[aristeides]

She also told the police that Ms. Mallard planned to destroy the car and make an insurance claim.

Somehow this claim of the informant sounds all too believable.

I wonder why the NY Times sees fit to inform us of the informant's name, but does not see fit to tell us that, according to that informant, Ms. Mallard said, "I hit this white guy," and giggled. Isn't that fit to print?

[mrustow]

Thanks for the heads-up, ari. The Times is apparently seeking to discredit the informant, Ms. Daniel, in oreder to soften the image of the defendant, Ms. Mallard. Note that the Times now says that the informant claimed that the defendant had ingested Ecstasy, in addition to two drinks, before driving home, and quotes the defense attorney, Heiskell, as claiming that the informant is unreliable. But look at what the previous day's AP story in the Times said about the same issue:

Ms. Mallard admitted drinking and using the drug Ecstasy the night of the accident, and said she panicked after hitting Mr. Biggs, the police said.

[mrustow]

There's a silver lining, I think, in the Times' cloud of disinformation: A few years ago, they would have killed this story altogether. But now, thanks to the 'Net (read: FR and frontpagemag), the Times' editors can't kill it, so they try to get out in front of it, and spin it to suit their house race politics.

[mrustow]

Windshield Death Suspect Back in Jail/FR