Behind the Headlines

Former Herald-Leader reporter Laura Yuen, who covered Georgetown and Lexington city hall a few years back, now lives in the Twin Cities area, where she reports for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Laura also lives about 1.5 miles from the scene of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Laura and her fiance, Jesse Miller, sped to the scene after they heard about the disaster. Jesse got there by scooter, Laura rode her bike. They met at a pedestrian bridge near the scene of the collapse.

Laura and the rest of the staff at the Pioneer Press have obviously been extremely busy in the last few days, but she took a few moments this morning to check in with her former colleagues at the Herald-Leader.

Here are some of Laura’s thoughts on what she saw:

"We joined thousands of people who gathered there to observe the catastrophe. The bridge is close to the University of Minnesota, and the Metrodome, as well as the largest Somali
concentration in the state, so you can imagine the turnout. There were Twins fans and cyclists and neo-hippies and immigrants and biker dudes and transients and college students. It was kind of like an apartment fire alarm, when all your neighbors go out in their pajamas, and you think, ‘Wow, I never realized all the different kinds of folks who live in this building.’ I saw my neighborhood in a new light that night.


"It makes me sick to think of what the victims’ final moments must have been like. If you’ve seen the video, the bridge is there one second and literally gone the next. Absolutely no time for people to adjust. I talked to two guys who got to the scene right after the bridge collapsed, and they saw motorists getting out of their cars, dazed and bloodied and sobbing, shocked by the enormity of what they just escaped.

"I can’t tell you how many times we’ve crossed that bridge. I take it to go to the mall, the pet store, the Home Depot, basically for all my shopping needs. We’re so lucky to be alive."

Here and below are some of the photos Laura sent along from the scene. All of the photos were taken by Jesse Miller.

Laura’s colleagues and friends at the Herald-Leader are happy that she and Jesse are OK and grateful that she took a few moments to check in. Click here to see the St. Paul paper’s coverage of the disaster.

Peter Baniak, metro editor