Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Ana Cabrera 20210412

And the world over. And while we await Additional Information from the bca, which is leading this investigation, we continue to support members of our community as they gather peacefully amid our calls for transparency and accountability. Let me be clear. We will get to the bottom of this. We will do all that is within our power to make sure that justice is done for dante wright. Were going to continue to meet with Community Leaders and to hear their voices. In fact, we did that this morning. The chief and city council members. And other elected officials from the state and city staff, city manager, we had a meeting earlier with the community to be able to hear their voices in this time. And were also going to have continue to conduct press conferences and share information with the public. As i stated we do plan to show the body camera footage. Were going to conduct a Community Press Conference Following this as well. So that we can talk directly with leaders of our community and organizations and share this information with them as well. Were going to also be providing some crisis counseling and Mental Health resources to all of our Community Members who may need and desire such services. In our collective our collective community is grieving every single life, every member of our community is important to us, and so the events, you know like yesterday, are tragic. And, you know, they take each and every one of us, they take a part of us as we experience these traumatic events. Just being exposed to it. Im sure youre all feeling the aftermath of the weightiness of what were all feeling collectively. So i am going to invite chief tim gannon to come up and hes going to provide you a briefing about the details of what transpired yesterday. And then well stand for questions. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is tim gannon, its gannon, im the chief in Brooklyn Center, ive been chief for five years and a Police Officer in the city for 27. Today i will be releasing the body worn footage worn by the officer involved in the fatal officerinvolved shooting that happened sunday afternoon. I have watched the video myself. And there is nothing i can say to lessen the pain of mr. Wrights family. Friends, loved ones, for that feeling of loss that they must have. That pain is shared by the community, and also all those involved in the incident. What i can do is convey my deepest sympathies to the Wright Family and be transparent with the information im aware of at this time. That will include showing a video portion from the point of deadly force used by the officer as well as the officers Immediate Reaction after the use of deadly force. I caution everybody as you watch this that this will be graphic. And unedited. Could i have that video start, please . If someone could turn the lights off. Just a moment here. Okay. It should be on both screens. Thank you , sir. Do me a favor and hes got a warrant. Dont do it. Holy thats my child. Yes. Can you turn the lights back on, please . Oh, my god. Were not going to terminate this officer . As you can hear, the officer while struggling with mr. Wright shouts taser, taser several times. Thats part of the Officers Training prior to drawing a taser, which is a less lethal device, that is done to make her partners aware that a taser during this the officer drew their handgun instead of their taser. For informational purposes we train with our handguns on our dominant side, and our taser on our weak side. If youre righthanded you carry your firearm on your right side and your carry your taser on the left. This is done purposefully, and its trained. As i watch the video and listen to the officers commands it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser but instead shot mr. Wright with a single bullet, this appears to me, from what i viewed, and the officers reaction in distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge, that resulted in a tragic death of mr. Wright. I have asked the bca to conduct an independent investigation into the shooting and death, once they are completed i expect they will submit their findings independent of me to the appropriate authorities, the appropriate attorneys that will look and review this case. Im also stressing that i do hope for the community to be patient and allow this investigation, criminal investigation, to be completed. As thoroughly as possible. I believe mr. Wright deserves this, as do all involved. The officer is currently on administrative leave. Make a short comment about what happened last night to our community, a community that ive been a part of for 27 years. Ive seen some of the worst damage to this city ive ever seen in those years. Again, peaceful protesting, expressing yourself, we fully support that. But the ravaging of our businesses, the looting of our stores, the destruction to our pharmacies, we cannot tolerate that. Im hoping that the community will have this level of transparency, and know that this is being investigated by the correct authorities, which is the bca, unfortunately theyre not here today. But they are handling the investigation, and i have very Little Information besides what ive just given to you because they are handling that investigation. Mr. Mayor, do you have any comments that you want to make . All right, so were going to open it up for questions but i just want to reiterate that, you know, obviously this is deeply tragic. And were going to do everything that we can to ensure justice is done, to ensure that our communities are made whole. And with respect to the events last night, obviously there were folks in the community who were grieving, who showed up initially at the location where dante wright was killed and were gathering. And obviously later on as the night went on and unfolded there were a series of events that led to an escalation in the protest later on into the evening. Later on i did issue a curfew, which was in place until 6 00 a. M. This morning. To ensure that were taking steps to keep the community safe. We do want to emphasize that we believe strongly in peoples rights to gather and to express their grievance and to protest. That is a fundamental american right and were going to protect that right. And at the same time were going to also work to protect the safety of our community. And so well now open it up for questions. Is it going to be sent over to the Hennepin County Attorneys Office for possible charges . Chief. Its far too early to know which authority is going to be prosecuting, if there is a prosecution. I dont know how thats going to play out. Unfortunately the bca normally is present here during these types of conferences but what ive understood is the releasing of video this early in a situation is not something that they condone. They leave it up to me to do that. As i decided to do that, theyre not part of this conversation. Theyre not part of this press conference at this time. Why did you decide to do this today . I felt the community needed to know what happened. They needed to see it. I needed to be transparent. And i want to be forthright. Due respect to dante as well. Chief, can you talk about what led to the traffic stop . Dante wrights mother told reporters he had a air freshener on his rearview mirror. From what i understood from the Public Safety briefing there was an expired registration on the vehicle. The tabs were expired. Upon arrival when the officer made contact, at that time when he walked up to the car he discovered there was a hanging item from the rearview mirror. So there was a contact that the officer went up there initially for, obtained his id, or his name, he walked back to his car and at that time he ran his name and he found out that he had a warrant. Thats why they removed him from the car and they were making custodial arrest. Can you tell us more about the warrants. I have very Little Information on the warrant other than it was a gross misdemeanor warrant. Dantes tells us his brother didnt know he had a warrant for his arrest and recently missed a meeting with his probation officer. That i dont know. So theres a perception, i think in the u. S. And around the world, that had dante wright been my color this wouldnt have happened to him. Why is it that Police Officers in the United States keep killing young black men and young black women far, far, far higher rate than they do white . I dont have an answer to that question. Because the black man is real here in the state of minnesota. I can answer that question. Was there a gun found in the car . There is no gun that i was made aware of. I did not search the car but i have not been made aware of a gun in the vehicle . The officer, is she under any type of there has been mental evaluation. There has been a fair amount of social chatter in media which i dont normally comment on but there was some comments in social media she had committed suicide. That is not true. That is not true. To the best of my knowledge shes being taken care of right now. What can you tell us about this officer and how long shes been with the department . At this point in time i dont have that i will not release that information. That should be released shortly. The bca has a system in place where theyll be releasing the names of all parties in involved and all their Training Records and all that information as far as tenure and seniority, that will be released shortly. Do you plan to step down as people call for your resignation after the actions outside of this Police Department last night . At this point i do not. Chief, what was happening . What are we seeing in the video prior to the shot, you described the taser and the weapon, what was happening there . Im not in the mind of the officer. I can only see what youre all seeing. I can couple that with some of the training that much of the training that ive received. And thats why im believing it to be an accidental discharge. But prior to that there was some sort of activity going on. Was when they were trying to take him into custody. It appeared to me from the video that the individual was trying to get back into his car to leave. Chief, how often do officers go through firearm training to try and make prevent Something Like that happening where you dont make that kind of mistake, annual training or how does that work . We have numerous trainings throughout the year, we dont lump it all into one group. Numerous training, tactical training, fire arms training, taser deployments. We have pretty thorough taser requalifications. On a yearly basis, but then we also do a number of scenarios and roll playing exercises as well. I can take one more question, please. Were in the midst of a pandemic, why was a priority to pull someone over for expired tags . I dont know if that was a priority. But it was a violation that the officer observed and initiated a traffic stop. Chief, are you aware theres a significant delay in getting tabs and things of this nature from the dmv so even people who have purchased tabs are unable to get them because theres a two to three month backlog, are you aware of that and is your staff also aware of that and have you made any type of recommendations to your staff to be mindful that were in the middle of a pandemic, and dont pull people over for tabs, particularly because there is a significant delay in getting those tabs from the department of motor vehicles, are you aware of that . I am aware of that. Is your staff aware. Yes, they are. That was the last question, im sorry. Mr. Mayor, if i can ask you, in that video, the female officer cl clearly made a fatal mistake. Should she lose her job since its clear she killed one. Let me be very clear, my position is that we cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people in our profession. And so i do fully support releasing the officer of her duties. Mr. Mayor, you just said yourself, the whole woorld is watching the twin cities right now. Why werent Police Forces looking out for, you know, just looking out about what they were doing, why werent they taking greater precautions when they got involved in incidents like this, do you have any answer to that . You know, i dont have an answer. I have not spoken with the officers involved, myself. You know, at this point the bca is the one thats in contact with those officers, and, in fact, is the only one thats allowed to be in contact with those officers. Mr. Mayor, clearly because you answered the question directly, youve given some thought to this idea of releasing the officer. With that said, what is the process, can he be released immediately, does she have to go through an appeals process . How does that work . Under our form of government the city manager whos here, you can come up, curt, he ultimately actually is has control over the Police Department, and not the mayor. And over the chief. So you can comment on that, the city council also, you know, has ultimate authority over what happens in the city collectively. So the city council can take action in this regard as well. Go ahead, sir. Say and spell your first and last anytime. Curt boganey. In response to the question about termination, all employees working for the city of Brooklyn Center are entitled to due process with respect to is discipline. This employee will receive due process and thats really all that i can say today. Do you support the termination of an officer like this who has made the type of mistake that has cost a resident of yours life, do you support the termination of this type of officer and what message are we sending in Brooklyn Center to the rest of the world about the valuation of black life, do you support the termination of this type of an officer . I understand and appreciate the comment that you made and why you said it, if i were to answer that question i would be contradicting what i said a moment ago. Which is to say that all employees are entitled to due process. And after that due process, discipline will be determined. If i were to say anything else, i would actually be contradicting the idea of due process. One final question. Whats your expectation for how a significantly white police force in Brooklyn Center treats the black and brown members of this community, what expectation have you communicated down to the chief, and to the officers under him, for how they are to interface with the vast majority, because the vast majority of this population is black and brown, how have you communicated to them to interface and interact with people who look like me . Absolutely ive communicated that to the chief, and i do believe that the chief concurs with the notion that every resident of Brooklyn Center must be treated fairly, must be treated equitably. The city council has been clear in its expectations about fairness and equity. We are implementing this year an office of antiracism principles and practices, we are hiring an equity officer in the next several weeks. The city council has provided specific direction about accountability for the Police Department and transparency for the Police Department. Weve been providing reports to the city. Talk to us about that accountability. Were providing reports to the city council about officer discipline, about information on stops, of black and brown people, people of color in the city of Brooklyn Center. Were developing task forces to assess if any of our policies or practices lead to disproportionate inequitable results and our objective for doing that analysis is to eliminate any inequity that occurs as a result of our practices and our policies and that has been communicated to the chief and to the Police Officers, or the city of Brooklyn Center. Racial profiling that happened in this situation, we are standing in solidarity and calling for the firing of this officer. You have talked about her having due process. Although Daunte Wright did not get due process in that situation. She needs to be fired immediately to send a message that this type of behavior will not be condoned within the city of Brooklyn Center. Thank you, i appreciate those comments. Should an officer who cant tell the difference between a taser and a handgun, should they go out in a vehicle with both items in their car . It wouldnt be appropriate for me to respond to that . Why would it not be appropriate, sir . I cant make that judgment. As a supervisor of the police force will you using tear gas on our youth who were protesting yesterday. And rubber bullets. I was not. Mr. City manager and mr. Mayor, when i asked that question about the firing of the Police Officer, the police chief left. What is that an indication of . Is he dealing with perhaps something more important or is that some type of silent protest because he left immediately. Immediately. Immediately. I cant speculate. Mr. Mayor, do you have a comment . I do not know why the excuse me. Does it bother you, without knowing why, that he just walked out . I do not know why the chief left. You know, i can only speculate as to why he left, you know, at the time that he did. What would your speculation be . I dont have any speculation. I mean, its possible that, you know, the chief, you know, takes the position similar to the city manager that there needs to be some kind of a process or you know, i dont know. I would only what was the conversation between you and the chief . What was that conversation between you and the chief . When you shared with the chief that youd like to see this officer terminated . He didnt tell us anything about the officer. How long shes been with the force. Her name. Where she trained. These are questions the public deserves to know. Certainly. You know, so those conversations, im not are privileged conversations so i cant reveal that right now. But we should be able to provide the details around officer and her trainings and those types of details. Whats the process last night if youll just give me a second. Im going to check to see if is the chief engaged currently at the moment in addressing some Public Safety concerns, or some other matter, is there any reason why we cant have him answer some more questions around folks that are asking about the Officers Training and whatnot . How long shes been on the force. Okay, so were the chief can just walk out in the midst of a crisis. So i he needs to be fired too. Yes. Just to be clear, we are checking right now with the chief to see if he will come back and stand for more questions. Whats the protocol for when there is protesters in the city of Brooklyn Center and also outside of police you know, the Police Office and what is the normal protocol, what is the process for who decides and how does that decision happen and were those protocols in that process followed last night . I will have the city manager and the chief speak on that, but ill speak first. My role becomes active the moment that i declare a state of emergency and if the city council acts to give the mayor authority over the police or under the circumstances that theres a declaration of martial law. My role really is one of influence in those situations. I cannot give commands to the department. I cannot instruct the police chief to take certain actions or not to take certain actions. The person who can do that is the city manager. In terms of what the protocols are, and, you know, for handling protests, you know, i imagine the chief will be coming back to join us and speak on that shortly. But mr. Boganey, if you have any comment on that. Could you release the name of the officer who was involved in the shooting . Its public data. Its my understanding that that name will be released very shortly, but its my understanding that at this point the bca, whos doing the investigation, is not the bca is not a part to conduct the investigation, you all specifically chose them, which means you have ultimate authority over what happens, and what information is released. So just as the chief released that body camera footage, were expecting the name of the officer to be released because that is public data, the bca has no control over that whatsoever. Let me say this, and i will let the chief address that particular question as well. But i will tell you this. We have every intent to release that information as quickly as possible. And i would ill just leave it at that. Theres no reason or desire to withhold that information any longer than absolutely necessary. So can you instruct the chief to release her name . I wont do that tat this moment, at this place. Why . It would be inappropriate. Thats not inappropriate. What was inappropriate is killing Daunte Wright under those circumstances. You are working harder to protect a killer cop than a victim of police murder. Okay. Im sorry, im back, im sorry. I left im used to doing the handoff with the bca, ei apologize for that. Normally the bca steps in and does a lot of talks with the investigation. I apologize for that, but im back here now. I can answer some more questions but please realize, in an officerinvolved shooting, what happens is i have no contact with that investigation. Because i dont want to taint that investigation. People can say they scoff at that. I looked at this video, which is unprecedented. I dont know of any chiefs that have done that very often, or has looked at video in advance of that. Sometimes you cant unwatch a video. Hold on, let me finish, please. So what im saying is i have limited information. Im not trying to be disingenuous but im trying to stay away from the investigation. I wish the bca was here. Theyd probably tell you the same thing, that theres not much they can do because its an early investigation. One question at a time. Yes, sir. Chief, im going to ask you directly as i asked the mayor, do you believe the officer who fired this fatal shot, and i understand theres due process, we get that, but ultimately she shot and killed a 20yearold man, the mayor has indicated she should be terminated. Whats your position on that . My position is that officer afforded due process just like anybody else does. She has the right to be heard. She has the right to give her statement. She has a right to tell what she felt, what she thought. Not what i thought. Not what i saw. But what she thought and what she that may have an impact. Shes on timeout. She will not be returning to duty until this investigation has run its course and she, for all intents and purposes, i think we can look at the video and ascertain whether or not shell be returning. So one question at a time, please. Over here. This is not the first time this has happened in the city of Brooklyn Center. Two years ago we had another officerinvolved shooting, the public do not trust you and your you should have a process how to deal with this situation. The first question is we do have a process in place and thats leaning on the bca to do their investigation. Every shooting that ive seen, every shooting that ive witnessed thats a choice. Has been different. Every circumstance is different around every shooting. Its tragic every time. The loss of life is obviously tragic. But there are different circumstances around every situation, in this particular situation it was very important for know to get that have had out as quickly as possible and thats what i did. Chief, absolutely ive lived in minnesota several years, worked here, can you tell us a little bit about how long the officer was on the force here in Brooklyn Center, was she around when pulled from the body of water six years ago today. The information on the officer is shes a very senior officer. Thats the extent that i can do. Is there a difference between those a very senior officer, i do believe the bca will be releasing all the information, Training Records, everything that they have, theyll be releasing that, thats public data. That will be coming out shortly. Chief, what is the normal protocol and process for response to protesters, and was that protocol and process followed last night . There was strict adherence to the policy of working with the protest when it turns into a riot. Last night there were numerous warnings to disperse. Unlawful assembly. Declared at least five times. Plenty of time was given to disperse and it was not. Was it your decision to release tear gas and to fire bullets rubber bullets at the young protesters . This is im the police chief in this city, Police Action is made by me. The decision is made by me. Does that answer your question . So i have a question. Upon myself and other organizers and activists coming up to the Police Station we were really shocked to see utter darkness, to see all the lights, interior and exterior, extending all the way out, making the street virtually dark, we were really shocked and surprised to see that from my experience, and i would imagine most other peoples experiences, Law Enforcement would want to have as much light as possible to be able to see whatever is going on so that the moment the lights all went down that created a certain level of mood, a certain agitation within the crowd. What was your thinking . Because i was told that you made the ultimate call to turn all the lights off, even the street lights that was out in front of the building, to turn all of the lights off, what was your thinking about turning off the lights in the midst of people coming and attempting to at the Police Station. What was your decision behind . I dont know about the lights on the street, the building lights were turned off, they created a back lighting for the officers on the front lines chblt they became targets for concrete blocks. Frozen cans that i personally saw and ducked. Thats what i turned those lights off. So the lights made them less targets. They werent back lit. The people in front couldnt see. If we have lights in front of us, thats what the Police Department would like to have. Wed like to be looking out forward, not behind us, then you get back lit. The lights im talking about were all around the so the lights were all around the front part of the building, the police were well behind that, but it just created an entire darkness around, it seemed very unusual for a station to have all the lights off, including the lights all in the streets creating utter darkness and a lot of confusion and a real ominous mood. Its unusual. Ive been to a lot of protests and these type of events. I have never seen the Police Department utterly shut down all of the lights, what was your thinking behind not the back lit lights, but all of the lights, even in the front part of the Police Station, in general, to create utter darkness . Sir and then also one final question, what was your decision to issue a dispersal order while they were peacefully protesting in front of the Police Station, what led to you to issue a dispersal order and then on the back end of that tenminute dispersal order then issue a co 2 canisters and gas for the crowd, can you talk to us about that . So everybodys clear, i was front and center at the protest. At the riot. It was a dont do that. There was no riot. There was. So we were being the officers that were putting themselves in harms way were being pelted with frozen cans of pop, they were being pelted with concrete blocks and yes, we had our helmets on and other protective gear but an officer was injured, hit in the head with a brick, that was a Hennepin County deputy. He was transported to the hospital. So we had to make decisions. We had to disperse the crowd because we couldnt allow our officers to be harmed. And ive already answered the question. I believe about your lighting. I know thats a big deal with you and i understand that, i thought i explained that myself. That is i told you its my decision and thats why i made that decision. Is there another question, yes, maam. The room is tense, i can feel it. What is on your heart . Let him answer, guys. Speak to us for real, like keep it 100. This is what im here for. Okay. Im the leader of this department. They expect me to lead. Create a safe city. Thats what im trying to do. So thats it. Yeah, im emotional. Guys, hes been honest. Im trying to be honest. When i have a question for you. When you asked the protesters to take a step back across the street, what was the reasoning for after they went across the street you shot your tear gas grenades and flash bangs where the people were across the street where you had originally told them to be. The only time that we in every situation that we had we returned fire. So when we got pelted with bricks, or frozen cans, which youve collected and we photographed the evidence, we have the evidence, we can show that to you not in the future, but once we got pelted we responded in kind. And there was a distance and everything that out there who had nothing to do with throwing anything, thats the danger of turning out the lights and firing tear gas and tiring rubber bullets and flying flash bang grenades at people exercising their rights, thats the problem, chief. Would you do things differently . Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We had a situation where we were bringing in arrest teams, we were worried how many people with were we going to arrest. When when he started moving the people u hours into this situation. You know how many people we arrested that stayed, two people. If we hadnt done that, if we hadnt moved people along i dont know what would have happened and i dont know where they would have reformed. But the people that left were allowed to leave. We didnt trap them, we didnt make mass arrests. We arrested two people. So what are the plans for tonight at this protest . Tonight if its a peaceful protest, if its a First Amendment protest, go to it. Whats your definition of a peaceful protest . Not being pelted with bricks, blocks and being targeted. What was it like yesterday when your people up with their hands up, they were being tear gassed and you were talking about officers being hurt, we can count how many people got hurt yesterday too. Im going to ask again, would you do things differently tonight . We are going to have our officers lined up to protect this building, to protect the city as best we can. Thats what were going to do today. And thats what we do every day. Ive got one more question. When the officers were firing tear gas and flash bangs, there was an apartment complex with families behind it. And thats where a lot of the flash bangs were going. Had a flash bang went into one of those windows and started that building on fire, it could have put a lot of other people at risk. Okay. Why . I didnt see any flash bang even close to the apartments. 1400, 67th, i was there. 6740. It went over the buildings. We saw that last night. And i didnt see that myself. Well, we saw it. Im not discounting you. Why was are there going to be more questions . Why was Daunte Wrights body left in the street for hours . The due respect for daunte was given at my order, to keep him, keep the respect of his body, whether that be covered or fenced around, but we needed to have it maintained because we needed the investigation to be complete and thorough. The documentation is not done by us. Its done by the bca, crime team, the entity that investigates these situations. They came out as quickly as they could. They processed the scene as quickly as they could. We did not want to as people have mentioned, once the officers left, the protests and the disturbance went away. We were trying to get our officers out there as soon as possible. Do you understand how dehumanizing that was to have a body lay in the street for five hours . That was a priority of my assignment to get him removed from that as soon as possible. Without disturbing the crime scene so that we wouldnt be accused of tampering with the evidence. All right, now, let me ask, chief, are there any other questions here from any of the media folks . No. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Okay, any i have a final question. So police chief, we hear that you have committed to protecting the building and protecting the city tonight if there are protests, will you commit to protecting protesters and the people of this city . I am committed to protecting the Peaceful Protesters of this city, every day. Not yesterday. Not yesterday. Peaceful protesters. I was a peaceful protester, and they were targeting me. Okay, all right. So thank you, everybody. Just to reiterate, you know, my commitment, our commitment as a city it shall. Weve been listening in to what has become a heated press conference. This is out of Brooklyn Center, minnesota, just outside of minneapolis, which, of course, is the location of the ongoing Derek Chauvin trial in the death of george floyd. This press conference followed another shooting involving an africanamerican man who died at the hands of Law Enforcement. And so as you can imagine there is a lot of emotion in this community and this press conference we learned that what the police chief described was an accidental shooting led to the death of this individual named Daunte Wright who died after a police encounter. He was pulled over in a traffic stop. There was a struggle with Police Officers, which we saw in the video, and then the Police Officer opened fire, shooting Daunte Wright before he got in the car and drove away and eventually crashed that vehicle, and was determined to be dead. I want to bring in our Law Enforcement analyses as well as our legal analyst. We have a former federal prosecutor and cnn legal analyst laura coates and senior Law Enforcement Analysis Police commissioner Charles Ramsey with us. To talk about first, commissioner, at the beginning of this press conference we saw the police c. O. D. Cam video from this encounter and i have to get your reaction to the chief saying it appears the officer pulled her gun instead of her taser. Yeah, obviously i watched the video. First of all, let me say, i think the chief did the right thing getting that Body Worn Camera video out there as quickly as he did. People need to understand the bureau of criminal apprehension have their own protocol around these things but they did leave it up to the chief to make that decision and i think it was good that he did that, even though it did show the shooting is highly questionable and not justified. So the officer apparently drew the gun instead of the taser, yelled taser but drew a gun. I dont know how you do that. The reason you carry it cross draw, you carry it on the side opposite where you carry your firearm is to avoid that kind of problem. If you remember back in 2009 there was a bart officer out in oakland, california that shot mr. Grant who was in a prone position he was carrying his taser and his gun on the same side, i believe, and he drew the gun as opposed to the taser, and departments across the country switch today make sure that couldnt happen again. I mean, it is tragic. But it does need to play out in terms of the process and the investigation. By bca. Now, you should note that this man was pulled over for an expired registration. Initially. That was what led to the police encounter. The chief says that this officer was a very senior officer, commissioner, talk about the training, then, that this officer would have or should have received on tasers versus handguns. Well, yeah, i mean you get all the training. But in the heat of the moment apparently sometimes that didnt kick in. Im not trying to make an excuse for the officer at all, but, you know, things play out on the street, they dont always go along the lines youd like to see them go as far as the training goes. But clearly there was not the initial intent to shoot, there didnt seem to be any indication at all that he was doing anything that would warrant deadly force at that moment in time but it happened. And so there are consequences that go along with that. Theres absolutely no question about that. But right now theyve got to be able to deal with the aftermath. As far as the investigation, getting information out on the officer, dealing with protests that no doubt will take place tonight. Which have already taken place and turned violent, which we saw last night resulting in bricks being thrown or objects some sort being thrown to police, police dispersed a chemical agent at those protesters in a separate location, there were businesses that were vandalized. Laura, from a legal perspective, what did you see and hear in that press conference . Ana, i heard also as a mother who one day will want her son to call her if theres a question about insurance or anything to do, and so its hard to look at exclusively the compartmentalized lens for me being a block woman, the daughter, the wife and mother of black men. But i look at this case and my immediate thoughts go to what is the officer entitled to do if the suspect is fleeing . Well, we have a 1985 Supreme Court case called the garner case that talks about how officers are not entitled to use even deadly force for a fleeing suspect, unless that person who is fleeing presents a deadly harm to himself, the officers or anyone there. The few years ago there was a case in outside of pittsburgh, a young man by the name of antwan rose shot as hes running away because the officer didnt bother to pursue him by foot. You know, we have this continuum force that we know about in our country here where we allow officers the privilege to use force, only if its reasonable, necessary and from portional. My first thought is, would she have been entitled to use a taser . In the video you see the weapon, or her insert her body in some way into the inside of the car. You wonder about whether that was trained, whether the use of force was okay at that point in time. I also learned that of course from our own journalist Adrienne Broaddus i believe asked the question, was she a senior, a veteran officer . That factors in about what a senior veteran officer would have been exposed to in the past, what judgment call she would have had to make. The idea of the split second decision comes back. And remember the Supreme Court does say we give a benefit of the doubt to officers because of split second decisions, but we also gauge what theyre doing by what other on scene officers would have done and what we saw on the scene were other officers who tried to handcuff this young man. If he had gone away, if he had fled in some way, we knew, based on the warrant, i presume, what his name is, possibly his location. We know his license, we know hes actually driving. I hear no indication he was armed in some way to justify the use of deadly force. So when i hear about this idea of an accidental deployment of a Service Weapon as opposed to the taser, all of these things come to mind, and it just increases, in many respects, what you saw, that trust gap between the community and the police chief and the mayor because for the reasons charles talked about, i think about fruitvail station and oscar grant and the word allegedly attempted to use the taser instead of the actual weapon and this for me gives such anxiety as a mother, a black woman, and also as a prosecutor trying to understand how i can gauge all of these things about reasonable force against a police union thats already going to say well due process should go to her as opposed to the young 20yearold son of a mother. And of course nothing happens in a vacuum, because just ten miles away from this policeinvolved shooting in minnesota is the murder trial of former minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, now in its third week of testimony, theyre currently on a lunch break right now but we will soon hear from George Floyds brother whos expected to testify this afternoon earlier today we heard from dr. Jonathan rich, hes a cardiologist who researched dr. Floyds medical records. He disputed that he died from other drug use, et cetera. After reviewing all of the facts in the case i can state with a high degree of medical certainty that george floyd did not die from a primary cardiac event and he did not die from a drug overdose. Let me come right back to you, laura, how important was this testimony from a cardiologist, after hearing last week from many other medical experts. Its extremely compelling because it builds off whats already been said by the pulmonologist, by the forensic pathologist, it reiterated all these points but it wasnt just re redundant. He talked about the idea of what a mildly enlarged heart might have as an impact. He talked about his discussions about fentanyl overdose, how neither of those things, he believed, contributed and actually made the statement that this death, the death of mr. George floyd, he said, was absolutely preventable, and then outlined the different ways it could have been prevented beginning with taking off this restraint in the first instance, rendering cpr, even once a pulse was no longer detected, talking about even repositioning his body away from the prone position, all of these things builds off and reminds the jury where we left off on friday, this very compelling testimony about what could have been done to prevent his death, and how just the notion of a duty of care oweed was withheld by these officers. I want to play a clip from the defense questioning, the crossexamination of this witness, lets listen. Did mr. Floyd have a strong heart . So every indicator is that mr. Floyd had actually an exceptionally strong heart because he was able to generate pressures of upwards of 200 millimeters of mercury on some occasions. We talked a little earlier about my role as a cnn. One of the problems of patients with a heart transplant is is the exact opposite. Let me bring as a result of that sound byte. We have a cardiologist joining us and familiar with the testimony today as well, dr. Dave montgomery, a preventative kwardologist at prevent clinic. After what we heard, dr. Montgomery, can you have a strong heart and still have lifethreatening heart disease. No. I think thats clear. You dont have to go to medical school for that ana. Thanks for having me on. You you cant have a strong heart and have lifethreatening heart disease. And i think thats clear. Commissioner ramsey, what stood out to you from this witness . Well, first of all, what stood out to me, which is the same thing that stood out last week, is the skill in which the prosecutor actually asked questions in a very simple way, straightforward way to elicit the responses the jury could understand. I think thats incredibly important when you have highly technical witnesses providing information. The average layperson doesnt understand the terminology and the like. So he walked it through. I also think this issue of how severe the enlarged heart was and all the things associated with that, at least from that medical opinion, he was able to describe, you know, what he believed to be the case, in terms of the role that may have played in mr. Floyds death. So i think it was a strong witness, much like i thought dr. Tobin was strong last week. Obviously theyll bring forth people to counter that when the defense has opportunity. But i think it did leave an impression with the jury. Lets listen now. I believe we have the sound byte with the defense crossexamining dr. Rich. Lets listen in. Set seven. Mr. Floyd this in the squad car do you think he would have survived. Checking on that if you have a medical opinion as to that . Move to the next slide. So had he not been restrained in the way in which he was, i think he would have survived that day. I think he would have gone home or wherever he was going to go, had he not been subjected to the prone and positional restraint he was. So, in other words, if he had gotten into the squad car hed be alive . I think my answer remains the same. Laura, that that question caught my ear. What did you make of it . I was shaking my head. I thought to myself, so let me get this straight, defense counsel. You want to make the argument that butt for your clients action he would have walked away. And he also want to go a different level and essentially affix blame on to george floyd because he is the reason he was restrained for 9 minutes 29 seconds, because he knew that was going to be the sequence of not going into the back of the squad car because of clauvt phobia and i understand excuse me asking to sit on the ground. That notion reminded me of what happened last week with dr. Thomas, the forensic pathologist when he tried to do a dangerous hypothetical and say if you would have found george floyd at home and he had died and never had a police encounter, would you say the Police Officers were responsible . In other words, if he had in the been killed at the hands of the Police Officers, would you say the cops were to blame . Its a nonsense skal hypothetical. And its the reason why prosecutors and defense do not like to and should not use hypothetical because it points out the obviousness of the fallacy of their position. Clearly based on the crossexamination weve been hearing, not just with this shert but others the defense plans to use, the heart condition are or drugs as part of the attack on the prosecution here, i want to ask you, dr. Montgomery, about, you know, one of the questions and answers we saw the exchange where dr. Rich was asked if he had limited skoem of the floyd medical records. And dr. Rich said he had three years. Is that enough time to get a picture of full health or is it too short. Great yes abo, anna, what typically happens in a Doctors Office is on one note is a synopsis of that persons history. If i am a cardiologist looking at that case, like the cardiologist there, i would have access to all of a his adult history. And so three years of notation means a lot of real information about the strength of his heart. I think you can tell a lot about the status of his heart from those things. I think there is nothing missing there that will help him make the case that his heart was Strong Enough to if he werent, you know, restrained the way he was, that he probably would have survived. Dr. Monk, laura coates and commissioner ramsey, my thanks to all of you for being with us this past hour. I want to say thanks to you joining me today for this first show, anchoring this hours of cnn newsroom. Py hope to earn your trust and loyal viewership. You can count on me to bring the facts, dig for strugt. Seek perspectives and share stories and issues that make a difference backup thats my goal. I will always strive to serve you to the best of my abilities, so that the time you spend here feels like well spent every day. Now, i look forward to doing it tomorrow. Until then you can follow me on twitter ana cabrera. My colleague Brooke Baldwin picks up after this. Have a great rest of the day. New projects means new project managers. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. Claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed. Com home. [sfx psst psst] allergies dont have to be scary. Spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. Psst psst all good you are watching cnn on this monday afternoon. Im Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with with me. Weve got a lot of breaking stories to get through. Breaking news yet another unarmed black man killed by polls in the minneapolis area. This happened alm of ten miles from where derek chauv isnt on trial and in the very same county where the nation watched george floyd take his last breaths. 20yearold Daunte Wright was shot and killed sunday during a traffic stop in the minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Police say after wright was pulled over officers discovered that he had an