Those checking our web updates Tuesday may have noticed a breaking-news brief that was removed from the site shortly after being published.  “Bicyclist suing Mpls. Police Officer,” as the headline implies, described a University of Minnesota student who was planning on suing a Minneapolis police officer.  The student claimed that the officer “assaulted” her (threw on the hood of his car) and then charged her with two petty misdemeanors (running a red light and failing to yield to an emergency vehicle), though she and a witness disputed that she broke any law.  

Before the story went to print, reporter Alex Ebert conducted a final interview with the student that led him to believe the student had confused her legal plans.  Instead of taking the officer to civil court, she now claimed she merely intended to dispute the charges with a legal defense.  Despite the fact that the student repeatedly told Alex she intended to “sue” the officer, we immediately removed the story from the website.  Editors at the Daily, myself included, felt that the language was misleading, even though it was carefully and correctly attributed to the student.  Consequently, no coverage of this incident or what may (or may not) follow it will be featured in the print edition Wednesday.   

-Andy Mannix, Minnesota Daily Associate Editor