: We can leave that - get that information to you. I am not that familiar with guns.
QUESTION: Mr. Mayor, with all due respect -- chief, with all due respect sir, would you please explain to the people why it is that you won't allow Chief Driggers to answer -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief Driggers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want Driggers!
QUESTION: I can speak for myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want Driggers!
QUESTION: I can speak for myself. I can speak for myself, please, (INAUDIBLE) respect.
Why - we - the people would like to know why it is that you won't allow the police chief to answer police-related matters? We know that you are the man in charge. We understand that. But the people are asking for the chief to answer these questions.
SUMMEY: Because the chief is not allowed to answer any questions about the investigation because there's another agency doing the investigation. They are not giving us permission to release that information. We don't have it.
QUESTION: Who would be the contact person where we can verify that?
SUMMEY: What is the -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Berry (ph) with SLED.
SUMMEY: Tom Berry with SLED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Berry with SLED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This gentlemen right here.
SUMMEY: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Mayor, we talked - we talked to SLED. The last time we talked to them they said that Officer Slager had not provided an official (ph) narrative to the investigation of the guys heading up SLED. Has Officer Slager provided the official - his official account of what happened?
SUMMEY: That is, again, SLED is who he gives that to. We do not get that.
[13:20:04] QUESTION: SLED is saying they don't have it. But as far as you know, he has not Given his official narrative of what happened?
SUMMEY: That, again, that's something that SLED would have to answer.
QUESTION: Mayor, (INAUDIBLE) to say that yes he is still involved in the investigation or is he fired and gone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He - he is terminated. He is terminated. He is no longer here.
QUESTION: Is he not even involved in the investigation at this point in that regard?
SUMMEY: We're - what - I think what you're - we're trying to tell you, we're not doing the investigation.
QUESTION: I understand that.
SUMMEY: SLED is. So, therefore, they are the agency that has to give you any - any information from the investigation.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the last gentlemen.
QUESTION: Is it normal (INAUDIBLE) handcuff somebody after they are shot?
SUMMEY: That is - that is standard policy across the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the last gentlemen right here.
SUMMEY: Yes, the last question right here.
QUESTION: My last question.
SUMMEY: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Given what's happened, are you now taking a look at this officer's other arrests and other cases (INAUDIBLE)?
SUMMEY: We are - that is something that we'll have to move to in the future. We're still waiting on all the information to come back to us from SLED.
(CROSS TALK)
SUMMEY: That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on!
SUMMEY: That's right.
QUESTION: It's something you're considering, you are considering looking at the other cases that involve (INAUDIBLE), other arrests he's made, other incidents he's had with other residents -
SUMMEY: We - we will look at that. Any questions anybody has, we're more than willing to look at them.
QUESTION: Chief (INAUDIBLE) will there be more - will there be any more disciplinary actions as far as that officer is -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other officers? SUMMEY: That is - that has to come with the investigation. So I can't tell you until we know exactly if there were any other officers engaged or involved before I can tell you that there would be any type of punishment that would go out.
QUESTION: What was their role (INAUDIBLE) at the scene? What was their role, the other officers, (INAUDIBLE)?
SUMMEY: The only role that I know, from what I saw from the video, was the first officers that responded. And he came up to the gentleman laying on the ground and was checking him out. I did see one of the officers at one time check. My understanding that there's more video than I saw and that another officer - not every officer is CPR- certified.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said - you said (INAUDIBLE) -
SUMMEY: With that, it's over. Thank you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so there he is, the mayor of North Charleston, South Carolina, Keith Summey, and the North Charleston Police Chief Eddie Driggers (ph). Really a volatile news conference, not necessarily volatile because of the reporters' questions but protesters were inside, clearly angry about what has gone on in North Charleston, South Carolina. This is an awful, awful situation all caught on video camera, on videotape. And as a result of that tape, we are in the midst of another huge problem here in the United States right now. A white police officer shooting a black man, 50-year-old black man, Walter Scott, as he was running away from the police officer, shot him in the back eight times. The North Charleston police officer, Michael Slager, 33 years old, now formally charged with murder.
There you see some of the demonstrators who got inside this news conference.
Let's get some reaction to what we just saw. Joining us is Cedric Alexander. He's president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. Also joining us, HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson.
Not an easy situation, Cedric Alexander. Give us your reaction to what we just saw. And I want to let our viewers know, when the police - the mayor and the police chief say the investigation has now been handed over to SLED, as they called it, that's the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which is a separate body of the police, the community. They're not investigating. They've handed it over to SLED, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
But go ahead, Cedric, tell us what you think we just saw. Give us your analysis.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, NATL. ORGANIZATION OF BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECS.: Well, Wolf, I believe we all are very saddened by the tragic shooting that we saw and certainly none of us support that whatsoever. Here is a man who was running away from the police and who was shot in the back. It is unfortunate. It's sad. It's disgusting and it's very disturbing to all of us as well, too.
In terms of the press conference itself, I think the mayor attempted to be very genuine in terms of being as transparent as he could be. Now one thing that is very unique about this investigation, from the time of the shooting four or five days ago up until now, there has been a physical arrest. There was an investigation that took place. It was pretty rapid and probably that has a lot to do with the fact that there was an independent witness who had video who helped make that case and bring that case to resolve with an arrest of that police officer very quickly. But we cannot negate the fact that in each one of these shootings that we see across this country, is that they have to be judged independently. Those that are able to be expedited through an investigation are because of evidence that may be presented. Others may take a longer period of time in order for those - for that evidence to be presented and making sure that the officer and those involved are investigated fairly.
[13:25:24] Now, the other piece, Wolf, I have to be very clear about on this as well, too, that in - for the last number of months across this country, we've seen a number of police-involved shootings. And in those shootings, it's created a great deal of pause. We've seen a number of African-American men who have become victims of those shootings. We all have grave concern about it, but we can never forget the fact - and we should not forget the fact, this does not taint every police department in this country.
Here in DeKalb County, we have had a couple of shootings within the last couple of months ourselves. What I have done, as public safety director, we have gone outside of ourselves and brought in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to do an independent, transparent, open and fair investigation into our shootings. This is where we're going in this country in the future. If you go to the 21st century task force report, you will see that as being one of the leading recommendations that are being made, along with something else that the mayor referred to was the fact, as they develop policy around technology, such as cameras, which you're also going to see as well too, is that that community is going to be part of that policy-making.
That's all headed in the right direction. This is sad, this is unfortunate, this is a disgusting shoot on behalf of that police officer, but we're going to still have to find a way to move forward. And the majority of police officers in this country do a great job. And those that we find that are going beyond the law, who are taking the law into their own hands, they're going to reap whatever that investigation revealed in such case.
BLITZER: OK, Cedric, I know you've got to run, but a quick question, and, Joey, stand by for a moment. Compare what has happened here in North Charleston, South Carolina, Cedric, with what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. Similarly, a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man in Ferguson. We know what happened. There was grand jury investigations. It went on and on and on. This time, the police there in North Charleston, South Carolina, quickly not only arrested the police officer but charged him with murder. Very fast investigation, very fast charge of murder. Give us your analysis.
ALEXANDER: Well, here again, as I just stated, Wolf, I think that has a lot to do with the fact you had video footage that was clear to everyone that is watching it in this country and around the globe, clear evidence that this was just an outright shoot down of this person. Regardless of what had occurred, there was no way I think any of us in our logical minds can assume that somehow this officer was at threat.
BLITZER: All right.
ALEXANDER: That was clearly not the case here.
BLITZER: Cedric, thanks so much for joining us. Cedric Alexander is the president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. We'll continue this conversation.
But there's other breaking news unfolding right now. I want to bring in HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson, who's joining us from New York.
Joey, we're -- we've just been told there has been a verdict in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial up in Boston. We're told it's going to read out in about 20 minutes or so. Shouldn't be a whole lot of suspense what that verdict is. But set the scene for us because you've been covering this - you've been assessing what's going on now for several weeks of this trial, it's been going on. Go ahead and tell us what we should anticipate.
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure. Well, I don't think there's any mystery, Wolf, in terms of what the verdict will be. As we know and understand, there's 30 counts that the defendant is facing in this case and 17 of those carry the death penalty. And so the defense, even in moving forward in this case, has not contested the issue of real guilt. They have said he was there, he was a participant. The real issue is whether or not his brother manipulated him, controlled him and had him do, engaging in the conduct that he engaged in.
Now, we need to understand that the judge limited, in large measure, the defense's ability to go in very much in terms of the brother because that's not a defense. It may be what we call, Wolf, a mitigating or lessening factor to place in context why he did what he did, but it certainly does not justify it.
Now, in terms of the verdict, once that verdict is read, and we certainly expect and anticipate it will be guilty as to all of those 30 counts - and we should point out that that jury of seven women and five men did their job inasmuch as we know there were two jury questions, questions concerning what conspiracy means, questions concerning what aiding and abetting means. So this didn't appear to be a jury that just went back and had a cup of coffee and said he's guilty. It appears to be a jury that had evaluated, what does the law mean and how do we apply the facts to the particular law.
