The circus came to town Tuesday. But there were no clowns, onlyjournalists.
Evanston Police Department Cmdr. Michael Perry’s phone rang offthe hook as reporters sought information on an unidentified boy whoappeared in Evanston in February. The boy is thought to be Tristen”Buddy” Myers, who has been missing since 2000.
The calls came in from California, Arizona, Colorado and NewYork. Perry, the spokesman for EPD, even got a personal visit froma camera crew that had traveled from North Carolina.
“(Tuesday) was the day the sky fell in,” Perry said. “Our phoneswere just constantly going.”
Perry handled the media circus that descended upon EPD onTuesday after the story broke. Ricky Quick, the man who brought theunidentified boy to a local hospital, had been arrested by Evanstonpolice in February — and everyone wanted to know about it.
“Our police desk was swamped with calls,” Perry said. “It hasaffected the department because quite a few people were herewanting to gather more information.”
Despite the high volume of calls, Perry said Evanston residentshad no trouble getting through to police. He said all media-relatedcalls were directed straight to his phone.
Perry, who fielded calls for about five hours, said thejournalists he talked to were polite.
“The ones that were here, they were here to do their job,” Perrysaid. “They were all really professional.”