Lance West, Vet Oklahoma Reporter, Breaks Down In Tears Live [Video]

Lance West, a veteran reporter in Oklahoma City, said that the hardest part of his job is “reporting on the tragic death of a child.”

Yesterday, Mr. West proved that old addage “actions speak louder than words” true when he broke down in tears in the midst of reporting from the Plaza Towers Elementary School after the devastating and deadly tornado came through.

West is a pro, but even an Emmy-winning newsman isn’t immune to his own feelings when faced with the harsh reality of the tornado’s biblical destruction of Moore, Oklahoma, which included no less than two schools flattened, destroyed, and gone.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 18 years covering tornadoes here,” West muses, seemingly overwhelmed by the scene. “This is, without question, the most horrific…”

At that point, West breaks down in the midst of his live report and never recovers. He begins to weep, perfectly underscoring the tragedy of the historic destruction and the pain felt by Moore residents as the story continues to develop.

The anchors at the studio do their level-best to snap him out of his hysterics, summoning that old journalistic dogma, that religion, which dictates that the people need to know no matter what.

West somewhat recovers, rushing to the scene, but this extremely emotional event, this Hindenburg moment, has stood out among the non-stop news cycle and hundreds if not thousands of media following every minute of the Oklahoma tragedy.

His anchors at the studio applaud West and list his accomplishments, but reason that such a scene is very emotional when you’re on the ground, and that Lucas West is “only human like the rest of us.”

You can check out the video below. Lucas West begins to break down around the 1:30 minute mark.

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