I've never written a diary or even posted a comment on any blog before today although I have avidly read political blogs for over five years. I've been described by a friend as a radical moderate and true to that description I enjoy reading from a diverse group of viewpoints. Once such site, michaelmoore.com, is where the story of Diane Bukowski came to my attention.
I searched the Kos archives to see if this story had previously been diaried here before and was surprised to see that it was not. I did quite a bit of Googling to see if there was another side of the story that I was missing but could find nothing remotely close to a justification for the filing of five felony charges against Diane Bukowski.
From reading various online accounts, I have come to the conclusion that the Detroit Police are using Ms. Bukowski's arrest as an opportunity to stick it someone who has been a thorn in their side over the years with her reporting on police brutality and civilian deaths that were the result of police actions.
Here is Diane Bukowski's account of what happened:
I was arrested Nov. 4, Election Day, at the scene where two white state troopers allegedly rammed the bike of a motorcyclist whose bike then ran into a pedestrian, killing both. I took photos of the scene, namely of two yellow tarps which covered the body parts of the motorcyclist and his crushed motorcycle. That scene was also shown from the air by a TV 2 News helicopter. I had earlier identified myself as a reporter, showing my ID to both the arresting officer, Trooper Barber, and her superior. When I got into camera range to take the photos (not stepping through any yellow crime scene tapes), Trooper Barber screamed at me from across East Davison and immediately told me I was under arrest. She then seized my camera and erased the photos. I was handcuffed and hauled into MSP headquarters on West Grand Boulevard. The request for a warrant from the MSP appeared to have been on one count of obstruction, but it came back from Worthy’s office as five felony counts, with Trooper Barber as the complainant in all five.
sfbayview.com
Supporting the theory that this is retaliatory is the fact that the arresting officer requested only one misdemeanor count of obstruction. I believe that once someone within Detroit police realized that Ms. Bukowski had written previous articles that were critical of the department, they seized upon the opportunity to get their revenge. Three days after her initial arrest, Ms. Bukowski was charged with five felonies.
Gary Younge, of the Nation, sums up the charges and Bukowski's past articles critical of the police:
Bukowski cuts an intriguing figure. An insatiable gum-chewer, she strides through the roughest areas of black Detroit in single-minded pursuit of her stories. She is 60 years old and stands at around 5 feet 4 inches. A few days after her arrest, her charge was ramped up to five felony counts of assaulting, wounding, battering, resisting, obstructing or endangering five troopers, carrying up to ten years in prison. The idea of this small woman single-handedly battering five armed troopers would be funny if it weren't so absurd. The charges were reduced to two troopers following a preliminary exam.
Given a choice between their account and Bukowski's, I know which one I would believe. For we have met Bukowski in these pages before [see "Shots in the Dark," July 2, 2007]. She reported on the murder of Brandon Martell Moore for the Michigan Citizen. Brandon, 16, was shot in the back by an off-duty cop as he left a mall. Brandon had never been in trouble with the law before. But the cop who shot him had. In 1971 Eugene Williams, who is black, was involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident while under the influence of alcohol. In 1979 Williams shot and killed a 31-year-old man during a neighborhood brawl. Five years later he shot his wife, but she lived. Williams stayed on the force. The senseless death of a black teenager at the hand of a wayward cop is clearly not a newsworthy story in Detroit. The city's two main newspapers needed less than 200 words to write up the whole story in which they failed even to mention Brandon's name and quoted only the police.
Were it not for Bukowski, who pursued the case relentlessly, Brandon would have died without a trace. Thanks to her reporting, the community demanded answers.
So there is a reason the Detroit police don't like Bukowski. She refuses to let them do their job the way they see fit. During her years at the Citizen she has broken several stories, including one about the "Booty Boys"--police on Detroit's Southwest side were conducting illegal cavity searches of black men in public on city streets. She also broke the story of Eugene Brown, a cop who ran amok in black areas during the '90s. Her work was used by federal authorities when they imposed a consent decree on Detroit police. Nonetheless, all these police officers, most of whom are black, remain on the force. "This is clearly an attempt to intimidate me," says Bukowski of her arrest. "They are trying to cover up what happened." Without her, they would get away with murder, literally.
The Nation
I usually don't agree with Michael Moore and there is a good chance I would have some disagreements with Diane Bukowski's reporting and her conclusions. I'm sure that my moderate beliefs are at odds with many here in the Daily Kos community. There is one thing however that Michael Moore, Diane Bukowski, the Daily Kos community, and myself all strongly support and that is the importance of maintaining a free and vigilant press. It doesn't matter what Ms. Bukowski has written about the police in the past. Even if everything she has ever written is grossly unfair, it does not give the police or the prosecutor the right to file excessive charges against her in an attempt to silence her. I wrote this diary because I feel that this story needs to be told to as many people as possible so that people will speak out and hopefully put a stop to this retaliatory prosecution.
From David Sole, President of UAW Local 2334:
United Auto Workers Local 2334 President David Sole wrote to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Nov. 18 on his union’s letterhead: "These charges are unbelievable and the accusations incredible. In view of the fact that Diane is well known for her reporting of police brutality and misconduct, one can only conclude that she was targeted by the police in this case for retribution. In addition, the prosecution of Ms. Bukowski is clearly an attack on the freedom of the press."
Sole is joining with other labor and community activists and organizations to assist with the needs of Bukowski’s legal defense, including raising funds, outreach, media and more. A defense committee is in the process of being formed.
Supporters are encouraged to contact Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and demand all charges against Bukowski be dropped immediately. Write to Worthy at 1200 Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, 1441 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 48226; call 313-224-5777; or fax 313-224-0974.
workers.org
Since this is my first diary ever, I may have made some rookie mistakes and apologize for them in advance. I chose Daily Kos because I believe that this community is most likely to speak out against what I feel is a troubling example of prosecutorial misconduct and a chilling attempt to silence a reporter whom the Police and the Prosecutor do not agree with. Hopefully this was a worthy and productive first effort.
Update: Arthur Wolf/puffmeister suggested I embed a TV news report covering the incident. Also in the interest of getting it right, quite a few comments pointed out that the State Police and not the Detroit PD were on scene and ultimatly arrested Diane Bukowski.