(The video is graphic.)
(The video is graphic.)
As I finished up a live shot recently and walked back to the truck, I watched a group of people fighting behind bushes and trees. At first I couldn’t tell what was going on. It appeared something wasn’t right so I called 911.
As you see in the video, it went from bad to worse. Some of the people left, but not all of them.
My initial reaction was to run up to stop the fight. However, there were several people involved and I couldn’t tell whether they had guns, knives or other weapons.
I have covered law enforcement for years and learned this: if I get seriously hurt, there often isn’t anyone left to call 911. Help for all is delayed.
When I can help someone involved in a car crash or safely help a victim of a crime, I do so every time.
My photographer was quick thinking and rolled tape to capture the suspects’ faces and document what was going on. You can imagine what impact that could have on a law enforcement investigation.
What you can’t see in the video is me on the phone with emergency services, going up to the victim, keeping him calm and relaying as much information as I could to police and paramedics over the phone.
The whole situation was unfortunate. So is leaving viewers with the impression we don’t care. The situation was unsetting, saddening and something we all thought about for quite some time that night.
I applaud people for wanting to help this man. I hope this blog post gives another perspective. We all have to make the best choices we can in a very short amount of time.
It wasn’t safe for us to rush the men. Once they left, we did the best we could to help the victim. I think we made the right decision. In this situation there was no easy decision.
