14 DAY TRIAL // CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper is currently in Haiti, where, accompanied by his team, including producer, cameraman and photographer, he’s documenting the disaster left behind by the recent earthquake. The situation in Haiti is now one that’s forcing reporters and journalists to cross previously respected boundaries, because they too become involved in what is happening there, lending a hand if they find themselves in a situation when help is needed. And there are plenty of those.
This is precisely what Cooper did just the other day when, as he was reporting on the looting that goes on in some regions of the country, he saw a young boy hit in the head and in danger of being trampled upon. Looters were ransacking a store, while others were waiting for them outside where, armed with whatever they could, they would rob the robbers. From the roof of the store, others threw stones and pieces of concrete at the crowd below.
One such missile hit a young boy in the head, and he fell down. As per his own account, Cooper saw him and, fearing he’d be trampled to death or that those on the roof would see the boy down and continue hurling rocks at him, he went in to get him. He got the boy to a safe place, but noticing that he was stunned and could hardly stand, put his camera down and carried him past the makeshift barricade. Once there, the boy was handed to someone else, offered a wet towel to put on his bleeding head wound and then removed. Cooper doesn’t know what happened to the boy next.
Video of Cooper, also dubbed “the Silver Fox” by the online media, has made the rounds and has been generally met with nothing but praise. Though there is a certain feeling of uneasiness while watching the video – not because of Cooper’s act but rather because of the way in which it is presented – it’s clear that what he did took courage and, above all, compassion and a wonderful heart. They now call Anderson Cooper the “Haitian hero” though, as the New York Daily News points out, there are many other similar situations that are not documented on camera.
Below is the video of Anderson Cooper putting his journalistic duties on hold while he helped out a boy fallen victim to looters. *Discretion is advised as the footage is very graphic.