tv CNN Newsroom CNN June 9, 2020 8:00am-9:00am PDT
8:01 am
thanks so much for joining us at this hour. crowds are gathering in houston this morning as a family prepares to say a final good-bye to george floyd. the private funeral service will be getting under way in the next hour, but you can see right there crowds are gathering, and this is now so much more than one tragedy for one family. as the pastor of the fountain of praise church where the service is taking place told reporters, floyd's death is, quote, the spark of a movement in the nation and the world, and with that in mind the past writes that the service will include a call to justice, a call for social reform. leading up to today there have been memorials already in houston and minneapolis and north carolina giving the public the chance to pay tribute, but make no mistake. one thing seems quite clear, the burial of george floyd is nowhere close to the end of this story, not by a long shot. just listen here to his brother. >> all the families that are here with me today, michael
8:02 am
brown, eric garner, or ahmaud arbery, breonna taylor. >> we love. >> you thank you all, we will get justice. we will get it. we will not let this door close. >> protesters across country and the world seem determined to not let that door close. with renewed debates now and really tough conversations going on about race, justice and policing in america today, so let's go to houston and starred there. cnn's sara sidner, she's there for us. sara, what are you seeing there and hearing from folks? >> reporter: you know, yesterday we saw about 6,000 people come in and pay their respects to george floyd, pay their respect to george floyd's family. today it's a much smaller scene
8:03 am
because it is a private funeral so the family can finally grove amongst each oh, but we're also seeing other families here. you heard george floyd's brother talking about this, the family, the father of michael brown is here, the mother of eric garner is here. the mother of families who have been through this, that have been at the center of these police-involved shootings or police-involved killings, and they know the pain of this because their cases were also national news as well, so they have been under scrutiny as well. they are sharing their sorrow with the family today, and it's quite a powerful moment to see all these families standing together, but the one thing that everyone agrees on is that change is going to happen. this case is that marker in history that is going to create the change that has needed to happen for many, many years now. we even heard that from governor abbott, the governor of texas,
8:04 am
who came here yesterday as well and from congresswoman sheila jackson lee who i spoke with yesterday all saying the same thing, republicans, democrats, all agreeing that change must happen, that the relationship between police and black folks in this country has to be refurbished and has to be fixed. this is going to be a sorrioful, tearful time. we're going to hear a eulogy and we're going to hear about george floyd as a man and as a father and as a brother and we will all be sitting and listening as they describe someone who has made a difference in the world, even in his death. >> well put. sara will be there as funeral services get under way and as she said change is come and what does that change look like, and where does the movement go from
8:05 am
here? some changes are already taking place or are in progress. where minneapolis lived and died, the president of the city council there says that it's ready to de-fund. they are moving to de-fund and dishandle the police department there. the new york state assembly just passed a ban on police use of chokeholds and the governor says that he will sign it. on the federal level, we saw that democrats in congress have now rolled out a pretty broad overhaul of policing laws. again, on that, especially, that's a long way from the finish line though but let's talk about this moment as we sit here with those pictures of the hearse and the funeral service and everyone gathering. rashad robinson is joining me now, the president of color of change, racial justice organization. rashad, thank you so much for being here with me. i mean, before we talk about the changes coming, you know, this has been six days of memorials and public viewings but also of protests, of anger, of despair, all honoring george floyd, and today is that final good-bye
8:06 am
with the funeral service. what does this moment mean, rashad? >> well, i think for so many folks, it's a part of that moment of continuing to make sense of these tragedies, continuing to think about all of the sort of hurt and pain that both sort of george floyd's death, the murder of george floyd represents, but breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery, tony mcdaid, the names go on and on and on and all of the ways in which the system of justice continues to operate and in many ways the way it was designed to operate, to not deliver the type of justice for black folks and for black communities, and for so many folks it's both that sort of pain of individual, of being human and sort of a deeper understanding of society that is supposed to work for you, that it's supposed to be on your side and isn't. >> yeah. funerals often are a moment to bring closure to folks, and this
8:07 am
one will not do that, that is for sure. where does this movement go from here, rashad? where do you want to see it go? >> i mean, the only place that i think this movement can go if it's going to make good on what's happening out in the -- in it the street, what's happening around our kitchen tables and what's happening online and offline, where people are having deep conversations about structural racism and inequality, where people are coming to recognize their own role in some of this in many ways is the only place that this can go is to true structure reforms and that means changing the rules. it's the unwritten rules around how corporations engage in the world and how media outlets engage. it's the written rules of policy and actually engaging the policy. it's the ways in which our opponents, the folks who have far too often stood in the way of injustice actually decide where they want to be in history, folks like the from a trnl order of police and police
8:08 am
unions which are far too often free venting progress and that made statements and pretended things like racial profiling doesn't actually exist. this is a moment where we can either look back five, ten, 15 years from now and say that we actually made change, or we can do some policies around the edges that make us feel good, but they actually don't deal with the problem. >> let mow ask you about that, because part of the conversation now is a renewed debate over de-funding and dismantling police departments or reforming and redirecting funding from police departments. in minneapolis they are moving to dismantle the police department, but you also have leaders like joe biden, also the chair of the congressional black caucus karen bass who do not want to go that far. where are you on this -- on this question of de-funding police departments, rashad? is that -- is that around the margins? it doesn't seem to be.
8:09 am
where are you on this? >> you know, i don't think that we can make real progress if we're not going to have a real effort to divest from what hasn't been working and invest in what does work, and people call it a lot of different thing, but this is how i see it. we have a problem with homelessness in our country, but we shouldn't be sending people with guns to solve it. we can sometimes have a problem with kids not showing up to school, but we shouldn't send people with guns to solve it. we can sometimes have problems with folks with mental health, but we shouldn't have -- we shouldn't send people with guns to solve it. when you look at communities with a lot of police and a lot of law enforcement, you sometimes -- you far too often don't see grocery stores with fresh food. you don't see schools that are sort of serving the community. you don't see health care facilities and access to mental health. you don't see the things that we know that communities that are strong and safe and don't have a
8:10 am
lot of police actually have so the question is where do we put our resources? budgets are sort of moral documents. they say -- they say what we actually believe in real terms beyond the sort of rhetoric. we actually put our dollars there, and when cities are spending 50% plus on their budgets on policing and not spending money on the things that we know help people have a better tomorrow, then what we end up with is exactly what we put money in. we end up having people having so many different interactions with law enforcement, with people with guns and we end up with situations where we're not actually dealing with root causes so the united states has 4% of the world's population, and we have 25% of the world's incarcerated population, so anyone thinks that we can solve the problem by simply operating around the edges and not thinking really deeply about all the ways in which we have created a profit and incentive
8:11 am
structure in policing in this country which has gotten to this police and we don't disrupt it is actually trying to solve a problem without all the tools that we need to solve it. >> what leads to actual public safety right now. >> yeah. >> that's the core of the conversation. >> all communities. >> and we're actually going to have a conversation about an alternative to policing as we know it a little later in the show, getting to that exact issue that you're talking about. doves aers need to be sent to calls that deal with someone having a mental health crisis? we should bring that to folks. rashad, thank you so much for coming in hand sharing time with me. really appreciate it. as you see we're staying close to houston as reporters are on the ground for the funeral service for george floyd that will be getting under way shortly. there's also something we need to turn to, a disturbing new video come out, this time from austin, texas, showing the final moments of another black man's life in police custody, and he's
8:12 am
heard saying multiple times i can't breathe. talking about 40-year-old javier ambler who died after a traffic stop. this was last year, but video was just released. the district attorney there is now trying to get some more evidence, more video evidence, including from the live pd which is a reality show that was filming with the police during this incident. there's warning that this video is very disturbing. cnn's ed lavandera walks us through what happened. >> reporter: kate, the video you're about to watch is deeply disturbing. the death of javier ambler was ruled a justifiable homicide last year, but after the video was released of the altercation leading to his death, an attorney representing the family says that's outrageous. on march 28th, 2019, williamson county sheriff's deputies are pursuing 40-year-old javier ambler just after 1:00 in the
8:13 am
morning. according to a sheriff's department incident report, ambler failed to dim his car's head light as he drove past a deputy. the report says ambler tried to flee, leading officers on a 22-minute pursuit that ended up in the city of austin. the incident report says ambler crashed his car five times during the pursuit, and that's where the officer's body camera footage captured how the arrest turned deadly. according to documents obtained by cnn, ambler exited his car with his hands up. he was not intoxicated and unarmed. officers tried to handcuff ambler but say he resisted and pushed back on the officers as he refused to follow verbal commands, but the body camera footage captures ambler in distress. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. >> why are you standing? >> reporter: multiple times on the video ambler is heard saying he can't breathe and that he's not resisting.
8:14 am
>> i'm not resisting. >> sir, stop resisting. >> reporter: several minutes into the arrest, officers realize ambler is unresponsive. >> sit up, bud. hey, wake up. you can no longer hear him talking on the video. officers then unhandcuff ambler and can be heard administering cpr compressions until medical units arrive on the scene. according to an internal review by the williamson county sheriff's department, its office of professional standards found that after reviewing the video evidence the ops concluded that the primary and assisting deputies acted in accordance with the guidelines of the sheriff's department and that the officers used objective reasonableness in the level of force used. we have reached out to the williamson county sheriff's department for comment but have not heard back. the district attorney in austin says that this investigation has
8:15 am
been stymied for more than a year because the williamson county sheriff's department refused to release other crucial video evidence in this case. the d.a. says they hope to present this case to a grand jury later this summer. kate? >> all right. thank you so much. that is so tough to watch. still ahead for us this hour, in a world where it is hard to be shocked by any president tweet anymore. this one might, the 75-year-old protester who felled after being pushed by buffalo police officers. and also blaming the bystanders, is this now the new defense strategy for the attorney of one of the charged minneapolis officers? is he now trying out this strategy? ta-da!
8:16 am
did you know liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i should get a quote. do it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ the first and only full prescription strength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel available over-the-counter. new voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement.
8:19 am
8:20 am
donald trump is clearly looking for a fight or clearly trying to divert attention or distract or clearly didn't think he's getting enough attention. whichever it is, his latest tweet is so outrageous that it actually needs to be called out. video emerged half week of buffalo police shoving an elderly protester to the ground and walking past him even as he lay on the ground clearly injured as he was bleeding from his ear. he is still in the hospital, by the way, but this morning the president is now attacking that man. cnn owes john harwood, dana bash, are joining me for more on this. john, there's always a debate on how much attention you should get crazed cre, but when it's the president of the united states, and i don't want to read it but we'll put it up for folks here suggesting that this protester is an antifa provocateur and that this incident was a setup to scam
8:21 am
police communications it seems we have to respond. i should really quick, the lawyer for this man responded just a little while ago and basically said they were at a loss for words, that obviously no one from law enforcement suggested anything other than what we have seen, and they are at a loss to understand why the president of the united states would use such dark, dangerous and untrue accusations about this man. john, you want to take a stab at what the president is actually trying to do here? >> reporter: kate, the president is cornered politically right now. the american people have strongly repudiated his approach on both coronavirus which is a crisis economically and the public health and on these floyd protests. he's down 14 points in our cnn poll to joe biden. his former white house chief of staff, his former defense secretary and current defense secretary have all rejected his approach to set u.s. military
8:22 am
against protesters, jim mattis saying that trump's approach is fundamentally un-american, so here you had the presidnt calling on or seizing on this report on a kooky tv network suggesting that this was antifa provocation because he thinks that makes his position look more defensible. he circulated that this morning, even though it's obviously crazy, obviously self-defeating, and the other thing it does is it makes a mockry, kate, of this idea floated by his aides that he would give some sort of speech on reconciliation this week. he might give a speech. he might say words that others write for him along those lines, but no one will believe it. it's just not him, and he showed that again this morning. >> this isn't the first time, dana, the president has pushed a conspiracy theory. we're often here together when we have to talk about, but this is actually dangerous i think. he is making a choice not to engage with protesters and talk about the issues at hand but
8:23 am
instead he has plenty of time to engage in spreading a conspiracy theory. >> right. i mean, obviously the most egregious and the original of those conspiracy theories was the birther movement, that he fanned the flames of and was its top cheerleader for and really got him more aggressively into politics as a -- as a businessman that he ever had before. this is dangerous for so many reasons. i'll just give one to talk about and that is it really does speak to the whole reason why there are people protesting in the streets. this was an older white man. he wasn't a black man, but it's the same notion of people really, really upset about the police and the way that they handle people and individuals, and in this particular case, no matter what the president saw on
8:24 am
a conservative to use john harwood's term kooky network, the video speaks for itself, and law enforcement, somebody in law enforcement shoved this man. he fell -- who was doing nothing that was aggressive or in any way that, you know, called out for that kind of reaction, and he fell to the ground, and, you know, whether it is that or i can't breathe or anything else, i mean, that is the kind of police treatment that people want to change, and the fact that the president is clearly going against that and it feeds into his, you know, law and order message i think is one of the most dangerous and just in terms of policy, never mind politically parts of that horrible tweet. >> i'm going to make a prediction, guys. next press conference someone will ask him about the tweet and his response will be his latest version of no comment which is somebody told me, i heard
8:25 am
somebody said it, and obviously he'll never apologize or back down from any of this, but that is where we are today. john, dana, thanks, guys. coming up for us, the first defense from once of the officers involved in george floyd's death had been that he had only been on duty for a few days. he was a rookie. his attorney's possible new defense strategy, blame by-standers. that's next, and also we're going back to houston as you see there, the city of houston, a family and a nation saying good-bye to george floyd. his funeral service about to get under way at the top of the next hour. we'll be right back. here's a tip: get half-off the amazing iphone 11 on at&t, america's fastest network for iphones. second tip: you can put googly eyes on your stuff to keep yourself company. uh for example, that's heraldo. he's my best friend.
8:26 am
oh, sorry nancy, i forgot you were there. get the amazing iphone 11 for half-off on at&t, america's fastest network for iphones. young woman: yeah, thanks mom mother: of course and i love these flowers young woman whispering: hey, did you bring the... the condoms? young man whispering: what's up? young woman whispering: condoms father: condoms charlie. she wants to know if you brought any condoms. young man: yeah i brought some. announcer: eargo, a virtually invisible hearing loss solution with high quality sound and lifetime support. eargo offers free phone based hearing checks and consultations all from the convenience of your home. call today.
8:27 am
and let me tell you something, rodeo... i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. find out how reverse mortgages really work with aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage guide. eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay bills, medical costs, and more. call now and get your free info kit.
8:28 am
other mortgages are paid each month, but with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. discover the option that's best for you. call today and find out more in aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage loan guide. access tax-free cash and stay in the home you love. you've probably been investing in your home for years... making monthly mortgage payments... doing the right thing... and it's become your family's heart and soul... well, that investment can give you tax-free cash just when you need it. learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse mortgage loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio, and so much more. look, reverse mortgages aren't for everyone but i think i've been 'round long enough to know what's what. i'm proud to be a part of aag, i trust 'em, i think you can too.
8:29 am
8:30 am
you can get it by ordering a free sim card online. once you activate, you'll only have to pay for the data you need- starting at just $15 a month. there are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. get a $50 prepaid card when you switch. it's the most reliable wireless network. and it could save you hundreds. xfinity mobile. the attorney for one of the former minneapolis police officers charged in the death of george floyd is offering up a shocking possible defense. if what was happening to george floyd was so wrong and so bad, why didn't the bistanders who we were recording it step in? listen for yourself. >> the public is watching this, my client is on his feet,
8:31 am
doesn't have a real good few of mr. floyd of what chauvin is doing, but if all of these people say why didn't my client intercede, well, if the public is there and -- and they are in an uproar about this, they didn't intercede either. >> video that captured floyd's last moments were regarded by bystanders and multiple people can be heard talking to the officers throughout. thomas lane and the two other officers who assisted derek chauvin in the arrest with charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. joining us now is cnn legal analyst joey jackson. what's your reaction to an attorney facing real charges and real prison time leveling this defense strategy? >> it's somewhat preposterous, kate, good morning to you. now, listen, defense attorneys have to make very difficult arguments and let's be clear.
8:32 am
in that courtroom there's a battle of the narratives. everyone who is there with respect to the officers will have to account for what they did if they didn't do anything, why not, and if they did do something was it enough? but to suggest that the public would get involved and seek to render aid and assistance and i guess, what, tackle officers chauvin as he's engaged in that seems to me to be preposterous at best. the public was very concerned there. the public continually pleaded with the officer to stop. the public suggested that something very amiss was going to happen, but to suggest that they now just rush in and pull him off i think is even a stretch, you know, for the defense attorney so i think arguments need to be made as to what specifically their conduct was and what specifically they did. we can argue that day, night and in between, but to get the public involved i think is somewhat ridiculous if i can say. >> and can we also be clear. as an attorney, as a human
8:33 am
being, would you ever advise a client, friend or anyone to intervene in a police arrest especially when, and we can show the video, i hope we have it teed up, derek chauvin grabs at his belt as his bystanders are talking to him very aggressively at one point as he's staring them down. >> so, kate, the bottom line is with everyone that i preach to, you know, people that i have occasion to speak to, young people, people who are seeking advice and information comply now and grieve later. certainly there's an understanding oftentimes when you believe that you're aggrieved by officers on the street during a traffic stop or some place else, but you don't take it into your hands at that time. similarly members of the public i think did a very good service with respect to saying, hey, look, they did appeal to reason. look, officer, you're hurting him. officer, you can kill him. officer, this is inappropriate, it's not cool. look, i'm paraphrasing, the bottom line was the public was
8:34 am
very concerned but at no time would i advise the public to override an officer and just unilaterally jump in and do something. had that happened, kate, i think we can all believe, right, that it would have been much worse than having one death here and so i think, again, to blame members of the public, it's just -- it's not really appropriate. >> joey, he said this to cnn, right. he didn't say this before a judge. do you think this is -- he's actually testing out a defense strategy, or is he testing out a pr strategy, or is he trying to gaslight humanity? >> i can't tell either. i can't get into his mind. i think the defense has to be predicated upon the individual conduct. if you look at officer chauvin, that's the toughest defense of all. it's inhumane. i mean, forgetting about training as an officers, what about being a decent human being and how your parents raised you, and your overall humanity. he has the worst, but all the
8:35 am
others have to answer for their conduct. it's going to be a tough case moving forward. >> good to see you, joey. thanks, man. coming up for us, new confusion over who can spread the coronavirus after a statement and an attempt to clarify that statement from the world health organization all over asymptomatic spread. we'll bring that to you, and also next hour george floyd will be laid to rest. his family and friends are gathering at the fountain of praise church in houston right now for the funeral service. you can see inside, really a beautiful, beautiful church there in houston. we're going to head back down to texas in a moment. we'll be right back.
8:40 am
the world health organization is trying to offer some clarity this morning after a confusing statement, if you will, a confusing statement that was made by world health organization official on the coronavirus. that statement was this. that the asymptomatic spread was, quote, still seems to be rare. now the group says there is a lot that is still unknown. that's the clarification. cnn's dr. sanjay gupta joins us
8:41 am
now with hopefully more clarification. i have to say, sanjay, even with the clarification about asymptomatic spread, i am still confused. >> yeah. i think the clarification may have added even a little bit more confusion here, and i think the world health organization is understanding the impact of there confusing guidance that they put out there. it is confusing. let me state it like this it. the back and forth have been people who don't have symptoms, can they spread this virus, and it's really important distinction because, you know, how do they curb the spread? people wear masks who don't have symptoms. people who don't have symptoms should stay home. here's how i would think about it, kate. i don't think the guidance changes at all. i think partly this is an issue of semantics, how you define this. what we know is that people who don't have symptoms can spread the virus. the question is do those people then go on to develop symptoms.
8:42 am
in that case they are considered pre-symptomatic versus people who never develop symptoms, that's sort of the point of confusion there, but what is clear is that people who don't have symptoms, may develop symptoms later on can spread the virus. they might even be more contagious at that point before they develop symptoms which is why, you know, we've always said, you know, for the last several months, everybody has to behave like they have the virus. if you're going out in public and feel fine, still have to think you're harboring the virus, maintain your distance and everything we've been saying. what we've been hearing from the world health organization on this, should these statements change anyone's behavior now? >> i don't think so. i really think, first of all, the clarification they put out today is that there's still a lot that's unknown, and that's a fair statement. i think what we were trying to do is look at people who were truly asymptomatic, never developed any sims toms and
8:43 am
we're talking about didn't develop loss of smell, covid toes, whatever it may be, just not just the classic respiratory symptoms. did they have secondary contacts that developed the infection? that's what they are still trying to figure out. you really need good contact tracing to figure that out for certain, but what we know is for the most part people have been staying home the last few months, up until recently, up until we started reopening, and despite that, case numbers still continue to go up. why was that? because there were people out there who didn't think they had any symptoms, may not have had any symptoms yet and were still spreading the virus. i think that is clear. the cdc takes it even a step further last month where they say, you know, 40% of the spread may be coming from people who don't have symptoms. now, again, maybe those people who spread it eventually did develop symptoms, they didn't have symptoms at the time. >> thank god you're here, sanjay, because i now get it. >> hopefully that helps it a
8:44 am
little bit. >> symptom, pre-symptom, asymptomatic. still, folks, social distancing is what matters. great to see you, sanjay. great to see you. >> got it. >> in just a few minutes we'll be heading back to houston as the funeral services for george floyd begin shortly. hundreds coming together to pay tribute and also to escort him to his final resting place. he'll be buried beside his mother, and we're going to take you there for george floyd's funeral just ahea
8:46 am
8:48 am
here's what we want everyone to do. count all the hugs you haven't given. all the hands you haven't held. all the dinners you didn't share with friends. the trips you haven't taken. keep track of them. each one means one less person vulnerable, one less person exposed, and one step closer to a healthier community. so for now, keep your distance. but don't lose count. we'll have some catching up to do. >> let's head back to houston, texas right now where the city but also the nation is preparing
8:49 am
for the final good-bye to george floyd. you see pictures as the camera from inside the church right now. the funeral service for floyd is set to get under way in just a few minutes. cnn's omar jimenez is in houston. he's been standing by for us. omar, what are we going to be seeing during this service and also through this afternoon? >> reporter: well, kate, we've began from minnesota to north carolina, hit birthplace and, of course, now here in houston, texas, where in over ten minutes the funeral service for george floyd is set to begin. you saw people already beginning to file in and making their way to their seats. now over the course ever this service, it is going to be a private ceremony and just for family and invited guests as well, guests that really span from the political world in regards to congresswoman sheila jackson lee who, of course, is here in texas and the mayor, sylvester turner, even all the way to boxers like floyd mayweather and the family itself. it will be limited to
8:50 am
george floyd's body will be transported by the houston police department to the final resting place in texas, the final mile of that procession will be led by horse-drawn carriage and people can line the streets and give their final sendoffs as he makes the way towards his final burial spot as we understand next to his mother, the same mother he cried out for in his final moment that is we saw play out under the knee of a police officer a little over two weeks ago to the day. while the family, the city and more continue to mourn the death of george floyd, the movement, his death sparked, created is as alive as ever and plays out in policy debates and movements and protests across this country, kate. >> omar on the ground in houston for us. omar, thank you. so george floyd's death and
8:51 am
the massive protests that have followed have put a sharp spotlight on racial injustice and police brutality in the country and reignite a debate over what the job of police should be and shouldn't be. here is what a police chief told us here yesterday. >> there's mental health calls that police officers don't need to be there and nobody knows how w.h.o. -- who to call other than us. one of the ways we can get a lot better is that we get the people that are best suited to respond to some of these things to go there as opposed to police officers. >> chief hahn there echoing a sentiment that seems to be shared by activists and politicians, aside. one alternative model that's now getting new attention now is based in eugene, oregon. the city has a different way to handle noncriminal calls with an organization known as cahoots
8:52 am
standing for crisis assistance helping out on the streets and teams specialize in mental health as first responders. joining me is ebony morgan with cahoots. thank you for being here. for folks and myself explain a little bit more about what you all do. >> thank you so much for having us. right out of the gate, i just want to send my condolences and from the team of cahoots to george floyd's family. as someone whose father died in a police encounter, i want to be sincere about that. cahoots as a team has been around for about 30 years. we are made up of a medic and a crisis worker. we are dispatched through the city but through the dispatchers and we respond to noncriminal calls. we did 20% of the calls in the area last year, 24,000 calls.
8:53 am
we can do welfare checks, death notifications, transport people to necessary services, a great thing about it is that out of the 24,000 calls only 150 of them did we wind up needing to ask for police to assist us. so we can show up on the scene and assess the need and the appropriate interventions that will genuinely help our clientele. >> ebony, why -- why does this system work? i have read that you all handle almost like 20% of the entire like public safety call volume for your area. why does this work? what is it? >> i think our greatest tool is the trust of our community and then we are as strong as our community resources so from our perspective prevention and humanistic approaches are what really is effective. when people see us coming they know we're there to help. that's the whole goal. we lead with the question how
8:54 am
can i support you today and figure out what the root of the issue is, it's how did you get here? what do you need to get to a place where you can thrive? and what if someone is in a crisis just addressing it to a degree to feel seen and heard to de-escalate by itself. >> so i find it fascinating and important to point out as you mentioned you do call in police if that situation is required so there is work with the police in your community when need be. but looking at the model, ebony, cahoots from what we all know would not have been called to respond to the situation that led to george floyd's death so i say that to point out this isn't a cure-all for all the problems and longstanding and systemic issues discussing here and could this be a part of the solution of reforming policing in america? >> absolutely. i think that since it's a
8:55 am
systemic issue, the response and the resolution will also have to be systemic and need community supports and more unarmed mediation and decriminalization and a sense of restoretive justice and truly mental health care nationwide to get to a place where we need less of that response and then also in that system as it's reformed i think there's a place for trained crisis personnel to respond and assess the scene and figure out the appropriate response. if it's outside of the scope we can call for an ambulance, call for backup police. but those initial eyes and objectivity we have a lens that is not coming from -- we are not armed. we carry the tools to assist and approach with a really as objective as we could be of a lens to make sure that we use the right tools to help the person that we're visiting. >> thank you for what you do. this is around for 30 years and
8:56 am
looks like it could be an important thing for folks and around the country to look at. thank you, ebony. stay with us, everyone. the special coverage of george floyd's funeral with briright a this. download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood. unlike ordinary wmemory supplementsr? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. in this world where people are staying at home, many of life's moments are being put on hold. at carvana, we understand that for some getting a car just can't wait. that's why the new way to buy and sell a car is also the safer way. at carvana, you can do it all 100% online from home with a touchless delivery and pickup process to keep you safe.
8:57 am
and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a 7-day return policy. so if you need to keep moving, it's our goal to keep you safe. check out carvana, the safer way to buy a car. this moment right now... this is our commencement. no, we'll not get a diploma or a degree of any kind. but we are entering a new chapter in our lives.
8:58 am
our confidence is shaken; our hearts cracked. the kind of a crack that comes from the loss of a job; from life plans falling apart. we didn't ask for it... but we are rising to meet it. and how far we've come isn't even close to how far we can go. we just have to remember how patient we were... how strong we can be. (how strong you can be.) and remember this; there's a crack in everything for a reason. how else can the light get in? ♪ tomorrow starts today.
8:59 am
i'm brianna keilar and we welcome viewers here in the united states and around the world. >> i'm victor blackwell. this is the special live coverage for the funeral service of george floyd. mourners many dressed in white streaming into the fountain of praise church there in houston. the man whose last moments, george floyd, last words, i can't breathe, become a rallying cry across this country and around across this world against racial ginjustice and police
9:00 am
brutality. the speakers to expect today, the family's attorney and former vice president joe biden. now, after the service george floyd will travel his last mile in a horse-drawn carriage and buried next to his mother and you will remember he cried out for her during his final moments. >> victor, this, of course, is a private service. during a public tribute floyd's brothers remembered him as a 46-year-old father whose life and the movement that he has sparked by his memory has been so impactful here in the united states. let's listen. >> if he was told he would have to sacrifice his life to bring the world together, knowing him and he would have did it. >> wow. >> again, i love this love and we're hurting as a family and, you know, george we know, unfortunately, again, he's a family man. grea
260 Views
1 Favorite
IN COLLECTIONS
CNN (San Francisco) Television Archive Television Archive News Search Service The Chin Grimes TV News ArchiveUploaded by TV Archive on