What do you say?

As a reporter, you often report about stories that have a tragic ending. That is one of the reasons it is considered a story. Well, yesterday I was covering a fatal car crash on South Temple in Salt Lake City. I had been on the crash scene all morning, and so it had become familiar in a way where, like most people who just stand and stare, I don't. I just do my job. Well it turns out the driver responsible for the crash was driving under the influence when he ran a red light and t-boned a car coming through the intersection, killing the 25-year-old driver of the other car, and sending the 29-year-old passenger to the hospital with life threatening injuries. While I felt the story was sad and tragic, it did not really hit me until later that day right as I was about to go live.

I was standing next to the intersection about 5 minutes to the top of the noon show when I noticed this small family, a mom, dad, daughter, and friend, walk towards the intersection. By then, everything had been cleaned up and all that remained on scene were a few marks on the road where the cars had it. Also, sand on the road, where the clean up crews removed blood and oil from the road. Anyway, while I was standing there I watched this family as they approached. They were calm, and appeared to be talking about the crash. While watching them, I suddenly got a sick feeling. This was the family of the victim, I just had a feeling. The father and daughter walked up to the side of the road, about 3 feet from where I was standing and just stood there. I couldn't do anything, because I was live in 30 seconds. Then the anchors tossed to me, and I started in on my script. As I did that, the father stood next to our camera watching me, listening. I described what happened, and the man that was killed. I then talked about the other people involved and their injuries. I finished with the fact that the driver walked away from the crash, and is now possibly going to face a felony DUI charge for the death of the other driver. As soon as I tossed it back to the anchors, the father took a step towards me and said that the driver that was killed was his son. When I looked up, I could see tears coming down his cheeks from behind his sun glasses. My stomach hit the floor. I told him how sorry I was for his loss and asked if there was anything I could tell him about the crash. He then told me, he learned more from standing there watching me in give my live report than he knew before that moment. He didn't know anything other than his son was killed in a car accident.

After talking to the family for a few minutes, giving my condolences for their loss, I left. I didn't bug them for information, I didn't ask about his history, I just left. It was one of those moments where I know the family needed to be alone with their thoughts. One thing the mother said to me, was that they didn't know what to do next. I told her, that feeling is what I see a lot of people go though when they are put in this position. What do you say?

In reporting we see a lot of tragic stuff. But we rarely see the family of the person who just died, and so soon after it happens. I can honestly say it changed how I feel about reporting stories like this. Before this story, it was facts, here's what happened. Now, because I had this family who had just lost their son, watch me as I was telling his story, I will keep in mind that the people who are grieving, are probably watching. I will ask myself, if they were standing next to me, would I change the way I say this or that.


3/23/10 KSL.COM
By Shara Park:

SALT LAKE CITY -- One man is dead and four others injured after a car crash on South Temple Tuesday morning. Police say they now think alcohol was involved. Police believe the 26-year-old driver of a black Honda Passport was driving under the influence when his car smashed into a silver Volkswagen Passat, killing the driver, 25-year-old Michael Peterson of Sandy.

Police say they believe the driver of the black Honda ran a red light at the intersection of E Street and South Temple where the crash occurred around 1:45 a.m. They say the silver Volkswagen was turning east and was struck on the driver side door, just as it had entered the middle of the intersection.

"There were witnesses eastbound [on South Temple] at the intersection right there that were stopped at a red light," said Sgt. Dennis McGowan of the Salt Lake City Police Department. "That's one of the reasons we're presuming the light was green for the VW and red for the Honda."

The crash was so violent that investigators initially had a tough time figuring out which directions the two vehicles were going. Police say when the SUV struck the car, Peterson was killed on impact. His 29-year-old passenger was transported to the hospital with major injuries to his chest, spine and pelvis. The two passengers in the black Honda were also transported to the hospital in critical but stable condition. Both of them had back injuries and one had a broken leg. The driver of the black Honda originally walked away from the crash, but was later transported to the hospital with internal injuries.

Lt. Brian Purvis said, "Both of the vehicles have suffered severe damage, but none of the occupants had to be extricated. They've all been transported to the hospital."

Police say they're now screening charges against the driver of the Passport with the city prosecutor. They say it's possible he could be charged with a felony DUI.

March 8-12, 2010

This has been a week of crazy stories.

March 8th, 2010:
This story made me so mad. When I got to work, I was told about this woman who shook a baby with such force that doctors thought she might be blind. On this day I got to go see Kami Tollefson in person as she sat before a judge. When she walked into the court room she was hiding behind her family, but then I sat behind her and I know it made her uncomfortable. Tollefson is facing 3 felony counts of child abuse, for abusing not only the child who almost went blind, but 2 others under the age of 2. One had a broken pelvis, another was strangled.

Left: The baby girl who suffered shaken baby syndrome and almost went blind.

Right: Kami Tollefson (in white) headed into court.




March 9th, 2010:

Josh Powell and his alleged trip to a strip club the day his wife disappeared. For 3 months now I have covered every angle of this story. From the day 28-year-old Susan Powell went missing, to all of the searches, services projects, and vigils in between. After 3 months and still no sign of Susan it seemed like the story was starting to fall asleep. Police had named Josh Powell the only person of interest in her disappearance, but the guy is so weird and quiet, police have not been able to pin anything on him. All he is saying at this point is that he took his 2 young boys camping at midnight in a snow storm the night his wife suddenly vanished (yeah right). Anyway, back to Monday. So my buddy Andrew Adams broke a story about several people in the Duces Wild strip club who reported to police that they saw Josh Powell in their club the day his wife disappeared, when he was supposedly supposed to be camping. I then had the awesome job of going to police about their claims. Police said they did follow up on the reports, but because there were no pictures, eyewitness accounts couldn't be trusted. So, once again, nothing on Josh Powell.

March 10th: WVC Murder
On Wednesday during the morning show we notice that one of the other stations had a breaking news story about a suspicious death in West Valley City. So after my last live hit, I jump in a photographers car and we head out there. When we get to the scene, there is one cop car, and crime tape around the stair case of the building. That's it. So at first I start talking to neighbors and no one knows what happened. They all saw police at the apartment complex the night before, but no one really knew why. So as I am sitting in the truck waiting for police to call me back a guy taps on my window. He's a little scary looking, but nice too. So I roll down my window and he tells me he is the uncle of the man who killed the woman in the apartment. My jaw dropped. I said excuse me? He then proceeded to tell me that his nephew had called the day before and said he had killed her. So the uncle went to the apartment to check on her, and when she didn't answer, he called police. They later entered the apartment and found her beaten to death. Anyway, not wanting to scare this guy away, I ask him if he would tell me all of this on camera. He says yes. SCORE! I then jump out and for the next 15 minutes he tells me all about this guy, his criminal history, his violent past, and about the woman he just killed. I couldn't have asked for a better interview. This guy was nice, and composed, yet rough. He himself was an ex-con and was trying to get his life back together.

Amway, I touched base with police and they confirmed everything the murder suspects uncle told me. They also informed me that they had arrested the nephew on homicide. I was the first to know, so I got to break the news. Got to love that!

March 11, 2010:
Midvale Police and Joint Criminal Apprehension Team officers arrest a wanted fugitive.
He had slipped though their fingers once, but this time they got him. he was wanted for burglary.
March 12, 2010:
TRAX Train crushes a car, killing 2 people and critically injuring 2 others. This story was so sad to report. The 21-year-old driver of the vehicle made the decision to drive around the crossing arm while it was down warning that a train was coming. As soon as he got onto the tracks, the train came at 55mph and t-boned the car. The driver was instantly killed, the 18-year-old passenger behind him was killed, and 2 others on the right side of the car were critically injured. The female passenger almost didn't make it, but somehow survived. What's even more sad, is that these young adults were all strangers to each other. They were in SLC for a training conference with KFC. They were training to be shift managers at their local stores. They were going from one KFC to another to observe how the shifts were run. Now, because of one bad decision, the lives of these 4 people are changed forever, their families are now grieving, their friends, and fellow employees are devastated, and for what? To save 30 seconds. No matter how you look at it, it is just sad.

I also got an email from a man in Georgia about this story. He told me he was going to use it for his youth group. I thought about it, and I see the bigger message with it now. How many times in our lives do we ignore the warning signs, the flashing lights, or the horn telling us to stop. Everyday people are faced with choices, and how many look for these signs.