Police shooting brings media spotlight
The fatal officer-involved shooting captured on cellphone video Tuesday in Pasco has sparked protests — and also a frenzy of media coverage.
The Seattle Times and other west side outfits have sent reporters across the Cascades to cover the incident and its aftermath, and outlets from the Los Angeles Times to The Washington Post have run stories.
“A cellphone video showing the fatal police shooting of a man who had thrown rocks at officers before running away into a busy intersection has prompted an outcry in the town of Pasco, Wash.,” the Post’s story said.
The LA Times wrote, “a video of a deadly clash between Pasco, Wash., police officers and an unarmed man appears to show the officers shooting the man as he runs away — infuriating residents and civil liberties leaders.”
The shooting also made NBC Nightly News on Thursday.
National Public Radio’s All Things Considered ran a segment on the incident.
Reporter Martin Kaste spoke over a video recording of the shooting, with gunshots audible, followed by protests in Spanish, then English. “By yesterday afternoon, that protest had become a chant outside Pasco City Hall,” Kaste said.
The political blog the Daily Kos had a piece Thursday with the headline, “Pasco, Washington, police have killed more people than police in Germany and the UK combined.” Buzzfeed also had a lengthy post on the shooting and protests, with videos and tweets from the Tri-City Herald and other local news outlets embedded.
Meanwhile, Herald videos of interviews with family members, witnesses, protesters and police officials had been watched more than 55,000 times on YouTube as of Thursday. Videos of the shooting itself have racked up even more views — one had topped 500,000 as of 7 p.m. Thursday.
The shooting was a trending topic Thursday on Facebook, and memes were making the rounds, including one with a photo of the growing shrine at the shooting site and the message, “#itwasjustarock.”
A Facebook page was created for the rally planned Feb. 14 in Pasco, and more than 130 people had responded as of Thursday that they would attend. Another Facebook page, in support of Pasco police, also popped up. It had a handful of likes Thursday evening.
This story was originally published February 12, 2015 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Police shooting brings media spotlight."