Close call for @AlexSavidgeKTVU @VaughanChip this am. Everyone is ok. Thanks for all your kind thoughts❤️ pic.twitter.com/6AU3poGiD7
— KTVU (@KTVU) March 8, 2016
Bloopers during live television news broadcasts are usually labeled as such because, as the definition of the word “blooper” suggests, someone has made an embarrassing error. What results is generally considered funny or offensive by those who catch them. However, as a reporter and cameraman for the San Francisco Fox affiliate KTVU proved, sometimes these bloopers aren’t all that embarrassing. Sometimes they’re downright frightening.
That’s because reporter Alex Savidge and cameraman Chip Vaughan, who were doing a live report near the location of a trail derailment Tuesday morning, managed to jump out of the way when two cars smashed into one another and careened off the road in their direction. In the 20-second clip above, you can see Savidge launching himself to the right of the crash just in time — a life-saving lunge he attributes to Vaughan’s shouted warning.
“It happened in a split second. I’m just thankful he jumped the right way,” Vaughan explained in a subsequent live report.
Meanwhile, Savidge said that he was “grateful to be okay.” He became emotional during a moment with Vaughan, saying that was all he could do and say for the moment. Though he did add a message for his wife: “I haven’t been able to call her. I just want to tell my wife I’m okay.”
According to KTVU, local police arrived on the scene to assess the accident and determine what happened. Initial reports suggest that the white sedan, which almost collided with Savidge, allegedly turned right into the path of the second car. Instead of hitting the brakes, the driver of the white sedan accidentally slammed on the gas.