tv Dateline MSNBC June 14, 2020 2:00am-3:00am PDT
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of breaking news out of atlanta, georgia this evening on a very early morning. 1:00 a.m. eastern. for those of you joining us, we're covering the breaking news out of atlanta. a new flash point, the debate over police violence. this is what we know right now. the police officer involved in the shooting death of rayshard brooks has been fired as of this hour. we learned that within the last 60 minutes. another officer also has been put on administrative leave. a fire broke out tonight in the wendy's parking lot where police shot and killed mr. brooks. hours ago, atlanta's police chief resigned. earlier the attorney for the family rayshard brooks spoke about his death at the hands of police. >> you can't say you have other options. where was he going to go? he was barely jogging away. you could have boxed him in. support came in i think two minutes.
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he would have been boxed in and trapped. why did you have to kill him? >> all right. earlier this evening, mayor quiche a lance bottoms announced that chief erica shields had resigned. take a listen. >> chief erica shields has been a solid member of a.p.d. for over two decades and has a deep and abiding love for the people of atlanta. because of her desire that atlanta be a model of what meaningful reform should look like across this country, chief shields has offered to immediately step aside as police chief so that the city may move forward with urgency in rebuilding the trust so desperately needed throughout our community. >> now, all of this comes after this incident involving rayshard brooks, officers responding to that wendy's after brooks supposedly fell asleep in the
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driv drive-through line. the 27-year-old man failed a fold sobriety test. when officers tried to arrest him, he apparently resisted, grabbed one of their tasers and tried to runoff, as has been seen in this video of one of the bystanders. gbi saying he might have been trying to fire the taser when an officer shot at him. brooks died at the hospital. former chief shields had been with atlanta pd for more than two decades. her resignation reads in part, quote, out of a deep and abiding love for this city and this department, i offer to step aside as police chief. she added, it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, unquote. all right. joined now by phone by msnbc correspondent blayne alexander. blayne, it is 1:00 a.m. local time.
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we're talking about the surveillance video, the eyewitness video and body camera and dash camera video from each of the officers. that's six different vantage points to see what's going on. they tell us a lot. one, it's a pretty calm interaction for the better part of 40 minutes or so. it wasn't until 43 minutes into that video that an officer tells brooks, mr. brooks, hey, i think you've had too much to drink to be driving. we're going to put you under arrest. that's when he starts to struggle. that's when the tussling starts
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between the two. you hear the officer say stop fighting, you're going to get tased. it's not until 43 minutes in that it escalates. it escalates in less than a minute from that moment or so when the shots are fired. about a minute and a half. we're learning more about officers. one was hired in 2013, the other hired just in 2018. just about two years or so on the a.p.d. before this incident happened. the other thing we're watching is it was less than 24 hours we saw the chief resign. the officer fired. they're putting out video, certainly appears to be a move
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to try and get as much information out as possible. the other thing about the video, you see them in the body camera video, rather, there's a point at which they search him, that they search his person before putting him under arrest as well, richard. >> so blayne, what is new this hour for those who might be turning in at a very late evening hour, if you are still counting it as the day before is that we are now reviewing video about 90 minutes. is that right, blayne, that is new to us? and we're reviewing it now at nbc news and msnbc before we show it. you have been able to view it. blayne, from what you have seen so far, what might be new and more instructive about what happened based from the video we saw before from the bystander as well as from the surveillance video? >> i think the most notable thing is the time period. i think the most notable thing
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is the time period, that the video we see from the bystander that shows the tussle is about 43 minutes or so into the interaction between mr. brooks and the two police officers. we see him taking his field sobriety test. you know that according to the gbi, he failed that field sobriety test. that's why they put him under arrest. so really, what the most instructive about the body camera video, at least this first angle is what leads up to that encounter. now once the struggle between the officers and mr. brooks starts happening, the body camera is it's jostled around. as you might expect in the middle of a struggle as a kind of fight on the ground. you really can't see much. what's valuable there is the audio, and you hear the officer saying several times "stop fighting, stop fighting, you're going get tased."
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and then they run after him and you hear a taser sound and then what seems to be three gunshots and some yelling afterwards. and that's what's most valuable. during that interaction, you can't see much because it's involved in the tussle. >> for our viewers we are evaluating that video right now there is a lot of it. before we show it to you, we want to make sure that we can verify as well as review what is acceptable for broadcast. blayne, back to you on this, is there a sense of which officer, as we're looking at video on screen right now. is it the officer in the front or is it the officer in the anterior, in the back? >> i'm not able to see the video that you're able to see, but i will say the officer who has been terminated was the one who fired the shots. and so that's kind of where that's going now. i will say this. the fulton county district attorney has always weighed in on this. so in addition to the multiple angles, there are multiple investigations going on as well. so the gbi is investigating,
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georgia bureau of investigation. the fulton d.a.'s office is conducting its own investigation. he said he is conducting his own investigation to decide whether or not charges may be appropriate in this case. so he is doing an independent investigation. and then the attorney for mr. brooks family, chris stewart and his law partner are conducting a third investigation. there are at least three different investigations going on trying to lead up to figuring out what happened and whether there will be charges forth coming in this case. >> again, blayne alexander there in atlanta, georgia for us, our correspondent reporting tonight. blayne, we are just showing a picture of the officer that was fired this evening, and you did give us some description of his background. do we have any more information about the officer that was terminated? >> we do. so we do know that he was hired on the force in 2013. yes. we know that he was hired on the
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force in 2013. atlanta police department is identifying him, and i want to make sure that have i this correct. >> sure. absolutely. i know this is ongoing. absolutely. >> yeah. well, atlanta police department is identifying him as officer garrett rolfe, hired in october of 2013. that's the officer who has been terminated according to the atlanta police department. now the officer who has been put on administrative leave, administrative duty, rather, was the one that was hired in september of 2018. so that's what we know about the two atlanta police officers at this time. now it's notable that the mayor earlier this evening when she spoke, she talked about the fact that she had accepted the resignation of atlanta police chief erika shields, she said immediately at the time that she did not believe this use of force was justified, and that she was calling for the officer to be terminated. she wanted the officer to be terminated as well. that came from the mayor and
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several hours later we know that he has in fact been fired from the force. >> so, blayne, in the context of what we're living in today, within the last month, that this has moved pretty quickly, as has been said so far. is there any understanding, any reporting locally there in atlanta, georgia about how and why erika shields as well as the mayor moved so quickly? what might be the reasons behind it? because it did come out within the last 12 hours as this is just what is going to happen. we didn't get a lot of, if you will, back story behind the reasoning. obviously, it could be that which they have already stated. >> you know, in her statement, and in the mayor's news conference, both of them have said that her stepping aside as police chief is an important first step in the city going forward and moving and restoring trust between the community and the police. >> yeah. >> but this is really is -- let me kind of back up a little for you. i've been covering the protests
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here, that they happened two weeks ago this week and started two weeks ago this weekend. >> right. >> and it was two weeks ago that we saw another major incident involving atlanta police. that's when six officers surrounded two college students in a car, broke windows, one of the students was tased, both of them were pulled from the cars and all of that played out on live tv, on a local tv station. that's something that grabbed national attention. less than 24 hours after that, richard, we saw the mayor and the police chief standing side by side, announcing that two of those officers had been fired. they took very quick action then. and certainly it was understood that they took the quick action because they wanted to be transparent. they wanted to send a message to the public of hey, if there is excessive use of force, we're look to handle it very quickly. and less than 48 hours after, that we saw criminal charges filed against six of those officers. so all of that happened in a very quick amount of time. you've covered these stories before, as have i, as have many
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of us. it takes a long time, it can take an internal investigation, it can take months for there to be termination. certainly even longer than that for charges to be filed. the fact that we saw all of that in that separate incident happened in less than 72 hours was notable. so you fast forward to what we saw this weekend, and i would suspect it would be some of the same reasoning, richard. the fact that there really is this groundswell of frustration, anger, concern. you saw it play out in the street here is in atlanta tonight. it appeared to be hundreds of protesters. took to the busiest highway in atlanta. 7585, kind of the main artery through downtown and blocked that for more than an hour. and then descended upon the wendy's where that entire scuffle took place, that entire incident, shooting took place, set that wendy's on fire, and all of this after the police chief resigned and stepped aside. so there really is this
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certainly this desire to send a message that if there is excessive use of force deemed by those in authority, then they're going act on it. >> as we know, blayne, answer sometimes are not enough. when we look at mayor bottoms as well as chief shields, do we know who pushed forward the resignation of chief fields? was it the mayor? was it self-declarative of the chief? do we know right now? it's a little early. i thought i would ask. >> no, no, that's fine. and yes we do know. the mayor said in her news conference. she was asked about it. she said it was the chief's decision. the chief offered her resignation and the mayor accepted that. now we do know, this is interesting, but the chief is actually going to be reassign to some other duty in the city. don't know what that is yet. tbd that. >> didn't give information on that. but she is going to be -- remain with the city in some capacity in another capacity. >> do we know who might be taking her place? >> right now there is an interim chief. the deputy has stepped up.
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but they said there is a nationwide search to see who is going to step in and fill that position. now chief shields has been on the force maybe about 3 1/2 years or so. but she has been with the department for much longer than that. more than 20 years. so she certainly has a long history with this department and the position for about 3 1/2 years. there is now an interim chief. but yes that. >> looking nationwide to find her permanent replacement. >> hey, blayne, great reporting. stay with us. we're going get over to nypd detective marq claxton. he is also director of the black enforcement alliance. thanks for being with us, marq. because as you know, this is one of those points, at least in news where in general times, and there is no such thing as that, you can probably agree with that, but given the context that we have been in within the last month, this stands out in a very special way. and based on the reporting coming from blayne, where do you think we're at in terms of atlanta in terms of this investigation of what happened
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with rayshard brooks? >> i think what we're in atlanta is what i'm referring to as the minneapolis effect. and that is the requirement that city government act swiftly and quickly as far as demanding that there be accountable from their law enforcement professions. and they're going to err, they're going err on the side of taking action against those individuals who are charged with the responsibility of establishing safety and security of the city. so i think it's quite clear based on the mayor's actions and comments that she access to the information. perhaps some of the video that is being reviewed right now. perhaps some other background information on the other officers involved. perhaps additional witness statements. with this video.
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but she had something other than what we have at this point that led her to believe that it was necessary for the police officers be terminated immediately. i think it's important for us, because we can have these discussion, and i'm hoping to have these discussions about tactics, police tactics and what's good tactics or good tactics, good shoot or bad shoot. that's very helpful i'm sure sometimes. we just have to know that this is not -- this incident, as was the case with mr. floyd and so many other incidents over the past several decades is not about the officers' ability to adhere to the tactical guidelines. it's not about using bad tactics. it's not about disregarding policies within their department, et cetera. it is completely and absolutely about their relationship or lack
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of relationship between law enforcement, police, and the black and brown communities. and i can tell you that the police don't have a problem with tactics or adhering to tactics if you use the proper procedure, because they do it all the time when people are white. there is a breakdown somehow miraculously when you have individuals who are black and brown, and that's where you have the difficulties. so this case and i think it's really a good idea to kind of go over the tactics is not about that. it is about for eric garner and for mr. floyd, and let's go back and back and back and round up all the cases. this is about the relationship, how police, police and black and brown communities and police black and brown bodies. >> marq, one of the things, and you've hit a lot of great point, as you have on our coverage here on msnbc throughout the recent
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weeks is the question of as we are waiting to understand what's in the 90 minutes of body cam video that we're going to get from one of the officer, the officer that was terminated is the question of what that might mean for understanding more and therefore, getting forward in this case. to get to some sort of understanding of how difficult the situation is that you've already described for us. what might be in that body cam video that you would be looking for? >> i think the most we see that it's the actual shooting incident, the actual point where the police officer is chasing mr. brooks and discharges the firearm. and so far, all of the professionals have indicated that we just don't see where the use of deadly physical force is justified. you're talking about nonlethal, if you want to assume that mr.
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brooks was pointing or trying to discharge the taser. you talk about the use of nonlethal weapons. in new york, we call it a dangerous instrument as opposed to a deadly weapon. and a police officer responding with an excessive amount of force, high up on the chart use of force continuum, excessive in using deadly physical force against an individual who was using just perhaps a certain level -- a dangerous force against him. there is no balance there. but once again, like i said, you have to really -- we have to begin to be honest about the conversation and part of the frustration around the nation is there is no breakdown. there is no mental lapses overall. this is only relates to block and brown people. but i think the video, the video evidence going to be important. i think the witness statements are going to be vitally important. and of course, the forensics of
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the forensic evidence that is there and the processing of it will also be important. and that's something that we should be concerned about. if you just based on the conversations by the attorneys early on were questions about some of the ballistics evidence perhaps being tampered with. so we'll know moving forward whether or not that's the case. but all of those evidentiary things are vitally important to get the complete story. >> this time at 1:20 atlanta time, marq, we both know, when we think the temperature cannot be dialed up we have another moment where the temperature is dialed up. so i thank you so much for your perspective. marq claxton, as always, director of the black enforcement alliance. we're going take a quick break here at msnbc. we're going get right back. again, at this hour, we're evaluating new body cam video. about 90 minutes of it. and as soon as we're able to
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and welcome back to msnbc with some breaking news coverage coming out of atlanta, georgia. rayshard brooks on the case and what we've been reporting on, which is the shooting of rayshard brooks and the killing of rayshard brooks, as we move straight to on-the-ground reporting coming from blayne alexander. blayne, i want to get back to you. as we look at some of the pictures here locally 1:24 a.m., a very early sunday morning but a late saturday. this is after the location of where rayshard was killed, the wendy's has gone up in flames on this evening. but what we're watching at this hour, the breaking news that we are in rolling coverage for is that we're reviewing right now at msnbc and nbc newsom new video, 90 minutes of roughly more or less of body cam video. you've been able to review some of it. and i think the one thing as we
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look over it is that it started as a very calm interaction between rayshard brooks as well as with law enforcement. >> it started calm and remained calm until the moment that it suddenly escalated. and that was about 43 minutes into this video, richard. and it was a sharp escalation. what we saw was officers arrive, a kind of conversation between brooks who was sitting in the car, officers standing outside, asking questions like how much have you had to drink, what was your night like, how did you get here, what are you doing here, things like that. about 28 or so minutes in, he gets out of the car, he begins a field sobriety test. and again, 43 minutes. and the officers say hey, i think you've had too much to be driving and move to put him under arrest. it was then from that moment, less than two minutes between that moment and when we heard gunshots, you know, in that point of the clip.
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so certainly escalated very, very quickly. the other thing is that, again, officers searched him during that time and did not find a weapon on him. so that's a notable piece of that video. >> very notable, as we've been reporting on. blayne also part of this, if folks are just joining us at this hour is that we've had some movement in terms of the very officers that were involved in the video that you see on the left-hand side of the screen. now on the main screen. we have a termination. >> the officers fired the shots have been fired from the force. and i believe that we have a photo him. >> we do. >> the atlanta police department provided us with this photo. and the officer's name. the officer that has been terminated is officer garrett rolfe. >> on the left of the screen. >> garrett rolfe was hired back in 2013. and there is another officer who has been placed on administrative duty. he was hired in 2018. so that's obviously the officer
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that did not fire the shots in that incident. but, you know, there are three different investigations taking place right now, which i think is important to point out. the gbi, the georgia bureau of investigation come in and taken over that shooting as is customary with any officer-involved shooting here in georgia. they oversee those investigations. so they're working on that. the fulton county district attorney's office also doing an investigation of their own. so in addition to getting whatever findings come from the gbi, the d.a.'s office is doing their own investigation, their own combing. and the d.a. has spoken out and said they're working to determine if charges are appropriate in this case. and then finally, the attorneys for the brooks family. they're doing their own investigation. they spoke out this evening in very strong terms, and essentially said underscored the point that mr. brooks wasn't doing anything, but doing anything to bother anybody. the 911 call originated because he was asleep in his car.
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and that car was blocking the drive-through at the wendy's lane. that's why officers responded there. so all of these things kind of going into consideration to determine whether or not there will be charges in the case. >> again, our correspondent blayne alexander live in atlanta for us via phone at this hour. one of the important points to make, and you're there and you can actually see as well as report on what we're -- what might be happening on the ground, this is a community. atlanta, georgia larger metro area, four million, five million people. on top of that, one of the most emblematic african american communities in america. over 50% in the town of atlanta. and i shouldn't say town. the very large city of atlanta is african american. as we look at some of the live pictures on the left-hand side of the screen, largely calm. is that what you might see writ large in the area right now?
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>> well, this is happening. where this is happening is happening in southwest atlanta. and so this is just off the main highway, 7585, the main artery. so the area where this is happening is just off southwest atlanta. i will say that one of our local reporter colleagues who was there at a different advantage point was talking about the fact that once that fire at the wendy's started, that seemed to actually cause some of the protesters to dissipate, some of the crowds to dissipate, because people were watching and they think the fire overtook just the moment because it was so big, because it was so out of control for a time. so that is certainly interesting to watch there. we know that the police presence has increased. the crowd has grown through the evening i want to go back and kind of talk about those -- this is more than two weeks that we've seen protests for the better part of this time here in atlanta. of course, starting with the
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protest over the death of george floyd. that's when we saw a lot of, you know, kind of eruption of destruction in downtown atlanta. that was about two weeks ago or so. after that, the fulton county was put on under a state of emergency. and so you saw national guard troops come in and really kind of patrol the area that state of emergency has ended. and so what we see tonight is a much lesser presence. certainly national guard troops, no national guard troops, but a much lesser law enforcement presence than what we saw over the past few weeks of those protests as well, richard. >> you know, blayne, this is of course, as everybody knows, the land of mlk, of martin luther king, of reverend joseph lowery, of many civil rights leaders of american history. and one might asked based on the reaction we've seen tonight that you are there on the ground
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there to report on, what does that say about where we're at in this incident, in this story about rayshard brooks? >> so i'll say this about atlanta. atlanta prides itself on being known as a city being too busy to hate. atlanta, whether it's protests over, you know, police use of force, whether it's protests over anything really tries to be a city where, you know, that kind of embraces and leans into its history as the cradle of the civil rights movement, the birthplace of dr. king. really tries to be a place where they support peaceful protests. so that's why when you see officers clearing streets or doing things like that, typically leaders try and say that that is going to be a last resort. you'll hear them say we want you to come out, but protest peacefully. and so that's always going to be the undertone whenever you see protests happening in the city. nourks i will say that this
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entire wave i think of protests feels different. for the people that i talked to, the many protesters i've spoken with the better part of two weeks along with just even myself as a journalist covering this, this moment feels different, i think because people have told me repeatedly, look, we've done this before. we've been here before. we protested these things before and they're really tired of having to come out in the streets and protest it, again, is what they're trying to say. i guess this is why you're seeing really this eruption you're seeing tonight certainly coming in the midst of people still taking to the streets over the death of george floyd. now as the investigation unfolds, again, there will be determinations as to whether charges are appropriate and everything like that. but as you heard from the attorney for the brooks family tonight, again, he is really underscoring the point that he was not doing anything violent. he was asleep in his car, failed a sobriety test and ended up dead. and that's why so many people are protesting tonight. >> yeah, blayne, i asked you
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that question after reporting from atlanta myself ten years ago. the town, the area, the metro area has always been the forward edge in terms of understanding what might be the most forward idea of what civil rights means to us here in the united states. so certainly your perspective and what you can see on the ground from your reporting in recent weeks is so important based on this new flash point of what we're talking about today. blayne, stand by. i want to bring in jim cavanaugh. foerm special agent in charge. jim, let's get straight to what we're waiting for, and that is the new body cam video. up to 90 minutes from what i'm hearing right now that all of our team members are working on here at nbc news to evaluate and then put forward, to understand what we can actually broadcast. but what might we learn from it based on what blayne understands to be in that video and what might be relevant to the case as we try to understand the
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outcome? >> well, i thought blayne did a great job describing what was in this body cam video. and really, it's going to be very dull. but there are salient points in the main one being that they did a body search or frisk of mr. brooks. and the reason that's important is he was shot within a couple of minutes. so if the officers knew that he was not armed, they had searched him or even searched his pockets and knew he did not have a firearm, when they were in the struggle with him, you can clearly see that they are fighting over the taser. they're each looking at him pulling the taser. so they know he has a taser. they searched him, and they know he does not have a pistol. and then he breaks and runs. he never really leaves their sight. he does throw a pretty good punch at one of the officers, i
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believe the officer that eventually shot him. but he never leaves their sight. so he didn't have a chance to acquire a firearm. they searched him. no, he didn't have a firearm, and yet he was still shot and deadly force was used. that's the salient point blayne made. the rest of the video is going to be, you know, routine slow police procedure. they're talking to him. they make a decision to arrest him. and then the fight is on. we don't know quite how the dialogue went, was the dialogue, you know, professional and unprofessional. sometimes it can go either way on that. and were they justified in arresting him? it sounds like they probably were. they believed he was inebriated. he was in a motor vehicle. really don't have the leeway. one thing is you just can't say. well, good ahead and drive home when you're inebriated. if you get in a crash and kill some people, of course the police would be at fault.
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likely, they were trying to make a decision to arrest him. and oftentimes that's when, you know, fighting begins. but i think we should not lose sight of what marq claxton said, which i think he is right about the policing of minority communities. is that done differently? and it is. we can see that. is if it too rough? are the people, you know, so afraid at the police interaction that they're acting differently? i think that's true. they feel like this is going to be a lot worse than it is. and so sometimes they're justified feeling that way. look at mr. floyd. look at all these horrible cases. so what i'm saying is that's where the interaction goes bad. and there's the resisting, the fight. and, you know, he should have just been allowed to run away. and a perimeter set up, tried to catch him, or he got away. and that would have been the correct outcome of this. not shooting him in the parking
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lot. it is just a horrible case. >> what we're learning in the last 24 hours very quickly, very fast movement there in the city of atlanta. again, the resignation of the chief of police, erika shields, as well as the termination and firing of garrett rolfe, as well as administrative leave from field work for the second officer that you've been watching on the video that we've been broadcasting. the question is this now the new normal? is this now the process that we'll expect of all cities when they face such situations based on the catastrophe has jim cavanaugh is describing of rayshard brooks? we'll have more on the rolling news coverage of the story right here on msnbc. we'll be right back. businesses are starting to bounce back.
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[ laughing ] we're continuing our breaking news coverage coming out of atlanta, georgia. these live pictures you see on the left-hand side of your screen coming out of the atlanta, georgia area. and this is right after what we've learned, if you're just joining us the firing of one of the officers involved in the killing of rayshard brooks. in addition to the video you see on the left-hand side, which you see some smoke. we're not sure where this is in atlanta. the southwestern area of atlanta is where the killing of rayshard brooks happened by two police officers, as has been reported so far. and whether we see an
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environment here of law enforcement using tear gas or not, but it does appear that we see some smoke in the area. and a very early hour. in general, at least in the last hour or two, the situation has not been typical of what we have seen across the nation of conflict between both protesters and law enforcement although it does look like at this moment as those are putting hands upon their face, rubbing their eyes that potentially there could be some tear gas involved in this particular location. not sure if it's close to the wendy's where rayshard brooks was killed or whether it's another part of atlanta. it does not appear to be downtown atlanta. but the southwest area not too far from downtown atlanta is where the killing of rayshard brooks happened. somebody with a gas mask there on the screen moments ago. again, live pictures, 1:43 a.m.
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and the reason that particularly this is important is because there is new video that we're evaluating here at msnbc and nbc news, body cam video from one of the officers. and what that might reveal in terms of those final moments, as well as the lead-up to the final moments before rayshard brooks was killed. so we are watching this video, because we are looking to see obviously the reaction of the community locally, in addition to what might be happening between the community and how they're reacting to something that in this context is for many just ununderstandable. they don't want to see this happening on this saturday evening, late evening, early sunday morning. just 24 hours into the story itself. all right. let's get to marq claxton, former nypd detective. he is also director of the black law enforcement alliance, as we continue to watch some of the live pictures here. jim cavanaugh, former atf special agent in charge also with us.
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marq, let's start with this. you were mentioning earlier there was some question about potentially the way the atlanta administration reacted to this. they moved quickly. by all standards, put this in context for us. if you're just tuning in to us. they moved quickly by all standards put this in context for us. if you're just tuning in to us here at msnbc within the last two hours you're learning new that one of the officers involved in the situation was terminated. the second officer involved in this incident on administrative leave. if you're just joining us again, in ten hours, you're also learning the chief of police has resigned and according to the reporting so far it is because she wanted to resign.
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what does this tell you? marq? >> it tells me that we're right at the crux of the reform movement, of something happening, of a change in mindset, tactics about how to deal with or address irks v issues involving police and the black and brown communities. it tells me that there is a heightened sensitivity to communities and the outrage and the activism that's been ongoing for the past several weeks. it also tells me that police agencies, or governments recognize their vulnerability and recognize their shortcoming. they're beginning to understand that these incidents cannot simply be dragged out for a long period of time under the guise of a quote-unquote investigation, that what people are demanding is what stacey abrams had referenced earlier in the night, and that is an investigation, yes, and transparency. they want investigations and transparency. and i'll add a third part. what they also want is accountability. and that often times comes when you take affirmative action against individuals who are
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involved in what you believe or perceive to be improper or illegal behavior. and that includes police. >> marq, in the i guess modern or today's george floyd era what we're seeing here locally in atlanta, it's at least at this moment from the live pictures that we're able to show, it is not the pictures that we saw all across the nation just two weeks ago. right? just a week ago where we saw law enforcement with community in high conflict. and this is one of those incidents where you might expect that community would say this can't be. but we're not seeing the conflict at the moment. >> i think in large part the protests -- i know we pay special attention to a lot of negative activity that was going on, the destruction that was going on. and to be honest, a lot of that
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activity was conducted by individuals who were for lack of a better word provocateurs, who had ulterior motives, mixed motives and criminal opportunists. i think in general the movement and the protests have been largely peaceful and they have been respectful. perhaps more vocal than people are accustomed to and absolutely more diverse. and i think in the next couple days just based on what's been happening over the past several weeks you'll find that this activity, or if it evolves into a more substantial protest, will also be diverse, will also involve blacks and whites, young and old, and perhaps even members of the law enforcement community. there are certain action that's have become so offensive and egregious committed by police officers under the color of law
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that other individuals in law enforcement have begun to point it out demand that these individuals be prosecuted and dealt with. and that -- along with investigation transparency, the accountability factor. >> yeah, marq, when i was also in the field reporting during if you will the george floyd protests and marchers out in the streets it often was on or two aggravants of 100 or 200 or 300 or 400 calm protesters in the tradition we hold so dear here. over to you, my friend jim cavanaugh. as i was talking to marq about this in context, what are we seeing tonight? the live pictures on the left-hand side of the screen as well as the very fast developments in this administration of atlanta, georgia. >> what we're seeing is just what marq described.
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you cannot police citizens without the consent of the governed in a democracy. in other words, in a democracy the police and the citizens have to act as one. citizens have to act as one. if the citizens don't trust the police, they feel oppressed by the police, abused by the police, they feel mistreated by the police, and they see this repeatedly and repeatedly. they can't live with that in a democracy and they shouldn't have to. and america at large is what mark is describing. it's not just the minority communities, not just black and brown communities and asian communities. it's america standing up saying, we don't want this. we want a change in this because you police with the consent of the governed, you police with the consent of the citizens. so all of this has to be changed for the better, it has to be revamped, and what you are seeing here in atlanta, i think,
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is really what blane described and what we all know. these are peaceful citizens here. they are frustrated. they're venting. they are arguing with the police. now, there was an arson of the wendy's. that's a crime and whoever burnt that should be caught and charged, but like mark said, you know, some of the people that have done that are really not the protesters. they charged a man in nashville with burning the city hall, the courthouse in an arson case. they charged -- it was not a protester. he was just a criminal. and they charged another man in minneapolis for burning, aiding and abetting the burning of the third precinct and he was an opportunist, looter stealing the police equipment, bullet-proof vests and things out of there because he was a security guard. so you have had all kinds of little reasons that people set
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fires and do criminal acts, but the protesters have been genuine across america. they are sick of this. they should be sick of this. every law enforcement officer should be sick of this. we can't have this anymore. i mean, this is just outrageous that we have to keep seeing it in our cities. in atlanta really we should have one of the finest, most progressive police forces in the country in atlanta, cradle of civil rights. really, we should. and the fact that we see this tonight, mr. brooks, and then we saw those college students dragged out of their cars, what kind of policing is that? we don't want that kind of policing. the college kids, i mean, they were filming with their iphone out of a car of an arrest. they were told to move on. because they didn't move on, windows were broken and they were tased and dragged out of the car and then the mayor fired those officers. why were the officers doing that?
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that was excessive force. there is no reason to do it. they didn't commit any crime. what kind of policing is that? and what does it say about the department? so it has to be revamped. there is lots of great cops out there. i mean, they risk their lives every day. they work with the community. they do the right things. they go to work. they are honest people. but there is enough racist cops, corrupt cops, and bully cops that they are really hurting america. and you could not look at the face of that minneapolis officer while he was killing mr. floyd and not see the motive in his face, the motive of hate, the motive of power. he was staring it right at you. and it was so blatant. i mean, america saw in his face. and he should have been arrested within hours of that. i think these arrests and cases
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that blatant and awful need to come faster. there are actions of firing the officers, but the district attorneys need to stand up, too, if the evidence is clear and america can see it on the videotape, you know. don't give us the, you know, weeks and months of analysis and, you know, things that really don't matter. if you see somebody killing somebody like that, when we were officers out on the street, we would arrest people with evidence like that, a lot less evidence than we see in a lot of these videos. >> mark, again, we are watching live pictures coming out of atlanta, georgia. we see some movement by law enforcement in this particular location, although we have not seen a lot of conflict, which i think we can all appreciate here. for a second, mark, in the minute that we have got left here, atlanta versus the larger story, if you look within the
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last couple of weeks, minneapolis, how is atlanta different? >> every jurisdiction has its own nuanced way of policing. part of that is the problem with policing, law enforcement in general, is that there are clear and well defined kind of national standards. there are these clear well defined standards that run from one end of the country to the next, and there are subtleties and nuanced approaches to policing. some police agencies are more committed to a community relations-based policing. others are much more militarized and enforcement based. others blend those two things. you have larger departments with a lot more resources that tend to have much more military
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equipment and tend to respond more militarily, and you have smaller departments that are more homegrown and intimate. so they police very differently. and i think that may be a part of the problem that we face, is that until we can establish at least a baseline, professional standard across the nation, we'll have these different rules for different jurisdictions, and that oftentimes causes confusion. >> right. all right. mark, stand by. we are continuing our rolling coverage coming out of atlanta, georgia. this on the aftermath of the killing of rayshard brooks. stay with us right here on msnbc. these are real people, not actors, who've got their eczema under control. with less eczema you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema,
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back. stop fighting! stop fighting! you are going to get tased! stop! you are going to get tased! >> he would have been boxed from and trapped. why did you have to kill him? >> i do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force. >> breaking news on msnbc. outrage in atlanta. this new video of a black man shot and killed in a confrontation with police.
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