# Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942 "2014-10-10T07:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 596
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11902 "2017-12-06T14:23:58Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > [Oklahoma officer charged with murder in shooting of man threatening to set himself on fire](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/06/okla-officer-charged-with-murder-in-fatal-shooting-of-man-who-tried-to-set-himself-on-fire/?utm_term=.2d20d44f50d8) So, another example of the late cop on the scene shooting first and finding out the situation after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11903 "2017-12-06T15:58:26Z")
Any videos on YouTube or anywhere of other police speaking out against this horrible showing by a cop? I saw a lot of videos of police speaking out against silently kneeling, I hope they have the same level of outrage against someone being murdered by a cop. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11904 "2017-12-06T18:54:34Z")
[Police hold Press Conference with ASL Interpreter. Interpreter is a phony, signing gibberish.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/phony-sign-language-interpreter-signs-gibberish/vi-BBGhgPy) > [@](#): > > An imposter sign language interpreter crashed a Tampa police press conference. Police were announcing a major arrest in the recent Seminole Heights murders. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11905 "2017-12-06T21:52:42Z")
Unfortunately, its not a rare occurrence, even President Obama got caught up with one a[t the Mandela ceremony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtQXEQOnMU)in South Africa in 2013 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11906 "2017-12-06T22:15:43Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > [Police hold Press Conference with ASL Interpreter. Interpreter is a phony, signing gibberish.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/phony-sign-language-interpreter-signs-gibberish/vi-BBGhgPy) I’m not sure this belongs in the thread as it is more stupid than controversial, but how about this story from the Allentown, PA newspaper _The Morning Call_: [State police settle N.Y. man’s false arrest claims for $150k](http://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-nws-state-police-wrongful-arrest-settlement-20171130-story.html) A Hispanic man from New York who had been arrested for a DUI in Pennsylvania reached a settlement with the PA state police for false arrest. > [@The Morning Call Article linked](#): > > Karoly said the settlement compensates Ramos for the loss of his job, apartment and car while he was in Lehigh County Jail. Ramos was held under $10,000 bail from June 6, 2014, until Nov. 12, 2014, when Lehigh County Judge James T. Anthony found Ramos not guilty after blood tests showed no illegal substances or alcohol in his system, according to court documents. Karoly is Ramos’ lawyer. The article also details how the events unfolded, but I am going to paraphrase them here: [ul] [li]Officers pulled over Ramos and said they smelled alcohol.[/li][li]Ramos said he had not been drinking.[/li][li]Officers questioned him about his ethnicity (Hispanic) and origin (New York) and stated “we know you have drugs, just tell us where they are.”[/li][li]Ramos maintained his innocence.[/li][li]Officers performed a Breathalyzer with negative results.[/li][li]Officers performed a field sobriety test which Ramos passed easily.[/li][li]Officers searched his Ramos’ car even though it could be argued they lacked probable cause. They found nothing.[/li][li]Officers arrested Ramos for a DUI and took him to the county DUI center for blood tests (Ramos consented to the tests, but continued to maintain his innocence).[/li][li]The Officers requested a $10,000 cash bail even though standard procedure is to release individuals suspected of a DUI on their own recognizance if there has not been an accident and the suspect has no prior arrests.[/li][li]Over the next 2 weeks, the state laboratory tested the Ramos’ blood twice, both times not finding any drugs or alcohol.[/li][li]The officers requested that his blood be tested a third time for a broader range of of substances (remember, he passed the field sobriety tests easily; it is unclear what the officers were looking for).[/li][li]Four weeks later, the test came back negative.[/li][li]The same day the test results came back negative (6 weeks after the arrest), the officer testified in court that tests were still pending and requested of the court that Ramos remain incarcerated. The officer knew about the third (negative) result when this request was made.[/li][li]Fifteen weeks later the case was transferred to the county court where he was found not guilty and released.[/li][/ul] Ramos spent 158 days in jail. Ramos lost his car; it was towed from the street where police arrested him and eventually sold at auction as the impound could not reach him at home. Ramos lost his job. Ramos lost his house and all his possessions when they were moved to the curb during his eviction. Personally, I would not have settled for $150,000. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11907 "2017-12-07T02:16:52Z")
Ok, kind of old-ish but [the Trey Sims story](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/forcing-kid-to-masturbate-for-cops-in-sexting-case-was-wrong-court-finds/) hurts my head in many ways. _… an ongoing sexting investigation into the then-teen, Trey Sims, who had exchanged explicit messages with his then-15-year-old girlfriend. Her mother reported the incident to the Manassas City Police Department in January 2014._ I understand that sexting between your teenage daughter and a teenage boy is upsetting, but where does “get the police involved” make sense there? Get his parents involved, yell loudly at him, take her phone away, but calling the police seems like a stupid plan to me. _Eventually, the detective assigned to the case, David Abbott, obtained a signed warrant to take photographs of Sims’ naked body—including “the suspect’s erect penis”—so that he could compare them to Sims’ explicit messages. When this bizarre effort was unsuccessfully attempted, Abbott then obtained a second warrant authorizing police to escort Sims to a hospital for an “erection-inducing injection.” This injection ultimately never took place after massive public outcry._ So the court ordered that he “_… be photographed while masturbating in the presence of armed police officers._” Sick Bastards. In fact, so sick that _(Detective) Abbott committed suicide in December 2015 when officers came to arrest him on separate charges relating to pedophilia._ Sigh. This part gets to me though: _Ultimately, Sims served one year of probation. By early 2016, Sims sued Abbott’s estate, alleging violations of the Fourth Amendment, among other accusations. Lawyers representing the Abbott estate argued that their client was shielded by “qualified immunity,” the notion in American law that generally protects law enforcement officers in [COLOR=“Black”]gray-area situations from legal liability._[/COLOR] Gray area? What the fuck is gray about that? Ogdammit on a stick. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11908 "2017-12-07T04:52:52Z")
In January in St. Louis, Maleek Coleman-Chambly was arrested. He had been in trouble with the law before and had gone to jail before. And, this time he went to jail again. Coleman-Chambly had a seizure disorder, which he controlled by taking a medication called Keppra twice a day. His family says that he informed the guards about his condition and requested that he be allowed to take the medication. The guards refused to provide it. According to Coleman-Chambly’s girlfriend, Coleman-Chambly said on the phone that a jail guard told him that she (the guard) didn’t care if he had his medication and that he would be “shaking like a fish out of water”. The next morning, Coleman-Chambly was found dead in his cell. > **[Medication denied: St. Louis inmates claim medical neglect in local jails](https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2017-12-07/medication-denied-st-louis-inmates-claim-medical-neglect-in-local-jails)** > > Shirletta Chambly has lost two family members in St. Louis jails: First her brother, and then her 21-year-old son.Maleek Coleman-Chambly died after a… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11909 "2017-12-07T16:50:22Z")
[A bit of a bright spot this morning](https://apnews.com/a911d7d6ed064787baef12a916cff2f3/Judge-weighs-2-decades-in-prison-for-ex-cop's-fatal-shooting): > [@](#): > > U.S. District Judge David Norton had to decide whether Michael Slager’s shooting of Walter Scott in April 2015 was manslaughter or murder before he sentences the ex-officer. After he found that the shooting was murder, the judge said he’d work from guidelines that recommend Slager spend 19 to 24 years in prison. > > A formal sentence was expected later Thursday, after the judge hears testimony from Scott’s family and friends. I’ll update as soon as his sentence is announced if no one else posts it first. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11910 "2017-12-07T18:21:38Z")
20 years.[White ex-cop gets 20 years for Walter Scott slaying | AP News](https://apnews.com/a911d7d6ed064787baef12a916cff2f3/White-ex-cop-gets-20-years-in-prison-for-fatal-shooting) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11911 "2017-12-07T21:20:52Z")
This is pretty horrifying: > **[Did Police in Georgia Force a Man to Cut Off His Own Dog's Head?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/georgia-police-dog-head/)** > > The incident, which included police orders and threats of arrest, was captured on video. The police had shot dead a dog who had bitten someone and, according to the police, lunged at them. Then, they forced the owner to cut the dogs head off, or else get arrested. I guess they were worried that the dog had rabies(?) so they wanted to get the head to a vet(?), but it seems to me that if you’re worried about rabies, you probably don’t want blood everywhere. And, the city animal control person agreed that the dog should have been left there (especially with a threat of rabies!) so it could be properly handled and tested by a vet. Anyway, regardless of why the dog was shot, this owner just had his dog shot dead and then had to cut its head off. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11912 "2017-12-07T21:25:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 20 years.[White ex-cop gets 20 years for Walter Scott slaying | AP News](https://apnews.com/a911d7d6ed064787baef12a916cff2f3/White-ex-cop-gets-20-years-in-prison-for-fatal-shooting) Holy Fucking Shit! Accountability! About fucking time. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11913 "2017-12-07T21:29:40Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > This is pretty horrifying: > > [Did Police in Georgia Force a Man to Cut Off His Own Dog's Head? | Snopes.com](https://www.snopes.com/georgia-police-dog-head/) > > The police had shot dead a dog who had bitten someone and, according to the police, lunged at them. Then, they forced the owner to cut the dogs head off, or else get arrested. I guess they were worried that the dog had rabies(?) so they wanted to get the head to a vet(?), but it seems to me that if you’re worried about rabies, you probably don’t want blood everywhere. And, the city animal control person agreed that the dog should have been left there (especially with a threat of rabies!) so it could be properly handled and tested by a vet. > > Anyway, regardless of why the dog was shot, this owner just had his dog shot dead and then had to cut its head off. I bet if the guy had refused and gone to jail, morons on this message board would have said “If he had just complied with the officer’s wishes, he wouldn’t be in jail!” Also, that story is horrifying ☹ ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11914 "2017-12-07T21:35:51Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > This is pretty horrifying: > > [Did Police in Georgia Force a Man to Cut Off His Own Dog's Head? | Snopes.com](https://www.snopes.com/georgia-police-dog-head/) > > The police had shot dead a dog who had bitten someone and, according to the police, lunged at them. Then, they forced the owner to cut the dogs head off, or else get arrested. I guess they were worried that the dog had rabies(?) so they wanted to get the head to a vet(?), but it seems to me that if you’re worried about rabies, you probably don’t want blood everywhere. And, the city animal control person agreed that the dog should have been left there (especially with a threat of rabies!) so it could be properly handled and tested by a vet. > > Anyway, regardless of why the dog was shot, this owner just had his dog shot dead and then had to cut its head off. I think I would have been arrested in that situation. To be honest, I’d have a hard enough time not being arrested for assaulting a cop if they shot my dog, but I think I’d be able to hold myself back, maybe. Not cutting off my dog’s head. Maybe if they threatened to shoot me, but probably not then. I get that that is standard procedure for rabies, but it should be done by animal control or a vet. Doing a home job may very well ruin the specimen anyway, making it useless for the tests. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11915 "2017-12-07T21:49:15Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I think I would have been arrested in that situation. > > To be honest, I’d have a hard enough time not being arrested for assaulting a cop if they shot my dog, but I think I’d be able to hold myself back, maybe. > > Not cutting off my dog’s head. Maybe if they threatened to shoot me, but probably not then. > > I get that that is standard procedure for rabies, but it should be done by animal control or a vet. Doing a home job may very well ruin the specimen anyway, making it useless for the tests. I would have thought you’d find this problematic, given your user name. Right, cutting off the head should definitely have been done in a lab, so there’s not possibly-rabies-infected blood everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11916 "2017-12-07T23:09:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 20 years.[White ex-cop gets 20 years for Walter Scott slaying | AP News](https://apnews.com/a911d7d6ed064787baef12a916cff2f3/White-ex-cop-gets-20-years-in-prison-for-fatal-shooting) (Re: The Slager case.) Story at WaPo: [Former South Carolina police officer who shot Walter Scott sentenced to 20 years](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/07/former-south-carolina-police-officer-who-shot-walter-scott-sentenced-to-20-years/) Brief history: He was tried last year, jury deadlocked. Prosecutors vowed to re-try him. Instead, he copped a plea deal. As best I can understand the story as told here, the deal didn’t include his blatant obstruction of justice (putting the taser next to Scott), but it looks like maybe the judge did consider that in setting the sentence. The planting of the taser is only barely mentioned in this story. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11917 "2017-12-08T00:58:34Z")
[Pathologist of ‘Concussion’ fame accuses Calif. sheriff of mutilating corpses, meddling with investigations](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pathologist-of-concussion-fame-accuses-calif-sheriff-of-mutilating-corpses-meddling-with-investigations/ar-BBGkROr) He was the second pathologist to resign, citing the same reasons. Among them: > [@](#): > > Doctors were pressured to turn homicides involving law enforcement officers into accidental deaths. > [@](#): > > “The sheriff was using his political office as the coroner to protect police officers whenever someone died while in custody or during arrest,” he wrote in another memo, according to KQED. “I had thought that this was initially an anomaly, but now, especially beginning in 2016, it has become routine practice.” > [@](#): > > In her resignation letter last week, Parson said Moore had made the coroner’s office “personally unbearable and professionally unsustainable.” The sheriff created a hostile work environment, inserting himself into the day-to-day duties of physicians and trying to steer their professional findings, she wrote. > > Omalu, who has worked for the county since 2007, said in his letter: “I must unfortunately stand by and support what Dr. Parson has most succinctly and precisely said.” ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11918 "2017-12-08T01:39:13Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I get that that is standard procedure for rabies, but it should be done by animal control or a vet. Doing a home job may very well ruin the specimen anyway, making it useless for the tests. Why do you have to cut a dog’s head off to test for rabies? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11919 "2017-12-08T02:31:54Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Why do you have to cut a dog’s head off to test for rabies? Actually cutting off the head is not requisite, _per se_. The test is on the brain tissue, where rabies is easiest to discover. They really only need to crack the skull open. But if you have, say, a ninety pound chow, it is a fair bit easier to work with less of the animal. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11920 "2017-12-08T02:33:03Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Actually cutting off the head is not requisite, _per se_. The test is on the brain tissue, where rabies is easiest to discover. They really only need to crack the skull open. But if you have, say, a ninety pound chow, it is a fair bit easier to work with less of the animal. They can’t crack the skull open of a dead animal without cutting it’s head off? ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/11921 "2017-12-08T05:38:17Z")
Controversial encounters meet freedom of the press: [The Reporter Who Exposed Police Brutality in the Laquan McDonald Case May Be Forced to Reveal Sources](http://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/12/killer-cops-lawyers-want-to-force-testimony-from-the-reporter-who-exposed-their-client/#) > [@](#): > > Lawyers for Jason Van Dyke, the former Chicago police officer facing a murder charge in the November 2014 shooting death of a black teenager named Laquan McDonald, are demanding that the reporter who brought incriminating details to light divulge his sources. > > On Wednesday, Illinois Circuit Court Judge Vincent Gaughan heard arguments during a pre-trial hearing whose outcome, legal observers say, could be an important test of the state’s shield law, which protects reporters in many cases from having to testify about their sources of information. Nearly 20 major news organizations have signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief filed in support of the journalist, Jamie Kalven. > > Kalven, a local independent journalist, was the first to report, in a February 2015 story in Slate, that the Chicago Police Department’s official account of the McDonald shooting was contradicted by a coroner’s autopsy report and by police dash-cam video footage the department had not made public. The story catapulted the McDonald shooting into the national spotlight, and won Kalven a coveted George Polk Award for investigative journalism. Van Dyke’s attorneys subpoenaed Kalven in October in the hope of learning who provided him inside information, but Kalven’s attorneys—and the prosecutor in the murder case—asked Judge Gaughan to quash the motion. > > At Wednesday’s hearing, Van Dyke’s lawyers argued that Kalven may have been leaked information about the McDonald investigation conducted by the now-defunct Independent Police Review Authority, and that he may have tainted at least one witness’ statement to authorities by questioning them about the shooting before police investigators were able to do so. They laid out a timeline showing, they claimed, that Kalven could have had information that was included in IPRA reports when he contacted some witnesses. > > Illinois law precludes some statements made by police officers during internal investigations from being used against them in criminal cases. If Kalven did, in fact, use leaked IPRA information to inform his questions for witnesses, it is conceivable that his actions influenced their statements to the authorities, Van Dyke’s attorneys argued—which could have implications for whether those statements are admissible in court. Gaughan has already ruled inadmissible some statements Van Dyke made to the investigators. > [@](#): > > Kalven, a seasoned journalist who has spent his nearly five-decade career investigating police abuse in Chicago, is no stranger to legal requests. In 2005, lawyers for the city of Chicago subpoenaed him for notes and other records related to his reporting. The court moved to hold him in contempt when he refused to comply, but the threat dissolved when the legal case in question was resolved. Kalven’s Slate story “is a perfect example of why reporters must be able to protect confidential sources,” Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a press release this week. “Without the sources in this case, the public may never have known how McDonald died, or how the Chicago Police Department investigated the shooting, information that is necessary for the public to hold government and law enforcement accountable.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=595) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=597)