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Newly released footage by the Marion County Record shows the alarming raid on the home of 98-year-old newspaper owner Joan Meyer, which resulted in her tragic death.
Earlier this month, The Gateway Pundit reported that the city of Marionâs five-officer police force, along with two sheriffâs deputies, conducted the raid on the Marion County Recordâs office and the home of owner and publisher Eric Meyer.
The shocking operation left Joan Meyer, Ericâs mother who lived with him, and co-owner of the paper, dead, and has been characterized by Meyer as an assault on press freedom.
12 News reported:
The in-home surveillance video shows Joan, obviously upset by the officers wearing blue gloves and using flashlights to search through items in the home.
âDonât you touch any of that stuff,â Joan can be heard saying to the officers. âThis is my house.â
Joan, shown wearing a house coat and using a walker, then approaches an officer and tells him to order the officers out of her house. When he doesnât move, she tells him to get out of the house and stand outside while the search is being conducted.
âI want to see what theyâre doing,â says Joan as she makes her way around the couch where officers continue to search what she calls âpersonal papers.â
This portion of the video is about one-and-a-half hours into the police presence. Eric Meyer said itâs one of 82 captured on his motherâs home security cameras.
At the start, you can hear her asking her smart speaker to call her son who had left to go to the newspaper office and deal with the continuing situation there.
Meyer said the video ends when police pull the plug on her internet connection.
WATCH:
The raid came on the heels of a bitter feud between the Marion County Record and a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell. The newspaper had reportedly acquired sensitive documents potentially leading to the revocation of Newellâs liquor license. These documents included evidence of drunk driving convictions and operating a vehicle without a license.
While the paper decided not to report the story, it did notify the police about the documents, suspecting they were leaked by someone close to Newellâs ex-husband.
According to Daily Mail, a woman named Pam Maag tipped off Marion County Recorder reporter Phyllis Zorn about Newellâs DUI.
Maag claimed that she got the files from Kariâs ex-husband, Ryan Newell.
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In response, Newell publicly accused the paper of illegally obtaining and disseminating the information. The newspaper published a story to clarify its position, but this was quickly followed by Fridayâs raid.
The search warrant against the Record authorized the seizure of a wide array of items, including computer hardware and software, digital communications, cellular networks, servers, hard drives, utility records, and documents related to Newell. Specifically, the warrant focused on the ownership of computers that could be involved in the alleged âidentity theft of Kari Newell.â
During the raid, police not only seized computers and internet routers from the Meyersâ home but also dug through Eric Meyerâs personal bank and investment statements. Joan Meyer, waiting for a Meals on Wheels delivery at the time, reportedly watched tearfully as the police conducted their search. The distressing event left her unable to eat or sleep, contributing to her death, according to the newspaper.
In addition to Joan Meyerâs death, one of the newspaperâs reporters was injured when an officer grabbed her cellphone out of her hand.
Despite the outcry and the tragic outcome, the Marion Kansas Police Department has defended its actions. They claim that federal protections did not extend to the journalists, as they were suspected of criminal activity.
In a statement per New York Post, the department emphasized its commitment to ensuring justice, stating, âThe victim [Newell] asks that we do all the law allows to ensure justice is served. The Marion Kansas Police Department will [do] nothing less.â
Daily Mail reported:
Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody wrote in an affidavit that Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn either impersonated Newell or lied about her reasoning to retrieve the records.
But Zorn, publisher and editor Eric Meyer and the newspaperâs attorney said on Sunday that no laws were broken when she accessed a public state website for information on the restaurant owner.
Publisher and editor Meyer said Zorn actually contacted the Department of Revenue before her online search and was instructed how to search records.
The reporter, asked to respond to the allegations that she used Newellâs name to obtain Newellâs personal information, said, âMy response is I went to a Kansas Department of Revenue website and thatâs where I got the information.â
She added: âNot to my knowledge was anything illegal or wrong.â
Eric Meyer, 69, the Recordâs owner and publisher, has vowed to seek legal retribution against the City of Marion and those involved in the raid. Legal experts consulted by the paper reportedly agree that the city violated federal laws and the teamâs Constitutional rights.
âOur first priority is to be able to publish next week,â Meyer said during the incident, âbut we also want to make sure no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo tactics we witnessed today. We will be seeking the maximum sanctions possible under law.â
Rhodes, the attorney representing the newspaper, argued that Zornâs actions were entirely within the bounds of both state and federal laws.
âUsing the subjectâs name âis not identity theft,’â Rhodes said. âThatâs just the way of accessing that personâs record.â
Meyer, the newspaperâs owner, explained that the paper had come into possession of Newellâs driverâs license number and date of birth through an unsolicited source. They had chosen not to write about Newellâs record initially.
However, when Newell publicly admitted at a City Council meeting that she had operated a vehicle while her license was suspended, the newspaper felt it was in the publicâs interest to report on the matter.
The post SHOCKING VIDEO RELEASED: 98-Year-Old Newspaper Owner Dies a Day After the Entire Police Force Raids Her Home appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.