My darling child is innocent … despite evidence to the contrary
PeoriaIllinoisan is all over the case of the woman who is accused of driving under the influence and getting into a traffic accident that took the life of her small child, who was apparently unrestrained in the vehicle.
The Illinois State Police and the State’s Attorney’s office are telling one story, while others are leaving comments on the Journal Star article, denying everything and saying their sources in the woman’s family say all toxicology results are negative.
The facts will come out in court. There’s a reason that when newspapers and broadcasters report on crime, they are careful to say that these are facts being given to them by law enforcement. It just very well might be a cause of police jumping to conclusions. Police make mistakes. It happens.
However …
I covered enough crime and courts as a reporter to know that the family members will often insist that their child could not possibly have done the things for which they are accused. They will do this even when their children have long criminal records.
Often, the accused will flat out lie to their family about what happened, and then leave it to their mother or father to demand retractions. Sometimes these people call the police, who gleefully tell the parents to call the newspaper if they want a retraction. And let me tell you, these are NOT fun phone calls to receive, and thay can suck up a lot of a reporter’s time.
I’m not saying that police reports are infallible, nor are reporters. But generally speaking, if a police report says that someone stunk of alcohol, they probably did.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Nunamy chillens ever dun nuthin wrong…