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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 22 May 2019

San Francisco police chief: Journalist 'crossed the line'

By JANIE HAR with the return of his equip-
Associated Press ment but that he will have
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — to replace numerous cam-
The San Francisco police eras, cellphones and com-
chief said Tuesday that he puters for security reasons.
respects the news media A GoFundMe campaign
but a freelance journal- has raised nearly $15,000
ist whose home and office for him.
were raided by officers had His main goal, he said, is to
"crossed the line" by join- ensure "that nothing seized
ing a conspiracy to steal a can be used against my-
confidential report. self, North Bay Television
Chief William Scott ad- News or our sources."
dressed reporters at a news Media organizations across
conference, hours after the country criticized the
police agreed in court to May 10 raids as a violation
return property seized from of California's shield law,
Bryan Carmody in raids which specifically protects
aimed at uncovering the journalists from search war-
source of a leaked police rants. The Associated Press
report into the unexpected is among dozens of news
death of the city's public organizations siding with
defender, Jeff Adachi. Carmody and seeking to San Francisco Police Chief William Scott answers questions during a news conference, Tuesday,
Tensions are high in the submit a friend-of-the-court May 21, 2019, in San Francisco.
case, which has alarmed brief. Associated Press
journalism advocates and The case will soon return to
put pressure on elected court. Carmody's attorney would normally be responsi- The duties of the city at- press, saying it was an at-
leaders in this politically and media organizations ble for prosecuting Carmo- torney's office include tempt to smear the legacy
liberal city to defend the have asked to unseal war- dy, condemned the police. providing legal services of Adachi, who was an out-
press. rant materials and revoke He said he has not seen the to city agencies such as spoken critic of police. An
Authorities believe that a the search warrants. San warrants, which are sealed, police, but Cote said the autopsy blamed Adachi's
police department em- Francisco Superior Court but he could not imagine office does not represent Feb. 22 death on a mixture
ployee was involved and Judge Samuel Feng has not a situation where warrants the police in proceedings of cocaine and alcohol
had contact with Carmo- ruled yet on those requests, would be appropriate. related to search warrants, that compromised an al-
dy. but he set deadlines for fur- "Seizing the entire haystack because police have their ready bad heart.
"We believe that that con- ther filings. to find the needle risks vio- own in-house counsel for People who want to crack
tact and that interaction The editorial board of the lating the confidences Mr. that. down on journalists come in
went across the line. It went San Francisco Chronicle Carmody owes to all his In court documents, Car- all political stripes, said Jim
past just doing your job as a has joined with other pub- sources, not just the person mody has said he is a vet- Wheaton, founder of the
journalist," Scott said. lications in criticizing city who leaked the police re- eran journalist who is often First Amendment Project, a
He added: "This is a big deal leaders, including Mayor port," he said in a Monday the first on the scene of public interest law firm.
to us, as well it should be. It's London Breed, for failing to tweet. breaking news. He provides "They went after him be-
a big deal to the public. It's quickly condemn the po- The police chief acknowl- video news packages to cause he's all by himself,"
a big deal to you all." lice actions. A Chronicle edged the uproar, saying outlets in return for pay- Wheaton said. "And the
Scott said the primary tar- report published Monday that in hindsight the de- ment. fact that he sells the mate-
get of the ongoing inves- named supervisors who partment could have done He said a source gave rials that he packages. He
tigation is the employee, have not returned mes- things differently and will him a preliminary police puts together a journalism
whose identity investiga- sages for comment on the strive to learn from its mis- report on Adachi's death report including documents
tors do not know. He said raids. takes. that contained unsavory and sells it. That's what jour-
the secondary focus is on When they arrived at Car- "We respect the news me- details. Carmody went nalism is." It was unclear
Carmody, who may have mody's home, police had dia," he said. "We have to on to sell copies of the re- who is paying Carmody's
been motivated by profit or a sledgehammer, and they own what we own and port along with video foot- legal fees. His attorney,
a desire to tarnish Adachi's cuffed him for hours. move forward, and try to age from the scene of the Thomas Burke, declined to
reputation, or both. Breed initially defended the get better at what we do." death and information ob- comment. San Francisco
Carmody's attorney, Thom- raids but on Sunday posted The city attorney's office tained from interviews to police have defended the
as Burke, declined to com- messages on Twitter say- did not send an attorney three news stations. raids, and police attorney
ment. Carmody did not re- ing she was "not okay" with to Tuesday's hearing, and The leak infuriated city su- Ronnie Wagner said she in-
spond to an email request raids on reporters. spokesman John Cote said pervisors. They scolded tends to respond to the re-
for comment. He said on District Attorney George the office is "not appearing police for anonymously quests made by Burke and
Twitter that he was pleased Gascon, whose office in court on that matter." releasing the report to the others.q