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CNN NEWSROOM
GOP Contenders Battle over Immigration; University of Missouri Appoints Interim President; Family Sues After Virginia Man Tasered, Died; Obama Awards Medal of Honor to Florent Groberg. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired November 12, 2015 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:12] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So what you just saw was kind of clever from Marco Rubio.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: How so?
BASH: Because it was a massive bill, which did a whole bunch of things, including what Marco Rubio talked about. Increasing so-called visas, which is visas that allow skilled workers to come to this country, increasing green cards. What he didn't mention is the bill also included a path to citizenship. That is the core of the amnesty argument and the amnesty divide that Ted Cruz doesn't support and that he continues to support, along with Donald Trump.
BALDWIN: Donald Trump -- let's get to the sound -- calling for the deportation of 11 million people. He's what he said this morning on MSNBC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: You're going to have a deportation force. You're going to do it humanely and, going to bring the country -- and frankly, you have some excellent people, some fantastic people that have been here for a long period of time. Don't forget that you have millions of people that are waiting in line to come into this country. And they are waiting to come in legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So I think a lot of Americans believe maybe somehow that he would be able to deport all these people. How would he then compare to a Rubio plan?
BASH: Rubio has been circumspect on this lately. But in the past, he has fallen into the category of the people we heard on the stage in the debate the other night who disagrees with Donald Trump, with Jeb Bush, with John Kasich who said it's nuts. It's just not doable. But, look, the bottom line is rewind back to June when Donald Trump announced his candidacy. This is the issue that propelled him. This is the issue that got so much of the conservative base that were frustrated with the national party, because they thought it was moving too much towards reform and allowing undocumented immigrants to stay here legally, and those are the people that he is continuing to appeal to and those people matter because they vote. In Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. That is what gets them going. Other issues too, but it's a big reason that he has support. And he's not going to let it go because he's got a constituency for it, the voters that he needs.
BALDWIN: Dana Bash, thank you very much.
BASH: Thank you.
BALDWIN: You don't want to miss Donald Trump on tonight with Erin Burnett. Look at that interview at 7:00 eastern here on CNN.
Coming up, a Virginia man is dead after being tased over and over and over by police. As you can see, it's all caught on video, part of this outside of the doors of a hospital. What happened? How could it have happened? What is the family of this man now saying?
Also we're continuing to follow our breaking news. ISIS reportedly claiming responsibility for a pair of suicide bombings in southern Beirut leaving 41 people dead, 200 injured.
Keep it here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:37:43] BALDWIN: Want to take you quickly to Missouri, to the University of Missouri. As you have been following along this whole week, the football team threatened not to play in the wake of allegations of instances of racism in and around the college campus there at Mizzou. One student on a hunger strike for a week because of all of this. The president stepped down there. They are now announcing who the interim president will be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am pleased to introduce and welcome interim president of the University of Missouri system, Mike Middleton.
(APPLAUSE)
MICHAEL MIDDLETON, INTERIM PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI: Thank you so much.
Let me first say how honored I am to be appointed to this role as interim president of the University of Missouri system. This is an incredible institution that has a high level of pride. I speak from firsthand experience as I have been a part of this community for over 30 years both as a professor and an administrator. But first, as an undergraduate student graduating in 1968 and then a law student graduating in 1971, I have seen the system grow and excel over the years. And I look with great optimism to the future.
The mission of our great university is to discover, disseminate, preserve and apply knowledge. To this end, we must confront many uncomfortable societal issues that, once confronted, will make us stronger. We all know that the university has faced its share of troubling incidents and we recognize that we must move forward as a community. We must embrace these issues as they come. And they will come to define us in the future.
[14:40:05] BALDWIN: Again, this is now interim president at the University of Missouri, Michael Middleton. He's an alum of the school. Also went to the law school as a law professor there. He will be in charge of the system for now. Now to this, a deadly police encounter. This death involves the
device officers use to avoid their own guns, a taser.
A warning, the video you're about to see is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So those doors as you're watching this and the man is on the ground being tased. This is happening in front of a hospital. This is where police in Virginia were initially headed with this man, named Linwood Lambert. But instead of taking the 46-year-old father inside, they took him into custody. In fact, in another clip, you can hear one of the officers laugh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all bringing him here?
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: We were.
(LAUGHTER)
Now he's going to jail.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Lambert died later that night. This was in 2013. His autopsy indicates it was an accidental drug overdose, acute cocaine intoxication. But the family, just obtaining new information, blames police and is now filing suit. A hearing in federal court is set for today.
Our correspondent, Pamela Brown, takes us through the final moments of Lambert's life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This police video shows three officers in Virginia tasing a man right outside a hospital emergency room. Shortly after, that man, 46-year-old Linwood Lambert, died in police custody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: We're not locking you up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The video begins with officers picking Lambert up at a motel early one morning in May of 2013 at a hotel after several 911 calls about noise. In court records, police say because of how Lambert was acting they took him to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. They say he made comments about murdering two people and hiding their bodies in the ceiling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: We're going to take you to the emergency room and make sure you're good to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Inside the patrol car, police say he kicked out the window.
Then the video shows Lambert running straight into the hospital doors while handcuffed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Get on your belly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: He falls to the ground and the officers repeatedly ask him to roll over onto his stomach while threatening to tase him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: On your stomach. On your stomach. On your stomach.
BROWN: Lambert then admits he was on drugs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINWOOD LAMBERT, DIED IN POLICE CUSTODY: I just did cocaine, man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: But instead of taking him inside the emergency room, the officers take him to the police station.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: You're under arrest. Come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: The officers tase Lambert multiple times. He's bleeding, apparently, from breaking the squad car window. By the time they reach the police station, he appears unconscious in the backseat. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital after going into cardiac arrest, according to the medical examiner's report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Get rescue vehicle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The report ruled the cause of death as acute cocaine intoxication. But the family blames the police and they filed a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit, alleging, quote, "The officers' callous disregard for Linwood Lambert in tasering him multiple times and depriving him of the desperate medical care he needed violated his constitutional rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment."
Police have denied the allegations, saying Lambert's erratic actions required the use of force.
Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: We want to get to the police side of things. They released a statement saying, quote, "We are vigorously defending the case. Our position is affirmed by the reports of two independent well-qualified experts in the field." CNN tried to reach both South Boston police Virginia Beach police who are investigating Lambert's death. So far, no response.
Let's bring in CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson; and CNN law enforcement analyst and former officer, Jonathan Gilliam.
Jonathan, to you first.
Watching that over -- I have seen it three times -- my first question is despite all of this, why wouldn't the officers have him on the ground in front of the hospital just take him to the hospital?
JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's what we're discussing before we came on here. There seems to me that there's some type of break down in policy with this department or at least policy in training on a daily basis because what you see here with this individual is, first off, I do commend the officers for using less and lethal. Some officers might have shot him. They use less than lethal force, but there has to be standards where it says if this doesn't work this many times, you have to move to the next less than lethal. At that point he was at the hospital. He should have been put on a gurney because most police department stipulate if someone has done a drug and they tell you --
BALDWIN: Which he did right there on the ground. GILLIAM: He did. Or they're saying they have an illness or their
heart or breathing problem, you take them to the hospital before you take them to jail. That's where the breakdown in this comes.
[14:45:24] BALDWIN: That's one issue.
The second is, you have the family. Let me play some of the sound from the family attorney. They are saying, yes, it was the medical examiner who ruled this acute cocaine intoxication. They are saying uh-huh. They are blaming police. Here's the attorney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE MESSA, ATTORNEY FOR LINWOOD LAMBERT FAMILY: It's intentional. There's no accident here. It wasn't accidental that they tased Mr. Lambert the first time or the second time or the third time or the fourth time? We know from discovery, the taser logs, that they were discharged 20 or more times. The conduct is unconscionable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Let me add quickly, we have not been able to verify how many times he was tased.
That said, your response to that.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Brooke, I believe what is verified is that the taser was deployed 20 times over half an hour.
(CROSSTALK)
JACKSON: Yes. How many of them hit him is another issue. Evaluating this, you can't evaluate it in isolation. You have to look at each element as a whole.
Initially, when he breaks out the window and runs, the officers have some concern. Is he going to run into the hospital? If so, would staff be in danger? Would medical people be in danger? So they are required to act. So there was a taser deployed. Multiple people using a taser at that point, I question the wisdom of that.
Now it goes from them tasing him when he's getting into the hospital to he's now on the ground in handcuffs. They put shackles on his feet. He's tased yet again. Now you know that he's in dire medical straits. They have brought him there to begin with to get medical evaluation. It would have been simple to bring him into the hospital. They instead bring him into the squad car where he's tased yet again and fully in a position where he cannot represent or pose any danger or threat. That's troubling and problematic.
GILLIAM: What I don't see here is that I didn't see these officers doing this, tasing multiple times to punish this individual. I saw them tasing because he continued to fight. Then when they got him in the car, that was the one tasing I saw I thought went above and beyond his actions. I just think there has to be policy set to where, because tasing can take somebody into cardiac arrest, especially multiple tasing at the same time, there has to be policy set. And again, we see this over and over again. We see people making bad decisions with their lives, which this individual did. And we see departments that don't have well thought-out, well-explained and well- rehearsed policies. That's what leads to all this.
JACKSON: Two quick things. There is a policy. Clearly, the policy is when someone is under control, when they are in handcuffs, you are not to tase them. That's a violation of department policy. Were they administratively disciplined in any way? No, they were promoted.
BALDWIN: They were promoted, right.
JACKSON: Now it gets to the issue, in the event that the person is shackled and cuffed, why are you going to tase them? What is the basis for that? So I do see the taser being used as a means of punishment. When he's in the patrol car, which we didn't see in this video, he's clearly not a threat. He's nonresponsive. Why are you tasing him?
GILLIAM: But I think on the ground, trying to get him shackled, which you saw, and even after he was shackled, he could still present a kick to --
JACKSON: When he's saying, "Don't kill me. I'm taking cocaine. Don't kill me, don't kill me," he said.
GILLIAM: But at the point where they are trying to restrain him, he's still a danger to these officers of injuring them. That's why they are using less than lethal force.
JACKSON: I didn't see a danger. And in the analysis that you use, was force necessary, you have to question it. Was the force proportionate to any threat posed? Didn't see a threat posed. Would a reasonable officer in the same circumstance have done what they did? I don't know. I don't think so.
BALDWIN: Jonathan and Joey, thank you very much.
(CROSSTALK)
[14:49:24] BALDWIN: We'll follow it. We'll follow it. Thank you.
Coming up, we're also following that breaking story in Beirut out of Lebanon. An official with the Red Cross says 40 people have been killed, 180 to 200 wounded as a result of these two suicide bombings in Beirut. A statement circulating online by ISIS supporters purporting a claim responsibility. We have new detail there.
Stay with me. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Here's a quote, "I'm just an American doing my job." Those words from retired Army Captain Florent Groberg. Today, the man known as Flo has been awarded the highest military u honor for his, quote, "selfless service." This was earlier today at the White House. The back story is, during a deadly attack in Afghanistan, this was
August 2012, Groberg and five other soldiers were providing a security detail. As they were heading down the street, an ambush started to unfold. Groberg spent three years recovering at Walter Reed. He needed 33 surgeries. He's now the 10th living Medal of Honor recipient for service in Afghanistan.
President Obama spoke today about his heroism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On his very worst day, he managed to summon his very best. That's the nature of courage. Not being unafraid, but confronting fear and danger, and performing in a selfless fashion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:55:26] BALDWIN: And we also heard from Captain Groberg himself just outside the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. FLORENT GROBERG, RETIRED U.S. ARMY: It's an honor to be here. This medal is the greatest honor you can ever receive. I'm blessed and just grateful to have been given the opportunity to serve my country. But this medal belongs to the true heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice and didn't come home. It also belongs to their families, the true heroes who live with that day every day, missing one of their key members of their families. I'm honored. I'm overwhelmed. But I hope to become the right carrier for them and to better myself as a human being the rest of my life for them.
Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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