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Two motorcyclist have died in the last 24 hours, and both were at fault for the wrecks.

The first on happened on I-75 in the USF area. Guy was speeding and tried to squeeze in between two SUV's driving side by side. He didn't make the squeeze and he and his bike ended up going through one of the SUV's. He and the bike were stuck inside the passenger area of the SUV. He was airlifted to TGH and later passed away. This guy apparently had several kids and a girlfriend who is pregnant. Not to mention this guy has an extensive criminal record.

Another motorcyclist was on the Courtney Campbell Causeway doing stunts, lost control, and struck a guard rail. He was smart enough to do his tricks after a rainstorm made the road slippery. 

I can't tell you how many times I've seen jerks run red lights and speed past me going 120 past me. And when a cop sees them, they try to pull them over, but they speed away, and protocol prevents law enforcement from chasing people unless they committed a felony, and these motorcyslists know that. It's sick that these people think that nothing can happen to them. They make the rest of the motorcyclist community look bad. I know plenty of people who ride motorcyclists, and they do it safely.

Steets are not your personal racetrack, even if your on Race Track Road. 

If you have something to live for, don't put yourself in danger like that. You have people that love you. As my former principal once said, "Don't do stupid." But many of the speed demons are young, and they haven't grown up yet. If they don't get killed first, they'll eventually out grow their toy.

Well everybody, after a bit of a reak, Tampa Bay News Online is back and better than ever. We have succesfully changed many portions of the site that had some errors, and we have also improved on portions of the site as well.

One of the big things we are very proud of is our inclusion in Google News. Now when you search for news stories on Google, our articles will appear next to articles from many other sites in the Bay Area.

We are committed to bringing you the best, and fastest, coverage in the bay area. Keep checking back to our blogs for more updates on TampaBayNewsOnline.com!

Hey everyone,

This blog was inspired by an incident today when on the scene of a car accident on Burke Street and Sawyer Road, I arrived pretty early in the rescue efforts, and waited for the victim to be put in the ambulance before I ventured out of my vehicle to shoot. I was on the cell phone, on the sidewalk, and some lady (that I already heard complaining about me in English and Spanish) on Sawyer came up to me with a childish “Can I help you?!” I said “ummmm, no.” Then she continued to ask what I was doing, it was obvious she hates journalists, but I’m sure she watches the news. Then she asked me to go closer if I wanted to film, I said no because the family of the victim probably didn’t want me any closer, so I purposely backed off. So she yells across the street to make it a point a newsman has arrived. That gets people on the other side of the street pissed off at me. After I have filmed an started leaving, she whined to a Sheriff’s Deputy, who knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong and left me alone. I try to respect the immediate family of the victims still on scene, and some lady who was gawking on the porch has to create a scene. I was glad that deputy was still there, that lady probably would have sent someone to kick my butt!

Another incident recently, I was at a house fire on Pocahontas Avenue and Chippendale Court a few months ago. I was the first photographer on scene, and everything was going good, got close, good video, no issues. Then, a Fox 13 photographer showed up, and that’s when the deputies noticed the media presence and told us to get back, even further than a crowd on the street was. After a short argument, Deputy Boyd comes back to call the Fox 13 photog’s boss. He said “Well since you guys have been reporting on us a lot lately, now its our chance to report on you!” That was very unprofessional. Maybe if some of the deputies would follow the LAW, they wouldn’t be on the news so much. Anyway, a neighbor let us go onto his property to film, and after Boyd left, the deputies let us go closer. Question, why wasn’t my supervisor called? Haha….

Another incident last year, was a car accident on Sheldon Road, south of Waters Avenue. A couple cars crashed and knocked down the fence of a daycare center, that was bright yellow and could have been seen from space. Anyway, I started shooting and the owner, who took it upon herself to direct traffic stopped, to come overand ask to stop filming her building, which was insane. I said I couldn’t get any footage without her building because the accident was basically on her property. Then she asked me for my card and bothered a deputy who was busy investigating the accident. I’m assuming she was asking him to tell me to move, and I saw alot of head shaking from him, and the lady walked away in disgust. Then I guess her husband, who looked like a drunk, told me to go to hell, and that I was a horrible person and such.

Another incident, this one was a year or so ago. I had a phone tip that a deputy was involved in a crash at Henderson Road and Waters Avenue. When I arrived, it appeared to be very minor, not newsworthy, so before I left, I went to go ask the deputy involved if he was ok. Then Deputy Serrano comes up and says “Why are you asking a deputy a question? Your not suppose to without talking to s supervisor first.” First, I think a deputy is capable to express his health status, and I though it was insane that he suggested I ask for a supervisor, which would take another unit out of service that could have responded to an actual emergency. I was working for WFTS then, and had a company ID, and he said it was fake, and told me to leave. I was stupid and I left, should have stayed and filmed to prove a point.

I responded to a car fire, with a report of a body inside. Assuming it was a murder cover up, I headed that way to get the story. It turned out not to be a body, just clothes and trash inside the car, it was stolen and the thief decided to burn the car after they were done with it. I was filming about 300 feet away when a deputy pulled up next to me. And I heard him on the scanner say he was on the scene of a “Signal 13 Person” which is a suspicious person. He started giving me crap and asking me why I was there, and how it was strange that I was near a car fire. Well DUH! He actually made me give him my camera bag, so he could search it. He let me go and I went home. He called my mother, who pretty much chewed him out.

Another incident the day before was a motorcycle accident at Benjamin Road south of Waters Avenue. The road was blocked pretty far to vehicles, so I asked the deputy if I could get closer, he let me go and I walked to the accident scene. As I was about 100 feet away, I realized that there was a body on a lawn, and at the same time, Deputy Wilson (who was unfortunately shot last week, but he doing well now thank God) said “You stop right there or I’m going to put you in jail!” I said I had permission from another deputy to film. I also explained I had no idea that someone died. I was eventually let closer to film the mangled bike. There should have been better communication between the deputies, one didn’t know what the other one was doing. Deputy Wilson has since been really nice to me, I hope he’s able to get back to law enforcement soon.

I was at a homicide on Fountain Avenue, and a deputy told me to stop filming the crime scene, which took place in a garage, plainly visible from the street where there was no crime scene tape. I said no, and that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. We argued for a bit until a News Channel 8 photographer showed up, then all of a sudden he left me alone. Shocking. Maybe it was the size of my camera? Does size really matter? Well, we’ll see, I’m getting a professional grade HD camera from Sony next week. :-)

A previous accident on Waters Avenue and Hanley Road, which I don’t remember that much. A woman involved in the crash (who was the driver at fault) complained about my filming from the sidewalk. A deputy said I was interfering with an accident investigation because he had to tell me to leave, and if I didn’t, he’d arrest me. I didn’t leave and he ‘detained’ me for a bit (which is basically an arrest), and a supervisor arrived and told him to let me be.

A lot of the situations involved civilians who think they know the law, law enforcement who try to make up the law, and lack of communication within a department. As a journalist, I try to be respectful of victims and never intrude on them or their families, but some people don’t understand that I could get closer than I usually am at scenes, I’m sure if I were a mile away, someone would still complain. And some law enforcement officials take their frustrations out on the media instead of doing their job at the scene of an emergency. Also, many deputies use their own opinions when making judgments, some let me go close, others want me to leave entirely. Follow the law, the First Amendment. I’d never cross crime scene tape because my boundaries are plainly obvious, but some officials want to make the entire county as a crime scene. Keeping cameras out.

But for every harassing civilian or cop, there’s 100 more who give me respect, ask if they can help, and approach me like I’m someone who’s just doing their job. They make journalism worth it.

If you’d like to comment, send me an e-mail at rfrench@tampabaynewsonline.com .