Death is coming...

... At least I think so. While it may be too early to tell, a dead person has almost literally been dropped at my feet every day so far this week.

On Monday morning, I did what I do every monday morning, which is look at e-mail, press releases and news reports to see what's a good story for the website. Then I write. I saw a press release from Suffolk cops about a fatal accident the night before at about 10:30. The angle of the story came to me immediately: Drunken driving after a superbowl party and subject winds up dead.

I placed a call to Suffolk PD and sure enough, the deceased had a few beers at a superbowl gathering at a Ronkonkoma Hooters restaurant and was then speeding through traffic on the shoulder of Old Nichols Rd. where he hit a curb and went into a tree. The cop I talked to seemed really disappointed in the guy.

So I wrote this: http://www.longislandpress.com/?cp=162&show=article&a_id=7353

Minutes after publishing the story, it was brought to my attention that the guy who died worked for the radio station in my office. Throughout the day, I was hearing people talk about how great a guy he was and how respected he was as a DJ. But one thing that someone said to me is what I'll remember most:

No matter how great a guy you are, no matter what you do, if you kill yourself or someone else after making the decision to drink and drive, you'll forever be remembered as a drunk driver.

It's the bane of a journalist's existence, especially crime reporters, who forget victims and killers are more than just printed words. They have families, friends, blood in their veins.

Tonight, I was driving home from work over the treacherous Long Island Expressway and Northern State Parkway and it was getting old. So naturally I was speeding, trying to get home as soon as possible so I could sit down and eat the dinner I'd been waitin all day for. But when the traffic got slow on Jericho Tpke., I knew something was wrong. The feeling of dread was confirmed when I saw the body-yes, a brutally mangled body-lying in the middle of Jericho Tpke. He was apparently hit by a car and not moving. I didn't need a medical examiner to tell me the man was dead.

It may not have been the first dead body I've seen, but this was the first that I saw before the paramedic, coroner or priest. I figured the accident happened just before I got there, for the police weren't even there yet. Concerned people gathered around as one guy draped something over the body. All this I gathered in the three seconds it took me to pass the scene.

Monday and Tuesday brought two dead men that just couldn't help but jump in my path. What's in store for the rest of the week?