Death of South Carolina Photojournalist
Sparks Memories of KETV Tragedy
The death of WHNS-Fox 21 photojournalist and assignment editor Joe Loy in South Carolina earlier this week sparked memories of a similar tragedy involving an Omaha TV station photographer.
It will be three years next month that KETV (Cox Channel 9) photojournalist Jeff Frolio was struck by a car and killed while shooting footage of an intersection at 222nd and West Center Road where two teens had died. He was survived by his wife, Marianne, and their three children: Nicki, David and Carly.
Monday night around 5:30 in Spartanburg County, S.C., Loy was shooting video of a tractor-trailer that had lost its load of lumber across the southbound lanes of Interstate 85. Only seconds after he arrived, a van lost control and hit him. Station insiders tell Newsblues.com that Loy continued to roll tape until the moment of impact, which ended with "a wall of white." (The station did not to air the entire tape.)
Investigators are now trying to find the driver of a red GMC pick-up truck that may have played a role in the accident. Loy's tape shows the pick-up veering in front of the van, causing the driver of the van to overcorrect and lose control. According to a witness, the red pick-up had been weaving in out of traffic for a while. The pick-up did not stop after the accident that killed Loy at the scene.
At KETV, Frolio's locker in the photographer's office remains preserved as he left it on June 10, 2004. After the accident, KETV photojournalists began wearing reflective vests in situations where they would be shooting video close to traffc.
2 comments:
I read about this the other day - sad stuff. While every job has its risks, this sort of thing seems to be occurring far too often these days.
This may be unfortunate, but remember what your mama said,"Don't go playin in no traffic, fool."
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