It’s hard to imagine a worse sin for a local news anchor than to mispronounce the name of a recently deceased police officer. But one anchor in Kentucky did just that earlier this week.
Deidre Mengedoht was a Louisville police officer who tragically died in a car accident on Christmas Eve, in which a truck driver, who police say was under the influence, struck her vehicle and caused a fire. When, per Mashable, local news station WPSD reported on the officer’s funeral earlier this week, anchor Brianna Clark somehow pronounced the officer’s name as “Dee Dee Mega Doo Doo.”
There are a lot of ways that things can wrong with a live newscast, from a teleprompter suddenly failing to an error by someone else in the newsroom. Mengedoht is, it’s fair to say, a difficult-to-pronounce name, and the officer did indeed go by the nickname “Dee Dee.” But nonetheless, Clark immediately apologized in a series of tweets.
“What you don’t see in the video is my apology immediately after realizing what I said. I cannot say this enough: I sincerely apologize to everyone I have offended, especially the officers family and friends. I did not mean to say what I said and I was able to correct myself in a later newscast. I am embarrassed, disappointed and sick at myself. Who ever posted the video of my mistake has now taken the attention off of the fallen officer, turning it into a laughing matter,” the news anchor wrote on her Twitter account.
Clark, described on the station’s website as a reporter, has worked for the station since 2015.
Mengedoht, a 32-year-old mother who had been a part of the Louisville Police Department for over seven years, died in a crash on Interstate 64 on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. The officer’s cruiser was struck by a Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District semi-truck, causing it to burst into flames. The driver of the truck, per the Courier-Journal , has been arrested and charged with both murder and operating a vehicle under the influence.
The crash caused the highway to be closed for hours, and an ambulance took away Mengedoht’s body along with a police escort. The officer was laid to rest on Monday, with hundreds of police officers in attendance.
The Louisville Metro Police Foundation has launched a crowdfunding effort via Facebook to benefit Mengedoht’s 9-year-old son, which as of Wednesday morning had raised nearly $72,000 from 1,881 people.
