On Friday, April 16, my wife and I captured an event that inadvertently became a media sensation. One of our security cameras captured a road construction accident. While attempting to cut the street with a concrete saw, the blade flew off and hit the vacant house next to us.

I posted the video for three reasons: First, it was an awesome (and terrifying) scene in every sense of the word. I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw it. I think that the operator probably had a much greater reaction.

Second, I was amazed that no one was hurt. The operator was incredibly lucky that he was not hurt. And, as I live a few houses from an elementary school, it is lucky no kids were hurt.

Lastly, I was surprised that the operator did not contact anyone and just continued to finish the job. I later found out that the operator indeed tried to contact his superiors multiple times. Unfortunately, that message did not make it to the proper people until Monday morning.

I actually had a nice talk with the operator that cleared up a number of questions. The saw hit a piece of steel in the road. Aside from not cutting up the road in the first place, there was nothing he could have done. And, like I said above, he did the right thing in contacting his supervisor.

We mutually agreed that the video on YouTube should be removed. (The original YouTube video had over 17,000 hits; the AP clip hosted on Yahoo had over 400,000; the copy on Break.com had over 300,000.) Both of us received way more attention than was warranted. I understand why it made the local news; but, I am baffled by the amount of national press it received. It must be a slow news day (since there are no more wars, people dying of starvation, murders, etc.).