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

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.