Sergeant james brown. He served two tours in iraq only to die in a jail in el paso, texas. Authorities claimed brown died due to a preexisting medical condition but shocking new video from inside the jail raises new questions about how the 26 year old African American man died. We will speak to his mother. Dinetta i mean she served two combat tours in iraq. She comes home for this . I want to know why. I want to know what happened. Amy then, say her name while the names of Michael Brown, eric garner, tamir rice and freddie gray have become household names, why dont we know more about women killed by police . Women like tanisha anderson, rekia boyd, miriam Carey Michelle cusseaux, shelly frey and kayla moore. Today relatives of these women gather in new york for the say her name vigil. She will never come back. We will never be able to hug and kiss her no more. We will never be able to say i love you. We will never see the smile again. Amy and we will go to seattle where protests have been held against shells plans to drill for oil in the remote and in the arctic this summer. We will speak to Seattle City Council member mike obrien. About the protests and also about the tpp, the transpacific partnership. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The u. N. Says some 25,000 people have fled the iraqi city of ramadi since its capture by the selfproclaimed Islamic State on sunday. Thousands of iraqi forces and iranianaligned shiite fighters are massing around ramadi in preparation for an offensive to retake it from isil. The u. S. Has also launched airstrikes and is reportedly considering speeding arms deliveries to iraqi militias in anbar province. The u. N. Says it needs more time to bring aid to areas of yemen following the end of a fiveday truce. A u. N. Spokesperson said only half of the proposed supplies were delivered before saudi strikes resumed sunday. The humanitarian cause was not large enough to reach those in need of food and there is an appeal for a series of breaks in the conflict to deliver this aid. Amy the u. N. Says yemen has only been able to import onetenth of the fuel it needs each month. More than 1,800 people have died in yemens conflict so far. Israel has canceled an order to bar west Bank Palestinians from riding on the same us is as israelis. It would have applied to the hundreds of palestinians who cross into israel each day for work and return home. The Defense Ministry had introduced it as a threemonth pilot, but Benjamin Netanyahu probably canceled it following an outcry. Los angeles has become the nations largest city to approve a significant increase to the minimum wage. The Los Angeles CityCouncil Voted tuesday to raise the minimum from 9 to 15 dollars an hour by 2020. The move will impact as many as 800,000 workers, or almost 50 of the workforce. Its expected to spark wage hikes across Southern California and boost similar efforts nationwide. The japanese airbag manufacturer takata has doubled its recall to nearly 34 million vehicles, the largest in u. S. History. The airbags can explode when activated, spraying occupants with sharp metal fragments. The defect has been linked to six deaths and dozens of injuries. 10 automakers have recalled vehicles in the u. S. So far. An oil spill off the coast of santa barbara, california, has leaked some 21,000 gallons into the pacific ocean. The coast guard has enacted an emergency cleanup after the spill left an oil slick on close to four miles of beach and 50 yards into the water. The Company Behind the spill plains all american pipeline has shut down the ruptured pipeline. Meanwhile in louisiana, a state of emergency has been declared near baton rouge after a cargo train with oil tankers derailed. A former top cia official and intelligence briefer to president george w. Bush before the iraq war has acknowledged bush and Vice President dick cheney falsely presented information to the public. In an interview with msnbcs chris matthews, Michael Morell was asked about cheneys claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking nuclear weapons. Chris was that true . Michael that is not true. Chris why did you let them get away with it . Michael my job is chris you see cheney make the charge he has a nuclear job subsequent charges, and nobody raised a hand and said that is not what we told them. Michael that was not my job prince to tell the truth. Michael as a briefer bring information to the president of the United States, not watch what they are saying on tv. Do you think it is a joke that cheney said that . Michael that is not my job. Chris they are using your stuff saying you made the case when you did not, using your credibility. Mike michael i am just telling you chris they gave a false representation of what you said to them. Amy that was mike morel being questioned by chris matthews. On tuesday, democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton was asked about her senate vote to support the iraq invasion. Mrs. Clinton there have been a lot of questions posed to candidates. I made it clear i made a mistake plain and simple. I wrote about it in my book talked about it in the past. What we see is a very different in danger situation. The United States is doing what it can, but ultimately this has to be a struggle that the Iraqi Government and the iraqi people are determined to win for themselves. Amy four u. S. Cancer charities are being accused of massive fraud. The federal trade Commission Says the groups funneled some 187 Million Dollars into top officials pockets. The charities are the cancer fund of america, Cancer Support services, Childrens Cancer fund of america, and the Breast Cancer society. It could be one of the largest Charity Fraud cases of all time. Police in texas are urging a truce between rival gangs in the aftermath of a shootout that left nine people dead. More 170 people have been charged in participating in organized crime. Officer swanton i will tell you that in the gangly world and biker world violence usually condones more violence. It is this over . Most likely not. We would like it to be. We would ask there to be some type of truce between whatever motorcycle gangs are involved. We would encourage them to be peaceful and let the bloodshed stop. Amy and a columbia senior who lugged a dorm room mattress around campus to protest the universitys handling of sexual assault, has carried it across the graduation stage. Emma sulkowicz carried the mattress all year in a call for a student she accuses of raping her to be expelled. A group of friends helped sulkowicz carry it at their Graduation Ceremony at Columbia University on and those are some tuesday. Of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and i am juan gonzalez. Welcome to our viewers and listeners around the country and the world. We begin today with a story about an iraq war veteran who served two tours in iraq only to die in a county jail in el paso, texas. Sergeant james brown was just 26 years old when he mysteriously died in 2012 after he reported to jail for a twoday sentence for driving while intoxicated. Brown, who is africanamerican was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder at the time. His family had long suspected foul play in his death, but received Little Information from authorities, who said he died because of a preexisting medical condition. Well, a local news station, kfox 14, recently obtained video from inside the jail showing browns last moments sparking new moments. Amy the video shows something happened which caused brown to bleed in his cell. When he refuses to speak with guards, a team in riot gear storms in and swarms on top of him, while he repeatedly says he cant breathe, and appears not to resist. A warning to our audience the , following video is disturbing. Sergeant brown i cant breathe. Help me. Help me. I cant breathe. Help me. I am choking on blood. I am choking on my blood. Amy i am choking on my blood said Sergeant James brown as his condition deteriorates, as he is carried to an infirmary and has a mask placed over his face. Hes then given an injection. He begs for water and is given half a dixie cup as he heaves. Sergeant brown repeatedly states hes having severe trouble breathing. Sergeant brown not getting too much air. May i lay on the floor . No, sir. Sergeant brown we have to do one or the other to help my breathing. Column down. Sergeant brown i will. Please. Please. Cant relax. You have to take this mask off of me, please. Juan by the end of the video, brown has said he cant breathe at least 20 times. Then, he is left naked in a cell, not blinking or responding, his breathing shallow. Attorneys say an ambulance was never called. Brown was eventually brought to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities claim he died from Natural Causes after an autopsy report cited a sickle cell crisis, but his family says he died as a result of his treatment in jail. Their attorney b. J. Crow spoke to kfox. Mr. Crow when a 26yearold checks into jail on a friday and he leaves sunday in a casket, something went horribly wrong. He was breathing out of the years, the nose, the mouth his kidneys shut down, his Blood Pressure dropped and shut down. Amy james browns family has filed a lawsuit against El Paso County saying his Constitutional Rights were violated. Democracy now invited El Paso County sheriff Richard Wiles to join us on our program, but he declined. He did send a statement saying mr. Browns death was an unfortunate tragedy. The Sheriffs Office has conducted a thorough review of the facts surrounding mr. Browns death and, based upon all the evidence obtained, determined that his death was caused by a preexisting medical condition. Well, for more, we go now to seattle, washington, where were joined by sgt. James browns mother, Dinetta Scott. Welcome to democracy now welcome can you explain the video the death occurred in 2012. It is now 2015. Tell us the significance of what you know now. Dinetta i have not watched this video in its entirety. I have seen four seconds of it, and i heard my son begging for his life. I cannot watch it. I do know that it is very disturbing, the part that i did see where he is unable to breathe. It is devastating. It is inhumane. It is unexplainable, what happened to him. Juan were you ever told by authorities that the video existed and why it has never come to light or been made public since then . Dinetta no. That was never explained to us. Juan and in terms of the autopsy report, did authorities what did they tell you about how your son died . Dinetta the medical examiner stated that it was a sickle cell crisis due to him being restrained, that is why he went into a sickle cell crisis. He stated that he had viewed this on the video. That is when we said a video exists . We would like that video. Nothing ever came of that until two and a half years later, which is where we are at now. Amy the video is just astonishing, but can you go back to 2012 . Did you talk to your son before he selfreported into the jail . He was stopped for dui and he was going to be held for two nights. Dinetta correct. He received a dui in 2011. He had continuously gone to court. When he got his sentencing it was five days with time served. Since he already served three days one day picked him up, three days when they originally picked him up, he only had to do the weekend. I spoke to him prior to him checking in on that friday night and then i received a call from him saturday morning stating that the jailers had said he would have to stay in incarcerated for seven days instead of the initial two days and he said could you please send money so that i can pay the court finds so i can leave here because i need to report to duty on monday. Juan now, he had already served two tours in iraq and he was still on active duty . Dinetta correct. Juan and when was he diagnosed with posttraumatic stress . Dinetta i believe it was the beginning of 2011. Amy did he talk to you about the conditions in the jail . Dinetta no, he just basically said he needed to get out of there and could i please get the money so that he could leave and that you explain everything to me when he got out. Amy can you describe your son, Sergeant James brown, to us . Dinetta excuse me. He was a jokester. He was very confident. A natural born leader. Loyal to nofault. A loving person. Either you like him or you did not. He did not really care what people thought of him. He just was a loving kind of guy. One of a kind. I am not saying that just because he is my son. He just was a genuine person. He did not sugarcoat things and he did not lie to you. If you wanted to know the truth that is the person that you would ask, and many of his friends said if you wanted somebody to have your back, he wanted james brown to have your back. Juan and the terrible irony of him coming back from serving his country twice in iraq to end dead in a cell in el paso texas. Dinetta in that video i heard my son begging for his life on u. S. Soil. This was not his enemy that he was facing. This was a u. S. Citizen that was treating him like he was an animal, and it should not be allowed. That should not happen to anyone in the United States. Amy we were just showing pictures of james. How many kids does he have . Dinetta two. Amy how old are his children . Dinetta his stepson armani is 12. His daughter is five. Amy when did he join the military . Dinetta in 2005. Amy was it right out of high school . Dinetta no. He graduated in 2004. He was in a motorcycle accident in 2003, which he had to have a rod put in his femur, so he opted to wait a year to have the rod removed so that he could join the military. His joining was delayed. Juan in the past year or two we have seen this Enormous Growth of the black lines Matter Movement as a result of what has lives Matter Movement as a result of what has happened in ferguson, cleveland, and africanamericans killed in custody. Your son died almost three years ago. Your sense of the connection of this movement that has grown up in the United States in the last two years. Dinetta i believe it race is not an issue. I believe it is men that have been given a certain amount of authority who are abusing it. It is very unfortunate that all of the victims have been africanamericans, but this lies within our system. These are people that are abusing their authority and using it inappropriately. Amy finally Dinetta Scott what has happened to these guards . One, the pylon in the cell, and then the mask put over him he is saying he cant breathe, that he is choking on his own blood what happened to all of these guards . Dinetta absolutely nothing. Amy i want to play one clip for you. Kfox 14 interviewed one of the last people to see Sergeant Brown alive a fellow inmate who spoke on the condition of anonymity. I did not do nothing. I was keeping my mouth shut. They took into a room in front of us. When they were bringing him out a guard gave him i do not know what the shot is called. They gave him a shot and he collapsed. When he collapsed, that is when they jumped on him, and they kind of beat him up. He was out. He was already out, on conscience. They were putting their elbow on his neck. You could snap somebodys neck like that. They picked him up and dragged him out. Amy so, that was a fellow prisoner who spoke on a conditioner of anonymity. Dinetta scott, can you describe about what he said about what happened to your son, james brown . Dinetta it is inexcusable. They all need to be held accountable about what they did to my son. The sheriff made a statement that my son died of Natural Causes. There was nothing natural about the way my son died. They never should have went in that cell. They never should have pulled him out. If there was a problem, they should have contacted the military, Mental Health, someone that was able to deal with him instead of rushing him like that and attacking him and beating him when he is down and cannot defend himself. It is unacceptable. Amy what are you asking for in the lawsuit . Dinetta i want change. I want policy and procedures put in place that will protect our soldiers when they are in public facilities that the military stepped in and take accountability for their soldiers. These are men that they trained. They should never be put in the hands of civilians because civilians live one life and soldiers live another life. They need to be dealt with by soldiers. Policies need to be put in place that when an end this incident happens in a public facility they need to go in and investigate instead of taking the word of the institution. They need to find out what happened to their soldier and if they have a liaison in place they would already know what went wrong, when it went wrong, or whatever the case may be. I believe if my son would have had a representative from the military with him every step of the way, we would not be here today. Amy one last question. Do we know what your son was injected with . In the video we see him injected at least once by the guards. Dinetta according to t