I don’t know about you, but the careless way some people drive their cars scares the crap out of me. Part of me lives with a low-grade anxiety that the phone will ring and I’ll learn that someone I care about has been hurt or killed in a bad wreck.
Friends and associates of long-time CNN Radio and Headline News anchor Stan Case, 59, received that call last week, after the journalist was killed in a car crash in Birmingham just before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Mile marker at the intersection on Bankhead Highway and Pratt Highway where a CNN Radio anchor was killed in a car crash before Thanksgiving.
According to a Nov. 23 report by Carol Robinson of the Birmingham News, sourcing the Jefferson County coroner’s office, Case was driving a Nissan Altima westbound on U.S. 78/Bankhead Highway during afternoon heavy rains when he was hit head-on by an oncoming pickup truck at the Pratt Highway intersection.
The driver of the eastbound truck lost control and crossed the median, striking Case’s car, according to Robinson. Case, who was wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene.
His wife, Angela Stiepel Case, was taken to UAB Hospital. She was listed in critical condition following the accident. However, her condition had improved before our press time. On Mon., Nov. 28, she was listed in good condition and remained in UAB Hospital, a UAB spokesperson told Weld Local. According to CNN, Case is a writer at the network, where she has worked for over 20 years.
Sgt. Johnny Williams, public information officer for the Birmingham Police Department, told Weld Local that an accident investigation has been conducted at the scene of the fatal crash. “They are doing a thorough investigation,” he said Nov. 28. “They have not submitted the report to the [police] chief.”
Mike Jones, a CNN Radio news manager, called Case “in many ways the backbone of this network.” Case also earned a law degree, and CNN colleague Jim Ribble said Case’s training as a lawyer helped provide a “reasoned, logical and levelheaded” take on news.
Before going to work for CNN in 1985, Case worked for KEBC Radio in Oklahoma City, serving for two years as the station’s capital correspondent. In 1991, Case and the CNN Radio staff shared an award for their Persian Gulf War coverage.
A person who says he knew Case in Oklahoma City remembered him fondly in a Nov. 23 posting at web site http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=27858&page=1. According to MikeOKC, Case had “a great intellect” and “knew current affairs backwards and forwards.” The posting also mentions that Case and his wife were driving back to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving with family at the time of the crash.
Jesse Chambers is a contributing editor at Weld for Birmingham and contributing writer at B-Metro magazine. Send your feedback to editor@weldbham.com.
