Mayor of Oakland Apologizes for Violent Clash Between Police and Protestors; NYPD Union Threatens to Sue Protesters; "Occupy Nashville" Deadline to Leave
COSTELLO: It is 14 minutes past the hour. Welcome back. After seeing what happened in Oakland, a New York City police sergeant is looking to protect 5,000 officers in his union. He says you're not hearing the whole story about the violence in Oakland or in lower Manhattan, and he is threatening to sue any protest who injures an officer. Joining us now is Sergeant Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association in New York. Also speaking on behalf of the protest is Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party in New York. Welcome to both of you.</s>SGT. ED MULLINS, PRESIDENT, SERGEANTS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION: Thank you.</s>DAN CANTOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORKING FAMILIES PARTY: Thank you.</s>COSTELLO: Let's start with what happened in Oakland, because one of the protesters was injured there yesterday. The mayor of Oakland apologized for what happened, although she did not place any blame on police. From your perspective as a police officer, what went down in Oakland?</s>MULLINS: Well, I don't know her reasoning behind giving the green light, so to speak, to have the police take action. My understanding of what happened was that, you know, specific laws, conditions were created and being broken, and protesters were basically being asked to, you know, move and clear - clear out. That didn't happen, and then police took action, and it escalated.</s>COSTELLO: At what point did police decide to use tear gas, let's say?</s>MULLINS: Well, that's an interesting decision to be made. You know, tear gas would be used in, you know, violent crowds. We see it all the time on TV. Particularly in a lot of foreign countries, where crowds are being disbursed.</s>COSTELLO: But in this particular instance in Oakland, I mean, there were reports that protesters were throwing things like rocks and paints at police - at police officers. Do those actions in themselves warrant the use of tear gas?</s>MULLINS: They could. Absolutely could.</s>COSTELLO: And, Dan, from your perspective, what happened in Oakland?</s>CANTOR: It seemed that the police overreacted, that the amount of force was used on an overwhelmingly peaceful group of demonstrators. There were just some outliers. The police have a tough job. They've got to keep order and respect the first amendment rights of protesters. That's not a trivial balance to keep and we count on the police to uphold the rights of protesters to petition their government, so to speak, and to assemble freely. In Oakland, it was terrible. This young Iraq vet is in critical condition, maybe serious now.</s>COSTELLO: He's better now.</s>CANTOR: He's better now, good. Regardless, it's terrible that in - in such a situation somebody's back from Iraq gets hit in the head and is in the hospital. So it's good that the Oakland mayor apologized. We see many police departments around the country dealing much better with the protesters than in Oakland. Much more respectfully. And that's how it should be, because this is a very serious amendment to we're trying to uphold.</s>COSTELLO: But even you have said that police are in a tough position, right? And tell us about that, because --</s>CANTOR: Why they're trained.</s>COSTELLO: -- do police feel they're in the middle and they're being used in a way?</s>MULLINS: Well, authority can be used. I mean, our job, police across the country, their job is really to hold the constitution, when you think about it, and when violations occur, laws are broken, there becomes the issue of conflict. This is a decision that has to be made whether action is taken, and, you know, everyone understands the right to free assembly and protest. We get that. But there are also rights of other person who are on their way to work, live in the area, who need to get in and out of traffic and, you know, walk around their particular city.</s>COSTELLO: And you say officers have been injured in Lower Manhattan, 20 officers. Tell us about that?</s>MULLINS: That's right. There's approximately 20 officers, maybe a little bit more than that right now who have received injuries, minor injuries. No one has been put in the hospital like, you know, in the case of this veteran in California. You know, they've received injuries in the course of making arrests or being assaulted, and what I'd like to see is that not happen. I'd like to see nobody get injured. And, you know, we talk about the veteran in Oakland who was injured and, you know, yes, he's an Iraq veteran, but it could be anyone have gotten injured and that wouldn't be a good thing either. So, you know, my method was to put everybody on notice -</s>COSTELLO: Who is injuring these police officers?</s>MULLINS: What happens in a demonstration, when - when there is a need to take action, to correct a violation, a law, or correct an obstruction of, you know, pedestrian traffic, two things can happen. Either the protesters comply or they resist. And we've seen peaceful demonstrations in the past. We've seen sit-ins where people just get arrested, and that's the end of it. In cases where conflict comes about and violence comes about as a result of it, we now have a situation that escalates to a whole different level, and - and that expands into other people or people that want to -</s>COSTELLO: So you're saying that protesters in the Occupy Movement have injured police officers in the course of arrests?</s>MULLINS: Yes. That's how it generally happens.</s>CANTOR: Well, in general, these have been overwhelmingly peaceful protests all over the country. Unfortunately, New York, the most prominent example of unfortunate action was the pepper spraying by a police captain of one of the protesters. Listen, that - that happens and there are outliers we count on the police to exercise restraint and we count on the protesters to be non-violent. There's an irony here, of course. It becomes the decision about this, as opposed to what protesters are really about, which is why the Oakland thing was so upsetting. It's even ironic. My favorite sign down at Occupy Wall Street, one of my favorite is, "Police join us. They're destroying your pensions, too." And I know this is, you know, on the minds of Sergeant Mullins and his members. Their pensions were undone by some of the gambling that happened on Wall Street. So it's important to keep in mind what this is really all about, and not turn it into a battleground.</s>COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this question. Why is it important that these protesters camp out? Why can't they go home at night and come back in the morning?</s>CANTOR: Well, you might have asked the same to the protesters in Tahrir Square in Egypt. You have to be there physically to make your point.</s>COSTELLO: All night long?</s>CANTOR: Sure. Why do the protesters stay in Resurrection City on the mall when King - after King died? There's a long, historic tradition. It's not the only way protests happen, but it's a long and historic one and it's a way of saying this is so important we're going to upset our normal routine and be here overnight. This crisis - this unemployment crisis, this housing crisis are so important to people that they're willing to do that and they have to be respected for doing it.</s>COSTELLO: And just your thoughts, your final thoughts, Sergeant, on these protesters camping out overnight, would you rather they not?</s>MULLINS: I would, and I, honestly, I believe that they have an impact to other businesses in the area, to the community in the area, and, you know, they're arguing for pensions, but public safety has to come before money. And that seems to be the big issue in this country. It's always about money. We lost touch with public safety, values and things that affect the everyday working person. If we're all for the working person, then we would be doing orderly protests, we would be doing</s>COSTELLO: Thank you both for coming in. Sergeant Mullins -</s>MULLINS: Thank you.</s>COSTELLO: Dan, thank you so much.</s>CANTOR: Thank you.</s>COSTELLO: Ali?</s>VELSHI: Great discussion, Carol. Thank you for that. It's time to check on the weather. Twenty-two minutes after the hour. Let's go to Rob. Rob, you've got a lot to report on, say, in terms of the weather. We got snow in the south. I'm getting tweets now from Connecticut and some just around New York saying that there may be snow very close to where we are.</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. There's been snow in many spots and there's more to come, Ali. First off, we start you off with what happened in the Texas Panhandle. Amarillo reporting a significant snow over the past 24 hours, enough to at least coat the roadways and the grassy areas. Two to three inches of it, as a matter of fact. This - we didn't think they'd get this much snow and they're certainly take the ongoing drought, any sort of precip is welcome. But this is early in the season and that is certainly a shocker. Also seeing snow across parts of New England, as Ali mentioned, upstate Connecticut, upstate New York, Western Massachusetts and just outside of Boston also seeing significant snow and Vermont, too. Anywhere from four to seven inches from the system that rolls through yesterday, and it's kind of prime things up, setting the stage for what's about to come over the next 24 to 36 hours. The storm system down across the south is bringing some rain across the Tennessee Valley and the mid-south. That will be making its way towards the East Coast. As it does so, it will be winding itself up like a nor'easter would do. Memphis back to Nashville seeing a little bit of rain. It's getting into Huntsville now, not terribly strong but it will strengthen as it gets towards the coastline. A little bit of rain across Florida from what's left of Rina. All right, here's our storm system towards the Carolinas, towards the Delmarva, winding itself up during the day tomorrow and throughout the overnight period tomorrow night. And we will see it looks like significant snow in inland areas. Ocean temperatures still kind of warm. So as long as you get that breeze off the water it's going to keep the temperatures just warm enough so that we don't see a significant accumulation, but could see a dusting (ph) - maybe an inch, maybe two inches in places like New York City or Boston. But if you go a little bit further inland, we got winter storm watches that are posted as far south as Virginia to, of course, as far north as parts of Maine. Three to six inches potentially. And you may be saying, well, it's that time of year? No. This is unusual if we get this much snow to fall this time of year. We still have leaves that on the tree branches. It's going to weighted down by the snow. We're going to see a significant power outages especially you get away from the I-95 corridor. So for some folks, Ali and Carol, we're going to see maybe a bit of a white trick-or-treat scenario.</s>VELSHI: I love it. I got - we got people tweeting that their kids are going to wear their snowsuits for the first time before their Halloween costumes. But, you know, I'm like you, Rob. I love the snow.</s>MARCIANO: Bring it on.</s>VELSHI: Carol, on the other hand, would rather like it to be a little warmer.</s>COSTELLO: Man, I was born to live in a tropical climate. I'm sorry.</s>MARCIANO: You're welcome here anytime, Carol.</s>VELSHI: See you, Rob.</s>MARCIANO: You bet.</s>VELSHI: Still to come this morning, everybody's favorite airline fees, they're still going up. We'll have details for you after the break.