CHRIS STOVER
Editor in Chief

Shannon McDonald stands by the 22nd Police District headquarters. A story she wrote on an officer recently garnered media attention (Julia Wilkinson/TTN).

Shannon McDonald thought a ride-along with a Philadelphia Police officer would make a good story for her capstone journalism class.

Though she received an ‘A’ on the report, she is now embroiled in a controversy that might not have been worth the grade.

“I just wanted to get some crime specifics and information on [the neighborhood] and … to see how the officer interacts with the community,” said McDonald, a senior magazine journalism major and managing editor of The Temple News.

McDonald wrote the article, titled “Black and Blue,” for the Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, the capstone course for journalism seniors. The article was published to MURL’s Web site in early February.

In it, she quotes Officer William Thrasher, 24, as using derogatory terms and expletives in describing the district he patrols, which has a large African-American population.

“These people are f—— disgusting,” Thrasher reportedly said per McDonald’s article. “It’s like they’re animals.”

Additionally, McDonald reported that Thrasher allegedly talked with his lieutenant about what they called “TNS,” or “typical n—– s—.”

“I remember being surprised that he was acting so openly when he knew it was being published. I was sitting there with my pen and my pad,” said McDonald, a lifelong Northeast Philadelphian.

The story began surfacing to Philadelphians and media outlets about two weeks ago. Thrasher has since been put on desk duty by Commissioner Charles Ramsey pending an Internal Affairs investigation, said Lt. Frank Vanore of the Philadelphia Police Department.

“If it’s true, [Ramsey is] going to take it very, very seriously,” Vanore said. “He immediately removed Officer Thrasher from street duty. He ensured there was an investigation under way into the comments that were made.”

Thrasher has not spoken publicly about the article since he was put on desk duty more than a week ago.

“I didn’t know he was going to say all these things, so I went in there thinking I was just going to do an article on crime in Strawberry Mansion and how cops go about making the community safer,” McDonald said.

McDonald rode with Thrasher on Jan. 30. She signed a waiver with the 22nd District, which encompasses Strawberry Mansion, for the ride-along. She said Thrasher knew she was doing a report for a class and that the story would be published.

McDonald said she didn’t respond directly to Thrasher’s comments.

“I was there to learn and not to judge,” she said.

Throughout the ordeal, professor Christopher Harper, co-director of MURL, has supported McDonald.

“I feel proud with the way Shannon handled herself – reporting the story well, handling the pressure of being in the media’s eye,” Harper said. “I’m proud of how Temple and its faculty and staff stood behind a journalist.”

Harper offered to remove the article from MURL’s Web site, but McDonald didn’t mind keeping it live.

“It is 100 percent accurate,” she said. “Everything I included in the article came directly from my notes, which came directly from my observation and interactions with the officer. Nothing was ever off the record.”

Harper said McDonald’s reporting is the epitome of MURL.

“I think that what Shannon does is representative of what MURL is all about. We have people go out and cover stories in neighborhoods that are under-covered, except when something bad happens,” he said. “We have people out there in the streets of all kinds of neighborhoods, and we come up with good stories.”

As of Monday, Thrasher remains on desk duty in the 22nd District. The Internal Affairs investigation continues.

“If it’s discovered the comments were made, [Ramsey is] going to take the appropriate action,” Vanore said. “That’s up to him.”

The controversy surrounding McDonald’s article is more of a frustration than anything else, she said. Though some have pegged her as a naïve student journalist, McDonald continues to stand by her reporting while focusing on other things in her future.

“I’m graduating in 40 days,” she said. “Here I am, this person who is still very connected to what I’m supposed to know about journalism and trying to start a career. So you’d think I’d be a little more on my game than people are giving me credit for.”

FULL DISCLOSURE: As stated in the article, McDonald is the managing editor of The Temple News. Other than the interview, she played no role in the writing or editing of this story. TTN is committed to accuracy and objectivity in its reporting.

Chris Stover can be reached at stover@temple.edu.

The Philadelphia Police are reporting an increase in robberies in Center City, Philadelphia.

In areas typically considered “safe” and “busy,” like Society Hill, Old City and even City Hall, robberies are on the rise. More than 300 have been reported in the past month. One suspect allegedly said to his victim, “I’ll blow your brains out” at Sixth and Spruce streets.

To keep citizens in the know, the Philadelphia Police have created a Web site that allows you to enter an address or intersection and see a list of crimes committed in that area within a certain time frame.

Click here to check out crime stats for your neighborhood, Center City or otherwise.

A few posts down, you saw how my colleague LeAnne Matlach and I covered a shooting on the immediate outskirts of Temple’s campus.  As a refresher, here are the links to all the stories:

Shots fired at 15th and Norris – spot news coverage of shooting
Temple responds to shooting – e-mail sent to Temple students
Search still underway for shooting suspect – after some researching, I found some priors
No TU-Alert a louder message after shooting – colleague Shannon McDonald gives her take on the response

So…here’s the story…

It was 12 a.m., and I was in bed.  My phone rang, and I ignored it.  I listened to the voicemail, used a profanity and quickly called LeAnne.  The conversation went something like this:

LM: “Do you want me to go to the scene?”
CS: “Well, I don’t want you to go if you don’t want to.”
LM: “Do you want me to go to the scene?”
CS: “Only if you want to.”
LM: “If you tell me to go to the scene, I’ll go to the scene.”
CS: “OK.  Go to the scene.”

So, the brave girl that she is, LeAnne sends me cell phone photos to upload to the Web site immediately — just shows the need to be prepared always.

I didn’t go to bed until 3 a.m. that night.  The Philadelphia Police yelled at me a few times.  Temple Police didn’t answer their phone.  And, as you read in Shannon’s piece, no TU-Alert was sent.

Since this is my blog and not The Temple News, I will give my opinion.  Temple should have sent a TU-Alert — a text message, voicemail and e-mail to all Temple students, faculty and staff.  They say they determined it was not a random incident and appeared to be a domestic dispute.  Therefore, Temple students were not threatened.

BS they weren’t threatened.  Students live at the corner of 15th and Norris streets.  The suspect fleed toward Broad Street, the street that Temple students use to get to and from class, lunch, home.  And who could’ve known his true intentions at the time?  How could police know that his only intent was to shoot the victim?

At last check, the victim is in critical but stable condition at Temple Hospital.  The suspect, Marshall Thomas, is still at large.  And he has priors — charges that were dropped after four months for no apparent reason.

But what’s done is done, I suppose.  I hope that Temple has learned something about this.  Even if they don’t feel it’s necessary to send an alert, the students still want to be informed.  And the way to do that is through this system.

It’s up to Temple to use it wisely next time.  But let’s just hope there isn’t a ‘next time.’