I’ve never done a three-part column before, but if this is your introduction regarding a truck driving through my cousin’s house I would suggest checking out the previous entries to catch up on the action.
After giving the rundown on what happened in part one and talking about how fast street talk can spread – inaccurately at that – in part two, today I will focus on a more private facet of this bizarre story, and that would be my spot on the nightly news attempting to give an account of the event.
While standing across the street from my cousin’s house helping with the kids and trying to keep things calm, I noticed a female reporter with a camera guy speaking with my cousin (Kristyn). The reporter didn’t get anything from Kristyn, partly due to the fact that she was still shaken up from the crash and partly that the responding officers telling her to not speak with the media because she could give some false information that would hinder their investigation.
Being in the business I am, I sympathized with the reporter and asked Kristyn if she cared if I spoke with the reporter as long as I didn’t give any information that we weren’t sure about, to which she gave her blessing. I promised to stick with only her tale of the events and stay away from speculating on what could be going on involving the police department’s case.
I spoke with the reporter and told her I would give her a sound bite from the family of the victim. Going into this I had one goal and one goal only: not to end up on YouTube with the heading of “You’ve got to see this idiot!!!”
Things didn’t start off well as the reporter asked if I wouldn’t mind pulling my shirt up to reveal the white undershirt I was wearing. All that ran through my mind was the YouTube title change to “You’ve got to see this redneck hick!!!”
The woman noticed my reluctance to undress for the camera (that’s how it starts for celebrities and then three years later there is a naughty tape available for $29.95 at some seedy website) but explained it was only a temporary costume change, as she needed a white balance for the camera.
I asked if we could do a run through of the interview before taping, but she assured me it would seem forced and unnatural if we didn’t go with the first take. I wasn’t happy about it but I agreed to no rehearsal.
Things went pretty smooth after that. She threw some questions at me about Kristyn and where she and the kids were in the house at the time of the accident. I felt somewhat natural with my answers, that is until she started asking questions I had promised not to answer.
The reporter asked about what we thought had taken place to lead up to a truck driving through my cousin’s living room. I should have just stuck with “I don’t know,” but instead I tried to get fancy and say things like we weren’t at liberty to guess what was happening outside of the home prior to the crash. On paper it sounds like an educated answer that gives her nothing, but that is because I’ve had 90 seconds to think it through and type it out. With a spotlight shining on my face and the knowledge that a large amount of the metroplex would be watching I stumbled on my wording and threw in a lot of “uh’s” and “well’s.” Not exactly my finest hour.
I never got to see myself on the news but I heard I did make it on one of the networks. I haven’t heard any rumors that I was terrible and made a complete fool of the family, so I guess I achieved my goal and got the information out to the masses without ending up on YouTube.
Mission accomplished!
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