Reporter,
Photographer Held at Gunpoint,
Searched By Police While On Story
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Reporter Andrea McCarren follows orders
to put her hands up. |
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Officers draw their weapons to confront
5' 4" reporter and photographer. |
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Government waste and fraud is a staple of investigative reporting, but
we sometimes forget that these stories can be dangerous.
Officials and rogue police may go to great lengths to cover their tracks.
Stopped by officers with guns drawn
A police brutality complaint has been filed against officers in the Prince George's
County police department on behalf of Andrea McCarren, I-Team reporter for WJLA-TV,
Washington.
Injured by police, she has been undergoing therapy and has been told by her doctor that
she may need surgery on her shoulder.
McCarren was investigating the possible misuse of police and government resources in
the county, and had filed an FOI request.
She and photographer Pete Hakel were following a county car driven by a police officer
who appeared to be a full-time driver for the county's chief administrative officer.
McCarren was driving. Hakel was in the back seat shooting videotape.
The news team's surveillance began at about 8:20 a.m., April 15, in a residential area of
Bowie, Maryland. She started off behind the police liaison, but lost him. Minutes later,
she saw the black SUV pass, and she resumed following. The official was in the SUV.
The I-Team members were suddenly surrounded by police cars with lights and sirens, and
officers with their guns drawn. There were nine police cars and at least five officers who
had their weapons out.
Back at the station, news managers heard the calls on the scanner.
Police were stopping a vehicle because it was "suspicious in nature," and
because there was someone videotaping them!
"Every single call referred to a photographer videotaping or a camera in the
back," she says.
Photographer kept rolling
McCarren says she was "shell-shocked" when she was surrounded by police with
their weapons drawn.
"Thankfully, I was with a veteran cameraman, who kept his cool. We might not have had
a story had he not rolled on it," she says.
The video begins with McCarren looking in her side mirror and talking to Hakel.
Calmly, she says, "He's got a gun pulled on me."
McCarren, a petite 5'4", 110-pound, mother of three, got out of the vehicle with her
hands up.
Hakel kept rolling even as he was ordered --- at gunpoint --- out of the vehicle. He
held the camera at his side, and police yelled at him to "drop the camera ---
now!"
He put it on the ground, but pointed it toward the officer who was directing him. When the
officer realized the camera was still on him, he motioned to another officer who turned it
away. Another one picked up the camera and threw it into the back seat of the car.
McCarren was told to walk backwards toward one of the officers who had his gun pointed
at her. She did as she was told.
Moments later, the officer roughly pulled her arms behind her back, wrenching and
dislocating her shoulder. She was then thrown up against the police car and patted down.
A complaint was filed
The story aired on May 12th, the day after the station filed the police brutality
complaint. Veteran anchor Gordon Peterson reported it.
The day after WJLA reported what had happened to McCarren, she received more than 400
e-mails of support from viewers.
The station also issued a news release in which Bill Lord, Vice President of News, said
a felony traffic stop like this is a "threat to all in our profession."
"The vast majority of felony stops involve the pursuit of a known felon fleeing a
crime scene. We want to know why he took this aggressive action that led to the injury of
our reporter. And we want to ensure that nothing like this happens again," said Lord.
Through a spokeswoman, Prince George's Police Chief Melvin C. High told The Washington
Post, "We have not had the opportunity yet to investigate, but on the face of it, it
appears that our officers followed proper procedure."
The incident was shocking for many people, especially journalists.
"It is frightening for all of us, because the bottom line is that we did not break a
law, and we did not commit a crime. In fact, when it was over, we didn't even get a
traffic citation," says McCarren.
The news investigation is ongoing.
"Immediately after this happened, we requested all public records --- the radio
dispatch calls, any 911 calls, radio transmissions between vehicles, all nine cruiser
cameras, which by law they must be equipped with and operating, and even a police report
of the incident. I am on it (the police report), and I want to know the officers who were
there. They have not fulfilled any of it. That's why we waited. We waited three and a half
weeks for them to comply, and they never did. We decided to go with the story," says
McCarren.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating and monitoring the Prince
George's County police department for years for excessive force and abuse of police power.
"There is a memo of understanding that all police cameras must be operable. Now they
are saying that all nine cameras were not working," she adds.
McCarren points out that when a police officer does something heroic like delivering a
baby, news organizations have the 911 call within hours.
However, with this, police have had four weeks and haven't come forward with it.
McCarren says the department is in a tough spot. If the cameras weren't rolling or weren't
operable, it is a clear violation of the Department of Justice memo of understanding.
If the cameras were operable, and they haven't provided the tapes or they destroyed them,
that is obstruction of justice.
"If they release the tapes, people will see five guns pulled on me and that the
officer was rough. It is going to be hard for them to win on this," she adds.
Police knew what they were doing
McCarren believes the traffic stop was because of her FOI request and investigation.
"I have no doubt that I touched a very sensitive nerve," she says.
The county has a high crime rate and is believed to be rife with corruption. Employees
receive ridiculous perks, including overseas trips at taxpayer expense that have little or
nothing to do with county government.
"We contend that they knew who we were all along," says McCarren.
The license plate of the car she was driving is registered in her name, and 10 days prior
to the incident she had filed a Freedom of Information request with the county for records
pertaining to her investigation.
"We got a hostile response from the government, which was going to begrudgingly
fulfill the FOI request," she says.
"We were investigating a tip about the possible unauthorized use of a county vehicle.
We also had questions about the allocation of police and government resources. Everyone in
county government knew I was seeking records as part of a much larger story. Ten days
later, this is what happens," she adds.
Industry representatives are alarmed by the police actions
The RTNDA has offered assistance to WJLA, if and when it is needed.
"It certainly sounds like a very serious case. It would be bad enough if it were
simply a matter of how they would treat a citizen who is stopped over a traffic incident,
but this goes way beyond that," says RTNDA President Barbara Cochran.
"It certainly looks as though they were trying to intimidate a member of the news
media, and chill the coverage that was planned," she says.
"Andrea is a petite woman, and the idea that she would be treated with such force
that her shoulder was dislocated, is outrageous," says Cochran.
"The good news here is that the station is pursuing this and is taking action to get
answers. The fact that this has now been disclosed to the public means the authorities are
going to have to answer some questions," she adds.
Representatives from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press maintain this is
an obvious case of intimidation, and point out that there is nothing illegal about driving
around town with a video camera.
In fact, they say McCarren's rights were violated because they (the police) used their
power to interfere with "constitutionally-protected activities."
"What is so chilling about this is that this is how we do investigative stories.
We observe people from a distance. This was an unmarked county SUV. It wasn't a marked
police cruiser with a uniformed officer," McCarren explains.
"If they didn't do anything wrong, why didn't they release the tapes right away or
release the police report right away?" she asks. |
