By Eric Longabardi
Here at TER we've done a lot of stories about media people running into legal trouble over the years. We thought we had seen everything. Boy were we wrong!
This story caught our eye because something just doesn't seem right. There may be a "teachable moment" available here so we're hoping somebody has already made the call to The White House for the nation's top mediator-in-residence.
Say hello to Eileen Jones, a longtime reporter with WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama. Last month Jones was on her way to cover a story. A tanker rig had spilled its load of fuel. The Police and Jones don't agree on what happened next.
According to Montgomery Police Jones refused an officer's order to stop. Then proceeded to run over his foot while driving away. The officer, according to police tried to handcuff Jones and remove her from her car, but she got away. That's the police version.
Jones has a different story. She says she was just doing her job, trying to make it to the scene of a story to do a live report when the officer got extremely agitated at her for honking her car's horn after she was forced to wait by the officer. She then drove her car to where the officer was standing and that's when things went awry.
The officer claims Jones ran over his foot and fled after he tried to cuff her. Jones later said this about the officers foot claims:
"I think I would have felt it in the car if I had run over his foot"
That is when things went seriously wrong according to Jones. She claims the officers demeanor and actions made her fear for her safety.
"I was scared of that officer. I didn't know what he was going to do. I thought it was going to be another Rodney King."
Jones was later arrested at the scene and charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly running over the officers foot and a felony charge for trying to "escape". The escape charge was later dropped.
We don't know if Jones and the officer drink beer, but maybe they both would enjoy a fine California wine. TER would be glad to donate a bottle for a 'WINE SUMMIT' at The White House next month if all involved are willing to sit down with President Obama and do what the infamous Rodney King said best himself long ago:
"Can't we all just get along". We sure hope so!