Melvin Santiago, a 23 yearold police officer, was shot to death answering a 911 call for an armed robbery this passed Sunday morning. The shooter, Lawrence Campbell, never tried to rob the store.
He walked in with a knife and asked where the greeting cards were. He then assaulted a security gaurd. Realizing that the cops were called he told a bystander that he was "going to be famous". and he stood and waited for the police to come. He then shot Melvin Santiago as he exited his vehicle. He himself was then shot to death.
What has outraged people is that there was a memorial set up for the killer. The memorial actually celebrates his criminal lifestyle with the words 'Thug life and a newspaper cut-out reading 'Cop Killer'. Many people from this mostly black community contributed to the memorial. It has been taken down and put back up again. When reporters talked to his widow she said that she wished he took more cops down with him.
This reaction, coupled with the memorial really made an impact on Sean Bergin, a reporter for news 12 New Jersey. Along with his reporting of the facts he made a commentary while on the air at news 12 seen here.
He walked in with a knife and asked where the greeting cards were. He then assaulted a security gaurd. Realizing that the cops were called he told a bystander that he was "going to be famous". and he stood and waited for the police to come. He then shot Melvin Santiago as he exited his vehicle. He himself was then shot to death.
What has outraged people is that there was a memorial set up for the killer. The memorial actually celebrates his criminal lifestyle with the words 'Thug life and a newspaper cut-out reading 'Cop Killer'. Many people from this mostly black community contributed to the memorial. It has been taken down and put back up again. When reporters talked to his widow she said that she wished he took more cops down with him.
This reaction, coupled with the memorial really made an impact on Sean Bergin, a reporter for news 12 New Jersey. Along with his reporting of the facts he made a commentary while on the air at news 12 seen here.
Here's what Bergin said: “We were besieged, flooded with calls from police officers furious that we would give media coverage to the life of a cop killer. It’s understandable. We decided to air it because it’s important to shine a light on the anti-cop mentality that has so contaminated America’s inner cities. This same, sick, perverse line of thinking is evident from Jersey City, to Newark and Patterson to Trenton.” “It has made the police officer’s job impossible and it has got to stop. The underlying cause of all of this, of course: young black men growing up without fathers. Unfortunately, no one in the news media has the courage to touch that subject.” | News 12 has said they suspended him indefinitely and they haven't yet decided if he will be fired. The reason they gave for disciplining him was that there reporters are never supposed to give opinions. They are only supposed to give unbiased reporting of the facts. |
It's certainly understandable that News 12 wants to keep it's reporters objective and doesn't want to allienate viewers with different views. I am not even sure that black men growing up without fathers is the reason. But there certainly seems to be a mentality that celebrates the criminal life style in the black community. By black community, I mean mostly poor Inner city area's and it has even spread somewhat to middle class areas. Although it is largely among blacks it has spread to whites as well.
It has certainly been spurred on by rap music which has been glorifying the criminal lifestyle for a long time.
Suspending Sean Bergin seems a little harsh to me. If some racist whites committed a crime against a black person and he talked about problems about how some white kids were being raised there is no way he would have been fired. At most they would have given him a warning off the air and told him to he can make his opinions known in another forum.
It has certainly been spurred on by rap music which has been glorifying the criminal lifestyle for a long time.
Suspending Sean Bergin seems a little harsh to me. If some racist whites committed a crime against a black person and he talked about problems about how some white kids were being raised there is no way he would have been fired. At most they would have given him a warning off the air and told him to he can make his opinions known in another forum.