Car nearly crashes into California TV reporter while on air

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. -- A Northern California television reporter and cameraman narrowly missed getting hit by a car while reporting on air.

The station, CBS affiliate KTVU, showed a clip on its Twitter feed Tuesday of reporter Alex Savidge on air before there was a loud bang. That was when cameraman Chip Vaughan hollered at him to watch out.

According to KTVU, the pair had been standing in a parking lot by a busy street covering a train derailment in Alameda County that injured nine people Monday night when the car came careening.

Savidge credits his photographer Vaughan for yelling "get out of the way." Savidge jumped to the right instinctively, which was lucky since the car was moving on his left.

"It happened in a split second. I'm just thankful he jumped the right way," Vaughan said.

In his next live shot, Savidge was emotional. "I am grateful to be OK, that's all I can say," he told viewers.

He hugged and thanked Vaughan on air and told his wife that, in case she'd been watching, he was doing fine.

The woman's license was taken away. The crash is still under investigation. As Savidge and Vaughan returned to the newsroom, they were greeted by a round of hugs, according to the station.

In:
• California