When a tractor trailer barreled down the seafront promenade in Nice, France Thursday night, longtime CNN correspondent Bob Franken watched from an apartment he and his family had rented. Within minutes he was on the street, reporting. He was one of the first on the air Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. ET.
This morning on MSNBC, Franken told Chris Jansing:
“We were here for Bastille Day, not by design we were watching fireworks display from our balcony, not down there, which was a good decision. We heard the screaming, saw people running away in panic after the fireworks display. We had gone to the back of the apartment. We immediately, reporters that we both are, headed to the scene and saw one of the most gruesome scenes I’ve ever seen in my personal or professional life, bodies strewn all over the place, and the track had ended a mile and a half away.”
Franken spent nearly 20 years as a CNN political correspondent, departing in 2007. He’s under a contributor contract with MSNBC.