On the road again: D-FW stations rev their motors for another live police pursuit
07/30/07 03:53 PM
By ED BARK
They keep telling us it's for our own good. Never mind that it primarily provides a showy picture story with a predictable yet uncertain ending.
Led by Fox4 and CBS11, D-FW's four major TV news providers again joined in the live police pursuit of a runaway idiot Monday afternoon. They broke from the starting gate just a few hours after one of Fox4's helicopters made an emergency landing after developing out-of-the-blue engine failure. Thankfully, none of the three passengers was seriously hurt.
Last week, however, four TV news reporters were killed in Phoenix when two station helicopters collided in mid-air while covering a police chase. That's a very sobering backdrop for the events of mid-Monday afternoon, when Fox4 and CBS11 knocked out regularly scheduled entertainment programming from 2:30 to 3 p.m. before NBC5 and Belo8 likewise went live at around 3 p.m.
CBS11 anchor Doug Dunbar kept referring to the obvious questions being raised in many viewer's minds.
Why cover this? Because "it is a threat to public safety this afternoon, and you should be aware of it," he said.
How dangerous or foolhardy is it for all those news helicopters? "They're talking to each other on the radio, ensuring the safest possible environment while they cover this," Dunbar assured. The news choppers also are flying well above a Texas Dept. of Public Safety copter so as not to get in its way, he said.
Chopper 4's Scott Wallace took the same tack, telling viewers that the runaway SUV driver with out-of-state license plates is "a real danger to the traveling public."
Wow, how did we ever survive before the era of live TV pictures at any time from anywhere?
It all finally ended at 3:23 p.m., when the motorist pulled over after his left front tire went flat courtesy of spike strips thrown in his path by police officers. He had swerved and wound his way at sometimes high speeds through Garland, Mesquite, Plano, McKinney and Allen before being apprehended in Richardson.
So was the public really served? Anchors stir visions of mothers grabbing their toddlers and racing indoors to avoid coming within even a 25-mile radius of an unpredictable driver. But seriously, those motorists already on the roads weren't likely to be swayed by TV coverage they couldn't see. In reality, the risks taken by the news station choppers seem to far outweigh any dangers to the public at large.
It can be a transfixing picture story, though. Stations in Los Angeles have been on these scents for years. Now they're staples in markets large and small. Hell, more people watch this stuff than NASCAR.
The driver, Ron Teague, later told reporters that he was only trying to get his sick cat to a veterinarian. A star is born. Make that two of them. Only in America, where the news just keeps getting dumb and dumber.