Actor Paul Walker Dead At 40; Survivors And Heroes Emerge After Terrifying Train Crash; CNN On the Frontlines
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Brooke Baldwin. And welcome to first night of my new program. It's called ICYMI. And our mission in the next 30 minutes is to comb through every single story CNN has been covering all day all over the world, to bring you the very best moments of what we do. Those moments when the meaning of a story suddenly becomes clear. And they only have been a few times each and every day. They're the reason we do what we do. Like the one picture, so powerful. Out of all of our dozens of video feeds in which the image itself tells a story or the interview in which CNN has unique access and the ability to get a story no one else has because of a journalist relationship with his brother. Or it's someone we met at a disaster scene who makes us believe that human beings can concur anything. These are the moments the best of CNN today IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. Now let's get started. We begin tonight with the awful and senseless death of a popular actor. It was around 8:00 Pacific Time, Saturday night, when CNN first sent out a mobile alert that the star of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, Paul Walker, was dead at the age of 40. The cause as ironic as it was sad. This fiery car crash and today we got this one picture that truly tells the story. I mean, just stop and take a look with me at this just for a moment here tonight. It is almost impossible to believe that this twisted hunk of metal was one of the world's most coveted cars. It was a 2005 Porche Carrera GT and the two men were inside of that. Paul Walker and his racing partner until the moment they slammed into a light pole and the car burst into flames. CNN's Alan Duke was on the scene early for us. He snapped these photos of the tire marks shortly after the incident, right here. You see these marks? Police have been investigating whether drag racing was a cause. And I can tell you tonight that Alan Duke has got an update on that. We'll check with him in just a moment. But Walker was known to so many as Brian O'Connor, a cop turned street racer in the popular "Fast & Furious" movies, which have spawned six sequels since the original film debut in 2001. And these movies were known for their intense street racing action scenes. It is clear that CNN digital reporter, Alan Duke, has been out ahead of this story from the beginning. He joins me from Los Angeles. Allen, you were one of the first people on the scene. I know that this actor has been on your beat. No surprise. You have been getting all this latest information. You have breaking news tonight about this investigation. What can you tell us?</s>ALAN DUKE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: It all goes back to the phone call that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department received Saturday night after the fiery crash. They got a call, a tipster saying that there had been drag racing, a second car involved. When I started my morning today I was told by the sheriff's department they were investigating the possibility of drag racing. But by this afternoon, I had another conversation with the sheriff's department and they said they ruled it out they couldn't find any supporting evidence that another car was there. They were focusing on speed. They are trying to figure out why the speed caused it to lose control.</s>BALDWIN: Yes, you know, I was talking to experts today who were exploring the possibility. It could have been drag racing. We now know your reporting it has been ruled out. Since investigators are focusing on speed, you took those first pictures of those tire marks. Tell us a little bit about this car itself. This is the 2005 Porche Carrera GT. Professionals say this thing is difficult to maneuver.</s>DUKE: Yes, those tire marks when I saw them I was trying to see if I could connect them to the crash because they were close to the crash. In fact, I found the street was just lined with these tire marks, obviously too many for that one car to create. But what it told me was that this street is a place where racing and burnouts happen. The kind of thing you would see in the movie "Fast & Furious." This car is a dangerous car, notoriously difficult to drive. "Auto Week" magazine published a report on it where they quoted a top driver saying it is scary. This is not a streetcar. It is a toy. It's something you put in a showroom to lure people there. This is a beautiful expensive almost a half million dollar car you don't want to drive unless you are a professional. A semi-professional was driving it. Someone who had won trophies driving porches in fact, but it was too much for him to handle apparently.</s>BALDWIN: Alan Duke, incredible details and photos. Alan Duke, thank you so much tonight. And now to that commuter train crash in New York City. We have learned tonight that the train was traveling 82 miles an hour into a curve when it should have been going 30, causing it to skid off the tracks, plunge down a cliff. This was early Sunday morning. Four people were killed and at least 67 were injured and CNN has been on the inside of the story since early Sunday morning. On "NEW DAY" today we heard a powerful survivor story from a young woman named Amanda Swanson. So Amanda's story is this, she took a photograph from inside the devastating wreckage and gave it to just CNN. When she was talking with Kate Bolduan this morning, that was the first time that she in fact had even seen video from the crash scene.</s>AMANDA SWANSON, CRASH SURVIVOR: I stayed in the city last night at my cousin and we didn't have access to the television. The only news I have seen has been just on the internet. So seeing the footage is horrific.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Does it seem even real?</s>SWANSON: For me, no. I mean, clearly, I barely have scrapes and bruises. I'm sore. But I mean, I came out of this more unscathed than some car accidents that I've been in. And hearing about the other injuries walking past the people I have no idea why or how I am sitting here talking to you.</s>BALDWIN: And just tonight on "AC360," Anderson Cooper had a gut wrenching conversation with the wife and children of Jim Lovell, the 58-year-old technician on NBC's "Today" show was killed in that crash. He was on his way to Rockefeller Plaza to set up for the Christmas tree lighting.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want people to know that he was pure goodness and he lived that and showed that and gave that to his boys every single day. He gave that to his guys he worked with and his family and brothers and nieces and nephews. He gave that to his beautiful daughter.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC 360": I saw some of the tweets you were sending out. Tell us about your dad.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first off, I just want to say that my dad is not a victim. I don't want him to be known as a victim. Jim Lovell was so much more than just a victim. He was a loving father, great dad, best friend, uncle, great co-worker, just always had a smile on his face. Never had anything bad to say about anyone one of the best people you could have ever met. I'm so proud and blessed to have been able to call him my father.</s>BALDWIN: Did you see that moment? Those boys holding that mother's hand, incredibly emotional, so many people tonight searching for answers, but investigators are not certain if the cause of the crash was mechanical or if it was human error. This morning on "NEW DAY," Chris Cuomo interviewed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who also happens to be his brother.</s>ANDREW CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": When you went to the scene, you got there very quickly yesterday. What was it like?</s>GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: What you missed from the pictures, Chris, is as the cars skidded along the dirt, the windows broke out, the doors opened and they were picking up stones, rocks, dirt, tree limbs were flying through the cars. So the actually cars were filled with debris, filled with dirt.</s>BALDWIN: And Chris Cuomo is joining me now. You talked to your brother, the governor of New York this morning on "NEW DAY," getting new information. But first in terms of new information tonight, what do you know about this derailment?</s>CUOMO: The brakes, the biggest question. They now know that the brakes were only applied seconds before the derailment. Why so late? Two possibilities before you jump to the conclusion of must not have been done in time. We don't know according to the NTSB if the operator tried to use them and they didn't function, which is what he said.</s>BALDWIN: He said he tried the brakes and they didn't work.</s>CUOMO: So they don't know, but they do know that the brakes were not applied until very late and that is a huge question mark. Because you have families who lost loved ones, they deserve to know what happened. You have all the commuters who need to know what happened and then the duty of the rest of us to make sure that people have confidence in the system and that the investigation is carried out the right way.</s>BALDWIN: You handled the interview with your brother who is the governor of the state. You mentioned it is in the hands of the NTSB, but you have this unique relationship with Andrew Cuomo, which helped us have this all crucial information. We are grateful for that relationship. You look at Twitter and say why are they interviewing each other? And no other journalist available? How do you respond?</s>CUOMO: There's a lot here. Reporting is all connections. One of my regrets would be that my brother didn't give me exclusive information that he didn't give other people. Then all the criticism would be worthwhile. But, Brooke, this is something that I have considered probably more than most, the sensitivity of how to separate family from journalism given my family who I'm proud to be with. But I knew there was no conflict here. He's got a job to do so do I. This was all fact based and it didn't involve him in terms of the accountability. That changes everything. If there is something that has been done wrong at the state level that he deserves to get hammered and has to answer for it, right? I wouldn't put myself in that position. If it were politics, I wouldn't do it.</s>BALDWIN: At what point do you say no, I can't interview him?</s>CUOMO: If it's about his political career and actions or things he must answer for, that's for somebody else to do. I have someone sitting to my right who is capable of doing that interview. I knew there were no conflicts.</s>BALDWIN: There was a moment today, thank you for taking it head on, Chris Cuomo. Appreciate you.</s>CUOMO: Good luck on the new show.</s>BALDWIN: Thank you. Now before we go to a quick break, I want to show you, this is our video wall. We counted and CNN took in about 200 videos of stories from all over the world. We went through just about every one of them for you to find out which were the most powerful and interesting or just told a story well. And when we come back, I want to show you a couple of these in case you missed it. Back in a moment.