University of California Story for Immediate Publication Paper Follow the info below. Make good use of the many interesting and colorful facts. FREAK ACCIDENT FEATURE ASSIGNMENT
The information below has been provided by a Tustin police
officer. You ‘re a reporter for the Orange County Register and
will be writing a feature story of 375 to 400 words for immediate
publication. There is no right or wrong way to begin this story.
It is a feature, so you don’t need to write a direct or hard news
lead. Rather think of the most interesting way to start. This is a
people story.
Make good use of the many interesting and colorful facts.
Today at about 9:30 am Marvin Fuller, 84, got into his 2016
Cadillac sedan parked in his garage. He and his wife, Sarah, 80,
live at 1344 Cutler St. in Tustin.
Last night Fuller had backed his car into the garage as he
always does. However, today, as soon as he started the
engine, he accelerated in reverse, rather than drive.
As best we can determine, Mr. Fuller somehow became
momentarily confused and thought he had placed the car in
drive. He accelerated forcefully, propelling the car quickly in
reverse.
The vehicle broke through the garage and then knocked over a
small retaining wall surrounding a large swimming pool on the
property. The car, with Mr. Fuller behind the wheel, plunged
into the pool.
Meanwhile, next door Pablo Martinez and Santos Garcia were
laying carpet in a vacant house. They heard the noise of the
car crashing through the garage and decided to investigate
what happened.
Soon, they saw Fuller’s car partially submerged in the pool.
The hood and windshield were above water, but the car was
quickly sinking further.
Once at the pool’s edge, the two workers were able to see a
person struggling inside the vehicle. Mr. Garcia, 48, said he
decided to extricate the individual.
Quickly he retrieved a hammer and slipped into the water. Mr.
Garcia made his way to the passenger side of the car and
sought to break the window still above water with the hammer.
He was unable to do so, apparently because the hammer was
not big enough.
At that point, Mr. Martinez, 47, jumped in the water with
another hammer. Striking the window together, they were able
to break out the glass and pull the person out of the car and to
the pool’s service. It was Mr. Fuller.
Mr. Garcia and Mr. Martinez, again working in conjunction,
applied CPR to Fuller. By this time, neighbors, alerted by the
commotion, called 911. Tustin Police officers and paramedics
arrived and found Fuller semiconscious.
Paramedics transported him to UCI Medical Center, where Mr.
Fuller is in stable condition. No further details are available at this
time.
You go to the hospital to see if you can find anyone to provide more
information. You meet Sarah Fuller.
Mrs. Fuller has this to say: “I have been telling Marvin that he is
no longer able to drive. He’s too far along in years. This is not the
first time he’s had an accident. Sooner or later he was gonna
have a bad one. If it had not been for those Mexicans, Marvin
would be dead now.
“And you know, he doesn’t like Mexicans. Marvin is a big Trump
supporter. All he watches is Fox News.
“He is really in favor of building a border wall and getting rid of all
the Mexicans in the U.S. And so now these Mexican guys saved
his life. If it weren’t for them, he would be dead now.”
Next, you encounter Garcia and Martinez who have gone to the
hospital to check on Mr. Fuller.
“I was afraid we weren’t going to be able to save him,” Martinez
said. “My friend Martinez and I didn’t know anything about CPR
except what we have seen on TV, and we had to react really
fast.”
Said Garcia, laughing: “The lady, Mrs. Fuller, she told me how
her husband doesn’t like Mexicans. It doesn’t matter. He’s a
man who was close to dying. We would save him or anyone.
Their race doesn’t matter to us.”
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