Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim

Officer garrett rolfe, the one who fired the shots after brooks. Disciplinary record showed he was reprimanded just in 2017 for use of force involving a firearm, and he had several citizens complaints against him. Hill file shows no Department Action was taken on those. Well have more on that in a moment. In minneapolis just released calls showed a 911 dispatcher warned her supervisor something was wrong as she watched George Floyds killing in realtime. Two other eyewitness eds, one a First Responder himself, urgently called 911 to report what they were witnessing in this moment. Well take you live to minnesota for an update on that. And at the white house in just a few hours the president will sign an executive order on policing. Well take you live to the rose garden when that happens. Lets go first to Diane Gallagher in atlanta this morning. What is the latest in the investigation into the killing of Rayshard Brooks . Yeah, poppy, the District Attorney said we may hear something if there will be charges presented as early as tomorrow. I want to get into those disciplinary records though that you referenced just a few moments ago. Officer garrett rolfe, the one that police say fired the shots that killed Rayshard Brooks, he has a disciplinary action record. Were talking about this use of norse complaint from 2016 involving a firearm. It resulted in a written reprimand the following years in 2018. Almost a dozen different complaints taken against him. No action taken on those. However, another incident that involved the discharge of a firearm in 2015, theres no resolution on his record. Were not sure if theres no action, if its still under investigation, what happened there. Its not included in the paperwork. Atlanta police didnt include details on that incident in 2016 either. Officer brosnan has two fire discharges, one of them this month. One appears to be from this night here at the wendys in atlanta that killed Rayshard Brooks. And before you go, diane, the newly released 911 call that happened before Rayshard Brooks was killed. Can you tell us more about that, i guess, what led police to come . Reporter yeah. I want you to take a listen to this bit from the 911 call right now to hear what the situation was that police were being called out to. I have a car. I think hes intoxicated. Hes in the middle of my drivethrough, i tried to wake him up, but hes parked dead in the middle. I dont know whats wrong with him. Is he breathing, maam, do you know in. Yeah. He woke up and looked at me and i was like youve got to move out of the drive through because people are going around him. Hes in the middle of it just right there. What kind of a car . Try to go around it. Whats the color of it. He had too much to drink and had to pulled over to go to sleep. The drive through lane was lined with candles and its been decorated with graffiti, rest in peace, rayshard, and police say they will get justice and change in his name. They have been out here at all hours of the night and morning just coming to pay their respects at this wendys. Diane, thank you for those important updates. Lets go to minneapolis now where just released calls and transcripts show a dispatcher and two bystanders voicing concerns in realtime as they are witnessing the killing of george floyd. Our Josh Campbell is in minneapolis with more. Good morning, josh. How explain to people how this dispatcher at a different location was able to watch the killing of george floyd in realtime. Reporter yeah. Poppy, weve heard a lot of eyewitness account about what transpired that day here in minneapolis, but this is the First Official sense that were getting, as you mentioned, from a dispatcher. Were hearing that audio and technology allowed dispatchers to see in realtime what officers are seeing. They can tap into body camera footage and look at footage inside patrol cars and what this officer saw that day troubled her enough that she wanted to make sure a supervisor was aware. She saw the officers in her words sitting on george floyd. Any type of incident where officers are using force they will called a supervisor and the dispatcher saying she wasnt aware a supervisor had been called. She wanted to make sure that the bosses were aware. Thats one part of a chilling new audio that were hearing. Were also hearing from an offduty firefighter who called 911 to say that he saw the officers on george floyd and were not rendering aid. Not checking for a pulse on the man that lay on the ground. One eyewitness audio that were hearing from another bystander saying this person saw the officers on george floyd and that floyd was not resisting. Again, the question comes what was the public doing . Were they concerned . Obviously they were concerned. We saw it on that eyewitness cell phone video footage and now people who were so concerned about what they were seeing, including a police official, that they made sure that the bosses at the Police Department were aware by calling 911. Poppy. Josh, thanks for the update. Lets talk to elliott williams, former federal prosecutor and legal analyst. Good morning, poppy. So were going to get charges or no charges tomorrow from the d. A. In the killing of Rayshard Brooks, and, you know, you make a few interesting points on this. You say, look, you cant kill someone just because you cant catch up to them, right . Police know a taser is not a deadly weapon. At the same time you do not think that this is clear cut. Explain why. Its not as clear cut as the case in minneapolis, and just to be clear, so, look, any defense that officer rolfe can provide is, look, there was a scuffle. He was armed with a taser. On its face, you know, we watched the video. I watched the video. Its pretty clear someone is fleeing. Its not great, but about the officers defense isnt frivolous. Now, the questions that i know the d. A. Is weighing right now, number one, were those shots fired to save someones life, so save the officers life . Did he think that a felony was being committed and that he was firing shots in order to prevent that . Now, based on what we saw in that tape, based on the fact that we know that the officer reached for his firearm even before mr. Brooks took out the taser, its just clear and if not close to clear that the officer again, i use that word frivolous. The officer has an argument here even if its not a winner. So lets roll this video. I wanted to pull this up because i wonder if you think how much of a factor you think it will be in whether charges come down and what they might be. This is video camera of him being of Rayshard Brooks being patted down. Thats my wallet. Whats all that . How much money do you have in your pocket . You hear the officer asking how much money he had in his pockets and at this point they know hes not armed, elliott. Look. It goes on for 20 minutes. Let me just be blunt for a second. If every time someone was stopped for a dui in east hampton, new york or greenwich, connecticut the cities would cease to function. The mere fact that this individual might have been inebriated behind the wheel of his car suddenly needs to escalate into him getting killed is foolish and tied to all of these questions were having nationwide about race and policing right now. They knew he wasnt armed. They did 20 minutes of field sobriety tests and frankly tasers, the whole point behind tasers is that they are nonlethal so the officer couldnt have thought his life was in danger if he was shooting at someone he was holding a taser. Pokes holes in all the arguments the officers might want to present. Elliott, when it comes to officer rolfe who fired the shots, we now know from the reporting that there were several citizens complaints against him. One use of force complaint in 2017 and that really no action was taken outside of 2017, a written reprimand. Is the that normal . Well, okay. I mean, theres two questions here. Its what is the culture of policing and what do we allow police to do and what can come into court . The mere fact that he might be a rotten guy who had a disciplinary or the lack of a disciplinary record before, i think it will be tough to get into court to establish that this case happened. As a bigger sort of macro question about what we allow police to get away with in the United States and how we think of policing, yes, thats absolutely relevant and troubling, and thats why in atlanta i know that the mayor and the police chief have just implemented a number of reforms to crack down on that lack of accountability for Police Officers on the beat. Elliott, thank you. Well see what happens from the d. A. Tomorrow. Thank you. Major changes overnight right here in new york city for the nations Biggest Police force. The commissioner calls this a Seismic Shift in the culture of the department. Brynn gingras is here with me. Reporter in fact, this changes the entire way the nypd will police. Remember, its the largest Police Department in the entire country. Essentially the commissioner disbanding the anticrimes unit, 600 officers who are now not going to be in plain clothes and within other departments within the nypd. To break it down even more, the anticrime units across this department, there were 77 in all because they were in each precinct of new york city. They could go after the violent offenders, the Violent Crime acts that were going on in progress. Their mission was to disarm people, and can you see how that would have an effect on the communities they were serving, of course, causing a lot of tension and hence the reform that weve been hearing the calls for reform. Thats why the commissioner said thats it, no more, essentially saying we need to change the way were policing, calling it this now 21st century policing. Essentially hes saying we need to have more, you know, knowledgebased intelligence. We need to rely on data, and thats the way we should be policing instead of using force like they were seeing with these plain clothes officers. Thats the major change were seeing that we havent seen in the city in decades. Police union having serious issues with this, referencing a recent uptick in gun violence that were seeing in new york city and the president of the pba reading a fiery statement. He says shooting and murders are climbing steadily upward but the city decided proactive policing isnt a priority. They chose this strategy and will have to reckon with the consequences and the commissioner saying he knows theres a risk involved in this and carries that risk and says this is important because its going back to trying to build those relationships between the police and the communities they serve of. Poppy. Brynn, before you go, can you explain how this move is different than 2002. They disbanded the nypd plain clothes street crimes unit. Is this really different . Reporter it is different because in 2002 essentially the street crimes unit was going to hot spots, crime areas all across the city. Like i said, anticrimes was in each precinct, so they were serving only their particular precinct. When that was disbanded in 2002, poppy, many of those officers actually went into street crime so you still had the plain clothes officers doing the similar mission what they were doing in the street crimes unit, so now shea essentially has disbanded that street crimes aggressive tactic policing that we have had, again, in this city for several decades. This is a big change. Brynn, thank you. We appreciate it this morning. Coming up, this is not the prediction that anyone wants to see in the fight krens coronavirus. A new model says the u. S. Could surpass 200,000 deaths by october. Also today the president set to sign an executive ordering on policing. What the will it include and what will it not include . Whether you know what day it is or not. Consistency is key when taking on acne. And an everyday cleanser . Thats breakouts worst enemy. Love, neutrogena®. Hey lily from at t here. Im back and while most stores are open, im working from home and here to help. 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What we see is in the realm of best practices, guidelines, informationsharing. Lets get more specific. First of all, theres a certification process that this executive order envisions that would put a seal of approval on departments that say limit the use of chokeholds, not ban them outright, limit the use of chokeholds except where officers believe they are facing deadly force. The second is amassing information and sharing it among departments about officers who have use of force complaints against them, so tracking bad officers, what the president calls bad apples, making sure one department knows what has happened at another department if someone comes looking for a job, and then on the best practices, trying to have the appropriate expertise go with Police Officers. One. Issues thats arisen is that police have to handle a wide range of calls that may be beyond their expertise, so if Mental Health expertise is called for, for example, have Mental Health responders join the police on those calls. Now, nobody thinks that this is going to be the last word on Police Reform. The heavy duty action is going to take place in the congress where youve got democrats much more aggressively looking to ban chokeholds, ban noknock warrants. The Senate Republicans are going to lay out their bill. It doesnt go nearly as far. Well see if they can get together, but if there is not going to be legislation that passes the congress this year, thats certainly a possibility, the administration will be able to point to the executive orders as them having done something on this issue. Right. Okay. Well see what the appetite is in congress to move on how much and how fast. John, thanks a lot. We appreciate it. Lets talk about this with gerald griggs, first Vice President of the than thea chapter of the naacp and former Police Lieutenant Charles Wilson who serves as the National Chairman of the National Association of black Law Enforcement officers. Thank you both for being here. Its a really important day and so many developments. If i could begin with you, lieutenant. Your reaction to what we just heard in terms of what is included in the president s executive order on policing coming, and whats not, for example, theres not a federal ban included on chokeholds. Does it go far enough . It doesnt sound as if it will. It needs to put a specific limitation on the use of both chokeholds. We know that it needs to address noknock warrants. It as well needs to address the overall systemic issues with Law Enforcement. Now what the president and his supporters apparently do not wish for anybody to talk about is the actual foundational issues of Law Enforcement. The institution of policing is inherently biased against people of color and low income, and it was designed to be that way, so we have to accept that as the overall founding of american Law Enforcement. Now having said that, what needs to transpire if youre going to talk Police Reform, you have to look at who and how you hire, what and how you train, who and how supervisors, the personnel on the street, what policies and procedures do you put in place to guide Everything Else . Now if youre not properly enforcing your policies, the policy doesnt make any sense. It doesnt do you any good. As a point in fact, minneapolis had in fact a policy for duty to intervene. The policy apparently was not enforced. Thats why you had three officers who stood there and watched george floyd die. So, gerald, from a legal perspective, given that you are a defense attorney, were waiting to see if charges come from the d. A. Against both officers in the killing of Rayshard Brooks. What is yo