$person = Entrant::findOrFail($request->person_id);


$person_2nd_query = Entrant::where('id', '=', $request->person_id);

if ($person) {
    error_log($person);
}

So above you see 2 queries – the first one works and logs all the info into the console as needed, but when I try to use the second query in the if statement, it returns 500 Internal Server Error. So what am I missing here?