A Nose for News: The Anchorman and the Bridge Tender
It had been a terrible accident. The rising bridge had flipped this cab onto its back, then crunched through the cab as it came back down, decapitating the driver. As journalists converged, Przislicki came down from his tower and stared at the wreckage. Someone pointed him out to Deborah O’Malley, a Channel Five producer.
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“First thing I noticed was the smell of alcohol,” said O’Malley. She told Magers, “I think we need to stay. I smelled alcohol.” A policeman took Przislicki back inside the bridge tower — and that is where he stayed for three hours, until 1:30 in the morning.
When an accident occurs on a CTA bus or train, the driver or engineer takes a breathalyzer test immediately. The Department of Public Works is now writing new guidelines, but there was no clear policy about operating a drawbridge while under the influence of alcohol. The four hours that went by before Przislicki finally was tested for alcohol in his system obviously taints the results. Przislicki knows what they are, but because he took the test voluntarily, Northwestern Memorial Hospital will only turn over the results if Przislicki is charged with criminal behavior.
What we saw was haggard Edward Przislicki three hours after his bridge had cut somebody’s head off, right after the police were done with him, at 1:30 in the morning, trying to get into his car, saying he hadn’t been drinking to a camera shoved into his face, and looking guilty as hell.
Why can’t Chicago have a newspaper that’s satisfied, happy even, to be itself? The Tribune wants so much to be the New York Times. Now we’ve got the Sun- Times looking like the Tribune. The Chicago Sun-Times logo will soon be in blue, giving us a city of blue newspapers.
Will blue attract more readers to a newspaper?
