Democracy Now! Daily Digest: A Daily Independent Global News Hour with Amy Goodman & Juan González for Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Stories:
Newly released video has revealed the dying moments of an African-American active-duty soldier who checked himself into the El Paso, Texas, county jail for a two-day sentence for driving under the influence, and died while in custody in 2012. Authorities claimed Sgt. James Brown died due to a pre-existing medical condition, but shocking new video from inside the jail raises new questions about what happened. The video shows guards swarming on top of him as he repeatedly says he can’t breathe and appears not to resist. By the end of the video, he is shown naked, not blinking or responding, his breathing shallow. Attorneys say an ambulance was never called. Brown was eventually brought to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His family had long suspected foul play in his death but received little information from authorities. They’ve now filed a lawsuit against El Paso County saying his constitutional rights were violated. We are joined by Brown’s mother, Dinetta Scott.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today with a story about an Iraq War veteran who served two tours in Iraq only to die in a county jail in El Paso, Texas. Sergeant James Brown was just 26 years old when he mysteriously died in 2012 after he reported to jail for a two-day sentence for driving while intoxicated. Brown, who was African-American, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time. His family had long suspected foul play in his death but received little information from authorities, who said he died because of a pre-existing medical condition. Well, a local news station, KFOX14, recently obtained video from inside the jail showing Brown’s last moments.
AMY GOODMAN: The video shows something happened which caused Brown to bleed in his cell. When he refuses to speak with guards, a team in riot gear storms in and swarms on top of him, while he repeatedly says he can’t breathe and appears not to resist. A warning to our audience: The following video is disturbing.
SGT. JAMES BROWN: I can’t breathe! Dude, I can’t breathe! Help me! Help me! Help! I can’t breathe! I’m choking on my blood! Help me! I’m choking on my blood! I’m choking on my blood! I’m choking on my blood!
AMY GOODMAN: "I’m choking on my blood!" said Sergeant James Brown. As his condition deteriorates, as he’s carried to an infirmary and has a mask placed over his face, he’s then given an injection. He begs for water and is given half a Dixie cup as he heaves. Sergeant Brown repeatedly states he’s having severe trouble breathing.
SGT. JAMES BROWN: Now that’s blocking too much air. That’s over my nose and my mouth. Could you unhook my arm out of this?
PRISON GUARD: You need to calm down first.
SGT. JAMES BROWN: Can I lay on the floor?
PRISON GUARD: No, sir.
SGT. JAMES BROWN: Well, you’re going to have to do one or the other to help my breathing. Please, that’s all I ask.
PRISON GUARD: You got to calm down a little bit first.
SGT. JAMES BROWN: I will. I just need the mask—please.
PRISON GUARD: Relax.
SGT. JAMES BROWN: Please. Please. I can’t breathe. I can’t relax. You’ve got to take this mask off, dude, please.
PRISON GUARD: Can’t take it off, sir. I’m sorry.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: By the end of the video, Brown has said he can’t breathe at least 20 times. Then he is left naked in a cell, not blinking or responding, his breathing shallow. Attorneys say an ambulance was never called. Brown was eventually brought to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities claim he died from natural causes after an autopsy report cited a, quote, "sickle cell crisis." But his family says he died as a result of his treatment in jail. The family’s attorney, B.J. Crow, spoke to KFOX.
B.J. CROW: When a 26-year-old active military person checks in to jail for a court-imposed sentence on a Friday, and he leaves Sunday, you know, in a casket, something went horribly wrong there. He was bleeding out the ears, the nose, the mouth. His kidneys shut down. His blood pressure dropped to a very dangerous level. And his liver shut down.
AMY GOODMAN: Sergeant James Brown’s family has filed a lawsuit against El Paso County saying his constitutional rights were violated. Democracy Now! invited El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles to join us on Democracy Now! today, but he declined. He did send a statement saying, quote, "Mr. Brown’s death was an unfortunate tragedy. The Sheriff’s Office has conducted a thorough review of the facts surrounding Mr. Brown’s death and, based upon all the evidence obtained, determined that his death was caused by a pre-existing medical condition."
Well, for more, we go to Seattle, Washington, where we’re joined by Sergeant James Brown’s mother, Dinetta Scott.
Ms. Scott, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you explain the significance of this video that has now been released because a local TV station in El Paso had been trying to get it for years now? The death of your son, Sergeant Brown, occurred in 2012. It’s now 2015. Tell us about the significance of what you know now.
DINETTA SCOTT: Amy, I have not watched this video in its entirety. I have seen four seconds of it, and I heard my son begging for his life. I can’t watch it. I do know that it is very disturbing. The part that I did see, where he is unable to breathe, it’s devastating. It’s inhumane. It’s unexplainable what happened to him.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Were you ever told by authorities that the video existed and why it’s never come to light or been made public since then?
DINETTA SCOTT: No, that was never explained to us.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of the autopsy report, did authorities—what did they tell you about how your son died?
DINETTA SCOTT: The medical examiner stated that it was a sickle cell crisis due to him being restrained. That’s why he went into a sickle cell crisis. And he stated that he had viewed this on the video. And that’s when we said, "A video exists. We would like that video." And nothing ever came of that until two-and-a-half years later, which is where we’re at now.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, the video is just astonishing. But can you go back to 2012 to—did you talk to your son before he self-reported into the jail? He was stopped for DUI, and he was going to be held—what? For two nights?
DINETTA SCOTT: Correct. He received the DWI in 2011, and they had continuously went to court. When he got his sentencing, it was five days with time served, so since he had already served three days when they initially picked him up, he only had to do the weekend. I spoke to him prior to him checking in on that Friday night, and then I received a call from him Saturday morning, stating that the jailers had said he was going to have to stay incarcerated for seven days instead of the initial two days. And he said, "Could you please send money so that I can pay the court fine, so that I can leave here? Because I need to report to duty on Monday."
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, he had already served two tours in Iraq, and he was still on active duty?
DINETTA SCOTT: Correct.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And when was he diagnosed with post-traumatic stress?
DINETTA SCOTT: I believe it was the beginning of 2011.
AMY GOODMAN: Did he talk to you about the conditions in the jail, Dinetta Scott?
DINETTA SCOTT: No, he just basically said he needed to get out of there, and could I please get the money so that he could leave, and he would explain everything to me when he got out.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe your son, Sergeant James Brown, to us?
DINETTA SCOTT: Excuse me. He was a jokester. He was very confident, a natural born leader, loyal to no fault, a loving person. Either you liked him, or you didn’t. He didn’t really care what people thought of him. He just was a loving kind of guy, one of a kind. And I’m not saying that just because he’s my son. He just was a genuine person. He didn’t sugarcoat things, and he didn’t lie to you. If you wanted to know the truth, that’s the person that you would ask. And many of his friends said, you know, if you wanted somebody to have your back, you wanted James Brown to have your back.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the terrible irony of him coming back from serving his country twice in Iraq to end up in a cell, dead in a cell, in El Paso, Texas?
DINETTA SCOTT: In that video, I heard my son begging for his life on U.S. soil. This was not his enemy that he was facing. This was a U.S. citizen that was treating him like he was an animal. And it should not be allowed. That should not happen to anyone in the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: We were just showing pictures of James. How many kids does he have?
DINETTA SCOTT: Two.
AMY GOODMAN: How old are his children?
DINETTA SCOTT: His stepson, Armani, is 12, and his daughter, Jayliah, is five.
AMY GOODMAN: When did he join the military?
DINETTA SCOTT: In 2005.
AMY GOODMAN: Was it right out of high school?
DINETTA SCOTT: No, he graduated in 2004, and he was in a car—a motorcycle accident in 2003, which he had to have a rod put into his femur, so he opted to wait a year to have that rod removed so that he could join the military. So his joining was delayed.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In the past year or two, we’ve seen this enormous growth of the Black Lives Matter movement as a result of what’s happened in Ferguson and Cleveland and other African-American men killed under—in police custody. Your son died almost three years ago. And your sense of the connection to this movement that has grown up in the United States in the last two years?
DINETTA SCOTT: I believe it—race isn’t an issue. I believe it’s men who have been given a certain amount of authority who are abusing it. It’s very unfortunate that all the victims have been African-American, but this lies within our system. These are people that are abusing their authority and using it inappropriately.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Dinetta Scott, what has happened to these guards? One, the pile-on we see in the cell, then this mask is put over him. He is begging, saying he’s not—he can’t take the mask off, can they take the mask off, that he can’t breathe, that he is choking on his own blood. What happened to all these guards?
DINETTA SCOTT: Absolutely nothing.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to play one clip for you. KFOX14 in El Paso interviewed one of the last people to see Sergeant Brown alive, a fellow prisoner who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
ANONYMOUS PRISONER: He was like, "I didn’t do nothing. You know what? I’m staying back here. I’m keeping my mouth shut." Well, he grabbed him. They took him out, and they took him to a little room in front of us. They took him back there. They kind of roughed him up. And when they were bringing him out, a guard from behind gave him a—I don’t know what this shot is called. Some guys here were telling me that some places can do that. I never knew they can do that. They gave him a shot, and he collapsed. I guess he didn’t react good to it. And when he collapsed, that’s when they jumped on him, and they kind of beat him up and picked—I mean, he was out of conscious, so really there was no need for them to jump on him the way they did. Pretty bad. Like he was already out of conscious, and it’s like you jumping on somebody and putting your elbow in their neck. You know, you can probably snap somebody’s neck like that. And they picked him up and dragged him out.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that was a fellow prisoner who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He was speaking on a jail phone through a glass. Dinetta Scott, can you respond to what he described about what happened to your son, Sergeant James Brown?
DINETTA SCOTT: It’s inexcusable. They all need to be held accountable for what they did to my son. The sheriff made a statement that my son died of natural causes. There was nothing natural about the way that he died. They never should have went in that cell. They never should have pulled him out. And if there was a problem, they should have contacted the military, or they should have contacted mental health, somebody that was able to deal with him, instead of rushing him like that and attacking him and beating him when he’s down and can’t defend his self. It’s unacceptable.
AMY GOODMAN: What are you asking for in the lawsuit?
DINETTA SCOTT: I want change. I want policies and procedures put in place that will protect our soldiers when they are in public facilities, that the military step in and take accountability for their soldiers. These are men that they trained. They should never be put in the hands of civilians, because civilians live one life, and soldiers live another life. And they need to be dealt with by soldiers. Policies need to be put in place for CID, that when an incident happens in a public facility, they need to go in and investigate, instead of just taking the word of that institution. They need to find out what happened to their soldier. And if they have a liaison in place, they would already know what went wrong, when it went wrong, or whatever the case may be. I believe if my son would have had a representative from the military with him every step of the way, we wouldn’t be here today.
AMY GOODMAN: One last question: Do we know what your son was injected with? In that video, we see him injected at least once by the guards.
DINETTA SCOTT: According to the report, it was [Haloperidol] and Ativan, combination. I am not sure on the exact amount that was given to him, but according to the jail report, that is what they state they gave him.
AMY GOODMAN: Dinetta Scott, we want to thank you for being with us, mother of Sergeant James Brown, also our condolences. Sergeant James Brown died after being held in an El Paso County jail in 2012. He served in Iraq two tours of duty before he came home. He was on active duty at the time.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Do black women’s lives matter? That’s the question that’s being raised by a group of people around the country, those who have lost loved ones, black women, at the hands of authorities, of police. Stay with us.
As the Black Lives Matter movement grows across the country, the names of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Freddie Gray have become well known. All died at the hands of local police, sparking waves of protest. During this time, far less attention has been paid to women who have been killed by law enforcement. Today, a vigil under the banner of Say Her Name is being organized in New York to remember them. We are joined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia University, founder of the African American Policy Forum and co-author of the new report, "Police Brutality Against Black Women."
Watch more #SayHerName coverage from today’s show:
Police Killing of Michelle Cusseaux Raises Questions of Wrongful Death & Handling of Mentally Ill
Illinois Judge Calls Police Killing of Rekia Boyd "Beyond Reckless" But Acquits Cop on Technicality
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: As the Black Lives Matter movement grows across the country, the names of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Freddie Gray have become household names. All died at the hands of local police, sparking waves of protest. During this time, far less attention has been paid to women who have been killed by law enforcement, women like Tanisha Anderson, Rekia Boyd, Miriam Carey, Michelle Cusseaux, Shelly Frey and Kayla Moore. Well, today, a vigil under the banner of "Say Her Name" is being organized in New York to remember these and other women.
AMY GOODMAN: With us today are three guests here in New York who will be attending the vigil. Frances Garrett is the mother of Michelle Cusseaux, who was killed in 2014 at close range by a Phoenix police officer who had been called to take the 50-year-old woman to a mental health facility.
Martinez Sutton is also with us. He is the brother of Rekia Boyd, who was fatally shot [in 2012] by an off-duty police officer in Chicago.
Also with us is Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia University, founder of the African American Policy Forum. She’s the co-author of this new report. The group is releasing the report today. It’s titled "Police Brutality Against Black Women."
Professor Crenshaw, let’s start with you. Lay out what it is that you have found.
KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW: Well, we have known that there’s been a problem with police brutality for decades. And over the last years, as we’ve been talking about just now, there has been a movement that has grown in response to it. And there are certain frames around which we understand police brutality. There’s the driving while black. There’s the entire frame around Mike Brown being seen as literally a monster, and that justifies the excessive force that was used against him. What we know less about is how black women have experienced police brutality. And all during this time that we have been marching around police brutality, there have been a steady number of women who have also been killed, and we haven’t really known their names, we haven’t really understood their circumstances.
So, the report was basically an effort to literally lift up the names of people like Michelle Cusseaux or Rekia Boyd, to recognize that black women experience police brutality in many of the same ways that black men do and also in some ways that are different. Many of the cases that we talk about in the report involve police literally coming into people’s homes, into their bedrooms, and actually killing them. So it’s important that if we understand that the names that we repeat, the stories that we repeat, help us think about how to broaden the demands against police brutality, we have to include women in it, so some of the interventions that are necessary extend to the ways in which women are also vulnerable to police brutality.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And why do you think there’s been so little attention or even publicity on these women who have been killed?
KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW: Well, I think there are a couple reasons. I mean, men, in general, are killed more by the police than women, so there are more opportunities. But women are still killed, too. And when they are killed, they’re not part of the conversation. And our argument is it’s partly because the frames that we have are not frames that are gendered, as female. We understand police brutality largely through a traditional frame of this is state-sponsored lynching, and we understand lynching as extrajudicial efforts to constrain and suppress and repress black masculinity. It is also true throughout history black women have been lynched. They’ve also been subject to other kinds of racial violence, like rape and sexual abuse. And we’re finding that not only are black women killed by police, they’re also subject to some of these same historical problems of sexual abuse. So they’re women that many people don’t believe. They’re women that are seen as vulnerable. They’re women that are not empathized with or seen as sympathetic or women in need. And so that, in turn, prompts a certain kind of coercive or violent response to them or an effort to abuse them, knowing that no one will believe them.
Last year on August 14, just days after Michael Brown was fatally shot in Ferguson, Michelle Cusseaux was killed at close range by a Phoenix police officer who had been called to take the 50-year-old woman to a mental health facility. The officer, Sgt. Percy Dupra, claims Cusseaux threatened him with a hammer. Her family joined supporters the week after her death in marching her casket from Phoenix City Hall to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to call for an outside investigation. Phoenix police say they are now creating a crisis intervention squad to respond to calls involving the mentally ill. We are joined by Michelle Cusseaux’s mother, Frances Garrett.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, last year on August 14th, just days was fatally shot, August 9th, in Ferguson, Missouri, Michelle Cusseaux was killed at close range by a Phoenix police officer, who had been called to take her—she was 50 years old—to a mental health facility. Sergeant Percy Dupra claimed she threatened him with a hammer. Her family joined supporters the week after her death in marching her casket from Phoenix City Hall to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to call for an outside investigation.
PROTESTERS: Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle! Justice for Michelle!
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Phoenix police say they are now creating a crisis intervention squad to respond to calls involving the mentally ill. In a minute we’ll be joined by Michelle Cusseaux’s mother, Frances Garrett.
AMY GOODMAN: And as we talk about this, just to be clear—and Fran Garrett is with us now—your daughter was killed just after Michael Brown was killed.
FRANCES GARRETT: That’s correct. That’s correct.
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about what happened to your daughter.
FRANCES GARRETT: Well, from what I understand—I was in California at the time. And Michelle—I had spoke with Michelle’s case worker earlier that morning, and Michelle allegedly had called, phoned down to the mental health, behavioral health center, and had threatened them because of her treatment, and transportation had somehow not arrived. So she was somewhat upset. I had spoke with her case manager that morning. I thought everything had been resolved. I spoke with Michelle. No one at that time had ever said that they were sending out an order to pick Michelle up.
Later on that morning, I—well, let me rewind this. I was in California for a suitability hearing. I had lost a son to a drive-by years prior to this, and that’s what had set Michelle on a down—a spiral downhill with her mental health issues. And so, I had spoke with Michelle that morning and had let her know that we—I had forgiven the young man and to accept his apology. Michelle said she also had forgiven him for taking her brother’s life. And she also forgave him and accepted his apology. That was one hour—one moment, hour later, Michelle was killed by the Phoenix Police Department.
My daughter, she was a very caring person. Sure enough that she had mental health issues. She also went back to school and became a peer, to help others such as herself.
From what I understand, after pickup orders had been given for the police to go out and pick Michelle up, to bring her in, to get her back on medication, the officers who first arrived had things under control. And at some point, Michelle was inside, said—her door was open when they appeared. Her front door was open with the screen locked, and Michelle had let them know that she was OK. I guess they were there doing a wellness check. Michelle said was OK, and "just go away." At some point, the sergeant, 17-year sergeant, came on board and to—overstepped his boundaries. He pried open Michelle’s door. He allegedly said she came at him with a hammer. And he shot her at close range once in the heart. So Michelle was killed in her home.
At that time, I’m on the phone. The neighbor downstairs had phoned me. I asked to speak with the officers, and no one came to the phone. So I was on the phone when all of this occurred and to hear this commotion and all and with them removing my daughter from her home on a gurney, on a stretcher.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I want to turn to comments made by Sergeant Percy Dupra, the Phoenix police officer who shot Michelle Cusseaux.
FRANCES GARRETT: Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: He described the moments before he shot and killed her.
SGT. PERCY DUPRA: Her eyes were wide open, mouth wide open. She never said a word, was like—she had that anger in her face that she was going to hit someone with that hammer. I became very concerned that she was going to hit me in the head with that hammer and either kill me and take my gun or at least—there, at least, knock me out and start hitting Officer Perches with it.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was the sergeant that shot your daughter. Could you talk about—
FRANCES GARRETT: Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: —react to his statement?
FRANCES GARRETT: I really don’t know how—Michelle was five-foot-five, 130 pounds. So, at some point, if the officer felt threatened by someone of that stature, then he, I feel, should turn in his badge. It was other officers there with guns drawn. I just didn’t see Michelle being a threat to them. There were other ways, at which, prior to his arrival, they had decided to go down and perhaps get mace. It was other ways to handle that.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But that’s what I wanted to ask you about. Many big city police departments have officers specifically trained to deal with emotionally disturbed persons.
FRANCES GARRETT: Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Special units. Was this a special unit, or was this normal, regular Phoenix police officers?
FRANCES GARRETT: These were regular, normal police.
AMY GOODMAN: And they knew they were taking her to a mental health facility.
FRANCES GARRETT: They knew. They knew, because of the orders, the orders to pick her up and take her in to a facility. We have found out what—my thing is for police not to be the first responder in situations such as this, or, if so, to have someone from the mental health, behavioral health agencies’ providers there on the scene. Since then, the Phoenix Police Department has gotten a—they’ve come together to make changes. At this point, when that particular—that incident with my daughter happened, they did not have a policy and procedure in place to—for officers to do pickups. Now they are training them and have come up with a special force to go out into the community to handle situations such as this.
Rekia Boyd was 22 years old when she was killed in 2012 by an off-duty Chicago police detective. Dante Servin fired several shots over his shoulder into a group of people Boyd was standing with near his home, striking her in the back of her head. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, marking the first time in 15 years a Chicago police officer was charged for a fatal shooting. But last month, in a dramatic dismissal, Judge Dennis Porter acquitted Servin on a legal fine point. While speaking from the bench, Porter suggested prosecutors should have actually charged Servin with murder. "The act of intentionally firing a gun at some person or persons on the street is an act that is so dangerous it is beyond reckless; it is intentional, and the crime, if there be any, is first-degree murder," he said. We speak to Rekia Boyd’s brother, Martinez Sutton.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to also talk about Rekia Boyd today, 22 years old when she was shot and killed in 2012 by an off-duty Chicago police detective. Dante Servin fired several shots over his shoulder into a group of people Rekia was standing with near his home, striking her in the back of her head. Servin claims he thought a man with the group had a gun, but no gun was ever found. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, marking the first time in 15 years a Chicago police officer was charged for a fatal shooting. But last month, in a dramatic dismissal, Judge Dennis Porter acquitted Servin on a legal fine point.
JUDGE DENNIS PORTER: Simply put, the evidence presented in this case does not support the charges on which the defendant was indicted and tried. The motion for a directed finding is granted. There is a finding of not guilty on all counts, and the defendant is discharged.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Speaking from the bench, Porter suggested prosecutors should have charged Servin with murder. After Servin was acquitted for killing Rekia Boyd, her mother, Angela Helton, responded to claims Servin had feared for his life and did not intentionally kill her daughter.
ANGELA HELTON: This man is known around the area that he lives. The day before my daughter got shot and killed, he asked some of the residents, "What do I have to do here to get some peace? Shoot a blankety-blank-blank?" So—and that’s what he did the next day.
AMY GOODMAN: Martinez Sutton, if you could talk about what happened to your sister, Rekia? The judge dismissed the case against the officer, saying that it shouldn’t have—he shouldn’t have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. He should have been charged with murder?
MARTINEZ SUTTON: Yes. The judge said it should have been murder charges put on the officer, instead of involuntary manslaughter, and also said that he can’t be intentional and reckless at the same time. And we had second-degree murder charges on him at first, before they announced it. But at the last minute, once they found out I talked to the officer, they changed it to involuntary manslaughter to further protect him.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean, once you talked to the officer?
MARTINEZ SUTTON: Well, I was doing a documentary for my school, and as we were shooting the documentary, he pulled up in the same car that he killed my sister in. And he gets out the car and said, "Who are you people?" And they said, "This is Martinez Sutton, Rekia Boyd’s brother." And he looked surprised, and he was like, "You’re Rekia’s brother?" I said, "Yes, I am." And he said, "Can I get a hug?" So I stared at him for a sec, and I embraced him. And he started with, "I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to kill your sister. I’m so sorry. Your sister was innocent. But I tried to kill that MFer. Ooh, I wish it was him that I shot in the head, instead of your sister. Ooh, I wish it was him that was dead." Then he went back to "I’m so sorry. Now my heart is clear. I pray to the three Marys across the street every day, every time I leave this alley." How can you wish somebody was dead? How can you wish somebody else’s life was taken? Why do you want to take somebody’s life off this Earth?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Has there been any indication, since the judge’s decision, by the prosecutors that they’re going to—that they’re going to seek a—or can they even, since that might be double jeopardy, seek to prosecute him for murder?
MARTINEZ SUTTON: I haven’t even heard from the prosecutors since this case has been over. They haven’t called me. They haven’t contacted me at all. It just further shows that they was working with the police all along.
AMY GOODMAN: After Detective Dante Servin was acquitted of manslaughter charges, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a written statement, quote, "I am extremely disappointed by the Judge’s ruling. The State’s Attorney’s Office brought charges in this case in good faith and only after a very careful legal analysis of the evidence as well as the specific circumstances of this crime." Your response, Martinez?
MARTINEZ SUTTON: They didn’t do everything that they could do. When I asked them, "Why did you take away the second-degree murder charges? Why did you take away the first-degree? Why can’t we get first-degree murder?" and the prosecutor steadily told me, "Martinez, I know what I’m doing. I’ve got over 20 years of experience in doing this. Are you a lawyer?" I said, "Well, I don’t have to be a lawyer to know the right charges." And he constantly said, "Well, I have over 24 years of experience. Let me do my job." And you see the job that he done.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, this is Chicago police detective Dante Servin addressing reporters after he was acquitted on manslaughter charges in the shooting death of your sister.
DANTE SERVIN: I also explained to the family that if this was what they needed for closure, for me to be charged, I hope they got what they were looking for. And I hope—my family is praying for them, and we will continue to pray for them, for their loss. My heart goes out to the family. I need—I need you to know that my family and I have also suffered greatly during the past three years, and we will continue to suffer. This is something that I will live with for the rest of my life. My job is to save lives and to protect people.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Your reaction to Detective Servin’s remarks?
MARTINEZ SUTTON: His family also has been through something for three years. My family has to go through this for a lifetime. A lifetime. He gets to go home and create memories. The only memories I have is on a T-shirt. It’s not the same. Dante, he told me his version of what happened that night. And from what he said—"I shot out the car, and then I got out the car and continued to fire"—he was looking for blood that night. So—
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, the judge’s words are chilling. Citing case law, Judge Porter said that the charge, involuntary manslaughter, was inappropriate. He said the act of intentionally firing a gun at some person or persons on the street is an act that is so dangerous it is beyond reckless; it is intentional, and the crime, if there be any, is first-degree murder." That’s not you saying this, Martinez. This is the judge, who said that involuntary manslaughter did not cover what happened, that it should be first-degree murder. And he dismissed the case, and it’s not being brought—Kimberlé Crenshaw, can you—
KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW: So, you know, it really boggles my mind. To say legal technicality, I think, is just, you know, an illustration of how this system actually protects the officer. So basically he’s saying he did much more than what he was charged of, so because he did more than what he was charged with, we’re going to let him go.
You know, just to broaden the entire frame, these are two stories of nine families that are coming forward today to lift up their family members. The vigil is designed to remember their names, to lift them up. At noon today at New York law school, they’re going to be talking more about the specifics of their families’ cases, but, importantly, the kinds of interventions that they’re calling for—number one, having a detail of officers who respond to domestic disturbances or mental health crises, who are trained, rather than someone who could say, "I shot someone because of the look on their face." I mean, what is that saying about the concern about the public that these officers are designed to or supposed to protect? That’s where we see the stereotypes. That’s where we see precisely the kind of thing that Mike Brown—the person who killed Mike Brown said he saw—it, a monster—that’s essentially what this officer is saying. Or, you know, Rekia happens to be with some people that the officer really wants to kill, and it doesn’t matter that she’s killed by that. So, there are many stories like this. It’s important that we lift them up. My co-author, Andrea Ritchie, Black Youth Project 100, we are all coming together over the next two days to lift up these stories. And we’re hoping that all people who are concerned about police violence bring women into the conversation, all women into the conversation, to demand the kind of reforms we all need.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you so much for being here, Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia University, founder of the African American Policy Forum, co-author of this new report we’ll link to called "Say Her Name." And I want to thank you, Martinez Sutton, for being here. I know how difficult this is for you to recount what happened to your sister, Rekia Boyd, again, killed by an off-duty Chicago police detective, Dante Servin, in 2012. He was acquitted last month. And I want to thank Fran Garrett for being with us today, mother of Michelle Cusseaux, who died just last August, killed also by a Phoenix police officer. Our condolences to you both.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we’re going to Seattle. Stay with us.
A major campaign is underway in Seattle against oil giant Shell’s plans to drill in the remote and pristine Arctic this summer. On Monday, hundreds blocked the entrance to the the city’s port, where Shell has docked its 400-foot-long, 355-foot-wide Arctic-bound Polar Pioneer drilling rig. On Saturday, about 500 environmentalists and indigenous leaders took to kayaks and small boats in a protest described as "Paddle in Seattle." The Shell rig arrived Thursday even after Seattle’s mayor announced its permit as a cargo ship does not apply to oil rigs. Now the Seattle City Council has issued a notice of violation against Shell and could issue fines of up to $500 a day. All this comes after the Obama administration announced conditional approval for the company’s plans last week. We are joined by Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien, who was among the hundreds of kayakers in Saturday’s action.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We end today’s show in Seattle, where a major campaign is underway against oil giant Shell’s plans to drill in the remote and pristine Arctic this summer. On Monday, hundreds blocked the entrance to the the city’s port, where Shell has docked its 400-foot-long, 355-foot-wide Arctic-bound Polar Pioneer drilling rig. On Saturday, about 500 environmentalists and indigenous leaders took to kayaks and small boats in a protest described as "Paddle in Seattle." The Shell rig arrived Thursday, even after Seattle’s mayor announced its permit as a cargo ship does not apply to oil rigs.
AMY GOODMAN: Now Seattle’s City Council has issued a notice of violation against Shell and could issue fines of up to $500 a day. All this comes after the Obama administration announced conditional approval for the company’s plans last week.
For more, we’re joined by Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien. On Saturday, he was among hundreds of kayakers who surrounded the rig for a Paddle in Seattle.
Welcome to Democracy Now! So, if the mayor is opposed, if the City Council says no, how is the Shell rig allowed to be at the port as a base of its operations for drilling in the Arctic, Mike O’Brien?
MIKE O’BRIEN: Well, the Port of Seattle is a separate governmental entity, and they apparently cut a deal to sign a contract with a contractor that’s contracting with Shell last fall and that only came out to public light in early January. There was a couple days’ notice, a short meeting. People showed up in protest. But by then, the deal was done, and the contract was signed in February.
Now, since then, there’s been a total outrage in the city of Seattle for this deal, and there may be an opportunity for the Port of Seattle to revisit that contract, at which point a lot of us are hoping that they reconsider their decision and don’t allow Shell to stay here.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you talk about your decision to join the protests?
MIKE O’BRIEN: Well, you know, Seattle is known as an environmental city, and I represent the people of Seattle, who are very committed to protecting our wild spaces, like the Arctic, and very committed to fighting climate change. And when you have a company like Shell, who knows that we already have three times more oil in the ground than we can safely burn without preventing catastrophic climate change, and they’re saying, "That’s not enough. We want to go drill more," in a very—in an environment, frankly, that there’s no safe way to drill Arctic oil, that just goes against everything we stand for in this city. And when they want to bring their drilling fleet right into the waterfront of Seattle and store those ships and that 30-story drill rig, it just calls on all the people of Seattle, including myself, to go out there and say, "We cannot accept this. We need a better way, a new energy policy. And we need Shell to reconsider their option, too."
AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly, can you talk about the notice of violation that the city, that Seattle, served on Shell?
MIKE O’BRIEN: So, as I said, the port’s a different entity, but they needed to get a permit from the city of Seattle to operate their terminal. We issued a permit about 20 years ago to operate that as a cargo terminal. Shell Oil hosting a—storing its oil rig there is not a cargo facility, and so they are now in violation of that permit. We’ve issued the notice earlier this week. They have a few days to get into compliance, which would largely mean removing the oil rig, or applying for another permit, which would take months to likely get. If they’re not in compliance in the next week or so, we have the right to start issuing fines. Unfortunately, the maximum fine is pennies for Shell Oil. It’s $500 a day.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, I also wanted to ask you about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, the secretive 12-nation trade agreement which would stretch from Japan to Chile. On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry visited Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, near Seattle, to call for support of the TPP. I wanted to ask you what you thought about that.
MIKE O’BRIEN: Well, a little over a month ago, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution stating our opposition to fast-track authority for TPP and stating our very strong concerns about what we had heard is in that trade agreement. Now, it’s hard to fight against something that no one actually knows what’s in it because it’s very top-secret, but what I’ve heard and what we’ve all heard from every single environmental leader, every single labor leader, in the region and in the country, is that this is a bad deal for workers, this is a bad deal for the environment. And we think it’s just appalling that something like this would get fast-track authority to move forward.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, how does Seattle—how can you make a difference in Seattle as a city councilmember? And also, in this last minute we have, can you link these global trade agreements with the movement for better wages in the United States? Seattle was a leader in the $15-an-hour movement. You passed it, the City Council. Now Los Angeles has just announced they have passed $15-an-hour wage, that will be in place in 2020.
MIKE O’BRIEN: You know, we care a lot about our workers in Seattle. We’re a very trade-dependent state. So any type of trade agreement, we want to be very careful that it’s going to help the workers in Seattle, not hurt it. And frankly, the past number of trade agreements we’ve seen have undermined workers in our city and in our country. But we know there is a strong workers’ movement. It’s great to see what happened in Seattle now happening in Los Angeles and San Francisco, too. And we think this is a moment where workers are having their voice. And something like this international trade agreement, that’s cut in secret, undermines that movement that’s so powerful.
AMY GOODMAN: And the issue of the $15-an-hour minimum wage that you have spearheaded, the Seattle City Council, in passing, the significance of Los Angeles now doing the same?
MIKE O’BRIEN: You know, one of the things we heard when we passed our minimum wage was jobs will just leave Seattle, they’ll go somewhere else, no one will pay that. The reality of what we’ve seen to date and elsewhere is that people are still flocking to Seattle to open businesses. Workers are coming here, because they know they will be treated fairly. And when you see other cities following in—following in line with what Seattle did, I think it sends a strong signal that this is actually a wave of the future, not a mistake. And we’re really proud of being a part of that here in Seattle.
AMY GOODMAN: Mike O’Brien, we want to thank you for being with us, Seattle city councilmember who was part of the effort to stop Shell’s oil rig from docking in Seattle, part of the kayaks. And in March, he also led a unanimous vote on a resolution against the TPP.
U.N.: 25,000 Flee Ramadi After ISIS Capture; U.S. Could Speed Weapons to Militias
The United Nations says some 25,000 people have fled the Iraqi city of Ramadi since its capture by the self-proclaimed Islamic State on Sunday. Thousands of Iraqi forces and Iranian-aligned Shiite fighters are massing around Ramadi in preparation for an offensive to retake it from ISIL. The U.S. has also launched airstrikes and is reportedly considering speeding arms deliveries to Iraqi militias in Anbar province.
U.N. Appeals for New Pause in Yemen to Bring Undelivered Aid
The U.N. says it needs more time to bring aid to areas of Yemen following the end of a five-day truce. A U.N. spokesperson said only half of the proposed supplies were delivered before Saudi strikes resumed on Sunday.
Elisabeth Byrs: "The humanitarian pause in Yemen was not long enough to reach all those in need of food, and WFP is appealing for a series of predictable breaks in the conflict to deliver desperately needed aid."
The U.N. says Yemen has only been able to import one-tenth of the fuel it needs each month. More than 1,800 people have died in Yemen’s conflict so far.
Israel Cancels Bus Segregation Plan for Palestinians Returning to West Bank
Israel has cancelled an order to bar West Bank Palestinians from riding on the same buses as Israelis. The segregation would have applied to the hundreds of Palestinians who cross into Israel each day for work and then return home. The Defense Ministry had introduced it as a three-month pilot project to address the demands of Israeli settlers. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cancelled it following an outcry.
Los Angeles Approves $15 Minimum Wage by 2020
Los Angeles has become the nation’s largest city to approve a significant increase to the minimum wage. The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to raise the minimum from $9 to $15 an hour by 2020. The move will impact as many as 800,000 workers, or almost 50 percent of the workforce. It’s expected to spark wage hikes across Southern California and boost similar efforts nationwide.
Airbag Recall Doubled to 34 Million
The Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata has doubled its recall to nearly 34 million vehicles, the largest in U.S. history. The airbags can explode when activated, spraying occupants with sharp metal fragments. The defect has been linked to six deaths and dozens of injuries. Ten automakers have recalled vehicles in the U.S. so far.
Ruptured California Pipeline Spills Oil into Pacific Ocean
An oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, has leaked some 21,000 gallons into the Pacific Ocean. The Coast Guard has enacted an emergency cleanup after the spill left an oil slick on close to four miles of beach and 50 yards into the water. The company behind the spill, Plains All American Pipeline, has shut down the ruptured pipeline. Meanwhile in Louisiana, a state of emergency has been declared near Baton Rouge after a cargo train with oil tankers derailed.
Ex-CIA Official, Intel Briefer: Bush Admin Made False Claims on Iraq
A former top CIA official and intelligence briefer to President George W. Bush before the Iraq War has acknowledged Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney falsely presented information to the public. In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Michael Morell was asked about Cheney’s claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking nuclear weapons.
Chris Matthews: "Was that true?"
Michael Morell: "We were saying—"
Chris Matthews: "Can you answer that question? Was that true?"
Michael Morell: "No. That’s not true."
Chris Matthews: "Well, why did you let them get away with it?"
Michael Morell: "Look, my job—my job, Chris, is to—"
Chris Matthews: "You’re the briefer of the president on intelligence. You’re the top person to go in and tell him what’s going on. You see Cheney make this charge he’s got a nuclear bomb, and then they make subsequent charges he knew how to deliver it, he had the capability to deliver it, and nobody raised their hand and said, 'No, that's not what we told him.’"
Michael Morell: "Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris, wasn’t my job. Right? My job—"
Chris Matthews: "To tell the truth."
Michael Morell: "My job—no, as the briefer? As the briefer?"
Chris Matthews: "OK, go ahead."
Michael Morell: "As the briefer, my job is to carry CIA’s best information and best analysis to the president of the United States, make sure he understands it. Right? My job is to not watch what they’re saying on TV and say, 'Yesterday—'"
Chris Matthews: "You think TV’s a joke?
Michael Morell: "What?"
Chris Matthews: "You think it’s a joke that Cheney said it on TV?"
Michael Morell: "That’s not my job. That’s not my job."
Chris Matthews: "Did you know he did that?"
Michael Morell: "No, I wasn’t paying attention. I was studying what was on my desk every morning."
Chris Matthews: "So you’re briefing the president on the reasons for war. They’re selling the war using your stuff, saying that you made that case when you didn’t. So they’re using your credibility to make the case for war dishonestly, as you just admitted."
Michael Morell: "Look, I’m just telling you what—"
Chris Matthews: "Well, you just admitted it."
Michael Morell: "I’m just telling you what we said, Chris."
Chris Matthews: "They gave a false presentation of what you said to them."
Michael Morell: "On some aspects."
Clinton on Iraq War Vote: "I Made a Mistake"
The Iraq invasion has emerged as a major campaign issue after Republican hopeful Jeb Bush walked back his claim he would have authorized the Iraq War. On Tuesday, Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton was asked about her Senate vote in support of the Iraq invasion.
Hillary Clinton: "Look, I know that there have been a lot of questions about Iraq posed to candidates over the last weeks. I’ve made it very clear that I made a mistake, plain and simple. And I have written about it in my book. I’ve talked about it in the past. And, you know, what we now see is a very different and very dangerous situation. The United States is doing what it can, but ultimately this has to be a struggle that the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people are determined to win for themselves."
U.S. Cancer Charities Accused of $187M Fraud
Four U.S. cancer charities are being accused of massive fraud. The Federal Trade Commission says the groups funneled some $187 million into top officials’ pockets. The charities are the Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services, Children’s Cancer Fund of America and the Breast Cancer Society. It could be one of the largest charity fraud cases of all time.
Texas Police Seek Biker Gang Truce after Fatal Shootout
Police in Texas are urging a truce between rival gangs in the aftermath of Sunday’s shootout that left nine people dead. More than 170 people have been charged with engaging in organized crime so far. Waco Police Sergeant Patrick Swanton urged all sides to avoid retaliation.
Sgt. Patrick Swanton: "I will tell you that in the gang world and in the biker world, that violence usually condones more violence. Is this over? Most likely not. We would like it to be. We would ask there to be some type of truce between whatever motorcycle gangs are involved. We would encourage them to try and be a little peaceful and let the bloodshed stop."
Columbia Student Carries Rape Protest Mattress at Graduation
And a Columbia University senior who lugged a dorm room mattress around campus to protest the university’s handling of sexual assault has carried it across the graduation stage. Emma Sulkowicz carried the mattress all year in a call for a student she accuses of raping her to be expelled. A group of friends helped Sulkowicz carry it across the stage at their graduation ceremony on Tuesday.
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