His killing was racially motivated. Im tired. Im tired of pain. Im here to ask you to make it stop. This as one of the former officers charged with aiding and abetting in the killing of george floyd is released on bail, as we learn former officer derek chauvin, charged with murder, has been negotiating a deal with prosecutors. Jaywalking while black. The shocking encounter caught on camera. Two teens arrested crossing the street. This as a new abc news investigation uncovers disturbing new information about black americans and arrests, and we speak this morning to a police chief who was forced to dismantle an entire city police force. Breaking overnight, covid cases surpass 2 million in the. With infections rising in at least 20 states, the new surge in hospitalizations overwhelms icus in arizona. This as the race for the vaccine takes a huge step forward. And driving force for change. Were no strangers to moving fast. Nascar banning the Confederate Flag from all its events. The man behind the movement and the racing giants only fulltime black driver Bubba Wallace joins us live. Good morning, america. Thank you for joining us this thursday morning, and it seems like every day we come on the air were greeted by new signs of real change in this country. Thats right. A big sign of the times, that huge headline from nascar banning Confederate Flags. It had been a staple at these races for years. They will no longer be flying, robin. For decades, amy. Well talk to Bubba Wallace live in our next half hour about that. But we begin with protests overnight, mostly peaceful, some violent clashes erupting around the country. Steve osunsami has the latest. Reporter the protests in american streets have taken a new turn with reports in portland overnight of demonstrators trying to claim part of the city as their own. Police free. What theyre calling an autonomous zone. In seattle, demonstrators claim they are occupying a portion of the capitol hill neighborhood near downtown after taking control of a Police Precinct and the surrounding area earlier this week. They have had the run of the place since. Free speech, free movies, free gas masks. No police in sight. President trump is now calling on state and city officials to take back control, threatening to step in to take back the city saying online that if you dont do it, i will. Domestic terrorists have taken over seattle. At the same time around the countrpresrsrent waiting for cities and counties and are pulling down monuments to confederate history setting statues on fire and dragging others out of parks and public squares. The statue of Jefferson Davis was pulled down in richmond, and in miami protesters went after a statue of christopher columbus, but were stopped by police. Largely and mostly, the protests were peaceful. On this 16th day of demonstrations, in oakland, thousands walked peacefully towards the home of that citys mayor and in atlanta, a large crowd marched on freedom parkway downtown. In seattle, demonstrators have pitched tents and set up register to vote tables. Police are now negotiating with them about reopening that Police Precinct. Many neighbors in the area, many who support the cause, would like that Police Precinct opened. George . Watching how they work it out. Thanks very much. President trump is drawing a line in the sand in the battle over renaming u. S. Military bases that honor confederate generals. Major military leaders are in agreement that its time but the president is vowing to veto legislation that makes that change. Mary bruce tracking that story, and mary, in a major move, House Speaker nancy pelosi has called for removing all confederate statues from the capitol. Reporter and, george, the speaker says those statues have to come down because she says there is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the confederacy, but the president seeing this differently, flatly rejecting those calls to remove the names of confederate commanders from u. S. Military bases even though the secretary of defense and the secretary of the army are open to it. But in a tweet the president said, these monumental and very powerful bases have become part of a Great American heritage and his press secretary says removing these names would be complete disrespect for the soldiers who trained there. But, george, while the president is passionately defending keeping the names of the confederate commanders on these bases he has yet to put forth any ideas or specific reforms to address the killing of george floyd. Weve known that the president wants to get back to campaign rallies, but he sparked controversy by choosing tulsa, oklahoma, on juneteenth. Reporter yeah, george, the president is eager to get back out on the campaign trail but the location and the date of his first rally next week in oklahoma is sparking a lot of controversy. He will be holding this rally on juneteenth, the date commemorating the end of slavery and in tulsa, oklahoma, marking the anniversary of the 1921 massacre, considered to be the worst incidence of racial violence in u. S. History and, george, overnight we should say the rnc agreed unanimously to significantly pare down the Republican Convention in charlotte but that main event, the president s acceptance speech will be held elsewhere after the president slammed the governor there for refusing to give him that packed arena he was demanding. Circling in on jacksonville, mary, thanks very much. Amy . Well, now to that emotional testimony on capitol hill from George Floyds brother calling the killing premeditated, saying enough is enough and pleading with lawmakers to stop the pain. Alex perez has been tracking all the latest from minneapolis where one of the former officers charged in floyds death has been released on bail. Good morning, alex. Reporter hey, good morning, amy. That emotional testimony comes as the police chief here announces the first of what he says are many changes to come. Justice has to be served. Reporter on wednesday emotional testimony from George Floyds brother on capitol hill. His life mattered. All our lives matter. Black lives matter. Reporter Philonise Floyd telling congress his brothers death was racially motivated. I think it was personal because they worked at the same place. For him to do Something Like that, it had to be premeditated and he wanted to do it. And intentional. Yes, sir. Reporter the younger floyd reliving the pain of his loss, pleading with lawmakers to hold officers accountable. Im tired. Im here to ask you to make it stop. By the leaders, that our country, the world needs the right thing. [ crowd chanting ] reporter later joining a group marching down black lives matter plaza in d. C. And overnight fired officer thomas lane charged with aiding and abetting in the murder of george floyd released from jail after posting bail, and this morning, stunning new information from prosecutors saying they had been negotiating a deal with the former cop accused of killing floyd, derek chauvin, to plead guilty to murder and federal civil rights charges. But just as prosecutors prepare to speak back on may 28th, the deal fell apart. We thought we would have another development that i could tell you about. Unfortunately, we dont at this point. Reporter chauvin charged with third degree murder, the next day, upgraded to Second Degree the following week. [ crowd chanting ] reporter with demands to defund or disband the police growing louder across the country we will never evolve in this profession if we do not address it head on. Reporter chief Medaria Arradondo revealing changes to the minneapolis pd saying the department will withdraw from contract negotiations with the union and start using new technology to better track officer misconduct and mr. Floyd in his last words and breaths was expecting someone wearing this uniform to help him, to save him, and that did not occur. Reporter and the president of the police union here has issued a statement responding to those changes announced by the police chief saying in part that city officials should resist the urge to pander to those demanding the irrational. Robin . All right, alex, thank you. And now our abc news exclusive investigation revealing information about arrests of black people around the country. Shedding light on some of the problems that are leading to the nationwide protests following George Floyds killing, showing black people are far more likely to be arrested, as much as ten times higher in some areas. Pierre thomas joins us now from washington with those details. Good morning, pierre. Reporter robin, good morning. Mr. Floyds death has sparked serious conversations about race and policing. Our investigation shows whats happening in our nation. Blacks are being arrested at a rate that far exceeds their white counterparts. Why you trying to choke his neck . No ones choking him. Reporter this encounter in tulsa caught on tape of white officers stopping black teens for jaywalking on a seemingly quite suburban road. I was just walking down the street. Reporter now sparking an internal investigation into whether the tactics were too aggressive. Within seconds, one of the teens wrestled to the ground, handcuffed. What you following me for . What you following me for . You broke the law. Thats why. Reportethe wa George Floyds death, many questions about whether the police treat black americans differently than their white counterparts. An abc news investigation in partnership with abc owned stations revealing startling statistics. Howing in is of data reported t 800 jurisdictions, black people were arrested at a rate five times higher than white people in 2018 when accounting for the racial makeup of the cities and counties those police served. In 250 localities, blacks were ten times more likely to be arrested than their white counterparts. When you see the higher numbers in terms of contacts between police and minority communities, that also increases the likelihood youll have forceful interaction. We have to deal with the overpolicing of low income africanamerican communities in our country. It is a pervasive problem. Reporter in places like minneapolis where mr. Floyd died, africanamericans make up just over 19 of the total population. But account for a whopping 63 of arrests. When we see data that shows that africanamericans are singled out, unfairly targeted, disproportionately subject to arrest and prosecution, that should sound an alarm. Reporter the rate of arrest matters because theres evidence of bias in our criminal justice system. A recent report by the u. S. Citizens Commission Found that africanamericans were sentenced to longer prison terms than their white counterparts for the exact same crimes. On average, 19 longer. George . Pierre thomas, extraordinary, thanks very much. All of you at home can see his report tonight on nightline. We are joined by jay scott thomson. Hes the former police chief of camden county, new jersey. Thanks for joining us. We want to talk about your experience in camden. Back in 2013 you actually disbanded and transformed your police force as your city was facing a Public Safety crisis, a high murder rate, coupled with scores of complaints about Excessive Force. What did you learn from it . What did you do . So, 2012 was arguably the darkest hour in the citys history, particularly in terms of Public Safety. We had extremely high levels of mistrust, virtually no legitimacy with the community in and of itself, and a bold political decision was made to disband the police force and try something new. So we created a new policing paradigm and knew we had the rare opportunity to build culture as opposed to the challenge of chalginging cultur. So we really created this organization on three bedrock principles and that was that our officers were going to be guardians and not warriors, we were going to engage in extraordinary levels of community empowerment, and that we would embrace deescalation as a part of our culture and not just as a training exercise. Define that Term Community empowerment. We hear that a lot, and we hear Community Policing a lot, and that can mean a lot of Different Things to many different people. Thats a great question. When theres 18,000 Police Departments in the country and probably 18,000 different definitions for Community Policing, and Community Policing cannot be a unit. It cant be a group of officers that are going and doing nice things in the neighborhood. It cant just end there. Its got to be an organizational philosophy embraced from the top on down. In camden, we did the extraordinary move of we got rid of our patrol division, and our entire Police Department operates as community officers. The officers jobs are to get to the root cause issues of the problems. Dont look to arrest, issue summons or use force to try to make things right. We want to work with the community. We want to be coalescers, conveners. Working with them, enforcing the law with them and not just on them so that we can make their quality of life better. What we have found is weve reduced murders by nearly 80 . We went from having 175 open air drug markets to less than 20. We have Excessive Force complaints dropped 95 and the best thing about all this was that the revolution of the city has been more of the empowerment of the people reclaiming their city, more so than the police militarizing it and enforcing the law. Dig beneath the slogan defund the police. How can you replicate this in other cities, counties across the country . Well, i think you need to be careful with the defunding. First of all, im not really sure which definition were going with. I heard it go from abolishing the police, and i dont think is really an option, i heard it go from abolishing the police, and i dont think that is really an option, to repurposing money to get to issues. Now, i dont think there is a Progressive Police chief in the country that wouldnt trade ten officers for another boys and girls club. When you look at the more challenged Police Departments and you start to peel the layers of the onion back, what you find is there has been a defunding of that organization over the years in all the wrong places. Theres Many Organizations that the only time the officers received use of force training or deescalation training is in their initial onboarding in the academy, and go 20, 30 years and never receive another refresher course. Thanks very much. Now to the coronavirus emergency. There are now more than 2 million cases reported in the united states. But there is some new hope. Three vaccine candidates set to begin large human trials this summer. Matt gutman has the latest. Reporter this morning arizona icus nearing capacity filling up with Covid Patients as the expected death toll is revised upwards. If we continue at a rate like this, were facing a significant chance that were going to have to shut down the state again. Reporter that as covid infections continue to rise in 20 states plus puerto rico. In texas, hospitalizations up about 40 since memorial day. But now an army of volunteers taking part in the third phase of vaccine trials this summer. The u. S. Selecting three companies to test their vaccine effectiveness. Moderna beginning phase three trials in july, followed by the university of oxford and astrazenecas vaccine in august and Johnson Johnson in september. Dr. Anthony fauci says hes hopeful. We could have a vaccine either by the end of this calendar year or in the first few months of 2021. Reporter in the meantime, doctors devising new innovations to try to save the desperately ill. Recently a medical team at northwestern performed what is believed to be the first Lung Transplant of a covid patient in the u. S. This is by far the worst lungs ive ever seen. She had been on the ventilator and the ecmo for many weeks prior to the transplant. Reporter back to those vaccines. Up to 90,000 volunteers will take part. At this point scientists believe that the vaccines are safe. What they want to know is are they effective. So we have just heard from mow decemb modera. They could roll out 500 million to a billion doses a year. George. We can only hope it moves that fast. Thanks very much. Coming up, nascar puts the brakes on Confederate Flags at its races and the driver that made it happen, Bubba Wallace, will join us live. And then the latest in the case of those missing idaho siblings after the grim discovery on their stepfathers property. First lets go to ginger. We had 75 to 80mileperhour winds from grandville, michigan, right through parts of pennsylvania including converse, indiana. Look at this, marion, ohio, that looks like rotation. Theyll do damage surveys to see if any of that damaging wind was actually tornados. But also today noon until 2 00 you have a line coming through of strong storms along the i95 corridor and will sit around raleigh and thats why they have flash flood watches. Your local weather in 30 seconds. First though, the stormy cities sponsored by chase. Good morning. Im abc 7 news meteorologist mike nicco. You can see a change out there already. Yep, cooler at the coast and inland thanks to the marine layer. Sea breeze kicks in tonight bringing us cloudy conditions and a chance drizzle and a stray shower possible friday and saturday. Our coolest days. Today, low to mid60s coast into san francisco. Mid to upper 70s around the bay. Mainly 80s inland. Tonight, well fall back into the low and upper 50s with more cloud cover and that drizzle well be right back. So as you head back out on the road, well be doing what we do best. Providing some calm in your day. With virtual, realtime tours of our vehi