Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell

MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell May 30, 2020

And through this evening. Stay with us. My colleague Lawrence Odonnell is taking over now. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. Well get straight to the live coverage. Thank you. In minneapolis the curfew will last until 6 00 a. M. And go into Effect Tomorrow night at 8 00 3p. M. Minneapolis time. The resolution i imposing the curfew says all persons must not travel on any public street or in any public place. Well go to ali on the streets of minneapolis in a moment to get the latest on the situation there. We have seen protests of the Minnesota Police killing of george floyd in several cities around the country today including new york city, washington d. C. , atlanta, houston, denver, los angeles and san jose. Today fired Police Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyds neck is now defendant Derek Michael chauvin and this is his mug shot after he was arrested today. Mike freeman announced the charge today at 1 07 p. M. Minneapolis time. Good afternoon. Im Hennepin County attorney mike freeman. Im here to announce that former minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin is in custody. Former Minnesota Police officer has been charged by the Hennepin County Sheriffs Office with murder and manslaughter. Questions . Yes, what charge of murder . He has been charged with third degree murder. We are in the process of continuing to review the evidence there may be subsequent charges later. I failed to share with you detailed complaint will be made available to you this afternoon. I didnt want to wait any longer to share the news that hes in custody. What about the other three officers involved . The investigation is on going. We felt it appropriate to focus on the most dangerous perpetrator. I must say that this case has moved with extraordinary speed. But it was not fast enough to stop protesters from burning down the Police Station last night. We turn to ali who once again tonight is reporting from the streets of minneapolis. Ali, whats the situation there right now . Reporter the curfew has not worked, lawrence. Were probably quarter mile from the Police Station. The police line was another half a mile beyond that, about three blocks. At 15 minutes to Curfew Police made announcements youre in violation of the curfew if you dont assemble and the police and National Guard started moving backward in this direction and firing tear gas. That lasted 30 or 40 minutes to this point and suddenly, the police were gone. The National Guard was gone. The tear gas is cleared. And the crowd has walked that way. Apparently downtown. Now it became more of a march than protest at that point because they werent pushing the police back. It seems apparent the protesters pushed the police and National Guard out of the way. Youre seeing relatively empty streets. There are more firing burns and heavy smoke back toward where we started. Im on my way there to figure out what is going on there. The march, the protest has overcome the police. We dont know whether thats strategic in that the police moved backwards to sort of dissipate the crowd, which may have been the case because it ended up being a slow walk. We got some attention right now, lawrence. Ill come back to you in a couple minutes. Well go back to ali in a few minutes. Msnbc ali has been on the streets of minneapolis for the last couple days doing extraordinary work for us. Joining our discussion paul butler at georgetown university, the former federal prosecutor and msnbc contributor and retired new York City Police detective and director of the black Law Enforcement alliance. Paul butler, let me start with you and your reaction to the murder charge lodged today. So after four days several videotapes, eyewitness identifications we finally have an arrest in this case. I think this has been a teachable moment for many African American men. We didnt know it was this difficult to get arrested. As a former prosecutor we know how difficult it is to convict to cop, especially of murder. Thats why murder three charges in here are appropriate. If the prosecutor had charged murder one or two, he would have had to prove intent. Thats very difficult in the defendants mind especially when the defendant is a Police Officer. Now, what they have to prove is reckless indifference to human life and the evidence of that is the videotapes. Its mr. Floyds own words as he narrates his demise saying i cant breathe. We want the prosecutor to win this case and statistically, even with these charges, the odds are against them. 150 officers have been charged with murder and manslaughter in the last several years. The vast majority of them have walked. If justice means a criminal conviction, then murder three i think is the best way of getting that and when this former Police Officer goes to the big house, if hes convicted, and hes asked what are you locked up for, they will say murder, not murder one, murder two, murder three. They will say murder. If hes duly convicted, he deserves that shame, that stigma of being labeled under the law a murderer. And the murder charge he faces carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. We want to go back to ali at his Camera Position on the streets of minneapolis, if he is there and available. Ali, can you hear us . Reporter yeah, were here, lawrence. So what we got is traffic started on here. Weve heard that the protest moved its way into downtown. Were following up with that in a minute. The protests, this is all the distance that it has come. I would estimate that it was a distance of about two miles before we broke off from it to get back here and get in front of it. This protest has gone all the way down there. Somebody just came by and told me there is another Police Precinct that may be on fire. We dont have that information confirmed and well check it out. The curfew, the idea nobody is supposed to be on the street right now is not in effect. If you can look around me, there is people everywhere. There is one big fire burning in the distance. There is black smoke from over there. This is the target you probably have seen for the last couple days across the road from the Police Station. This is where fire was set and there was a lot of looting. This parking lot in fact next to the target was the center piece for all of the assemblies and protests around the third precinct for the last several days. So people are out and about here. Theres traffic moving. Theres curfew has not worked. As i was saying to you, we were interrupted in a few minutes ago, it may have been a strategic effort to back off and literally cause everybody to walk down this road because eventually, once the faceoff stopped and the faceoff was here. This is the point where the police drew the line. This is an overpass you probably saw on rachels show. This is where the tear gas was. The police and National Guard were on this side. Protesters were hereme. We were stopped here for half an hour. For whatever reason, they didnt back off. We had masks and they didnt. They stood there. They were pouring milk over their faces trying to cleanse themselves of the stinging effect in your throat and eyes of the gas and then they just started walking through this way and the police and the National Guard left. We havent seen tear gas in probably 45 minutes. We havent seen police and National Guard in as long. So whatever the strategy is of the police, the curfew that is supposed to be e in effect heres not in effect and what were hearing here is that the protest has moved into downtown. As of last night, had shut down windows and downtown the most vibrant scene in the area and exactly what the protesters would be doing that way but that is the situation as it stands. There is no National Guard and no place, lawrence. Ali, thank you very much. Well come back to you throughout this hour. I want to go to mark on the difficulty of enforcing curfew. There are huge tactical challenges, especially when you have a combination of your local Law Enforcement, state Law Enforcement, perhaps the logistics of it makes it very challenging because you have to have a centralized command and theoretically, you have to act as one as a unit and thats extremely difficult when youre not accustomed to working hand and hand with one another. You have to be clear about the lines of supervision. Is the vsupervisor the Police Department going to be supervising the National Guard . Absolutely not. Who takes command . Its logistic l iissues that ar challenge for Law Enforcement. Make no mistake about it. Its important people understand that this is the job of, part of the job of Law Enforcement. That is often times individuals place themselves in harms way in difficult situations even when they have their owner emotional feelings or visceral feelings of what occurred. They have an obligation and responsibility to protect and preserve the human life is very important. Well go to louisville, kentucky now to cal perry who is covering the protests in louisvil louisville. Cal perry, whats the situation there . Reporter hey, lawrence. Look at the live shot here. There are protesters and as it escalates, police have been using tear gas and firing some kind of defensive round. We think its rubber bullets. You can almost hear them bouncing off the pavement. This city last night saw these protests and saw a mass shooting on top of it. Seven people were shot just about a block from here which is why police have come out in force so early in the evening. They want to try to avoid what they saw last night. Keep in mind, this city is also dealing with its own trama when it comes to Law Enforcement. In mid march, breanna taylor, young woman 26 years old is a vital worker, an essential worker, a nurse was shot in her home by police who came in the door without new yorking. Called a no knock warrant. She was shot dead eight times. That is one of the reasons that this city is boiling over. Its not just what happened in minneapolis. Its whats happened here. Those are flash bang grenades going off. Here comes another one, lawrence. This city has a very tense relationship with its police force, as well. There have been number of recent incidents in the last few months which has led to this point. Its come nated with seven people shot. Police seemingly want to shut this down early but lawrence, these folks here in the downtown area are not going anywhere, at least not yet. Cal, how long have they been protesting today . When did it become this active . Reporter it became this active about an hour ago. The protesters came out around 6 00 p. M. And walked this downtown area about a block to our left from your camera left is a number of administrative buildings. There is the local city jail. There is the county courthouse. There is the Sheriffs Office. What is happening is police are blocking folks in and now they got us pin into this intersection. What youre looking at now, you can see the protester behind the white board. Police are firing rubber bullets that seem to have some tear gas on it and its about to make its way down here. You can see that one protester is not moving. Weve seen this game of chicken go on all night in downtown louisville. Want to go back to mark with the question of Police Tactics and the choices that they have in these different protests around the country, and they are they will come up against that question of the preservation of human life versus the preservation of property. Reporter . Yeah, and part of the responsibility that Law Enforcement had and policing is preserving human life and thats what makes, you know, what occurred with mr. Floyd and so many other cases horrific and tragic is that those individuals who are charged and have this responsibility too often are not adhering to their own philosophy and principles about protecting and preserving human life and the sanctionty of human life and to always operate with empathy and humanity. Thats part of the problem in the demonstrations are looking to address those issues, as well. And let me go to paul butler again on the criminal charge in minneapolis. You see the third degree murder charge as the reasonable legal charge given the state of the evidence right now. I do. So when you have to persuade a jury beyond a reasonable doubt what someone was thinking, thats a daunting task for a lit g litigation. The question for murder one or two would be did these officers intend to kill mr. Floyd . They were unspeakably cruel. One held mr. Floyd by the neck. Another grabbed his leg. A third cop pushed his back down. So maybe they intended to kill him, but it looks like torture to me and, again, under the law, that makes a difference. So again, what we want is the easiest case for prosecutors to present to the jury. You do want that murder stigma and again, that comes with murder three. So in terms of the keeping the eye on the goal, getting this man locked up for a long time, i think that third degree murder is the best way of trying to achieve that and as i suggested, looking at statistically what happens when cops are charged with homicide, its not a slam dunk even with this extraordinary quality of evidence. We will be continuing to cover the yes, go ahead. Quickly. I was going to say just quickly, i think the key point, excellent points, people are really looking for a statement on whether or not judicial executions under the coal already of law can be fully punishable under the current system. That is the question of Community Colors are looking at and not necessarily the hyper technical things that paul explained so well. Thats former nypd detective joining in our discussion. When the jury is considering that case and by the way, we will be covering protests as we can develop coverage of them around the country. Well be going back there. As the jury is considering the murder charge against chauvin, what was he feeling or thinking if anything. Was he thinking he was killing a man. What was he experiencing . The chilling imagery is the silent confidence you see there that makes it look like just another day at work for a White American Police Officer with his knee on the neck of an unarmed and handcuffed black man. We turn tonight at this hour for more guidance on this subject and what were seeing in this image and what were seeing in these protesters from a world renowned scholar whose work i admired since i discovered it in college. Joining us is harvard sociology professor orlando patterson. Professor patterson, first of all, what is it you think youre seeing when you look at that video that has changed americas focus today this week from 100,000 dead from coronavirus to this one man dead under the knee of that Police Officer . Yeah, thanks for having me on your show lawrence. What i saw was very chilling. It was not a hate crime. It was worse than that. With a hate crime, you have a lot of emotions. People are disgusted by others. People dont like the ideas, the believes. But at least there are emotions. At least there is a recognition of the other person as a human being even if you hate him so much you want to kill him. What i saw here was a lack of emotion. What i saw was a sort of inhu n inhumani inhumanity. This is a crime of inhumanity. The expression on his face, as you mentioned, the fact he had his hand in his pocket, the ultimate expression of no nonchalant indicates to me someone who did not recognize he had a human being under his knee. That is as if youre euthanizing an animal and that is what is so very chilling about this. That the lack of recognition of the humanity of the victim and it reminds me of what is evil. When in fact chilling becomes routine, when it is not exceptional. And for that, i blame not just this inhuman person but the organization to which he we l g belongs. There is Something Fund mentally wrong with the american Police Department the way they recruit, the kind of people they recruit, the way they train their officers, the Organizational Culture that sees the community not as something you belong to and which you protect but as the enemy. The warrior mentality and that culture in fact, persists not only in minneapolis but many other departments and thats why by the way it really makes little difference whether the chief is a black person or not. The chief in minneapolis is a black man but its not surprising that it made little difference because the culture, the set of assumptions is one that makes violence and the use of violence a first result rather than another result that sees killing as routine. Its chilling and as i said, its worse than a hate crime. It sort of the normalcy of killing. Professor patterson, you have been studying and writing about racial issues in america since the 1960s and watched the tear gas canisters fly in situations like this since the 1960s. What are your feelings tonight as you watch these very familiar scenes that have been now familiar to you for decades that were seeing in these American Cities tonight . Well, it takes one back to the 60s. Its the final expression of outrage. The fact that once humanity is not being recognized, you know, this is not an accident. This

© 2025 Vimarsana