A Bang-up Kodak Moment, Narrowly Averted

It's a classic comedy trope--the grand event gone disastrous. (See, for example, the parade in Animal House, the charity auction in Starsky & Hutch, or Stand by Me's pie-eating contest.) And we nearly had it in Seattle this afternoon. Multiple bigwigs--U.S. Senator Patty Murray, U.S. House Rep. Jim McDermott, Mayor Greg Nickels, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan--had descended on Rainier Valley to celebrate the ground-breaking at a new apartment in the Rainier Vista housing development. Just as the Rainier Valley Boys & Girls Club's drill team was performing, reports the P-I's Aubrey Cohen (click for the pic), a bunch of officers ran out of the ceremony. Why? Just down at the corner, a cop car had just collided with a pick-up truck, jumped a curb, and nearly crashed into a building.