DA’s office defends their decision to call for a Twitter and media blackout in the Christopher Dorner manhunt, just before setting fire to cabin that the wanted ex-LAPD officer was cornered in near Big Bear Lake, California. The blackout request came just before law enforcement officers set fire to the cabin and burned Dorner to death.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office defended their decision to ask news outlets to cease tweeting at the climax of the manhunt for triple-murder suspect Christopher Dorner, saying they would do it again, in the interest of officer safety.
Christopher Lee, spokesman for the office, said he sent out the tweet after hearing that the Sheriff’s Department had made the request. The Sheriff’s Department does not have a Twitter account, but the DA’s office does, so he wanted to help out the agency.
The tweet, which was later deleted, spurred discussion on Twitter and accusations that the agency was helping in the cover-up of police corruption. It also became the subject of a question of how Twitter and First Amendment rights fit up against an ongoing manhunt where officers had already been hurt in the line of duty.
“The fact is that officer safety was my number one priority,” Lee said.
Lee said the request did not come from Cindy Bachman, or directly from the Sheriff’s Department, which earlier had asked media helicopters to back off from the scene.
“Knowing that they didn’t have a Twitter feed, I thought maybe that was something we could help out [on],” Lee said.
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The sheriff has asked all members of the press to stop tweeting immediately. It is hindering officer safety. #Dorner
“I’ve been called everything under the sun,” Lee said. “The comments are probably the same people that started the Facebook page praising Dorner.” more