Yesterday Norwalk was talking about the front page Hour story about Tykwan Hunt’s murder, specifically this part:
“The fact that he’s dead makes the city safer,”said one policeman on condition of anonymity. “If he had lived, he would have spent most of his life in jail. No one should be surprised by where this kid ended up. He lived like a gang member … he died like a gang member.”
Hunt is the second 17-year- old Money Green member to be killed, following the shooting death of Jeffrey “Big Al”Coward on Oct.31,2006.
Today The Hour goes full bore in apologizing for printing the story.
“I regret that the quote was allowed in the story without identifying the officer,” said Chet Valiante, publisher of The Hour. “This allowed the officer to make a statement and then hide behind the cloak of anonymity. Without the attribution, the quote should have not have been included in the story. Police Chief Rilling should have had the opportunity to respond to the officer’s remarks and to set the record straight on the attitudes of the police department members.”
Noelle Frampton, who wrote the original story, should be commended for reporting this story with the quote. This is what journalism is about, investigating and reporting the underlying bits and pieces within the context of the larger story. I’m sure the police officer who made the quote knew exactly how it would play if the attribution was there. I suspect that the police officer was also stating the common line of thinking within the police department about the investigation into this murder. Rilling wants to blame the Hour for exposing the underbelly of police department operations. Note that he isn’t saying that no one in his department would ever say or think what was quoted. Let’s not lose sight of what is really going here.
source: The Hour, Rilling slams Hour coverage, defends department January 19, 2008
