tv Cuomo Prime Time CNN May 29, 2020 10:00pm-11:00pm PDT
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to the nation's capital, washington, d.c., brian todd is there, what is the latest? >> your mic doesn't work, brian. >> all right. now, you hear the team talking to one another. they were having interference on their microphone. they were trying to change frequency. are they able to hear us now or no or should we go to minneapolis? you can hear me. should we go to minneapolis? all right. let's go to miguel marquez in minneapolis. he has been watching the scene there unfold. the state police have now taken a lead role in moving people back. what has happened since i left you? >> reporter: the national guard may be coming in as well. i think as the state patrol moves people out of certain area, the national guard will sort of hold that ground. we basically made a big loop around the block where you saw running. those are state patrol officers down that way. this is the way they push up. we were on that side of that. all that smoke, or the fires now
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burning, this is the fifth precinct here. i want to show you sort of just the number of police cars and if you can come over this way, you can see all of the police cars and some buses off in the distance there, they go on and on and on. our producer just walked up and said there are about 200 officers all heavily armored up and clad, that passed him, as he was parked down here. ken tillis, our photographer got hit by a canister. carolyn, our producer, she got a very healthy dose of tear gas as well. and now you can see police have cleared that area. they're moving back in this direction now. and in fact, i'm not even sure, this looks like minneapolis police. these are not the state patrol. so they were doing other stuff up in here. now, it looks like they're moving to a different area. let's go over to the side over here, we'll stay out of their
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way, look at the number of police here, as they move out. they were able to clear. >> move over to the side there. watch your back, watch your back. >> so they're moving us back. and they were clearly very busy clearing up the neighborhood here, and they are now moving us back, all of the cars, i was surprised when we came around the corner, given the number of protesters in the area, that all of their vehicles here were pretty much without any sort of protection. so they left them there as they were taking on the protesters. now they seem to feel confident enough to know that they have that at hand.
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presumably the national guard will come in here, hold. so ground that they have created so far, and hold on. minnesota public safety says 350 troopers near fifth precinct to clear area and enforce curfew. that's what we're seeing right now. >> that makes sense that they used the tear gas to disburse the crowd and come behind it and they usually have some kind of organization the plan where they want people to go. you'll find that out before we do. the officers were walking up from minneapolis, people were asking on line what those long sticks are. those are called various things, but basically, they are crowd control batons. they are usually made of wood, sometimes plastic, and you will hear from officers that will tell you that they're not as solid because they're not supposed to jury as much as some of the black batons were, the old wooden baton, i don't know how true that is, but that's
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what they tell you, and that is the long sticks on their bodies. miguel any idea where they're moving to? >> police have a long night ahead of them. i think what they're trying to do now is move in front of the protesters and move alongside of them, and keep them on the defensive, basically. and we'll probably start making arrests. i mean last night, for all of the damage and all of the stuff that we saw last night, there were not that many arrests. it was a little surprising how few arrests there were. i think tonight, that arrest count will probably go up much higher, given sort of the way that they have cleared out this area tonight, given that there is a curfew, and that there was fair warning that if they were out on the streets tonight, they would arrest them. they allowed many hours of protests, many hours of peaceful protests, and then this. once it got to the fifth precinct, and that focal point of the police, and all of the
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anger, all of the shops around there were being looted, were being burned, the bank was going up, the precinct itself was under attack, like the third precinct was last night, that's when they put the hammer down, and that was it. >> also, miguel, as you know, and as you've observed so many times and so many places around the country, it's a mixed proposition for the police to make arrests because usually it's going to have, you know, a provocative play for that group that's there, so they have to take that into consideration as well. don't get hit by a cruiser. get yourself in a position miguel and let me know when to come back to you. we will leave miguel marquez right now. and the big guys with the masks are working security, or they're working production, for cnn. i know it is like who are these big guys walking around behind miguel, they're security, and glen, who miguel and i have been working with for about 20 years, who is working production for cnn, to give you context that they're safe where they are now.
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let's bring in van jones. van, do i have you? >> yes, sir. >> how are you doing my friend? thank you for being here tonight. >> glad to be here, sir. >> give us perspective on the national context of what we're seeing. why these different cities echoi echoing there, what is your observation on that? >> well, listen, i've talked to people on the ground in multiple cities, and people frankly of all walks of life, black, white, brown and otherwise, there's a sense of people just being fed up. i think that something broke in this country when, and people around the world, witnessed a lynching, that was a lynching, that was someone taking someone's life, in public view, and i think that the system itself is now on trial. the reason that the police have a respected monopoly on
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violence, somebody in a clown suit came up to you and grabbed you and threw you in a car, that would be called assault and kidnapping, but somebody in a police uniform does it, it is called an arrest, and why? because there are rules, there are regulations, and there are checks, there are balances, and so we assigned them a very sacred trust, you have a monopoly on violence. when you start to abuse that monopoly, and the system doesn't respond, people begin to lose faith in the system itself. and that's the great danger we have now. when you have so many of these videos coming out and so few arrests being made, or arrests take forever, ten week, all this stuff, it always seems to be some excuse given, you're beginning to collapse the confidence of tens of millions of americans that this system is a fair system and legitimate system, and it is a reason to play by the rules. >> so van -- >> that's what you're seeing, the first bubbles beginning to
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bubble up here, of real discontent. >> first of all, just so you know, you're in a split screen right now with what's going on, ktla, very close quarter, crowd control going on. and police officers look like they're firing into the crowd, again, yes, they are firing, into the crowd, but not weapons of death, okay? these are not machine guns or any type of rifle. they are shooting flash-bangs and different deterrent gas. i'm not saying good, bad, right, wrong, that's for to you decide, i'm just telling you what it is, don't panic and believe what you see coming out of them is lethal force. as you can see, the protesters, a lot of them aren't even moving back which means to me by the lack of disbursal of a cloud, and by the fact they're still there, i'm telling you they wouldn't be able to stand there if it were tear gas. van jones has been with me in
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one of these situations. and if it were tear gas, they wouldn't be there. and by the way, there was something sprayed by one of the people on the street at the police and as you might imagine, very dumb move. because when you get into that kind of battle, with the officers, you see what they're doing now, right, they will create and angle and that from that angle they will move forward. and when they move forward, they will do it in a suppression way that will make people pay a price for what just happened. again, this is a balance going back and forth. van, one point that i want people to absorb. as you learn, being with me, i forget where we were, baltimore, ferguson, wherever we were -- >> ferguson. >> that there's something for everyone in this crowd. there are disenfranchised minorities. there are people who are friends of them and understand their pain. there are opportunists, in fox masks and anarchists and criminals that come, and people who come because they think they're coming to a party, and other people who just want to
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see the scene, and other people who just hate the police for their own reasons. there's something for everyone in these crowds. and what is the message in that for you that you want people to understand, especially those who say look at these angry blacks, breaking every law they can, and then telling us they want justice. >> yeah, listen, it is in fact, the case that when you're on the ground in those situations, it's chaos on top of chaos on top of chaos wrapped up in some chaos, so we try to impose a narrative on there. but the core of the protest is always, the vast majority of people are always, people are trying to peacefully, law abidingly express themselves. you never know who is setting a fire, throwing something, who is a provocateur, is it some kind of an adventure, but i will say this, the restraint of the black community, in the face of this many provocations, this many
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videos, this many funerals, needs to be better acknowledged. the idea that only a tiny fraction of people, you have 40 million african-americans, all of whom are heart broken, and our allies and our friends, and our co-workers, and you have this tiny, tiny fraction of people who are doing anything untoward, we should be very thankful that we have a black community that is still this patient with a process that this many years into it just does not seem to be working. and so no one should make excuses for property damage or any of that kind of stuff. i'm against all that stuff. but the boston tea party is celebrated and that was from a provocation much less severe than the things we've been seeing against the black community on all of these videos over the past several years. and so no people have a patience that is without limit. and at a certain point, the
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people who say hey, black people, stop rioting, well, listen, nobody is a part of the pro-riot caucus here. if you want fewer riots, we need to have more justice when it comes to these kinds of abuses and the horrific strangulation murder that was done in broad daylight, broke something in this country. and it will only be repaired when people look past whatever is happening, with the small number of people on the street, and look into the heart of 320 million americans who all have to look in the mirror and figure out how did we get to a point where not just a police officer, who did the killing but the three other police officers thought that was an appropriate way to treat an unarmed american citizen. >> van, i want to talk to you about what a rebuttal point to that that needs to be addressed. there is no question that we need to have awareness that we don't have right now because we keep ending up in the same
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place. we have a live picture in los angeles of people looting a starbucks. i want you to look at the people who are running out of the starbucks. then you judge for yourself? is this only about angry blacks trying to break every law that you see? i saw at least five nonblacks when i see the picture. why am i saying this? to defend bad actions? no but for context of fairness of what this is and what it is not. nobody should like. >> it the people on the streets should not like it. but it is how to understand it and how to get to a better place. kyung lah, is everything okay for you and the team right now? you can hear me? >> reporter: yes, i can hear you and things are starting to devolve a bit more as the hours go on. i will chat with you in one second, sir. what we're looking at, the live pictures you are looking at this, is starbucks, in downtown los angeles, and what we've been seeing, as this crowd has been going through, you know, different parts of los angeles,
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is that they are breaking through some of the windows, we saw them break through the starbucks, people run in, grab items from starbucks, and run out. what the people, what the los angeles police department, i will chat with you in one second, i will chat with you in one second, the police here in los angeles have declared this type of gathering, to be an unlawful assembly. what that is, is they are now staging to essentially try to disburse the crowd, and say, if they stay, there will be arrests made. so what we've been seeing throughout the evening is the los angeles police trying to go in and disburse the crowds. but as the hours are going by, things are getting a bit more heated, as some of these protesters are turning up in this area in downtown los angeles. one thing i want to point out is that there is a diverse crowd here, and different sections of the protest, it is broken up
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into smaller groups, and each smaller group seems to have a bit of a personality. some are more confrontational with police. others chant in unison. others seem to just want to cause some violence. so it's, right now, i don't see any police officers, but we have seen police officers move in, after you see, and you can see some guy there, just rummaging through the starbucks. >> yeah, that's the guy who said he wanted to do an interview with you about what's going on, now he's inside the starbucks, going through the tables. the guy in the baseball jersey is about to exit right now. he just walked across. are you and the team safe? anybody threatening you there? >> no, just, you know, people really want to talk. some people just want to pose for the camera, like this guy with the dog. you know, when you do talk to
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some of the people who gathered here, there are people who feel very passionately. they're very upset. >> yes. >> and then there are some who look like they're joining in on the crowd. >> understood. there's something for everybody in these scenarios, as we both know very well. kyung lah, stay safe, stay aware and let me know when to come back to you. i will two to sara sidner in minneapolis. what's going on? is this a distraction or are they setting up a line here? we see all of the officers down at the other end, sara. what's happening on your end of the street? >> reporter: it is not a distraction, there are a couple hundred, i think, officers that have come this way, they have already told the crowd that this is unlawful assembly, just like you heard kyung lah talking about it except here there was a curfew that was supposed to start at 8:00 and now they're enforcing it. i will let spike show you. as they advance street by street, the protesters then back up and set up a barricade, they're using whatever they can,
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right now it is trash can, they set things on fire, to try and put something between themselves and the officers, and they pick up rock, they throw them at the officers, the officers then return, usually with some sort of tear gas, or they have been shooting rubber bullets. we have seen people get injured from the rubber bullets and then officers will start to advance again. the crowd backs up and then you see this scenario. literally street by street. we are watching this. now would are about three blocks from the fifth precinct. you see there, someone is throwing a rock. now, if you wait a bit, you will start seeing, you will start seeing the tear gas and the rubber bullets. the rubber bullets have been flying by us and the tear gas has been coming in between us but people will start coming up and we have heard people here say, look, we are not going to stop fighting about this right now. because they don't feel like they've ever been heard enough. and now, they've unleashed, they've just unleashed all
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emotions to try and deal with this. so the police though, from their perspective, they don't want to see any more destruction, we're now in a regular neighborhood. chris, let me have you look around a tiny bit, we are in a neighborhood with people's homes. this is not the same area where you were see things going down in the third precinct. we are now backed up into a neighborhood. where folks live. we see some elderly folks looking out the window with their phones. but these are homes here. and what these guys have not done, anything to the homes, they have stayed in the street and their focus is directly on the police who have made a move. they are now just stopped, about three blocks from the fifth precinct, and every now and then, you see that bright light, they will shine the bright light and then you may see some tear gas coming from there as well. every time someone comes up to throw a rock, that's why you're seeing this cat and mouse game where people are throwing rocks
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and back behind cars and police are returning fire with tear gas and rubber bullets. this scene has played out now, two, three times as the police try to advance and it is clear that the police are trying again to push people away from the fifth precinct. >> now, sara, the idea of what they're going to do to enforce the curfew, are you seeing arrests being made? >> we haven't seen a single arrest. there has not been a moment where police and protesters came that close. there has not been that moment at this point. the closest that police and protesters come is when the police advance, and the protesters stay put for a bit. the only other time that we've seen police in, at night is, on top of the fifth precinct. here comes the officers. you can see them advancing there. >> yup. >> they are advancing. they are coming towards us. so you can see the protesters are starting to move back, and
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hard to see sometimes but this is somebody who is trying to get out of the way, but they have advanced forward, again, and again, like i'm telling you, you will see this scenario play out over and over and over again. the police advancing bit by bit. and pushing people out. so again, they are advancing. this is not a, we're not going to enforce this anymore, this is them pushing forward, and pushing folks back, every single time. every single time. >> all right, so let's do this. why don't you clear to a different angle of opportunity. and come back to us before they shoot all of these canisters at you, all right? >> yes. >> all right? >> thank you. >> no, thank you. please, god bless, you've got a family, too. you guys get to a position of opportunity. that's what we mean when we're saying we want to show you what is happening but we don't want it to happen to us.
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you understand? and that's not as easy as it sounds. let's do this. let's get a break in. and i want to go back to van jones. we were having a conversation. the conversation does have two sides. i'm not saying they're equal sides but van jones is equipped to deal with the arguments out there, and we know what they are and let's have that conversation, and god willing we take a step in a direction where we don't come right back here as quickly again. stay with us. chances are you know us.
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in no way wanted to see her city on fire. and was very outspoken about it. and also had perspective on why, what she doesn't like happening, was happening, and it is very important to hear. mayor lance bottoms, listen to her. >> i am a mother. i am a mother to four black children in america. one of whom is 18 years old. and when i saw the murder of george floyd, i hurt like a mother would hurt. and yesterday, when i heard there were rumors about valid protests in atlanta, i did what a mother would, do i called my son, and i said where are you. i said i cannot protect you and
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black boys shouldn't be out today. so you're not going to outconcern me and out-care about where we are in america. i wear this each and every day. and i pray over my children each and every day. so what i see happening on the streets of atlanta is not atlanta. this is not a protest. this is not in the spirit of martin luther king jr. this is chaos. a protest has purpose. when dr. king was assassinated, we didn't do this to our city. so if you love this city, this city that has had a legacy of black mayors and black police chiefs, and people who care about this city, where more than
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50% of the business owners in metro atlanta are minority business owners, if you care about this city, then go home. and pray that somebody like reverend beasley will come and talk to you and give you some instructions on what a protest should look like and how you effectuate change in america. this police chief made a video yesterday, pull it up on youtube, where she said she was appalled to watch the murder of george floyd. this woman did that. you're not honoring a legacy of martin luther king jr. and the civil rights movement. you're not protesting anything running out with brown liquor in your hands breaking windows in
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this city. my own half of west side, so when you're burning down this city, you're burning down our community. if you want change in america, go and register to vote. show up at the polls on june 9th. do it in november. that is the change we need this this country. you are disgracing our city. you are disgracing the life of george floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country. we are better than this. we're better than this as a city. we are better than this as a country. go home. go home. and in the same way i can protect my son, yesterday, i cannot protect you out in those
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streets. you're drawing knives at our police officers. you are burning cars. you have defaced the cnn building. ted turner started cnn in atlanta 40 years ago because he believed in who we are as a city. there was a black reporter who was arrested on camera this morning who works for cnn, they are telling our story, and you are disgracing their building. there is not the legacy of civil rights in america. this is chaos and we're buying into it. this won't change anything. we're no longer talking about the murder of an innocent man. we're talking about how you're burning police cars on the
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streets of atlanta, georgia. go home. >> now, that is not just incredibly powerful, and poignant but it is also perspective from an african-american mother, and leader. how are those words received? well, one answer is on the streets before you right now. not fair to judge the mayor's echo by los angeles, but her own city was on fire tonight, again, after she said that. van jones, i know that some of that i heard you say before, and some of it i am not hearing you say right now. when she is saying go home, you are disgracing the legacy, you're distracting the narrative, you're resembling what you say you oppose, this is wrong how you're doing this, your take? >> well, listen, i mean that was leadership. and it was leadership that resonated because it was tied to
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something more than just calling you a thug. see, when you call people out, you lose your audience. she was calling them up. you could feel the love underneath the anger. you could feel the love underneath the rage. she was saying you are better than this. and you are part of something bigger than this. and you need to go home because you are out here destroying your own legacy. that's different than saying you're a bunch of thugs. and putting people down, expecting them to rise. and so there's a quality of leadership that she represents, that is sorely missing, unfortunately, throughout the country. and i'm not surprised that people didn't heed her word. but that's the motto. what i will say is this. hurt people holler. hurt people holler. and one of the things we're dealing with right now is, it's hard to speak up when you see
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injustice, when things are going wrong, when the department first starts to go sour, when you start to see things that don't make sense, and if you speak up and you're not hurt, you might shout, and if you're shouting and you still may not be heard, then you scream. if you scream and you are still not heard, then you might throw something. look at your own children and how they act. when there's something desperately wrong, and no one will listen, people go to more and more extreme forms of expression and then of action. not to justify it. but that's there. so if you are concerned about lawlessness, and by the way, i'm raising two black boys in los angeles, i'm not a part of any pro-riot lobby or any pro-crime lobby, i want peaceful streets. but i know that if i want to end lawlessness, in l.a., i've got to make sure there is not lawlessness in the police precincts in l.a. and that is the challenge that we have here.
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let's hold young people to high standards and not relax and not relent and let's hold grown folk to higher standards. the problem i have with a lot of critics and what they're seeing is they are very, very quick to raise the standards on young desperate people some who are out there acting a fool and some are out there for a good purpose and they are quick to raise the standards for them you about lower the standards for law enforcement. and that is how will is anarchy. that is a perfect formula for anarchy. if you don't want anarchy, insist on law and order in the ranks of our police. make sure our police are obeying the law. when did you become a radical to say that the police should obey the law? this is a delicate thing. but i applaud that mayor, i call her keisha because i know her very, very well but i applaud the mayor, she is calling people
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up to a higher standard. and not just calling people out for their mistakes and misdeeds. >> van jones, i appreciate the perspective. in the split screen right now, the city you're in, los angeles, people are flying their ass down the street, because the officers are moving up in a straight line, and they're using different deterrents, and also, there's a mob mentality. there's a crowd effect. so when people start to run, people start to run and it could be very dangerous. that is what is happening in the city where van is. >> i was going to say you and i got run over a couple of times. >> that's the nature of the beast and being out there and it is important for people to see and it is easy to sit on the desk and quarterback all of this, and the people on the street, running backwards all night long and the people who keep them safe and the producers, they're doing a tremendous service for you and i promise you, they all have families to be home with as well. let's take a break.
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when we come back, the situation that has sparked so much of what we're watching. we learn more about it tonight. not what's going to happen next. but why this happened in the first place. the best, newest look that i've seen today, we have for you, right after this break. lace. but when you have the chase mobile app, your bank can be virtually any place. so, when you get a check... you can deposit it from here. and you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. you can detect suspicious activity on your account from here. and you can pay your friends back from here. so when someone asks you, "where's your bank?" you can tell them: here's my bank. or here's my bank. or, here's my bank. because if you download and use the chase mobile app, your bank is virtually any place. so visit chase.com/mobile.
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so why is this happening? what do we know about why the officers did what they did, as long as they did it? we have two brand new videos showing the arrest of george floyd. both were captured by a witness named christopher belfry. i spoke with him and his attorney earlier tonight about what belfry saw, what made him start recording it the day floyd died. take a look.
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>> christopher belfry, thank you for taking this opportunity to discuss the videos that you have of the incident concerning mr. floyd, and also, to counsel, thank you. oliver nelson iii, appreciate you both being with us. mr. belfry, let's start with the first two of videos that really seems to be the beginning of the contact with police. they went up to his car, they were talking to him for a while, and then this occurred. how did you understand what was happening? what made you start videotaping? >> well, actually, when they came up to his car, the officer on the drivers side of the car actually pulling his gun and started shouting at the man, to get your f 'ing hands up, so once i seen him, and his actions, i immediately kind of got scared for whoever was in the car, and started recording. >> mr. belfry, do you think the
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officer believed or said anything that indicated he believed that mr. floyd either wasn't complying or may have had a weapon on him? was there any reason that you heard or you observed that would explain what we're seeing here? >> none at all. i didn't understand, actually, i was in fear, i was scared for the man and the other two people that was in the car, because of the police officer's actions. >> so mr. floyd was not alone in the car. >> no, sir. not at all. and the other people, did you get to see them and how they were treated? >> well, the other officer on the other side of the police car it seemed to, where he was just watching them, you know, observing the two people, and once they seen a gun or whatever, they jumped out of the car, they jumped out of the car, the officer let them jump out of the car, they stepped away from the car, and the other officer
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went around to help the other officer, i guess, get him handcuffed. >> now, when you say the gun, chris, just to be clear, you're talking about the officer's gun, not that there was any other gun? >> the officer's gun. the officer's gun. >> and then the reason there were several officers on mr. floyd in the car, did you, how do you explain that? was he resisting? i can't see him in the video. what did you think was happening? >> he was not, in the video, that we sent you, showed that he was not resisting at all, sir. >> and you didn't hear him screaming or any kind of yelling or anything by the police to him, or him to them? >> it seemed like he was hurting. >> even then? at that point, when he was inside the car? >> no, when they were pulling him out of the car, sir. >> what did you hear that made you think he was hurting, sir? >> the way they pushed him down,
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they kind of shoved him down between the car door and the car, and the other officer, the officer that pulled his gun on him, he had, he was looking while they're cuffing him, he was looking through the car window at the other two people, and he turned around, grabbed his gun, and he didn't, he grabbed, it and told the guy, stay right there, and he was like i'm just trying to get out of the way, you know. the other guy that was in the car. he said i'm just trying to get out of the way, man. and he goes over, talks to them, one cop picks up mr. floyd, walks him over to the sidewalk, and sits him down. >> let's go to the next video that mr. belfrey has provided, this one right here, and here we see mr. floyd, sitting on the ground, and one officer above him, in what developed into this odd waiting game. so christopher belfrey, how did
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you understand what happened? they arrest him in the car. they take him out. they handcuff him. and then this happens. what did you understand to be going on here? >> well, i didn't know, i didn't really understand why they sat him down right there. all i know is that when they set him down, i don't know if was him hurting or whatever it was, but when they set him down, the other cop came over, they helped pick him up, and they started walking. walking across the street. right then, i left. >> now, what we're seeing here, there's nothing else that happened between the time that mr. floyd was in the mercedes and this scene, he didn't start a fight with the police, he didn't try to run away, there was no other action, correct? >>s n >> no, sir, i was actually nervous at the time, that's when i turned around and made a u-turn and started filming the other video, you know, because i didn't know how that cop was
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going to react of me video recording him. but i know that he was very, very aggressive. >> and did it seem like, what were they waiting for? now we see the piece of video where they start walking mr. floyd towards the cruiser, and then as we know, there are all of these other back and forths that happen and he winds up with mr. floyd on the ground with a knee on his throat. >> i didn't see none of that. >> you left? >> i didn't see anything. i immediately, when i seen it, and the way they was treating him, i kind of got kicking myself and i just drove off. >> look -- >> go ahead. >> what's important here, again, from the first video we see that mr. brown gives himself up to be arrested, and physically pushed down by the officers and the second video we see him completely sitting and in no way showing any type of aggressive or threatsening demeanor at all. >> not aggressive at all, sir. >> i had never seen any video of him being aggressive. the only thing i've seen of mr. floyd is him either being
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apprehended or falling down, frankly. he was, he fell down at one point when they tried to move him to the cruiser. you had already left by that point, by your own admission, mr. belfrey. mr. nelson, as a lawyer practicing in the community, the idea of the duration here, counselor, why they took so long, in this situation, even when they had the knee on mr. floyd's neck, in an obvious position of submission, it went on for minutes, and minutes, i mean is that standard operating procedure in your experience and practice? >> it's not. i do a lot of police brutality work and i will tell you this is something i've never seen before. i was greatly disturbed by it, chris. and to me, it was not just murder, it was torture, just to be candid with you, because you have a gentleman who is crying out, basically for his life, saying he can't breathe, he's crying out for his mother, and this officer that has his knee
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firmly im planted in his neck and making it difficult for him to breathe is showing no concern whatsoever. when we put down animals, chris, we don't treat them this way. so in my estimation, this was not just murder, chris, this was torture. and i've never seen anything like it in my practice. >> counselor, mr. belfrey, thank you very much, for offering up the video, so we have as much perspective as possible, on what happened, so we can try to explain something that is seeming more and more painfully obvious. i appreciate you both. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you, chris. >> god bless and be well. thank you, sir. >> god bless. all right, we'll be right back.
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>> what you're looking at, chris, is certainly a devolving situation, by the minute here. and the crowd is starting to move. but what you are looking at is a restaurant. all the windows are smashed. people were running through it. earlier, we saw a starbucks go get -- get completely smashed up. the windows. and then, the looting started. and we're going to walk this way. people are setting trash cans on fire. pushing dumpsters down the street. and then, jordan, look to your left. what you see over there, those are the police moving in. we had not seen them for some time. but police officers, and we're going to actually start to back up a little bit. they are trying to clear the streets. there have been a number of police officers, who've been injured. we know that at least two had to be taken to the hospital. and with the violence and with the damage that they've seen in
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downtown los angeles, this has been declared an unlawful assembly. and that arrests could begin. and so, what you're seeing is the police action to try to disperse this crowd. so we have the police choppers up ahead. we're going to move. >> yeah, so, kyun dg, they're going oh create that three square, right? then come with those yellow canisters. get out of the way because those yellow canisters. they look like yellow rifles. they're not rifles. they are going to launch flash bangs, if they need to. flash bangs are what they sound like. i'm sorry if you've heard me say that before. but they do it. what you think. there is a flash of light. it's disorienting. there's a big sound. that's disorienting. they put out a fog. that's disorienting. and it moves back a crowd. that's what that officer is holding. okay? it's not a shotgun. it's not a rifle. >> and something important to mention, as well.
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i haven't seen protestors injured. i have not seen anyone limp away. what we have seen is an energetic crowd that, in many cases, is refusing to disperse. there are several different groups of protestors now still roaming through downtown los angeles. and police have done a pretty good job as far as not allowing them to grow into one giant group. but, as the hours get later here, in los angeles, you know, the police are certainly feeling the need to try to disperse these crowds. and so they're turning to those tactics. those crowd-dispersing tactics that you're talking about, chris. >> they organize themselves in intersections like this. right. again, los angeles, they're very practiced. they do a lot of crowd control. the big bundle of white plastic you see on them, those are the zip ties. those are the handcuffs. so there you go. they're put out a fire in a trash can right now and they will start moving the crowd the
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way they want it to go, in three separate directions or they will all recombinate. >> something i want to mention since you just talked about that fire. one quick thing. the thing that you just mentioned. the fire. it's pretty remarkable because i've seen the people in these crowds set fires with almost professional-looking devices. quick start, aerosol looking. i've never seen that before. >> kyung, be careful. thank you for the coverage. thank you for the context. please, give our thanks to the team. keep yourselves safe. and, look, thanks, all of you. this is not easy to watch. it's even more difficult to understand. we will stay on it with you and for you. our live, breaking news coverage continues here, on cnn, right after this. okay, where were we? yeah, i'm done after this meeting. we're just going over how people who switch to progressive can save hundreds. hey mara!
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