Updated: 12/26/07 @ 6 PM
This was no normal newscast at WLS-TV in Chicago over the weekend when a mini van slammed into the studio during a live broadcast. No one was injured in the Sunday night crash.
CHICAGO (AP) -- A man accused of crashing his minivan into a glass-walled Chicago TV studio during the station's late news Sunday is behind bars facing multiple felony charges.
At a Christmas Day court hearing, the judge set bond at $125,000 for 25-year-old Gerald Richardson. He's charged with criminal damage to property, resisting arrest, reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle without insurance.
No one was injured when police say the van he was driving slammed through the glass wall into the WLS-TV studio. The crash was heard on the air and the news anchor was visibly startled during the newscast.
Richardson's attorney says her client has a history of mental health problems. Prosecutors claim the man "wanted to be on the news."
Double click the "Play" button to watch the video below. If you can't view it on this page: CLICK HERE
Information courtesy: The Associated Press
1 comment:
Frank, I saw this video earlier today and I have to give the anchor props for keeping his (relative) cool through the whole thing.
I wonder if this will prompt WLS and other TV stations with "street-front" studios (i.e. WCBS, KNSD, WMAQ, WCCO and others) to consider putting concrete barricades on the sidewalks near these studios to make it more difficult for vehicles to do something like this again.
These barricades could be similar to the ones on the sidewalks and plazas of federal courthouses and other facilities. If I were the general manager of a TV station with one of these "street-front" studios, I'd get the ball rolling pronto with the local authorities to get permission to install such barricades. Heck, if I were one of the local authorities, I'd get the ball rolling myself. This isn't only an issue of employee safety at the TV stations; it's also an issue of spectator safety on the sidewalks outside the stations.
I can imagine the lawsuit someone would slap on a TV station and/or a city if something like this happens again and an on-air person or a spectator gets hurt or even killed if some whack-job tries this again. And considering the publicity this incident in Chicago got, someone will.
Post a Comment