The Tallahassee Police Department sent Deadspin a copy of its incident report of De’Andre Johnson’s alleged punching of a woman at a bar, which earned the Florida State quarterback an indefinite suspension. You can read the report here, though it’s heavily redacted.
Except for the woman’s name and contact info, which Deadspin had to redact on its own:Update (7:54 p.m.): Tallahassee police sent us a copy of the incident report and it says pretty much nothing. Citing the state law that allows agencies to redact “active criminal intelligence information and active criminal investigative information,” Tallahassee police have redacted everything except the approximate time of what happened, the location, and the name and contact information for the victim. Not even one sentence of the narrative was left in the report.
What police released is below, with the victim’s identifying information also removed.The much-maligned Tallahassee Police Department, by not redacting the alleged victim’s name, opened itself up for another round of well-deserved criticism. ESPN’s Jane McManus:
Just let that sink in, the Tallahassee police redacted all the information that could harm De’Andre Johnson, and published victim’s ID info.
— Jane McManus (@janesports) June 26, 2015
The facts aren’t in, no one knows what happened, but this seems like a way to open the door to immediate harassment.
— Jane McManus (@janesports) June 26, 2015
The possible chilling effects that stemmed from how the Tallahassee Police Department handled the Jameis Winston investigation were roundly criticized. The same thought applies again here -- what if an outlet that was sent the report published it in full, including the woman’s name?
