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Paul Walker Autopsy Released; A Ride in the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT; Passenger Sues Metro-North for Derailment; Dick Cheney Disappointment in Public Row Between Daughters; Winter Storm Moves South; Obama Calls for Raising Minimum Wage; Life of Fast-Food Workers
Aired December 04, 2013 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MORTON, WRONGLY CONVICTED MAN: He suspended visits.
And eventually, when I found out he had changed his name legally and been adopted, few things are as powerful to a parent as the abject rejection of their child.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST, "NEW DAY": You say, I always thought that I would get out. What fueled the hope?
MORTON: It's difficult for me to say whether it was just faith that I knew I was right and I wasn't guilty that this would work out, or just that I didn't know how deep I was in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I met Michael Morton this morning. This is a stunning story.
It's called "AN UNREAL DREAM." It airs tomorrow night, 9:00 Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN. Please tune in to watch.
Coming up next, "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker, his autopsy results were released by authorities today as production on the newest movie, "Fast & Furious 7," is now shut down.
What authorities say caused his death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Now to that autopsy report revealing how actor Paul Walker and his friend Roger Rodas died in that car crash Saturday.
Rodas was driving the Porsche Carrera GT. Walker, star of the movie series "Fast & Furious" was in the passenger seat.
The Porsche slammed into a light pole in Valencia, California, before bursting into flames.
Casey Wian with the new details today from the autopsy report. Casey, what have you learned? CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, the report released by the coroner today contained very limited amounts of information, but that information, very, very revealing.
He revealed that Paul Walker died of the combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries.
Why is that important? The thermal injuries means that the explosion, the fire that occurred as we now know from the video obtained by CNN, surveillance video of the area, that fire didn't occur until a full minute after the initial crash.
That means, in some capacity, Paul Walker was still alive for several moments after the initial impact.
The driver of the car, Roger Rodas, according to the coroner, he died of multiple traumatic injuries.
The coroner ruling that this, of course, was an accident. Though toxicology reports have -- toxicology tests have been conducted, that information will not be available, will not be released for another six to eight weeks, Brooke.
BALDWIN: What about, Casey, this extremely successful "Fast & Furious" franchise. "Fast & Furious 7" was weeks from wrapping. Will they go on?
WIAN: In short, Brooke, no, Universal Pictures deciding to pull the plug on production, at least for the time being.
In a statement, they said, "At this time, we feel it's our responsibility to shut down production on 'Fast and Furious 7' for a period of time so we can assess all options available to move forward with the franchise.
"We're committed to keeping "Fast & Furious" fans informed and we'll provide further information to them when we have it.
"Until then, we know they join us in mourning the passing of our dear friend, Paul Walker."
We should also point out that Universal Pictures announcing yesterday they would donate a portion of the proceeds from "Fast & Furious 6" released in the home version in the next several days to Paul Walker's favorite charity, Reach Out Worldwide, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Casey Wian, thank you.
Let's talk a little more about this car. Much has been said about this. This is like this limited edition 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that crashes. Now, it's not a race car, but it's pretty close.
Kyung Lah went out for a test drive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Riding in a Porsche Carrera GT is simply visceral.
I'm so low to the ground.
I'm at once exhilarated and car sick. It's like flying on the road and it is terrifying. But strangely, fun.
So we're going out for a bit of a joy ride.
I'm the lucky passenger on Michael Weinreb's Porsche. He's an attorney by day and amateur driver by night, one of the few owners of the nearly 1,300 2005 Carrera GTs ever made.
MICHAEL WEINREB, RACE CAR DRIVER: It's more of the zero-to-100 time that's more impressive which is under seven seconds.
he steering on this car is so tight and responsive. There's almost nothing like it in terms of road-feel.
LAH: Top speed, 208 miles per hour, Weinreb's super car has been souped up from 612 horsepower to 660.
Is it easy to do something stupid?
WEINREB: You know, it is because it's just having so much power under your foot that, you know, that things can happen. There can be a loss of control.
LAH: Weinreb doesn't know what happened in actor Paul Walker's car crash, but being the owner of the exact same vehicle, he guesses it might be this -- a cold car, cold tires, not racetrack conditions.
Was it a super car simply pushed too hard on a city road that it was never designed for?
WEINREB: Whoever was driving went beyond the capability of the adhesion of the tire.
LAH: When you say "adhesion", what do you mean by that?
WEINREB: The tire is not connected to the road.
LAH: In some respects, are you afraid of this car?
WEINREB: Yes, you really have to be with this car with all of the power that it has. You have to be reserved and restrain yourself.
I mean, it's like kind of taming a wild animal. And so if you were taming a wild animal, you would be afraid of it. So you have to be afraid of it to really be safe in the car.
LAH: The line between the thrill and real danger.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Coming up, we have to talk about this winter weather slamming parts of the U.S. in a major, major way.
Some parts of Texas expected to have temperatures plummet, as in 60 degrees cooler than what you're experiencing right now.
We'll tell you what to watch out for, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A female passenger on Sunday's derailed train in New York has now filed a claim against the rail operator, Metro-North.
According to this woman's attorney, her client suffered a fractured spine, a broken collar bone, and several broken ribs.
This claim comes as new questions are being raised today about the role of, quote/unquote, "highway hypnosis," may have played in Sunday's derailment.
Now, this union representative says the engineer was, quote/unquote, "nodding off" before the crash, and caught himself too late to then hit the brakes and slow down that train.
Those comments to CNN and other media outlets could be key to explaining what exactly happened this weekend.
With me now, Faith Jenkins, criminal lawyer and former federal prosecutor, and also HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson. Good to see both of you.
Before we get to this engineer, this conductor, because I want to go there, first, now that we have the first official claim from a rider, what rights do riders have in instances like this?
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure, well, what happens is, listen, this is the first one, Brooke. You know that there are going to be multiple more.
You've got to feel for someone. You get on a train at 5:54 in Poughkeepsie. You think you'll be in the city safely and soundly, and then you're dead. What can you do?
But the realities are, you think generally when you think about passengers rights, right, you want to be respected by the conductor. You want people to behave in ways that are comforting for when you're on the train. You would think the train would be timely.
But this transcends this. At the minimum, certainly, you want a conductor who would operate with a standard of care, and, again, I don't want to prejudge. The facts will be as they will in this investigation.
But you certainly want someone who operates tons of machinery with a standard of care that ensures you arrive safely at your destination.
FAITH JENKINS, CRIMINAL LAWYER: And that duty here, to me, was clearly breached. Not just prejudging, but he was going 82-miles-an-hour. BALDWIN: When it should have been 30.
JENKINS: When it should have been 30. That, in and of itself, speaks to negligence from a private-citizen standpoint.
That duty at that moment was breached and look at the result. These people are injured and some even lost their lives.
BALDWIN: Let's talk about the negligence. You brought up the word.
So you have to prove what would either be civil negligence or criminal negligence. We were talking in commercial break about the Chinatown bus, this case in 2011, and the driver fell asleep, but wasn't found criminally negligent. Why?
JENKINS: Right. That trial was in the Bronx. Chinatown bus driver fell asleep behind the wheel. Fifteen passengers were killed and the case went to trial in the Bronx.
The jury found just because he fell asleep did not mean he was criminally negligent. They wanted more. Why did he fall asleep? Is it because he took some medication and he knew that he would be drowsy? No.
Was it because he stayed up all night long the night before and he knew there was a great possibility he would be sleepy? No, they say he just fell asleep. It was an accident.
So, here, if this driver fell asleep or dozed off, they're going to investigate the why behind it.
Was he on medication? Did his change in the shift and the hours that he worked, did that have an impact on his ability to stay awake?
BALDWIN: So, is that pretty tough to prove, criminal negligence?
JACKSON: It could be, Brooke, but, ultimately, here's how you differentiate it.
BALDWIN: OK.
JACKSON: From general negligence, people are generally negligent every day. That's simply a failure to perceive a risk, your failure, but this is sort of a gross deviation.
When you talk about criminal negligence, you're talking about such a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person should be expected to have.
I think the argument here, Brooke, if you're driving a train or you're operating a train with passengers on it and just tons of equipment, at the least, you can stay awake. And then after that, you could certainly drive around the speed limit.
And so I think here the prosecution goes that far and it will be investigated, but the prosecution would certainly have a pretty substantial case along those lines that, you know what, we think you breached that duty in a criminal way, criminally negligent homicide, an E felony in New York, up to four years in jail if it goes that far.
BALDWIN: Got it. We'll be watching, if it goes that far or not, Joey Jackson, Faith Jenkins, thank you very much.
Dick Cheney is expressing disappointment at the highly public and highly personal discord engulfing his daughters.
Last month, Mary Cheney, take a look at the picture. You can see. This is Mary Cheney on the right, took to Facebook to chide her sister Liz for opposing same-sex marriage in her race for a Senate seat.
Recently married to her longtime female partner, Mary Cheney addressed Liz directly, writing that her sister is, quote, "just wrong," and quote, "on the wrong side of history."
Dick Cheney says it is a family matter and ought to be treated as such.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We -- we're surprised and there was an attack launched against Liz on Facebook, and wished it hadn't happened.
It's always been dealt with within the context of the family, and frankly, that's our preferences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Despite his staunch conservatism, Cheney supported same-sex marriage long before President Obama did.
Cheney said he will not discuss his family feud again in public. He told reporters, and I'm quoting him, "Don't waste your time."
We have been talking a lot about the winter storm that's about to crash into balmy Texas and several of its southerly neighbors.
It's already dropped several feet of snow on states like Idaho and Minnesota. It is hitting Colorado today.
Chad Myers, in the Weather Center, talk to me, Chad Myers, about what these people have to expect the next couple of days.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right, just look at the map here. Just take a break from reading the paper or whatever you're doing. Not you, everybody else.
BALDWIN: Hey, I'm paying attention to you, my friend. Come on, now.
MYERS: Three below zero in Yellowstone. It's nine in Denver. It's eleven degrees warmer in Anchorage, Alaska, than it is in Denver right now. And it's 80 in Dallas.
This cold air -
BALDWIN: I like that 80.
MYERS: -- is coming. You won't like it tomorrow. This cold air is coming straight out of the north, right through Denver, and now Guymon, Oklahoma, is 28. Idabel, Oklahoma, the same state, 77. And there is Dallas, Love Field.
Guess where the cold air is going? Straight south through, and 56 degrees colder for the morning low in Dallas on Friday than it is right now.
Things are going to freeze up. Cold air today, cold air tomorrow. This is the battle ground tomorrow. You're going to take a look at this. This is going to be really important, Brooke.
This side here where we are, Atlanta, all warm, rain. Along this blue line right through here, that's in the 30s. And then north of that, that's all going to be snow.
It's going to be this band right here that we're very, very concerned with. You can drive through snow. I think it's hard, but it's not as impossible as it is to drive through the amount of ice that's going to be in parts of Oklahoma, northeast Texas, into Arkansas, maybe even Paducah, into Evansville, and out into Ohio.
Here is how it starts. Right now, not much going on, a couple rain showers. Tomorrow morning, not much going on, but by tomorrow noon, some snow in Oklahoma City, not enough to slow everything down, but it's this pink, all the way from Hugo, back over here to (inaudible).
That is the ice. The ice moves farther to the east. It moves right through into Memphis eventually and finally toward the northeast.
Now, the good news is by the time it gets cold enough to snow in New York, there won't be any moisture left, so the big cities will be spared with this one, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK, good. I know people love the snow, but it's not always pretty. It's not always fun.
Chad Myers, thank you very much.
MYERS: You're welcome, Brooke.
BALDWIN: And we will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: President Obama used his speech on the economy today to call for an increase in the $7.25-per-hour minimum wage.
The president listed areas where well-paying jobs are being created, healthcare and business services, specifically, and he touted the manufacturing jobs, that they are indeed coming back to the U.S.
But he also warned more and more Americans will be working in the traditionally low-paying service industry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... that there are airport workers and fast-food workers and nurse assistants and retail sales people who work their tails off, and are still living at or barely above poverty.
And that's why it's well past the time to raise a minimum wage that, in real terms, right now, is below where it was when Harry Truman was in office.
BALDWIN: CNN's Alison Kosik goes behind the Big Macs and the French fries, delves into the life of a fast-food worker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EDUARDO SHOY, FAST-FOOD EMPLOYEE: Living on $7.25, you cannot do it.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is what minimum wage looks and sounds like.
SHENITA SIMON, FAST-FOOD EMPLOYEE: I would sacrifice my meal or my husband's meal to make sure my kids can have what they need.
KOSIK: They're fast-food workers, struggling every day.
SHOY: How can you live on $7.25. You could not even pay your apartment. If you have a family of maybe zero, you can support yourself.
If you have a family, two kids, a wife, where are you living? Under a bridge? It's not right.
KOSIK: The median pay for fast food workers is $9 an hour, or $18,720 a year.
DORIAN WARREN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Workers are taking these jobs because they are desperate.
And in an economy that's still not creating enough work for people who want to go to work and still not creating enough middle class jobs.
KOSIK: Eduardo Shoy lost his job a few years ago. Now 58 with two children headed to college, he works at Kentucky Fried Chicken in New York, earning $7.25 an hour.
He also works a night shift as a forklift operator at Kennedy Airport. He moved his family to another state and is trying to sell his house.
SHOY: For me, it's tough, real tough. I can't do none of the things that I used to do.
I used to able to pay my mortgage, able to pay my car payment, able to take my family out to dinner. That, we had to cut it out. We had to sacrifice a lot of stuff. KOSIK: Eduardo will take to the streets in New York this Thursday to take part in a strike which demands that the federal minimum wage be raised to $15 per hour.
The protests have expanded since last November when 200 workers staged a one-day strike at more than 20 restaurants in New York City.
And this past July and August, there was strikes in states across the country.
SHOY: Once the nation is hearing it, we have been striking all over the country, so people are getting an understanding. They're really seeing the light of what's going on.
KOSIK: But the industry says it has created jobs in this difficult economy.
In response to the strikes, the National Restaurant Association said in a statement, "Dramatic increases in a starting wage, such as those called for in these rallies, will challenge that job growth history, increase prices for restaurant meals, especially in the value segments, and lead to fewer jobs created."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Alison Kosik with me now, and so, he's holding down two jobs.
KOSIK: Right.
BALDWIN: He's trying to make ends meet. And when we talk about these fast-food workers and possibly walking off of the job tomorrow, how many do we think will actually do it?
KOSIK: It is expected that thousands are going to walk off the job.
BALDWIN: Thousands?
KOSIK: And, you know, although they're a ways away from getting that $15 federal minimum wage, they're making inroads in that I talked with some workers who participated in these protests in the past and they say when their boss caught wind they were taking part in it, they got higher pay, they were promoted and got more hours.
BALDWIN: It helped them.
KOSIK: It did. They're not getting that federal minimum wage. They are seeing that this is resonating.
BALDWIN: How about that? Alison Kosik, thank you very much.
And that does it for me here in New York. Just a quick reminder, pulling double duty this week, working on a new show. It's called "IN CASE YOU MISSED IT," ICYMI.
It airs at 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific. We hope you tune in. We basically just try to showcase the best moments on CNN, each and every day.
Thanks for being with me. Let's go to Washington. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.
