Oh the Joys of Overnight News Gathering

Working overnights, as I do, is a test of the soul. Things just sort of "happen" to me. Ok...sometimes CRAZY things tend to happen to me. Sometimes I get involved when I don't want to.

One early morning, as I was out doing beauty shots of downtown Cleveland's skyline for our 5 a.m. show, I get someone pounding on the side doors of my live unit. "Call the police....call the police..!!", this guy is screaming. Now, I can see out of the tinted windows but, it's dark and all I see is a guy holding a towel to his head.

I yell through the doors, "WHY??" He responds," THIS is why...", and pulls the towel away and blood starts gushing out of a wound in his head.

Ooooooooh Kayyyyyyyyyyyy...

Well, I dial 911 and have the EMS services come to my location... "Can't miss me. I'm the Channel 3 live truck in the middle of Mall C."

I then called my producer and told her the story of the bleeding man. She says, "So...you can't take pictures right now??" Ahhh...a MENSA member are we???

So, I get out the first-aid kit from the truck to get some gauze for him to use. When I opened the door, all I hear is "Crazy m***** F***'in B****!!! Hit me with a whisky bottle. Effin b****, C-word, b**** c-word, etc..."

When I go to give him the gauze, he starts walking away from me, still mumbling to himself about the woman that hit him. He walks away across the street, leaving a blood trail. All the time I'm yelling for him to stay with me so EMS can help him.

Just then, a woman appears out of nowhere, yelling about "Yeah...I hit him...he deserved it!!! He put his hands on me and I didn't appreciate it!!!" The odor coming off this woman was knock-out strength. I mean this woman had a FUNK to her.

Well, the EMS unit shows up, and two very attractive female paramedics get out of the ambulance. The redhead asks me if I called 911 and then asks where the victim is? "Follow the blood trail", I told her and showed her the path.

The funky woman starts yelling to the EMS crew, "Take me to jail!! I hit him with a bottle...he done put his hands on me and I didn't appreciate it!!!"

"Apparantly, she didn't appreciate it", I told the driver of the ambulance. The EMS crew calls back to their dispatch and ask for a police unit to show up. Then they get back into their ambulance and leave. They leave me with a woman that has already attacked a man with a bottle. And right now, she is looking not that mentally stable. Plus, she's still stinky.

The police came and took my statement of what I witnessed. Then he went to go chat with the woman. I warned him about her odor. Minutes later he came back wide-eyed. "I thought you were joking about the smell!!"

They arrested the woman for public intox. And I went back to shooting the skyline.

I love the overnight shift...