We have a new number 1....

In working for a newspaper and especially as a photographer, I have a short list of memorable events that I otherwise wouldn't have experienced without my job. Some exciting and some interesting while one inparticular just freaked me out a bit.

One that was at the top of the list before was a giant forest fire that was most likely set by arsonists that are now about 4 months into their 20 year sentences. It was several hundred acres and I was there for about 8 hours and was actually in the woods for a bit. This was exciting because there were only so many dirt roads available to get away from the fire if it turned.

Now we have a new number one.

It was about 1:30 today and I figured I would check my email and hit the road since we had the paper out and there was no need for my editor and I to hang out.

So I sit down at my desk and I hear an open mic pop off on the scanner and it sounded like there was a car accident somewhere. So I wait to see what is going on because I'm not going to be the first on the scene of an accident seeing as how I'm just there to take the photos.

I waited around and cops and ambulances and troopers were scrambling about. I finally figured out where I needed to go and headed that way thinking that a cop was in the accident which is why all the cops were rushing instead of a few.

I finally get to the scene of that accident and as I roll up I noticed something new. All of the cops that were there were hiding behind cars with shotguns and M14 rifles locked and loaded. Police Standoff Deux.

The last standoff I covered, we weren't allowed to get very close to what was going on. We couldn't see anything and I think it worked out for the best since my buddy and I didn't need or want to see the guy commit suicide.

So I get out of my truck after calling my buddy and telling him what was up so he wouldn't leave work early like we both had planned.

I grabbed my camera and started walking to see how close I could get. Luckily for me, the dude threatened that he had a gun with him in the Jeep he was driving that was now on its side in a ditch. With two cops hovering on top of a bank about 20 feet over the Jeep and every cop with his or her weapon drawn, this meant that everyone was pretty much occupied.

I was getting some decent photos but I wasn't pressing my luck since I figured that the cops were going to ask me to leave anyway so I just hunkered down behind a cop car. Then the rains came. This hurricane is getting old. I would take the gale force winds for 24 hours over this rain that can't make up its mind.

I needed a little relief from the rain and I went back and put on my coat that I keep in the truck. It kept me a little dry and being green it somewhat made me look like I was supposed to be there at a glance.

About 30 minutes later the cops had decided what they are going to do and asked everyone who was hanging out to leave. They never personally came to me asking for my departure so I continued to get rained on behind the police cruiser. Some family friends of the guy holed up in the Jeep were just hanging out behind the cops anyway. I guess they weren't as worried about stray bullets as I was should the dude come out blazing like Butch and Sundance.

So a friend of ours, who happens to be a state trooper, actually gets the dude to come out and, lucky me, I have a 210 millimeter zoom lens. The dude comes out and is talking with my cop friend out in the road. It seemed odd to me because they were just standing there talking as if they had happened upon each other on the street.

Until....

The 6 foot 7 inch neighboring county sheriff swung around and attempted to light him up with a tazor.

As if sensing I wasn't quite ready to take the photos, the dude rips the electrodes off as one of them didn't find its mark. Needless to say, the group of cops that were ready to take him down stopped in their tracks when the tazor didn't work. That gave me the split second I needed to get the photos of him taking the second hit from the tazor and dropping like a bag of dirt ending a very successful standoff.

Sometimes we can get a little bit of a routine at the office. We can create some fun for ourselves occasionally and we can hunt down some good stories, but nothing beats a good old fashioned standoff for a little excitement on a rainy day.

I haven't checked out the photos yet, but I think they'll be pretty solid.