Emergency official suspended for asasaulting photographer
Columbia County, New York coordinator George Sharpe earns a thirty-day rest after attempting to destroy images of a pandemic response drill; HSDW demands a more creative punishment
Let this be a lesson to all of the emergency response administrators out there. Columbia County, New York has suspended its homeland security emergency coordinator for thirty days without pay after he physically accosted a photographer during a pandemic drill last November at Hudson High School. According to reports, George Sharpe, believing that Independent photographer Chris Moon was an intruder, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him across a room to a confused police officer. At that point Sharpe — who perhaps could use some instruction in the First Amendment by that school’s civics teachers — demanded that the officer destroy the film. He did not.
“I realize my actions were disproportionate to the occurrence and I regret the manner in which I handled this matter,” said a contrite Sharpe, whose misbehavior was naturally the source of repeated public reports and editorials by Moon’s reporter colleagues. To our mind, however, the punishment was a bit lax. Those who interfere with the business of the news deserve a one way ticket to Guantanamo Bay. Or, barring that, public humliation via a backscatter machine. Surely our friends at AS&E would be happy to oblige.
-read more in Richard Roth’s Independent report
