About 9 p.m. on Dec. 9 Chieftain cop reporter Nick Bonham told desk editor Phil McPeck there was a rollover accident with a possible ejection on Highway 50, around 40th lane.

“You wanna roll on this with me, Mike?”

About 5 minutes later, I was riding shotgun along side Nick, headed out east to see what we could see.

The accident occurred at Pisciotta Farms, a couple miles east of 40th Lane. It was cold–15 degrees– and foggy. A truck did roll and the driver had, in fact, been ejected. He lay some 30 yards from where his Chevy truck came to a rest.

I got my photo–there wasn’t a whole lot to shoot– and announced to Nick that I was going to wait in the car. He implied I was a puss as he tossed me the keys to his Gallant.

As I sat in the idling car with the heater going, Nick waited in the freezing fog for the coroner to arrive. He had to. The cops weren’t gonna talk to him before the driver was pronounced; they were doing their investigation anyway.

About 20 minutes after I got in the car, Nick was able to speak to with a CSP trooper, got a quote, and headed back to the car.

He chided me again for being a pussy. He cursed the cold as he tried to tweet about the wreck from his Android: 1 man killed in 1 car crash near #Avondale. Victim ejected. @CSP_News says fog and alcohol may be factor.

He checked the messages on his phone: his girlfriend, the coroner, and his mom had called in the hour or so we were at the accident. I had left my phone in my truck back at the office, so I couldn’t you tell who called me.

We made the U-turn and headed back to the office. We were close to deadline. I filed my photo. About 10 minutes later, Nick told Phil, “Fatal’s in City.”