A woman who says she was publicly humiliated by the CBS television show "Armed & Famous" has decided to sue Jack Osbourne, Muncie police officer Michael Edwards, Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle, Mayor Dan Canan and CBS, among others.
But is she entitled to a million dollars? Let's allow the content of the episode in question to do the talking.
According to Lyndsay Clements' lawsuit, the police raided her home on December 12, accused her of harboring a fugitive, handcuffed her in her nightgown for 30 minutes and ransacked her apartment, while production crews filmed the entire thing.
Once the police figured out they were in the wrong place, they took the handcuffs off and left, without so much as an apology. And when the premiere episode of "Armed & Famous" aired on CBS January 11, Clements' humiliation was aired for all of Muncie, as well as for seven million other viewers, to see without so much as an explanation from the cops or the show that she wasn't guilty of anything.
Show her the money!
"Armed & Famous" was a bad idea from the start. The idea of letting film crews follow our police officers as they try to do their job was a mistake. Add to that the pressure to make the show entertaining, and suddenly we found our city profiled on national TV as a crime-ridden dump, because the camera crews pressured cops to focus on the most "entertaining" crimes in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Then situations like what affected Clements occur. In the mad dash to catch a "wicked perp," police assaulted an innocent woman, humiliated her in front of a film crew, and the nation, then never admitted fault. Once the film was shown without an explanation on "Armed & Famous," for millions to see, Clements became entitled to compensation for what she'd experienced.
I think a million bucks is a bargain considering the facts of the case. If I'd been cuffed, treated like trash and then splashed all over my nation's TV screens, I'd be out for some blood.
Regardless of what happens with the other plaintiffs, the city of Muncie, the police department, Mayor Dan Canan and anyone else related to our city needs to settle this as quickly and quietly as possible. We don't need our city and our police department being embarrassed any further, and Clements deserves the acknowledgement that the department knows it made a mistake.
Then let this be a lesson to any other cities whose governments believe a televised reality show is a good way to beef up regional image. In general, it's safe to say you reap what you sow, and in the case of reality TV, the negatives outweigh the positives.
Then again, our police department does have those new Hummers to be thankful for.
Write to Jonathan at jonathansanders@justice.com
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