KVLY accused of publishing fake news by family of police shooting victim

BCI Investigator: “You’ve got to realize they’re all owned by the same people”

by Timothy Charles Holmseth on December 15, 2016, 6:05 P.M. CST

“It appears a lawsuit may already be brewing, following the shooting of a man by a UND Police Officer in Grand Forks last weekend”

That was the lead line of a story published by Neil Carlson of KVLY following the shooting of David James Elliott – the unarmed man shot by a rookie University of North Dakota police officer in front of Grand Forks, North Dakota hospital emergency room in 2015.

But Jennifer Elliott – Carlson’s source – said it was not true.

Carlson, a reporter with KVLY (Valley News Live) allegedly published the fake news story after Jennifer Elliott refused to grant him an interview.

Interviews conducted by agents of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) with Jennifer Elliott (David Elliott’s wife at the time of the shooting), and her mother, Margaret Dolan, reveal the two family members were greatly affected and distraught by the false reporting of KVLY.

According to Jennifer Elliott and Dolan, Carlson hounded Jennifer Elliott for an interview; promising her the station could use methods to disguise her identity but she declined.

Jennifer Elliott said KVLY then simply fooled their viewers into believing they had interviewed her by stating they had talked to her. Jennifer Elliott said when she heard the news station publish a teaser that they had talked; she was terrified at what they might have made up about the non-existent interview.

Jennifer Elliott said Carlson had other people contact her through Facebook to give her his cell phone number.

Dolan also said she knows the Grand Forks Herald, another publication in North Dakota, can’t be trusted but noted she has just gotten used to it.

“You’ve got to realize they’re all owned by the same people,” said BCI agent Michael Ness.

In a related story from August, 2016, Write Into Action exposed WDAZ, another North Dakota news station, after producers collaborated with presenters to fool their viewers about the same police shooting by hiding time-stamps of police-cam video so the public could not put together that the times of the body-cams did not match the dash-cams.

Write Into Action recently published a video showing BCI agents tried to provide the police shooter with a cover story after his body-cam was found hidden under his squad car.

Write Into Action contacted Neil Carlson earlier today for his side of the story but he did not respond.

The Office of North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem was contacted for comment but stated state law does not require them to comment.

Neil Carlson
KVLY
Valley News Live

December 15, 2016

Mr. Carlson,

I am independently conducting a journalistic investigation into the cover up of the true facts surrounding the pursuit and shooting of David James Elliott on February 28, 2015 in the Altru Hospital parking lot.

I am reviewing BCI interviews that include David Elliott’s wife Jennifer Elliott and her mother, [Margaret Dolan]. During the interview you are mentioned by name and KVLY is accused of publishing fake news.

Nolan and Elliott mentioned an article regarding assertions Jennifer Elliott had obtained a lawyer and was going to sue.

Nolan said, “They manipulate and lie, boy”.

Jennifer Elliott said, “The one day I came home and I just lay down on the couch for a little bit and I’m laying there and you know how they give out the news – the little blip – the advertisement coming up – and I think they said; it was KVLY; well we talked to Jennifer Elliott or something were going to give a update; I sat up off the couch said ‘did they just say…” I’ve never spoken with them. They were calling me wanting to interview – I just said no … I’ve never given them any information whatsoever”.

There was considerable commentary about you.

My research at this point indicates you have done very, very little (if any) investigating in this matter, which would naturally include obtaining police-cams and the 911 call from the pursuit and shooting.

I will likely be publishing content regarding KVLY; feel free to comment on any questions surrounding your journalistic integrity regarding this police shooting story.

I am investigating the far ranging issues of public safety created by this police shooting that involve Altru, University of North Dakota, UNDPD, GFPD, GFSO, NDHP, and other agencies.

Sincerely,
Timothy Charles Holmseth
Investigative Journalist/Author/Publisher

Cc: North Dakota Attorney General

Timothy Charles Holmseth
320 17th Street N.W. 
Unit# 17
East Grand Forks, MN 
56721
218.773.1299
218.230.1597 (cell)
http://www.writeintoaction.com
tholmseth@wiktel.com                                                                              
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009187154735

“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
     – George Orwell

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North Dakota TV station WDAZ caught participating in on-air hoax of police shooting

by Timothy Charles Holmseth on August 2, 2016, 12:24 P.M. CST

Producers of a North Dakota television station have been caught tricking the American public about a police shooting by showing time-stamps of dash-cam video; but hiding the times on the body-cams.

The reason for the deception is because the Grand Forks Police Department, University of North Dakota Police Department, North Dakota Highway Patrol, and Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office is covering up what appears to be an attempted murder connected to drug running and the Fraternal Order of Police.

On February 8, 2015, WDAZ, Forum Communications, aired a news story about a police shooting of an unarmed man that happened on February 28, 2015 in the parking lot of a Grand Forks hospital. The WDAZ story featured police body and dash-cam video that was captured during the bizarre two hour long slow speed pursuit of David James Elliott.

The times of events surrounding the pursuit and shooting of Elliott are easy to establish, because Elliott initiated a 911 call very shortly after a police officer tried to pull him over; and he remained on the phone with 911 for 107 minutes until the moment he was shot.

Elliott’s immediate flight from police, as well as other actions, create a strong appearance he personally knew some of the police officers chasing him and was afraid to pull over because he knew he was going to be killed.

Write Into Action has discovered WDAZ-TV used very specific techniques to obfuscate the time stamps on body-cam worn by an officer at the scene of the shooting as the shots were being fired.

WDAZ covered it up because the body-cam times did not correspond to other dash-cam time-stamps that were being used in the same news story.

The news station deliberately perpetuated a fraud upon trusting viewers.

SYNOPSIS OF THE WDAZ-TV POLICE SHOOTING COVER-UP

On February 28, 2015, UND police officer Jerad Braaten emptied his clip into David James Elliott, Grand Forks, in the parking lot of Altru Hospital at 12:47 A.M.

Police refused to talk to the media for three days following the shooting; would not give the public any details and withheld the name of the victim; it was clear something was not right.

Write Into Action made public records requests to obtain police body and dash-cam videos captured before and after the shooting.

Police body-cam shows David Elliott being shot at 12:36 A.M. (note: time stamp is in Greenwich Mean Time) as shown in the snap-shot below taken at the time shots are heard being fired (note: the blue glob you see on the right side of the image is David Elliott’s tail light).

However, dash-cam (shown below) shows David Elliott sitting atop the Columbia Road Bridge in his truck at 12:36 A.M. where he actually remained for several more minutes.

Obviously, David Elliott was not in his truck on the bridge and being shot in a distant parking lot at the same time.

Below is another dash-cam snap-shot taken at 12:39 A.M. where David Elliott can be seen talking to officers out the window of his pick-up truck atop the Columbia Road Bridge.

However, according to the body-cam worn by Sgt. Mark Ellingson, GFPD, the shooting is already over (see below) (see You Tube below for actual sound and video).

UND police chief Eric Plummer stated in a televised joint press release that Elliott was shot at around 12:45 A.M.

That time (12:45 A.M.) is essentially the correct time. Police cam obtained by Write into Action captures the sound of gunshots at 12:47 A.M. when an officer is heard saying “shots fired – shots fired”.

Write Into Action began investigating the shooting in 2015 and began requesting police-cam footage from the Grand Forks Police Department after the case was concluded.

That’s when WDAZ suddenly decided to run a story featuring police-cam video.

On February 8, 2016 WDAZ-TV aired a story about the police shooting where they strategically cover up the time-stamps of the body-cam.

During the introduction to the story, which is entirely critical of David Elliott, body-cam captured at the time of the actual shooting is featured behind the presenters Matt Henson and Stacie Van Dyke.

Van Dyke’s shoulder covers the time-stamp the whole time and it is never seen.

Shortly into the introduction, the video in the background changes from body-cam to dash-cam – the dash-cam shows the time of the shooting is 12:47 A.M. (see below).

It is clear WDAZ is allowing the viewers to see the time-stamps on the dash-cam.

In the video below, WDAZ again hides the time of the time-stamp on the body-cam by covering it with their logo.

PUBLISHED JULY 30, 2016 by WRITE INTO ACTION

Police-cam evidence captured at a police shooting in Grand Forks, North Dakota will not be turned over to Write Into Action by the Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD) without an Order from the federal court.

In a letter dated July 28, 2016, Grand Forks City Attorney Howard Swanson notified Write Into Action (Timothy Charles Holmseth) that existing requests for police-cam public records are now classified as Discovery, and will only be turned over in accordance with Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Swanson cites Holmseth v. City of Grand Forks et al. (16-cv-02496-JRT-LIB) (District of Minnesota) as the basis for the City’s decision.

Timothy Holmseth first initiated civil litigation in United States District Court on July 13, 2016 to request an Emergency Injunction that would forbid the planned destruction of police-cam video that capture the police shooting of an unarmed man on February 28, 2015 in the parking lot of Altru Hospital.

Swanson contacted Holmseth after a formal complaint filed by Holmseth against the GFPD Keeper of Records on July 25, 2016, was referred to his office.

Holmseth asserts the GFPD violated state and federal laws when they responded to multiple public records requests for police-cam evidence by providing video that has been carefully altered using a video editor. The alterations were performed to change critical times and conceal specific video pertaining to the events that led up to the shooting of David James Elliott.

North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) inventory records show that after the shooting of Elliott, investigators located the body-cam of University of North Dakota police officer Jerad Braaten underneath his UND squad car.

Braaten, the officer that shot Elliott, who was not even scheduled to work on the night in question, further claimed he was not able to produce his car’s dash-cam because, he said, he forgot to put the memory card in the camera.

On June 26, 2016, GFPD Police Chief Mark Nelson issued a “Special Order” that changed the Department’s policy on retention dates for police-cam video evidence.

Holmseth asserts Nelson’s action is part of a criminal conspiracy by a group of public officials to destroy records that will reveal the truth about the Elliott shooting and other crimes in the area – including the mysterious death of Caitlin Jenna Erickson, which occurred the same night.

On June 16, 2016, a person that identified them self as David James Elliott contacted Holmseth and said Braaten attempted to shoot Elliott while atop the Columbia Road Bridge in Grand Forks, several minutes before the actual shooting, but his gun jammed.

The first attempted shooting of Elliott may be what the GFPD is attempting to cover-up in the videos, because it reveals Braaten’s actions were not spontaneous, and he, along with other officers, were stalking Elliott to kill him.

BCI investigation records appear to support the fact something happened atop the Columbia Road Bridge with Braaten’s firearm, because investigators located an un-spent cartridge from his gun that linked to that location.

(Elliott) told Holmseth that Braaten lied to investigators about the cartridge, and only admitted that he had performed a function with his gun on the bridge after he was told the cartridge was found with his “fingerprints” on it.

Holmseth has obtained enough police cam video from the event to demonstrate the video has been altered – and segments of body-cam video that would have shown what occurred on the Columbia Road Bridge have been replaced with other video.

Following the 2015 shooting, UND Police Chief Eric Plummer issued a written reprimand to Braaten for his conduct regarding his police cams.

But life only got better for Braaten who was supplied a lawyer by the Fraternal Order of Police.

Grand Forks States Attorney David Jones said in a letter to Plummer that he viewed all the documents and videos surrounding the pursuit and shooting, and determined Braaten acted reasonably when he shot Elliott.

Braaten was subsequently hired by the GFPD to the exception of other candidates.

Some of the altered body-cam was turned over to WDAZ-TV by the GFPD; the regional North Dakota news station presented an entirely misleading story that made no mention of the fact the time of the shooting in the body-cam videos did not correspond with the dash-cams.

VISIT WWW.WRITEINTOACTION.COM

Did North Dakota police officer tamper with body-cam shortly before police shooting?

by Timothy Charles Holmseth on April 7, 2016, 11:08 A.M. CST

Body-camera footage from a police officer during a pursuit in North Dakota contains signs the camera lens was purposely covered shortly before an officer shot the unarmed man in the parking lot of an emergency room.

The select footage was originally released to WDAZ TV by the Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD) four days after investigative journalist Timothy Charles Holmseth, Write Into Action, set up a Go Fund Me to obtain the video and 911 transcriptions of the event.

Write Into Action has obtained the video WDAZ received that starts five minutes before the shooting and ends one minute after the shooting.

The video begins at approximately 12:42 A.M., February 28, 2015.

The implications of the video of the David James Elliott pursuit and shooting are profound.

Here’s why.

It would eventually become known through an investigation by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) that:

1. Elliott possessed thousands of pills in the truck with him on the night in question
2. Elliott was very angry about being chased by police
3. Elliott arranged to meet with the police officer he’d been talking to on 911 (but was shot before the officer arrived)
4. The UND police officer that shot Elliott:
   1. Was not scheduled to work that night
   2. Was not wearing his regular uniform
   3. Did not have his dash-cam operating
   4. Did not properly use his body-cam (did not capture the shooting on video)
5. No criminal charges were ever brought regarding the thousand of pills found in Elliot’s truck.

While Elliott was alone when he was shot at the conclusion of the second of two pursuits that took place, evidence suggests he may have originally had an unidentified passenger in his vehicle when the initial high-speed chase began at approximately 11 P.M.

for more on the second passenger read – – – Altru shooting 911 records: ‘Second person’ and ‘thousands of pills’ cast doubt upon official narrative of Altru police shooting – Did call to police by Wells Fargo cleaning lady interrupt drug activity involving law enforcement?

There is evidence to suggest the passenger got out of the vehicle at some point after police terminated the first pursuit, due to Elliott’s calling 911 during the chase and telling the police to back off or he would run his vehicle into a bridge.

Facts and circumstances of the entire event suggest Elliott personally knew specific law enforcement officers involved in the pursuit(s) and shooting, including:

1. ND State Trooper Matthew Peschong
2. GFSO Sgt. Any Schneider
3. UND police officer Jerad Braaten

Facts and circumstances indicate Elliott was aware specific officers intended to kill him and he was trying to avoid close contact with those officers until he could meet with GFPD officer Matt Bullinger.

Documents and records reveal subtle clues that what was occurring was personal. For instance, in the BCI interview of Trooper Peschong it says:

“ELLIOTT saw Trooper Peschong pointing his weapon at him and said, “Come on shoot me mother fucker. You’re too big of a pussy to do it. Let’s end this now.” Trooper Peschong also remembered ELLIOTT point at ELLIOTT’s neck and tell Peschong, “Right here, shoot me mother fucker,” the BCI report said.

However, all verbal exchanges between Elliott and law enforcement were redacted so only select quotes are available to the public through the BCI records.

It is also very significant that Peschong and deputies had been ‘following’ Elliott down I-29 in a rural area without emergency lights activated. The activation of emergency lights automatically turns on a police dash cam.

After pulling away from approaching police that were pointing guns at him, Elliott then says something very interesting.

“DAVID ELLIOTT told Grand Forks Police Department Officer Matt Bullinger that he had ran over the spike strips and his tires were going flat. Grand Forks Police Department Officer Matt Bullinger said that DAVID ELLIOTT was upset that his tires were flattened, and told Grand Forks Police Department Officer Matt Bullinger what the tires were worth,” the BCI report said.

Would a suicidal man be worried about the cost of his tires? Elliott’s expression to Bullinger about the tires indicates a relationship or familiarity between them.

Documents and records of the event indicate that at approximately 12:42 A.M. on February 28, 2015, Elliott was sitting atop the Columbia Road Bridge in Grand Forks; he was attempting to wait for Bullinger to arrive.

However, officers were approaching Elliott and pointed their guns at him, which caused him to again proceed forward. There are indications Elliott believed he was going to be killed.

THE VIDEO

The editor of the video allowed a split-second view of David Elliott to be seen at the very beginning of the video to establish the time, circumstances, and location of the video.

After the quick blip of crystal clear quality video showing Elliot sitting in his pick-up and talking to police through his window, the editor redacted everything for two minutes and forty-eight seconds; thus concealing absolutely everything that what was being said.

At the time of the video clip, Elliott is on the PSAP call that he initiated to 911 shortly after the GFPD began pursuing him at around 11 P.M.

When the video resumes from the redacted mode at 2:48, the digital perfect quality picture is no longer visible. It is replaced with darkness although audio can still be heard.  It appears the officer may have placed the video camera underneath his coat.

At 6:40 in the video file the dispatcher can be heard saying “six twenty-seven is on his way”.

BCI records suggest 627 is GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger who had been talking to Elliott over PSAP for over an hour about something.

The radio transmissions that follow indicate officers knew they needed to shoot Elliott before Bullinger arrived.

At 4:46 the dispatcher tells an officer over the radio, “He is willing to talk to 627 in person – he said to give him a little time to get over that.”

The reference to Elliott needing to time to “get over that” may be a reference to something that has taken place that has Elliott angry and/or scared.

The officer responds, “He needs to pull into Altru if that’s going to happen”.

At 6:38 on the video the dispatcher says, “Six twenty seven is on his way”.

At 6:46 on the video an officer on the radio can be heard saying “Is anybody talking to him?” The dispatcher replies and says, “10-4 we still have him on the phone but he requested to speak to six twenty seven in person – he’s the only one he’ll talk to.”

The man on the radio then says, “I understand that [inaudible] stop.”

At 7:48 a flurry of gunshots can be heard and the officer with the body cam says, “Shots fired! Shot’s Fired!”

For a split second the officer’s coat appears to open and video is seen for a second, which proves the camera works properly.

The officer wearing the body-cam is heard screaming “Get your hand’s up! Get em’ up! Get your hands up! Get your hands up!” as another officer says “going to tazer”.

The officer then resumes screaming “Get your hands up now! You’re going to get tazed if you don’t get your hands where we can see them! Get em’ up!”

The officers then declare they are ‘going to tazer’ and another officer is heard saying “stop resisting – stop resisting.”

The officer then says “put your hands behind your back. Do it now!”

It is not known what was driving the nearly maniacal screaming of commands by the officers to Elliott, who had just been shot six times, including three times in the head.

Elliott was unarmed.

No released video shows the actual shooting.

Police would not provide the media any information about the shooting for three days in what may have been a waiting game to see if Elliott would die.

Elliott did not die and the State eventually reached a plea with him. Elliott, who had no prior criminal history, pled guilty to two felony counts surrounding his dangerous and reckless driving.

He was sentenced to one year in jail; sentence suspended with two months home monitoring.

He claims he can’t remember the event.

Write Into Action continues to investigate.

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