These situations, to look at, was it justified for the officer. I dont want to look at something just totally unfair. Theres no excuse in this one. If they had shot while the tussle was going on, and they said, he reached for my gun. Thats normally how thighs happen. Theyre rolling around on the ground and theres a fight for the gun. They shoot right then. Thats not what happened. If this would have happened while they were all rolling on the ground. And you hear someone say gun, hes reaching for my gun, okay, maybe. That didnt happen. They didnt feel like their life was in danger while they were tussling on the ground and rolling around and grabbing things. They waited until he ran off. So their justification went out the door after they let him run. We also have to check on the emotional state of these officers. Because it gets personal. This is a thing, when youre in the field and we understand this, that it is a personal thing. It gets personal to them. They have to divorce themselves from that emotional aspect of that job. Because if you dont, someone can die like we saw today. Or like we saw with that officer and george floyd. It can get personal, theres combat, there are big guys wrestling and fighting. But at a certain point the professional in you has to come out and you have to calm down and be the professional and show that you have training. Which hasnt happened and definitely didnt happen last night. What more can you tell us about mr. Brooks, who he was, his background. Father. He was working at a tortilla place, actually. We had more family members at that house today than i could count. Ton of brothers and sisters that love him more than life. He was supposed to take his daughter skating today. Yeah. For her birthday. Its just and im sick of sitting in someones house and their little kid is playing us, and were trying to laugh with a 1yearold or a 2 yearold or an 8yearold knowing that they will never see their dad again. Im loyalty ramally sick of it. When we were there, she had her birthday dress on because she was waiting for her dad to pick her up and go skating. Yesterday they had their nails done and toes done. Today there was a birthday for her. With cupcakes talking to her mom about why her dads not coming home. Thats the part of it that we see every day, that everybody doesnt see p. M. And thats the part that hits you right here. Its terrible. When you think of walter scott, and you think of five years ago, a little over five years ago. Thats what this is . 20 years for killing a man, what do you say about that . I mean, thats thats literally the case that popped in my mind the whole time i was sitting there today, and we talked about, its just like walter scott people forgot about that case because its been so long. They said the same thing, oh, he took my taser and i shot him while we were wrestling from the taser. Once we got our hands on the video, we saw that he shot him in the back, 30 yards away. And in that case, they tried the whole taser, could have killed me with the taser argument and it didnt work. So it literally brings back memories of walter scott, even watching him get shot in the back just like walter scott. And then it was really horrible hearing the witnesses say they were picking up shell casings or tampering with the scene. Whatever they were doing. The officer went and threw the taser close to the dead body. So its just horrible to be reliving the walter scott case again. And one thing we want to make sure people know. We dont think this is you know, these are one offs, we know theyre not. Were seeing them more and more, thats not because society is getting worse. Just because technology is getting better, all right . There are more cameras everywhere, were seeing more of this stuff, but its the same stuff, its been happening, the difference is you cant lie in your report, because theres a camera thats going to get you. You cant make up some story, because theres a camera thats going to get you. We saw today what happened last night. We saw it, and while mr. Brooks was not perfect. He didnt i mean, he could have done a couple things too, and were not saying he couldnt have. But the officer had the last best chance to stop that from happening. He had the most training to stop that from happening. He didnt do that, and that resulted in our clients death. Is there anything witnesses will tell you about what led to a struggle . They were confused because they thought that the conversation appeared civil or decent. They didnt see him screaming at the cops or doing anything, and then out of the blue they said they tried to arrest him and he got upset and pulled away, like why, what are you all doing. It went from there. And thats i see it too many times, if youre not going to explain why youre going to arrest someone, im going to why am i getting arrested . I can ask whats going on. Why cant you have a conversation with him about why hes being arrested . The witness told you he was dragged out of the car . No, they were speaking outside of the vehicle from what they said. He willingly got out. But like i said, this just happened yesterday, were still talking to people. Every witness, white, black, theyre just blown away, because it should not have happened. And there was no reason for him to shoot him while he was running off. This wasnt a violent crime, they had his i. D. , they knew where he lived. They knew what kind of car they have the car. Where is he going . But its just because, the value of life is gone somewhere. Its like a video game where you just think you shoot somebody and its not an actual father or a human being. Im starting to lose faith. Ive known you for years, ive never seen you like this. I know youre tired, youre sad, youre mad, i dont want to speak for you. But youre still ready to fight . Yeah, thats never thats not going to change. Were going to keep fighting these as long as we have to, and make sure people get fired or resign or whatever, get put in jail, we have to do our part to try to make it stop. The one thing that we realized is, its a national effort. Black, white, male, female, the only way this is going to change is if everybody keeps coming together. People who are conservative or didnt want to speak up or say anything. You have to speak up. Is it time to change training all together. It seems like in all these cases, all these officers dont do that training. Is it the nature of the training . Weve covered a million of these. We know theres so many loopholes, theres no clear time of when the shooter knocks its always in the mind of the officer. Sometimes the fate of that officer is not okay. Theyre not well. Theyre not theyre too angry or too upset. It should be this wouldnt have happened if theres you cannot shoot someone unless theyre pointing a gun at you or brandishing a gun. You just cant shoot them. You cant shoot them if they have a taser or they have a knife and theyre 50 feet away. They go to jail. There are definite rules like that, lawyers have rules, doctors have rules. You cant leave something in somebodys body. But with a police officer, theres so much gray area. Theres no other job where you could take someones life, liberty or freedom. You just theres no job that is as powerful as a police officer. They should be up on the standard of doctors and lawyers and looked at like that, but theyre not. And thats got to change. To that training question that was just asked, it does need to be overhauled, we need to focus more on deescalation and less on mill tarization. The Police Officers walk around in these neighborhoods, they have flack jackets on. Some of them have ars and other assault type rifles, they are armed to the teeth and Walking Around people intimidating and insighting fear. There used to be a time when officers walked around they knew your name you knew their name. That time is over, especially in the black community. I dont remember a time that that has been the case in the black community. And now that time is completely over. We need to focus the Police Department more on deescalation. And if officers are going to be in the community. Check and see how close these officers lived to that community that they were policing. I guarantee you are they live nowhere near there. If they did, check and see what kind of contacts they have. Did their kids go to school in that community . I guarantee you, the answer is no. If they did. They would understand that hey, these are people too, and maybe i could deal with them the same way i deal with people who live close to me. And that has a lot to do with empathy like we said before. This week, other than trying to solve this well be releasing our thoughts and ideas over what changes we think could end this from having handled so many of these. Because somethings got to happen other than just lawsuits and arrests. Thank you all. The family will be speaking on monday. They needed some time. All right, there you have it. Very strong words from these two lawyers representing rashard brooks, shot and killed by Police Last Night at a wendys drive through restaurant. I want to show our viewers whats going on on the streets of atlanta right now. Large crowds are gathering right now, theyre clearly seeking to shut down i75. Natasha chen, before we get some analysis of what we just heard from these two lawyers, very strong words from l. Chris stewart and justin miller, tell us what youre seeing right now, youre on the scene for us. What is this i75 . Yes, this is the protesters have tried to get on to the freeway. They were going up the hill, up the ramp, obviously with officers trying to stop that from happening. And then you have another group of people, crowds that are still gathered on the street below. Theyre scattered throughout the area, all along the street close to the wendys where this incident first happened. Theyre really urging people to join them on the interstate, which police are trying to discourage. About 30 minutes ago, on the ground, on the street closer to the wendys, there was a group gathered around a squad car sort of blocking it in. And at that point there was some tear gas deployed, there was a flash bang and people really dispersed and ran in different directions. They sort of regrouped and started walking toward the freeway ramps at that point, wolf. The crowd seems to be getting bigger and bigger. So i guess the police are just allowing these folks to stand on this freeway interstate 75 right now. There doesnt seem to be any effort to remove them, right . At this moment, it looks like theyre sort of i dont know what the right term would be, theyre sort of staring at each other. There are Police Squad Cars and other Law Enforcement, i think i saw state troopers, you know, helping to block the freeway ramps with their vehicles, but, of course, that has not stopped people from running up the hillside up to the interstate. So they have made an attempt to stop people using their squad cars at the base of the ramps, and, of course, at this another freeway ramp on the other side, we were seeing a line of troopers and officers forming a line themselves, to try to stop people from entering the ramp. Like i said, that didnt stop people from going around and just going up the grassy hill up to the interstate, wolf. We saw them as we were watching, the news conference. We saw people beginning to climb that little hill up to i75, and there you see the live pictures coming in right now. Tell us what happened earlier, there was a real standoff between Police Outside that wendys restaurant, they were trying to get their car removed and some of the protesters were blocking them . It was a tense moment we were watching. Yeah, that wasnt in front of the wendys directly, it was across the street at a liquor store. It looks like theres some movement now. It looks like people are coming down the hill. I guess police are trying to disperse this group as well. It looks like police cars beginning to make a move to remove these folks from i75. A major interstate, a major freeway in the atlanta area. Go ahead. Earlier, it was a group that was surrounding a squad car by a liquor store across the street from the wendys. And i believe its because that squad car was sort of blocked in. And we were trying to observe what was happening, but from a safe distance. I dont know exactly what happened right up in front what we saw next was tear gas and people running in all directions and a flash bang after that. Stand by, i dont want you to go too far away, i want to bring in cedric alexander. Cedric, what do you think about this situation . You heard those two lawyers rashard brooks, but now you see the standoff, a tense situation in atlanta. What were looking at, is reminiscent of where we were a week, two weeks ago, unfortunately, i hope in all this, is that the protesters that are out there, they remain peaceful, because if their response is in response to the loss of the life of this young man that happened last night, the only way their voice is going to be heard is that they can they can peace. Ly protest and carry out that mission. It is important that they do so. But, you know, you and i have been here before, we were here back in 2014 for Michael Brown and subsequent cases that occurred. And here we are again back here tonight. Something is going on in this country that were going to truly have to address. And at this point for me, and someone who has been in Law Enforcement, had been in Law Enforcement for a long time, i will tell you, this country is hurting, people are afraid, people are frightened, people are sad, people are angry, and people dont like feeling that way any more. Ill tell you, wolf, for someone like myself, who spent all my life pretty much in public safety, it really hurts me as im quite sure it does many other chiefs and sheriffs across this country when we hear that people dont trust us any more. And then we have situations to arise. Whether they were justified or not, at this moment in the eyes of people across this country. They are the only thing they have in their mind are the images that they saw a week ago, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, so its hard for many people to move from this place, but we do have to give the investigative body there in georgia an opportunity to do their investigation to complete it. And to afford whatever theyre able to reveal to the public. But it is hard for people to have any patience. Its hard for people to feel that they can trust, but i encourage them. Weve seen the work of the gbi, theyve always been fair and balanced. I worked with them, they responded to a number of officer involved shootings i was involved in, they are thorough, they are fair, and if you go back to the arbery case a few weeks ago, they were able to come in, due an investigation and come to some resolve about what needed to be done. Im hoping in light of whats going on in this country today that we allow all evidence to present itself, we still have not seen and heard from other people. Such as youve heard the attorneys even spoke to tonight. Theres some statements there, based on what we heard so far. So im my concern right now, is that that community in atlanta and across this country is that people march peacefully and i dont want them to lose focus of their concern, because i want people in america and around the world to hear them. But they cant hear anything when it turns to violence. Stand by, cedric. I want to bring back mark morielli, the former mayor of new orleans, mark, you were watching the two lawyers representing brooks. They had strong and powerful words they were uttering, you see these protesters, theyve climbed up that hill, shut down i75 in atlanta. Im sure you know the area well. I know the area myself. Theres no traffic on the interstate right now, give us your analysis mark, whats happening in in atlanta right now in the aftermath of this Police Shooting at the wendys. I think the two lawyers could not have been clearer in indicating what in fact this case is all about. This man was shot in the back while fleeing and he was user a taser, which is not a deadly weapon. I think importantly, wolf, that part of this matter. That part of this case, and then at the beginning, what in fact caused the tussle between the Police Officers and the gentle men. What caused that, at the beginning of the case. Did the officers act in a provocative way . In a way that escalated the conversation. It would be troubling to me if they sought to arrest him without conducting a field sobriety test, calling for the breathalyzer truck to come out and determine whether or not he broke the law whether he was feeling bad or sick. The lawyers, i think, laid this matter out, and enough is enough, wolf. See, this is an accumulation of cases which seem to just fit a pattern. An unarmed black man is shot by the police either fleeing or not doing anything threatening or provocative. It was unnecessary use of force in this instance. What is changing our perspective on this is the availability of tapes, our ability to see it with our own eyes. Make our own judgment and make our own determination. What i say to people, if they say is more happening now than before . I dont think so. I think theres more transparency. More visibility, we can see, the old lies and stories and coverups are much more difficult to advance now. These officers, pick up those shell casings, they would they were determined to tamper with the scene of a crime. That alone is causation. For not only the prosecution, but for them to lose their jobs. The protesters in atlanta as i mentioned, this is an accumulation. This is the george floyd situation, the Ahmaud Arbery situation, its the Brianna Taylor situation. And in atlanta the two prior cases along with the two college students, the other with the woman who was thrown to the ground and broke her clavicle. Has certainly got the community in a protest mindset. I think that mindset is going to continue. Its one thing, and i think everyone agrees, that the protesters should be peaceful. But also, the police cant be provocative and escalate. I have a big problem with the use of tear gas, with chaos, confusion and sometimes can escalate the solution beyond where it ought to be. The final thing ill say. The justice and policing act now pending before the congress. I think people understand why there needs to be a powerful federal response in the justice and policing act we think is that federal response. It doesnt solve the problem by itself. It will be the most powerful statement the congress and the United States could make at this time on this issue. Mark, i want to you stand by, cedric, everybody, natasha is with us. Joey jackson is still with us, Cornell William brooks is going to be joining us. Were staying on top of the breaking news. Protesters shutting down i75. Now it looks like theyre moving to under 75, elsewhere in the area. Natasha is with us, shes going to update all of these viewers on the late breaking developments. This after the Police Shooting of rashard brooks in a wendys parking lot. T us foods we help you make it. You, the independent restaurants of america. Weve always got your back, but through all of this. You made it happen. You made our friday nights. You even made us dessert. So, to help you get back to full strength, were giving away free reopening kits at our website so you can safely reopen your doors. For all you do, from all of us, let us help you make it. For an everyday item to become dangerous. Tide pods childguard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. To close, twist until it clicks. Tide pods childguard packaging. For as little as 5, now anyone can own companies in the s p 500, even if their shares cost more. 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As a result of the killing of rashad brooks at a wendys drive through. He was in his car, apparently fell asleep. Police showed up, others were driving around him in the drive through. Lasers were shot, he had a laser and in the end the police shot and killed him as he was trying to run away, and we heard from the two lawyers representing rashard brooks make passionate intense statements about why this was certainly wrong. You can see the protesters still there, i75. That whole area has now been shut down. Its a tense situation. Were waiting to see if the police clear that interstate, i assume at some point they will. Who knows whats going to happen, its 9 30 p. M. In atlanta. Here on the east coast of the United States. You can see cars backed up, police on the scene. This is not a good situation right now, weve been getting analysis from all of our guests and analysts, i want to bring in Cornell William brooks. Cornell, you and i have been on these situations many times over the years, but you know atlanta. You see whats going on, the mayor of atlanta. She basically accepted the resignation of the Atlanta Police chief who will get another job within the Police Department. Theres an interim police chief in america right now. This situation is very tense. The lightning speed or seemingly lightning speed resignation of the Atlanta Police chief is compared in the hearts and minds of people to the glacial speed that we made with respect to Police Brutality over the years, Rayshard Brooks looks a lot like walter scott in charleston back in 2015, that is to say, shot in the back. How many of us have been in a drive through in a parking lot as a consequence of overwork, sleep deprivation, fallen asleep in a, paed vehicle in many of us. How two we go from that to a 27yearold man being shot in the back. This is a metaphor for the state of policing in this country where you have a thousand People Killed by the Police Every Year in georgia. The Georgia Bureau of investigations is investigating, has been called to investigate 48 Police Involved homicides this year. The point being, we have all together too much killing, way too much killing of black people. But certainly other people, so much so that Police Homicide is the sixth leading cause of death of people Rayshard Brooks age. This is a tense a situation, this is a tense situation, not as a consequence of the anger and the reaction the of the protesters but the inaction of Police Departments across this country. Thats where we are. What does it say to you that weve been almost three weeks, weve been seeing protests following the killing of george floyd in minneapolis 46 years old. And then all of a sudden, we see another incident along these lines, we see the video, were showing our viewers the video thats been obtained by cnn. Very disturbing video, i must say. What does it say to you, we see another example along these lines that its still happening . What it says is for every police officer, every police chief, every mayor, every governor, every president who says that Police Homicide, Police Brutality, this pandemic of Police Misconduct is a matter of a few bad apples, it says that they are tragically, sadly, obviously mistaken, this is a top to bottom problem in policing. Be clear about this. In 2015, when walter scott was killed, that was like the Great Recession of policing in terms of trust. We are now in the Great Depression in terms of distrust of the police. This means we have to call for the whole scale transformation of policing in this country. Not just from the bottom up. Police department by Police Department, hash tag by hash tag, but from the top down as well. Calling the Police Unions to the table. They have got to take responsibility. Congress is beginning to take action. Wolf, ill tell you this, one of the things id like to see is a National Summit on Police Brutality convened by former president s, have them convene, clinton, bush, carter, obama, calling the nation together, calling activists together, calling Police Unions, police chiefs, academics, philanthropists, Business Leaders to the table to talk about transforming policing from the bottom up as well as from the top down. We have not a moment to waste. Hold on for a moment. I want to set the scene of what were seeing right now, this is i75, a huge interstate in and around the atlanta area, theres a standoff right now, on the one side there are protesters blocking i75, you see a lot of cars backed up, police on the scene. The protesters are note moving. Many of them ran away, but many of them are still there blocking i75, you see more police, i assume on the scene there, they want to reopen this major interstate. But theres angry protesters, theyre very upset about what happened late last night in this wendys in atlanta. What do you think . The protests are going to continue, i think what you see in atlanta will continue. It will continue into tomorrow. Into next week, and into next month. All across this nation are people using their First Amendment rights, their right to free speech, peacefully assemble. The right to petition the government for addressing grievances. While it may be uncomfortable to see the interstate blocked, its in the tradition of the civil disobedience of dr. King, a message being sent to those high and mighty. Its a message being sent to Police Leadership across the nation. To the congress that change is necessary, and change must come now. We dont need any more commissions. We dont need any more studies. We dont need any more think thanks. The ideas are on the table. And i think at this point, the rebuilding of Police Departments from top to bottom is essential. What we saw here was a comedy of mistakes i shung the say a comedy of mistakes, a tragedy of mistakes in atlanta from the beginning all the way until this man lost his life. And we see this all too often. Too many black people, over 1,000 in the last five years alone have been killed by the police. 125 of them unarmed. These numbers are alarming. Its taking the lives of our kids, our children, the lives of our young little brothers, our fathers. Our uncles, these are human beings whose lives are being taken by those who wear the badge and hold the gun. I expect a protest to continue. It is inconvenient, but police should not use aggressive tactics to clear that highway at this instance. It will make a difficult situation worse. Thats whats important, how do you deescalate the situation. People are upset and i understand that it is an interstate highway. But the use of force on essentially Peaceful Protesters does no good at this point in this situation. So i think its a balancing act in terms of what the police should and should not do. And certainly the protesters are rightfully angry and upset all across the nation. But what atlanta should do is what every other city should do, they need to start right now in terms of how they rebuild their department and its from top to bottom, from hiring to training to discipline, et cetera. Were showing our viewers an aerial shot from the wendys where this incident occurred last night. Last night after 10 00 p. M. , all of a sudden Rayshard Brooks fell asleep in his car at the drive through. Other cars were going around, Police Showed up, and the situation deteriorated. Natasha chen is joining us on the phone right now. I understand you were there on i75. And then something happened. Update our viewers on what you and our photojournalists with you saw and what happened to you guys . Right, so after you saw the people gathered on the freeway, there was a much larger group. For a very large group started walking down the street down university avenue, toward that wendys and there were many two or three individuals that began throwing things at the wendys windows, broke the glass. A couple of them went inside. I saw another person trying to set fire to one of the umbrellas, the patio area outside the wendys. Our photojournalist, producer and i were trying to get video of what was happening, and there were protesters very angry that we were recording this, and tried to block our cameras. The journalists camera and my cell phone. At that point they got aggressive and our camera, our cnn camera was broken. And so we decided to back out of that area, so right now we left the immediate area. But that scene has deteriorated there, i can see there were other people in the crowd asking why are they doing this . And why others were egging them on. A lot of different reactions as to whether or not its the right choice to go after the wendys building. You were there, you had a photojournalist, a producer, there were three of you. Did you have any security with you . One, yes. One security person who was helping us out. Another set of eyes to keep a look out for us. And i think actually, i should back up a little bit, we had two photojournalists actually, one with the camera and another person who is operating on my view, what would help us broadcast to all of you, broadcast the images to you. So there were four or five of us, and it just got a bit chaotic in the moment. I was trying to record cell phone video while the photojournalist was recording video on his camera, the next thing i know im turning around and i see these two protesters really going after the camera, and thats when i was told that, you know, we should get out of there. They broke your camera, which is very disturbing. First of all, natasha, are you and our colleagues and friends, are you okay . I believe that we are. I heard from our producer, in the immediate moment, we had to leave and because of the various roadblockages, we all had to kind of go in slightly different directions, but i believe were all accounted for and fine. I want you to be very careful natas natasha, this is a tense situation near that wendys. The windows have been broken at the wendys, some were going inside and so just to be precise, they were threatening you and your photojournalists, your producer and as a result you did the right thing and tried to get away. Thats not the kind of situation you want to stay in. These are live pictures were showing our viewers i75 in atlanta which has been blocked by protesters, and the police would like to reopen this whole area there, you see the aerial shot from wendys and you see some getting close to that westerndys right now. Stand by natasha, i want you to catch your breath and be careful out there. I hope all of you, our cnn crew are okay. Its a very tough situation. Joey jackson is with us, our cnn legal analyst, the criminal defense attorney and joey, as were watching these pictures, you heard the two lawyers make the case why the killing by police of Rayshard Brooks at that wendys was totally without justice, without justification at all. What was the reaction when you heard the powerful words from those two attorneys. We are in a difficult state of affairs in this country. When you look at the protesters in atlanta, l. A. , new york and around the country. Youll notice that theyre multicultural. I think that means that people are getting to understand that something is wrong. Something is amiss, as it relates to the treatment of people of color by africanamericans and other people of color by Law Enforcement. What is happening, we are in the midst of a fundamental debate. And that debate has gone so far as to speak to the issue of defunding different things, does it mean taking away the resources or the redirection of the resources . Thats a conversation we have to have. People ask a fundamental question, did the person have to die . Are there other reasonable alternative measures that could have been employed that a life is preserved. Are people of color being seen as less than. Are they not looked at as fathers, sons, brothers, uncles. If you look at people in that way, perhaps your interactions with them are more fair and more appropriate. It doesnt lead to that. To the legal issues briefly. Wen watt to look and examine what led to that. Why did it get there, was there not an interaction and discussion that took place. Such that the matter could have been ramped down. Could have been deescalated. How are you today . Tell me whats going on . Are you sleeping here . Whats the story . Why did it get to a tussle first. And then when we see him running away, okay, youre running away, do you need to shoot the person . We kohl talk about the legal structures, yes, was there an immediate threat that the officer felt to their life or were they in threat of serious physical injury. They knew he had a taser. Why does it end in death as opposed to something else, until we can get to the core of that question and have dialogue with the communities, have officers interacting in a way where they can relate to the community and dont have to shoot and kill a person in the community. Were going to be talking about this day and night. And that is a very sad state of affairs. Joey, you heard l. Chris stewart, one of the attorneys representing Rayshard Brooks, hes been doing this for many years, he said, i dont know, i dont know what justice is any more. He got so frustrated and angry, when he saw what was going on, there were he made the point youre making, there was no need to shoot and kill this 27yearold man. And then we heard from justin miller, the other attorney representing Rayshard Brooks, instead of trying to deescalate a tense situation, they were engaged in confrontation and intimidation. This is going to be a long process were about to go through right now. You see whats still going on on i75. Protesters have blocked off this major interstate in the atlanta area right now, cars are backed up presumably for miles and miles, police not moving yet to try to disperse this crowd, i can only imagine what is about to unfold, joey. We have a very fundamental First Amendment right in this country, that has been exercised over the years. People spoke up and didnt sit down. That gives me the ability to have this conversation with you tonight. I think the fact is, people are taking a stand and saying enough is enough. Back to the lawyers and what they did, yes, i know chris stewart, the family will be well served. Hes losing faith, its easy to understand why he would be. Im hopeful we can get this together. The hope does begin to wane when you see interaction after interaction, and death after death. Is it a training issue . Is it an issue where the police need to come from the communities theyre serving. Where people need to respect and understand that people are human beings, no matter the color or the shape. I dont know what the critical core matter is, the core matter here has to be fixed and it has to be fixed by the collective, and i think again what impresses me is that these crowds are multicultural. Its a movement thats joined by any person of good will. Until we take the measures to get police on the same page as their communities, were going to see these protests. The critical point is, what these protests lead to, and if they could lead to meaningful change and i think thats appropriate. I will tell you here in new york, our legislature, and i spoke to our speaker just last week, they looked to pass legislation that protects communities, that makes officers records public with regard to their disciplinary records. Which bans choke holds, other things to reform policing, so when you call the police, theyre going to help and protect you and serve you, which is their core mission. And ultimately hopefully well have less deaths. Joey, stand by, Cornell William brooks is with us. Cornell, this is clearly, you can see, now we can see some smoke coming up, i dont know if theres a fire or whats going on, there is a tense situation on i75 in the atlanta area right now, that wendys, we can see that, the windows have been smashed in, and people have been breaking into that wendys where the incident occurred last night, Rayshard Brooks shot and killed by police. They discovered him in his car. He had fallen asleep in the drive through lane and all of a sudden the situation deteriorated. Cornell, how are we going to get out of this tense situation right now . Well, heres one thing i know, my mother lives in atlanta. She marched with congressman clyburn in the 1960s peacefully and nonviolently. They and many other protesters in the Civil Rights Movement were confronted by violent police. We condemn the violence then in birmingham and selma, we have to condemn the violence now in atlanta, in new york and cities across the country. The way we get out of this situation is not merely calling upon the protesters to be nonviolent. But call upon the police to be nonviolent. And that means passing national legislation, enacting local policy across the 18,000 Police Departments across the country. We have to be clear about this, we know what to do. We simply need to generate the local and national will and a sense of urgency. We have to be clear about this, the fact that we have people around the world protesting in the midst of a pandemic says a couple things. It says, yes, people are outraged. Yes, the people are angry, it also says the people have frustrated hope. That is to say, theyre frustrated that their hope that reform and transformation can come about, that it has not come about. I believe that it can, and this is the moment. Weve been here before. Wolf, ferguson, charleston, minneapolis, baton rouge, louisiana, weve been here time and time and time again. But the moment has arrived. We are at midnight hour in our democracy, the people are calling for transformation of these Police Departments, Congress Must act. City councils must act. Police departments must act. And i honestly believe deeply believe we need a National Summit to call the people together. To bring these Police Unions to the table. All the partners to the table and take advantage of this tragic moment to bring an end to 21st century lynching. All right, stand by, our legal analyst arriva martin is watching all this unfold. I want her to give us her thoughts. This is a reset. Youre looking at a fire that has been set in that area. These are the protesters, obviously very angry over the Police Shooting of Rayshard Brooks at this wendys. I75 is not open. They would like to reopen the police. There are miles and miles of cars backed up on that interstate. Were seeing the situation, the tension clearing arriva escalate. What do you think . Well, this is such a tragic day. In the midst of us fighting for Police Reform and seeing people come together all over the world to demand change, we now have yet another death of an unarmed africanamerican man at the hands of white Police Officers, i think whats so tragic about this case, it reminds me of so many cases where weve seen black men running away from the police. There are things that could have been done from a police standpoint to deescalate the situation. A simple interaction turns into a deadly encounter. I know there are lots of experts who say we need to have more meetings, we have to bring more people to the table. The frustration is so high among advocates and protesters and people of good conscience and black mothers like myself, for me, this is about Reimagining Public Safety in this country. We cant keep doing the same thing, accepting expecting theres going to be a different result. Thats the definition of insanity here. And thats what this feels like to me. As big as this moment is. Im in conversations with the police and with the elected officials in the city of los angeles, and i dont really sense that at that level we are really moving toward those systemic changes that are going to ever put an end to the kind of death that we witnessed on the videotape with mr. Brooks, mr. Employed and the list is so long. We cant keep asking for incremental change, thats why were hearing about disbanding and dismantling, some people get nervous about that, i think those big bold ideas have to be on the table if were going to address the systemic issues that treat police who treat africanamericans as suspects and criminals rather than as citizens. Thats what i saw own this videotape. Two white Police Officers who were angry at this black man who took their taser, running to get away. Rather than deescalate, they shoot him as hes running away. Until we start thinking about Reimagining Public Safety in this country. We will continue to see that kind of lawlessness by Police Officers. And you can see on the left part of your screen, aerial shots, a lot of police cars coming to that area. The interstate, which is totally blocked off by protesters. And you dont see the protesters right now, but you see a lot of backup, a lot of Police Officers showing up over there, they want to clear this interstate. If we lose that banner, i think well see there are the protesters right there, theyre not budging at least not yet, and theyre Standing Firm in this area, they dont want to give up their protesting, at least not yet. Well see if that changes. Mark morial is still with us as well, the former mayor of new orleans. Mark, how two they resolve this . How do they get the protesters to move peacefully away, continue their protesting, stop blocking this interstate, which is causing a major backup . Not very far from the wendys. You see a shot of the wendys where the incident occurred last night, and a fire thats still blazing over there, not too far away from that westerndies. Community is in a moment to easily cooperate with the police. When the anger and the outrage is directed at the police. In the aftermath of the death of this man. This is not going to be an easy situation to diffuse or to deescalate. I did want to add this, i think when we think about deescalation. At the very beginning when this gentleman was stopped, or when this gentleman first encountered the police, they had an option. If he was sleeping in his car, one option would have been to call ems. To call for a wellness check. And when we talk about a reimagined nation of policing. Part of this is to find different ways to respond to situations in communities, as opposed to the police responding. In this instance, in this instance, this gentleman may have needed medical attention in this instance. As one earlier commentator offered an observation. He could have been asked to pull his car to the side. The officers could have assisted him in finding his way home. If they did not conduct the field sobriety tests as some of the witnesses have indicated. What probable cause did they have to detain him or arrest him. We need to make sure we look at the front of this case, the escalation of the incident appears to have been caused by the actions of the officers. But this reimagination of policing, which i strongly support, this rethinking of policing has to take place at the local level. And i think mayors particularly have to take the leadership to begin to do this, and we cant leave the elephant out. The elephant in many communities are Police Shootings that have entirely too much power, entirely too much say and who take the position that theyre going to defend their officers when theyre absolutely wrong. So theres a lot to do. And i think the protests are simply going to turn for the foreseeable future, people are finding their voice. Theyre finding a way to express themselves on a very difficult issue. And theyre standing up to racism, theyre standing up to hatr hatred. And the police and Police Brutality and Police Misconduct is the linchpin in this country. Those protests. I went to the one in washington, d. C. , earlier today. Are like a Community Gathering with young people, older people, people from all backgrounds. It was a powerful sight. It was a positive sight as people rally for positive cause. Sometimes the pictures which may focus on the conflict dont capture the essence of what most people are out there protesting for. All right. Everybody stand by, were looking at these live pictures coming in from atlanta right now. We want to once again welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer here in washington. This is a special edition of the situation room. Weve been following the breaking news in atlanta. Its been the site of protests for 19 Straight Days following the killing of george floyd. Tonight a new name being chanted there, that name being Rayshard Brooks. They have shut down an entire interstate. They have appeared to set a fire. Theyre looting where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed last night. Police were called about a man sleeping in a car in wendys drive through. Around 10 30. They say he failed a field sobriety test. And then he resisted arrest. Im going to walk you through the videos right now, i want to warn our viewers the videos are disturbing. Look at this one, this video taken by a bystander, you can see a struggle. The yellow object in the officers hand is a taser