This is the reason I didn’t follow in the footsteps of my father and become a cop.
Among those who responded to the horrific scene of Friday night’s hit-run carnage on Chester Pike in Glenolden was Collingdale Chief Bob Adams.
It was left to him to identify the body of Michael Taylor, one of the 15-year-olds who was killed. Taylor died at the scene. Mark McNeill died Saturday afternoon at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
Adams had known Taylor all his young life. More than that, Adams was good friends with Taylor’s father. It was left to the cop to deliver the news to his friend.
It was left to us to deliver the news surrounding this incredibly sad story to most of the people in Delaware County.
I can assure you there is no good way to do it. The best way is simply to tell people what we know. Of course, now we do it instantaneously.
Our first reports Friday night and into Saturday morning did not include the names of the victims. That is in part simply because we did not know them, and also out of respect to the families. In these instances we always take care to be sure families have been notified before we make such information public.
Still there are two families in Delaware County mourning the loss of two 15-year-old kids just two weeks before Christmas. At Academy Park, where both young men went to school, there also is a palpable sadness.
Officials there braced for what they termed a “very difficult” day as students returned to class on Monday for the first time since learning of the deaths of their two classmates.
You can read today's coverage here.
Later this week there will be two incredibly emotional funerals. Our plan right now is that we likely will take a photo from a distance outside the funeral home to demonstrate what will undoubtedly be a large, emotional turnout.
I don’t really think any other coverage is needed. There is nothing we can add by asking a lot of kids how they feel.
They feel like we all do. Numb at the thought that two young, vibrant lives can be taken from us in an instant.
I didn’t become a cop. I became a newsman instead. Some days the jobs are a lot alike.
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