‘It’s a situation. We’ll get back to you in a little bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out a little bit more you guys’
ATLANTA — A weather TV reporter in Atlanta interrupted his live report about Hurricane Helene Friday to rescue a woman from a vehicle stranded by rising floodwaters.
Standing in the rain with the submerged vehicle behind him, FOX Weather meteorologist Bob Van Dillen described how the woman drove into a flooded area.
In the footage, he said he called 911 and she can be heard screaming as he tries to assure her that help is on the way.
Then, he told the camera, “It’s a situation. We’ll get back to you in a little bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out a little bit more you guys.”
Footage shows Van Dillen wading through the water with the woman on his back.
Later, in an interview, he said he dropped everything to help.
“I took my wallet out of my pants, and I went in there, waded in, got chest deep,” Van Dillen said. “She was in there, she was still strapped into her car and the water was actually rising and getting up into the car itself, so she was about, almost neck deep submerged in her own car.”
Subramaniam Vincent, director of journalism and media ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, said this was an example of a reporter’s role intersecting with human responsibility.
It’s clear that while he had a professional obligation to report the news, “there’s also someone whose potential life is at risk,” Vincent said. “So I think the call he made is a human call.”
Considering the rising waters and the woman’s cries for help, along with not knowing when help would arrive, “it’s a straightforward case of jumping in — a fellow citizen actually helping another,” Vincent said.
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