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Investigators: Train Hit Curve at 106 MPH; No Sign of Missing U.S. Helicopter; Life or Death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 14, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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


JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman. About 30 minutes after the hour right now.

[04:30:00] The investigation into the crash of Amtrak train 188 in Philadelphia is focused this morning on speed. The National Transportation Safety Board has recovered the black box from the wreckage. NTSB officials say the Washington to New York train hit a tight curve on Philadelphia's north side, traveling more than twice the posted speed limit of 50 miles per hour. It was going more than 100 miles per hour.

The engineer now identified as Brandon Bostian of New York slammed on the emergency brakes only seconds before the engine and seven cars derailed. At least seven people died in this crash. More than 200 people were injured, eight are currently listed in critical condition still this morning.

We want to get the latest on the investigation. Let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, here's how the investigation is proceeding this morning. The NTSB telling us, of course, they are combing through the wreckage. They're looking at the sections of cracks involved, the signals, the mechanism involved. And what they're already saying is that a key component in this crash was speed. This train they say was going more than twice the rate of speed it should have been going. The speed limit at that section of the track, at that curve, was 50 miles an hour. This train was going 106 miles an hour. So, that was a key component.

Another thing they are telling us is that this section of the track near Philadelphia did not have positive train controls. That is an expensive piece of technology, but it's been mandated by Congress to be placed on all rail lines in the United States by the end of 2015. It was not placed in this section of the track near Philadelphia.

What is positive train control? It's an automatic override system that's designed to warn the engineer if the train is too fast for a certain section of track. If the engineer does not heed that warning, then the computer system on-board the train kicks in and stops the train. That was not placed in this portion of the track. And the NTSB is already saying that if it had been, this crash may well not have happened.

We are also learning the identity of the engineer. He's 32-year-old Brandon Bostian of New York. What we're told is that he made an initial appearance before the Philadelphia police, gave them a short statement, but then left.

The police brought him back for further questioning. He had an attorney with him. He did not want to speak at that time. And the NTSB has said that they have not spoken to the engineer Brandon Bostian. So, that is something that they'll be looking to do, of course, in the days and weeks ahead as this investigation proceeds -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Brian Todd, thanks so much.

The lawyer for Brandon Bostian, the train's engineer, says his client has no memory of the crash itself and, quote, "no explanation for what happened." Attorney Robert Goggin tells ABC News that Bostian voluntarily turned over his cell phone and a blood sample to investigators. Bostian has declined to make a formal statement to police.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, he places the blame squarely on Bostian's shoulders, but that's the conclusion the NTSB team leader says is premature.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER (D), PHILADELPHIA: Clearly, he was reckless and irresponsible in his actions. I don't know what was going on with him. I don't know what was going on in the cab. But there's really no excuse that could be offered, literally unless he had a heart attack.

ROBERT SUMWALT, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: Well, I'm going to distance myself from such remarks. We're here to conduct a very fact-based, non- emotional investigation, and to make comments like that is inflammatory at this point. We just want to find out what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You think the mayor was wrong in saying that?

SUMWALT: Well, you're going to not hear the NTSB making comments like that. We want to get the facts before we start making judgments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The 32-year-old Bostian has been with Amtrak for nine years, first as a train conductor before becoming an engineer in 2010.

Of the seven known killed in the crash, we now have the names of five. Jim Gaines, a video software architect for the "Associated Press". Derrick Griffith who was dean of student affairs at Medgar Evers College in New York. Rachel Jacobs, a small tech company CEO, Wells Fargo executive Abid Gilani.

And 20-year-old U.S. Naval Academy midshipman Justin Zemser, who his family grieved for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN ZEMSER, MOTHER OF NAVY MIDSHIPMAN KILLED IN CRASH: Our son was Midshipman Justin Zemser. He was born on March 25th, 1995. He was his high school valedictorian and was just finishing up his second year as midshipman at the United States Naval Academy. He was a loving son, nephew, and cousin. This tragedy has shocked us all in the worst way and we wish to spend this time grieving with our close family and friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: One passenger remains missing this morning. Minnesota chemical company Robert Gildersleeve. His family says he boarded the train, but so far his whereabouts are unknown.

When those seven cars derailed, some of those train cars were left standing almost upright.

[04:35:01] Others were torn nearly to shreds by the force of the crash. What happened to passengers inside of the compartments really varies just as much. Scores of people were able to walk away. Others describe scenes that sound just horrible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX HELFMAN, PASSENGER ON DERAILED AMTRAK TRAIN: People were everywhere. There were suitcases everywhere, suitcases falling on top of people. The chairs had actually dislodged some chairs that had fallen on people, people bleeding from their faces, broken bones and broken legs and broken arms. Anything you can really imagine. That's what happened.

GABY RUDY, PASSENGER ON DERAILED AMTRAK TRAIN: So the person behind me lost an arm unfortunately and a lot of the women in front of me were bleeding from their heads. That's about it that I saw on the train. But at the hospital, there were a lot of very seriously injured people unfortunately.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I started hearing people, I was on the side. So, someone told me I had been delirious and they've carried me off. My shoes are not my shoes. Somewhere I lost my shoes. A lady gave me her shoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in the last train. And for me, it was a very sudden incident. It started off with a little bit of shaking and I was sort of minding my own business, living my own world, listening to my iPod.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: So, you didn't actually hear anything. You're listening to music.

CALEB BONHAM, PASSENGER ON DERAILED AMTRAK TRAIN: No, I've heard reports that people have heard things. I've heard reports that people recognized like they heard a buckling sound or they saw how fast the train was going. I was sort of just dazed off and listening to my music, that sort of thing. And all of a sudden, I felt a bit of a shake and saw the computer kind of floating and I was on the other side, and it was black.

COOPER: That quick?

BONHAM: To me, it was that quick. Absolute tragedy overall, and we were very fortunate to be able to walk out. I have seen some very sad things. There were some young ladies on the train that have lost their teeth because of what happened. They were bloodied on the entire train. There were some women that were stuck on the ground and there was a group of people that were really trying to help them lift these ladies up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It is unclear right now when the section of track in Philadelphia could reopen for travel. NTSB investigators are expected to remain on the site for up to a week. Two cars remain at the accident site. They're there for a 3D laser scan.

The rest of the cars have been moved to a secure facility for further investigation. Amtrak service suspended still between New York and Philadelphia. There's some modified service in the Northeast, including between Washington and Philadelphia, and between New York and Boston. Of course, the crash is raising questions about safety.

CNN Money correspondent Cristina Alesci is here with that.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Turns out trains are a very safe way to get around. CNN money calculated how many people are killed for every 1 billion passenger miles on different modes of transportation.

It turns out motorcycles, not a surprise, are by far the most dangerous, 217 deaths for a billion passenger miles. Next, cars, 33,000 people die in car accidents every year. That equals to about six deaths for a billion passenger miles. Amtrak and commuter rail are safer than cars with less than one death per billion miles.

The safest form of travel is airplanes. Small planes or air taxis are responsible for most deaths in that category. But if you want to make trains safer, we have to spend more money.

This will become a huge debate. We don't know if better technology would have prevented this particular crash. We do know that the technology exists to make trains safer. The question comes down to the dollar bills and who's going to pay for it.

BERMAN: NTSB officials outright said that if they had the technology in place, this crash would not have happened. So, that will be a discussion for time to come. Thank you, Cristina. Appreciate it.

ALESCI: Of course.

BERMAN: We want to follow the latest on the Amtrak crash all morning long. Plus, still no trace of the U.S. military helicopter missing after the deadly earthquake in Nepal. We are live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:42:39] BERMAN: The breaking news this morning, investigators looking at Tuesday night's train derailment in Philadelphia are now focused on excessive speed as the cause. Officials say the train hit a curve on Philadelphia's north side, hit that curve at 106 miles per hour. More than twice the posted speed allowed there. The death toll is now up to seven. More than 200 people were injured. Eight of them are listed in critical condition.

I want to turn now to the earthquake in Nepal. The desperate search by foot and air is finding no sign of a missing U.S. military helicopter. The crew was helping with relief efforts and lost contact with the ground. Six U.S. Marines and two service members from Nepal were onboard.

I want to bring in CNN's Will Ripley live from the base of operations from the search in Kathmandu.

Good morning, Will.

All right. We are having communication issues with will right now. Very difficult on the ground in Nepal. Communications still sketchy after the ravaging earthquakes.

Do we have you, Will?

All right. We're going to get back to Will Ripley as soon as we can. But the search continues for that missing U.S. helicopter.

In the meantime, an American citizen is among five people killed in a terrifying attack in Kabul. Three gunmen stormed the park palace guest house hotel Wednesday night trapping more than 50 people inside. There was a five-hour standoff after the Afghan special forces killed all three attackers. In just the last few hours, the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. The identities of the victims have not been released.

A senior Secret Service agent implicated in the alleged drunk driving accident at the White house is retiring. Officials say that Marc Connolly, the number two agent on President Obama's protective detail, is leaving the agency. That news comes just as an inspector general report on the incident is being released. The report says Connolly and a second agent George Ogilvie had been drinking and allegedly drove through or by a secure area outside the White House disrupting an active bomb investigation. Ogilvie remains on administrative leave.

President Obama hosts a summit meeting with leaders and officials from Persian Gulf countries today. The president will welcome representatives from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

[04:45:04] They're going to go to Camp David for full day of talks. The Gulf nations are seeking more weapons and training from the U.S. military, along with an upgrade in their status to major non-NATO allies.

The jury that convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is deliberating to sentence him to life or the death penalty. The Tsarnaev jury got the case on Wednesday following closing arguments on sentencing. Let's get the latest from CNN's Deborah Feyerick in Boston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Deliberations have begun. The jury now deciding the fate of marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Now, in closing arguments, both sides made three critical points.

First, the punishment. Prosecutors say that giving Dzhokhar Tsarnaev death would not be giving him what he wants, which is allegedly martyrdom. It would be giving him in their words, what he deserves.

Tsarnaev's lawyers on the other hand say that life in prison is not a lesser sentence. It is another sentence, one in which you would be locked away in a bleak environment, all but forgotten.

The second point, brother Tamerlan. Prosecutors say that nowhere in the boat note, the boat manifesto justifying what he did. Does Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ever say my brother made me do it? Tsarnaev's lawyers say that Dzhokhar grew up the invisible kid. If it were not for Tamerlan, then none of this would ever have happened.

The third issue, remorse. Prosecutors say Dzhokhar's actions immediately after the bombing when he went to buy milk show he was not and is not remorseful. But Tsarnaev's lawyers say in the past two years, he has grown. He is sorry. He is remorseful.

And Tsarnaev's lawyers made the key point, there is no law that requires that death be imposed. It is now up to the jury, the judge making clear that this is an individual decision that each of the jurors will have to make -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Thanks, Deborah Feyerick in Boston.

We have new information this morning on what might have caused the deadly Amtrak train derailment. Why investigators knew from the start this train must have been speeding. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:50:54] BERMAN: The latest on the deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia. Federal investigators have now recovered the black box from the wreckage. The New York-bound train was traveling more 100 miles an hour when it derailed. That is more than twice the posted speed limit. The engineer Brandon Bostian of New York has no recollection of the crash, at least according to his attorney.

CNN's Tom Foreman in the CNN virtual studio has more on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The reason investigators knew they had to look at excessive speed early was things like this, this surveillance video, which we've all seen. If you look up there when the trains rushing past, you know the size of the locomotors, the size of some of the cars, and compare them to a fix point, you can calculate the speed. It was clear that just 200 yards short of the point of impact, it was going faster than it should have been.

Let's explain why, and I'll bring in the model of the train. The locomotive on the train like this is extremely heavy, about 97 metric tons. That's pushing up toward a quarter million pounds. If it's traveling 50 miles an hour as it should have been here, all of the physics work out fine.

Yes, there is force toward the outside of the curve just as there would be in a car if you went around the corner quickly. But it's all balanced out.

Push this up to 100 miles an hour, and that force becomes much greater. Now, maybe up here, with a low center of gravity, very heavy amount of weight sitting low, it doesn't tip over. But not necessarily the same back there.

Go back to the passenger cars, and that's where we had passengers describing the feeling of flying up off the rails. We know that is possible because of the different center of gravity and because we have seen it before in Spain. This train was supposed to be going 50 miles an hour, it went over 100, and look how it slings the passenger cars off behind it, and the locomotive gets pulled aside as well.

All of that is why investigators knew that they had to look at the possibility that this train was just going too fast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. This morning, we have a CNN exclusive. The winner of last night's celebrity "Jeopardy."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX TREBEK, JEOPARDY: Wager was 20,500. He is the winner, $42,900.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Yes, that is me. I somehow managed to defeat Mo Rocca from CBS and Wendi McLendon-Covey, star of "The Goldbergs". I won $50,000 for a great charity "Friends of Karen.

So, here now with an exclusive interview with the "Jeopardy" champ, CNN senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I have a lot of questions, John.

BERMAN: Go for it.

STELTER: This is a big moment. What is the secret to winning jeopardy?

BERMAN: The secret is the buzzer. Here's the thing -- it is not who gets the question first or knows the answer first. You have to wait until Alex is done asking the question and the light goes on. Only then you can buzz in, and if you buzz in too early, you get locked out.

STELTER: You felt like you had the buzzer advantage?

BERMAN: Look, the first question was about Boston, which is the only thing I know about. I didn't get it because I buzzed too early. It was after I figured that out.

STELTER: It must have thrown you off your game.

BERMAN: I threw me way off my game. Wendi McLendon-Covey who I think knew every answer is really smart. I think the buzzer thing never quite clicked for her which is why --

STELTER: Clicked. Funny.

BERMAN: Yes, exactly.

STELTER: And you and Mo Rocca have been friends for years.

BERMAN: I know Mo since the early '90s. He graduated college, with the same college, he graduated right before I showed up. So, I've known ever since.

STELTER: Are you still friends now?

BERMAN: We are friendly. We've never quite as close --

STELTER: Have you all talked?

BERMAN: He is so smart. The president is so smart. Mo has written books on presidents. He hosted a cooking show.

STELTER: Right.

BERMAN: If there's one thing he knows, it's trivia. So, when I saw him there, my stomach turned. STELTER: So, celebrity "Jeopardy," didn't the questions are a little

easier for the celebrity?

BERMAN: Not easy to me.

STELTER: No? And tell us about the charity, Friends of Karen.

BERMAN: Friends of Karen is a charity that helps the families of kids who are fighting really, really tough illnesses. It's direct assistance. It gives them money to pay for things that they really need.

STELTER: So, you watched with your kids. Did they think you were going to win?

BERMAN: We taped a few weeks ago. I didn't tell my kids who won because I was nervous that they would go to school and talk about it. So, we watched together last night.

I was not winning for most of the game. Mo was ahead of me almost the entire game. My boys were convinced I was losing. They were getting really bummed out. I'm like, guys, stick around, stick around, stick around.

And when it was finally over, they gave me the biggest hugs. One of my boys gave a kiss and told me he was proud of me which sort of like melted my heart.

STELTER: I think winning "Jeopardy" was my dream when I was like 7 years old. I wonder if it's been your dream for a long, long time.

BERMAN: I'm trying to play it cool.

STELTER: You seem like you're trying to play cool.

BERMAN: Look, like Barry Sanders said when you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before. So, I'm trying to pretend it is not the biggest thing to ever happen to me, but it's not easy because it's sort of the biggest thing that ever happen to me.

STELTER: Are you smarter than John Berman? It's a great game to play.

BERMAN: A lot of people for whom that answer is yes. There was a CNN quiz show which I didn't win.

STELTER: I do recall that.

BERMAN: I was beaten by Jake Tapper and Alisyn Camerota. Erin Burnett and I went down hard in that game.

STELTER: I'm hoping for a rematch to that one or another "Jeopardy" around.

BERMAN: Tapper has been taunting me on Twitter. I don't know if he is up for it. STELTER: Oh, those are strong words. We'll have to get his response.

BERMAN: Brian, thank you so much for being here with us and bringing us this CNN exclusive.

STELTER: Thank you for letting me hijack your show to interview you.

BERMAN: Tomorrow, Ken Jennings with Brian Stelter.

All right. EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

BERMAN: Speeding out of control as it flew off the tracks. New information this morning about the deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia. What the train's engineer is and is not saying this morning. We also have new information about the victims and how available technology might have prevented this tragedy.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I am John Berman.