Debate Magazine

Media Make Public Ferguson Cop’s Photo and Address

By Eowyn @DrEowyn

This is beyond outrageous.

On August 9, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, allegedly shot to death an unarmed black teen, 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Michael Brown

Michael Brown

Six days later on the morning of Aug. 15, buckling under pressure brought by Brown’s family, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson released 28-year-old Officer Darren Wilson’s name.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, now national, international, and local media have published not only Wilson’s photo, but his home address. The media outlets that did this include:

  • CNN broadcast a report Friday that showed Wilson’s house, including the street number. In the video report, CNN reporter Ed Lavandera is seen walking in the street where Wilson lives (see pic below). The CNN video shows a wide view of Wilson’s house and then pans around the street to show its relative position in the neighborhood. While Lavandera does not name the street, he gives its approximate location.

CNN reporter in front of Darren Wilson's house

  • Yahoo News named the community where Wilson resides — Crestwood — and published photos of the officer receiving a commendation six months earlier for his “extraordinary effort in the line of duty.” Yahoo obtained the photos from his dad’s Facebook page.

Darren Wilson

  • USA Today also named the community and reported a local police presence.
  • The Washington Post named the street where Wilson lives — Manda Lane.
  • The UK Daily Mail also named the community, posted photos of officer Wilson, gave a description of his house, and pointedly emphasized that the residents of Crestwood are 94% white and only 1.6% black.
  • A version of the video being aired by CNN affiliate Newschannel 13 in Orlando, Florida (and likely other affiliates around the country) shows a brief close-up of the house number by the front door such that someone could freeze and enlarge the image to get the address.
  • St. Louis TV station KSDK, which like USA Today is owned by Gannett, also broadcast a video of Wilson’s home, then hypocritically issued an apology Saturday afternoon. By then, of course, the damage’s been done.
  • A local newspaper, Call, named the street where Wilson lives, adding that the area high school closed and sent students home when Wilson’s name was made public.

Beginning at 6:28 mark of the video below, you can hear a male eyewitness testify to Brown running away from Officer Wilson, then doubling back and coming at the officer in spite of Wilson drawing his gun and firing warning shots. To read the actual transcript of what the eyewitness said, go to Steve’s post, “Smoking Gun to Clear Cop in Shooting of Michael Brown“.

Darren Wilson and his family have gone into hiding.

If anything untoward happens to Wilson, his family, or his neighbors, the above media outlets have blood on their hands.

H/t Gateway Pundit

~Eowyn


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