Crime Reporting

The internet is a wonderful thing for checking two or three sources to get a better idea of a confusing or shallow piece of reporting.

That's what Second City Cop did recently.

On June 26th, WBBM 780 reported on a fatal car crash at 3:30AM that took the life of a boy who was one of five passengers in a Jeep which collided with a van. Two other boys in the Jeep, ages 13 and 14, were hospitalized. The other two passengers were hospitalized in critical condition.

Another news source reported the ages of the critically injured "passengers" as 15 and 15.

Then the hospital announced the age of the dead passenger: 13.

Second City Cop made a phone call and discovered that the Jeep was stolen.

IMO the real story is that five teenagers were joy-riding in a stolen car at 3:30 AM. But what's the follow-up story?

Family: 'Wonderful Boy' Made Bad Choice

A troubled Garfield Park teenager killed when the stolen Jeep he was riding in crashed and caught fire just yards from his home was a good kid who made a bad choice, family friends said Sunday.

He'd planned to spend the summer playing in a youth baseball league. Now his family is planning his funeral.

SCC comments, and I agree:

The ability to justify any behavior perpetrated by criminals regardless of age, is astounding of late. The death of personal responsibility continues.

Oh, and the van? It was fleeing an armed robbery. The two men in the van were badly burned. One is in custody.