The 98-year-old owner of a Kansas newspaper reprimanded police by calling them “a*****e” and asking if their mother loved them, while berating them during a search – a day before they were halfway through the sentence died.
Joan Meyer’s home was raided on August 11 when Marion County Police Department executed a search warrant in an identity theft investigation — an investigation later dropped by the county attorney.
“Don’t touch any of that stuff,” the Marion County Record co-owner told police in the recently released footage. ‘This is my house. You bastard!’
Joan’s son Eric Meyer has claimed that his mother, a lifelong journalist, died the day after the raid from being “traumatized” by the incident.
It has been reported that the entire police investigation is linked to a story in which the newspaper is investigating claims that police chief Gideon Cody resigned from his previous job to avoid punishment for alleged sexual misconduct.
Police also raided the newspaper’s office and the home of one of the reporters. They took vital publishing equipment, including computers and telephones.
New footage from a raid on Joan Meyer’s home shows the 98-year-old throwing words at police just a day before she died mid-sentence
Meyer’s newspaper was reportedly investigating allegations that police chief Gideon Cody (right) quit his previous job to avoid punishment for alleged sexual misconduct
In the new video – released by the Marion County Record – at one point the woman rolls her walker right up to an officer and demands that he wait outside.
“Did your mom ever love you,” Joan asks the cop in the video, which has been viewed more than 23,000 times in a matter of hours.
‘Get out of my house. You’re off limits,” she tells the man.
At least six officers search Joan’s house, sorting through her belongings as she repeatedly tells them to leave.
“I don’t want you in my house,” she says.
Two officers try to talk to the woman for the first minute of the video released by the newspaper, while the four others continue the search.
She even tries to stop the men and refuses to answer their questions. When asked how many computers she has, she replies ‘I’m not going to tell you’.
“I want to see what they’re doing,” Joan says, trying to walk around the bank to see what the officers are looking at.
The interaction with the police in her own home was so shocking that she died the next day while in the middle of a conversation.
She reportedly refused to eat, sleep or drink after the raid and eventually died of sudden cardiac arrest on August 12, a coroner’s report said.
In the new video – released by the Marion County Record – the woman at one point rolls her walker right up to a cop and demands that he wait outside
She even tries to stop the men and refuses to answer their questions. She replies “I’m not going to tell you” when asked how many computers she has.
Joan’s son Eric Meyer (pictured) has claimed his mother, a lifelong journalist, died the day after the raid from being ‘traumatized’ by the incident
Marion Police Department officials claimed the raid was conducted because they were concerned about “identity theft.”
However, many have speculated that the raids were a result of the Meyers’ investigation of 54-year-old Cody.
He became chief in late April, after leaving the Kansas City Police Department after 24 years on the service amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
The Marion County Record received a “deluge of calls,” said Eric Meyer, who claimed Cody retired from his last police station to avoid demotion over sexual misconduct allegations.
Meyer said his paper was approached by Cody’s former colleagues about the allegations of sexual misconduct, but that the more than six anonymous sources ultimately never went public and reporters were unable to obtain Cody’s personnel file.
The Kansas City Police Department has declined to reveal whether Cody was charged with sexual misconduct while on the job.
Meyer said the identities of the sources were on the computer servers that Cody’s team seized.
“I may be paranoid that this has anything to do with it, but when people confiscate your computer, you tend to be a little paranoid,” Meyer said. The Hand Basket.
Eric Meyer stands outside the Marion County Record office, which was also raided
Gideon Cody took over as Chief of the Marion County Police Department in April. The newspaper investigated tips that he had retired from the Kansas City Police Department to avoid an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations
He told The Kansas City star they had not yet published the story, because they had not yet completed their research.
“We didn’t publish it because we couldn’t get it to the point where we thought it was ready for publication,” Meyer said.
“(Cody) didn’t know who our sources were. Now it is.’
And Meyer told AP, “This is the kind of thing that, you know, Vladimir Putin does, that Third World dictators do.
“This is World War II Gestapo tactics,” Eric said.
The Marion County Police Department said on Saturday they were determined to enforce the law without commenting on the substance of the raid.
“The Marion Kansas Police Department believes it is the fundamental duty of the police to ensure the safety, security and well-being of all members of the public,” the department wrote on Facebook.
“This commitment must remain steadfast and unbiased, unaffected by political or media influence, to uphold the principles of justice, equal protection and the rule of law for all in the community.
“The victim is asking that we do everything the law allows to ensure that justice is served. The Marion Kansas Police Department will do no less.”
The moment police raided Marion County Record’s newsroom using ‘Hitler tactics’ has been caught on camera – just a day before the paper’s co-owner died
The raids began after leaked documents about local restaurateur Kari Newell being able to have her liquor license revoked were handed over to the newspaper.
Meyer didn’t publicize the Newell story because he questioned its source — and instead told police about the information.
Newell then accused the weekly of illegally obtaining her personal information, which led to the search.
She was also reportedly dissatisfied with newspaper coverage of how Newell kicked reporters out of an event at her restaurant, Kari’s Restaurant.
Meyer told the Kansas City star“We sent them a note saying that a source had given us a file that we thought was of suspicious origin.
“We checked it to make sure it was correct, but we had no intention of doing anything with it. Their response was typical bully fashion.
“Instead of asking a question or getting equipment, they came with a nuclear fly swatter to confiscate our equipment and apparently tried to bankrupt us.”
As anger over the newspaper raid grew, the search warrant authorizing a sensational raid on the headquarters of a local newspaper and the co-owner’s home was revoked.
All seized items from the Marion County Record were released to the paper’s attorney — five days after they were stolen by police.
Marion County attorney Joel Ensey ruled earlier this month that there was “insufficient evidence” to justify why a search warrant had been issued in the first place.
Despite the lack of equipment, the Marion County Record successfully went to press on Wednesday – with the front page reading, “Seized…But Not Silenced.”