On Thursday morning, miamiherald.com broke a story regarding a woman, clad only in a white sheet, whom was critically injured after stepping in front of a pickup truck on US 441. Several hours later, local news websites such as, local10.com, nbc6.net, wsvn.com and sun-sentinel.com, began to follow the story. On Friday, sun-sentinel.com stepped out of the pack, and posted a photo of the woman on its website. They even ran with a new headline; one focusing on helping local police identify the woman.
It's now Sunday, and unfortunately, the story has seemed to have vansihed from all local news websites. The story never even made it to print, and an update on her condition never appeared on TV. I wonder what happened. Is she is still in the hospital in critical condition? Have police managed to identify her? There are so many unanswered questions, which begs me to wonder...was she only a soundbyte, a former hot topic for bloggers that has now fizzled? It's almost disheartening.
Hopefully, everything will turn out all right. So, as part of an assignment for our 442 Online Journalism class, here's my take/new lede:
Police are still trying to ID a woman struck by a pickup truck and crtically injured Thursday morning while crossing County Line Road. According to a police spokesman, the woman was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital with life threatening injuries, and was wearing only a white sheet at the time of the accident.
Witnesses say they saw the woman cross County Line Road and head into Broward County on U.S. 441 about 5 a.m on Thursday. A short time later, she was in the left turning lane when a Dodge pickup struck her. The driver of the truck stopped to help the woman, who was badly injured, and cooperated with investigators.
The woman was not carrying any identification, nor had any identifying marks, scars or tatoos on her body. Miramar Police attempted to ID her by taking her fingerprints, but did not have any luck.
Police have since released a photo of the woman in the hopes that anyone with information on this accident, or who the woman might be, will contact Broward Police at
(954) 602-4000.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure I saw a follow-up story (in print) that she had died... you should go back and search for it again on the Herald?
Yes she did pass away. I hate the fact that she is being refered to as the "ghost of highway 441". Dayana was a great and inventive person who had been taken before her time. For people to assume and just give a name like that before knowing who she was is horrible. She was a great, beautiful, inventive person. She was a great daughter, sister-in-law, sister, and auntie to a huge family. I just wish she was still here to make more memories with me and our family.
Post a Comment