I’ve always enjoyed Steve Crump’s reporting and his documentaries, but I think Crump made a major misstep during his interview with Charlotte city councilman Warren Turner and Turner’s attorneys.
At one point Crump prefaces a question to Turner with, “You have been very honest and very upfront through this process, as you can be.” Really? How does Crump know that?
The city of Charlotte just spent $35,000 to produce a 20-page report the primary thrust of which was to call into question Turner’s honesty on a range of topics. Most glaring, the city’s investigating attorney Valecia McDowell flatly contradicted the contention from Turner’s camp that he left the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Academy voluntarily.
At a minimum any objective observer cannot say what the truth might be on these matters. Yet Crump has already made a determination.
Now maybe Crump simply misspoke. Perhaps he just meant to say that Turner has been very declarative in defending himself. That would be true. But it is a big mistake to stipulate anything about Turner’s honesty at this point, especially as Turner has yet to respond to the troubling details raised by the city’s report.
