I was thinking today of how weird a job journalism is - how that no matter what, every journalist has experiences that don't happen to people in other jobs. It made me think of the time I was held at gunpoint by TPD officers simply because of how stupid I am.
I was working at the @tulsaworld as a night cops reporter. I was determined to do a good job. When I interviewed there, I was much older than the typical night cops (entry level) reporter because I'd gotten a late start in journalism.
I told my future editors in that interview that I planned on working hard and either doing extremely well and succeeding, or discovering that I was no good and failing instantly. Either way I was determined to bust my ass.
So I lived that beat as hard as I could. I took my police scanner everywhere. I got access to our FB and twitter pages so I could write and post stories there from my car. I was editing video on my phone so they would be uploaded and ready by the time I got back to the office.
The night shift was a pretty empty place in the newsroom. Usually just me, a couple of night editors (shouts to Mary Bishop, @adamdaigleAdv and @MichaelDekkerTW) and the talented page design crew.
One night I'd been out at something and when I returned, I heard on my desk scanner TPD officers talking about a homicide and a child abduction. Those were usually big deals so I asked my editors if they'd heard any details while I was out. They hadn't, so I listened further.
Eventually one of the officers gave a location. A man had shot his girlfriend and taken the kid. Police were worried, obviously. I scanned other news outlets and no one was reporting it. I took off to the apartment complex but when I got there it was pretty empty.
At this point it was very late at night. I think I wrote something brief and sent to my editors, but I was determined to figure out what was going on with the abduction, so I kept driving around and listening.
Eventually I got a break - an officer reported that the abductor had called police to say he hadnt harmed the child, and he was coming to the Gilcrease Division to turn himself in and hand off the child. So I turned my car around and drove there.
If you've ever been to the Gilcrease Division, it's sorta in the middle of nowhere. At night, when it's not heavily staffed, it's extremely quiet and dark. So I drove up to the complex and basically no one was there.
I kept listening to the scanner, but updates had gone quiet. I was annoyed because now it was very late and I had nothing to update my story with. I was just about to leave and go back to the office when I saw car lights pulling up behind me.
"Ok great," I thought, stupidly. "Someone to give me an update on what had happened." I saw more lights behind me. Then a lot of lights. Then a lot of very bright lights. Then I heard "STICK YOUR HANDS OUT OF THE WINDOW.)
that's when it dawned on me. The MURDER SUSPECT had told police he was driving to the Gilcrease Division. Then I had driven TO THE GILCREASE DIVISION. And just sat there in my car like an idiot.
I stuck my dumb hands out the window, making sure to have my press badge and notebook in them. I announced "I'm just a stupid reporter," and they came up and laughed at me. I don't even remember if I got the story that night, I think I eventually did.
