CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon died in a car accident in NYC today. How terribly sad. Condolences to his family.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-correspondent-bob-simon-1941-2015/
" Bob Simon, the longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent and legendary CBS News foreign reporter died suddenly tonight in a car accident in New York City.
The award-winning newsman was 73."
Very sad. RIP and prayers to his family.
The words “died suddenly” sound odd here…as if he had a heart attack which caused the accident. Usually we see words like “killed instantly in a car accident” or “died soon after arriving at the hospital,” or something like that.
These would not be my choice of "go to"sources for news, but the NY Post and Daily news have more info, complete with awful photos http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bob-simon-60-minutes-correspondent-killed-crash-article-1.2111975
http://nypost.com/2015/02/11/60-minutes-bob-simon-killed-in-car-crash/
Ironic that he was a war correspondent, survived 40 days in an Iraqi prison and is killed in a car accident. Very sad.
Well, and killed in a car wreck in Manhattan. I don’t normally think of cars being able to go fast enough in Manhattan for a fatal car wreck to occur, but then I’ve always been told some of the worst crashes people have seen were with cars going barely 20mph. I saw a clip of the special report made on CBS and you could tell Scott Pelley had been crying - probably one of the most difficult reports he’s ever had to do.
That is very sad news.
HORRIBLE photos.
So sad.
I thought I had commented on this but it must have been in the Brian Williams thread. I am sad about Bob Simon. I’ve always admired him and remember being so worried when he was held as a prisoner in Iraq. A great writer and very accomplished reporter, award-winning so many times. What a terrible loss for his family, friends and colleagues. Please wear your seatbelt, people!
RIP, Mr. Simon.
I have enjoyed his work for many, many years.
It’s very sad. All I can think is he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. Too many people in the back of Town Cars in NYC have the same thinking of teriwtt and don’t buckle up. My colleagues thought I was a wimp when I did. Even in a 20mph crash, an unbelted passenger can suffer massive head trauma that a belted passenger would just be stiff from the next day.
I thought I heard on some news report that in addition to head and body injuries,he suffered a heart attack.
njmom, he did not have his seatbelt on, as I said above. Very foolish not to buckle up, and especially in NYC where the driving is crazy!
jym, according to tonight’s news, it was the driver who was supposedly treated for a heart attack, although there was no confirmation that he actually suffered one, not Bob Simon.
Looking at those photos, I’m not sure a seatbelt would have made a difference. He was a hell of a journalist.
If you are looking at the pictures of the car missing the roof, the roof is off because the rescuers cut it off, presumably because the damage prevented opening the doors. So if you do not account for that, the pictures of the damage to the car make the crash look worse than it actually was.
I realize that – it’s the side impact and how badly the interior was damaged that led me to my opinion.
The pictures showing random looking car parts inside the car appear to be from after the rescuers were done (note the cut marks where the roof was cut off, then later put back on top of the car). Common practice is to put whatever car parts were cut off or broken off during the crash in the car so that they are not all over the street after the car is towed away. If you look closely at these pictures from the article linked in reply #3, neither side of the car appears to be that badly smashed in, based on the floor rail and the side of the roof.
http://static3.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2112221.1423727969!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/article-crash-0212.jpg
http://static1.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2112219.1423727830!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/article-crash-0212.jpg
Compare to the damage of a similar car after a side crash test:
http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/ratings/images/api-rating-image.ashx?id=eyJSYXRpbmdJZCI6NzA4LCJQaG90b0lkIjoyfQ&width=800
The driver survived. Most people when they get into a taxi or limo sit on the passenger side. The initial photos that were released shortly after the accident showed the passenger side was relatively intact, with the roof cut off. The photos with everything thrown back into the car, along with the police tape, are from long after the fact and are not indicative of how the car looked in the immediate aftermath. When they have to cut people out of a car, it can pretty much destroy the entire interior. And as ucb points out, both sides of the car look relatively intact. Of course, there’s no guarantee that he would have survived the crash had he been wearing the seatbelt. However, the chances are always going to be better if you buckle up.
I was shocked to learn of the death this week of David Carr, the New York Times columnist, at age 58. He was a wonderful journalist with a pretty amazing story of recovery and redemption after serious drug addiction in his 30s. Bad week for journalism.
Bad week for journalism, indeed. Plus, another radicalist attack in Europe.