When Tragedy Unfolds, Expect Incorrect Info; ICE Requests More Detention Space in California–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Dec. 9, 2024

Indy Digest: Dec. 9, 2024

I was sitting with the hubby and our friend Bryan on Saturday evening at Eight4Nine Restaurant and Lounge. We were in the lounge area, enjoying drinks and food as we waited for the Palm Springs Festival of Lights parade to begin.

The event was slated to start at 5:45, and Eight4Nine is toward the end of the parade route, so we didn’t expect to see anything until 6:10 or so; 6:10 came, as did 6:20, and then 6:30. When what appeared to be a police car went by, lights flashing, my heart sank. Something was clearly wrong.

I got on my phone and went to the website of NBC Palm Springs, which was broadcasting the parade live—but instead of parade, the screen showed a bunch of emergency vehicles. The chyron, designed to look like a festive holiday ribbon with sponsor logos on the sides, read: “Motorcycle Accident.”

Crap.

Of course, we now know most of what happened. A Palm Springs police officer and 11 spectators were injured when the officer’s motorcycle slid into the crowd. Two spectators and the officer’s injuries required hospitalization.

While sitting at Eight4Nine, however, we didn’t know much of anything, so I went on social media looking for details—while keeping in mind something EVERYONE should keep in mind as tragedies unfold: A lot of the initial “information” that comes out is inaccurate.

This proved to the case on Saturday night. Much of the misinformation had to do with motorcycle officers’ actions leading up to the accident. Some people said officers were “popping wheelies.” Others said they were driving recklessly and performing other stunts, while yet others declared the officer’s accelerator had gotten stuck. Police Chief Andy Mills’ explanation to KESQ News Channel 3 describes an accident that resulted from the officer losing his balance.

On Saturday night, city spokesperson Kitty Alvarado sent out a media advisory with a note that read, in part: “We have been made aware several news outlets have been printing rumors about the officer doing tricks on his motorcycle. We are going to let the California Highway Patrol conduct an investigation and we would appreciate you leaving that rumor out of the story; it’s inaccurate.”

As for what actually happened, including whether officers were at some point doing tricks, we’ll have to see what the investigation finds. After watching the videos of the moments leading up to the accident, I’m still not sure what happened, but clearly a LOT of what was being reported was misinformation. This is always the case when tragedies unfold—and it’s something that we, as consumers of news and social media, need to keep in mind.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Related to the intro above: The Palm Springs Police Chief is halting motorcycle use by his department pending a review. From Mills’ community advisory: “Concerning the FOL parade accident, the following initiatives are taking place effective immediately: 1. I have directed that all operations involving motor officers cease until an administrative review is completed. 2. The California Highway Patrol is conducting an external and impartial investigation into the FOL collision and causes of the accident. 3. The management team will conduct a thorough, and deep dive administrative review of the policy, procedures and historical practices of the Traffic Division. This review will include an examination of training, personnel and equipment available to Traffic. 4. The Traffic Division manager will write a unit manual that governs activities of motor units concerning operations and the movement of police vehicles at heavily populated events. 5. The training cadre will ensure education is distributed to the department regarding appropriate decision making and risk taking. 6. Internal affairs will conduct a personnel investigation regarding the incident.”

• Today’s recall news involves … a reminder that all these recalls aren’t necessarily a bad thing! NPR reports: “Asked why there seem to be more recalls this year, (food scientist Amanda) Deering says U.S. food surveillance has gotten more granular—and communication about problems is more effective. As recently as 10 years ago, Deering says, declaring a food-related outbreak with only six cases ‘would have been almost unheard of.’ But in recent years, scientists at the CDC and labs across the country have gotten better at detecting and tracing the source of foodborne illness outbreaks. Using the Pulse Net data-sharing system, and a newer technology known as whole genome sequencing, scientists can sequence the DNA from bacteria to help investigators see the scope of an outbreak and find its source.”

• The federal government says it will begin testing milk supplies across the country for the bird flu. The Los Angeles Times says: “Nearly a year after a wild bird infected with H5N1 avian flu presumably passed its viral baggage to a dairy cow in the Texas panhandle—which has subsequently led to the infection of more than 700 herds nationwide and sickened at least 35 dairy workers—the nation’s agriculture department announced Friday that it will sample the nation’s milk supply to test for the virus. The federal order requires dairy farmers to collect and share raw milk samples for testing—if requested—by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It also lays out a staged testing strategy that will allow the federal agency to track and monitor the disease. … The new order will initially apply to six states: California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The goal, according to the statement, is to rid the nation’s dairy herds of the disease—an achievement few infectious-disease researchers or virologists think is possible, at least any time soon. … Government health officers insist that the virus poses a low risk to the public. However, some experts warn that nearly all the conditions needed for the virus to develop a threatening mutation are now present in many dairy farms.” Eek.

• ProPublica has recently released a series of pieces regarding formaldehyde, which causes cancer more than any other air pollutant. For starters, here’s a piece regarding the amount of it in things we use every day, and here’s a search where you can put in any address and find out the formaldehyde cancer risk. Here’s a quote from the lead piece: “As the backbone of American commerce, formaldehyde is a workhorse in major sectors of the economy, preserving bodies in funeral homes, binding particleboards in furniture and serving as a building block in plastic. The risk isn’t just to the workers using it; formaldehyde threatens everyone as it pollutes the air we all breathe and leaks from products long after they enter our homes. It is virtually everywhere. Federal regulators have known for more than four decades that formaldehyde is toxic, but their attempts to limit the chemical have been repeatedly thwarted by the many companies that rely on it.”

• Our partners at Calmatters report that the feds are looking for more immigrant-detention space in California—a request that pre-dates the election, but has a lot of folks especially worried post-election: “In August, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a request for information to identify additional detention bed space in the state as other federal agencies intensified border enforcement. The effort began in the wake of the Biden administration’s sweeping asylum ban, implemented in June, for migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border outside designated entry points. Under the ban, border agents can deport such migrants within hours or days without considering their asylum claims. Advocates say an expansion of detention space would give Trump a runway to carry out more mass deportations in California. Immigrants in counties with more detention space are more likely to be arrested and detained, according to research by advocacy groups.”

• And finally … the dictionary folks have made a depressing pick for their Word of the Year. The Associated Press says: “The results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election rattled the country and sent shockwaves across the world—or were cause for celebration, depending on who you ask. Is it any surprise then that the Merriam-Webster word of the year is ‘polarization’? ‘Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,’ said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s announcement. ‘Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.’” Bleh!

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