Shot in the Dark (2017) s01e03 Episode Script
Near Hits
[siren wailing.]
[Zak.]
Male.
He's messed up, big time.
Do me a favor.
Cancel all, 414, I got it.
It's gonna be one male.
Hispanic.
DOA.
And it's gonna be a hit-and-run.
It's a vehicle versus a pedestrian.
The body here is in the street.
We've got a male victim who's just been pronounced, uh, dead at the scene.
Like, someone ran this poor guy over looked around, realized what they did and then just left him there to die.
By himself.
The fuck's wrong with people? [indistinct chattering over radio.]
[sighs.]
We got the crime scene.
We're gonna start with that.
I'm gonna go with the last half of that.
This is what people are gonna wanna see.
But there's things graphically that we make sure to blur out.
It doesn't sell.
Like, our clients wouldn't buy that.
At the end of the night, if you're getting hits on air, you were successful.
If not, you weren't.
There's a guy praying behind the You can see him.
He's He's got his head down.
He's doing a prayer.
It always puts things into perspective.
[sighs.]
Fuck.
Okay.
Authorities are searching for the driver in a fatal hit-and-run.
The incident happened around 3:30 this morning on the 2900 block of West Wilshire Boulevard.
A man was struck by a vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim's identity has not been released.
Police do not have a description of the vehicle or the driver.
[Howard.]
We're out here documenting a war.
[tires squealing and sirens wailing.]
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[Austin.]
What we see in a week, most people do not see in an entire lifetime.
Austin, where are you? At Slauson? [Austin.]
Yeah, all right, I'm just coming up to Slauson now.
Marc, where are you? At Long Beach, and Scott's on the west side of the street.
- Ready to make this happen? - Let me know when you get something.
[Howard.]
RMG is essentially the three brothers.
We cover Los Angeles.
And it's huge.
And to successfully do what we've been doing, we assign ourselves areas.
Sectioning up the city is the only way I know how to make it work.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[man over radio.]
Pursuit in progress, units requesting backup.
We're not actually far from this.
Eight minutes.
All right.
This is a good call.
It was a pursuit.
I don't know if it's a stolen vehicle.
Crashed into the police car and took off.
Um, just the fact that it damaged a police car, that's assault with a deadly weapon.
They will look for this car.
There's gonna be dozens of stories that happen tonight.
But only one of them is gonna have all of the elements to be the Story of the Night.
And if you miss it, it's like it didn't happen at all.
[woman over radio.]
Male, Hispanic, gray shirt, shorts.
Running eastbound.
He's running.
It's now a foot pursuit.
Here's the cops here.
[woman over radio.]
Closed street, towards the 101.
[Howard.]
Oh, come on, don't screw me with a red light.
Oh, come on! [woman over radio.]
urgent stop on 4th Street.
Helicopters have lost the suspect.
Fucking cops are everywhere.
Come on! Come on! Fucking move! What's this? Oh, the Pico Gardens.
[dispatcher over radio.]
Pico Gardens Project.
Pico Gardens Project.
He's actually in here.
Christ Almighty.
It's unreal.
I wanna follow this cop in.
Stop.
Buildings.
This guy could be anywhere.
He could be in the Dumpsters.
He could be right there.
[siren wailing.]
Um, I would definitely watch your back in this place.
We don't know where the guy is.
[helicopter whirring.]
Fucking cops everywhere.
I mean, you can just tell what kind of area this is.
Look at the security cameras.
They have microphones to record gun shots.
In a housing project with a suspect who's just assaulted a police officer.
This is a great story.
All I need now is for them to catch the guy.
[clown 1.]
Press, right here! - [Scott.]
What's up, guys? - [clown 2.]
Hello there! [Scott.]
Well, hello, hello! Coming to you live, downtown LA! [Scott.]
What's up, man? - How are you? - All right.
You? I'm good.
I'm good.
Smells good.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Let's grab a taco.
- [vendor.]
What can I do for you? - [Scott.]
I will grab a I'll grab an asada taco.
- I'll take two chicken.
- Two chicken and an asada.
[Scott.]
I've known Todd since '93.
I had blue hair when I met him.
We both worked at UPS.
Found out we had things in common.
We've kind of been best friends since.
Thank you so much.
Now Todd works for me.
He's a moody bitch prick.
But he's a great stringer.
- Where do you plan on working? - Down here.
- Go 10 and La Cienega probably.
- All right.
You need a big story.
Go out and get me a story.
- Go out and get who a story? - Go out and get me a story.
[Scott chuckles.]
- I'm out.
Later.
Be safe.
- Take my trash.
Yup.
[Todd.]
So, I've known Scott, like, over 20 years now.
He was, like, one of those really eccentric, weird, like, punk rock, extreme kids.
I don't know what you'd call it.
Now that we're older, we've got business ventures together, and, you know, we work together, but he's not my boss.
I'm my boss.
Scott's just in another car.
Yeah, he might run the LoudLabs News Department, but I run myself.
Like, we don't always see eye to eye, but he'll always be on my team.
I've got his back.
He's always got my back.
He's like my brother.
I mean, I see him more than I see my brother.
[Scott over radio.]
White 90, Red five.
- Go.
- [Scott.]
Structure fire on 7th and Spring.
[Todd.]
Copy.
I'm en route.
All right.
Structure fire.
[sirens wailing.]
He could be anywhere.
The amount of cops, though.
He hasn't got a hope in hell.
I just need the suspect.
If they don't catch him it kind of screws my story, so It's made me wonder if this is actually gonna be worth it.
This is taking so much time.
It's like, how much further do we wanna push it? It's a waiting game.
Could go on all night.
It could go on for a few minutes.
Do I stay here all night and risk missing something else but really nail the story? I don't know.
Fucking hell.
Sometimes it's just not your night.
Everything goes wrong, or you miss the shot.
But you have to keep pushing.
I will go out and I expect I will get a story.
I expect to get a good story.
And if I sit there for two hours, three hours, not getting a good story, I'll wait it out.
I want that Story of the Night.
I will stay out until I get that story.
7th and Spring.
Here we are.
What the fuck? Where's this building on fire at? [indistinct chattering over radio.]
The flame.
I'm trying to figure out where this fire's at.
They're coming.
It says 7th and Spring.
[sirens wailing.]
It's down here? Where the fu? Oh, right there.
Way up there.
It's like a candle or something.
It's just a candle.
Firemen are just checking it out, too, like, "What the fuck?" Fuck this, man.
The fire department's gotta come out.
It's just one of those things, you know.
False call, man.
A waste of time.
Resources, time, fuel.
[Scott.]
There's nights I go out I just wanna make my Like, I have a personal quota.
Then there's times where I wanna be the best stringer.
How do you determine who the best stringer is? Who has the most stories on TV.
The best way to get the most hits? Get the Story of the Night.
You get that story? Everyone's buying it.
[man 1 over radio.]
A separate incident.
We're looking for a female.
[man 2.]
Officer involved, stabbing.
[Scott.]
Did they just say, "Officer involved, stabbing"? That's not good.
That's not good at all.
[man over radio.]
Red five, did you copy that? "Officer involved stabbing"? I did.
I was asking that same question, if that's what I heard.
[man over radio.]
Do you have anyone that could go to County Hospital? That's where they're taking the officer.
Yeah.
Me.
I'm en route.
That's gonna be a really good call.
Cops are on high alert.
It's almost weekly that we hear about cops dying.
For me, if a cop gets shot, unfortunately, it's good.
That's gonna make the news.
Ambulance entrance is in front of us.
We'll run to those stairs and shoot him getting out of the ambulance.
[siren wailing.]
What's funny, too, is I'm scared of heights.
Looking through the lens, it doesn't matter.
Sometimes you have to take some chances to get those shots.
This might not be the number one story, but a cop being stabbed, that's making the news for sure.
I wanna be remembered as Los Angeles' best stringer.
That's it.
Now, the best team is gonna be OnScene.
They have the most people.
But the best stringer? That's me.
[Scott chuckles.]
I don't have the best shot in 2017.
Austin wins that.
He'll win that for a while.
But what has Austin done since that shot? Nothing.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[Austin.]
The other night was kind of It was intense.
Stay with me, buddy.
It shook me up.
The realization of what happened didn't set in until after everything had kind of calmed down.
And thinking about it and how bad it could've gone, you know, it makes you realize how quickly life can be taken away from you.
After that night, a lot of news stations came to the house and they were talking to me about everything and my 4-year-old kid's like, "Well, that's great, Daddy.
Can I do what you do when I grow up?" And I'm like, "I don't want you doing it, actually.
" It's, um, a dangerous business to be in.
You really never know what's gonna happen.
That night I put myself in harm's way.
I didn't think about myself, my wife, my kids.
It could've had a much, much worse outcome.
It really isn't worth the footage that we're gonna get to put yourself in that danger.
[Howard over radio.]
Where are you exactly? I got a crash on the southbound 710 to southbound 405.
It's an injury crash, possibly car on fire.
Be careful if you get out on the freeway.
It's not worth getting hurt for.
Marc is responding to a car accident.
The car has gone over the side and caught fire.
Yeah, I'm one and a quarter mile away.
[Austin.]
I'm gonna be right there.
I want to be there for Marc, just in case anything goes wrong.
That doesn't make any fucking sense.
Why the fuck are you going for? Austin's just left South Central to go to the same crash that Marc's on.
[man over radio.]
We have a pursuit going northbound on the 110.
Pursuit.
Pursuit.
ADW South Bay.
Vermont on 135th.
I'm gonna do a quick turnaround.
Pursuit is right where Austin was.
For some reason, Austin went to try and go over towards Marc's crash.
I mean, what's the fucking point in that? Makes no sense.
[man over radio.]
Pursuit ended in a felony T-stop.
Suspect in custody.
Fucking typical.
Fuck me.
I would be on that right now.
I kind of screwed that one up.
There's a reason we have areas we shoot.
What's the point in going over there and leaving South Central uncovered? Amateur mistake.
Fuck.
[man over radio.]
Auto versus ped.
Intersection of Hooper and 27th.
Oh, wow.
We are on our way to a vehicle versus ped.
The thing about vehicle versus peds let's say it's a fatal and the driver sticks around, it's not a story unless there's special circumstances.
But if it's a hit-and-run, it's usually a story.
Especially if it's a visual.
If he dies, it's a story.
It's whoever gets there first is gonna get it.
[man over radio.]
Auto versus ped.
Intersection of Hooper and 27th.
That's, like, right next to us.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
So, they did a sign.
LA City Fire is currently responding.
LAPD is responding, assigned the call Code 3, so, it's a fairly serious level of response.
That's basically the fastest level of response.
Any time they do that, any time they send a full response with haste, that's a good sign for it being something serious.
Something worth our time.
Will that be the Story of the Night? Probably not.
[brakes squeal.]
Ah! This ten seconds could cost me the story.
All right.
We are here.
I don't know how serious it is.
We're about to find out.
It's a very competitive business, so I'm assuming you're gonna see other cameras here.
[siren wailing.]
Look who's already here.
Our buddy Zak.
- Good to see you.
- Hit-and-run.
- It is? - Hit by a car.
- The guy took off.
- Thank you.
[Zak.]
Definitely hit hard.
You can see a lot of blood on the back of his head.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
We know something no one else knows right now, that this is a hit-and-run.
I make sure my guys maintain a good relationship with law enforcement.
Acquiring information at a scene quickly and accurately is priceless.
It helps us sell our content and footage to our clients above everyone else.
- Do you have my number? - Yeah.
Give me a call when you get a chance.
See you.
[Scott.]
I'm pretty sure Zak wanted to be a cop.
And I'm pretty sure sometimes he thinks he is.
Zak was a security guard.
I know he wanted to do Army stuff.
I don't know if that worked out for him.
So, now he's a stringer.
It was a good way for Zak to get in with where the cops were.
I don't try to be something I'm not.
[Zak.]
I was on a path to law enforcement because I wanted to make a difference.
And I know how naive that sounds now, but to, you know, 21, 22-year-old Zak, that's all I wanted to do.
And law enforcement was what I thought would be the way to accomplish that.
But it's not.
I'm almost a little too creative for it.
I don't like following orders.
[chuckles.]
I like seeing a problem and fixing it.
And coming out and seeing what the guys were doing at OnScene, I mean, it was obvious for me what I needed to do.
Being a journalist and actually working in the city and covering these stories, showing what's going on is more important than anything with a gun and a badge.
If you could get me a write-up started.
It's gonna be a hit-and-run.
[Scott.]
It's a story.
It's not the story.
Um, it's definitely not the Story of the Night.
We'll feed both stories, see what happens.
Part of our Saturday night package.
Hey, Summer Desk, it's Scott with LON.
Just sent you a story to add to my package.
I sent a vehicle versus pedestrian hit-and-run.
Two stories.
It is a two-for-one.
All packaging is, it's just selling multiple stories for the price of one.
No big deal.
Doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
Or to figure out it works.
I don't like wasting my time.
If a story is not strong enough by itself, I'll package it with another story.
After 17 years in the business, I know when to package and when not to.
The other guys don't like it, tough titties.
Not my problem.
Deal with it.
[Zak.]
Dealing with Scott's guys, you have to You have to deal with all that packaging crap, which is frustrating.
The whole packaging thing, Scott started doing so he could compete with what we offer.
So, if we've got a story that's gorgeous, we have everything you need to tell the story, it's not gonna hold up to Scott running around with his guys and packaging up ten, 12 stories for the price of one.
It's really bad for the industry, so, dealing with that is really frustrating.
[siren wailing.]
[fire truck horn blaring.]
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
- I take it everyone's out, are they? - [fireman.]
Yeah, we didn't find anybody.
[Marc.]
Well, a little bit of excitement.
When I saw the car involved, I thought, "I'm gonna do an Austin special and pull someone out.
" Luckily, no one in there.
Marc, did you get to that car accident yet? Uh, we got there just after the fire department.
But no driver or occupants anywhere.
Yeah.
Nobody's stuck.
That's not a story.
It's been slow as shit.
Waiting for something.
Nothing happening.
Nothing happening.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
Physical rescue assignment.
That's a big call with heavy rescue.
Heavy rescue is a huge, almost like 18-wheeler truck with specialist equipment where they cut people out.
I mean, that's gonna be one hell of a gamble.
[man over radio.]
See what you can do.
It looks like he's pretty packed in there.
That I like to hear.
Not for his sake, but mine.
I like to hear he's packed in.
I'm gonna run this story down.
Honest, I need a good story.
I just need to get there before he gets cut out.
[Zak.]
Three-nine and Normandie, we had a shooting go down and we're gonna go over and we're gonna start at Normandie where the victims are.
What are you people doing? No.
Stop texting.
Everybody stop fucking texting.
Yeah, control, I got it.
I'm on scene with Code 6.
There's Scott again.
It's bad luck if you see a Scott three times in a night.
It's like Beetlejuice, you know? [Scott.]
Hi, Zak.
How are you? [Scott chuckles.]
[Zak.]
If you're at the same call as Scott, it's impossible to sell that story because he packages everything.
He's basically giving away stories to the stations.
There we go.
[siren wailing.]
There's our suspect right there.
Come on.
Well, can you grab the other camera? Grab the other cameraman? Gonna go by him.
Oh, poor Scott.
[chuckles.]
- [officer 1.]
Come back by the stop sign.
- [officer 2.]
Where'd the other one go? He's right there.
Yes, sir.
[officer 1.]
You guys come push this all the way back.
[Zak.]
This is part of the crime scene? Is it okay if I'm on this side? I understand.
Is it okay here? You got a group of people there.
[officer 2.]
We're gonna kick them out.
[Scott.]
He's not gonna be happy about that.
[Zak.]
I mean, Scott, I just I can't stand the negativity.
I can't stand it.
It really bothers me.
I hate ratting out other cameramen.
I really hate it.
One of the worst things about this job is where you have to tattle on someone.
That's all I'm doing is tattletaleing.
But if I can't be there, no one can.
[Zak.]
Scott's like the last holdover from when things used to be a little crazier.
I see the way Scott looks at me.
I'm younger than him.
I run the company that he started.
I'm just coming to get my car.
Okay.
OnScene TV is on television every single day.
That just doesn't sit well with Scott.
[man on gurney.]
Hey, Toro! Toro! Toro! Toro! Toro! [Howard.]
A great story.
Physical rescue, rollover crash, somebody needs extrication.
Stations love that.
- [GPS.]
Your destination's on the way.
- All right.
Let's just [indistinct chattering over radio.]
[siren wailing.]
[Howard.]
This is gonna be really close.
Gee, that's unreal! There's nothing left of that.
All right.
Fuck me.
I missed the rescue.
Made it out of his car.
You should've seen what they had to do to that car to get him out.
Ah, fuck.
That's Steve.
- That's one of Zak's guys here.
- [man.]
He was here pretty quick.
[Howard.]
This will definitely sell.
Fucking OnScene beat me.
Those fuckers are everywhere.
[newscaster.]
There was also a wild crash in Arleta late last night.
Two people were injured.
One of them had to be cut free.
The crash happened on the 13,600 block of Branford Street.
Both people were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
No word yet on the cause of the crash.
It's getting tough for RMG.
Obviously, OnScene has a whole bunch of people.
They're 25, 30 guys.
So many resources.
They can get to places so damn quick.
That kills it for us.
So, there is that battle.
Scott decided that, you know, in order to try and beat us, they'd give away two stories for the price of one.
RMG, it's just the three of us.
Honestly, I don't know how to compete.
Austin and I have always been together.
We've always had great friends in each other.
Growing up and, you know, reaching 18, finishing school, and coming to America was always our dream.
And Marc, our younger brother, he came out and joined us doing what we love doing.
It's been a passion for my brothers and I.
It's harder to earn money.
It's a tougher industry.
The way the business is going, the expansion of OnScene and the packaging of LoudLabs, for us, it's going downhill.
And in six months' time, we're gonna be gone.
Unless we change something.
We're going to a pretty major incident right now.
It's at Jack in the Box.
[chuckles.]
No, just kidding.
We're ordering some food.
No joke.
It never fails.
The second I get food, something happens.
There's not really that much open late, so, your options dwindle past midnight.
I'm going to get the healthiest thing on the menu, which is the Teriyaki Bowl.
I think.
[man over radio.]
Structure fire at South Arlington Avenue, channel 9.
Control, 455.
I'm gonna be responding to the structure response on Arlington.
I'll be en route from SC, cancel all, 414, if he's responding.
And that's why we go through drive-throughs.
[man over radio.]
Units please respond, auto fire on the freeway ramp.
Oh, yes.
710 South at Long Beach, car fire.
It's just come out now.
Yeah, fuck it.
I'd go and have a look at that.
You gonna go? - Austin.
- Yeah, I don't know what this is gonna be.
I heard them call, it could be something.
It may be just to take a report, but there could be a body in the road.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I hope this isn't a crash.
Yeah.
No, I can see it.
I hope there's no one trapped in the car.
[siren wailing.]
That made me nervous.
I got flashbacks to that other night.
It's not a news story, but I'm glad it's just probably damage and no one's hurt.
[Zak.]
Units responding to the structure fire.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
414, what did he say? [woman speaking indistinctly over radio.]
- [woman.]
Nothing showing.
- [Zak.]
Okay, we're canceling.
We just got canceled out.
No actual No active flames.
Control, I copy.
Nothing's showing.
455 will be canceling out.
Uh, Hoover and the 10.
Teriyaki Bowl, take two.
Ah, the drive-through, the bane of our existence.
If I get another call, we're done.
I'm done.
Going home.
Be like, that's it.
It's too real.
Really excited about this Teriyaki Bowl.
Some rice, veggies and chicken.
- [man.]
Welcome to Jack in the Box.
- Yeah.
Hi.
Uh, can I just get a number 16? - Number 16? - Yeah.
One, six.
Sixteen.
That's the Teriyaki Bowl.
We're actually out of rice for the Teriyaki Bowl.
I'm not surprised.
Um, okay, that's cool.
Let me get the Pepper Jack Ranch Spicy Chicken Sandwich, then.
Thank you so much, man.
Take care.
The harsh realities of stringing, living on fast food.
It's not the bullets or fire that'll kill me.
It'll be the burgers.
Please don't get a call.
I just wanna eat this sandwich.
[laughs.]
[Howard.]
Yeah, it's been pretty frustrating.
We missed the manhunt suspect.
The car fire was a bust.
OnScene easily won the crash.
Yeah, it's not been good so far.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[cell phone rings.]
Hello.
[Austin.]
405 at Getty Center.
- Head-on wrong way driver crash.
- Fuck.
A head-on crash.
Yeah.
[Austin.]
Going southbound in the northbound lane.
Now.
Head-on crash.
[Howard.]
We'll have that.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
Son of a bitch.
That's gonna get all the hits.
Red 5's en route to a TC.
Traffic collision.
The vehicle went southbound in the northbound lanes when it hit somebody head-on.
So, that's a cool crash.
There will be a crime scene.
They will be investigating.
[man over radio.]
We have one traumatic arrest and one other patient.
Looks like we're gonna have a third.
Story of the night.
Especially if one person dies.
[woman over radio.]
We are advising it will be a 44.
Shit.
It's a fatal.
The stations are gonna love this.
The 405 is a major, major freeway through LA.
You add a crash like this into the mix, it'll shut the city down for hours.
This is the Story of the Night.
If I can get this.
[Scott.]
Nobody hangs out over there, so, everybody has to make their way from, you know, South LA or downtown.
Now it's a race to see which cameraman can get there first.
It's amazing how fast you can go when you drive fast.
[chuckles.]
There's highway patrol.
He's gonna be going to the crash.
Uh, that's the last thing I wanna do is tail someone doing 90.
Please do not do a traffic stop right in front of me.
[siren wailing.]
Fuck! You have got to be shitting me.
He's gonna block the freeway and we'll get stuck.
Literally five seconds.
Five seconds quicker.
Damn.
I am gonna get off.
That's a gamble, taking surface streets rather than the freeway, but that might be easier and quicker for us to do that.
[Scott.]
All right.
So, we should see it any second now.
Come on.
Be right here.
Be right here.
Thank you.
Shit.
I don't know how we're gonna get over there.
Oh, fuck.
I don't know what to do.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! 'Cause if I go up there, we're fucked.
We're stuck in traffic.
Son of a bitch! Fuck! [Howard.]
Come on! [indistinct chattering over radio.]
[man over radio.]
This was confirmed by a medic? [woman over radio.]
There are body parts in lanes.
"Body parts in lanes.
" Shit.
It's right ahead of us.
There it is.
Oh, shit.
[Zak.]
Male.
He's messed up, big time.
Do me a favor.
Cancel all, 414, I got it.
It's gonna be one male.
Hispanic.
DOA.
And it's gonna be a hit-and-run.
It's a vehicle versus a pedestrian.
The body here is in the street.
We've got a male victim who's just been pronounced, uh, dead at the scene.
Like, someone ran this poor guy over looked around, realized what they did and then just left him there to die.
By himself.
The fuck's wrong with people? [indistinct chattering over radio.]
[sighs.]
We got the crime scene.
We're gonna start with that.
I'm gonna go with the last half of that.
This is what people are gonna wanna see.
But there's things graphically that we make sure to blur out.
It doesn't sell.
Like, our clients wouldn't buy that.
At the end of the night, if you're getting hits on air, you were successful.
If not, you weren't.
There's a guy praying behind the You can see him.
He's He's got his head down.
He's doing a prayer.
It always puts things into perspective.
[sighs.]
Fuck.
Okay.
Authorities are searching for the driver in a fatal hit-and-run.
The incident happened around 3:30 this morning on the 2900 block of West Wilshire Boulevard.
A man was struck by a vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim's identity has not been released.
Police do not have a description of the vehicle or the driver.
[Howard.]
We're out here documenting a war.
[tires squealing and sirens wailing.]
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[Austin.]
What we see in a week, most people do not see in an entire lifetime.
Austin, where are you? At Slauson? [Austin.]
Yeah, all right, I'm just coming up to Slauson now.
Marc, where are you? At Long Beach, and Scott's on the west side of the street.
- Ready to make this happen? - Let me know when you get something.
[Howard.]
RMG is essentially the three brothers.
We cover Los Angeles.
And it's huge.
And to successfully do what we've been doing, we assign ourselves areas.
Sectioning up the city is the only way I know how to make it work.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[man over radio.]
Pursuit in progress, units requesting backup.
We're not actually far from this.
Eight minutes.
All right.
This is a good call.
It was a pursuit.
I don't know if it's a stolen vehicle.
Crashed into the police car and took off.
Um, just the fact that it damaged a police car, that's assault with a deadly weapon.
They will look for this car.
There's gonna be dozens of stories that happen tonight.
But only one of them is gonna have all of the elements to be the Story of the Night.
And if you miss it, it's like it didn't happen at all.
[woman over radio.]
Male, Hispanic, gray shirt, shorts.
Running eastbound.
He's running.
It's now a foot pursuit.
Here's the cops here.
[woman over radio.]
Closed street, towards the 101.
[Howard.]
Oh, come on, don't screw me with a red light.
Oh, come on! [woman over radio.]
urgent stop on 4th Street.
Helicopters have lost the suspect.
Fucking cops are everywhere.
Come on! Come on! Fucking move! What's this? Oh, the Pico Gardens.
[dispatcher over radio.]
Pico Gardens Project.
Pico Gardens Project.
He's actually in here.
Christ Almighty.
It's unreal.
I wanna follow this cop in.
Stop.
Buildings.
This guy could be anywhere.
He could be in the Dumpsters.
He could be right there.
[siren wailing.]
Um, I would definitely watch your back in this place.
We don't know where the guy is.
[helicopter whirring.]
Fucking cops everywhere.
I mean, you can just tell what kind of area this is.
Look at the security cameras.
They have microphones to record gun shots.
In a housing project with a suspect who's just assaulted a police officer.
This is a great story.
All I need now is for them to catch the guy.
[clown 1.]
Press, right here! - [Scott.]
What's up, guys? - [clown 2.]
Hello there! [Scott.]
Well, hello, hello! Coming to you live, downtown LA! [Scott.]
What's up, man? - How are you? - All right.
You? I'm good.
I'm good.
Smells good.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Let's grab a taco.
- [vendor.]
What can I do for you? - [Scott.]
I will grab a I'll grab an asada taco.
- I'll take two chicken.
- Two chicken and an asada.
[Scott.]
I've known Todd since '93.
I had blue hair when I met him.
We both worked at UPS.
Found out we had things in common.
We've kind of been best friends since.
Thank you so much.
Now Todd works for me.
He's a moody bitch prick.
But he's a great stringer.
- Where do you plan on working? - Down here.
- Go 10 and La Cienega probably.
- All right.
You need a big story.
Go out and get me a story.
- Go out and get who a story? - Go out and get me a story.
[Scott chuckles.]
- I'm out.
Later.
Be safe.
- Take my trash.
Yup.
[Todd.]
So, I've known Scott, like, over 20 years now.
He was, like, one of those really eccentric, weird, like, punk rock, extreme kids.
I don't know what you'd call it.
Now that we're older, we've got business ventures together, and, you know, we work together, but he's not my boss.
I'm my boss.
Scott's just in another car.
Yeah, he might run the LoudLabs News Department, but I run myself.
Like, we don't always see eye to eye, but he'll always be on my team.
I've got his back.
He's always got my back.
He's like my brother.
I mean, I see him more than I see my brother.
[Scott over radio.]
White 90, Red five.
- Go.
- [Scott.]
Structure fire on 7th and Spring.
[Todd.]
Copy.
I'm en route.
All right.
Structure fire.
[sirens wailing.]
He could be anywhere.
The amount of cops, though.
He hasn't got a hope in hell.
I just need the suspect.
If they don't catch him it kind of screws my story, so It's made me wonder if this is actually gonna be worth it.
This is taking so much time.
It's like, how much further do we wanna push it? It's a waiting game.
Could go on all night.
It could go on for a few minutes.
Do I stay here all night and risk missing something else but really nail the story? I don't know.
Fucking hell.
Sometimes it's just not your night.
Everything goes wrong, or you miss the shot.
But you have to keep pushing.
I will go out and I expect I will get a story.
I expect to get a good story.
And if I sit there for two hours, three hours, not getting a good story, I'll wait it out.
I want that Story of the Night.
I will stay out until I get that story.
7th and Spring.
Here we are.
What the fuck? Where's this building on fire at? [indistinct chattering over radio.]
The flame.
I'm trying to figure out where this fire's at.
They're coming.
It says 7th and Spring.
[sirens wailing.]
It's down here? Where the fu? Oh, right there.
Way up there.
It's like a candle or something.
It's just a candle.
Firemen are just checking it out, too, like, "What the fuck?" Fuck this, man.
The fire department's gotta come out.
It's just one of those things, you know.
False call, man.
A waste of time.
Resources, time, fuel.
[Scott.]
There's nights I go out I just wanna make my Like, I have a personal quota.
Then there's times where I wanna be the best stringer.
How do you determine who the best stringer is? Who has the most stories on TV.
The best way to get the most hits? Get the Story of the Night.
You get that story? Everyone's buying it.
[man 1 over radio.]
A separate incident.
We're looking for a female.
[man 2.]
Officer involved, stabbing.
[Scott.]
Did they just say, "Officer involved, stabbing"? That's not good.
That's not good at all.
[man over radio.]
Red five, did you copy that? "Officer involved stabbing"? I did.
I was asking that same question, if that's what I heard.
[man over radio.]
Do you have anyone that could go to County Hospital? That's where they're taking the officer.
Yeah.
Me.
I'm en route.
That's gonna be a really good call.
Cops are on high alert.
It's almost weekly that we hear about cops dying.
For me, if a cop gets shot, unfortunately, it's good.
That's gonna make the news.
Ambulance entrance is in front of us.
We'll run to those stairs and shoot him getting out of the ambulance.
[siren wailing.]
What's funny, too, is I'm scared of heights.
Looking through the lens, it doesn't matter.
Sometimes you have to take some chances to get those shots.
This might not be the number one story, but a cop being stabbed, that's making the news for sure.
I wanna be remembered as Los Angeles' best stringer.
That's it.
Now, the best team is gonna be OnScene.
They have the most people.
But the best stringer? That's me.
[Scott chuckles.]
I don't have the best shot in 2017.
Austin wins that.
He'll win that for a while.
But what has Austin done since that shot? Nothing.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[Austin.]
The other night was kind of It was intense.
Stay with me, buddy.
It shook me up.
The realization of what happened didn't set in until after everything had kind of calmed down.
And thinking about it and how bad it could've gone, you know, it makes you realize how quickly life can be taken away from you.
After that night, a lot of news stations came to the house and they were talking to me about everything and my 4-year-old kid's like, "Well, that's great, Daddy.
Can I do what you do when I grow up?" And I'm like, "I don't want you doing it, actually.
" It's, um, a dangerous business to be in.
You really never know what's gonna happen.
That night I put myself in harm's way.
I didn't think about myself, my wife, my kids.
It could've had a much, much worse outcome.
It really isn't worth the footage that we're gonna get to put yourself in that danger.
[Howard over radio.]
Where are you exactly? I got a crash on the southbound 710 to southbound 405.
It's an injury crash, possibly car on fire.
Be careful if you get out on the freeway.
It's not worth getting hurt for.
Marc is responding to a car accident.
The car has gone over the side and caught fire.
Yeah, I'm one and a quarter mile away.
[Austin.]
I'm gonna be right there.
I want to be there for Marc, just in case anything goes wrong.
That doesn't make any fucking sense.
Why the fuck are you going for? Austin's just left South Central to go to the same crash that Marc's on.
[man over radio.]
We have a pursuit going northbound on the 110.
Pursuit.
Pursuit.
ADW South Bay.
Vermont on 135th.
I'm gonna do a quick turnaround.
Pursuit is right where Austin was.
For some reason, Austin went to try and go over towards Marc's crash.
I mean, what's the fucking point in that? Makes no sense.
[man over radio.]
Pursuit ended in a felony T-stop.
Suspect in custody.
Fucking typical.
Fuck me.
I would be on that right now.
I kind of screwed that one up.
There's a reason we have areas we shoot.
What's the point in going over there and leaving South Central uncovered? Amateur mistake.
Fuck.
[man over radio.]
Auto versus ped.
Intersection of Hooper and 27th.
Oh, wow.
We are on our way to a vehicle versus ped.
The thing about vehicle versus peds let's say it's a fatal and the driver sticks around, it's not a story unless there's special circumstances.
But if it's a hit-and-run, it's usually a story.
Especially if it's a visual.
If he dies, it's a story.
It's whoever gets there first is gonna get it.
[man over radio.]
Auto versus ped.
Intersection of Hooper and 27th.
That's, like, right next to us.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
So, they did a sign.
LA City Fire is currently responding.
LAPD is responding, assigned the call Code 3, so, it's a fairly serious level of response.
That's basically the fastest level of response.
Any time they do that, any time they send a full response with haste, that's a good sign for it being something serious.
Something worth our time.
Will that be the Story of the Night? Probably not.
[brakes squeal.]
Ah! This ten seconds could cost me the story.
All right.
We are here.
I don't know how serious it is.
We're about to find out.
It's a very competitive business, so I'm assuming you're gonna see other cameras here.
[siren wailing.]
Look who's already here.
Our buddy Zak.
- Good to see you.
- Hit-and-run.
- It is? - Hit by a car.
- The guy took off.
- Thank you.
[Zak.]
Definitely hit hard.
You can see a lot of blood on the back of his head.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
We know something no one else knows right now, that this is a hit-and-run.
I make sure my guys maintain a good relationship with law enforcement.
Acquiring information at a scene quickly and accurately is priceless.
It helps us sell our content and footage to our clients above everyone else.
- Do you have my number? - Yeah.
Give me a call when you get a chance.
See you.
[Scott.]
I'm pretty sure Zak wanted to be a cop.
And I'm pretty sure sometimes he thinks he is.
Zak was a security guard.
I know he wanted to do Army stuff.
I don't know if that worked out for him.
So, now he's a stringer.
It was a good way for Zak to get in with where the cops were.
I don't try to be something I'm not.
[Zak.]
I was on a path to law enforcement because I wanted to make a difference.
And I know how naive that sounds now, but to, you know, 21, 22-year-old Zak, that's all I wanted to do.
And law enforcement was what I thought would be the way to accomplish that.
But it's not.
I'm almost a little too creative for it.
I don't like following orders.
[chuckles.]
I like seeing a problem and fixing it.
And coming out and seeing what the guys were doing at OnScene, I mean, it was obvious for me what I needed to do.
Being a journalist and actually working in the city and covering these stories, showing what's going on is more important than anything with a gun and a badge.
If you could get me a write-up started.
It's gonna be a hit-and-run.
[Scott.]
It's a story.
It's not the story.
Um, it's definitely not the Story of the Night.
We'll feed both stories, see what happens.
Part of our Saturday night package.
Hey, Summer Desk, it's Scott with LON.
Just sent you a story to add to my package.
I sent a vehicle versus pedestrian hit-and-run.
Two stories.
It is a two-for-one.
All packaging is, it's just selling multiple stories for the price of one.
No big deal.
Doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
Or to figure out it works.
I don't like wasting my time.
If a story is not strong enough by itself, I'll package it with another story.
After 17 years in the business, I know when to package and when not to.
The other guys don't like it, tough titties.
Not my problem.
Deal with it.
[Zak.]
Dealing with Scott's guys, you have to You have to deal with all that packaging crap, which is frustrating.
The whole packaging thing, Scott started doing so he could compete with what we offer.
So, if we've got a story that's gorgeous, we have everything you need to tell the story, it's not gonna hold up to Scott running around with his guys and packaging up ten, 12 stories for the price of one.
It's really bad for the industry, so, dealing with that is really frustrating.
[siren wailing.]
[fire truck horn blaring.]
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
- I take it everyone's out, are they? - [fireman.]
Yeah, we didn't find anybody.
[Marc.]
Well, a little bit of excitement.
When I saw the car involved, I thought, "I'm gonna do an Austin special and pull someone out.
" Luckily, no one in there.
Marc, did you get to that car accident yet? Uh, we got there just after the fire department.
But no driver or occupants anywhere.
Yeah.
Nobody's stuck.
That's not a story.
It's been slow as shit.
Waiting for something.
Nothing happening.
Nothing happening.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
Physical rescue assignment.
That's a big call with heavy rescue.
Heavy rescue is a huge, almost like 18-wheeler truck with specialist equipment where they cut people out.
I mean, that's gonna be one hell of a gamble.
[man over radio.]
See what you can do.
It looks like he's pretty packed in there.
That I like to hear.
Not for his sake, but mine.
I like to hear he's packed in.
I'm gonna run this story down.
Honest, I need a good story.
I just need to get there before he gets cut out.
[Zak.]
Three-nine and Normandie, we had a shooting go down and we're gonna go over and we're gonna start at Normandie where the victims are.
What are you people doing? No.
Stop texting.
Everybody stop fucking texting.
Yeah, control, I got it.
I'm on scene with Code 6.
There's Scott again.
It's bad luck if you see a Scott three times in a night.
It's like Beetlejuice, you know? [Scott.]
Hi, Zak.
How are you? [Scott chuckles.]
[Zak.]
If you're at the same call as Scott, it's impossible to sell that story because he packages everything.
He's basically giving away stories to the stations.
There we go.
[siren wailing.]
There's our suspect right there.
Come on.
Well, can you grab the other camera? Grab the other cameraman? Gonna go by him.
Oh, poor Scott.
[chuckles.]
- [officer 1.]
Come back by the stop sign.
- [officer 2.]
Where'd the other one go? He's right there.
Yes, sir.
[officer 1.]
You guys come push this all the way back.
[Zak.]
This is part of the crime scene? Is it okay if I'm on this side? I understand.
Is it okay here? You got a group of people there.
[officer 2.]
We're gonna kick them out.
[Scott.]
He's not gonna be happy about that.
[Zak.]
I mean, Scott, I just I can't stand the negativity.
I can't stand it.
It really bothers me.
I hate ratting out other cameramen.
I really hate it.
One of the worst things about this job is where you have to tattle on someone.
That's all I'm doing is tattletaleing.
But if I can't be there, no one can.
[Zak.]
Scott's like the last holdover from when things used to be a little crazier.
I see the way Scott looks at me.
I'm younger than him.
I run the company that he started.
I'm just coming to get my car.
Okay.
OnScene TV is on television every single day.
That just doesn't sit well with Scott.
[man on gurney.]
Hey, Toro! Toro! Toro! Toro! Toro! [Howard.]
A great story.
Physical rescue, rollover crash, somebody needs extrication.
Stations love that.
- [GPS.]
Your destination's on the way.
- All right.
Let's just [indistinct chattering over radio.]
[siren wailing.]
[Howard.]
This is gonna be really close.
Gee, that's unreal! There's nothing left of that.
All right.
Fuck me.
I missed the rescue.
Made it out of his car.
You should've seen what they had to do to that car to get him out.
Ah, fuck.
That's Steve.
- That's one of Zak's guys here.
- [man.]
He was here pretty quick.
[Howard.]
This will definitely sell.
Fucking OnScene beat me.
Those fuckers are everywhere.
[newscaster.]
There was also a wild crash in Arleta late last night.
Two people were injured.
One of them had to be cut free.
The crash happened on the 13,600 block of Branford Street.
Both people were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
No word yet on the cause of the crash.
It's getting tough for RMG.
Obviously, OnScene has a whole bunch of people.
They're 25, 30 guys.
So many resources.
They can get to places so damn quick.
That kills it for us.
So, there is that battle.
Scott decided that, you know, in order to try and beat us, they'd give away two stories for the price of one.
RMG, it's just the three of us.
Honestly, I don't know how to compete.
Austin and I have always been together.
We've always had great friends in each other.
Growing up and, you know, reaching 18, finishing school, and coming to America was always our dream.
And Marc, our younger brother, he came out and joined us doing what we love doing.
It's been a passion for my brothers and I.
It's harder to earn money.
It's a tougher industry.
The way the business is going, the expansion of OnScene and the packaging of LoudLabs, for us, it's going downhill.
And in six months' time, we're gonna be gone.
Unless we change something.
We're going to a pretty major incident right now.
It's at Jack in the Box.
[chuckles.]
No, just kidding.
We're ordering some food.
No joke.
It never fails.
The second I get food, something happens.
There's not really that much open late, so, your options dwindle past midnight.
I'm going to get the healthiest thing on the menu, which is the Teriyaki Bowl.
I think.
[man over radio.]
Structure fire at South Arlington Avenue, channel 9.
Control, 455.
I'm gonna be responding to the structure response on Arlington.
I'll be en route from SC, cancel all, 414, if he's responding.
And that's why we go through drive-throughs.
[man over radio.]
Units please respond, auto fire on the freeway ramp.
Oh, yes.
710 South at Long Beach, car fire.
It's just come out now.
Yeah, fuck it.
I'd go and have a look at that.
You gonna go? - Austin.
- Yeah, I don't know what this is gonna be.
I heard them call, it could be something.
It may be just to take a report, but there could be a body in the road.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I hope this isn't a crash.
Yeah.
No, I can see it.
I hope there's no one trapped in the car.
[siren wailing.]
That made me nervous.
I got flashbacks to that other night.
It's not a news story, but I'm glad it's just probably damage and no one's hurt.
[Zak.]
Units responding to the structure fire.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
414, what did he say? [woman speaking indistinctly over radio.]
- [woman.]
Nothing showing.
- [Zak.]
Okay, we're canceling.
We just got canceled out.
No actual No active flames.
Control, I copy.
Nothing's showing.
455 will be canceling out.
Uh, Hoover and the 10.
Teriyaki Bowl, take two.
Ah, the drive-through, the bane of our existence.
If I get another call, we're done.
I'm done.
Going home.
Be like, that's it.
It's too real.
Really excited about this Teriyaki Bowl.
Some rice, veggies and chicken.
- [man.]
Welcome to Jack in the Box.
- Yeah.
Hi.
Uh, can I just get a number 16? - Number 16? - Yeah.
One, six.
Sixteen.
That's the Teriyaki Bowl.
We're actually out of rice for the Teriyaki Bowl.
I'm not surprised.
Um, okay, that's cool.
Let me get the Pepper Jack Ranch Spicy Chicken Sandwich, then.
Thank you so much, man.
Take care.
The harsh realities of stringing, living on fast food.
It's not the bullets or fire that'll kill me.
It'll be the burgers.
Please don't get a call.
I just wanna eat this sandwich.
[laughs.]
[Howard.]
Yeah, it's been pretty frustrating.
We missed the manhunt suspect.
The car fire was a bust.
OnScene easily won the crash.
Yeah, it's not been good so far.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
[cell phone rings.]
Hello.
[Austin.]
405 at Getty Center.
- Head-on wrong way driver crash.
- Fuck.
A head-on crash.
Yeah.
[Austin.]
Going southbound in the northbound lane.
Now.
Head-on crash.
[Howard.]
We'll have that.
[indistinct chattering over radio.]
Son of a bitch.
That's gonna get all the hits.
Red 5's en route to a TC.
Traffic collision.
The vehicle went southbound in the northbound lanes when it hit somebody head-on.
So, that's a cool crash.
There will be a crime scene.
They will be investigating.
[man over radio.]
We have one traumatic arrest and one other patient.
Looks like we're gonna have a third.
Story of the night.
Especially if one person dies.
[woman over radio.]
We are advising it will be a 44.
Shit.
It's a fatal.
The stations are gonna love this.
The 405 is a major, major freeway through LA.
You add a crash like this into the mix, it'll shut the city down for hours.
This is the Story of the Night.
If I can get this.
[Scott.]
Nobody hangs out over there, so, everybody has to make their way from, you know, South LA or downtown.
Now it's a race to see which cameraman can get there first.
It's amazing how fast you can go when you drive fast.
[chuckles.]
There's highway patrol.
He's gonna be going to the crash.
Uh, that's the last thing I wanna do is tail someone doing 90.
Please do not do a traffic stop right in front of me.
[siren wailing.]
Fuck! You have got to be shitting me.
He's gonna block the freeway and we'll get stuck.
Literally five seconds.
Five seconds quicker.
Damn.
I am gonna get off.
That's a gamble, taking surface streets rather than the freeway, but that might be easier and quicker for us to do that.
[Scott.]
All right.
So, we should see it any second now.
Come on.
Be right here.
Be right here.
Thank you.
Shit.
I don't know how we're gonna get over there.
Oh, fuck.
I don't know what to do.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! 'Cause if I go up there, we're fucked.
We're stuck in traffic.
Son of a bitch! Fuck! [Howard.]
Come on! [indistinct chattering over radio.]
[man over radio.]
This was confirmed by a medic? [woman over radio.]
There are body parts in lanes.
"Body parts in lanes.
" Shit.
It's right ahead of us.
There it is.
Oh, shit.