Newsflash: The Democrat and Chronicle is an Embarrassment
Yesterday morning, I watched the video of the fracas at the County Legislature. After my initial reactions (disbelief, shock, indigestion…no that last one was caused by the coffee at my office. You’ll have to trust me, it’s horrible), I wondered aloud how the Democrat and Chronicle would cover the story. I figured they would probably sensationalize the events and make their good friend Assemblyman Gantt into some kind of martyr and hero.
I could not have been more wrong.
But before we get to the D&C, let’s briefly recap what the video shows us from that night:
1. A member of the legislature tells the assembled crowd that the Legislature is going into executive session, and that everyone needs to leave.
2. A sheriff’s deputy orders everyone to leave.
3. Some law abiding citizens leave, but many stay (including a prominent member of the bar association), disobeying repeated orders from a law enforcement officer.
4. Boisterousness ensues.
5. Assemblyman David Gantt begins walking over to the members of the legislature at the front of the chamber in direct disobedience of the law enforcement officer.
6. The officer stands in front of the Assemblyman in an attempt to stop him from proceeding further.
7. The Assemblyman uses his bulk to push and leverage the law enforcement officer back as he continues towards the legislators at the front of the room.
8. The officer FINALLY has enough, turns him around, and takes out the handcuffs to subdue him.
9. At that point, several of the Assemblyman’s supporters rush the officer, and one of them GRABS THE OFFICER’S ARMS and FLINGS THE OFFICER AWAY FROM THE ASSEMBLYMAN.
With that as background, here is how the Democrat and Chronicle reported the scene:
“The public refused to leave or listen to the public safety officers who were ordering them out, while legislature Democrats walked out in protest and Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester approached Republican legislators and demanded a merit-based selection process.”
Let’s recap: A sitting New York Assemblyman almost gets arrested, one of his entourage assaults a a law enforcement officer, and we’re told that “Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester APPROACHED Republican legislators”?
This newspaper is an affront to journalistic integrity. The only reason I can think that the paper reported the story in that manner is because it didn’t want to cause embarrassment to its pal the Assemblyman. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Final Quick-Hit Thoughts:
1. Where I come from, if you disobey a direct order of a police officer, you get popped upside the head. It goes without saying that pushing into a police officer is the sort of thing that would get most folks a swift meeting with the floor with a knee in their back.
2. I predict that the individual who grabbed the officer and flung her away from the Assemblyman will not get charged with Assaulting a Police Officer or Obstruction of Justice. Despite the fact that he took this inadvisable course of action on camera in front of about 50 people.
3. I sure hope the Patriots lose this weekend. Bill Belichick is a complete jerk, and Tom Brady is a little too smug.
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