Posted on 04/28/2005 10:35:50 AM PDT by TaxRelief
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Cumberland County District Attorney's Office has dismissed a misdemeanor criminal charge against a former Fayetteville Observer reporter in exchange for his apology to the city's police chief.
The reporter, Robert Boyer, was arrested in March 2004 and charged with resisting a police officer because he refused two officers' orders to leave a street where a murder occurred.
Boyer went to the street to the interview people for a story about the murder.
At a trial in January, District Court Judge Cheri Beasley found Boyer guilty. He appealed to Superior Court for a jury trial. Assistant District Attorney Kurt Majka dismissed the case April 21 in exchange for Boyer's written apology police Chief Tom McCarthy.
According to testimony at Boyer's trial, he walked past a police roadblock even though two officers told him to leave. They arrested him when he refused.
In his letter, Boyer said he was following a police department policy that says reporters are allowed to walk past roadblocks.
Boyer wrote that "my reaction to being ordered to leave the area was not my best moment and I could have used better judgment under the situation."
Boyer left the Observer in April 2004 and moved to Burlington, where he is a freelance writer. The Observer is paying his legal fees.
Police Department lawyer Tiffany Sneed said Boyer should have obeyed the officers and left the scene despite the policy. Officers have the authority to deviate from the department's policies if necessary to do their jobs, she said.
"Our policies are a guideline. They are not state law, per se," she said.
Mike Arnholt, managing editor of The Fayetteville Observer, said the newspaper was glad that the charge had been dismissed.
Fayetteville Ping
Ahhhh, the great American Press in action.
The article said the reporter "walked".
I thought gods floated more or less.
**Chuckle**
It's interesting that the incident happened in March and the reporter left in April.
Perhaps an addition to the journalists gone wild sign.
Has anyone else experienced police making up laws while at the scene of a crime? One incident I remember was several years ago. There was an unusually bad car accident in a residential neighborhood that involved a fatality. I was having dinner with friends directly across the street from the incident. We had gone out onto the front porch to watch what was going on (the porch was a ranch style with several rocking chairs and we were at least 100 ft from the accident which was on the other side of the street). After just a few minutes, an officer came onto the property and asked us what we were doing. We responded that we were having dinner when we heard the sirens and just wanted to see what was going on. He asked if all four of us lived there and we responded that two did and two were guests. He told us that we (the guests) would have to leave. We told him that we didn't think he had that authority to do that. He walked away and returned a minute later with another officer. The second officer bluntly stated that if we did not retreat into the house and stay there, we would be arrested for interfering with an investigation. We went in and immediately called the police department to complain, but were told things like "Let the officers do their job" and "You must understand the pressure they are under". We couldn't even get anyone at the department to file a complaint. They kept telling us to come down to the station to discuss the matter (yea.....right!).
While I have never been at a murder scene, when I was a reporter I always seemed to have great access to fire and accident scenes .......particulary ones that occurred before dawn - the local cops and firemen knew I would stay out of their way and occassionally bring them coffee :)
I was always the first reporter to get the details from them following such incidents, even if I hadn't been at the scene.........a little bit of respect goes a long way - in both directions!
LOL!
Thanks for the ping, TR.
Fayetteville LEOs are the best!
This particular reporter was a gigantic pain in the ass to all area law enforcement. He routinely tried to violate tape lines and the like. Other reporters from both print and electronic media cheered when he was arrested because he made it harder on them to get access to stories. In fact, a major media association in the state supported the police when he was arrested.
Very interesting...thanks for filling in the blanks.
Don't forget the LET FREEDOM RING phonecard program. Send your donations or phone cards to:
Gwen Yeager/Community affairs Dept.
Fayetteville Police Department
467 Hay Street
Fayetteville, NC 28301-5565
Please mark "Let Freedom Ring - FROM XXXX@freerepublic.net" in memo line. A personal thank-you in the envelope would be great too.
C'mon people, let's do this at least 3-4 times his year. The wounded vets at Walter Reed AMH need our support throught the FPD.
I've got a feeling the March 2006 Support Our Troops rally will be even more satisfying for FPD and Freepers alike.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.