04/19/21 04/19/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york this is democracy now! >> if you put your hands up, they should. if you put your hands down, they shoot. if you walk, run, hide, sleep, you do exactly as they say, they still shoot. amy: thousands protest in chicago over the police killing of 13-year-old adam toledo, who was shot dead with his hands in

thair. we will go to chicago to speak with journalist and professor lilia fernández, author of the book "brown in the windy city: mexicans and puerto ricans in postwar chicago." then a lieutenant in the army medical corps, caron nazario, is suing two virginia police officers who pepper-sprayed him, pushed him to the ground, and pointed their guns at him duri a traffic stop at a gas station. >> i am actively serving this country and this is how you're going to treat me? i did not do anything. hold on. amy: we will speak to lieutenant nazaio's lawyer. then a new york court has vindicated an african-american buffalo police officer who was punched in the face and then fired and stripped of her pension for stopping a white cop

from choking a handcuffed black man during an arrest in 2006. the former officer, cariol horne, will join us. >> problems all of the time so i wanted a solution and what would force the officers to do it. if you don't force them, a lot of them want to do it because they don't want to cross over that blue line. amy: all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a minneapolis jury is hearing closing arguments today in the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin, who killed george floyd last may by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. jurors will be sequestered until they have reached a unanimous verdict. democracy now! will be airing the closing arguments at 10:00 eastern today. this comes as demonstrations continued over the weekend in the minneapolis suburb of

brooklyn center over the police killing of 20-year-old daunte wright. on friday, police arrested over 100 people at protests. officers also rounded up journalists, forced them onto their stomachs, and photographed their faces and press credentials. others were shot with chemical sprays and other so-called less lethal weapons. cnn producer carolyn sung was thrown to the ground, zip-tied, and arrested by a trooper who yelled, “do you speak english” -- even though she repeatedly identified herself as a journalist. sung is asian-american. the minneapolis protests came as “the new york times” reported more than three people a day have died at the hands of law enforcement since derek chauvin's trial began. meanwhile, attorney general merrick garland has reversed a trump-era justice department rule limiting the use of federal consent decrees to address abuses by local police departments. protests are also continuing in

chicago over the police killing of 13-year-old adam toledo, a latinx boy. police bodycam video shows adam had his hands up in the air when he was shot dead by an officer in march. on sunday, thousands marched in the largely mexican neighborhood of little village where adam was killed. james murphy, a longtime prosecutor in cook county, has been placed on administrative leave after he falsely told a judge that toledo was holding a gun when police shot him. we'll have the latest on these stories after headlines. florida republican governor ron desantis is set to sign the state's so-called anti-riot bill that was pushed by republicans in the wake of last summer's black lives matter uprising. among other things, it bars local governments from cutting police budgets without state approval and raises penalties on demonstrators accused of a crime, including damage to historical monuments or statues.

the eight victims of last week's mass shooting at an indianapolis fedex facility have been identified. they are matthew alexander, samaria blackwell, amarjeet johal, jaswinder singh, amarjit sekhon, jasvinder kaur, karli smith, and john weisert. four of the victims are members of the local sikh community. meanwhile, the indianapolis police revealed brandon hole, the 19-year-old white mass murderer and former fedex employee, legally purchased the two semiautomatic rifles used in the attack. they were by just a few months after police seized a shotgun from whole hole after his mother brought forward concerns about his mental state. at least two other mass shootings took place in the u.s. over the weekend. in kenosha, wisconsin, three men were shot dead sunday at a college bar. three others were hospitalized.

in texas, another three people were killed sunday in a shooting in austin. a former deputy with the travis county sheriff's office, stephen nicholas broderick, has been named a suspect. the world has topped 3 million reported does from cover 19, with increasing cases from asia to america to europe. >> globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months. this is approaching the highest rate of infection that we've seen so far during the pandemic. amy: in brazil, hospitals remain stretched to their limit as deaths average 3000 per day. a new study estimated over 20 ildren uer nine ve died of covid-19 in brazil -- over half of those, babies -- since the

pandemic started. india recorded yet a new record of over 273,000 cases monday. this is a surgeon at a delhi hospital. >> there are no beds in the icu, there are no ventilators, there are no medicines in short supply. even oxygen is in short supply. and those who have died are waiting for others for decent commission. what can be more dangerous and frightening than this scenario? amy: while many countries have yet to inoculate even their st vulnerable, some wealthier nations are moving towards a return to normal after successful vaccination programs. israel has lifted its outdoor mask mandate and fully reopened schools. but israel's medical apartheid has left the majority of palestinians out of the region's recovery. here in the u.s., half the adult population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus

vaccine, a quarter of adults are fully vaccinated. the u.s. continues to average more than 67,000 new infections a day. a centers for disease control panel will meet on friday this week to issue recommendations on the temporarily halted johnson & johnson vaccine. that he was temporarily halted use of the one-shot vaccine after at least six people reported an extremely rare blood clot disorder out of 7 million. on friday, johnson & johnson scientists said there was insufficient evidence of a link between the clots and the vaccine. dr. anthony fauci said over the weekend he expects the u.s. will resume its use. >> my estimate is we will continue to use it in some form. i doubt very seriously if they just cancel it. i don't think that is going to happen. amy: south africa's health regulator has recommended resuming johnson & johnson vaccinations after also halting its rollout.

russian prison officials transferred opposition leader and nationalist politician alexy navalny to a hospital, three weeks after he began a hunger strike to protest a lack of medical care while in prison. he is serving a 3.5-year-sentence over what his supporters say are trumped-up charges. over the weekend, u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan warned russia over navaln's treatment, saying there would be consequences if navalny dies. russia's foreign ministry has expelled 10 u.s. diplomats and lobar top u.s. officials from traveling to russia after president biden ordered sweeping new sanctions against russia. the white house accuses russia of interfering in the 2020 election and says russian hackers are behind the massive solarwinds hack, which compromised the computer systems of u.s. government agencies and scores of private companies. in bangladesh, five people were killed and dozens more wounded

saturday after police opened fire on a crowd of 2000 workers protesting unpaid wages and demanding better working conditions. the violent crackdown came at a chinese-owned coal-fired power plant southeast of the capital, dhaka. syria's parliament has announced plans to hold a presidential election on may 26. >> i called on syrian citizens inside and outside the country to practice the right in electing the president of the republic. amy: candidates must have lived in syria for the past decade, leading exiled opposition politicians to condemn the election as a farce. the vote is widely expected to return president bashar al-assad to a third term. this comes on the 10th annirsary of assad's violent crackdown anti-government protesters, which sparked a civil war that has displaced millions and left more than 380,000 dead. president biden walked back his decision to keep the trump-era cap on the number of refugees admitted to the u.s. after

intense backlash from some democrats and rights groups. the current annual limit is just 15,000 -- a record low. biden now says he will announce the increased number for this fiscal year by may 15. north carolina police arrested two men over the shooting deaths of two black transgender women. the women have been identified as jaida peterson and remy fennell. they are believed to be at least the 14th and 15th transgender or gender non-conforming people to be violently killed this year. meanwhile, states continue to push laws threatening the lives and safety of trans people around the country. another bill that would bar trans athletes in student sports teams is currently making its way through florida's legislature. and in texas, 10-year-old trans activist kai shappley addressed state lawmakers last week to speak out against two bills criminalizing gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth.

>> texas legislators have been attacking me since pre-k. i am in the fourth grade now. when it comes to bills that target trans youth, i neatly feel angry. it has been very scary and overwhelming. it makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids like me to get votes from people who hate me just because i exist. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. protests are continuing in chicago over the police killing of 13-year-old adam toledo. police bodycam video released on thursday show adam had his hands up in the air when he was shot by an officer on march 29. adam was a seventh grader at gary elementary school. the chicago police initially described the incident as an armed confrontation, but the video shows adam raised his

hands after being ordered to do so after a short chase. police were investigating reported gunfire in the area. amid nationwide protests over his killing, thousands marched sunday in chicago's little village, the largely mexican neighborhood where adam was killed. two days earlier on friday, thousands gathered in chicago's logan square. some held signs reading, “my hands are up don't shoot.” protesters blasted authorities for trying to cover up the circumstances of adam's death. meanwhile, james murphy, a longtime prosecutor in cook county has been placed on administrative leave after he falsely told a judge toledo was holding a gun when police shot him. in a statement, cook county state's attorney kim foxx's office said murphy had "failed to fully present the facts surrounding the death of a 13-year-old boy." over the weekend, democratic state lawmaker edgar gonzalez, jr. criticized the police for

being too willing to shoot. >> if you put your hands up, they shoot. if you put your hands down, they shoot. if you walk, run, you hide, you sleep, you do exactly as they say, they still shoot. amy: we are joined n by two guests. lilia fernández is a native chicagoan and associate professor of latino and caribbean studies and history at rutgers university. she is the author of the book "brown in the windy city: mexicans and puerto ricans in postwar chicago" and is currently writing a new book titled "a history of latino chicago: class solidarities and coalitional politics." she is married to democracy now! cohost juan gonzalez. and in chicago, we are joined by mateo zapata, an independent

journalist, photographer, and community organizer. he recently wrote an op-ed for “the chicago tribune” titled "we are adam: for many youth across chicago's south and west sides, adam toledo's life trajectory is too familiar.” we welcome you both to democracy now! mateo, talk about the issues being raised and the original circumstances of this 10-year-old white adam toledo's death. >> good morning. the original circumstances around the fact that chicago police department actively tried to cover up everything about this case. and copa to delayed the release of the footage. that is the police accountability entity in chico. they are responsible for handling all of the evidence and processing everything around people that are murdered by police. amy: so the murder happened at the end of march, but it took a

few weeks for this video to be released. so the police and the city-shaped the narrative at the beginning. yeah, no. e pro-police narrative has been in full effect. there has been a lot of demonizing happening in regards to who adam was in the circumstances of how he was murdered. what we've seen in chicago is the police departmen here is developing a culture of killing people during foot pursuits. three days after adam was murdered, they shot and killed anthony alvarez, whos also running. last year they killed mark nevarez in the same neighborhood of little village when he was running as well. with adam circumstances and

everything surrounding his murder, what we saw is he complied. he had his hands up and they were empty but he was still murdered. people in chicago are tired of seeing black and brown youth murdered by police. amy: let me bring professor fernandez in. you have been following this very closely, albeit from afar. talk about what happened when you saw that video at the end when the police officer says "hold up your hands and turn around"? exactly what adam did. >> thank you for having me, amy. i wish you were under better circumstances. watching that video was absolutely heart-wrenching. we have been traumatized over and over again come to say nothing of the families of these victims. watching the killing of

12-year-old tamir rice, 17-year-old laquan mcdonald. that is who i immediately thought of when i saw this video footage of adam toledo. young people, innocent teenagers who have no idea their lives were about to be taken from them by these officers. this devastating. it is absolutely devastating. but i will say also that we have seen a lot of attention to the killings of african-americans cently. adam toledo is mexican american i believe. i am glad that we're are finally getting some national attention on police brutality and killings of latinos. this has been going on for far too long. i could say more about that, about the history of police brutality of police killings of

latinos, not only in chicago, but other cities around the country. amy: why don't you talk abt that now. >> sure. as i said, this is not a new phenomenon. going back even to the 1920's, mexican immigrants in chicago complained about the prejudice treatment they received from police officers to how they treated polish immigrants, for example. but most of the examples i have looked at are from the 1950's and 1960's. that is really when the latino or latinx population began to grow in chicago the influx of mexican americans, mexican immigrants, and puerto rics. many chicago residents and poli did not like this, the fact these populations were moving in and moving into some are dominany white neighborhoods. ever since then, we have seen countless examples of different kinds of police brutality and abuse. even the same -- famed his

friend said carlos alvarez reporting that police fctured his arm news coming off his night shift as watchman at the museum. this is all in the 1960's. others gave accounts of brutal police beatings in the station in 1965. the shooting of a 20-year-old, puerto rican youth under the humble park every hood in june 1966, is what set off an uprising that year. the rest of that summer, there were a number of other shootings and beatings of latino meant. a 15-year-old who was shot and killed in the woodlot ighborhood for stealing a car. another who was killed by police

and a friend of his wife and eight children. the list goes on and on. what is clear is over the decades, the different calls from activists and community leaders for reform have not changed this problem. this is a retractable issue. we need to understand the deep origins of it to really affect the kind of reforms or systemic changes that are needed. amy: the toledo family's attorney described the killing as anssassination during a press conference last week. this is what she said. >> i know all of you have seen the video of adam toledo. they are especially moving, saddening, distressful to see a 13-year-old boy shot at the hands of an officer.

those of you with children, you can relate to some of the pain that the toledos are feeling today. those videos speak for themselves. adam, during his last second of life, did not have a gun in his hand. the officer screamed at him, "show me your hands," and adam complied, turned around, his hands were empty when he was shot in the chest at the hands of the officer. he did not have a gun in his hand, contrary to the reports made earlier today. amy: that the toledo family attorney adeena weiss-ortiz speaking last week about the killing of adam. 13-year-old seventh grader at gary elementary school. cariol, --mateo zapata, given

writing about adam story. can you tell us where he grew up about his school, about how he was separated from other students? close he grew up on the south side chicago. he had barely been and little village for about a year. he was labeled a special ed student early on. but he did not have any severe learning disabilities at all. but he was so marginalized and separated. educators that i spoke with, his former teachers, said they did not feel he really had the opportunity to develop the social and emotional intelligence. and i think that is a situation that a lot of youth under chicago's public school system deal with. even myself, i was kicked out of school when i was younger as well. i think adam, having been so young, still had an opportunity to have some of whatever was

going on be addressed but it was not. and i think the chicago public school system needs to have a serious moment of reflection on how it treats its inner city students. amy: you spoke to several of adams teachers. as we speak, mateo, your video photojournalist and we have been running some of the video of the protests over the weekend that you took. tell us what his teachers said. >> the teachers said he was really passionate about art. he really liked to draw a lot. that was like his gift, his thing. the teacher felt there was the resources of the program to explore arts education, that that could have been a means for adam to utilize his energy in a more constructive manner, specifically in little village throughout the last two decades,

being studied as one of the areas chicago that has the largest group of what is called disconnected youth. groups of young people that live in these neighborhoods that are not enrolled in any sort of academic institution and are also unemployed. amy: professor fernandes, talk about the narrative before we saw the video. people might be surprised adam was killed by the police at the end of march, that the uprising is just happening now, but that is because the video footage was not released. at this poi, even an attorney within the city has been suspended for misrepresenting what was in that video before we sought, saying adam had a gun in his hands. >> that's right. chicago police and the assistant state's attorney knew for more than two weeks at this police

shooting was dreadfu so they began to craft the narrative to justify, claiming first it was "armed conflict" that toledo was holding a gun. they kept emphasizing the shotspotter technology, which saturates for black and brown communities in chicago and other kind of video surveillance and militarize technology that are supposed to reduce crime. they also noted in an editorial recently, try to make the connection, somehow implicating -- was ultimately resnsible for toledo's death. amy: explained who he was, the 21-year-old. >> he was the 21-year-old allegedly in toledo's company and presumably was the owner of the gun that police claim was being fired and claim toledo had

in his possession. however, we know these kinds of narratives that the police and states attorneys offices craft, there always the same. there are always depicting victims of police violence as either the bad guys, the criminals, or simply collateral damage in police pursuit of the bad guys. black and latino communities do not commit any more crimes than white americans do, and yet it is precisely those neighborhoods that are over policed and precisely the crime that occurs in those neighborhoods that we focus on. we have to ask ourselves as a society, why don't we look more carefully or think more about other kinds of crimes that are committed that happen every day in this country? corporate crime? companies that pollute and are destroying our environment and

communities, political leaders who commit fraud and embezzlement, rob public coffers of millions of dollars? people who distribute child pornography? none of that crime ever comes another conversation. instead, what we always focus on is drugs and violent crime in poor, working class communities where many residents were not able to find employment in the regular labor market go into the informal economy. lastly, i will state adam toledo would not be dead today if you were white, if you were from an affluent family, or if he lived in a predominately white neighborhood. amy: finally, mateo, on sunday morning, the mayor lightfoot posted a series of tweets to her personal account saying of substantiated rumors that she would resign as chicago mayor --

that was sunday morning. your thoughts? close or let put is a cop. she has been extremely oppressive toward black and brown communities so she got intoffice. if you remember the video of the police raid on engine at young's house, she tried to suppress that bodycam footage to come ou she is not in any way position someone who should ever speak on behalf of black or brn communities in chicago. she gave over half are federal covid relief funds to the chicago police department. that is over $280 milliothat she gave to cpd as our federal covid relief that we should have had in black and brown communities that were the most impacted during the pandemic. the people that have the highest

death rates, the essential workers in the city. there predominately in black and brown communities. that is where the covid reay funding needed to be. lori lightfoot, she definitely needs to resign and she should no longer be the mayor of chicago. amy: lori lightfoot before she was mayor, was president of the chicago police board and chair of the chicago police accountability task force. where do you see these protests going? >> i think the protests will likely continue. i think aside from the marching, aside from the protests, we really need to look at instuting some kind of policy in regard to put pursuits in chicago specifically. right now there is no policy. that is something i ready know a few peoe around the south

si that have worked at raising awareness on how police rrorize our communities were starti to seriously consider the need to institute some so of foot rsuit policy because it cannot continue because we cannot continue to allow the chicago police department to kill black and brown people in our community's when they are running away. amy: is there any discussion, any word about the charging of the police officer who killed adam? >> know, as of now, i've not heard of any charges bng broughtp on officer eric stillman, who murdered adam toledo with his hands up while he was unarmed. amy: final word, professor? >> i think we need to look very seriously at the long history of this problem. in the 1950's and 1960's when the community complained about police abuse and violence, they

said it was a language barrier issue so they said cops to learn spanish. in the 1970's, they said, we don't have enough hispanics on the police force so they started to demandiring more latino officers. in the 1980's and 1990's, we talk more about accountability, than the body cameras. now we have the body and all this technology and still the police culture of disdain and even contempt for brown people, black people, for nonwhite people, particularly for poor people, continues toermeate both law enforcement and the criminal justice system. this quires a complete overhaul. we need to think big. we need to work in solidarity with one another, understand that as the recent violence has shown, racism, that we have a problem beyond and type like

racism against brown people, asian americans, and others. amy: lilia fernandez,, thank you for being with us, associate professor of latino and caribbean studies and history at rutgers university. author of "brown in the windy city: mexicans and puerto ricans in postwar chicago." currently writing a second book titled "a history of latino chicago: class solidarities and coalitional politics." she was born and grew up in chicago. and thank you to mateo zapata, independent journalist and photographer and chicago community organizer. we will into our books and articles at democracynow.org. next up, a lieutenant in the army medical corps is suing two virginia police officers who push them to the ground, pointed a gun at his head during a traffic stop. we will speak with his lawyer. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "sophisticated lady" by the charles mingus sextet with eric dolphy. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a warning to our audience, the following story contains graphic descriptions and images of police violence.

we now turn to virginia, where a lieutenant in the army medical corps is suing two police officers who pepper-sprayed him, pushed him to the ground, and pointed their guns at him during a traffic stop at a gas station last december. lieutenant caron nazario, who is a black latinx man, wearing his army uniform at the time, said he drove to the gas station to avoid pulling over on a dark road after he noticed a police car flashing its lights at him, so that he could be somewhere public and well-lit while he interacted with the officers. video of the attack in the town of windsor, virginia, has sparked outrage. >> keep your hands up by the window. >> what is going on? >> good out of the car. >> what is going on? >> get out of the car now. get out of the car now. >> i'm serving my country and this is how i am treated? >> g out of the car.

>> what is going on? i'm sorry, what? clubs get out of the car now. >> what is going on? clubs serve, get out of the car. get out of the car. >> received an order. obey it. >> i am honestly afraid to get out. what is going on? what did io? i have not committed any crimes. clubs y're not cooperating. at this point you're under arrest. you're being detained. >> for a traffic violation, i don't have to get out of the vehicle. >> get out of the car. >> get your hands off me. get your hands off me. hands off me. i did not do anything. don't do that. don't do that.

i'm trying to talk to you. please, relax. >> get out of the car right now. clubs this is not -- and actively serving this country this is how you're going to serve me? i did not do anything wrong. hold on. hold on. watch it. watch it. >> get out of the car. get out of the car now. >> this is [bleep] >> sir, just get out of the car. >> i'm trying to breathe. >> [bleep] >> get out of the car now and get on the ground we will get it again. amy: he is getting pepper sprayed at point like range.

lieutenant nazario was then forced to the ground and then handcuffed. the officer who deployed the pepper spray, joe gutierrez, was fired last week days after the public video of the release but nearly four months after the actual incident. virginia governor ralph northam said he is directing virginia state police to conduct an investigation. we go now to richmond, virginia, where we are joined by jonathan arthur, attorney for u.s. army second lieutenant caron nazario. can you explain how this happened? can you explain why they stopped him and that terrifying comment that this police officer made as the lieutenant was saying, "what did i do wrong" he said, "you're fixing to ride the lightning"? >> it is incredible, isn't it? thank you for having m th in response to a pump question, "what can i do wrong?" one of our law enforcement felt it appropriate to threaten our

man ,. wh virginialled old sparky. there is an even more grotesque layer to that statement when you take a look at the wayhe death penalty has been disproportionately applied to african-americans and people of color in virginia in the south. it is a terrifying stament, especially when you're facing the barrel of a gun. especially because you have been pulled over ostensiblbecause one of the oicers said you do not have a license plate -- which was in fact factually false. amy: he had just bought the car, is that right? it had dark tinted windows and the license was in the window? >> yes, the dealer where he purchased the window have placed the temporary tag in the ck upper right-nd corner of his rear window.

one of the madding things, you take a look at both of these officers video -- excuse me, but he won cameras, before they are scared by the officers firearms, the body worn camera picks up the presence of the license ple. the officer that initiated this traffic stop ultimately says, "yeah, i saw when i got out my video -- when i got out of my car, but i was too busy." it belies bully. amy: yet the lieutenant saying "i am afraid of police," and he says "yoshould be" >> officer sang "keep your hands out ofhe window"nd the other saying "good out of the vehicle," and you can't do both at the same time, to say "hey, and scared to get out of this vehicle." a reasonable person should hav been, "let's see what we can do to de-escalate the situation." that is opposite of what they did.

instead of de-escalating, joe gutierrez says, "yeah, my client should be afraid to get out of the vehicle." that is wholly unacceptable. the man has no business being in law enforcement. amy: explain how this first went down. you have the lieutenant saying the police lights but afraid to pull over on a dark road so drives slowly for another minute until he finds a well lit area, which is a gas station, and then pulls over. >> that is crect. one of the rlly, reay troubling statements in this whole interaction- and there are a few of them -- is joe gutierrez saying, "hey, i think -- i knew at you are doing. it happens all the time. i think he says 80%f the me it is a minority. and they may inform some of his behavior.

amy: amazingly, "the washington post" reports caron nazario's is a cousin of eric garner. eric garner, the african-american man who was killed by police in 2014, put him in a chokehold, the video of the arrest went viral as he said 11 times "i can't breathe." caron nazario called garner his uncle? >> lighting is not supposed to strike twice. i ink it is a testament to how brutal and how violent our police are when this type of violence occurs twice to the same family in two states hundreds of miles apart. i think it lays bare some of the systemic problems that america is facing with how our police interact with people they're trying to protect -- they are

supposed to be protecting. amy: lieutenant nazario was wearing his uniform. he even said he was afraid to release his seatbelt because he would have to reach down and th could be anxcuse fothe police. >> correct. i think he was forced -- which one of those two officers he was going to listen to. does he keep his hands out of the vehicle or move them downo he could release his seatbelt? luckily, i think he picked the right officer to comply with, hands out of the window. because from looking at how these two officers behaved with their guns pointed at his head, it is not unreasonable to think had mylient try to comply and taken his seatbelt off that they would have murdered him right there at the vp in windsor over a traffic stop. amy: you have filed a $1 million lawsuit on behalf of the

lieutenant. what are you calling for in addition? >> there are a couplof overriding purposes of this lawsuit, to put a stoto this behavior. however we have to do it. we fight with the tools we are given. my client is looking just to hold his officers accountable under law to stop this behavior. we are seeking for the federal court to sayey, this behavior is illegal. and there are some things that thinare en moreroubling from a cstitutional standpoint , the violence. and that is that both of the officers writing to destroy my client's career if he speaks out onhe issue we are asking a federal court to declare those actions be illegal and unconstitutional. we want injury to say the same thing so we can write this as stone and use it as further proceeded down the road sohat others -- precedent down the road so they c hold others,

because they will not stop this behavior unless there is accountable -- until there is accountability. and finally, there is the monetary damage. the law says mylient is entitled to be compensated for the dames tt he suffered. the attack, the pepper spray the constitutionally shattering actions of these officers. in the law also says that drinking award damages. -- the jury can award damages. to punish the kind of, keep the kind of from happening again. and if we can't get these law-enforcement enforcement officers to change on thr own, another way to do it is to ma it so expensive for these municipalities ming forwardo coinue operating as they are that it will bankrupt them or force them to change their behavior everything we are doing here is to stop it. amy: jonathan arthur, thank you for being here, attorney for u.s. army 2nd lt. caron nazario.

who i should say was in his uniform. he has sued two virginia police officers who pepper-sprayed him, pushed him to the ground and pointed their guns at him during a traffic stop in december. next up, a new york court vindicated african-american buffalo police officer who was punched in the face and fired and stripped of her pension for trying to stop a white cop from choking a handcuffed black man. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: “mama please” by drea d'nur and rami nashashibi, featuring 1200. they dedicated the song to our next guest, cariol horne. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. a new york court has vindicated a former buffalo police officer who was fired for stopping a fellow cop from choking a handcuffed black man during an arrest 15 years ago. in 2006, cariol horne, who is black, saw a white officer repeatedly punching the man in the face before putting him in a chokehold. after horne heard the man say, "i can't breathe" she intervened, grabbing the officer's arm. after the incident, horne was

sanctioned by the police department, reassigned, then fired in 2008 -- just months before she was eligible to receive her full pension. last week new york court ruled making her eligible for back pay and pension benefits. new york state supreme court judge dennis ward cited dr. martin luther king, jr. in his ruling, writing, "the time is always right to do right.” ward also wrote -- "recent events in the national news, including the death last year in the city of minneapolis of george floyd, who died from unreasonable physical force being applied for over nine minutes, have sparked national outrage over the use of this practice.” the judge continued -- "one of the issues in all of these cases is the role of other officers at the scene and particularly their complicity in failing to intervene to save the life of a person to whom such unreasonable physical force is being applied. to her credit, officer horne did not merely stand by, but instead sought to intervene, despite the

penalty she ultimately paid for doing so." the officer horne intervened against would later be sentenced to a form of term in the federal prison for a 2000 and incident which he assaulted four african-american teenagers in handcuffs. the man cariol horne saved credits her with setng his life. meanwhile, she has proposed cariol's law, which would make it the duty of enforcement officers to intervene in cases of brutality. it would protect officers who intervene and punish officers who cover up abuses or falsify reports. buffalo's city council voted last fall to adopt the legislation, and horne is calling on state governments and congress to follow their lead. for more, we go to buffalo to speak with cariol horne. also with us is intisar rabb, a harvard law school professor who is one of the three attorneys representing horne. we welcome you both to democracy now! cariol horne, congratulations on winning this victory in court.

take us back to 2006. where were you when you saw this white officer attacking this handcuffed black man? >> i went to the home of your mac neal mack. when i went inside, he was handcuffed and being punched in the face. once we got him out of the house and outside, that is wh the officer started choking him and that is when i released the chokehold and then he punched me in the face. amy: and why did you do? >> went to defend myself but two officers came between us and two officers pulled me back. then i went to the station house , reported it to the chief, and an internal investigation started and i became the target. amy: and you were fired. >> yes.

amy: how did that affect your life, cariol horne? and why is this vindication coming 15 years later? close it affected my life in a lot of ways. financially, emotionally, physically. i have five children. they were younger than and i knew i did the right thing so i could understand why they would not do the right thing. meaning the city police department. amy: so you were fired, the white cop who was assaulting this black man was not fired. he come the handcuffed man, says you saved his life. the white cop ends up going to jail for assaulting four black teens? >> he went to joe for exactly what i said he did, unnecessary

unlawful force. amy: i went to bring intisar rabb into the conversation. how did you get involved with this case? you were not cariol horne's original lawyer. >> i got a call any summer of this past yearn the wake of the killing of george floyd from the director of the inner-city muslim action network, any organization in chicago. he is the songwriter of the song for cariol horne. he called telling mebout the effects of her case, that she'd done the right thing, she saved a man. ne mack is the george floyd who lives, but she suffer the consequences of doing something right as if she done something wrong. she needs vindication. i thought, absolutely she does most of very soon after that,

ron sullivan, camille edelstein, we all join in and took the case immediately and thought this has to be something or even if the law says on paper that it is impossible, we are nogoing to ta no for an answer and we are going to do everything we can to help bring her justice. amy: professor, why did this case affect you so deeply? >> this case really affected me two ways. i think it comes -- the case itself, our notice of it, and handing down of the judgment comes against a backdrop of a widespread epidemic of violence, police excessive use of force, that has to be curbed i think from all sides. the law has to be used as a tool for justice.

so i think iis a backdrop of what was and context of what is today that really demanded that we get involved in cariol's case and ensure that her behavior is lauded and that she becomes an example for other poce officers, that this courageous judge becomes an example for other courts to correct past wrongs. amy: what do you think of cariol ' law? >> i think it should spread far and wide so that it will both create a duty to intervene for police officers against l officers who are using excessive force unlawfully, as we see happen way too often this week alone, and i think one of the ovisions othe law is that it creates a retroactive cause of

action. so when incidents happen -- if an incident happened 20 years prior, a person like cariol horne the seventh of consequences -- who suffered bad consequences, can still get justice. i think this is both the law and the case can be exemplary models for other cities and states. there is a saying "save a life, as if you saved all of mankind. the law in the police officers can help be in the position of saving all mankind instead of taking life in the way that cariol horne did in saving the life. amy: but this case does not mean cariol horne gets compensated for the emotional damage that was done to her, being stripped of her job, losing her pension. this is 15 yrs later

to preparations for that >> we hope she will. we took this case as a first-ever. the mall -- the law moves slowly. the first step for getting damages would be at least two clear her name, clear out the wrongful termination for her actions. and i think she may well gon to determine nexsteps. right now we re focused on getting justice for cariol horne in this case. amy: cariol horne, has this changed your view of police? both now this vindication and also what happened?

the people that remember, the elder man, the peace activist in buffalo who was pushed down by police officers, they cracked his skull? >> what was the question? amy:oes this change review of the police department and of police in general, what their role is and what you feel should be the direction of police reform? close no, it does not change my view of policing because there still a lot of work to be done. when you hear stories of adam toledo, daunte wright and eve caron nazario, this is what people have been talking about forever. the needs to be an international law. cariol's what is great that it has been passed in buffalo, but it needs to be amended to

include a national registry. these officers involved should not be able to leave one department and go to another one so they can continue to do the same thing. in the system -- i think what i did was right and i think the judge was awesome in his decision, and that is a start. so if you're changing the system from within, that is a start. amy: cariol horne, thank you for being with us. both congratulating you on your actions and for winning this case, as the judge cited dr. martin luther king. cariol horne, buffalo new york police officer fired for stopping a fellow cop from choking a handcuffed man during an arrest, sanctioned by the buffalo police department, ultimately fired just months before she was eligible to receive her full pension. last week the court vindicated

her, making her eligible for back pay and pension benefits. and intisar rabb is a professor of harvard law school. thank you so much. democracy now! is draining the closing arguments of the derek chauvin case starting at 10:fvfv

♪ hello and thanks for joining us on nhk world japan. this is "nhk newsline." we start with our coronavirus situation in japan. the governors of two major urban centers are considering stricter measures, including another state of emergency. the goal is to counter a spike in cases experts say is driven largely by more contagious variants. in the western precture of