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In case You Missed It
Speed Kills; Walker's Last Moments; Driving The 2005 Porsche Carrera GT; Finding Genius On The Streets?
Aired December 03, 2013 - 23:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And welcome to our new program called "ICYMI." Our mission here 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, these moments when the meaning of the story suddenly becomes clear. And they only happen 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 of self tells the story. Or an interview in which CNN has unique access and the ability to get a story no one else has, like just who is that other Democrats Bill Clinton might support for president. Look at the picture. Kind of gives it away, doesn't it?
Or the inspiring story of this computer genius who just happens to be living in the streets. Bill Weir is on tonight. He brings us the story that makes you believe that human beings can conquer anything. These are the moments. The best of CNN today IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. Now let's get started.
We begin tonight right here in New York City with some new information on that deadly commuter train crash in the Bronx. You may have heard that frightening quote from the engineer of this train, William Rockefeller earlier today. He told investigators he was quote, "in a daze" as he approached that sharp curve in the tracks going dangerously fast.
Well, now we know he wasn't just in a daze, he apparently fell asleep. In an interview with our own Nic Robertson the Engineers Union representative said that this engineer nodded off before he rounded that treacherous curve on those tracks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BOTTALICO, UNION REPRESENTATIVE: It's happened to all of us. You catch yourself -- sometimes we catch ourselves it's too late we're in the guardrail, right? I've done it myself and unfortunately, I believe that's what's happened here. And it's a tragedy. And there are a lot of lives that are never going to be the same ever again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: He added that the engineer is a good human being who is quote, "extremely distraught by what happened." So what's it like to live through a crash like this one? Today going to was a fascinating moment during Wolf Blitzer's afternoon program in which he's talking to CNN correspondent, Nic Robertson who shares this harrowing story of when he actually lived through a violent train crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Nic, let me bring you back into this conversation. You were in a train crash yourself. Tell us when that happened, what it was like.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was a long time ago. 1984. I was on my way to start literally my first day at work. The train was traveling from Ed Inbro to London. I was in a tiny sleeper car. The train was going too fast, tried to go around a 50-mile-per-hour bend 90 miles per hour. The train came off. The car that I was in ended up climbing the embankment, twisting on its side, smashing into a house.
Fortunately there were no fatalities because the leading cars that took the brunt of the accident, you only had a limited small area to fall out of your bed and hit the wall. I broke my wrist putting out my hand to stop me as we hit the wall. But the disorientation you feel, the sense you're tumbling, noises of the rumbling it was all building.
It seemed to take a long time and then was over in an instant. I was a young guy. It was the beginning of my life. It world was going to be full of adventures. Within a few hours I was back on another train heading south. I turned up for my first day at work with blood on my shirt and a story to tell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Just imagine Nic Robertson there with Wolf Blitzer in case you missed it.
Also new details in the investigation into the car crash that killed actor, Paul Walker. Today just awful evidence of exactly how violent it was. Forensic pathologists had to turn to dental x-rays to identify the remains of the "Fast and Furious" star and those of the drive, Roger Rodas.
Now we know the fire that engulfed that Porsche they were in did not erupt until a full minute after that car slammed into a light pole. Just a few hours ago, CNN obtained this security camera video and it really tells the story. Take a look. Beyond the fence want you to watch the light pole and then the tree go down. We've made here in reality we counted, this is 60 full seconds before the fire erupted in the car you. See the smoke.
If they could have gotten out of the car in that 60 seconds before the explosion we know they would have. But it appears likely that the impact was so powerful that they were either unable to escape or killed instantly. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigation has focused on the speed of this 2005 Porsche Carrera GT.
This $500,000 limited edition car is notoriously difficult to drive as CNN's Kyung Lah experienced first hand today. When she climbed into the passenger's seat which presumably would have been Walker's seat and took to the windy roads Calabasas, California with an amateur race car driver. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm the lucky passenger in Michael Winereb's Porsche. He is an attorney by day, amateur driver by night. One of the owners of the nearly 1,300 2005 Carrera GTs ever made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's under seven seconds. The 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. Winereb's supercar has been souped up to 660 horsepower.
(on camera): Is it easy to do something stupid?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is. Because having so much power under your foot that things can happen. There can be a loss of control.
LAH (voice-over): Winereb doesn't know what happened in actor, Paul Walker's car crash. But evening the owner of the exact same vehicle he guesses it might be this. A cold car, cold tires, not race track conditions. A super car pushed too hard.
(on camera): In some respects are you afraid of this car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You really have to be with this car with all the power it has. You have to be reserved and restrain yourself. It's like kind of taming a wild animal. And so if you were taming a wild animal you'd be afraid of it. So you have to be afraid of it to really be safe in the car.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Just imagine what riding in that thing must feel like. Kyung Lah, showing us how tough it is to handle.
Now to politics tonight, the question I just have to warn you, you going to hear this approximately a million times in the next couple of years is Hillary Clinton running for president.
Juan Carlos Lopez from our sister network CNN Espaniol landed an interview with former President Bill Clinton. He asked something I hadn't heard before. You'll hear that in just a moment. First roll the question you know we had to ask.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Mrs. Clinton running for president?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The non-answer answer. No surprise there, Mr. President. But now I want you to take a look at what happens when Juan Carlos asks a follow up that former president was clearly not expecting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN ESPANOL: What kind of president do you think Vice President Joe Biden would make if he runs and he wins?
CLINTON: Well, if he runs and he's the nominee I'll try to help him win. I think the world of him. I've known him for years and years and I have a very high opinion of him. I care a great deal about him and I think he's done a great job for the president and for the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: In case you missed it today if Joe Biden runs and if Joe Biden is the nominee he can count on the support of his good friend President Clinton. I know a lot of qualifiers, ifs, ands. I don't know. But you know, we and the rest of the media going to keep asking questions.
We want to take a quick break here. When we return our very best of the world out of the hundreds of video feeds that come to CNN from all over the world each and every day, we're digging deep tonight to find some excellent pieces of video you don't want to miss. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to ICYMI. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Now we're getting to what we call the wall of video. Hundred office videos come into us each and every day from all over the globe. Then our staff is charged with culling through the material to show you really the best of the best tonight.
I have a couple I want to show you. But first we begin a fire. I know you've seen a lot of fires on the news. But this one I promise you is different. This is a tremendous eight-alarm fire in South Boston in this industrial building that was undergoing renovations. This is an army of firefighters. What we learned is that it took them hours to fight this thing. This is one of the biggest fires Boston has seen in a long, long time. No word yet on the cause. Thankfully no one was killed.
And we saw another kind, a much different kind of challenge specifically in Syria today. Our correspondent there, Fred Pleitgen and photographer were at the site of a suicide bombing in Damascus. They tried to take pictures and take initial information. Then I want you to hear Fred describe what happened next.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We were turned away pretty quickly. It seemed as though they were shell shocked. These were soldiers. Clearly not in a very good mood. Certainly it seemed as though the last thing they wanted on the scene there was western television crew. There was Syrian TV there and Chinese film. They were able to film a little longer. The soldiers instructed us to leave as fast as possible.
BALDWIN: We had to borrow some footage, some photos from our Reuters crew working alongside our CNN crew in order to tell this story. Just a little bit of the back story of what it takes for our CNN crews to get the story for you in case you missed it. One last piece of video, your nation's Christmas tree was lit, aha, beautiful pictures there capital lawn tonight.
We have to take a quick break here. When we come back we get to talk to the newest member of our CNN family, Bill Weir. He worked at ABC. Now you're ours. So nice to see you. I can't wait to hear this cool story about the homeless man faced with a unique offering, right?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF INNOVATION CORRESPONDENT: Right.
BALDWIN: So we'll talk.
WEIR: Let's talk.
BALDWIN: In case you missed it.
WEIR: Amazing story.
BALDWIN: After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. I'm Brooke Baldwin. To the most wonderful report that we all agree we saw on CNN today courtesy of Bill Weir who joins me tonight to talk about this piece. Good to see you.
WEIR: Great to be part of your team.
BALDWIN: Tell me about Patrick and Wheel.
WEIR: Old adage, give a man a fish he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish he'll eat for a lifetime. This guy named Patrick, young, ambitious software engineer put a twist on that. Teach a man to code and see what happens. He saw the same homeless guy every day. Something about him he liked. He made him an offer. I'll give you $100 cash no strings or I'll teach you to be a computer engineer. The results are heart-warming.
BALDWIN: Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (voice-over): This is Patrick, the kind of driven computer whiz who starts companies in college. He came to meet someone in tech who would buy his ideas and change his life. He just didn't know it would be the homeless guy on the walk to work. PATRICK MCCONLOGUE, SOFTWARE ENGINEER: He just had something about him. And the first time I remember this thinking in my head like who is this guy?
WEIR: This is Leo. As a kid he was obsessed with science, astronomy, chemistry, physics, but then he fell in with the wrong crowd, became a father too soon, and two years ago first lost his job and then his home.
(on camera): What did you think he wanted?
LEO GRAND, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: At any time think anything, man. You've got the wrong guy. No. He just said, this may sound strange but I'll give you an offer. I'll give you $100 and you spend it however you want to or I present you with this brand-new laptop and teach you how to code. And instantly I just said in my mind, door number two.
WEIR (voice-over): He would write code for hours, for days, on the banks of the Hudson or in a corner nook in Patrick's office. At night Patrick would go home and Leo would go back outside. Shelters just aren't his thing, which all seemed fine until winter blew in.
(on camera): How do you stay warm on those really bitter nights?
GRAND: You go to the train station.
WEIR: Yes.
GRAND: Or with tons of blankets.
MCCONLOGUE: It's getting really cold. I keep telling him listen. He's like I'm good, man. Let's keep going.
WEIR: Patrick just wanted to get him employed and housed ASAP. Leo had other priorities.
(on camera): What is it you wanted to do with this information he was teaching you?
GRAND: To make the world a better place.
WEIR: See, he is a passionate environmentalist. His heroes are scientists who brave the rugged outdoors.
GRAND: This is what life is supposed to be like, you know?
WEIR: Being outside?
GRAND: Yes. I want to be around plants and trees, and I want to breathe as much oxygen as possible.
WEIR: Since he's really worried about a changing climate, he decided to use his new skills to create a carbon-cutting app calls "Trees and Cars."
GRAND: These would be riders in the same area? Who want to ride with you?
WEIR: OK. If you make money off this app, are you going to go get an apartment? What are you going to do?
GRAND: Yes of course. Trump hotel.
WEIR: But even if he never makes it to the plaza he still has friends like these city workers looking out for him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't judge someone.
WEIR: And then there is his infectious inner peace. All the money in Silicon Valley just can't buy.
(on camera): How do you imagine to keep such a positive attitude?
GRAND: Faith. Prayer. It works. Try it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: I love that. You feel the warmth from Leo. I love that he chose what was behind door number two how he said that. So with this app, when will we know if it's a good deal?
WEIR: It hits both android and the Apple app store next week. And it's going to be 99 cents. He's working on trees for cars 2 which going to give gas car cards as incentives for people who join gas pools. He needs a lot of people to join this thing to make it to work. But it's such an interesting case on mentorship. A lot of people saw this story -- at one point he got arrested for falling on a bench. Police took his computer. A woman who works for Google saw that, flew across country to give him a computer to keep him going.
BALDWIN: You are kidding me.
WEIR: She thinks this is a model for a new kind of homeless outreach. There are vets who have computer skills. That's the ultimate meritocracy. Coding is the new language of the American dream.
BALDWIN: Doesn't matter to have a college education.
WEIR: Doesn't matter how you look like, how you dress, if you can write elegant code you can make a living. They may be onto something here. We'll see.
BALDWIN: Do you have faith that Leo can keep this going whether or not this app takes off or not? We see all these stories folks on the street given a little something return, sucked back into that life.
WEIR: He has family who's invited him in and he refuses. He considers himself a scientist living in an alternative lifestyle outside. He got a tent. He's in a tent tonight in New York City down in Barrier Park. So he had a different set of priorities than a lot of us think is average. But meeting him, he's such a bright guy, so likable. Has such a warm spirit. Can't help but root for him. They just signed a book deal these two. BALDWIN: That's a little something for him. Let's follow up on that for sure. Bill Weir, I love that story. We wish him luck wherever he lands.
Now we take a quick break here, but I have something you definitely want to see when you come back. You know America has a weight problem? What you may not know is what CNN is doing to fight it with apparently our own resident Brit here, Piers Morgan sweating it out in a studio just next to me. Don't miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Finally tonight you know the expression "never let them see you sweat." Tonight, Piers Morgan let everyone see him sweat. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now I want you to take your rpm number to 70. Let's see how that goes.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN LIVE": Easy, 73.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, Piers, so I want you to stay at 70, but I want you to know take your torque up to 28, 28? Stay at 70. How's that going?
MORGAN: It's, you know, getting a little testy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should we try 30?
MORGAN: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
MORGAN: Now 30 and 70. That is a good balance?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's very good.
MORGAN: How many seconds do I have to keep doing this for?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: In a suit nonetheless Piers Morgan, now I know why I heard shouting coming from the studio tonight. Piers you should have called on Sanjay for help. That's what Chris Cuomo did this year. Dr. Gupta to the rescue. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Is it OK if I go all the way down? I can't keep up. You're going too fast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The doctor giving Chris a piggyback. Dr. Gupta that's impressive. If you were wondering what his secret is, it is definitely staying away from this. You have to see in giant gingerbread house. Bryant, Texas. In case you missed it today it this is the biggest gingerbread house in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
It has 35,823,400 calories. Icing and gum drops and calories, my. I'm hungry looking at that. That's it for me tonight. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks so much for watching ICYMI. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
MORGAN: This is a PIERS MORGAN LIVE losing it, America's fat obsession. Tonight the weight of the nation bursting it would seem and estimated 19 million Americans are now obese. It's taking a heavy toll on lives and health costs. What who is to blame and who to be done? The answers and solutions that should work in tonight's special report, "Losing it, America's fat obsession."
