Comparing the story Anaheim police officers told about an unruly crowd to intense camera footage of their clash.





Residents of a Latino neighborhood in Anaheim, California (a city best known as the home of Disneyland) angrily protested this weekend after police shot and killed an unarmed 25-year-old man. The police chief says his officers approached the vehicle Manuel Angel Diaz was in because they perceived "suspicious activity." Diaz quickly fled the vehicle, and was shot as he ran from the officers, who fired for reasons that "remained under investigation Sunday," The OC Register reported, adding later in the story that "Saturday, as demonstrators gathered at the scene of the shooting, Anaheim officers fired bean bags and pepper spray into a crowd of protestors."

With investigations just being launched, it is too early to assert conclusions about what happened. Whether or not the officers were at fault, it's awful that this unarmed young man is now dead. And everyone involved is owed a thorough, accurate review of the events that transpired.

As that process moves forward, I remain fascinated by the early coverage of the weekend protest that followed the shooting. First look at the report assembled by KCAL 9, a local television station:

That last detail about police officers offering to buy cell phone video footage of the event is itself interesting. Nick Gillespie calls the amateur video incorporated into the KCAL 9 report "a trenchant reminder of the distributed nature of surveillance in today's world." And to underscore why the shift toward citizens empowered by video footage is tremendously important, compare the above reportage to the account of events that appeared on the LA Times Web site.