The small Texas tabloid that made national headlines after threatening to publish the names and addresses of police officers who are involved in shootings backtracked Monday.
The owner of the San Antonio Observer said the weekly paper does not plan to publish the names or addresses of San Antonio police officers involved in shootings. However, the paper is looking into what information they are legally allowed to publish, after an officer-involved shooting.
The owner, who agreed to an interview as long as his name was not included in the story, said, “Everybody is focusing on one small publication in San Antonio, Texas and one editor’s words. And everybody is losing sight of the fact that there is a man dead at the hands of a police officer.”
Antroine Scott, 36, was killed after a San Antonio police officer mistook the cell phone in Scott’s hand for a gun.
The owner of the paper said, “It is a tragic situation and Mr. Scott who was killed will not be the only one.” Less than one week after Scott was killed in San Antonio, an Austin police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old man Monday morning.
According to police, officers were called to North Austin to respond to reports that someone was acting “erratically.” Police said the officer fired at the man after he ignored several commands to comply and then charged at the officer.
“Officers are trained to absolutely wait as long as they can to make that split second decision, then they have to make a decision,” said Charley Wilkison. The Executive Director of the Combined Law Enforcement Agencies of Texas, or CLEAT, Wilkison said police and the public must partner together so that people comply with an officer’s commands.
“Because if you haven’t done anything wrong, you’re going to get in the police car, you’re going downtown, you’re going to be bailed out and you’re going to trial to be found innocent,” Wilkison said.
The owner of the San Antonio Observer said officers involved in the shootings of civilians go unpunished because the police officers are able to remain anonymous.
The owner of the publication said, “The mindset is that they can get away with is but what if an officer had to worry about retribution outside of the law, based on his actions that may or may not be deemed criminal later, would he be so quick to pull that trigger.”
The little-known tabloid gained national attention and heavy criticism after the editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Observer compared police officers to members of the KKK.
“Like Ku Klux Klansman with hoods, [officers] do everything they can in order to protect their identities for fear of being brought to justice,” Stephanie Zarriello said at a press conference Saturday.
The editor and publisher of the paper went on to say, “Just as the names and addresses of sex offenders are publicized in order to protect the public from their wicked behavior, we feel that our community has the right to the exact same level of protection.”
“This is America, you can say whatever you want,” Wilkison said, but he thinks the San Antonio Observer went too far. “When you move to take direct action to endanger the lives of law enforcement families, then that’s when we are going to take action,” Wilkison said.
CLEAT is preparing to take legal action, if the weekly paper publishes an officer’s personal information.
Wilkison said not only can it be illegal, but it can also be dangerous.
“Criminals have nothing but time on their hands and hatred of police. They have plenty of time. They are highly motivated to create the kind of chaos and terror that the murder of a police officer creates in a community,” Wilkison said.
Officer John Lee, a ten year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department, was named as the shooter by the city’s police chief Friday.
The name of the Austin officer who fatally shot a man Monday has not be released. Still in the early stages of the investigation, more information on that shooting in expected Tuesday.
