A decade of news: The time Segway training went hilariously wrong at the Rexburg Police Department
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com turns 10 this year, and over the next 12 months, we’ll be looking back at some of our most memorable stories.
We’ve covered a lot over the past decade, but one of the stories I’ll never forget happened during our “soft-launch” period.
EastIdahoNews.com officially went public on July 1, 2015, but we actually premiered online two months earlier so we could work out any technical issues. We began posting news stories on May 1, but we didn’t promote them and had a pretty small audience.
In June 2015, I was sent a video of some Rexburg police officers trying out a new Segway the department had ordered. It was hilarious, and I knew we needed to post a story.
RELATED | Rexburg police Segway training goes hilariously wrong
At the beginning of the video, Police Chief Shane Turman tries to control the two-wheeled motorized personal vehicle. After being jerked around, he slams into a chair and hops off.
As other police officers laugh, Turman says, “OK. There’s gonna have to be a little training.”
Capt. Randy Lewis then decides to give it a go. He hops on the Segway, grasps a side table, and says, “I got her.”
Within seconds, Lewis crashes into a table and tumbles to the ground. His fellow officers roar in laughter.
We posted the story on June 4, 2015, and the video quickly went viral. It appeared on “Ellen,” national TV shows reached out for interviews and the clip even showed up in a commercial for “The Simpsons.” Doh!
RELATED | Viral video featuring Rexburg police shows up in ‘Simpsons’ promo
We followed up with the department after our original story and learned a man from Washington, who saw the video on his local news, stopped in with a bottle of liquor. He thanked the officers for their service and wanted them to enjoy some “downtime.”
RELATED | Rexburg Police respond to viral Segway video: “It’s Been Huge!”
Turman, Lewis and many of the other officers in the video have since retired, but their video continues to bring smiles to faces around the world. Millions of people have watched it and the Segway mishap will be a story we at EastIdahoNews.com will always remember.
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