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Police, Protesters Clash In Ferguson; Autopsy: Michael Brown Shot Six Times; National Guard Deployed To Ferguson ,Video Shows Michael Brown Shooting Scene

Aired August 18, 2014 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, Missouri's governor calls up the National Guard after another night of violence. Two people shot. Police and protestors throwing tear gas and Molitov cocktails, though many people say they just wanted to protest peacefully. Don Lemon is live in Ferguson.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking, the autopsy of Michael Brown. The medical examiner hired by his family releases his results. Brown was shot at least six times, twice in the head. Most likely from the front, not the back. We'll have the very latest.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Eye witness exclusive new video. The moments after the shooting. The police officer who shot him walking near the body. The young woman who took that video joins us live. What does she say happened that day?

BOLDUAN: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

BOLDUAN: Good morning and welcome to NEW DAY, everyone. Its Monday, August 18, 6:00 in the East. Jim Sciutto is here with us. Hi, Jim. Chris is on assignment this morning. We're going to get straight to the breaking news, though, this morning. Clashes get out of hand in Ferguson, Missouri over night. So much so that the governor has now decided to deploy the National Guard. Tension escalating after a private autopsy requested by Michael Brown's family revealed the unarmed teenager was shot six times, at least six times we know.

SCIUTTO: Brown was hit twice in the head, four times in his right arm, no gunpowder was found, indicating that the shots were not fired from close range. This is one of three autopsies being performed on Brown. The U.S. Department of Justice now set to perform the third.

We're going to go down to CNN's Don Lemon who has been in Ferguson and saw much of what transpired firsthand last night. He's been there from really the beginning. Don, tell us what you saw last night.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It was unbelievable, really. The clashes were fierce, Jim. Good morning to you and Kate, by the way. Police in riot gear taking on protesters with teargas and rubber bullets. It all started hours before curfew was to begin and lasted well after it was supposed to be in effect. Police say protesters throw Molotov cocktails at them and that some of them opened fire in their direction. Now, two civilians were shot in the chaos. Authorities say they were not the one who fired those shots.

President Barack Obama being briefed on all of this today at the White House. CNN's George Howell joins me now with more on the very latest. George, what do you have this morning?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, you know, you see what happened last night. I can't help, but think back to the first day this all went down, myself and photo journalist, Jordan Bizardo, were in a situation where we hear shots fired.

You hear it in front of you. You hear it behind you. Our colleague Steve Kastenbaum in the same situation, again, tonight, several nights of unrest. You have three different groups really.

You have a group of protesters who have come out to protest peacefully. That's what they want to do, then you have another group who comes in to make trouble and you have police, criticized for being too heavy handed.

In many ways they feel that they are dammed if they do and damned if they don't.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL (voice-over): Peaceful protests turned into chaos overnight, leaving two people wounded by civilian gunfire according to police. Officers in riot gear firing smoke and teargas canisters into crowds ahead of the midnight curfew after police say some protesters turned violent.

Children and families were seen among the crowd. At times protesters returning teargas canisters from police. Others trying to recover from the gas fired into the crowds.

CAPTAIN RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL: The situation first started to deteriorate with the shooting of a civilian on West Florence and Ferguson Avenues at approximately 8:25 p.m. We quickly responded with additional officers to reach the victim and got them to a safe position. That was followed by shots being fired on officers, a number of Molotov cocktails being hurled and then the looting.

HOWELL: But protesters say otherwise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were peaceful. This is unacceptable and this is not the law.

HOWELL: Violence erupting as a preliminary autopsy report done by the family's own private pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden reveals Brown was shot at least six times, twice in the head and four times in the arm, Baden adding that all the bullets entered from the front contradicting some eyewitness accounts that Brown was shot in the back. Also in the report, no trace of gunpowder residue found on the 18- year-old's clothing, which suggests Brown was shot from a distance, not up close. Dr. Baden says until he can examine the clothing himself, we won't know for sure.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: When you have someone go in, someone who can look and someone who could evaluate and then those results are presented to the family, I think there's more of a sense of trust that the family has in knowing exactly how Michael Brown died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless his soul, police shot this boy outside my apartment.

HOWELL: This exclusive video obtained by CNN shows an up-close look at the aftermath from that day. Officer Darren Wilson accused of shooting the teen appears to be to the right.

Earlier Sunday, Michael Brown's family grieved before a crowded church at the justice for Michael Brown rally.

TY PRUITT, MICHAEL BROWN'S COUSIN: Michael Brown was not just some young black boy. He was a human being. He was not an animal, but that's how he was killed.

HOWELL: The service was meant to honor their son and to demand justice.

BENJAMIN CRUMP, BROWN'S FAMILY ATTORNEY: They want to know that they will have their day in court, that the killer of their child will be held accountable to the full extent of the law.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: The breaking news in all of this, obviously that Governor Jay Nixon has signed an executive order bringing in the Missouri National Guard to work in concert with state troopers.

Don, look, I know you've talked to people, too. You know that the outrage out here is very real. So how this plays out is really anyone's guess -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, absolutely. What effect will the National Guard have on all this? We are going to talk about that now. Thank you, George.

Chris King is the editorial director of the St. Louis American. Thank you very much for joining us this morning. What effect might the National Guard have on this? You think it will tamp it down or it only insight people further?

CHRIS KING, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, ST. LOUIS AMERICAN: The powers are broad and the executive order was vague. I have no idea what's going to happen. I don't think anyone does.

LEMON: We saw the tactical units, Molotov cocktails, rubber bullets, all of that. How did this escalate into this? KING: Well, I don't think there was enough effort to stop the fire from getting started. There's a lot of effort to put out the fire as aggressively was possible. Literally the fires were started and all of these incidences spiralled out of control.

As Captain Johnson said tonight, by Molotov cocktails, those words have never been said in Ferguson before this event. They came from outsiders, a group from Chicago. They've been identified.

People in Camp Field Green, the apartment where Michael Brown was shot, they were talking about it from the beginning, but they are afraid to come forth and give their names.

We had a name when Sierra, a woman who addressed the governor at Greater Saint Mark Family Church last Thursday and told them there are people coming in with fire bombs and starting fires.

LEMON: So how would a group of outside actors come in and -- because this started the night after it happened. That group came in that quickly from Chicago?

KING: Yes, they did. Yes, they did. There's trails that come up from Jennings, an adjoining community. If they say that to someone around here to people, they say, yes, from Jennings. There is a way to come up. They had probably a good Google Map program. This is a mobile group that goes around and they enjoy confrontation.

LEMON: So you believe that none of the bad actors, none of the people who are looting and stealing things --

KING: I don't believe that.

LEMON: Do you think that they're all from outside? Nobody here?

KING: Once you start a fire -- the fire spread. There were bad actors within the community and there were also organized looters. All the people arrested were not from Ferguson. Someone not from Ferguson started the fire and someone not from Ferguson looted the stores.

And then you a lot of angry, upset, grieving people. They were part of the problem, some of them. The peaceful protesters who should have been heard from the beginning, they got lost in the fire.

LEMON: Let's talk about a very emotional moving emotional service that happened with the family and with a number of different people. How do you think that it devolved into this sort of tense situation where there would be a need to have this memorial service and need to bring in the National Guard.

KING: Don, there's a strong African-American middle class here. They were at the memorial services. They weren't on the streets when things got bad. The problem now is, with the release of the autopsy report and the handling of the violence.

And now the middle ground, they're going to drift closer to those angry kids. There are some very, very, very unhappy people that are in the middle class. I don't see a middle way from here.

LEMON: Unhappy people, those people aren't looting stores, aren't shooting off bullets.

KING: No, no, I'm not saying that. I'm saying part of the reason the middle ground isn't on the streets cooling these kids down is a lot of them are not cooled down. There's a lot of unhappy people with the way the investigation is being handled. The autopsy doesn't look good. It inflames people.

LEMON: You're not saying most of the people who live here, most of the people out there are in support of people who are doing terrible things?

KING: Absolutely not.

LEMON: Most of the people here are law abiding citizens. It's a small group of people causing that.

KING: Right. The fire was set from the outside and it spread.

LEMON: It's interesting to me listening to Captain Ron Johnson from last night, clearly exhausted, overwhelmed in a sense. I think he's saddened by what happened and quite frankly, I think he's embarrassed.

What can be done -- if the people who are out there looting and robbing -- I'm not talking about the people who are protesting, you have the right for civil disobedience. If you can't listen to someone who is brought in or someone who is from the community who you can relate to, then who are you going to listen to?

KING: The reports on the ground and the official reports differ in lots of details. Our web editor who is on the ground said the teargas hit the crowd before the crowd instigated violence and it also hit the crowd when there was still children in the crowd.

KING: That's not what he said. He said last night two to three hours before the curfew these things started to happen. You can't make excuses, Chris, for the people who are doing those things.

KING: I'm not making excuses. I'm trying to differentiate the people who are trying to protest --

KING: I think people understand that. You can't say all the bad actors are from outside the community. You heard Captain Johnson for all those saying the police incited this, these actions started two to three hours before the police were even out on the streets. How can you say it was started by a Molotov cocktail?

King: When the woman from canfield told the governor there were people coming in from outside, he gave her a lecture on the first amendment. He didn't hear her. I don't think he believed her. I believed her. Now they're talking about it in the press conferences, what seemed unbelievable a week ago.

LEMON: Thank you. I appreciate your perspective. Thank you very much, Chris King. Kate, it's very interesting to see how this is going to unfold. It really devolved into a bad situation. I have not seen anything like this the entire time I have had been here -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly what I wanted to ask you, Don. You've been there on the ground, been there from day to day. How does last night seem different, as if there had to have been a tipping point?

LEMON: I think last night was a tipping point. I think again when I first got here and told you and everyone who could listen, everyone within the sound of my voice, I didn't think people were violent, I wasn't afraid of people, I thought people wanted to be heard. They just wanted their voices to be heard.

They just wanted some sort of validation. They didn't want to feel like they were occupied, didn't want to feel like they were threatened. This is completely different. I'm not talking about the majority of people who were out here protesting peacefully.

I'm talking about the ones who are acting stupidly out of stupidity, the ones who are looking for reasons to a loot and rob and shoot off guns. It doesn't make any sense. It is ignorant actions.

I think it's devolving into that. What it's doing, it's deflecting from the real issue here. As Captain Ron Johnson said last night, in this press conference, he said it's embarrassing to him and to the Brown family as well.

BOLDUAN: That's one thing we've heard from the Brown family and their attorneys since day one, they want it to be peaceful because they wanted the honor the life of that young man. It's clearly a distraction and a horrible distraction at that to this point.

What do you think is going to happen today? We've seen kind of this roller coaster ride, Don, quiet during the day, calls for peace and then you never know what's going to happen at night.

LEMON: Well, I don't know what's going to happen. I think last night once police were out in force in their tactical gear and they really shut down that hot zone that they called, people had no other option, but to go into their homes or leave the neighborhood.

Police were not having it last night. We had guns drawn. My producer had guns from police officers drown on us, guns with flashlights on the end of them. They would say hands up, hands up. We would have to say we're here from the media, the other officer let us in.

We're going to park here and go do our live shot. At one point, they moved us out of the parking lot because we had to park on the sidewalk, it was a business arena. The business owners didn't want us on the sidewalks.

I don't know what's going to happen when the National Guard gets here. People have to stop making excuses for the people doing bad things, but saying, I understand these people are frustrated.

I was understanding of that in the beginning, although I did not condone the violence. I was understanding, I know that people are frustrated. Now it is just stupidity and it's not helping anything.

BOLDUAN: It's just getting worse. That's absolutely right. All the peaceful protesting is what's getting lost and caught in the middle of it. Don, stick with us. We'll get back with you throughout the show, great to have you this morning. Thank you.

We'll have much more on this coming up, a key witness to the shooting who is going to be joining us live. We'll really examine what we're learning from this preliminary autopsy report, answers people have been waiting for from the very beginning.

Let's get quickly get a check of some of our other top stories -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Good morning. How about Jim Sciutto sitting in.

BOLDUAN: I know. It's a little treat for us on a Monday.

SCIUTTO: Just another Italian between two smart women.

BOLDUAN: It's a requirement for the job.

PEREIRA: It really is, you didn't know that, did you?

All right, let's get to our headlines right now at 14 minutes past the hour. President Obama defending U.S. military action to protect a strategic dam in Northern Iraq. U.S. warplanes joined Kurdish forces to battle ISIS militants all in an effort to retake the Mosul Dam.

They are fighting ISIS while trying to ensure that that dam remains intact. A failure could result in catastrophic flooding to some of Iraq's largest city.

Israel and the Palestinians are up against the clock. Their latest cease-fire ends at midnight tonight, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Indirect negotiations continue in Cairo. The sides are trying find common ground toward a lasting peace.

It all follows Israel's airstrike campaign in Gaza that killed almost 2,000 people in response to thousands of rockets being fired into Israel.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he'll be leaving the Ecuadorian embassy soon, though WikiLeaks spokesman says this is not imminent. Assange says he is suffering from various health problems after being holed up in the embassy for two years. He blamed obstructions created by the U.K. for his health issues. Assange faces arrest if he -- if and when he leaves for alleged sex offenses in Sweden and the highly publicized leaks of secret U.S. documents.

Texas Governor Rick Perry remaining defiant over a veto that led to his indictment on abuse for power charges. Perry tells "FOX News Sunday" he'd take the same course of action again. This indictment on two felony counts stems from the veto funding to a councilwoman. The governor remaining defiant. We'll see what happens as the situation continues to play out. BOLDUAN: And what we know at least is this could follow him for a

very long time.

SCIUTTO: No question. You see the images from the scene there, the police in military-like uniforms, the gas masks the tear gas being fired again --

BOLDUAN: In Missouri.

SCIUTTO: In Missouri, you know, a war-like scene. That's why we're following Ferguson, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly right. We're going to take a break and get right back to that scene in Ferguson. We're going to be talking about some exclusive new video from the scene where Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. An eyewitness provided this video exclusively to CNN. She's going to be joining us next to share her reaction to what she saw.

SCIUTTO: Plus, the U.S. intensifying its air strikes on ISIS terrorists. And the battle is raging this morning over a crucial dam in northern Iraq. We're live on the ground with the very latest from there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Breaking news, the National Guard being deployed to help keep the peace in Ferguson, Missouri, after another night of wild protests following the shooting of Michael Brown.

We have new video now from a witness to that shooting provided exclusively to CNN. And I need to warn you that what you're about to see may be quite difficult to watch. You do not see the shooting, but you do see what happened immediately afterwards. The officer you'll see on the right is Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Michael Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless his soul. Police shot this boy outside my apartment. They killed him.

(INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: The young woman who shot that video and whose voice you heard, Piaget Crenshaw. She joins us now. She's here with her attorney Karen Lewis.

Ladies, thank you so much for being here.

Piaget, I am so glad to speak to you. You were there that night. You can tell us from a very different perspective what went on because you witnessed it all. You waited until now to release this video. Why is that?

PIAGET CRENSHAW, EYEWITNESS TO MICHAEL BROWN SHOOTING: Well, because more importantly, I was concerned with my safety, of course, and because the media didn't release the name until several days after it happened. So --

PEREIRA: The name of the officer.

CRENSHAW: Yes, Darren Wilson. We wanted to put the name with the face. I think this is relative information for most people.

PEREIRA: You mentioned you were concerned about your safety. Did you have reason -- did you have reason to fear?

CRENSHAW: Well, I didn't. But just, you know, thoughts from my attorney, maybe --

PEREIRA: Be careful.

CRENSHAW: Hold back, yes.

PEREIRA: What is going through your mind as this is happening? Take me back to the moment. Why did you feel a need to record what was going on outside the window?

CRENSHAW: OK, from it all initially happening I knew this was not right. I knew the police shouldn't even have been chasing this young boy and firing at the same time. The fact that he got shot in the face, it was something that clicked in me like, no, somebody else needs to see this. This isn't right. I've got to record.

PEREIRA: So, you pulled out your cell phone camera and started rolling. How long after it all. You saw the whole scenario played out, right?

CRENSHAW: Yes, ma'am. A good 30 seconds I had to run into my house and get my phone, I put it on camera and started recording what I saw. So, about 30 seconds.

PEREIRA: Walk me through that.

CRENSHAW: So, what we're looking at is Officer Darren Wilson to the right, he's just looking over the body, just looking baffled and bewildered, trying to explain to the officer what have I just done. And then we get this picture of him pacing back and forth, just like, in disbelief.

It's like -- it's like he understands that he just shot this boy in the face and that this boy was not armed. And to me, this video just seems relative for this time period, especially including the fact that Chief Jackson said that the reason this video wasn't even on the media at the time when it should have been was because he wanted to get all the information out at the same time, under the freedom of information act. They could have easily given these videos as well because they confiscated my phone. PEREIRA: So, let's go back to that in a second. So, they -- take me

back to a moment when you see a tussle at the police cruiser. What was going on? What happened?

CRENSHAW: OK, from my point of view I couldn't tell exactly. But it just looked as if he was trying to pull him almost into the car --

PEREIRA: The officer pulled Michael in the car?

CRENSHAW: Michael Brown, it just look like he was trying to do -- you know, Brown being a bigger fellow, that didn't work, he got away. It just seemed to have upset the officer.

PEREIRA: And then what happened?

CRENSHAW: Got out and started chasing after the boy. I'm hearing shots fired, clearly none of them hit him. But one I think did graze him as they saw on the autopsy report. And at the end he turned around after I'm guessing he felt the bullet graze his arm, he turned around and was shot multiple times.

PEREIRA: The autopsy is showing he was shot from the front, not the back. Does that square with what you saw?

CRENSHAW: Definitely, because he was running away. When he turned towards the cop is when he let off more shots.

PEREIRA: So, now, let's go to the point where I hear your voice. You sound really upset.

CRENSHAW: I haven't even lived there a month. I had just moved there out of my parent's home. To see something like this outside my window as I'm trying to go to work is traumatizing.

PEREIRA: You're from Ferguson?

CRENSHAW: Yes. I'm from Jennings but I moved to Ferguson.

PEREIRA: And how has the neighborhood been?

CRENSHAW: Well, actually, it's kind of peaceful. If you walk down the street, somebody will just say hey, how are you doing? You know your neighbors will say something to you every now and then. It's not as hectic as they're appearing it to be.

PEREIRA: And what have you made of the Ferguson Police Department? Have you ever seen them on the streets interacting with any of the officers before but prior to this incident?

CRENSHAW: Yes, at first, I did feel comfortable living in my apartment because there are a police presence around constantly. There were police driving up and down the streets. Crime is a little more over there. But now, it just -- it doesn't seem that you can trust them.

PEREIRA: So, then the police take your cell phone from you to take the video. How did that all happen?

CRENSHAW: OK. Well, from my point of view, as soon as they start putting the yellow tape around, the family started coming up, just screaming and asking what happened and nobody is giving them answers. So, me and my boss, we were like, we saw everything, we were standing on top of my balcony. We were like, no, we saw everything.

Of course, the police were there, too. They brought us all down for questioning which then my cell phone was confiscated for the video.

PEREIRA: How long did it take to get the phone back?

CRENSHAW: It happened Saturday. They told me I'd get it back until Monday, but I didn't get it back until later on on Tuesday.

PEREIRA: I want to ask you about what you're seeing happen in Ferguson now. We saw escalation in protests, violence over the weekend. The National Guard is being called in.

As a resident in Ferguson, what's your instinct? What does -- how does that make you feel?

CRENSHAW: Well, I'm concerned for all my friends that live out there. They still out here, because they're having to go through all of this because of the unjustness of one person and I just don't think it's right. I feel like nobody should be concerned for their safety when the police aren't even helping them. And that's what they're there for, no public safety going on.

PEREIRA: Piaget, you just moved there a month ago, had all this happening, you witnessed the death of the young man. I know this has been a traumatizing time for you coming on to speak with us. I appreciate you coming out to speak to us.

CRENSHAW: No problem.

PEREIRA: A big thank you for your attorney for coming along, to provide some support to you. We wish you well, OK? Thank you for speaking with us and giving us the video for helping tell the story what happened to Michael Brown.

CRENSHAW: No problem. He needs justice.

PEREIRA: He does need justice. Thank you so much.

We're going to take a short break here. We're going to have more of our continuing coverage from the ground in Ferguson, Missouri.

As I mentioned, the National Guard being destroyed to the area. Also new details emerging from one of the autopsies on Michael Brown. There are three we know. What does it tell us about how Michael Brown died? That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)