WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Nearly a week and a half following the raid on the Marion newspaper, video of the raid on the 98-year-old newspaper co-owner’s home has been released.
The video was released by the Marion County Record on the paper’s YouTube account.
Watch the video below:
It shows security camera video of police and sheriff’s deputies searching Joan Meyer and her son’s home on Aug. 11. The newspaper says the search lasted nearly two hours.
“Get out of my house … I don’t want you in my house!” she said at one point. “Don’t touch any of that stuff! This is my house!” she said at another.
During the raid, a distraught Joan asked Alexa to call her son. He went to the newspaper office where the police had searched. He had not picked up because his cell phone was seized, the article says.
A day following the raid, Joan died. Her son, Eric, blamed the stress from the raid for his mother’s death. Her funeral services were Saturday.
Raid reaction
At Monday’s Marion City Council meeting, the raid wasn’t addressed. The meeting was led by Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel. Her home was also raided by police as part of the investigation into the paper.
The meeting was filled, but only one person addressed the situation.
“We have to have accountability. We have the whole world watching Marion right now,” Darvin Markley, Marion resident, said. “As far as Chief Cody goes, he can take his high horse he brought into this community and giddy-up on out of town.”
Markley has lived in Marion for four decades and watched a video of the raid of Joan’s home.
“It’s heartless just to see that go on. It’s very sad. The public needs to start standing up against this. It’s only the right thing to do,” Markley added.
However, not everyone in town agrees. Some say the Marion County Record can be a source of conflict and has been a source of rising tensions in the town.
Herbal says the city plans to address the criminal investigation at a future meeting.
The meeting came after Kansas Department of Revenue spokesperson Zack Denney said it’s legal to access the driver’s license database online to check the status of a person’s license using information obtained independently. The department’s Division of Vehicles issues licenses.
Both Herbel and the newspaper have said they received a copy of a document about the status of the restaurant owner’s license without soliciting it. The document disclosed the woman’s license number and date of birth, which are required to check the status of a person’s license online and gain access to a more complete driving record.
“The website is public-facing, and anyone can use it,” he said.
Meyer said the newspaper plans to file a lawsuit over the raid of its offices and his home.
