Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
As CNN has recently returned to promoting the discredited narrative exaggerating links between race and police misbehavior, the liberal news network put on display a classic example of how it uses racial double standards to promote the preferred liberal narrative.
Late last week, CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Sara Sidner covered the story of San Bernardino police officers who were recorded on camera shooting a black autistic 15-year-old after he rushed toward them with a sharpened tool. But, when an unarmed white autistic 13-year-old was shot by Salt Lake City cops in 2020 after he ran away from them, parts of which were also caught on video, CNN gave the story no coverage.
On last Thursday's The Lead, Tapper set up a report about the case of Ryan Gainer, whom he described as merely "approaching" a cop while holding a gardening tool. The report, filed by reporter Camila Bernal, showed bodycam video of Gainer coming out of his home carrying the tool and rushing quickly toward the cop, followed by a freeze frame as gun shots rang out.
Bernal recalled:
Seven seconds. (video freezes frame as gun shots are heard) That's how long authorities said they had before shooting a teenager with autism. Deputies were called to 15-year-old Ryan Gainer's home in Apple Valley, California on March 9. ... When the deputies arrived, Ryan had what authorities described as a five-foot-long garden tool with a sharp-bladed end, and, as seen on bodycam video, which was blurred by the sheriff's department, he appears to be chasing the deputy.
After a clip of the local sheriff recalling what the cops encountered, then came a clip of liberal attorney Dewitt Lacy accusing the police of being too aggressive in how they approached the teen who was having a mental breakdown:
In California, it gives direction that when you're encountering someone with mental disabilities or impairments in the field, that you shouldn't present as a threat -- that you don't come up and show that you want to arrest somebody or present with guns or sirens or flashing things that could upset or frustrate somebody who's experiencing some type of mental health issue.
After recalling that police had repeatedly been called to the home to help deal with Gainer's behavior, the piece returned to promoting the family complaining about how the cops responded this time:
CAMILA: BERNAL: The family is now asking for accountability.
DEWITT LACY, ATTORNEY: Maybe the officers aren't the people that we should be calling. Maybe there are other folks that we should be calling, but, as of right now, they are the people that are charged with this responsibility, and we got to hold them accountable for it.
BERNAL: And in California officers are trained on how to handle people with mental illnesses. And the sheriff's department, they confirmed that these officers went through this training. Now, what's unclear here is whether these officers knew that this teenager had autism, and whether or not these particular officers had been to the house previously. ...
On Friday morning at 8:38 a.m., as Sidner hosted CNN News Central, she also ran the piece by Bernal that aired the previous afternoon.
But, in September 2020 in the aftermath of Utah resident Linden Cameron being shot while he was unarmed, a Nexis search shows no sign that CNN ever noticed the story. By contrast, CBS This Morning ran a full report filed by correspondent Jamie Yuccas. The cop involved was also notably not charged with a crime by prosecutors as the case progressed.
This continues CNN's history of either ignoring or downplaying questionable cases of Whites being shot by police while race is usually emphasized when the victim is Black. Last month, for example, after cops tragically shot and wounded a Black woman and legal gun owner in Houston after she was mistaken for a burglar at her own home, Tapper had liberal activist Ben Crump on his show, and the two further injected race as they wrongly suggested that the NRA has generally not been interested in defending Black gun owners as Tapper noted that the 2nd Amendment "doesn't have a clause there saying it's just for White people."
Transcripts follow:
CNN News Central
March 15, 2024
8:38 a.m. Eastern
SARA SIDNER: "Why did you shoot my baby?" That's what a California family is asking after deputies shot and killed Ryan Gainer, a 15-year-old boy with autism. Gainer's family called 911 last week saying they needed help because Ryan was having mental health issues and beginning to assault relatives. Deputies say when they arrived, he was holding a gardening tool and threatened them, and that is when they opened fire. Ryan's family says they expected deputies to help, not kill, the teenager. CNN's Camila Bernal has the story.
(...)
CNN's The Lead
March 14, 2024
5:51 p.m. Eastern
JAKE TAPPER: The family of Ryan Gainer is asking why police chose to use deadly force against their 15-year-old son who had autism. The San Bernardino sheriff says deputies have responded to previous calls at the house before, and alluded to the teen's mental health issues. Blurred police body cam video shows last Saturday's deadly shooting of Ryan Gainer as he approaches an officer holding a gardening tool. CNN's Camila Bernal has more on what led up to this tragic shooting in Southern California. A warning, some of the images in this report are disturbing to watch.
(body cam video of Ryan Gainer rushing out of house holding a tool quickly moving toward the camera)
VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Hey, get back! Get back! You're getting shot!
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Seven seconds. (video freezes frame as gun shots are heard) That's how long authorities said they had before shooting a teenager with autism. Deputies were called to 15-year-old Ryan Gainer's home in Apple Valley, California on March 9.
AUDIO OF 911 DISPATCHER: It's assault and battery.
BERNAL: When the deputies arrived, Ryan had what authorities described as a five-foot-long garden tool with a sharp-bladed end, and, as seen on bodycam video, which was blurred by the sheriff's department, he appears to be chasing the deputy.
SHERIFF SHANNON DICUS, SAN BERNARDINO: We pay law enforcement officers to stop threats and to stop violence. The deputy hadn't even made it into that house to be able to investigate the claims that were made of assault with somebody injured.
BERNAL: But the family attorney -- Dewitt Lacy -- says it's about the initial approach.
DEWITT LACY, ATTORNEY: In California, it gives direction that when you're encountering someone with mental disabilities or impairments in the field, that you shouldn't present as a threat -- that you don't come up and show that you want to arrest somebody or present with guns or sirens or flashing things that could upset or frustrate somebody who's experiencing some type of mental health issue.
BERNAL: This was not the first time that deputies were called to the home. In five previous encounters with police this year, deputies had been able to help.
DICUS: But we really need to look at is even if we had the best of health care -- the best psychologists in that immediate interaction in those seven seconds, there are no magic words.
BERNAL: Lacy says the family believed calling authorities was their only available option.
LACY: They thought of police as a resource that had been helpful in the past. They believed because of their past experiences that calling them on this occasion may result in the same type of helpfulness.
BERNAL: But in this last encounter, Ryan was shot three times.
UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF RYAN GAINER: Why did you do that?! Why did you shoot my baby?!
BERNAL: And, despite aid from deputies, he later died at the hospital. While the family does admit to difficult times with Ryan, he's described as a gift, a blessing, and a source of pride.
RYAN GRAINER, TEEN KILLED BY POLICE OFFICER: Peace out, everybody.
BERNAL: The family is now asking for accountability.
LACY: Maybe the officers aren't the people that we should be calling. Maybe there are other folks that we should be calling, but, as of right now, they are the people that are charged with this responsibility, and we got to hold them accountable for it.
BERNAL: And in California officers are trained on how to handle people with mental illnesses. And the sheriff's department, they confirmed that these officers went through this training. Now, what's unclear here is whether these officers knew that this teenager had autism, and whether or not these particular officers had been to the house previously. These are all questions that we've asked the sheriff's department, and we've asked for clarity, but they say this is all still part of that investigation, Jake.
TAPPER: Camila Bernal, horrible story. Thanks so much.
(...)
CNN's The Lead
February 13, 2024
5:40 p.m.
TAPPER: She was exercising her 2nd Amendment rights under Texas law, under federal law, and was doing nothing wrong. Has the NRA reached out to talk about defending or helping her case given the fact that she was just exercising that right?
BENJAMIN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: They have not, just as they did not with Amir Locke -- you remember the young man in Minneapolis who had a gun, law-abiding citizen? And so we need to hear from these gun rights advocates who talk about citizens who are within their legal rights to carry guns when it's Black people who get shot and killed by the police.
TAPPER Right, the 2nd Amendment doesn't have a clause there saying it's just for White people.
CRUMP: Exactly, Jake, and we need to continue to remind them of that.
(...)
CBS This Morning
September 22, 2020
TONY DOKOUPIL: The family of a 13-year-old boy with autism is demanding answers after a Utah police officer shot him several times. Newly released bodycam footage shows the moments before the shooting as happened in the town of Glendale earlier this month. Linden Cameron's mother called police to help calm the situation and get him some help. There are now three investigations under way looking into this shooting. Jamie Yuccas has the story for us, including that video, which we have to warn you is difficult to watch.
JAMIE YUCCAS, CBS CORRESPONDENT: This was the violent result after Linden Cameron's mother called police to request help for her 13-year-old son who has autism.
(bodycam footage of cop shouting "Get on the ground!" and then sound of gun shots)
UNIDENTIFIED COP: Show me your hands! Show me your hands!
LINDEN CAMERON, 13-YEAR-OLD (lying on the ground): I don't feel good.
UNIDENTIFIED COP: Show me your hands!
YUCCAS: The officer fired 11 shots. Bullets tore threw Linden's shoulder, both ankles, intestines, and bladder, but he survived.
GOLDA BARTON, MOTHER OF LINDEN CAMERON: He was running away! He was running away!
YUCCAS: His mother, Golda Barton called 911 earlier, saying her son was having a mental breakdown, and she needed help getting him to the hospital. She asked for a crisis intervention officer.
BARTON (audio of 911 call): My son has severe, severe -- he does not like cops at all, and so that's why we need a mental health worker.
YUCCAS: Instead, four police officers arrived on scene. Barton told them her son may have had access to a BB gun or prop gun, but she didn't believe he had it on him.
BARTON (on bodycam) I don't believe it's a real gun. I don't believe it's a real gun.
AUDIO OF UNIDENTIFIED COP: So, unfortunately, we have to kind of treat them all as if they are.
BARTON: I know.
AUDIO OF UNIDENTIFIED COP: Stop! Get on the ground! Knock it off!
YUCCAS: Officers confronted him in his backyard, and he ran. His mother had warned the officers that her son feared police because sheriff's deputies shot and killed her father in January.