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As readers may know, we have been looking hard into the curious desert shooting case involving Pinal County sheriff’s deputy Louie Puroll, the fella in the photo. We published our original story, “Pinalcchio” a few months ago about the internationally publicized incident–here it is again.
But that’s not the point of this blog post.
Today, we are publishing our follow-up story on the fascinating case, entitled “Whitewash.”
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(It’s out a day earlier than usual on the Web and then tomorrow in print because of the approaching Thanksgiving holiday.)
The piece isn’t a pretty one for Deputy Puroll or, by proxy, his agency and his sheriff–the increasingly well-known Paul Babeu, seen in the lower photo, no doubt talking smack about illegal immigrants.
But for the record let it be said that the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office ranks among the most accessible and responsive law-enforcement agencies we have dealt with in our three decades in this biz.
We requested for a lot of things from PCSO during our months-long investigation into Deputy Puroll’s April 30 shooting, and we got everything we asked for, and well within an appropriate period of time.
For this we thank Tim Gaffney, the agency’s public information officer, who–while as loyal as a hound dog to his sheriff–answered each of our questions and often went beyond the call of duty to ensure what he likes to call “transparency.”
Yes, we know, it’s “the law” and all that.
But we are more used to dealing with obfuscation, delay and old-fashioned bullshit while trying to negotiate the landmines that have become Arizona’s Public Records Law.
Sheriff Babeu knew (and knows) quite well that we have had serious questions about his deputy’s account, and that any negative press could reflect poorly on him and his leadership abilities.
But we gotta say, though we disagree with a lot that comes out of the guy’s politically motivated mouth, Babeu and his minions didn’t play any public records games with us, not a one.
Thanks also to Andrea Kipp, PCSO’s diligent records person (at least the one with whom we have been dealing) for being as courteous as it gets in dealing with the nagging likes of us.
