Car wreck

The Statesman today reported in a small sidebar article that Edward McDermott of Boise was killed when he crossed the median and ran into a semi-truck. The Statesman did not publish any photos of the wreck, probably because they didn't have any.

I was returning from Pocatello on Thursday, and encountered a traffic delay on the Interstate. We creeped along for several miles, and eventually got to the source of the delay. These photos are of the wreck, taken as we drove past the site.

The first is of the front end of the SUV, what remained of it. The next is the SUV with the front sheared off. The third shows debris from the SUV strewn up the hill, and the last is the semi.

I wrote last week about online newspapers. One point would be that if the papers would accept photos and information from its readers, it could have much more information available because it would have, in effect, lots of reporters. These photos are an example of that.

The photos are a bit graphic and I hope not offensive, but they do illustrate my point. Not long ago I sent an email to a Statesman editor with a couple of photos of a recent news event. I didn't expect them to be published, but I was surprised that the guy didn't even reply and say "Thanks, but it's our policy not to use unsolicited photos", or whatever. Maybe they'll come around in time.