Freelance journalist Bryan Carmody found himself the target of San Francisco police after he refused to identify a confidential source in the death of the city’s longtime public defender, Jeff Adachi.
“They seized 55 items from my home while they were in the process of searching my home,” Carmody said on 790 KABC’s The Morning Drive. “They figured out that I had a professional office and newsroom in San Francisco. They got second search warrant for that location and took me along with them to that location. I was in handcuffs for over six hours.”
San Francisco police have not released the report or details behind Adachi’s death, saying it would endanger their investigation.
“I, amongst other journalists – that’s one of the crazy things about this – I amongst other journalists in including the San Francisco Chronicle – the only reason I am mentioning them is they have published, publicly, that they were in receipt of the exact same report that I got,” Carmody said. “They did not obtain it from me. They also did not pay for the report.”
Carmody says the press was first told that Adachi died while travelling. But when that turned out not to be true, he and other journalists started to look for answers.
“We were all are trying to figure out where did this happen. We started getting information, in fact, no – he was in town when this happened. He fell extremely ill in an apartment that was not his home in San Francisco. The fire department came and attempted to resuscitate him, took him to a hospital where he was eventually pronounced deceased.”
Carmody sold the leaked details to local news outlets. He remains puzzled by the police department’s actions.
“It’s not OK to raid a newsroom let alone a journalist’s home,” Carmody said.
Bryan Carmody was a guest on the Morning Drive.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News