This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A newly released video shows police in Marion, Kansas, physically raiding the home of the 98-year-old co-owner of a local newspaper that the police chief had accused of improper behavior.
What the New York Post called the "unprecedented raid" is being blamed for the woman's cardiac arrest and death just 24 hours later.
And public sentiment has come down – hard – on the side of the woman, Joan Meyer.
The situation was that there was an ongoing feud between the Marion County Record and a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell.
The Record allegedly had been given, by a source, leaked documents that could have gotten Newell's liquor license revoked, including evidence she was convicted of drunk driving and continuing to operate a vehicle without a license.
She went to a city council meeting and claimed the newspaper illegally obtained that information – and spread the story, which it did not do.
The paper had chosen not to report the story but instead notified police that the records it had been handed came from a source that may have gotten them without authorization.
The paper had published a story on the dispute to set the record straight, and within hours, was raided.
The search warrant listed two pages worth of items police were allowed to confiscate, such as computers, servers, hard drives, and records.
The police department said federal protections for journalists didn't apply because they were suspected of crimes, but the Marion County attorney later rescinded the search warrant, explaining police lacked evidence.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is now reviewing the "crimes" that may have happened.
The Record released the video, explaining it was the "last of 82 videos made available Aug. 21 of a police raid Aug. 11 on the home of 98-year-old Marion County Record co-owner Joan Meyer, who still contributed to the paper as a weekly columnist."
"It was recorded at 12:28 p.m., an hour and a half after officers first entered her home, and ends at the point at which police disconnected her network. It begins with her asking her Alexa smart speaker to call her son, Eric Meyer, whose phone already had been seized and can be heard ringing in police custody."
The video was seen tens of thousands of times within a day, and dozens of comments, mostly anonymous and almost universally condemning police, followed.
"No more qualified immunity for the police," said one.
Another said, "These police officers decided that following the chief's orders should come before our rights."
Another hoped for "arrest" for "these cops … They absolutely were a factor in this woman's death."
"Shame on that police chief for intentionally misleading and shame on the judge for failing in her duty to protect the citizens from unlawful and illegal searches," wrote another.
"If there ever was a case of elder abuse, then this is it," said one.
Firing and lawsuits against the cops were another suggestion.
One commenter showed little patience for the officers: "I have no words to describe how I feel about this. I can't believe they didn't have someone for her. A 98-year-old woman with a bunch of men going through her house and they didn't have the forethought to have support for her. What a bunch of jerks and idiots. I wish she had called them a few more names."
And another: "All for a bogus warrant signed off by a corrupt judge, corrupt police chief, and corrupt KBI."
And another said sarcastically, "That was a whole lot of resisting she was doing there, yet you managed not to fear for your lives and throw her in a choke hold when she rightfully got angry at your trespass. Good for you, that's progress! Too bad your unjustified and unjustifiable actions killed her and you should all lose your jobs, at the very minimum. You felt perfectly fine and justified doing this to them, and it begs the question: how many other innocents have you done this and worse too?"
The New York Post said Meyer shared her home with Eric Meyer, her son, and publisher of the Record, and the Daily Mail described the video as "shocking."
That publication noted that the newspaper also was reportedly looking into claims the police chief, Gideon Cody, "retired from his previous job to avoid punishment over alleged sexual misconduct charges."
The report said Cody, 54, became chief in late April, after leaving the Kansas City Police Department after 24 years on the job reportedly amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The newspaper had not reported on the multiple calls it got expressing concern about Cody's hiring because those calls declined to go on the record, meaning they would be only anonymous sources.
The younger Meyer told AP the raid was the type of stuff done by "Vladimir Putin."
