If you’re looking for a job with as little drama and potential for injury as possible, you might not want to get into the world of television reporting. They’re expected to do many things while talking to many different types of people, and one Australian reporter was recently harmed during an attempted questioning, at which time she took a lit cigarette to the face. You can watch it happen many times in the video below.
Outside of Caboolture Court in Queensland, Nine Network reporter Alex Bernhardt was trying to get a statement from an unnamed woman who was supporting her friend, Stevee Jane Kennedy, who was charged with the murder of her former boyfriend, Freeman Brookes, a crime that occurred over the weekend. But instead of getting ignored or shushed, Bernhardt got her cheek burned for her efforts. It’s a sure sign of maturity when, instead of verbally telling someone to shove off, one just pushes whatever is in their hands into another person’s face. If only the woman had been holding a cream pie.
Here’s how Bernhardt reacted to the news on social media.
According to the Daily Mail, Bernhardt said the cigarette left “a bit of a red mark,” but that it was gone soon after and she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. But authorities were perfectly happy to make a big deal out of it, and they arrested the woman and charged her with public nuisance, and her own court date will be in July. Hopefully whicheve her friends shows up in support has the brains not to attack anyone if they’re questioned.
Hopefully you watched the entire video instead of just stopping it after they showed the cigarette burning for the tenth time, as you would have then seen the woman’s friend come bumbling into the frame and barking loudly into the microphone for no reason. While I generally like a bizarre, non sequitur approach to people arguably harassing others, this guy just seemed like he should have been curbed. (Rim shot.)
So I guess if there’s a lesson to be learned here, beyond “Don’t be friends with alleged murderers,” it’s “Don’t talk to crazy people with a controlled flame in their hand.”
