Video Shows Black Teen Running From Jeep Before Death
BANFIELD: Some new surveillance video has been released showing a black teenager sprinting away from a speeding jeep just moments before a white couple crashes into him, killing him. Russell Cordier and his passenger, Colleen Hunt, are facing murder and hate crimes charges stemming from this incident which happened near Portland, Oregon. Police say it all began as an argument outside of a 7-eleven. Moments later that teenager was dead. So I want to walk you to the surveillance video that we have and it came out during a court hearing, but it really sort of tell the story. You`re about to see a parking lot, three people walking through the parking lot. The one in the red on the top is Larnell, the other two are witnesses. Larnell walks off to the left and out of the parking lot, the two witnesses walk away. But you are going to see that jeep come flying through in the direction that Larnell Bruce was walking. The next thing you are going to see is the intersection. He is in the top right hand corner it is hard to see, but he is up there. That jeep in the headlights comes barreling right past him. Then he runs across to the sidewalk. The next shot, the jeep flying after him, the sidewalk is on the right hand side of your screen. Larnell is going to come through there. It`s hard to see, but he will be followed right behind by that jeep. It`s frozen there. Because the next thing that happened is the jeep just rammed him over and killed him. So the video is being seen, because one of the people who were in that jeep had a hearing. And so that video was played during the hearing, but there`s still a lot of evidence that we don`t have in this case. Jim Ferretti is a reporter at FM News KXL in Portland, Oregon. Jim, why did this end up being a hate crime. What do we know about it?</s>JIM FERRETTI, FM NEWS KXL: The local newspaper, the Portland, Mercury, was actually the first to report this back in August. He is a member of member of a gang that is pretty rampant in Oregon prisons. Cordier is a member of the European Kindred White Supremacist Gang, it is a gang that is pretty rampant here in Oregon Prison and it was just about a week after that paper report came out the (inaudible) District Attorney were indicted Cordier and Hunt with hate crime counts. On top of the charts, they are already faced. Now his record includes seven felonies, four misdemeanors convictions, and 40 prison violations during his time serve a series of incident where Cordier was given probation and dropped charges. Even when the police find out that he was shooting a gun outside his car window back in 2011, bashing his fiance`s head into a car windshield in 2012. There`s a lot of evidence on this guy.</s>BANFIELD: Well there is certainly a lot of evidence about his past and about his memberships but there`s still that curiosity about the incident itself. Maybe to that end, Larnell Bruce`s father might have more information. Larnell Bruce joins me live now from Portland. Sir, I`m so sorry that we`re talking under these circumstances. But as this begins to hit a courtroom, do you know why at the time of the incident police are now saying this was a hate crime? Aside from the membership to an organization that apparently, you know, he belonged to, Russell Cordier belonged to, is there something that happened at the actual moment that leads them to believe it was a hate crime against your son?</s>LARNELL BRUCE, FATHER OF THE VICTIM: Actually, they`re not really sure what started the fight. They know there was an argument, and there was a fight that took place and I believe it was because my son got the best of him, and it made him -- just kind of driven him over the edge and made him do what he did.</s>BANFIELD: In that fight, Mr. Bruce, was there -- were there racial epitaphs, were people saying things that were race related? Did they yell things that had a racial connotation to them, before they actually struck your son?</s>BRUCE: Actually no, I didn`t hear anything that was said like that. I guess most of it was just probably coming from the fact that maybe he had just got in a confrontation with a young black male and it didn`t go very well for him. He did have his girlfriend with him. I`m sure that was pretty embarrassing to him. And not to mention probably took a big blow to him that he was a White Supremist being beat up by a young black man. Probably didn`t go over so well. So on top of being angry for losing the fight, I`m guessing the fact that, you know that he really didn`t care for non-whites just drove him over the edge and he did what he did. Not to mention that he was very a very violent guy.</s>BANFIELD: Mr. Bruce, stand by for moment. Paul Callan and Jonna Spilbur are still with me, I`m so curious Ms. Marris is also with me, I am so curious about the way that hate crimes are prosecuted. It`s not enough, is it, to just have evidence that he belongs to a white supremist gang or that he has affiliations. Doesn`t something have to happen at the time of the incident to indicate that this is a hate crime?</s>CALLAN: There would have to be an indication that this particular crime was motivated by racial hatred. So usually it`s a racial epitaph or something like that. And I will also say, from what we have seen in this footage, this clearly appears to be an intentional act of murder, in which case it may in fact be irrelevant whether it is a hate crime or not, because the penalty is going to be so severe.</s>BANFIELD: What would change if they were convicted, these two, of murder or hate crimes with the added -- murder with the added hate crime?</s>SPILBUR: To be honest, nothing. A hate crime will elevate something that is much smaller that you can`t get any worse than murder, right. So the sentence is not going to be any more enhanced. I think if they were to find that the murder was sparked by the hate, and in this case, you`re going to have a difficulty -- the prosecution will have difficulty, because there was a violent altercation immediately preceding this person running over that victim, and my heart goes out to the family and the father, too. I don`t think they`re going to be able to make the connection between the hate crime and that act.</s>BANFIELD: Just really quickly, if anyone says I was afraid for my life in that confrontation, do they have the right to then run to a car, turn the ignition on and chase down someone who is running from them?</s>MARRIS: In a self-defense case, you have the obligation to retreat. In this particular case, that defense is not going to hold water. He could have driven away, if he was fearful for his life. So that is going to be a hard sell. Although you will probably hear the defendant brings that up as an argument.</s>BANFIELD: And the girlfriend is reported to have said "run him over, get him, baby." that is not going to be easy to fight that in court.</s>CALLAN: It`s going to make her an accessory.</s>BANFIELD: No more question. All right, thanks, to all my guests. I want to update you on a manhunt for a man police say shot two officers, killing one and critically injuring another in America`s Georgia. Police say that Lambrix shot the officer who is responding to a domestic call in an apartment complex near Georgia, Southwest State University, apparently it happened this morning. There`s a $20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Just a short time ago, police identified the officer who was killed. This is America`s officer, Nicholas Smar, just 25 years old. So far at least 136 officers have died in the line of duty this year across the United States, hearts, minds, thoughts, prayers, all with the officer`s Smar`s family tonight.