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Traffic Stop Video Raises More Questions; Senator Elizabeth Warren Opens Up To New Day; Mom's Priceless Reaction Goes Viral. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired April 10, 2015 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:09] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Your expertise is going to be invaluable here.
Jim, I'll start with you, based on this dash cam video and on your expertise, does it appear at first blush to be a normal traffic stop?
JIM BUEERMANN, PRESIDENT, POLICE FOUNDATION: It does. There's nothing abnormal about the traffic stop until Mr. Scott runs from the car.
PEREIRA: When we see him run away, and I'm going to ask this to you both, Jim, we'll start with you, what is the protocol for an officer if the suspect flees?
BUEERMANN: It depends if the car is being occupied by somebody else, and there was someone else there. There are two schools of thought. One is that you stay with the car because it's occupied.
In this case the officer knew who Mr. Scott was, he had his I.D. The other school of thought is that you pursue the individual that ran from the car and that's what the officer did.
PEREIRA: Sheriff, we'll bring you in, the school of thought of staying with the vehicle, this was a misdemeanor at best, was it not? Could they have just issued a citation, mailed it to his house, Called in that the suspect had fled and carried on with his day?
SHERIFF AL CANNON, FORMER CHIEF OF POLICE, NORTH CHARLESTON: Well, I would say one of the things that comes into play here, is that the officer had the license, went back and was running it for wants and warrants that may have been a factor both in terms of Mr. Scott running. I think his family has said that.
And also why the officer might be more interested in just than the broken taillight, but I would add to what Jim said, one of the things we focus on here is try to avoid foot pursuit to the extent possible and set up a perimeter. We have tracking dogs that are available. We have other assets would come into play.
PEREIRA: Why do you think that wasn't done here?
CANNON: We try to discourage -- well, it's hard to say. You know, I think a quick reaction, a quick decision sometimes. That's up to the officer's discretion. If he thinks he can catch the person at this point, I don't think there was necessarily anything to indicate any danger in terms of a weapon or anything like that or serious charges.
So he may have thought to pursue the person and if he thinks that he can catch the person that would certainly lend it to him pursuing him. Otherwise, what we've tried to impress upon the officers, is rather than pursuing them on foot, call out the other resources, you've got other officers in the area, to set up a perimeter and call in the tracking dogs if it's necessary.
Chances are with this case. Now, you had to, the broken taillight, you had the potential for a family court bench warrant, but you also have now, maybe resisting arrest kind of thing so --
PEREIRA: But there is --
CANNON: -- but certainly nothing to justify anything major.
PEREIRA: Well, it ended up with him dead and that's a point that none of us can argue because we saw it play out.
CANNON: No question about that.
PEREIRA: There's a question about judgment because we know that officers, no situation is exactly the same. We know there is protocol, but we also know that the officer has their judgment to rely upon. It relies on their training about how to deal with the situation. Do you think the training failed here? That this, this man ended up dead?
BUEERMANN: It absolutely did. There's no apparent justification for what the officer did based on what the video shows. I am not familiar with South Carolina police training. But I guarantee you that they do not teach that you shoot a fleeing unarmed man in the back.
PEREIRA: So what do we need to do then, Jim, something is broken, we need to fix it. What is it? Where do we start?
BUEERMANN: Yes, well, you started right now with this discussion and dialogue. We've got to take a long, hard look and law enforcement has to look in the mirror quite frankly. We've got take a long, hard look at the culture of the policing, training, hiring standards. This is something that the department should be going through right now.
PEREIRA: Sheriff, I've got 30 seconds left? Is there an issue, you were the former police chief in that area. Is there an issue between the residents and the police? Is there a lack of trust?
CANNON: Well, I don't think there's more of a problem here than there is anywhere else. We have actually good relationships in many respects. The rally I was here the night before last. The prayer that was offered up included a prayer for the officer for his family. I think that's a strong statement of, you know, just how this perhaps differs.
But I would amplify what Jim says and say that law enforcement across the nation, particularly since Ferguson, has really been struggling with how do we change our strategies, our training, our approach, the whole thing in the culture as Jim pointed out?
[07:35:11] So it's not just something that's limited here --
PEREIRA: You're right.
CANNON: -- we've all been doing it I've been to a number of forums where that's been discussed and we're really trying to work through that. That balance between --
PEREIRA: We know it's a tough proposition. Sheriff Al Cannon, I'm sorry to cut you off. We have to leave it there. Jim Bueermann, thank you so much. It is the beginning. We hope this is a conversation we can continue with the two of you as well. Thank you so much, Gentlemen -- Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela, prison for life or sentenced to death? What punishment should Boston bomber, Dzokhar Tsarnaev get? We spoke with Massachusetts senator and potential presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, about that and so much more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: She's the firebrand freshman senator shaking up Wall Street with her crusade for financial reform. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, from Massachusetts describes her path to the Senate in her book "a Fighting Chance" now out in paperback.
We sat down with Warren to talk about a range of issues including her thoughts on 2016.
[07:40:05]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The point is it's clearly a police officer at least as the video shows who is out of control and this is one of those cases where you don't have to rely on the he said/she said. There's clear video evidence of what has happened.
And that's going to give that police officer a real problem obviously and that police department something to examine itself on and talk about change.
But I think it's another example of how we have to look all across this country at what kinds of policing methods are used and particularly when in African-American communities and when African- Americans are put at special risk.
CAMEROTA: What can Congress do about that? I mean, if this is in fact not an isolated incident. If this is an illustration of something larger happening in this country and something going wrong with police departments, what's the fix?
WARREN: Well, you know, I think at the federal level, we have two opportunities. One is to just gather more evidence about what happens. That's what happened in Ferguson, it's not only about the shooting in particular.
But what else was going on in Ferguson? That's when it becomes clear about the conversations that go back and forth, about how it is they're raising money for, in order to support the police.
That's a pretty ugly situation, and that happened partly because we collected evidence at the federal level. The second is, it's possible from the federal level to support much better training of police officers.
CAMEROTA: Can police departments be tasked with investigating their own and investigating themselves or should there be some sort of agency set up whereby when something like this happens immediately an outside body goes into investigate?
WARREN: I think there has to be an outside look and you can set those up structurally in advance. But there's got to be an outside look, because the public has got to have confidence. In what happened, all the public, all of the community that's being served. And I don't think that happens, if it's no one but the police looking at the police. I think you need an outside set of eyes on it.
CAMEROTA: As you know, Dzokhar Tsarnaev has been found guilty of 30 counts connected to the Boston bombing attack at the marathon. The jury now has to decide whether or not he gets life in prison or death what do you think is the right punishment for him?
WARREN: Well, you know, nothing is going to make whole the families who have lost loved ones, those who have been injured, but this is an appropriate step, we move to the next phase, the penalty phase. I would like to see Tsarnaev spend the rest of his life in prison.
CAMEROTA: Why not the death penalty?
WARREN: You know, I don't support the death penalty. I think we've got a lot of problems with how the death penalty is implemented across this country. But I want to be clear -- I want him out of the picture where he poses no threat to anyone and where he attracts no more attention. He can spend the rest of his life in jail. That's a real punishment.
CAMEROTA: Let's talk about the 2016 presidential race. How many times do you estimate you've been asked if you will be running for president?
WARREN: Many.
CAMEROTA: I mean, hundreds, right?
WARREN: A lot.
CAMEROTA: And you have consistently said no. Can you describe your dream presidential candidate?
WARREN: I've spent my whole life studying what's happening to America's middle class and watching year by year by year is just take one blow after another. We've -- we live in America now where the game is rigged. Where Washington works really great for those who hire armies of lobbyists, armies of lawyers, it's just not working so well for the rest of America.
So I believe what our election should be about including our 2016 presidential election is about how we're going to change that, how we're going to pull back and make Washington work for families again.
CAMEROTA: So it sounds like what you're saying is your dream candidate would be someone who champions the middle class.
WARREN: You bet.
CAMEROTA: Who stands up for student loans and students, and social security, do you know anyone like that?
WARREN: You know, I really want to give everybody who gets in this race, a chance to get out there and put their agenda in front of us. Now you're right, we do have some information, we have two Republicans who have officially gotten into the race so far and I've watched them vote.
They voted against the Social Security benefits increase. They voted against reducing the interest rate on student loans. So maybe I can put it this way, of those who have declared, I've already seen two of them in my view take themselves out of the running for really working for middle class families.
CAMEROTA: If you didn't hear a Democrat come forward, who said those things you just said, then would you get in?
WARREN: You know, I want to see who else gets in this race and I want to see what the issues are that they push because this is really key, what issues are people going to talk about? You know, when I talk about the playing field being tilted and I talk about this a lot in my book.
[07:45:07] The book is a very personal book about how encountered this, how I saw it a piece at a time, but I also saw a big part of this during the financial crisis. When it was really about how can we protect the tender fannies of the giant banks and not really do much, to help the American people who got slammed so hard. I think that's another core issue that should be part of the next election.
CAMEROTA: One of the stories that you talk about is about your dad losing his job.
WARREN: Yes.
CAMEROTA: He lost his job selling carpets and then your house became in jeopardy. I mean, he couldn't pay -- he could no longer pay the bills.
WARREN: Right.
CAMEROTA: So your mom put on her best dress and she -- WARREN: Remember, she was 50 years old, had never worked outside the
home. We're about to lose our house. Daddy had had a heart attack. She's zips up that dress. She's crying, she blows her nose, puts on her high heels, and walks to the Sears to get a minimum-wage job.
CAMEROTA: And the story of that, I mean, not only your mother's sort of mettle and moxy, but it's that that alone back then saved your house.
WARREN: Because I grew up in an America where the minimum wage was enough to keep a family of three afloat and the way I see it, that minimum wage job not only saved our house, it saved our family. And yet, today government policies have shifted.
A family, a woman working full-time cannot support herself and a baby on today's minimum wage jobs. So the way I see this is my daddy ended up as a janitor. My mom kept working that minimum wage job. I ended up going to a public, a commuter college that cost $50 a semester.
I got to be a teacher. I got to be a professor. I got to be a United States senator. America is truly a great country. But I never forget I grew up in an America that was investing in its kids. It was investing in our future. I believe in that America and that's why I wrote this book.
CAMEROTA: You sound like a presidential candidate.
WARREN: I believe all the way down in when we need to do as a country. I believe that we can rebuild our middle class that we can create opportunities for those that are trapped in poverty.
I believe that when we work together and build those opportunities, when we invest in education, in roads, in bridges and power grids it basic research, medical research and scientific research, I believe we are truly the greatest nation on earth.
CAMEROTA: If you don't hear anybody else say those things with that passion, you would be willing to throw your hat in?
WARREN: No. I want to hear people talk about this. This is the most important issue in the race this is what we've got to talk about.
CAMEROTA: Senator Warren, so great to have you on NEW DAY.
WARREN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA: Great conversation there. You pressed her, Alisyn.
All right, ahead, a pregnant North Carolina mother with six boys at home finds out she's finally going to have a girl. Her reaction is priceless. You'll see it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:50:00]
PEREIRA: Justin Bieber?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Six boys in a row. Imagine that. So when this mother got pregnant again, what do you think she was hoping for when she cut the cake at her gender reveal party? Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos with the answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With half a dozen boys under her belt, once again pregnant, Cher Laire, really, really wants a girl. No wonder her reaction takes the cake.
This is one of those gender reveal parties expecting parents cut into a cake that's been dyed pink or blue or pop out of a pink or blue wrapped car or release blue or pink balloons. But when you already have six boys, you deserve to have your cake and a little girl to help you bake it, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby three and four I'm thinking, well, come on, there will be a girl at some point. They can't all be boys. After four, five, six, you're thinking, yes, they can.
MOOS: So the first cut was the deepest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shoot, how do I get in?
MOOS (on camera): In this case, the doctor wrote down the gender, a friend picked up the envelope, another friend made the proper cake without the parents knowing what color was inside.
(voice-over): And when Cher saw that pink, she fell into her mother's arms, a reaction that went viral, even got her an invitation to the Ellen Show.
(on camera): But these gender reveal parties can also be a bust.
(voice-over): Take the time there was a discrepancy between what the cake said --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a girl!
MOOS: And what was in the official envelope.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A boy.
MOOS: Or when a boy who already had two sisters cut the cake.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It's a girl. I hate girls. All we've got is girls, girls, girls.
MOOS: But after boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, Cher's 9-year-old was happy. UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I like my brothers, but I'm tired of all -- I'm tired of all the truck piles.
MOOS: Not her 5-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I'm sick of girls.
MOOS: But kid, take it from Stevie, soon you'll look and wonder at your little sis -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Look at the mother, get up. You're going to hurt yourself and the baby.
PEREIRA: Fast forward 15 or 16 years and that little girl brings home her first boyfriend, all those big brothers are going to be like --
CUOMO: That's true.
CAMEROTA: I'm sure the therapy bill for the boys who saw their mother scream with joy like that won't be too high.
CUOMO: Boy, I'll tell you, did you have to deal with any of that, the whole gender surprise?
CAMEROTA: Yes, I had an envelope. I carried it around for months. I opened it on Christmas day. I was so excited with twin girls.
CUOMO: I was the last in my family, a blessing, and my brother came to the hospital when my mother didn't know. You know, back in the day, a million years ago, he said, if you're having another girl, I'm moving out. He had some little bag with him. I was born. He's like -- now he says I don't know what I was so up about.
PEREIRA: Congratulations, seven children.
[07:55:11] CUOMO: Healthy kids. Healthy kids, that's all you want.
CAMEROTA: All right, back to our breaking news to tell you about because the damage from those deadly tornadoes in the Midwest, here's a live shot for you. It's becoming apparent now that the sun is up. You can see live pictures from our affiliate there. We're going to take you to Illinois for the very latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, there goes cars. I saw headlights go flying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The back wall fell right on top of him. We were trapped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty much looks like everything is gone. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dash cam video now released.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands on the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you hear the shots?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I started to cry.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Cracks starting to appear in the framework for the nuclear deal with Iran.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This is not done until it's done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop aerial bombardment. Stop operations underground.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Jury is still out. It's not over yet.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Life behind the scenes in the White House, explosive arguments inside its halls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was blood all over the president and first lady's bed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY.
