Local media ignore gaffe by Quannel the Tenth
One of the reasons we like KRIV-26 reporter Isiah Carey's blog is that Carey dishes out information as news is being made, instead of either holding it for his reports (not yet available online) or having it never see the light of day because of editing.
He recently posted on Quannel the Tenth, who consistently gets local media and law enforcement to jump when he snaps his fingers:
Phones in newsrooms all over the city rang as Quanell X hit his speed dial. He told news managers that he had the man wanted in The Acres Homes serial killings. Every major news operation headed over to the 6500 block of W. Montgomery where X said the man was supposed to be hold up in a church. Quanell said everyone should get there before he calls HPD to come and get the suspect. When The Insite arrived the man Quanell X had identified as the serial killer was sitting in the church with HPD, Pastor Chris Wright and X. Crime scene and more detectives later arrived. A reporter who was also on the scene then announced this wasn't the guy.
[snip]
X was wrong even though the man looked a whole lot like the sketch that has made its rounds in the area. But missing was the bald head and the scales of justice on the suspects arm. The man had a lot of tattoos but no scale of justice. Then when the detectives from HPD confirmed they didn't believe that was the man - the press conference by X changed. He said the man came forward because he and his family didn't want to be harassed by HPD anymore.
It sounds as if plenty of media types were there and could have reported on Quannel the Tenth's deception, which wound up wasting the time of media and law-enforcement professionals alike. However, the only reference to it I could find was this whitewash by KHOU-11's Jeff McShan:
Houston police have taken a DNA sample from another person of interest in the Acres Homes murders.
A crime scene unit with a camera and equipment for DNA testing arrived at an acres homes church late Thursday afternoon.
That’s where a man that police had been looking to question about the recent murders of six women agreed to meet with them.
The meeting was arranged by activist Quanell X.
“He understands that this sketch looks like almost his kissing twin brother if he ever had one, but absolutely this brother is saying its totally not him,” said Quanell X.
That's it. If a news consumer only saw that, and not Isiah Carey's background, it would change the impression quite a bit, no?
UPDATE: Jeff McShan emails the following:
Quannel X did NOT call our station to tell us he had the serial killer. He and Pastor Chris Wright told us that HPD had been looking to interview the guy for weeks and he was arranging the meeting. You called my story "whitewash" However - Isiah Carey's info about Quannel X calling KHOU to say he had the serial killer would be incorrect. I checked with HPD sources and they confirmed to me that they had been looking for this "person of interest." Unlike Isiah Carey at FOX26, we did not show the man's photo or mention his name to protect him. Just thought I would tell you what really happened. So Quannel X's statement that the man was most likely innnocent and wanted to talk with police to try and clear his name was correct. The man voluntarily gave up his DNA. In fact, to date, 24-men have come in and given DNA samples. No one has been arrested.
PREVIOUSLY: Who is Quannel X (Owen Courrèges, Chronically Biased).
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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/29/06 02:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (3)
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