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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  August 15, 2014 5:00pm-6:01pm PDT

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lincoln town car. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> so there is someone out there wearing an engagement ring that somebody popped out. wolf blitzer starts now for ""ac wolf blitzer starts now for ""ac 360" -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm wolf blitzer in for anderson. the sun going down on ferguson, missouri of a big day. the police department finally released the name of the officer who shot and killed 18-year-old michael brown. the that officer's name darron wilson. there was an incident report on an alleged convenience store robbery and video purportly showing brown doing the crime, allegedly stealing small cigars and brown shoving a clerk. they call it a strong armed robbery. there were mixed messages from the police department. earlier in the day, police chief thomas jackson laid out a timeline that left the impression officer wilson was
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responding to the robbery call when he shot michael brown, that as you might imagine set off anger in the community. people calling it victim blaming. character assassination and a distraction from the central question, did officer wilson shoot an unarmed man who had his hands up in surrenderer. the alleged robbery had nothing to do with the officer's decision to shoot and then in a true bombshell late in the day, chief jackson changed his story. >> there were two separate officers. this robbery does not relate to the initial contact between the officer and michael brown. the initial contact between the officer and mr. brown was not related to the robbery. >> why did he stop michael brown? >> because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic. that was it. >> officer wilson, he said was not aware that a robbery had taken place or michael brown was
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suspected of it or suspected of anything. then just a while later, he changed the story genitaling don l -- again telling done lemon he didn't know he was the suspect until he seen cigars in his hand. doran johnson, a busy night for us. don lemon in ferguson talking to a lot of people there. don, last night the demonstrations were very peaceful. they appeared almost celebrating. what is the mood like right now? >> reporter: it's peaceful. it's a different mood, though. it's not quite celebrating. people are protesting because they feel the need to even more because they are thinking that police here by releasing the name of the officer and also releasing that videotape in the
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convenience store, they are trying to bring down michael brown's reputation, bringing this up to a diverse of the real issue and that they believe is a confrontation and the killing of michael brown. it is a different mood because last night, wolf, it was warm. it wasn't raining. tonight sit raining. so it put a damper on the protests a little bit. people have come under the over hang where people get gas and assembled here. some people are still assembled on the street and waiting for the rain to pass. again, they are thinking that the officers are trying to discredit michael brown's story, and that's what they are concerned about. they want the real issue, the real focus to remain on the shooting on the killing, on that street, not far from here, wolf. >> you and i have been speaking all day, don. describe the reaction of the folks there in ferguson to the release of that convenience
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store footage. >> it was almost like, i hate to give a sports analogy. it was almost like you were upset because something awful happens in an event that you're watching and as they were watching television this morning and they heard the news, everyone sort of let out this sigh like oh, man, why at this point? we go again. here we go. we can't trust the police. the police trumped up charges so to speak. the police have come up with another story, another excuse to try to put the blame on the victim, and then shortly after that, wolf, as you and i know, the family of michael brown released a statement saying the same thing calling it victim blaming and saying it's further reason, another reason not to trust the police here. many people, wolf, don't believe that it is michael brown on that video in the convenience store. they still don't believe it. >> even though the family lawyers, michael brown's family lawyers, they have acre
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knowledge that is in fact michael brown inside that convenience store? >> reporter: they still don't believe it even though the lawyers -- listen, i spoke to one of the relatives tonight, a cousin of michael brown who said, you know, he all but admitted yes, it is him. he said when you're 18 years old, how many silly things did you do but didn't deserve to die? the family admitting it. the lawyers admitting it, and also, dorian johnson who was with michael brown, his attorney admitting it. he spoke to the fbi, told the fbi that it was him in the convenience store. the people here still don't believe it. there is a big commotion going on and that is jesse jackson is here, so people are excited that jesse jackson is here and i guess they feel like there is more of a show of strength of someone who is of some authority. so the crowd is following the reverend jesse jackson around this quick trip as he makes his
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way through the crowd. but yeah, they still don't believe it. they believe some video may have been photo shopped, even though there is an admission by the family, by the attorneys and even by the man who was with michael brown on the day he died. >> we'll have you stand by, don, because we'll check back with you throughout this hour, don lemon is on the scene for us in ferguson, missouri. i want to drill down now a little more on the convenience store tape that's generating so much controversy. 360's randi kaye has this. >> reporter: a convenience store saturday morning, what police call a strong-armed robbery. they say that's michael brown entering the store, white t-shirt, long tan shorts and a red cardinals baseball hat. his friend dorian johnson behind him. it's 11:52 a.m. the camera shows four seconds later, brown is at the counter.
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watch closely, see this store employee in the red shirt? apparently coming from the restroom. she goes behind the counter. just 12 seconds later, police say brown reaches for a box of swisher sweet cigars and hands them to johnson without paying for them. what happens next is a bit on cured by a display case but watch closely here. police say there is some sort of confrontation involving brown, a struggle. police say brown grabbed more cigars. he had been in the store now just 32 seconds. seventh seconds later, brown's friend johnson puts the box of cigars brown handed him back on the counter returning them, but police say brown just seconds later bends down to pick up some cigars he dropped, even looks a customer in the eye and makes his way to the door. at the door, about ten seconds later, a store employee who appears to have a set of keys in his hand attempts to put himself between the man believed to be
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brown and the exit door. still holding the cigars in his right hand, the man police say is brown grabs the clerk with his left hand and clearly shoves him back into a display rack. it all might have ended there, but take a look at what happens next. just about one minute into this. police say instead of leaving right away, brown turns back one final time, advancing on the store employee who tried to stop him towering over him, police say it was an attempt to intimidate the employee who quickly backs down. only then does brown turn and exit at 11:54 a.m. he's in and out of the store in one minute and two seconds, about ten minutes later, he's dead. randi kaye, cnn new york. >> a lot to talk about. joining us now, your black world.com, boyce williams and
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marc lamont hill. boyce, we got a lot from police today but you're not satisfied with the flow of information. they should have been more up front what they could release and when, explain. >> yeah, i think we have to ask them what took you so long? why did it take this long to put together a story that you're not even sure about that keeps changing over and over again? it only adds to the mistrust that people have, not just for ferguson police but really nationally for police deputies across the country because people aren't just protesting what happened to michael brown or what ferguson police did. they are really protesting the consistent disrespect, lack of regard, consistent misinformation that often comes from police because when you have situations where there are no witnesses and cell phones and nothing to capture what officers ar arie doing, some officers think they can operate above the law. if he stole these cigars, should he have been executed on the
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street? >> danny, you think this was a fairly quick release of information, that it's unlikely the police were trying to be strategic in the timing, is that your thought? >> well, look, wolf, clearly i'm bias. i'm a criminal defense attorney so i feel like i've spending a lot of time asking and not getting police records. two weeks doesn't seem shocking when many of us fought for records for over a year, but in a case like this, we shouldn't be so quick to think this a conspira conspiracy, rather maybe a police department that's not equipped to deal with this level of attention. i have to caution everyone, yesterday we had no information and we complained. today, now, we're complaining that we don't like the way the information was released. no matter what we have to agree that having the information today where at least in a better position than yesterday when we had nothing and although people might have wanted it on day two or three, the reality is is that in an investigation, marshalling
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this evidence is not an overnight process. >> let's not forget the incident took place, the killing took place on saturday and now it's now friday. mark, you say none of the facts that came to light today explain why this young man, eye witnesses said he had his hands up in the air was shot to death. >> and that's what i find confusing, and i would probably disagree a little bit. it certainly takes days to get certain types of information out. they want to make sure their ducks are in a row but doesn't take six days to release the officer's name. when they release the officer's name, they release this tape and information, which, i think becomes a hand trick which diverts our attention away from what we should be talking about, how and why michael brown was shot dead on the street with his hands in the air, unarmed, a police officer armed. that's the question here. whether or not he shoplifted cigars a few hours prior has nothing to do with it.
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even if he's guilty of that, it's a killing and stealing cigars isn't a capital offense. >> you say criminalization of the victim, right, mark? >> indeed. it's a pattern that we see over and over and over again. with trayvon martin, they told us he smoked marijuana and was suspended from school. with rodney king they told us he was a drug addict and violent gang banger and mcbride, they said she was drunk and trying to break into someone's home. none of the bad habits were connected to the killing that occurred and that's what we need to be focused on, the killer not the victim. >> boyce, you've been monitoring the reaction in the african american community beyond ferguson and missouri. how are people feeling based on what you're seeing and hearing? >> i think people are frustrated. i think they will be frustrated after this is over because we have to remember, there is a michael brown in every city.
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i am in chicago. we have at least probably a couple hundred michael browns this year. there are cities across the country where the police operate in ways that are just as sinister as what we see in ferguson and personally, i've reminded people that's really what we're protesting. it goes deeper than one person or one incident. we can't believe cleaning up what is happening in ferguson, will fix the problem across america, there is a consistent disrespect of american citizens by police officers and also, when it comes to the life of a black male in america, there is nothing valued less than the life of that young man and in fact, in many situations where black males are victims is very easy to paint that individual as someone who was about to commit some horrible sinister act and people buy into that and that's why so many young men die. >> there is two separate investigations underway in st.
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louis county investigation. are you confident when all the investigations are complete we will know exactly what happened? >> i can't possibly be confident about that at this point, wolf, but we've got a lot more information than we did before and i have to believe once we get the officer's statement, which we really haven't heard from him, once we get that side of the story, this entire case boils down, based on what we've heard today and what a swing of events back and forth today, everything comes down to what was in that officer's heart and mind at the moment that he stopped michael brown because if he was aware of the robbery on any level, it is different than if he was just stopping them for jaywalking. i have to add, we need to stop using the word shoplifting. it seems from the video that this was a theft plus force, which under the law is a robbery and in missouri that's a class b felony. if the officers was aware of a violent crime like that, that does change the legal contours
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but we don't know what he knew and when he knew it yet. i believe, wolf, though, that we will soon. >> we know he's been interviewed twice, the police officer who killed this 18-year-old. all right, guys, thanks very much. we'll continue our conversati s conversations. michael brown's family angrily denounced the release of the video calling it character victimization. we'll speak to an attorney next. [male vo] inside this bag is 150 years
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lawyers for michael brown's parents say the family is quote beyond outrage that they released the convenience store videotape this afternoon. one lawyer blasted police saying brown's parents believe the video release was a strategic move aimed at diminishing their son's character. don is standing by with one of the lawyers, don? >> reporter: when that videotape come out, everybody wounderred what does the family have to say? is the reaction. i'm joined by daryl parks, what was the reaction to the videotape being released today? >> you have to think their son has been murdered, and they decide on the day to release the name of the person, they strategically decide they want to now also show you some other information, still photos that have nothing to do with when he was murdered, and so you have to
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be skeptical of that. well, when we saw those pictures, it left more questions than answers. >> reporter: you're not denying that is michael brown on the video. >> certainly it's his likeness, of course. >> reporter: what is it about seeing the actions on video and what police said? you clearly see him taking something. what is your reaction to that. it's not the picture painted of michael brown as a gentle giant. he's pushing a store clerk. >> no, i think you have to agree, though, what you thought you saw in the still pictures is not what you ultimately say when you saw the video. it's not like he beat someone up. he pushed somebody, yes, he did. the key in this case is the fact that this officer came and according to all the witnesses came and shot him execution style in the head. >> reporter: yeah, you believe what happened in the convenience store has nothing to do with what happen add couple blocks from here where he lost his life and we'll get to that. i want to stick to the videotape quickly. did the family know this
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videotape would be released, that this incident happened before today? >> i think it became clear the chief was going to do it. i don't know what he intended to do but what he did at the first press conference. >> reporter: you say this is character assassination like the trayvon martin case. >> certainly. >> reporter: and the george zimmerman trial. >> think about it. why else is this video important for what happened last saturday when this kid was shot and killed execution style. why would you release that other than to demonize him? why wouldn't you say something about the shooter? it's the shooter's intent that will be the key for both investigations going on in this case. >> reporter: so the videotape released today, many people even though you're saying it is his likeness, other family members of the dorian johnson, say it
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was him, some don't believe it. does the speak to the mistrust of the authorities figure and the police department here? >> the mistrust is the fact they give it to us on friday, don. they had all week. they could have been told us this. they didn't choose to do that. they chose to do it strategically. if the issue was the name of the person who shot michael, why would you do this? so the distrust is in the process. >> reporter: the police chief says he was sitmply responding o the freedom act and he had to do it today if he was going to release the video, he figured he should release the name of the officer as well in an act of transparency, do you buy that? >> i don't buy that. he could have done it earlier in week. he could have give an name earlier in the week. most importantly, though, why is that video important as to what happened in this case in the murder of michael? it's not important. >> reporter: it's not important
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at all? >> no. >> reporter: it goes to -- this is going to be try in a court of law and i would imagine it's going to go to a grand jury, it will speak to character and what precipitated this. how would you argue that in a court of law? >> what precipitated this and what happened, there was an altercation within the car. we know that all the witnesses that michael, officer not in danger, michael attempts to surrenderer to the officer even though he is surrendering with his head down, he's shot. that's what the evidence is going to point to and that's serious because when this kid was trying to surrenderer, not trying to strike a blow. nobody said he was trying to harm the officer at that time. those facts will be important as to what happened when he pulled that shot that killed michael. >> reporter: to talk more about character, i interviewed dorian johnson's lawyer, he said dorian
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admitted to him that it was big mike and you'll hear the rest of the interview here on cnn, he said it was big mike and big mike was the one stealing the mini cigars and putting them in a bag and he said, i don't steal. and he attempted to walk out of the door and big mike is the one who was stealing and he has -- he's not here to defend himself. what do you make of that? s >> first of all, the chief told you this particular officer had no knowledge of the previous incident whatsoever. so it relates to why and how michael was killed had nothing to do with it. that's important because if he tried to drag that into it, it takes you away from the real culprit of the murder -- >> which happened in the middle of the street. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> reporter: appreciate it. daryl parks, wolf, park to you. >> don will be with us throughout this hour and will anchor a special "360" next hour. is the ferguson police chief changing his story, what he told don about whether the officer
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when ferguson police chief thomas jackson spoke to reporters, there was a few bombshells, the officer stopped him not only because he was walking down the street, jackson said the police officer didn't even know brown was suspected in the robbery of the convenience store just moments earlier but then seemed to change the story in an interview a little bit later. don lemon is joining us from ferguson. it's very complicated here. it gets more complex by the hour, doesn't it? >> reporter: it certainly does. he gave us a lot of information but also, wolf, he had a lot of explaining to do. he left a lot to the imagination. my question was why release the name and the video at the same time, take a listen. so there have been a lot of questions about the releasing of the video and the releasing of the officer's name at the same time where it appears they are not connected but by doing so you are connecting them. can you say beyond a shadow of a
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doubt that is michael brown in the video who pushes the clerk and steals the cigarettes? >> i don't think i ever did say that was anyone. what i said was i was getting questions from the media about a robbery that occurred prior to the shooting, and i wasn't commenting on that robbery. and then i started getting freedom of information requests from various news outlets and we sat on it as long as we could and reached the point where we had to release it, and i felt it would be prudent if i was releasing that, it could be antiinflammatory if i release that but didn't release the name of the officer. >> reporter: you do think it is michael brown? >> yes. >> reporter: beyond a shadow of a doubt? >> i think it's michael brown. >> reporter: family members and not only family members but people in the community say you are trying to discredit him, trying to soil his reputation and divert attention to something else besides the
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actual shooting. >> i didn't want to release it. the city attorney was concerned people would file lawsuits about it if we didn't release the tape. >> reporter: the family says this tape release was devious and you're assassinating the character of their son by releasing the video attempting to smear the character of the victim and essentially blaming the victim. what do you say to that charge? >> that's absolutely not true. i had no intent other than to compile with the freedom of information request. my heart goes out to her. i feel so terribly bad for her. it's a terrible tragedy all around. >> reporter: so everyone made the assumption that the two were connected, right, and you said the officer who shot brown, right, officer darren wilson had no idea brown was the person who allegedly robbed this store? >> you know, on their initial contact, their initial contact was simply he was coming from a sick case, saw two young men walking down the street in the
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road blocking, you know, traffic and he pulled up and asked them to get onto the sidewalk, and then as he passed them, you know, i guess that's what he might have seen the evidence and connected it, but his initial contact was strictly pedestrian. >> reporter: what do you mean seen the evidence? >> there was a broadcast that went out about a stealing, and there were cigars stolen, couple boxes. >> reporter: okay, but when he initially confronted him, it was just to get out of the road? >> right. >> reporter: let's talk about derrin wilson. have you spoken to him since the information came out? >> yes. >> reporter: and? >> he was aware it was going to happen. as a matter of fact, he was okay with it because it was something that felt may calm things down if his name was released. >> reporter: so there some relief from him it is released or did he not want his name being released. >> no, he didn't want his name
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being released but he was okay with it if it would help. >> reporter: for people who say that you, you know, they talked about chance perstransparency, say you waited too long, what do you say? >> it's five, six days later and you have everything, everything that i can release has been released. everything you've asked for has been released. there is nothing more that i can do. >> reporter: at the press conference we watched today, you seemed to get a little flustered. is that because you are tired or can't find words. >> i was looking for the word n inflamatory and couldn't find it. >> reporter: i've been there on a live shot today. >> it's heart breaking for the family suffering that loss. this is just the worst thing
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i've seen in my career. >> reporter: speaking of your career, do you think you'll keep this job? >> that's not my decision to make. i'll stay here to make sure we work through this and i want to be part of rebuilding the community, yes, i want to stay. >> reporter: do you think you can regain the trust of this community. >> yes, i do. >> reporter: and the police can, your officers? >> yes, i believe that. >> reporter: do you regret at all releasing the information, the videotape on the same day as the officer's name? >> well, i didn't want to release either one. >> reporter: all over again -- >> as you know. our thinking was, if i have to release this tape, it's really going to be inflammatory if i release the tape and not the name. if i have to release the tape, we'll release the name and that was our thinking. i don't think there was any good way to do it. >> reporter: thank you. >> okay. >> reporter: in an effort to be more transparent, he is granting more interviews and wolf, when i
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interviewed him earlier, i thought the most interesting thing of the day he said he had no idea of the disconnect between the african american members of his community and the police department. he said he had no idea of that animosity and i said you have been here for quite some time, how could you not know? clearly, people find that to be the most disturbing aspect of this or at least one of the most disturbing aspects. >> that's true, indeed. don, stay with us. don't go too far. bring in our panel of cnn legal analysts, mark geragos, former george zimmerman, also with us, attorney and legal affairs commentator reeva martin. mark geragos, what do you make of this? the surveillance tape released at the same time the officer's name was released? >> look, it doesn't pass the smell test. there is no reason in the world. he keeps invoking the freedom of
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information act. there is nothing about the freedom of information about that says he's got to release a surveillance video on the five days later or six days later. it's non-sense. i think the over and under on this chief keeping his job is about two weeks. he's obviously over his head and he looks to me like he's having health issues on top of it. the idea that somehow he thought that releasing the name on the same day that he releases that tape was going to solve problem he's tone deaf. releasing the tape will do nothing more than decrease the distrust that the community has and i think exactly when you saw the change in kind of story that he's been telling by this officer, you'll remember when he did the first press conference, he never mentioned the cigars or that he had heard something over the radio. the this evolved over time.
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i'm sure danny has seen it. cops tend to have these miraculous memories where they have an ah-ha experience after they find something else that gives them a justification and it's sad. it's sad to see and it is unfortunate. >> areeva, what do you think, no connection between officer wilson, the apparent crime and convenience store, do you find the timing to be suspect? >> i find the timing to be suspect and the statement he had no knowledge of the distrust between the african american community and his police department. that is an absurd and outrageous statement. i grew up not very far from that community. it is well-known that community has a huge issue, the african american community, the number of traffic stops, arrests disproportion to white citizens and to not communicate to ron johnson, the highway patrolman that was able to calm the protesters and build trust, he
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didn't even communicate with mr. johnson or the governor that he was going to release this antiinflammatory information. i don't think we can believe anything he's saying. >> mark ocho mer -- oc, he said thought brown might be a suspect when he saw cigars. looks like the story keeps changing, at least a lot of folks think so. >> we have to put this in context. this is 25% shooting investigation now and now 75% racially charged cultural event, and anyone who will be involved from the media to law enforcement have to understand that and react to it. when he comes out and says for some reason it is necessary today to release that tape, it was absurd, it was insensitive and suggests that he at least for the time being shouldn't be in charge of any decisions
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regarding how this has to be viewed as the national event that it's become. the shooting investigation will go on. that takes time. i like the idea of federal government being involved to have it take the time. we shouldn't rush to judgment on any of this. we shouldn't let out snippets of information. this is cultural event we have to deal with or we will not get progress. >> danny, we will never know what was going through michael brown's mind but brown just allegedly robbed that store. that could, at least a lot of analysts say that could have been an aggravated factor in an altercation if there was that until the end left brown dead, is that right? >> yeah, i think so. the story changed so much in the last 24 hours. let's deal with the most present asserti assertion, that he was aware of a robbery and stopped brown
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walking in the middle of the street. like it or not. a municipal violation and i looked at ferguson, they have a jaywalking violation, that will get the officer to the stop. from there, if he saw the cigars and actually believed they were part of the robbery, then he's allowed to investigate the robbery. and then we're just going to have a make a credibility determination. one thing i can tell you, we haven't heard from the officer yet but marks, car ra goes and oc -- garragos, his version of the store will be nothing like the eyewitness' version. i don't know where the truth lies, somewhere in the middle but it will be completely different than what we heard from michael brown's friends and eye witnesses to the event. where the truth lies, we may never know. >> don, let me bring you back into this conversation. clearly the fact that this 18-year-old appears to have committed a robbery at a convenience store has not changed anything for a lot of
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the people where you are in ferguson, that hasn't changed their attitude at all, has it? >> it has not changed their attitude at all but i do have to be honest. it's not a 100% monolific group. there are people at the protest here in ferguson who will say if you want transparency, you have to accept what that is. you cannot say we want information released and then when the information is released, if you don't like it, turn around and say you should not have released that information. >> good point, hold on, hold on for a moment. i want to take a quick break. we'll continue this important conversation right after this. . [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. so i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica.
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let's get back to the panel now. before the break, don lemon was asking about transparency, expectations, they should be prepared for uncomfortable facts. we want to get a quick comment from all of you on that, danny, first to you. >> yeah, i thought for so long with law enforcement to get
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records, to me, some days, ten days feels like pretty good but in a case like this, maybe they should have got than out sooner. yesterday we had nothing we were upset. now we have something and it seems like we're upset again. at least we have something today that we didn't have yesterday. >> mark geragos? >> my reaction is why is the police narrative evolving, so to speak? that's a charitable word evolving. >> mark ocho m'maro'mara. >> the dynamic will be found out, what will come in both sides of it but it will pail in comparison what happened in the 15 to 20 seconds and forensics will rule the day as to what shows up. >> areeva, some experts suggested even if the police officer who did the shooting and killed michael brown, even if he didn't know about it, michael brown knew that he had been
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involved in something at that convenience store and maybe he assumed when he was stopped by the police officer he was about to be arrested and that could have triggered his behavior, if in fact, with the police officer probably will say is that he resisted arrest, went after his gun, that could be relevant, rig rig right? >> could be relevant but this young man was shot 35 feet away from the car and eyewitnesss said he threw his hands up and said i'm unarmed and plead with the this police officer not to shoot him. i don't think there will be any explanation that will exonerate the police officer in light of that testimony. >> if you were representing that police officer, let's say he's charged with homicide, what would you argument be? >> we don't have enough information yet, wolf and i'm not trying to punt on that. we don't know what his statement is. we had eyewitness testimony which is very helpful but we just can't know until the investigation is complete and that's the way it is going to go in this case. >> what about you mark geragos?
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>> i think clearly what is going to be the defense here and i don't know that you're going to need a defense. i think now with the video and the way the officer's testimony or the police narrative has evolved, they are just going to say look, you saw the guy push a shopkeeper. when i stopped him, i saw the ga s cigars, i put two and two together. when i told him to stop he pushed against me, when he pushed he tried to reach for my weapon and that's when i fired and chased him and thought he was armed. i saw him reach for something i bet will be one of his statements and that's going to be the end of that and depending on whoever the charging authority turns out to be, i would be hard pressed if the feds are ever going to bring this case and it will depend on whether the da wants to bring it or prosecuting attorney wants to bring it. >> mark o'mara, a case where you're defending the police officer, right? >> absolutely. and this has to be a justifiable
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use of deadly force defense, that's all he has. when he pulled that gun out, he has to be in imminent or reasonable fear of great bodily injury, and if he has that in his mind and the facts support it, he's not guilty because it's justified and if he doesn't, he has to explain why he put three or four what shots in somebody if he wasn't in immediate great bodily threat. that's the law and that will be the case. >> if he was in fear earlier, once michael brown puts his hands up in the air and gives up, there is no excuse, you can't shoot, you can't fire anymore bullets, right? >> each shot has to be justified by the reasonable fear of great bodily injury, and each -- literally, each shot, the frenzy of five shots, it doesn't matter. if he's shooting after he gets out of the car, that fear has to be reasonable by a reasonable person standard and it will be difficult when he's the only one with a gun. >> there are eyewitnesss, thanks
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very much. just ahead, the man who is credited with bringing calm to the streets of ferguson. captain ron johnson. jason carroll went on patrol with him today to see how he's keeping the peace. we do it all for this very experience. [woman] that's good. i know right? gevalia. amam rich. my social circle includes captains of industry, former secretaries of state, oil tycoons,
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>> as we've said, the last 36 hours are calm in ferguson, missouri thanks in part many are saying to the missouri state highway patrol captain ron johnson. his manner and tactics are keeping the peace. jason carroll has more. >> reporter: he's a veteran but some might call this night captain ronald johnson's first night on the job. >> don't expect any issues but just in case there are issues, some parties may get unruly and we need to get out, i'll call you to come. >> reporter: captain johnson took our crew with him on one of the first assignments. put your assessment of how things have gone so far tonight? >> i think they have gone fine. i think they have gone well. i think we have to continue to assess it and monitor it. >> reporter: and then came time to meet the demonstrators. >> this is what i'm going to do. i'm going to take a chance. i'm going to have you guys turn around and go back to mcdonalds
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and i'll call you when i need you. >> i appreciate you, sir. >> reporter: in tear gas, no riot gear, instead call it street diplomacy. >> we love everyone. >> reporter: is this the type of reception you expected to receive when you came down here? >> yes. >> reporter: while there were plenty of hugs and handshakes, there were tough questions, too. >> are you doing all right? >> yeah. >> come on. >> excuse me, sir, why was the officer able to leave the scene of the crime? >> they are not allowed to leave the scene. they took him back for questioning. that's normal. you know what? i'm tired, too, and we going to get it right. i've lived here 42 years. >> reporter: what do you make of this crowd, these people around you, surrounding you like this in this way supporting you? >> don't shoot! >> don't shoot! >> their voice is being heard.
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bottom line is that is what they want. these people live in this community. i've lived here 48 hours of my life. i know we got good people. >> reporter: johnson says his approach is and always has been an honest one. >> i just found this out a few hours ago i would be in this job. i'll be back tonight, if i'm not back tonight, i'll be back tomorrow and that's a promise. >> jason carroll reporting. don lemon takes over the next hour of "360" right after this. i make a lot of purchases for my business.
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phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards, even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening, everyone, from ferguson. i'm don lemon. it's been quite a day. it began with the naming of the local police officer, darron wilson who shot and killed michael brown. it was accompanied by surveillance video released by police taken at a local convenience store showing two african american men, brown and dorian johnson stealing cigars and brown shoving or man handling the clerk and confuse from thomas jackson leaving the impression officer wilson was responding to the robbery call when he shot michael brown, then later today contradicting