If you’re line-editing the story about the tourist “duck boat” collision in Philadelphia today, do you really leave this in?
Witness Talmadge Robinson said the duck boat was stopped in the river when the collision occurred. A nurse’s assistant, Robinson said he was sitting ashore when he saw the barge approaching the immobile vehicle. “There was a really loud bang. The thing was a sitting duck.” Robinson said he helped pull three children in life jackets out of the water.
To me, that’s just too on-the-nose to keep. Either it’s an unintentional slip, or the witness thought he was being Mister Clever. Either way, I’d strike it. You?