On Monday, The New York Times ran an online story about Jeffrey Williams, the 20 year old Ferguson resident suspected of shooting two Ferguson officers, in which they first reported that Williams was in fact protesting during the night of the shooting incident. Tuesday morning, the same URL that the online story appeared no longer had that little (but very crucial) piece of information that confirmed Williams was one of the Ferguson protestors. (This important detail has since been returned.)
As Breitbart’s John Nolte explained, the original New York Times report informed readers of Williams’ role in the Ferguson protests:
“After Michael Brown, he was out there protesting,” an uncle, Mark Mooney, 35, said, referring to the black teenager who was shot and killed by a white Ferguson officer in August. “He had his shirt on. He had his signs up. After that, when things died down, he died down with it.”
Relatives and friends of Mr. Williams said he had taken part in demonstrations but said he was not a protest leader or organizer.
Breitbart News was tipped off by a blog that detailed the original reporting and undocumented edit. When Breitbart reached out to The New York Times, they responded with this assertion:
This story was originally posted yesterday with Mr. Williams court appearance and family quotes. It didn’t make the first print edition of the paper, but late at night, after his lawyer started giving interviews, an edited story (edited because of limited space) was inserted on deadline. That is the version you saw this morning. The quotes have since been added back into the online version of the story, fyi.
And, FYI, in the course of a 24 hour news cycle, online stories are routinely edited for space and other considerations. Most of these edits do not require a correction or editor’s note.”
Why is this little bit of information such a big deal? Simple. Since the shooting of Michael Brown, media have trumpeted allegations that the cop who shot Brown was racist, that Brown was an innocent “gentle giant,” that “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” was a rallying cry against alleged police brutality (when just recently even Attorney General Eric Holder admitted it was all a fabrication).
They want the public to believe Williams’ lawyer; that his client was just “hanging out” at the protest (who hangs out at a late night protest?), and that he “accidentally” shot two cops when he actually meant to shoot other people because of what a family member described as “neighborhood beef.”(So shooting someone else other than the officers would've been okay? Alright.)
And now? Williams’ lawyer has jumped on the “police brutality” bandwagon by accusing the arresting officers of beating Williams, which of course Ferguson police have denied. Maybe the beating Williams claims came from the people he was “meaning” to shoot yet somehow struck two officers instead.
