Shelbie Harris
News Editor
It’s important to recognize, though I write for a weekly publication, for an average university in an average town, where average cops protect average citizens, “nobody’s” don’t exist and “anybody” can positively contribute to society.
Goody’s Deli, because of its actual $5-foot-long subs, immersive bohemian conversation and proximity to ISU, is a frequent hangout of mine. An exchange of sentences between the bartender and fellow patrons before hastily retreating to the stacks of work upon my desk is usually how most visits go.
Depending on when you actually decided to pick this issue up, somewhere between two and three weeks ago, or for those who prefer exactness, Wednesday, Oct. 21 around 4 p.m., my routine visit to Goody’s involved much more than sustenance and sports gossip.
A female driving a Ford Taurus struck and upended a female pedestrian while she was walking in the crosswalk towards Goody’s in the area of South Fifth Avenue and Terry Street. By the time bystanders heard the tires screech, it was already too late.
Granted I wasn’t looking at the intersection when the person was hit, as soon as the initial impact sounded my attention was fully focused on the stopping vehicle and airborne individual.
Onlookers helped the pedestrian to a sitting position while another phoned emergency services.
Five minutes felt like an hour. Just prior to the arrival of emergency services, I phoned my superior for his thoughts regarding the incident’s story potential.
Over the past five years, numerous vehicle versus pedestrian accidents have occurred near the ISU campus, and for a time it seemed like a week couldn’t go by without one. But, instead of pontificating on the importance of attentive driving and the dire need to look both ways, events that followed the windshield shattering crash ultimately overshadowed the newsworthy relevance involved with this story.
Journalistic instincts kicked in as emergency services arrived. From behind where the ambulance parked, I had begun taking pictures of the EMT’s offering assistance, taking care not to identify the victim, or sensationalize the issue. I snapped a quick shot of the damaged vehicle, taking care not to include the license plate, and to avoid the possible identification of unreleased information. As the lead responding officer rounded witnesses, I approached the group on the sidewalk, notebook and pen in hand.
After identifying myself as a reporter the responding officer requested I step back. I complied, moving back two sidewalk sections, about 12 feet. After 30 seconds the officer stopped interviewing fellow witnesses and instructed me to step further back, so I said, “I believe I am far enough away and am just doing my job as are you.”
The officer replied by saying, “If you don’t walk away I will arrest you for interfering with my investigation.”
According to Diane Brush, the Pocatello Police Public Information Officer, it is the responding officer’s duty to preserve the crime scene from any outside contamination. Additionally she said an officer doesn’t, upon arrival, know exactly what’s happened, who potential witnesses or suspects are or which people are a danger to him.
For transparency, I will divulge that because the initial threat of arrest came prior to the question of whether I witnessed the accident or not, I was reluctant to identify myself with anything more than my first name and the publication I was working for.
In turn, a heated exchange between the officer and myself continued as I articulated I had no intent to interfere with his investigation, we both have jobs to do and at the end of the day, this officer takes off his blue suit and rejoins the civilian class of society.
This being said, the officer pointed across the street and said, “You can leave.”
Understanding my presence was not welcomed I used the same crosswalk a person was struck in just minutes before, and halfway across the street this officer shouted not once, but twice in my direction, “You’re a nobody.”
Not only was my psyche threatened, but so was my right as a reporter and citizen of this country. This officer clearly violated my rights, guaranteed by the first amendment of the constitution, to gather, publish and distribute information and ideas without government restriction, and instead of respect and integrity, thoughts of fear and contempt followed.
The mission of the Pocatello Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in the City of Pocatello by working cooperatively with the community and within the framework of the U.S. Constitution to equally enforce the law, preserve the peace, reduce fear and provide for a safe community environment.
It seems every week some occurrence of police brutality or misconduct surfaces, but that’s not what happened to me this Wednesday. That’s not the focal point for this article.
The truth, which in turn ended this passionately animated confrontation, was the simple words I spoke trying to humanize both perspectives of the issue. In order to reduce fear in the citizens in which our militarized police protect, we all must understand they too, are citizens of the same society; as I chose the pen, or keyboard as my baton of justice, police officers choose guns, Tasers, and actual batons.
As a society we cannot limit police powers and expect them to safely protect and serve the citizens they swore an oath to, however, if society continues to ostracize and dehumanize police officers by defining who they are by what they do, perhaps society will continue to deal with accords of injustice to normal, everyday anybody’s.
I am independent, loyal and to some, a bit narcissistic. I am a prankster, a journalist, a son and a brother. I am one to challenge authority, to question everything, to push my limits and to always give 100 percent in all that I do. I laugh, I cry and on occasion, I do both in the same day. I am a former infant and a future senior citizen. I am an Idahoan and an American who loves this country.
And one day I will be nothing.
What I will never be, however, is a “nobody.”
