Local newspaper fails to verify AP story

The Sweetwater Reporter failed to verify a recent Associated Press article about an incident that was purported to have taken place on Interstate 20 near the town of Sweetwater.

The article, published by the newspaper around January 16, reported that an army soldier, on leave, stopped at a wreck and saved a man's life by performing a tracheotomy with a ballpoint pen. The event has been found to be untrue.

The newspaper ran the story without verification from the Texas Department of Public Safety, The Texas Department of Transportation, the Sweetwater Fire Department, the Sweetwater Police Department or the Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital, all first responding entities that serve Sweetwater and Nolan County.

Two emails sent to Sweetwater Reporter publisher Rick Nunez on Friday January 18 were unanswered at the time of this publication. A letter to the editor the following week was also unanswered.