Blogger's Note

     I just wanted to take a quick moment to share: this photo I took during the Ken Bluew trial, (posted on day 205), of the Saginaw County Medical Examiner demonstrating how he believed former Buena Vista Police Officer Ken Bluew strangled Jennifer Webb on the then-Saginaw County prosecutor placed an honorable mention in the MPPA's Best of 2012 general news category. A few people I work with and others from different areas of the state for MLive did really well. If you'd like to see the winners you can find them here!

Day 344/365

     This morning I covered a status hearing of sorts where a circuit court judge turned down the plea deal of a man who's one of three, (plus one who's still at large), charged in connection with the death of a 6-year-old girl. The shooting, which resulted in the girl's death and her father in critical condition, happened this past August when Saginaw was finishing off an extremely violent summer that resulted in the city breaking its 20-year homicide record. Notorious for its "no snitch code," Saginaw residents rallied for that code to be broken, and seem to have been successful as one of the men involved is now testifying against the two alleged shooters. 

Day 324/365

     After working late last night/day 323 I covered the opening arguments in an alleged armed robbery trial, with the defendant being charged with eleven felonies. He's a 20 year-old being accused of shooting another person during a botched robbery. I'm starting to see a theme here...

Day 323/365

     99% of the time I absolutely love my job. Every once in a while though, that 1% rears its ugly head, and being in a place like Saginaw it shows up much more than it should. I worked the day shift yesterday, but got called out to a double shooting later at night when all of the other photographers were either out sick or out on assignment. There was a botched robbery out in one of the more sketchier areas of the city, and it resulted in a man and his 5 year-old grandson being shot. When I got to the crime scene police were sending out K9 units. Being in a residential area at night, with flashing police lights, people screaming when they realized who had been shot, and dogs barking as they're being ran around the area looking for the shooter/shooters was a bit unreal. There's a very prominent "no snitch code" in Saginaw, but I'm really hoping it gets broken in this case. 

Day 304/365 - Part 2

     Like I said in the first part of today's post; today started off normal enough. Then, excuse the language, the shit hit the proverbial fan as far as breaking news stories go. Hang tight, folks, this one's going to take a bit to explain. Stick with me here. 

     Around 9:30 pm Wednesday night, January 16, a female Central Michigan University student was leaving the student gym and walking out to her car. Eric Ramsey, a thirty-something year-old man, held the girl at gunpoint and kidnapped her in her own vehicle. He then took her to his house, bound her, and raped her. He then loaded her back in her car, placed some cans of gasoline in the car, and took off with her again. As he was driving, he told her he was going to kill her. She fought. She managed to jump out of the car as it was moving, and ran away towards the closest house she could see.

     The Mount Pleasant area, where this took place, is pretty rural. Other than an indian reservation and the CMU campus, it's a bunch of corn fields. So the fact that this girl happened to jump out in the near vicinity of a house is extremely lucky, but not as lucky as what happens next.

     The girl ran to the front door of the house, pounded on it, screaming for help and that a man was trying to kill her. During this time, Jim Persyn Jr. was on his way to pick his fiancé, Tiffany Ramon, up from work. Since Persyn only had about a fifteen minute roundtrip to pick Tiffany up, their children were left home alone. Their children being their 14 year-old son James, their 11 year-old daughter Acelin, and their 2 year-old son Angus. It was the Persyn residence that the CMU girl ran up to.

     James heard her screaming, opened the door and let her in. When she told him a man was after her and trying to kill her, James locked the front door. He then grabbed his hunting knife,  got the girl, his siblings, and the family dog and had all of them go into the bathroom at the back of the house and they barricaded themselves in. Since the bathroom door didn't have a lock, James made sure to sit closest to it with his knife. As this is happening, Eric Ramsey has realized where the girl has gone and is banging on the front of the house yelling to let him in. James had the girl use his phone to call 911, and then James called his dad to tell him that someone was trying to get into the house.

     When Ramsey couldn't knock the front door down, he tried to light the house on fire with the gasoline he had put in the trunk of the girl's car. Luckily Ramsey was unsuccessful, and left the area. The children's parents rushed home and were able to put out any flames Ramsey had managed to start, and the police arrived. After crashing into a state trooper, stealing a sanitation truck, and then crashing into two other state troopers over the span of three other counties, Eric Ramsey was shot and killed.

     James Persyn III, a fourteen year-old boy, had the presence of mind and a level enough head to save not only the rape victim, but protect his younger siblings as well. I have never been in awe of anyone before, but I was today when I had the honor of meeting the Persyn family and taking their pictures as they were interviewed by an MLive reporter. I was also heartbroken, as it was easy enough to see how scared both James and Acelin were, but they were calm in spite of the shocking events they had been witness to. 

     Today, I met a fourteen year-old hero.

Day 291/365

 

     On Friday/day 291 I got to cover the biggest basketball rivalry in Saginaw, and quite possibly the biggest in the state as well: Saginaw High vs. Arthur Hill. It. Was. Insane. At least 1,600 people packed into Arthur Hill's gym, and local celebrities like Michigan State's basketball coach Tom Izzo and Saginaw High alumni/Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley were in attendance. It's the showdown of the season, and it was easy to see why. 

     I've loved basketball for a long time. I've been to enough games and played it enough times that I've seen amazing plays made by amazing athletes. Most, if not all, of those pale in comparison to the moves I saw in this game. Incredible doesn't seem to to them justice. 

    It did get a bit dicey towards the end of the game. Both schools are in the heart of the inner city of Saginaw, where there are high crime rates and strong gang activity. Metal detectors are built into the entrance of both schools and anyone who set off Arthur Hill's Friday night was searched. Towards the end of the game, a few technicals were called on Saginaw High, and a few players from both teams almost came to blows over it. This resulted in the majority of the people in attendance trying to rush the court. Security and the police managed to keep them at bay for the most part. I ended up with an elbow to the face and my body twisted in two different directions, but it could've been much worse all things considered. All in all though, it was a great game, and made for a great night.

Day 170/365

     I got to shoot my first court case today; it was the sentencing for a man who was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault causing great bodily harm less than murder.

     

    In June of 2011 Brandon Carbeno and Chene Swarthout got into an argument over parking arrangements while leaving a concert in Bay City. After a heated exchange, Swarthout returned to his car to leave. 

     Carbeno also went back to his car, but instead of getting in and driving away, he pulled a baseball bat out of his trunk and went back for Swarthout. Carbeno beat Swarthout so badly that he was in a coma for almost two weeks after the incident, and to this day suffers significant brain damage. 

     All because of an argument started over a parking spot, two men's lives, as well as two families' lives, are forever changed for the worse.

       If you'd like to read the article from today's sentencing, or if you'd like to see the other photos I took from the proceedings today, you can find them on MLive here.

Day 165/365

     Tonight I covered a town hall meeting in Saginaw that Reverend Jesse Jackson attended. Due to the escalating violence and unrest since the Milton Hall shooting, national attention has been directed towards Saginaw, bring with it visits from the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, and soon to be Al Sharpton, along with other civil rights and watchdog groups. Another photo intern and I shot quite a few photos of Jackson and the events he attended throughout the day, so if you'd like to see more you can find different galleries here. While I know this shot is wider and doesn't zero in on Jackson as much as the others I took, there's just something about it that I liked.

Day 164/365

     There was yet another shooting last night; a house about one street over from the shooting I covered yesterday afternoon was shot up, killing a six year-old girl and leaving her father critically injured. Apparently they were just in town visiting family, and there's no word yet on whether or not the father was a target. Because of the escalating violence, the former mayor of Saginaw held a press conference this morning asking those who may have information relating to the murders but have kept quiet to come forward, whether it be to the police or to watchdog groups like the ones present this morning. While the former mayor, Gary Loster, talked about yesterday's victims, he mainly talked about Milton Hall, a homeless man that was shot 30-40 times by Saginaw police during a standoff back in July. The Milton Hall fiasco has caused a lot of anger in the area, mostly directed towards police, since most citizens are calling it an act of extreme police brutality. There's an ongoing investigation into the police department's actions, but not much has been said, leading people to try to take measures into their own hands, drawing national attention from CNN and garnering upcoming visits from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.