This account of a traffic fatality in South Carolina is perplexing in many ways. For example, is it customary for the deceased to be charged with having his own blood washed off the asphalt?
“I had to pay to have the vehicle towed,” she said. “I had to pay for the vehicle removed and to clean up the street from Justin’s blood on the ground.”
Robinson [the victim’s mother] said that was the bill that stung the most – paying $50 to have the street cleaned.
“First of all, having to open the mail and look at the charge to the deceased, Justin Darryl Walker — the deceased! It’s just a hard thing to deal with in the context of your child,” she said.
The headline chooses its words carefully:
After Drunken Driver Kills Son, Mother Billed For Cleanup
“Drunken driver”? The perp, Anna Gonzalez, is an illegal immigrant who has been driving in the United States without a license for 12 years. Does WYFF Channel 4 share Ms. Gonzalez’s blithe disdain for the tedious business of acquiring a valid driver’s license? Judging from the way the key facts about Ms. Gonzalez are withheld until the antepenultimate paragraph, one would almost get the impression WYFF is cool with illegal immigrants driving illegally as long as they make sure they’re sober when they run over the natives.
As with the Tahrir Square coverage noted below, there are moments when American journalism might just as well declare itself an organized conspiracy against the public.