Sheriff calls airing of police shooting ‘unethical’ & asks public to let TV station know it was wrong

A sheriff in Texas is going on the attack after a San Antonio TV station aired video of her deputies shooting a man who appeared to have his hands up at the time he was shot. I’ve always been a believer in telling your story and even being aggressive in getting the record corrected when the news media makes mistakes or clearly gets the facts wrong. But this is different. It’s not a situation where the news media got the story wrong. It’s a case where the news media is legally letting the public see what happened even though Sheriff Susan Pamerleau doesn’t believe the public should have this view (at least right now).

The video shows the shooting death Friday of Gilbert Flores by Bexar County Deputy Sheriffs Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez. On its Facebook page yesterday (Monday) the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office blasts KSAT-TV’s decision to broadcast the video shot by a witness and asks those who agree to let the TV station know how they feel.

A similar message was sent about the same time via Twitter.

Broadcasting a man’s death for $100 has sparked threats to our deputies’ lives. Let KSAT know what you think, 210-351-1269.

— Bexar County Sheriff (@BexarCoSheriff) August 31, 2015

Click here to watch raw video of the shooting

The response on Twitter and Facebook appears to be strongly in favor of the TV station and against the sheriff. Some of it is quite nasty. That may be why the following message was sent out on social media about 21/2 hours after the blast at KSAT-TV.

(1/2) In regards to the deputy involved shooting, we’re asking for calm and patience. We are diligently working to complete the…

— Bexar County Sheriff (@BexarCoSheriff) September 1, 2015

(2/2) investigation so we can move to the next step. We want to get this right for the Flores family, our deputies and our community.

— Bexar County Sheriff (@BexarCoSheriff) September 1, 2015

Here’s what KSAT-TV wrote to accompany the shooting video on its website (the TV station also explained how their decision was reached in an article on the station’s website today titiled, “Why transparency matters”):

On Friday, KSAT 12 News obtained video showing the shooting of Flores by the deputies during a domestic violence call. At that time, we chose not to show the moment he was shot.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s office have addressed the incident, and commented on the video, which calls into question whether the shooting was justified. Now that there is an ongoing investigation by both agencies, and following additional discussions within our newsroom, KSAT 12 News has decided to make the entire video available online.

Providing the video on KSAT.com allows for viewers to make their own decision on whether to click on a link to see the video. Other than editing for language, the video is the entirety of what we received from Michael Thomas.

This will be an interesting one to be watch from a media handling standpoint. It’s not a tactic that I would recommend. The question will be how well Sheriff Pamerleau knows her community and whether they will have her back in the battle with KSAT-TV.

WLS-TV:

The video, taken by a bystander and obtained by KSAT-TV, appears to show Flores standing still with his arms raised just before two shots are heard. Flores drops to the ground. The video doesn’t include audio of deputies’ commands or Flores’ response, and the scene is partially obscured by police vehicles and passing cars.

Moments later, deputies drag and flip Flores onto his stomach. About a minute and a half later, an ambulance arrives.

“Certainly what’s in the video is a cause for concern, but it’s important to let the investigation go through its course so that we can assure a thorough and complete review of all that occurred,” Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said at a news conference Friday. But her office later criticized the release of the video as “unethical” and “sensational.”