Experiencing on-the-scene reporting

Emily Newman, Times-News Intern
Cumberland Times-News

July 20, 2008 01:57 am

— An otherwise uneventful two-hour ride-along on a late-afternoon Cumberland Police shift turned exciting toward 5 p.m. with a double hit-and-run done by a silver pickup truck on South Allegany Street.
Upon arrival, Sgt. Richard Virts and I surveyed what the sergeant believed to be the second vehicle involved. The green pickup truck had a slightly unaligned bumper, with a fair amount of debris in front of it from the silver truck that did the striking. A green Ford Explorer was the car initially hit. Although the speed of the assailant is not known, it was forceful enough to push the Explorer, leaving skid marks.
“For whatever reason, he struck the Explorer first and in his attempt to get away from the scene struck the pickup,” said Virts.
Before the main event, my patrol with Virts was rather ordinary. After he gave me a brief tour of the Queen City and regaled me with stories of his life as a police officer, we were called to examine a parking violation. My first official incident was relatively calm; Virts wrote out the ticket for parking in a no-parking zone. All the while, I stood to the side repeatedly recording the make of the silver car, because truthfully, this time, there was not much reporting to be done.
After our stint on the corner of Pulaski and Columbia, we were summoned to South Allegany Street, where the real action was. We were the third police vehicle to arrive, and I felt like a real reporter. During the time the suspect was being detained, a search was made of the detainee and his automobile. I excitedly stood by and watched as the officers pulled assorted personal artifacts from the silver truck.
Among the items that I saw collected both from the truck and from the suspect were a prescription bottle of pills, the accused’s wallet, drug paraphernalia, a needle and a Red Bull can with a false compartment. After a couple of hours of routine rounds, I was elated to be part of the action.
Despite my excitement, Virts admittedly prefers shifts with less activity. During the course of a shift, an officer looks for things like valid tags, traffic violations and parking violations. Plus, just being seen is an important part of the job.
“Visibility is one of the things that I consider most important,” said Virts.
The sergeant has been with the Cumberland Police force since 1992, before which, he spent six years in the Army. Of the five sections the city of Cumberland is divided into, Virts is usually assigned to the center section, which covers downtown from Henderson Avenue to Wills Creek.
During the day, most of the calls consist of parking and traffic violations, accidents and thefts. The nighttime shift gets a little rowdier and those on duty usually have to deal with things like fights and people under the influence.
After the driver’s mother came on the scene wanting to reclaim her truck and his belongings were packed away — although I did happen to overhear that one of the items collected was a birthday present — we were on our way back to the station.
I had fun touring the town and being able to be part of my first hit-and-run, and thankfully my own car wasn’t involved. The police officers, especially Virts, were very nice about letting this rookie intern ride along and I thank them for that, and for not giving me a ticket — although I was parked in a 30-minute parking spot longer than 30 minutes.