Reporting Cop Deaths

[Archangel M]

Perhaps Im just over sensitive about this, but it seems like I see this all the time in the press. Take a look at this AP article about the Florida deputies recently killed trying to arrest a man:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090426/ap_on_re_us/us_deputies_shooting_11

CRESTVIEW, Fla. – Two north Florida sheriff's deputies were fatally shot at a shooting range by a suspect who was later killed by deputies after he fled across the county line, authorities said.


It happened around 1 p.m. Saturday when the two Okaloosa County deputies went to Shoal River Sporting Clays and Shooting Center in response to a domestic violence call, sheriff's officials said.


Deputies Burt Lopez and Deputy Warren "Skip" York were pronounced dead after being airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, about 45 miles away, the sheriff's office said. Sheriff's officials identified their killer as Joshua Cartwright, 28, of Fort Walton Beach.


Authorities said the suspect shot both deputies and took off toward neighboring Walton County, where he was shot and killed by deputies.
A witness, Mark Illich was near the DeFuniak Springs intersection where the officers killed Cartwright.


"It must have been like 30 or 40 shots," Illich told The Northwest Florida Daily News.


Illich said he saw one officer putting down spikes at the intersection and knew "something's about to happen."


Then, "(Cartwright's) truck, he started coming. And we saw him, and he seemed calm as a cucumber," Illich said.


Cartwright veered around the spike strip, and an officer opened fire at the back of his truck, Illich said.


The incident began shortly after 10 a.m. when the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center notified the sheriff's office that Cartwright's wife said she had been beaten by her husband, according to a timeline released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the sheriff's office.


The two deputies found Cartwright at the shooting range and began trying to arrest him shortly before 1 p.m., but they reported that he was refusing to cooperate with their attempts to handcuff him.


At 12:51 p.m. dispatchers received a call that an officer had been hit and began their search for Cartwright, who had left the shooting range in his truck.


Deputies shot at killed Cartwright around 1:10 p.m.


The Daily News reported that Cartwright had been arrested in November on a charge of domestic battery against his wife, and that the charge was still pending. The paper said he had worked as a bouncer at a Fort Walton Beach bar.


A man who answered the telephone at the shooting center near Crestview said he had no comment on the shooting.


Another Okaloosa County sheriff's deputy was shot and killed in July following a standoff with a man who had barricaded himself inside a home.


Okaloosa County Sheriff Charles Morris was suspended by Gov. Charlie Crist in February after he was arrested by FBI agents while on a gambling trip to Las Vegas.

Morris and his former office manager were indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on theft, money laundering and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors allege Morris and his former office manager, Teresa Adams, created fictitious bonuses for sheriff's department employees then pocketed some of the money.

Here is a story about two officers slain trying to arrest a spouse abuser..and they end the story with a slug about the "dirty cop Sheriff"?? If this were a thread here I would say that was an issue for a different thread...cant be seen as overly supportive/sympathetic of the officers so lets "balance" the story with a shot at the Sheriff?

I see this quite a bit from media outlets and it ticks me off.

 

[Thesemindz]

My position on state law enforcement aside, I'd actually agree with your general point here. The last bit of the story is unnecessary and completely out of context. It doesn't provide insight into the events being reported on, it is included simply to slander the name of two dead "peace officers."

If the information had merit, it could be its own news item. Including it here serves no purpose.


-Rob

 

[Bob Hubbard]

2 officers are dead. The dirt doesn't need to be in there.


For all the LEO's here, I know I bust your chops here n there on a few points and I'm sure I've annoyed ya sometimes, but, y'all watch your asses out there, and keep coming home safe. I hope I never have to see a memorial thread for any of you here, unless it's because of old age. :asian:

 

[Empty Hands]

It's probably included because some of their statements and sources come from the Okaloosa Sheriff's office. Overly careful I suppose, but the reader can make the determination that the charges hanging over the Sheriff are unlikely to change the statements issued in the course of this story.

 

[Carol]

I don't see a reason for it, and I don't like the way it looks. Somehow I doubt that if the Okaloosa County Sheriff had been in the news for a more positive reason, that commentary would be excluded. However, I wouldn't want to see a notation in that circumstance either. It only detracts from the fact that officers were killed in the line of duty.

RIP