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New Day

Speed A Factor In Star's Death; Deadly Shark Attack; Archie Boss In Harassment Suit; Two Billion Dollar Day

Aired December 03, 2013 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- sheriff's department investigated it and ruled out a tip that the crash may have been the result of a street race, an eyewitness back up that conclusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they passed us, there were no other cars around them at all and there was only one care we were listening for it. When they hit it a little bit, you can hear the exhaust there is only one car.

TURNER: The pavement where the crash occurred is scorched with skid marks, though it's unclear if those were left by the car Walker was riding in. And law enforcement sources say the oval-like street has a reputation for being popular with fast drivers. Walker himself spoke about the type of dangerous driving depicted in the "Fast & Furious" back in 2001.

PAUL WALKER: There's nothing would be worse than a 120 mile-an-hour blowout on a surface street with pedestrians lining up and down. It's common sense. It's not worth the risk factor.

TURNER: Walker's new movie "Hours" will open as planned on December 13th. He had been working on the seventh instalment of the "Fast & Furious" series at the time of his death. The future of that film now in question, but this ominous scene has been leaked online, showing Walker at a funeral. Walker leaves behind a devoted fan base, friends and close-knit family. His dad says they are overcome with grief.

PAUL WALKER, SR., PAUL WALKER'S FATHER: As a father, that's a fear you always have, that one of your children going to go before you.

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TURNER: Now I will tell you early on sources close to Paul Walker were telling me they did not believe in any way, shape or form that street racing was a factor in this crash. They said that Paul who was a race car driver, they said his motto was always cars are men to the race on the track, not on the street.

I also spoke with a representative for him yesterday that says they are still working out plans for a memorial, meantime, the L.A. coroner's office says autopsies on Paul Walker and Robert Rodas will be done later on today. CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: They'll have to figure it out. Obviously, all that really matters for the family is that he's gone.

TURNER: That video, you're right, is hard to see, the moment of impact.

CUOMO: They had -- there had to be a factor of speed just because of the nature of that explosion. But you don't know if there was something with the car. This was a high-end car.

TURNER: It's $450,000 custom built Porsche.

CUOMO: Basically a race car.

TURNER: Yes.

CUOMO: You heard the guy say when they passed us, when they gunned it. Cars meant to go fast. Who knows what went wrong and if the end of the day for his family it's not going to matter.

TURNER: That car was built eight years ago. It only had 3,200 miles on the odometer. They drove it about 200 miles a year.

CUOMO: It was owned by a guy who was in the business of taking care of high-end cars.

TURNER: Exactly.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you.

TURNER: Sure.

BOLDUAN: A man fishing in a kayak off the coast of Hawaii was attacked and killed by a shark on Monday. This is the latest in a string of recent shark attacks in the state. "EARLY START" anchor, Zoraida Sambolin has more.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, ANCHOR, CNN'S "EARLY START": Over the last 20 years, Hawaii has average about four unprovoked shark incidents per year, but this deadly encounter is one of 13 shark incidents in Hawaii this year alone.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was very sad. We were very shocked.

SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Terror after a fisherman is killed by a shark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all realized that there was something was wrong.

SAMBOLIN: The victim, 57-year-old Patrick Briny was dangling his foot off the side of a kayak at Makena landing. The shark virtually ripped it off. A friend of Briny's who was fishing in a kayak some 500 yards away paddled over and tried to save him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He applied a tourniquet on the leg that was wounded.

SAMBOLIN: Frantic witnesses flagged down a tour boat to rush briny back to shore. Officials say Briny died on the way to the hospital. What's truly frightening, this is the 13th shark attack reported in Hawaii just this year alone. Eight of those attacks happened in Maui.

To put that into perspective, Hawaii has traditionally averaged only four shark attacks per year. There was only one recorded in 2008 and none in 1998. Researchers at the University of Hawaii have launched a two-year study to get to the bottom of why these attacks are surging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have signs about one mile each way on the stretch from Makena landing to the reserve. We're just closing the beach, monitoring, making sure everybody stays out of the water, keep it safe for the community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think as divers, you realize, if anything, there are dangers, you know, there's a reason to be careful out there.

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SAMBOLIN: The victim, Patrick Briny, was from Washington, a retired Boeing engineer. He was on vacation in Maui. His family says he loved the outdoors, fishing and wind surfing and that he died doing what he loved to do. Back to you.

KATE BOLDUAN: Zoraida, thank you.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Archie Comic's co-CEO accused of using choice words to explain her white employees.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What going to brick and mortar stores do about Cyber Monday? We have some information and it is all good for you.

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BOLDUAN: You'll want to wake up to see this awesomeness. Let's go over to Indra. She has the weather forecast for you. Look at that beautiful picture.

CUOMO: The awesomeness or is it the photo.

BOLDUAN: You are the awesomeness. The picture behind you pales.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGISTIC: The entire Grand Canyon completely filled with fog. You might want to go why, how? Keep in mind, normally when you go up a mountain it gets colder. It was so cold overnight, 19 degrees in the area. It was actually colder below the surface. Cold air at the surface, warm air above causes what we call an inversion, all you need to know, it looks like this.

This is what they saw right after Thanksgiving last Friday and on Sunday they saw it again, beautiful out there, a little change for us today. We'll be talking about warm air for a couple more days into the southeast and mild conditions into the northeast. Once again, I am jumping you from today's highs to the weekend. Check out Saturday. Notice that difference. Look at these 30s and 20s as we talk about the cold air diving down.

Let's talk about where is the source? Where is this coming from? The same system diving farther to the south and eventually it is going to be spreading east. When that happens, the cold air behind the cold front it going to be going with it. Until then, a lot of snow, 1 to 2 feet of snow, Minnesota all the way even back through California, we are talking about heavy snow, biggest change today from yesterday.

We'll see it dipping farther south in through the Denver area, 1 to 2 feet of snow, the higher elevations north of Denver. This is the cold air picture, making its way to the east. Thursday, Friday, the toughest spot going to be Illinois back in through Texas, looking for the threat of a wintry mix, maybe freezing rain. That is going to be a trouble spot. Otherwise, rain and snow spreading to the east. Enjoy it. It all changes this weekend.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Indra.

CUOMO: All right, wait until you hear this one, Archie Comics, home of Jug Head, Archie, Betty, Veronica, now involved in a messy lawsuit. Here's why. The CEO is accused of gender discrimination by her male employees who say she repeatedly referred to them by their anatomical part really, but the CEO says the case should be thrown out because white males, not part of a protected class.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst, Criminal Defense Attorney, Mr. Danny Cevallos. Simple answer yes or no?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. I think all of us are members of a protective class. That's why I'm a little confused by this court filing. The bottom line is this, you can hire and fire people for any reason in the world unless -- it's a big unless, unless it's based on your membership in a protected class.

But white males are a member of a class just as any other race and gender and any other religion. It's not that you have to be a historically disadvantaged member of the class, but that you are treated differently because of your membership in a particular class.

PEREIRA: Isn't harassment, harassment? You don't have to be a protected class member to be harassed?

CEVALLOS: NO, not at all. That has to be based on, for example, in this case, based on gender. So in another words, you were subjected to a hostile environment, a pervasive environment. Remember, the courts will not find hostile environment where it's just a random conversation or if it's just flirtation.

I mean, they identify the difference between a one-time comment and a pervasive environment. They will say, as in this case, because someone has used the "p" word, is that what we'll call it?

CUOMO: Yes.

CEVALLOS: It is a gender specific epithet.

CUOMO: It is.

CEVALLOS: I would feel like that's a gender-based epithet. That tends to lean the other way. Each of these is a different case.

BOLDUAN: Even if she cannot win the argument on the protected class argument she's making, do you think that they, the group of employees, male employees, can win their argument?

CEVALLOS: Great question. Let's say that they are a member of a protected class. The next question is does this -- is this hostile action, does it rise to the level of hostile environment?

BOLDUAN: Right.

CEVALLOS: Because like I said before, whether it's same-sex horseplay or it's just some idle comments here and there, some flirting. Courts going to hold that that does not rise to the level of hostile environment. The law is not intended to guarantee a fair or perfectly comfortable workplace. We all know that intuitively. The real question is does it rise to the high standard of pervasive.

BOLDUAN: That's subjective.

CEVALLOS: I think each of these cases is a case-by-case analysis.

PEREIRA: This whole story if you do a little bit of digging, it doesn't take much, it's a hot mess this lawsuit notwithstanding because she's accused another male colleague of sexual harassment. There's been a lawsuit and there's been infighting among the two. How much going to all of that bad environment, the lawsuits --

CUOMO: A lot. It will be the determining factor. The class issue goes to the form of the lawsuit so that each of them doesn't have to make their own case. Once any kind of finder of fact starts hearing, Danny, about what's been going on at the company, the obvious tension, with the CEO, who is the surviving spouse of the man who was the CEO, I think it's going to turn into something else.

CEVALLOS: It is. It's a high burden to meet. They have to show these actions were because they were white males or because they were members in a class. These cases are tough to win, tough to win.

PEREIRA: How do the comics play into this?

CUOMO: Don't shout that at me all the time.

PEREIRA: It's unfair. I promise we going to not use that word to refer to you.

CUOMO: We have the "P" word, even though it's an anatomical word.

CEVALLOS: We have a new word I can't say? Who knows?

BOLDUAN: Soon our whole show going to be the "D" word, the "A" word, the "M" word.

CUOMO: Watch when you talk to your kids. Don't kick him in the, you know, with the thing that you just had there.

BOLDUAN: A whole other thing is happening right here. Thanks, Danny.

CEVALLOS: You'll get my papers in the mail.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Cyber Monday was hot. Black Friday, not so much. So is what's bad for retailers good for you? Let's hope so. The sales could get even bigger, people.

CUOMO: To go with the phrase, everything's bigger in Texas. That includes the Christmas lights. Why are residents of one Texas town saying they didn't get their money's worth? We'll tell you.

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CUOMO: What happens when taxes and government and Christmas collide? This is what happens. This is a neighborhood in Texas had a holiday lighting display. Not everyone is feeling the spirit, though. Here is why, $25,000 for this project. Residents say it was a waste of taxpayer money.

The city officials say only $11,000 of the $25,000 was spent on lights, the majority on security. He adds that fund-raising is under way so as little taxpayer money going to be used as possible next year. What do you think? Did they get their $25,000 worth?

BOLDUAN: It's a little sad.

CUOMO: Or $11,000 worth? Did they get their $14,000 worth of security?

PEREIRA: I don't know about that. If you look around any neighborhood in America there's always one guy who is like lighting up the town.

BOLDUAN: In my small town we had one house every year that lit it up. I'm very bad at the Christmas light job when I was younger.

CUOMO: I've gotten increasingly into it.

BOLDUAN: How do you -- you live in an apartment.

CUOMO: I do and it's really weird on the outside of that bad boy. And I'm up there doing --

PEREIRA: Crane or a drone?

CUOMO: I'm into it. I have a Santa who does the --

PEREIRA: Of course, you do.

BOLDUAN: It's like the gopher on "Caddy Shack" that I love. That means it's time to move on.

It's money time. Online shoppers were out in force. You're actually out in force on a Cyber Monday. Early indicators suggest that U.S. online sales for the holiday going to hit a $2 billion mark. Those record sales followed lackluster Black Friday spending. Could this mean retailers going to start cutting prices? Basically, what does it mean for you? Is it good for you or bad for you?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Chris going to get another one of those bad basses later on in the season. Cyber Monday, we're calling it Mobile Monday now because 30 percent of the sales were done on the phone. Remember where it was about coming to work because that's where the faster internet connection was?

BOLDUAN: That was the point.

ROMANS: The point of Cyber Monday it was faster to do the shopping at work on the work computer. Now you're doing it on your phone topping $2 billion. This is now a real event. For a lot of years I said this was made up by the retail industry. And it was. Cyber Monday was fake. Only now it's real $2 billion is real money and a third of it on a phone.

PEREIRA: It's so crazy it's done on a mobile phone. I'm going back to the drone because I'm blown away.

Black Friday a little lacklustre, shorter holiday shopping season, does it mean through December we'll see a lot of good deals?

ROMANS: I think so. Cyber Monday was very good for technology. Kindles, you had some TVs, awful lot of game consoles were sold, toys. That was the big seller yesterday. It's interesting you point out during the Black Friday frenzy, that was the average person spent less than a year ago that. Never happens.

People were acting like it was a recession. What do I mean by that? They were careful, cautious. It took them a deep discount to pull the trigger and I think that's going to mean that stuff on those shelves right now going to be cheaper later on in the year.

BOLDUAN: I want people to spend more. Don't you want people to spend more? This is where retailers make their money.

CUOMO: Not if they don't have the money. If you don't have the money and you're spending more, that's not good for anybody.

ROMANS: I hear that.

CUOMO: All these factors come into play and then they change based on one another. I hear that inventory is down.

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: Sellers, vendors aren't selling as much, they're not ordering as much because they're anticipating lower demand. The reason people are acting like it's a recession is because it is. A lot of people are still incredibly hard hit, not getting the hours, the disposable income. They don't have the money and they're having to be responsible.

ROMANS: Retailers know this, too, there are two Americas. Tiffany sales, great, wonderful. Look at everything else, consumer is worried about jobs and really worried about Washington and what is next year going to look like for their taxes and everything? The only thing going for consumers right now are gas prices. But we need better job creation and consumers are being very picky and smart.

The retailers had to spend millions and millions of dollars and really expand the hype all the way to Thursday of Thanksgiving and before to get you to spend less money. Isn't that interesting? They really had to pull out all the stops so in the end people spent less money. Cyber Monday was very good. Tech deals were very good. I think you'll see more sales as the weeks go on.

BOLDUAN: Keep your eye out. Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, new details on the deadly train derailment. We now know the train was going way too fast. The question is why? Details next.

BOLDUAN: Paramedics remove a passenger who may have tuberculosis from a plane. How did a sick passenger boarded the plane in the first place?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's premature to blame anyone or anything right now.

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CUOMO: Fatal turn. The New York train that derailed was going close to three times the speed limit. Did the brakes fail or something else?

BOLDUAN: On the rise, a deadly shark attack off the coast of Hawaii, the 13th attack this year, three times the norm. What's behind it?

PEREIRA: The surprising lawsuit that may upend how we treat animals. Should a chimp have the same rights as humans?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

BOLDUAN: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. New details about that deadly train derailment in New York. Investigators say the train was going nearly three times the speed limit as it approached that curve where it flew off the tracks. CNN's Rene Marsh joins us this morning from Washington with the very latest on the investigation. Good morning, Rene. RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. You know, the focus today was speed. Why was this train moving so dangerously fast? This morning, questions for a man who may have some answers.

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MARSH (voice-over): NTSB investigators continue to question William Rockefeller for a second day in hopes of finding out why this train was going so fast.

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EARL WEENER, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: The train was traveling at approximately 82 miles an hour as it went into a 30-mile- an-hour curve.

MARSH: That's nearly three times the speed limit for this curving stretch of track. The train speed is even higher than the maximum speed of 70 miles per hour in the straightaway north of the crash site, deepening the mystery? The NTSB says the train Inexplicably went from 60 to 82 miles per hour in 2 minutes before hitting the curve and jumping the track.