“Today we not only covered the news, unfortunately we became the news,” KAPP-KVEW anchor Kristi Paulus told Washington viewers on Friday evening.

Earlier in the day, a KVEW vehicle accidentally rolled into the Columbia river while a photojournalist, after just parking the SUV, was setting up his camera gear. At first, he tried to stop the vehicle from rolling into the water but he eventually gave up and jumped out of the way.

KAPP-KVEW posted a photo of the submerged vehicle on its Facebook page Friday, reporting that “something failed mechanically while it was on the shore and in park with the engine off.”

A tow truck pulled the vehicle out of the water, and the incident became the top story on the joint ABC-affiliate’s 5 p.m. newscast.

The photojournalist was at the river to cover hydro-testing in the area.

[Tri-City Herald, KAPP-KVEW]