Behind the Headlines

This morning I was out covering a prayer thing - the annual See You at the Pole event. When there I ran into a kid who I had met before. I’ll admit I didn’t remember him, but he remembered me. When he said that, I was a little nervous. This could go either way, I thought, depending on the situation. I always try to be respectful and sensitive to those I work with, but sometimes, just being a member of the media and being present is enough to leave a bad taste.

It turns out I had come across him and his family in April of 2006. It was one of my first weekends working at the News, covering the police beat. When I came in that Saturday some of the copy editors had just overheard on the scanner that a man had an accident with a tractor. Only his legs were visible and the tractor was on his head and chest. I had to go out to the scene. I was terrified. I didn’t know what I would find, how badly he had been injured (the helicopter was called in), how his family would react, how I would get information from the rescue workers without getting in the way, etc.

I had done spot news before, but it had been awhile. And it was usually something where I knew more about what to expect. So I went out there.

The story read:
“Blue Bush Rd. in Frenchtown Township was closed for about an hour Saturday afternoon when a man was pinned under a tractor on a plot of land just off the road.
The road was closed from about 3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. to allow an emergency response helicopter to land and take Mark Harper to the hospital. Rescue Crews from Frenctown Fire Department and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call.
Mr. Harper, 45, was listed in serious but stable condition Saturday night at Toledo Hospital.
According to his uncle Tony Czuchra, Mr. Harper suffered broken bones in his face and a large gash across his scalp when the machine flipped. He is expected to make a full recovery.
“He’s going to have to have some surgery, but he was very lucky,” said Czuchra said during a phone interview, family members laughing in the background. “We’re actually very relieved. It looked a lot worse when it happened.”
Mr. Harper was helping his neighbor cultivate a patch of land at the Taylor Orchids farm around 3 p.m. Saturday. Neighbor Ron Ciesinski, the owner of the farm, was the first person to notice something was amiss…”

A few calls to the hospital after the ordeal didn’t really provide any insight into his condition. I talked with the family again later that weekend, but not since. The kid remembered me from the scene. I’ve always wondered about Mr. Harper and what happened - they predicted he would be fine, but you never know. So I asked. He apparently received some stitches and surgery to help repair the broken bones in his face, but is now fine.

It can be such an odd thing at times, coming into a family’s life at its darkest or lightest moments. And then slipping out, as abruptly sometimes as we entered. As readers, I wonder, do you ever feel this way reading stories? Does it feel cut off sometimes? Do you wish we would follow up more on things like the tractor accident? Has anyone, with the exception of Mr. Harper’s family and friends, thought about this accident since that April?