Boy, 9, whose dad died of Covid stuns CNN hosts into silence: ‘I’m the man of the house now’
A police escort awaited Noah at his school, to honour his late father
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.CNN’s anchors were stunned into silence this week when they interviewed a nine-year-old boy in Las Vegas whose father, a police officer, recently died of Covid.
Noah Swanger was speaking about the moment a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police guard of honour escorted him into school on his first day of fourth grade on Monday.
Noah’s father Jason Swanger, 41, died on 24 June of Covid-19 complications after seven years of service to the force.
During John Berman and Brianna Keilar’s weekend New Day segment on CNN, the hosts talked to Noah and his mother Christa Swanger about the kind gesture of the police escort to honour Jason.
Ms Swanger choked up with emotion while talking about her husband, but the youngest family member Noah looked composed as he described being nervous for his first day of school.
“It was overwhelming and since I had a lot of nerves, it calmed my nerves down,” said Noah.
The video footage shared by LVMP and played on the CNN programme shows Noah arriving at his school to a squad of officers waiting for him. He was seen wearing a white shirt along with a tie.
“I wore a tie to school because I’m the man of the house now,” Noah said on the CNN show.
The hosts were briefly struck dumb by the answer, before Berman said: “You look great Noah! And I’m sure your mother feels blessed and lucky to have you there as the man of the house. And you wore the tie well, and I know how proud your father would be that chose to wear the tie.”
The police department lauded their late colleague Jason, saying he went the extra mile to help people.
“He was known as a devoted father and husband who went the extra mile for people in need and dedicated himself to policing to make a difference in other people’s lives,” the department’s press release read.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments