Kenosha Police Chief Defends Armed Civilian Groups on Streets
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Back to the breaking news, unrest and violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Protesters say they're demanding justice for Jacob Blake who was shot in the back by police officers seven times. In those protests, a 17-year-old from Illinois is accused of shooting and killing two people. He is now under arrest. He'll be in court on Friday. It was a senseless act of violence but Kenosha's police chief has been talking and focusing on the people who were there in the first place, the people who defied the curfew.</s>CHIEF DAN MISKINS, KENOSHA POLICE: Everybody involved was out after the curfew. I'm not going to make a great deal of that but the point is the curfew is in place to protect. Had persons not been involved in violation of that perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened. So the last night a 17-year-old individual from Antioch, Illinois, was involved in the use of firearms to reserve -- excuse me, to resolve whatever conflict was in place. The result of it was two people are dead.</s>COOPER: Joining me now is Kenosha County board of supervisor, Zach Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez, thanks so much for being with us. I'm wondering what you think of how the police have handled both the aftermath of the Blake shooting and also the protests and the violence.</s>ZACH RODRIGUEZ, BOARD SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT 8, KENOSHA COUNTY, WISCONSIN: Thanks for having me today. The police I think have done as much as the guys on the ground can do. Our day-to-day police officers. I think what we've seen here is failed leadership mostly on the part of Sheriff Beth here in Kenosha, not doing everything he could to assist his deputies as well as the city police officers.</s>COOPER: What more do you think could have been done?</s>RODRIGUEZ: I think what needed to have happened is the sheriff needed to declare a state of emergency Sunday night right away when, you know, we knew that these protests were going to happen. We hoped they didn't get violent. He waited until the wee hours of Monday morning to do that and then we looked to the governor and the governor refused help from the federal government when we needed it very clearly after Monday night.</s>COOPER: The governor did send in the National Guard. The sheriff said communication wires were crossed I guess with the governor's office and that they had actually failed to request the National Guard when they thought they had. There was a Facebook group calling for citizens to arm themselves and to come down to the protests they said to maintain order, protect property. Is that something you think is a good idea?</s>RODRIGUEZ: I don't think people need to go down to a place where we know there's going to be conflict with their firearms but I've got nothing wrong with business owners protecting their business if they feel the police can't do that. I spoke with constituents in my district who called me the next day and said, I called 911, you know, as my gas station or as my business was getting broken into and I was told we didn't have enough officers to respond. And so for those people I've got no issue with that. Protect your business, protect your livelihood but I don't think we need people going to the scenes of protest. I think that adds more confusion than anything.</s>COOPER: There was another curfew last night. It's intended to curb the protest. If people are out there saying they're protecting businesses who are armed, they're also violating the curfew. It seemed like there's a number of videos on social media of police giving water to some of the armed groups, white armed groups or individuals who said they're there to maintain order. Is that appropriate?</s>RODRIGUEZ: You know, I don't know that it is appropriate or not. I will say this. You know, the sheriff commented saying that his deputies would give water bottles to anybody but I think it is very clear, you and I. I would say, have not seen any videos of sheriff's deputies and police officers or federal law enforcement giving water bottles to protesters whether those protesters are peaceful or not.</s>COOPER: Yes. I mean, there's a video of somebody in a police vehicle praising the, you know, alleged vigilantes or whatever you want to call them, citizens. Again, we haven't independently confirmed the video but it's certainly out there. Zach Rodriguez, I appreciate your time. Thank you. I'm sorry for what your community is going through.</s>RODRIGUEZ: Thank you for having me.</s>COOPER: Let's hope it resolves. Ahead, a FOX host appears to defend this, the suspected gunman saying it's not surprising he took up arms to, quote, "maintain order." Plus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Joe Biden should not debate President Trump which Biden quickly rejected.