Gene Cubbison

Updated 12:30 PM PST, Fri, Jul 24, 2009

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"There's been some deaths already," the disheveled crack head babbled into my outstretched microphone. "A coupla cats just got killed up the street!" I couldn't make out the words just then as he lay spread-eagled at my feet. Someone later had to rack the tape back and forth to understand what was being said.

Apparently, the guy thought the metal "spike strips" he had driven over in the city bus he had hijacked at knifepoint were cats.

At the time, I realized he was surrendering to me at the end of a 67-mile police chase, having ditched the bus on the very street corner where my photographer and I were standing as he circled the block looking for a bailout spot.

The cops soon reached the scene and piled on top of him.

An empty squad car, left in gear, rolled over the guy's foot -- and very nearly the cops themselves. All the while, the spectacle was on live TV.

This 1997 episode we began calling "Bus Boy" was uplinked worldwide.

Three years later, a crew from a BBC weekend magazine came to San Diego for a retrospective. As they explained it, their viewers are "very keen" on "bizarre stories from the U.S."

And despite having interviewed two sitting Presidents, countless other dignitaries and celebrities, and covered three major earthquakes and two jetliner crashes, "Bus Boy" has been the story most people now bring up about my career.

Fair enough. I've worked on a lot of bizarre stories -- but what an ending, this one! And nobody got hurt.

Some other factoids about yours truly?

Education: Bachelor of Arts/Communication, Stanford University.

Jobs in journalism: KNSD-TV (since 1983), KFMB-TV (1979-1983), San Diego Union (1977-79), San Diego Daily Transcript (1973-77), San Diego Independent (1972-73).

Awards: San Diego Press Club (8 first-place, plus Harold Keen Award for Lifetime Contributions), Emmy/San Diego NATAS (3), Golden Mic/Southern California (3), San Diego County Bar Association (3 first-place), Society of Professional Journalists/San Diego.

Wife: Jan Hudson (freelance TV field producer).

Children: Jeff (b. 4/16/89), Chris (b. 5/6/92).

The family was watching our live coverage that night "Bus Boy" gave himself up in front of me.

As you might imagine, the saga makes for great retelling on my sons' "Career Day" at school.

Drop Gene a line: gene.cubbison@nbcuni.com.