Several press freedom watchdogs condemned the Marion Police Department’s actions as a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution’s protection for a free press. The Marion County Record’s editor and publisher, Eric Meyer, worked with his staff Sunday to reconstruct stories, ads and other materials for its next edition Wednesday, even as he took time in the afternoon to provide a local funeral home with information about his mother, Joan, the paper’s co-owner.
A search warrant tied Friday morning raids, led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, to a dispute between the newspaper and a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell. She is accusing the newspaper of invading her privacy and illegally accessing information about her and her driving record and suggested that the newspaper targeted her after she threw Meyer and a reporter out of restaurant during a political event.
Lawsuits are going to fly over this, not the least against the cops … deservedly so.
As well they should, but nothing will change until Qualified Immunity gets re-examined, and cops that engage in criminal activity while wearing a badge are actually treated like criminals instead of being shielded from consequences by the police union and precinct transfers.
… and payouts by the city for lawsuits.
The hell taxpayers should be on the hook for the idjits.
and it’s gonna take a Constitutional crime like this, by a cop who has already had crimes swept under the rug while he was captain of the KCPD, to change things