Bad boy, bad boy!
. . .whatcha' gonna' do, when they. . .
My view on the world? It's not a safe place. It's never been a safe place. It's never going to be a safe place. I don't even think it's meant to be safe. To me, it's not a pessimistic view and I don't live in fear. Matter of fact, I often go where sane people wouldn't. I try to lead a cautious life because my experience is often with the worst that could happen.
My assignment today was to work with a reporter on an early morning traffic accident on the 10 Freeway in Upland, California. Four people died and four others were injured. It was caused by a drunk driver and involved three vehicles. Out the door, it's not going to be a happy feel-good story. We do our interviews and shoot what we need. We set up to go live from the parking lot of the Pavillions grocery store just off the freeway on Mountain Avenue in Upland.
We got the usual group dropping by the van (interrupting our work) asking for info and just being nosey about the truck. Just before our live-shot, a guy walks over and starts asking questions. We politely (always start off friendly) asked him to allow us a few minutes to complete our live-shot. He seemed reasonable, but seemed agitated. He mumbles a few things to himself and steps back, but not very far. We do our liveshot with one eye on him and as soon as we're done, he begins to ask to see our media credentials. He demands to know our names and questions our "right" to be set up in the public parking lot. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. . .naw, this guy's a nutcase. The reporter gets in the van and the guy stands at the door demanding we give him our names and show our credentials. Keep in mind we're set up next to our KCAL9 microwave truck with the mast up, camera and lighting gear set and we've just done a liveshot. I know I'm just trying to make sense of a situation
that's not ever going to make sense.
He parks himself in front of the camera and proclaims that he's got every right to be there too.
We call the cops.
Our new friend stands there, tells me I better not videotape him and starts using his cell phone.
I roll tape on the guy until a cop gets there. The cops go through the whole routine. Hands behind your head, search and questions. The guy actually put the first cop on scene a little on edge and he called right away for backup. We find out later our nutcase is on parole for minor theft (gee, I wondered where he got the nice "HATE" prison tattoo on his scrawny knuckles) and one of his calls was to our station. He actually got through to our assignment desk and wanted them to tell him our names. The police convince him to go about his business and we finish our second liveshot relatively without incident.
You know what the point of this is? This guy could have had a gun or a knife. Even though we were just doing our job and were no threat to anyone, his intent could have been to do us harm. It happens. It's not the first time and it won't be the last time a news crew is threatened by some random person who happens to be angry or just unstable enough to be violent. It happens so infrequently that we sometimes forget that it can happen.
You can mind your own business and live a cautious life, but there are no guarantees. An animal in the wild, a drunk driver, or a nutcase in a supermarket parking lot. I'm reminded, maybe more often than others, life can be short and it shouldn't be taken for granted.
Let's beCareful out there.
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10 Blogger comments:
It is always the 'loose cannons' that are most scary to me. You take care.
granola-land bri. Reason #3,892 why i don't live in Ca anymore. Out here, worst danger at work's probably steppin on a rattlesnake, but at least i KNOW why he'd bite....Love your family. Keep em close. and move em to the country asap
. . .but we like granola.
I have listened to more than one conversation where people say things like "This wouldn't have happened 50 years ago...blah, blah". Well, that's not true. Things were bad 50 years ago, too....just on a different scale. 50 years from now people will make that same statement thinking it's true. And sadly, this means the scale will have only gotten bigger.
So I agree, it's not safe, never has been, never will be.
I think we develop different skill sets that allow us to function. I'd be interested in knowing the crime stats over the years. Certain types of crime may have risen, but others I'm sure have dropped.
Be careful out there, BF. In our headlines this morning was the story of a beloved teacher/coach in a tiny community next to ours. (The kind of place where everyone knows everyone else; where people move TO to get AWAY FROM crime.) His body was found in the local middle school where he had gone to drop off a video tape of the football game his high school team won on Saturday. Sad and senseless. He leaves a wife, 3 small sons, grieving students and community.
Crime Stats, i guess this is where i come in :), as the resident Criminologist.
Many types of crime has come down, such as car theft,robbery and home invasion. In fact you may be surprised to know, Australias figures for these types of crime top Americas!
However,assault, sexual assault, drug offences are on the rise. Homicide remains steady....although still at an outrages level, this is where America's rates out do Australia's by a massive percentage.
If i had the time, or when i get the time, i will provide you with the actual figures for all the crime. I'm up to my armpits in work and University papers..gggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Stay Safe!!
Before the 70s and educational entertainment like Phil Donahue (great man), most crimes against children and many against women were not reported to anyone. In the late 70's we also began to see infotainment and marketing of the news...these things shape our PERCEPTION of the crime rate. Actual crime rates are directly related to economy and whether mental institutions have been closed or not. Remember the 80's, a huge percentage of institutions shut thier doors after kicking the mentally ill out on the streets.
I admire what you do. I also admire your outlook and your view on things.
You are exactly right. It is a very dangerous world we live in and we can choose to live in fear or we can be cautious and aware and just live.
My girlfriend, confronted a man who was jumping fences running with a car stereo recently as he hopped our back fence in his flee.. I chewed her out BIG time for confronting him. He could have had a knife or a gun and he was clearly breaking the law as it were. We phoned the police gave a description and a report and let them handle it. I told her NEVER do that again!
There is a really fine line between bravery and stupidity. We can't always do what's safe or we'd never grow. It's also true that we can't always take the risk. It's all about balance.
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