CX – THE BIG STORY: Was CBS Fair?

THE BIG STORY

Was CBS Fair?

BY RICK BOETTGER

The CBS Morning News aired a 5-minute segment titled “Death in Paradise” about the demise of Charles Eimers last Thanksgiving while being handcuffed by police after driving away from a traffic stop. Mayor Craig Cates went on the record saying the report was “one-sided.” However, the report was, if anything, overly generous towards our fair town, and critical of the late Eimers.

First, they charge Eimers with ‘reckless driving” when what he made was an illegal lane change in a construction area with unclear lane designations. Next they said he “fled the scene,” when in fact he drove away slowly through the town.

Worst, their only original research not already reported locally stated that he “had previous run-ins the with the law, including arrests for domestic abuse and theft back in the ’90s.” That is, 20 years ago he had arrests, but apparently no convictions, for things that had nothing to do with his actions here. It causes a mistrial in court, and is plainly prejudicial in the CBS report. It would be more appropriate to discuss the 20-year records of the arresting police, because the violence was all on their side in Eimers’ arrest.

Finally, CBS quoted arresting officers claiming Eimers resisted arrest “with violence,” so much so that one “officer’s finger got caught in the handcuffs” during the struggle. The fact is that those police reports were written five days after the accident, but before the cell phone video surfaced showing that Eimers slowly turned, raised his arms to obey police commands, and carefully lowered himself to the ground.

Eimers’ “struggle” was not to resist the police. It was to gain a breath as he was being suffocated under a wave of large bodies crushing him into the sand, as plainly shown in the shocking video.

CBS highlighted our youthful, telegenic police chief Donie Lee three times, allowing him to appear both concerned with the truth, and responsibly following policies making him do nothing about Eimers’ death. The title of the piece, displayed throughout on a line at the bottom, called us “Paradise.”

With beautiful footage, CBS describes us as “the island paradise for sun and sand . . .best known for its beaches, bars and laid-back lifestyle.” For Eimers, “It was a dream retirement. . .He wanted to come south to warmer weather and walk on the beach.” Our Tourist Development Council pays highly for such praise.

So those were CBS’ editorial slants, praising Key West and impugning Eimers. What the Mayor and other city representatives complained about was not editorial bias, but the plain undeniable facts, which, unfortunately for us all, are damning:

• Initial police reports of Eimers running and collapsing, and later of his struggling to resist arrest, were proven false by the video.

• Eimers’ family was not notified for four days that he was on life support.

• Instead of being sent, by law, to the Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy, his body was sent to a local funeral home, narrowly avoiding cremation.

• The autopsy showed that Eimers had 10 fractured ribs and bruises and abrasions on his wrists from handcuffs, and did not die of the heart attack that police had blamed for his death.

• The supposedly independent investigating agency that everyone is still waiting for, after six months, to conclude, is led by a woman who used to be married to the supervisor of the officers involved, all of whom are still on active duty. (CBS did not add that she is also the mother of their child.)

• The lawyers for Eimers’ children have been denied access to the police dashboard videos, the witnesses at the scene of the death, and the final autopsy report—so they cannot even collect his modest life insurance policy.

CBS avoided completely the most controversial element of the case, that police profiled Eimers as a homeless person, because his car was filled with his belongings. That would lead to discussing our Paradise’s major homeless issue, and how our police have been tasked with “handling” them, which tacitly involves rough treatment.

The only person with a clearly negative opinion, more than reporting objective facts, is Eimers’ son, Treavor. He states that his father was “murdered” and that the police have “lied” to him. That is not CBS’ opinion, it is Trevor’s, and he is entitled to have and express it.

Especially since he is overwhelmingly likely to be proven right. None of us wants to believe it, but sometimes we have to face the truth in order to make amends and stop it from happening again.