Lots of Breaking News: Ferry Crash and Crane Collapse

It was a busy day for breaking news in New York.

CBS 2 broke in after a commuter ferry crashed into Pier 11 at South Street Seaport at around 8:45 a.m..  Mary Calvi handled the early coverage and was soon joined by Rob Morrison.  Jim Smith reported from above the scene in Chopper 2 and, because of a chopper sharing agreement with Fox 5, Smith was also heard reporting "in SkyFox."

John Slattery reported from the pier via Mobile 2 signal by 10:22.  At 10:51, Sean Hennessey was live at New York Downtown Hospital, where around 20 of the injured had been taken, and the camera showed very close-up images of patients being loaded off ambulances.  Dr. Max Gomez later joined the coverage from the desk with analysis on what types of injuries might have been suffered.

As if often the case during special report situations lately, WLNY switched to airing CBS network programming, so viewers looking for "Let's Make a Deal" and "The Price is Right" didn't miss their shows if they knew where to look.  CBS 2 ended their special report at 11:30 and included more coverage during the regular noon newscast with reports from Slattery, Hennessey, Gomez as well as Tony Aiello in the newsroom and Steve Langford at the scene.

CBS 2 News interrupted regular programming again just before 3:00 with news of a 380-foot crane collapse in Long Island City, Queens.  Dana Tyler handled the brief special report with Chopper 2 coverage from Joe Biermann.  The station switched to "Dr. Phil" at 3:04.

CBS 2 broke in once again at 4:15 to carry an NTSB press conference with coverage anchored by Maurice DuBois until 4:30.

CBS 2 News Covers Second Times Building Climber

Just minutes after reporting about the "French Spiderman" Alain Robert, who climbed the 52-story New York Times Building earlier today, Dana Tyler announced that it was happening again. Yes, a second man was scaling the building's wall. CBS 2 was the first station to report the news at 6:05 and immediately tossed to shots from Dave Carlin's position on the ground. Pictures from Chopper 2 followed soon after and Joe Biermann provided additional information. At one point, an "exclusive" graphic was put up but that was quickly discontinued after it was clear that the other stations had joined in the live coverage of the odd scene.

CBS 2 went to a commercial break at 6:12 and returned with some of the day's other news, weather and sports (which was reduced to just a story about the Yankees) mixed in with additional live coverage. Tyler explained to viewers that the station did not want to follow it continuously because of the possibility that it could end tragically. At 6:17, Biermann noted, "He is getting tired."

At the end of the 6:00 news, Tyler said that they would have more on the climber at 11:00.

WCBSTV.com has a story about the incident here.

Update: WCBSTV.com has the video of the initial breaking news report here... and here are some snapshots:


Tagging the story about the day's first climber with some video of other notable NYC stunts.


CBS 2 had a live shot almost immediately because they had been covering the first climber.


Chopper 2 and Joe Biermann on the scene.


The 52-story New York Times building in Times Square.


A police officer tells Dave Carlin to move out of the way.


The "exclusive" graphic did not stay on the screen for long.

Chopper 2 Tour

Kevin and David tell me that CBSNEWYORK.com has added a slideshow of Chopper 2! It includes pictures of Jim Smith and Joe Biermann, and Chopper 2 covering some big news stories. To see this virtual tour, including video of a Chopper 2 landing, click here.