KMOV (Channel 4) reporter Matt Sczesny and it wasn’t by someone who got overly frustrated after trying to spell Sczesny’s name phonetically like you’d imagine. Turns out it was just some guy who wandered over while they were on a story.
Sczesny was in Alorton standing outside a KMOV truck when a man walked up to him and asked if he could ask him a question. Sczesny said sure, and the man punched him, according to Sean McLaughlin, KMOV’s executive news director.
Crazy! …if this happened anywhere else but in the Metro East area, but it did, so we’re going to go with “Wow! We’re mildly surprised…that you weren’t also shanked.”
McLaughlin said there was no indication what prompted the attack.
Thanks for clearing that up. Before that pretty much everyone thought Matt Sczesny was taunting random people in between live shots.
The new of this seemingly random reporter attack has shaken the whole local news industry. Sure these people cover murders and “Knockout Game” stories half of their day, but reporters have always been in a bubble protected from the chaos that is St. Louis. But as Matt Sczesny can attest after getting the ole “Hey can I ask you a question? *pow*” play, that is no longer the case.
Over at KSDK, even the weather team has felt the pressure according to reporter Ryan Dean’s Twitter post:
As you can see, Cindy Preszler is trying to strap tasers to her legs in an effort to deter random acts of local news violence, while Mike Roberts has gone with a new non-threatening outfit. Good try Mike, but now you just look like you want it a little.
While the rest of the local news folk scramble for protection, Matt is fine after taking a few days off, saying “I’m feeling ok. Certainly caught me by surprise. I appreciate everyone’s concern” on his Twitter feed (@KMOVMatt). In the meantime the police are still looking for the assailant, but we know they won’t find him. No one’s gonna find that sucker punching asshole ever again, because when you mess with KMOV, you mess with Larry Conners and Larry Connors don’t play. (Don’t let that casual news man smile fool you, that is one angry fist looking for a face to smash!):
