‘Get out of my house!’ Video shows 98-year-old mother of Kansas newspaper publisher upset amid raid

MARION, Kan. — Newly launched video exhibits the 98-year-old mom of a Kansas newspaper writer confronting cops as they searched her dwelling in a raid that has drawn nationwide scrutiny, at one level demanding: “Get out of my home!”

Video launched by the newspaper Monday exhibits Joan Meyer shouting on the six officers contained in the Marion, Kansas, dwelling she shared along with her son, Marion County Report Editor and Writer Eric Meyer. Standing with assistance from a walker and wearing a protracted gown or robe and slippers, she appears visibly upset.

“Get out of my home … I do not need you in my home!” she stated at one level. “Do not contact any of that stuff! That is my home!” she stated at one other.

The raids of the newspaper and the houses of the Meyers and a Metropolis Council member occurred on Aug. 11, after a neighborhood restaurant proprietor accused the newspaper of illegally accessing details about her. Joan Meyer died a day later. Her son stated he believes that the stress contributed to her demise.

A prosecutor stated later that there was inadequate proof to justify the raids, and among the seized computer systems and cellphones have been returned. In the meantime, the preliminary on-line search of a state web site that the police chief cited to justify the raid was authorized, a spokesperson for the company that maintains the positioning stated Monday.

The raid on the Report put it and its hometown of about 1,900 residents within the middle of a debate about press freedoms protected by the First Modification to the U.S. Structure and Kansas’ Invoice of Rights. It additionally uncovered divisions within the city over native politics and the newspaper’s protection of the group, and put an intense highlight on Police Chief Gideon Cody, who led the raids after the newspaper had requested questions on his background.

“So far as Chief Cody goes, he can take his excessive horse he introduced into this group and giddy-up on out of city,” Darvin Markley, a Marion resident, stated throughout a Monday afternoon Metropolis Council assembly. “The person must go. He must be fired.”

Cody didn’t attend Monday’s assembly or reply to electronic mail and cellphone messages in search of remark. He stated in affidavits used to acquire the warrants that he had possible trigger to consider that the newspaper and Metropolis Council member Ruth Herbel, whose dwelling was additionally raided, had violated state legal guidelines in opposition to id theft or pc crimes.

Each Herbel and the newspaper have stated they acquired a duplicate of a doc concerning the standing of the restaurant proprietor’s license with out soliciting it. The doc disclosed the lady’s license quantity and date of start, that are required to examine the standing of an individual’s license on-line and achieve entry to a extra full driving file. The police chief maintains they broke state legal guidelines to do this, whereas the newspaper and Herbel’s attorneys say they didn’t.

Herbel, the town’s vice mayor, presided over the Metropolis Council’s assembly Monday, its first because the raids. It lasted lower than an hour, and Herbel introduced that council members wouldn’t focus on the raids — one thing its agenda already had stated in an all-caps assertion in crimson adopted by 47 exclamation factors. She stated the council will tackle the raids in a future assembly.

Whereas Herbel stated after the assembly that she agrees that Cody ought to resign, different Metropolis Council members declined to remark. Mike Powers, a retired district court docket choose who’s the one candidate for mayor this fall, stated it’s untimely to make any judgments.

The assembly got here after Kansas Division of Income spokesperson Zack Denney stated it is authorized to entry the driving force’s license database on-line to examine the standing of an individual’s license utilizing data obtained independently. The division’s Division of Automobiles points licenses.

“The web site is public-facing, and anybody can use it,” he stated.

Meyer stated the newspaper plans to file a lawsuit over the raid of its workplaces and his dwelling.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation continues to look at the newspaper’s actions. The KBI experiences to state Legal professional Normal Kris Kobach, a Republican, whereas the Division of Income is below Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s authority.

Authorized consultants consider the police raid on the newspaper violated a federal privateness legislation or a state legislation shielding journalists from having to determine sources or flip over unpublished materials to legislation enforcement.

Meyer has famous that among the many gadgets seized had been a pc tower and private cellphone of a reporter who was uninvolved within the dispute with the native restaurant proprietor — however who had been investigating why Cody left a Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, police captain’s job in April earlier than turning into Marion police chief.

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Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri. Related Press author Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this report.

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Comply with John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

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