Hook, line and sinker; Another Media Black Eye: Second Cop Not Kimberly Munley Brought Down Hasan

DainBramaged

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Fri Nov-13-09 06:53 AM
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Hook, line and sinker; Another Media Black Eye: Second Cop Not Kimberly Munley Brought Down Hasan

Edited on Fri Nov-13-09 07:02 AM by DainBramaged

With the publication of an interview with Sgt. Mark Todd, the actual cop who gunned down the killer at Fort Hood -- following its account of an unnamed eyewitness last night--The New York Times this afternoon finally underlined what some of us noticed from nearly the start: the media fell hook, line and sinker once again for a military account of what happened during the tragedy.

First, it was the "death" of the apparent mass murderer, Major Hasan, not corrected for hours. Then, for days, the story of how a white female cop brought down the shooter, even as she was receiving serious wounds.

Yet I noticed--without great searching--just hours after the attack that scattered eyewitnesses, via the Web and Twitter, were saying that the killer re-loaded after Kimberly Munley went down.

How could he have done that if she had just plugged him four times, supposedly ending the rampage? Some of those witnesses said they yelled at the unnamed second cop to shoot Hasan--which he did, and then went up and kicked his gun away.

Yet for days, the media rarely questioned the military's "official" story of Munley as savior. The New York Times was one of many who put Munley on the front page and declared, on Nov. 7, that she was the person who nailed Hasan. Its headline: "She ran to gunfire, and ended it." It said flatly that she "brought down the gunman."

Later that day, The Associated Press interviewed Todd and he described some of his actions that day, which raised questions about Munley's prime role. Still, most news outlets for days continued to label Munley "the" (singular) Fort Hood hero. It wasn't until two days ago that Todd got feature billing, although usually in a secondary role. Now, in the past day, he is finally getting his due as the original account begins to fall away. The New York Times pushed the envelope with its reports last night and today by James C. McKinley, Jr.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004042423

Second Officer Gives an Account of the Shooting at Ft. Hood

Sgt. Kimberly D. Munley has been applauded as a hero across the nation for shooting down Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan during the bloody rampage at Fort Hood last week. The account of heroism, given by the authorities, attracted the attention of newspapers, the networks and television talk shows.

But the initial story of how she and the accused gunman went down in an exchange of gunfire now appears to be inaccurate.

Another officer, Senior Sgt. Mark Todd, 42, said in an interview Thursday that he fired the shots that brought down the gunman after Sergeant Munley was seriously wounded. A witness confirmed Sergeant Todd�s account.

In the interview, Sergeant Todd said he and Sergeant Munley had pulled up to the scene in separate cars at the same time. He said they began running up a small hill toward the building that held the processing center where unarmed soldiers reported for check-ups and vaccinations before deployment. The gunman was already outside, Sergeant Todd recalled.

�That�s when the bystanders were pointing in his direction,� he said. �And when we popped up, he was standing there, and we shouted our commands � �Police, drop your weapons!� � and he just opened fire on us.�

�Once I came around the front of the building, I caught his attention again, started shouting commands, and then he opened up a second time,� Sergeant Todd said. �And that�s when I returned fire, neutralized him and secured him.�

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/13hood.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1258113615-ftP5MmMiKkXvHCBMSiqcQg