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Thousands Pay Tribute to Slain NYPD Officer; Crash of AirAsia Flight 8501; Seven-Year-Old Survives Crash that Killed Her Family; Anti-Police Environment in the U.S.?; Foundation Pledges to Pay Slain Officer's Mortgage; Roger Ebert's Rocky Road in "Life Itself"
Aired January 04, 2015 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Thank you so much for joining me this evening.
Seven o'clock Eastern here and we are following what is a very sad day for people here in New York City -- an incredible sight today on the streets of New York. Take a look.
Thousands of officers, NYPD officers lined up for more than a mile honoring their fallen brother, Officer Wenjian Liu, his funeral held today. He was gunned down, assassinated in his patrol car just last month along with his partner.
He was remembered as a devoted family man, a very hardworking officer, a proud husband. He had just married his wife two months before he was killed. His widow giving a very emotional eulogy today, talking directly to her late husband calling him an amazing man, calling him her soul mate and she thanked her family of blue for attending today.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEI XIA CHAN, WIDOW OF OFFICER WENJIAN LIU: The caring son, a loving husband, and a loyal friend. You are an amazing man. Even though he left us early, I believe that he is still with us. His spirit will continue to look after us.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: Detective Wenjian Liu was a good man. He walked a path of courage, a path of sacrifice, and a path of kindness. This is who he was. And he was taken from us much too soon.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: I do not know why there is so much evil and heartache in our world. I cannot understand evil. I cannot explain evil. I will not try. But what I believe with all my heart is that our obligation is to try to make something good come of tragedy. So that evil is not allowed to hold the field. So that evil is not allowed to win the day.
WILLIAM BRATTON, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Detective Liu is the police that we want. It's also in this city, in this country the police that we have. And for that, and for how he died, but for how he lived and performed his duty, with that, I am so honored as has already been referenced to posthumously promote Police Officer Liu to Detective First Grade Liu.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: "New York stands a little taller today because of the time he walked among us" -- those words today from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio giving the eulogy for Officer Liu.
Let's talk about the funeral with former NYPD detective Michael Sapraicone and also "Daily Beast" special correspondent Michael Daly who was there at the funeral today. What was it like?
MICHAEL DALY, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "THE DAILY BEAST": Yeats said it was "Terrible beauty". It was beautiful and it was terrible. I mean, the widow, who should never have been a widow, she was just magnificent. If you -- she said that her husband's spirit still was with her and the family and she stood holding a picture of him and she looked at that coffin and it looked like too much of her was in that coffin with him.
When they brought her the folded flag and she held it in both hands just like the widow of Officer Ramos did last week, and then the people around her are attentive enough to know that what she really most deeply need was to hold that picture of her husband again, so somebody took custody of the flag and she stood there holding that picture. And that was the picture of the police officer that we need -- the police officer who's still out there protecting us.
You know, he was assigned to the Brooklyn Bridge where the protesters were talking about racist murderer cops and all that. And this is like the opposite of that.
HARLOW: Yes.
DALY: And just to look at her, it just made all the stuff about who turns whose back to who -- I mean who cares. What matters is you've got this woman who lost her husband and, you know, and in Chinese above his coffin, it said, "a model officer". And I think that's what he was.
HARLOW: A model officer. Yes.
In the words of Bill Bratton, the police commissioner, Michael, a model for all police -- Liu believed in the possibility of a city free of fear. What I find striking is that we now know so much about these two officers, but oftentimes unless a tragic situation like this, we don't know. We don't know many of our officers in our neighborhoods. How much of this is about improving relations between communities, police, the mayor's office, police, so we know the people who are out there protecting us?
MICHAEL SAPRAICONE, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, we have to improve those things, but I think when you talk to more police officers and more people in the community, there is a relationship. When you walk a beat and you see these same people come out of stores every day or the same subway stop they take every day, you know these people. You smile at them. They smile at you.
You see when their face looks different and you say, hey, everything good today? No, I'm fine. And you get a relationship with these people. And you get to understand them. And you -- even if you don't live in that community, which doesn't happen all that often, at least when I was on the job, you get to feel like you're part of that community and it becomes your second home. And people respect you because they know you and they understand you better. And I think you still have cops on the beat who still feel that way and still talk to people like that.
HARLOW: What do you think, Michael, can be done most to honor the legacy of these two officers?
DALY: I think the most important thing, I think, that's been said by any of the leaders, has been when Bratton at Ramos' funeral spoke about the importance of seeing each other. And I think that people in the community need to when they see a cop don't see a murderer, don't see a racist, you see an Officer Liu or an Officer Ramos. And I think at the same time, the cops have to be a little less likely to look at people in the community and see -- think the worst of them.
I think it's going to come down to people learning to see each other. And I think what's so important about these two officers is that they are the actual opposite of what people were chanting about, and both of them. And I think that we need to keep them in our mind and in our hearts and appreciate that there are a lot of other officers like that and that they're out there right now.
I mean we're talking right now, there's cops out there, if they get a call, they'll go and put themselves in -- risk the same fate.
HARLOW: Yes. I was thinking about it coming into work today on the subway station seeing the police officers. I was looking at them thinking, wow, I bet they wish they could be there at the funeral -- right. Many of them still have to be on the street protecting all of us.
To you, Michael, we heard Michael Daly say earlier, who cares who turns whose back on what. You know, that happened again today. We saw some of the officers turn their back when Mayor de Blasio was speaking even though the commissioner asked them not to. Is that something that we should even be talking about? Addressing?
SAPRAICONE: No. We should be addressing, as Michael said, we should be addressing these officers -- these two young officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice by being out there every day and doing their job. So what's happening is people are bringing their agendas into situations. Yes, there's problems and there's issues and things that have to be discussed but this isn't the time or place.
The important thing is about the two detectives, Ramos and Liu, and what they gave to the city and how they're going to be part of what's going to unite the city again. We need to look at that. We need to understand how do we heal and how do we mend?
To see the funeral today -- I've been to too many of these. I wasn't there today. But to see the brotherhood and sisterhood in the community come together, over somebody that most of those people they never even knew or met.
HARLOW: The words you used to describe it at the beginning?
DALY: Terrible beauty.
HARLOW: Terrible beauty. What an image to see. Thank you, gentlemen, both very much. Thank you to Officer Ramos and Officer Liu for their service.
All right. Coming up next, the search for Flight 8501, AirAsia -- that flight -- rough weather has caused trouble at every turn. But a change in the forecast could finally help search teams doing their best.
Meantime, still a lot of unanswered questions in what led to this disaster in the first place. We're going to look into what we know so far.
That's next.
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HARLOW: Monday morning now in Indonesia and the ninth day since a commercial airliner went down in the Java Sea. So far, only a few pieces of the plane and the bodies of 34 of the victims have been recovered. Today, remains of four people who were on board AirAsia Flight 8501 were pulled from the water. That brings that number as we said up to 34. Still 162 people were on that plane. Only nine have been identified so far.
As for the plane, the main wreckage is still far, far underneath the surface of the Java Sea. But search crews say they can see a piece of wreckage about 50 feet long on the bottom. They used it -- they found it, rather, using sonar. Getting to it -- that is the problem especially with the weather that we've had -- high winds, high waves, awful conditions for searchers trying to spot wreckage floating on the surface. Today was supposed to be a big improvement in the weather, but it was not.
Joining me now: Jeff Wise, our aviation analyst; also David Soucie, our safety analyst and former FAA investigator -- guys I want you to take a look at what Paula Hancocks, our reporter, encountered out there on the Java Sea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, as you can see, the conditions are less than ideal. Many of the crew here are keeping their eyes peeled to see if they can see anything, as we're within the area where some bodies and debris have been found. But you can see how challenging it is, the fact that as soon as you see something in the distance, it disappears behind a wave, and then it's very difficult to try and spot it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right, so David, when we look at the weather conditions like this -- Paula was explaining to us how bad it is. I think to some people seeing that they say, well it doesn't look as bad as it could. But it's still very, very inclement weather out there that is on and off. Storming, not storming; storming, not storming. How much is this hampering a search from someone who's done investigations like this before?
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, it's really difficult because of the fact that not only the visibility on the surface, but once they do find something, the visibility underneath because of all of the activity is just terrible. What they need is several days of no weather so that they can get down and things will settle down, because right now it's going to be really difficult to see, even they were able to get down there and start looking.
HARLOW: Jeff, what we have on here on set, we have the so-called black box. I never knew, by the way, why they were called black boxes given that they're orange. But you've got the critical flight data recorder and then you've got the cockpit voice recorder. This is what they're hunting for.
These things are sturdy -- right.
JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes.
HARLOW: Even if it takes years to find these as in Air France Flight 447, they're going to retain the information. Once they do recover these, what's the most critical piece of information they're going to hopefully glean from it?
WISE: Well, you don't really know what the critical piece of information is until you look through all of the pieces of information. Then you can hone in on the one that turns to be --
HARLOW: What they can get, what does this record that they can get?
WISE: These record thousands of parameters. The voice recorder in the cockpit tells you what the people are saying, it also records sounds. You might hear a bang, for instance. You might hear doors opening and closing, so forth. You can really kind of put together what was happening in the cockpit.
Meanwhile, you've also got this data recorder that's telling you what kind of thrust settings the engines were on, angle of attack -- all these critical aerodynamic factors. How much fuel was on board and so forth. You can really recreate in a great level of detail what was happening with the plane and why it came down.
We heard earlier there's speculation perhaps there was some kind of icing, maybe icing even in the engines.
HARLOW: I think that -- yes, just to be clear on that, that is what the weather service has said that there may have been an icing problem. But that is really preliminary reporting. We do not know if that's what brought this plane down.
WISE: That's really speculative at this point, I think.
HARLOW: Yes. I think --
WISE: Until we get -- this is going to be able to tell us if there was icing involved.
HARLOW: Right. So David Soucie to you, the most important information that you'd be looking for as you're investigating this crash, without having this, without having the black boxes from what has been recovered thus far?
SOUCIE: Well, the position of where they find the debris is extremely important because the fact that you can determine whether there was an in-flight breakup or if there was a breakup -- the extent of the breakup once it hit the water. That's incredibly important, but unfortunately, that's what's been sent all over the place on top of the surface. So the next thing that you're going to look at is the next level which is the transient level where there's suspended evidence and that you can track a little bit better because it's less inconsistent. It's more you can predict the flow there.
And then the most important is what's on the bottom of the ocean right now -- those heavy things that have gone and settled to the bottom of the ocean. And then from there, you can take the metal and analyze the way that it was torn, the way that it was broken, and how quickly it was broken and those are all extremely important clues putting together the mystery.
HARLOW: Absolutely. Jeff Wise, David Soucie -- thank you. Stick around. We're going to continue talking about this because a big clue for investigators looking at what could have happened to this flight is a request from the cockpit, from the captain to change course -- a request that was denied. We'll look at why it matters and what it means, ahead.
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HARLOW: So until the AirAsia black boxes are found which hopefully happens soon, investigators really have little to go on to figure out what happened in the moments before the plane vanished from radar. There are, though, a few things we do know at this point.
Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: the skies above this part of the world have been growing steadily more crowded in the past few years. There's a lot of competition with differing airlines there. So when this plane was flying along at 32,000 feet and he encountered this great big storm, he had company out there.
Storm about 200 square miles, 52,000 feet up in the air, really towering up there, could be producing big winds out there -- 70, 80, 90 miles an hour, who knows. There'll be microbursts, all sorts of issues. We know, though, that he wasn't the only plane. At the time that he disappeared, there were at least five other flights 2,000 feet above and within 124 miles. That may seem like a long distance, but with planes traveling this fast, it's not that long of a distance.
So the determination was he could not rise into that airspace. He definitely wanted to. He was at 32,000. He had requested to go up to 38,000 and had been told he could not. There was an approval right near the end of about 34,000 feet to let him come up some. It's not clear whether that was fully communicated to the plane or not, or if the plane had already disappeared. But all of this at least supports the theory, and it is just a theory, that at some point, this pilot felt like he had no choice and he started trying to very dramatically ascend to try to get out of the trouble of the weather around him and in doing so maybe stalled the aircraft -- just a theory right now.
This is not a theory. We know he was at a lower altitude than he wanted to be in the midst of this storm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Tom Foreman, thank you for that. Let's talk about this and the significance of that request with our aviation and safety analysts -- David Soucie in Denver, Jeff Wise back with me here in New York.
Jeff -- let's talk about this. And we're going to know a lot more when this is found, the flight data recorder. But the significance to change altitudes, the fact that that was denied, some have said why didn't he focus more on going around the storm since the ceiling was over 50,000 feet? Your take.
WISE: Right. So commercial pilots who want to avoid the danger of a thunderstorm go laterally around it, in general and tend to go above it to try to get an increase in altitude if they're trying to avoid turbulence. So it does raise the question, why did this increase in altitude take place? Why did he climb?
And it might have been -- some have speculated, it might have been that he entered this area of the thunderstorm and countered a severe updraft or became disoriented and pulled up for other reasons. We just don't know. But it doesn't quite line up that he climbed because he was trying to avoid the danger of a thunderstorm.
HARLOW: David Soucie, do you agree?
SOUCIE: Yes, I do. I suspect that the reason he was climbing or had made that request is that other aircraft had gone through at that 38,000 foot level and that's how you know whether there's a lot of turbulence at these varying levels is by the aircraft that have gone through before. So he may very well have been asking to climb to 38,000 just to avoid a rough area, a high turbulence area and subsequently is when we lost contact with him. HARLOW: And interesting, Tom Foreman pointed out that was a busy
corridor. There are a lot of other planes in the air flying that same or similar route through the same weather conditions.
So David, will investigators fly in simulations in weather equal to that that the pilot reported? And also, how quickly can they get into trouble in a situation like that?
SOUCIE: Very quickly because what typically happens, or what has happened in these types of storms is that the area that looks most clear, and the area that looks the safest to go through, is actually the worst because that's where these updrafts that Jeff had just mentioned occur. That's where the hot air is coming up out of it to feed the storm. And so when pilots see that, they're mistakenly thinking that maybe that's the best place for them to go. So if they had made an attempt to go into one of these holes, it could be just devastating for the aircraft because of these updrafts and downdrafts that occur in that particular region of the clouds.
HARLOW: They would be trained not to do that, right? And go through simulations when that's an option and told not to do that? Is that right, David?
SOUCIE: Yes, they are. But remember, flying is an art. It's not really a science at this point in time. So it's really up to the pilot to determine what's the best thing to do at any given moment and there's conflicting information. There's so many different things that happened.
This pilot was very experienced and certainly you would think he would have known better than to fly into this dangerous situation.
HARLOW: And one of the things that we still don't know, guys, is was the captain or first officer flying this plane at this time? We don't know. One of so many big questions that remains. Thank you, both. Appreciate it. Good to have you on the program.
Also we're following this really amazing story. A seven-year-old girl, scratched and bleeding, holding back tears knocks on the door of someone in rural Kentucky Friday night, asks for help. What had happened to Sailor Gutzler was a nightmare -- difficult to imagine. The small plane she was on crashed into the woods killing her entire family on board.
Nick Valencia tells us what happened next to this young girl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Seven-year-old Sailor Gutzler is the only survivor of a plane crash that killed her family. On Sunday, Kentucky state police detailed her remarkable journey to get help.
LT. BRENT WHITE, KENTUCKY STATE POLICE: During the flight, something went wrong, and what she knew from that point was something to the effect that the plane was upside-down. Her family on board was unresponsive. She utilized her non-injured arm and hand to free herself from the aircraft.
VALENCIA: Sailor emerges from the plane to see a small fire at the crash. In the pitch black, she thought about lighting a stick on fire to guide her way through the woods. But it didn't work out. So she begins to walk in the dark.
WHITE: She didn't have very much clothing on at all. She began walking, and it's estimated that she walked for probably around 15 to 20 minutes, maybe more, in the wooded area before she was able to see a light at the residence of Mr. Wilkins.
VALENCIA: At home in rural Kentucky, Larry Wilkins had just finished watching the local evening news when his dog started barking and he heard a knock at the door.
LARRY WILKINS, FOUND SEVEN-YEAR-OLD SURVIVOR: I went to the door and there was a little girl, about seven years old, crying, not bad, lips quivering pretty good. She was pretty bloodied. Had a busted nose -- sorry, a bloody nose. And arms and legs were scratched up real bad. And she told me that her mom and dad was dead.
VALENCIA: Wilkins later learned Sailor trekked through grisly terrain, navigating ditches, briar patches and one point even a 12 foot creek bed.
WHITE: At the scene, we were talking about that being some divine intervention there because she absolutely went to probably the nearest -- the nearest house that she could have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALENCIA: The NTSB and the FAA are investigating the exact cause of the crash. As for seven-year-old Sailor, she was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
HARLOW: Nick Valencia, thank you for that. We wish our best to seven-year-old Sailor Gutzler.
All right. Coming up next, the divide between the NYPD and New York City's mayor was on display by some officers today. The raw emotions of some of those police feeling as though they're under attack.
Is this a New York-specific issue? Or is this a national issue? We're going to talk about that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Thousands turned out today in New York to honor Police Officer Wenjian Liu. He and his partner Rafael Ramos were shot and killed while sitting in their patrol car on December 20th.
Earlier today, our Dana Bash spoke with the president of the Captains Endowment Association and she asked him how police around the country are doing following the assassination of these two officers. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY RICHTER, PRESIDENT, NYPD, CAPTAINS ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION: I think there's an anti-police environment in the entire nation right now, and that our two assassinated brothers are -- it's a clear example of that anti-police environment. And, you know, many of our officers feel betrayed by the elected leaders that we have and the public that we serve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Let me bring back in retired NYPD detective Michael Sapraicone, and also "Daily Beast" special correspondent, Michael Daly, who was there at the funeral for Officer Wenjian Liu today.
Michael Sapraicone, let me begin with you. Is he right? Who we just heard from? Is this a nationwide issue or is this a New York issue?
MICHAEL SAPRAICONE, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, police and their guys is an issue, how the communities get along with police. This is a New York issue right now.
HARLOW: Yes, because he's saying, look, police feeling under attack by their elected officials is a nationwide problem.
SAPRAICONE: It's a New York issue right now. I don't feel it's a nationwide issue. I'm sure there are other cities that have similar situations, but I think we're just mixing everything together in one big pot here and missing what's really going on.
HARLOW: Missing the point.
SAPRAICONE: Right. And that's the sad part about this. Instead of honoring these officers, some people are using -- and I'm not speaking about necessarily the captain, but people are taking this and using their agenda to try to solve other problems that they have. And this isn't the time to do that.
HARLOW: Are they doing that, Michael Daly?
MICHAEL DALY, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: I don't know what they're doing. All I know is that I live in the city of New York, and I think these killings are felt particularly keenly because the cops transformed the city of New York. I mean, they changed it. They, you know -- and you had a -- you know, they transformed it from a war zone to the safest big city in America and they found themselves on the Brooklyn Bridge with kids who were going to Brooklyn because they made it safe, screaming at them that they're racist and killers.
And it -- you know, they did an unbelievable thing in this city and nobody ever said thank you. And I think that makes the betrayal run that much deeper in them.
HARLOW: You feel like they've been betrayed.
DALY: Yes. I think they've been betrayed. And not by what's been said, but by what's not been said.
HARLOW: Like what?
DALY: Like thank you. You know, I mean, no one said thank you to Liu and Ramos before they were killed. No one stood up and said, look at these amazing officers. Look at this guy, he goes out every day and he helps people. If he hears about an elderly man, he has to get up, he gets there, and stays there, and talks to him.
Look at this other officer, he came out of the toughest neighborhood in the city and was known as Goodness. And --
HARLOW: Yes.
DALY: No one said that to them when they were alive.
HARLOW: It's a good point. I look at police officers, Michael, differently now, walking to the subway, getting on the train, walking here to work. Obviously it's top of mind because of what has happened, but what do you think about what Michael is saying?
SAPRAICONE: Michael is right. You know, Michael and I go back 30 years and 30 years ago, we changed the city. We started step by step when we changed the city. This is the greatest city in the world. And one of the reasons for being the greatest city in the world is for what the police have done to give it that brand.
HARLOW: Given that, though, look, Commissioner Bratton said there's going to be a major training, retraining, overhaul, happening and he and the mayor have said some things need to change. "The New York Times" editorial board pointed out in what they wrote this week that they feel like some of these officers are saying there's nothing about us that needs to change, basically.
What do you think? Are there things -- are there things that need to change?
SAPRAICONE: In policing, there's always things that need to change. You need to understand there's new methods and ways to do things. Bratton is a great -- Bratton has surrounded himself with the best people wherever he's gone for all these years, and that's how a good leader works. He surrounds himself with the best people. They built strategies, they built teamwork together. And they -- they retrain people. You always need to be retrained.
Anyone who thinks they can't learn something new is being ignorant to what's going on. OK? So some of these officers, cops are a strange breed of people. Michael will tell you. You know, cops think -- you know, they can't do --
HARLOW: Spoken by a former cop.
SAPRAICONE: Right. Without a doubt. I mean, we all think -- and ask my kids, they'll tell you. We all think we are the best in everything and nobody can do anything better than we can. Well, we all have great hearts. The majority of us have great hearts. But we make mistakes just like everybody else does. And we need to learn from those mistakes and learn the correct ways to do things.
But I don't think you'd really find too many police officers in the city who wouldn't do this job for free. OK? Because it's what we do, 12 hours, 14 hours, 20 hours a day.
Mike, how many times did we not go home for days, right? It's what we do. And it makes us better New Yorkers and it makes the city a better city.
HARLOW: Yes.
SAPRAICONE: The mayor is a rookie. He's going to have to learn. It's as simple as that.
HARLOW: All right. We're going to talk more about this. A quick break. We'll see you back on the other side with more of Michael and Michael. Confusing me here. Michael, Michael, Michael. Thank you, guys, both very much.
We're going to talk next about the death of these two NYPD officers. Groups have pitched in, in an amazing way to help their families. A beautiful showing from the city for the two men who died in their uniform who gave the ultimate sacrifice. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: When NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down last month they were on the beat, in Brooklyn, doing what they did every day, serving and protecting. Now a group in the city is reaching out to protect their loved ones to make sure that they are OK. The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation is pledging to pick up and pay the mortgage payments on the fallen officers' homes.
Let's talk about this and what the public is doing really stepping up to help. Joining me again, retired NYPD detective Michael Sapraicone, also "Daily Beast" special correspondent, Michael Daly who covered this great city for many years. Also joining me, John Hodge, the vice president of Tunnel to Towers.
Thank you for being here, all.
JOHN HODGE, VICE PRESIDENT, TUNNEL TO TOWERS: Thank you.
HARLOW: John, I hope -- did I pronounce that wrong?
HODGE: You did.
HARLOW: The last name?
HODGE: Hodge?
HARLOW: No. The foundation's last name, Siller.
HODGE: Siller. No.
HARLOW: I got it right. HODGE: You're right.
HARLOW: OK. All right. Tell us -- tell me a little bit about how this started. It started in the wake of 9/11. And now what you guys are doing for these officers' families?
HODGE: Sure, the Tunnels to Towers Foundation is really about a hero helping a hero because we're named after Steven Siller, who's a firefighter who's killed on September 11th. And his legacy is that he was off duty heading home to play golf with his brothers in Staten Island, New York. Heard the call on the scanner in the pickup truck about what was going on at the World Trade Center. Turns his truck around, goes back to squad run in Brooklyn.
All the fire trucks have rolled at that point. So he grabs his gear, gets out on the BQE. To get into Manhattan through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. As he gets closer to the tunnel, it's closed to inbound traffic into Manhattan at that point. He abandons his truck right on the highway where he was. Couldn't even get it off to the side. Puts on 60, 65 pounds of gear and starts to run.
HARLOW: Wow. Ran.
HODGE: And he wound up running pretty much three miles from where he was on the highway through the almost two-mile-long tunnel and the streets of Lower Manhattan.
HARLOW: And what's extraordinary now is the organization has raised $750,000 in the past two weeks.
HODGE: It's incredible, isn't it ?
HARLOW: It's incredible. And what I think it shows is, although what we've seen visually is a lot of protests and tension between officers and some of the public, the mayor's office, there's a big contingent of people out there helping and giving a lot of money to help these families.
HODGE: From straight across the United States, every state has sent multiple, multiple donations to this point, certainly New Yorkers lead the way, but, you know, we take a look, and we're tracking it. There's probably 6,000 to 7,000 people have donated towards this cause right now. There's been a lot of smaller checks and smaller amounts that have put together this incredible amount in about 10 days of $750,000.
HARLOW: Wow.
Michael, as a journalist over the years covering all of these different scenes, being there on the scene while cops like Michael are there doing their job, what is it about police officers that you think that the public should know more?
DALY: Well, that they're individual human beings. That there's a reason why they became cops, and almost all of them the reason why they became is they wanted to help. And the interesting thing about what he's doing, raising money, is that Officer Liu decided to become a cop because of 9/11. I mean, he saw that. He saw on 9/11 good rose to meet evil, and Liu decided that that's what he wanted to do.
He wanted to be good. He wanted to be go out and be good and help, you know, fight evil in big ways and just, you know, spread good in other ways, and you got to look at them as individuals. They're not -- you know, in the same way it's wrong for an officer in the community to look at people for what they are rather than who they are.
HARLOW: Right.
DALY: It's the same thing with police officers. You got to -- they're individual human beings, and, you know, they might appreciate a good morning.
HARLOW: They shouldn't profile us, we shouldn't profile them.
DALY: Absolutely. That's really what -- I think the whole lesson of this tragedy, if there is one, is exactly what you just said, is profiling is no good either way. And, you know, as Bratton said, we got to learn to see each other. And he also -- actually one thing he said today, he said, you sometimes wonder why it's the good ones who get killed?
HARLOW: Yes.
DALY: This is what you think when you look at these two.
HARLOW: The good ones get taken away. Absolutely.
DALY: And he said that the answer is the law of averages because there are so many more good ones. And that's what you have to realize.
HARLOW: Michael Sapraicone, as a former police officer who served the city for 20 years, what is your biggest takeaway from all of this, now that these two heroes have been laid to rest?
SAPRAICONE: Just that it happens too often. And it will happen again, and it will happen again. So we need to do everything we can do to make sure that everybody understands how good the communities are and how good the police are and how they can work together so that we can try to avoid situations like this.
HARLOW: More officers shot in 2014 significantly higher than in 2013.
John, quickly, for our viewers, how can they help if they want to donate?
HODGE: Two ways they can do to. Go to tunnel2towers.org. And that's tunnel, with the number 2, towers. Or call 844-BRAVEST. That's a toll free number. And you'll be able to donate those two ways. Or do it the old-fashioned way like Michael is going to do and send a check.
HARLOW: All right. (LAUGHTER)
HARLOW: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Thank you for what you're doing in the organization this week.
HODGE: Thank you so much for having me.
HARLOW: Good to have you here with us this evening.
All right. Coming up next, film critic Roger Ebert had two relationships that would change his life. One with his wife, another with Gene Siskel, his on-screen partner. A new movie about his incredible life shining a light on both. We'll have a preview ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Two thumbs up. The sweetest words for filmmakers when their work was being judged by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. The Chicago newspapermen turned movie critics became the most important voices in the industry. And as their TV fame and popularity of the show grew, so did the tension and the competition between the two of them.
Listen to a clip from Gene Siskel's wife Marlene talking about her late husband's relationship with Ebert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARLENE IGLITZEN, WIDOW OF GENE SISKEL: I think in the beginning it was very difficult. Gene sat in the back row. Roger had his favorite seat. They laughed without saying a word to one another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We both thought of ourselves as full service, one- stop film critics. We didn't see why the other one was necessary. Alone together in an elevator, we would study the numbers changing above the door.
IGLITZEN: Their lifestyles couldn't have been more different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Well, Roger Ebert did not know that his cancer had returned when he agreed to the documentary "LIFE ITSELF." After he got sick, he refused to let his cancer put a brake on the production. He wanted his full story out there.
Our Don Lemon sat down with Ebert's stepdaughter and one-time producer Sonia Evans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, CNN TONIGHT: How tough was it to film Roger's illness, and then eventually his death?
SONIA EVANS, ROGER EBERT'S STEPDAUGHTER: It was very hard. I think Roger was not afraid of it. He was more open to it than anyone else was. Chaz and Roger I think initially had a talk about, you know, how much they would show and Roger said if he was going to do this, he wanted everything shown. He didn't want to hide anything.
And there were times during the filming that I think Chaz sort of pulled back from that and to me that was more because she wanted to really protect him and I think she was just really scared of what was happening, and I think Roger was more honest about what was happening and that was that, you know, he was near death and Chaz was sort of fighting to keep him from it again.
LEMON: He says that she added years to his life. I remember interviewing them, both of them, when he was -- he was ill, but then he had recovered. He was in remission.
I want to play that then we'll talk about it. Here it is, 2007.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What about you, Chaz? Imagine the last couple of months have been really hard on you, because I know that you've been by his side, have been keeping tabs on you, guys, and I know that it was really a tough time for you.
CHAZ EBERT, WIDOW OF ROGER EBERT: You know, it was difficult and challenging and sometimes I was very exhausted, but overall, I would say, I always had hope that Roger would better so when you have hope every day, you're just working towards getting him better and you don't think about how difficult it is, you just do the next thing.
LEMON: Yes. And he --
EBERT: Let me see, Roger says, it's still you, and every day can contain joy as well as suffering, you just keep on living.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: It was such a beautiful love affair. You got married, and he actually -- he caught the bouquet, right? At the wedding?
EVANS: He caught the garter, my garter at my wedding, and a year later, they were married.
LEMON: And they got married.
EVANS: Yes.
LEMON: Here's what he said about her in his book "Roger Loves Chaz," he said, "She fills my horizon. She is the great fact of my life. She has my love. She saved me from a fate of living out my life alone which is where I seem to be heading."
Is it difficult to watch that movie knowing the great love that they had?
EVANS: I think that's one of the most difficult parts about the movie, to me. And for me to watch. I think some people find the things about his medical procedures very difficult to watch, but, you know, that was sort of a daily thing, that was routine for us, but knowing that they had such a deep love for each other and now that they're separated, you know, by death.
LEMON: Initially, you were a little bit concerned, not much, because it was an interracial relationship. But then you saw them together, and what?
EVANS: And I just knew it was right. I just knew that he loved her, and she loved him, and you know, they were just perfect for each other.
LEMON: Now two people who are perfect for each other, at least on television, it was also Gene Siskel, his side kick. I want to play a clip and then we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENE SISKEL, FILM CRITIC: This week on "Siskel and Ebert in the Movies," the science fiction adventure, "Robocop."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do that again.
SISKEL: Very funny, Don. And you're my friend. That's the last time you'll ever enter my home.
ROGER EBERT, FILM CRITIC: You know that for Gene, speech is a second language?
SISKEL: Roger's first language is, yes, I'll have apple pie with my order. He asked the McDonald's girls if he can have apple pie with his order before they ask him.
R. EBERT: And you know what, Gene says when he goes into McDonalds? Can I have apple with that order?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I'll give that a two thumbs up. Gene actually died before Roger. Did your families keep in touch? Have they kept in touch?
EVANS: Yes, as a matter of fact. Right. Days before Christmas, Marlene Siskel brought the kids over. And my Raven was there, my boys unfortunately weren't there, but we all sat around and they gave us wonderful gifts and we talked and laughed and caught up. And Marlene said wouldn't it be great if we all went to the movies tonight together?
But it would have been great but we didn't get a chance to, so yes, you know, they stay in touch. And Chaz and Marlene are working on projects together. So yes, they're friends.
LEMON: You -- he was such a public figure. What do you -- is there something that you would want people to know about your stepdad?
EVANS: He was generous. And you know, not only with his, you know, resources, but with his time and his knowledge. And that he, you know, loved to kind of hold court and tell good stories, but as much as he loved to do that and sort of be the center of attention, he was great about giving other people the floor and sort of allowing them to sort of grow and shine. And he encouraged that and he just really enjoyed life. And when you're around him, you couldn't help but to enjoy it also.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: You're going to want to see this movie. It is remarkable. You can see more of Ebert's amazing journey. Be sure to check out, "LIFE ITSELF," tonight 9:00 Eastern, only right here on CNN.
Quick break, we're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: An arctic blast working its way across this country causing all kinds of severe weather in Mississippi. Jasper County residents there cleaning up after a tornado touched down last night. Luckily no one was injured, but a lot of damage. Also, brutal cold on the way for much of the country.
Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.
Tom, I was looking at the weather back home in Minneapolis, where I'm from.
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: OK.
HARLOW: A high of zero.
SATER: Yes.
HARLOW: A high of zero.
SATER: Their record wind chill, Poppy, you may know this, 1936, is minus 87 degrees. Could they rival that this week?
HARLOW: Maybe.
SATER: This staggers the imagination, what's happened. There's a change coming. Severe weather ahead of the front. We've all seen the pictures this week of the snow in the mountains in Southern California. The snow in the cactus on the desert, in the Grand Canyon, they've got more, and a lot it in the northern Rockies. But it's about the cold and the severe weather.
Quickly show you what we're looking at. As far as the radar, we had six tornados yesterday, four in Mississippi, two in Alabama. Working to confirm maybe one, possibly two in Georgia, just hours ago, a tornado warning near the city of Savannah that moved in toward Myrtle Beach. At this time, no warnings. But this is dangerous. Frostbite can set in 20 to 30 minutes. Feels like, well, with warnings, minus 25 to minus 50. Advisories to make it feel like minus 20 to minus 30.
A year ago not only schools were closed, the city shut down and it's going to get worse. Second blast of cold air comes in midweek. Current wind chills might not, minus 35, Omaha, minus 10, Cedar Rapids, minus 21.
Get this, this is what we're looking at. Currently, how about Chicago, 14 degrees. Windchill minus two. Tomorrow your windchill will be minus 23, you're going to get four to six inches late at night, higher elevations -- even isolated amounts more than that. Second blast may be strong enough, not only colder to move down through Florida to the Caribbean. And that means even lower windchill values.
Heavy amount in snows with warnings from areas like Casper, Wyoming, to Butte, Montana. That's going to fuel the system as well. It was 55 degrees in Central Park an hour ago. Thursday morning, eight and windy -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Wow.
SATER: Chicago might get -- well, they may not even get up to zero by Wednesday. Hang in there.
HARLOW: Wow. We are tough Midwestern folks, we can take it.
SATER: Yes.
HARLOW: Tom Sater, thank you, appreciate it.
Before we go tonight, a special goodbye to a very important member of our team here on this show.
Walt, we're going to miss you.
Our senior copy editor Walt Smith after nearly 30 years here at CNN, he is our NEWSROOM dad. He's the kind of fella that keeps us all in line.
And Walt, if you're watching, if there is a mistake in the script, it is only because we did not let you edit it. Thank you for all you have done to make us better each and every day. Enjoy your retirement, my friend. We're going to miss you a lot.
I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. We've got a great night of television ahead for you. Up next, our Tom Foreman looks back at the thrills and spills of 2014.
Goodnight.
