Times scoop on Darren Wilson marriage backfires
Darren Wilson, the cop who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., was quietly married on Oct. 24 in Clayton, Mo. — triggering a heated debate after the scoop on the New York Times website mentioned the street where the newly married couple lived.
The online story for a while also featured a copy of the actual marriage license of Wilson and Barbara Spradling, who is identified as a fellow officer.
The Times story said the couple left the home a few days after the unrest over the shooting of Brown began to explode into riots in Ferguson.
The story ran Monday before the decision by the grand jury to not indict Wilson on any charges related to the shooting.
Some of the comments to the Times website questioned the editors’ decision to name the street where Wilson lived.
“Wow. Outing the wife and locating the house. Just before the Grand Jury comes in,” one reader, identified as Casey from New York, commented. “I’m all for the public knowing, but this doesn’t add to the public debate on police vs the public…”
“I’d hate to live next door,” Casey continued. “I’d be putting up a big sign NOT ME with an arrow.”
“Thanks for publishing their address,” CW, from Seattle, posted. “I really needed to know that, and so did everyone else.”
Sometime Tuesday afternoon, the photo of the marriage license was gone — but, oddly, the name of the street remained.
An Editor’s Note tried to explain why the photo of the marriage license was removed — but its vague nature failed at that task.
“An earlier version of this post included a photograph that contained information that should not have been made public,” the Editor’s Note reads. “The image has been removed.”
A Times spokeswoman said, “When it was pointed out that the license contained a street address, we thought the right thing to do was to remove it.”
The address on the license, however, does not belong to the couple.
The address appears to be of the county building where the judge who performed the ceremony works.
The street where the couple lived is still included in the Times story online.