It has been 10 days since I made a Freedom of Information request for all records pertaining to the incident on Friday, January 30th which I will refer to as the “snowball fight video”. I have made repeated requests for these records to Captain Costa, the Records Access Offier for the New Rochelle Police Department. Yesterday morning at 9 a.m. I sent the following letter to Captain Costa and copying on the email Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll, City Manager Charles Strome, Corporation Counsel Mark Blanchard, NAACP President Ron Williams, City Council Members Jared Rice and Albert Tarantino.
Captain Costa, et al.
In all the years of my making FOIL requests to the NRPD, I have almost always gotten records within 24 hours, often the same day. The only exception was when Captain Kealy was out of the office and then I got them as soon as he got back. In some cases, when Captain Kealy had an extended absence I got a quick response from you. Therefore, I can say with certainty, that is is highly unusual that 9 days after a FOIL request I would not even have an incident report.
I want the NRPD and City Officials to be aware that I was approached last night by the ACLU after I stated at last night’s CBTH that there had been an unusual delay in the NRPD turning over records under FOIL. I was also approached by a number of attorneys and activists.
I would like all the records I requested. I would to have them today but certainly no later than the close of business on Friday.
If the NRPD wishes to contend that it is not required to turn over a recording of the 911 call (not a transcript) then NRPD should make a legal argument as to why so that I might appeal that decision.
As you surely know, this incident and the video depicting an officer drawing his weapon on a kneeling black youth was reported worldwide and in a way not flattering to the NRPD or the City of New Rochelle. That occurred largely because of my reporting the incident on Talk of the Sound and sending that article to my contacts at other media outlets which then picked up the story. The initial reporting of the incident, that a police officer drew a weapon on black youths having a snowball fight, did not provide the context that police were on a gun call and so the story went viral without that context.
The REASON the story went out without that context is due entirely to the failure of the NPRD and the City of New Rochelle to respond to my repeated attempts to get context beginning Saturday morning. I am aware that a number of people in the NRPD, including senior command, are upset because they imagine that the video was deceptively edited (“clever mischief” with the snowball fight audio added after the fact) and that I purposely published a story about the “concocted” video in order to make the NRPD look bad. This is false.
What has made the NRPD look bad is the flat-footed response to a major story in a world of social media and instant global communications via the Internet. In other words, the NRPD living in a 19th century world in the 21st century where media is no longer “one to many” but “many to many”.
It has been the decision of the NRPD not to respond to my media inquiries, to bar me from press conferences and the daily press briefing. It was THAT DECISION by Commissioner Carroll that left me unable to obtain any statement or information about the incident from NRPD. To this day, I still have no official statement or response. I also contacted City officials including Council Member Rice and City Manager Strome, both copied on this email, several hours before the story ran on Talk of the Sound.
I state all of this here because I am soon to run a story that will say that the NRPD is stonewalling on producing records under FOIL and violating NYS law in doing so. In bringing that story forward, I will enlist allies where I can find them — whether that be the ACLU, Robert Freeman, various African-American groups including those that appeared last night at CBTH, and my numerous contacts in the media around the world. If you think I cannot or will not then you all have not been paying attention.
I make the NRPD aware of this because the last time I was stonewalled — on Super Bowl weekend — the result was a global media event that painted New Rochelle, the NRPD and Sgt. Salerno in a bad light. It was the fault of the NPRD and the City of New Rochelle that the viral video was picked up worldwide without the context that the officers were responding to a gun call. It will be the fault of the NPRD and the City of New Rochelle that the world comes to believe that there is a coverup going on here. Once that becomes the perception, it will be impossible to undo that even if you later produce audio or video evidence because many will believe that the evidence is fabricated.
The NRPD has access to surveillance video including that from Heritage Homes which has at least one camera with a clear vantage point on Lee Archer Boulevard. There may be other “private” videos. There is dash cam video. This video may go a long way towards corroborating the account of the 911 caller and justifying the actions of New Rochelle police officers that day. The failure to obtain and release ALL of this video in a timely basis will, in my experience, fuel suspicion that the NRPD has something to hide. That will, in turn, fuel conspiracy theories and harden positions. The result could then be a permanent perception among many people, and especially black residents of New Rochelle, that the video IS the full context of what happened that day — that officers over-reacted and placed young black lives in danger for their life without cause. This is bad enough. But should there then be an incident in the future, the well of goodwill that has existed in New Rochelle will have run dry with the high likelihood of adverse consequences for the City of New Rochelle and its residents.
There is no one in City government including the NRPD that has anything remotely approaching my media experience. I have a proven ability to take local stories and turn them into national and even international stories. I have been doing it here in New Rochelle for years, from the first few months I launched the site in 2008 (“Girl, Interrupted” censorship story) until this month (“Snowball Fight” video). As I told Marc Lamont Hill on Huff Post Live, the NRPD can ignore me but does so at its peril.
As I was a week ago Saturday, I am attempting to be as clear as possible – the failure of the NRPD to be fully transparent, and immediately so, might well become Round Two of this viral video story. I will certainly be presenting it as such given the status quo. I will also suggest to all of you that the issue died down in the regional and national media because the media largely accepted the claim that police actions were justified. That claim will be brought back into questions – especially if the ACLU takes up the case. Trust me on this.
I hope the NRPD will reconsider their current position and do what any smart media person would advise — “flood the zone” with all available information to overwhelm and dispel any suspicions and prevent, as much as possible, any conspiracy theories from taking hold.
Sincerely,
Robert Cox
Publisher and Managing Editor
