On the death of Derek Hale.

The News-Journal, in a fit of responsibility, has seized the story of the shooting death of Derek J. Hale by the Wilmington Police Department and is running hard with it.

Today's story by investigative reporter Lee Williams (himself a former cop) raises more questions than it answers.

What we know already is that, according to witnesses, Hale never threatened anyone before he was gunned down, even though the cops say they "had reason to believe he was attempting to flee" -- apparently because Hale was putting a Tupperware container in his car.

We also know, according to eyewitnesses, that Hale was hit with a projectile launched by a Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle, better known as a Taser -- not once, not twice, but three times.

Then the Iraq combat victim, who had already been knocked to the ground, was shaking uncontrollably from the electric current, and had vomited, was shot, presumably because he didn't immediately show his hands. Not surprising, since he was being electrocuted at that time.

What really happened that day? Did the Wilmington Police murder an unarmed man? Unless someone is prosecuted, we'll never hear the WPD's side of the story -- because, in true Delaware fashion, they are hiding behind FOIA:

Wilmington police denied a request from The News Journal for their use-of-force policy, which addresses how and when officers may use deadly force and less-than-lethal weapons such as Tasers. They cited an August 2005 Freedom of Information request in which the Attorney General's Office found that the policies are not public documents.

On Sunday, November 19, we learned that the Delaware State Police may have given the Virginia State Police bad information to support a search warrant the VSP obtained to search Hale's home in Manassas, VA:

"During the weekend of November 4th and 5th, the Delaware State Police secured several arrest warrants for various members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club to include Virginia member Derek Hale," the affidavit states. "On November 6th, Wilmington Delaware Police Department attempted to arrest Hale on drug charges. Hale did not cooperate and was subsequently shot by police and died of his wounds."

Virginia authorities say the information came from a Delaware State Police investigator whom they declined to name.

All well and good, except, according to DSP Sgt. Melissa Zebley, there never was an arrest warrant out for Hale.

In today's story, Lee Williams reports that DSP Major Joseph Papili claims that no one gave false information to the Virginia State Police. The DSP's attempt to spin this apparent screwup is a fascinating example of saying a lot while saying nothing at all:

Contacted Sunday night for clarification, Zebley said: "All I can say is how the major responded. The colonel made reference to things he can't comment on, and why. All I can do is refer you to the e-mail, where he refers to what he says." ... "We will not be releasing any names of involved officers or detectives in this investigation," Papili responded in the e-mail. Why did they provide false information to their Virginia counterpart? "No false information has been provided to anyone during this investigation," Papili wrote. The News Journal also asked to speak with MacLeish about how this incident could affect the state police and the investigation. "The incident will not have any impact on the investigation or the agency," Papili responded.

The plot thickens.

And so do the N-J's Story Chat comments on this article, where, if the posters are to be believed, the N-J lied to sell papers and Tom Neuberger may be behind this, because he may be "sharing a little bit of money to the news journal [sic] to print his crap". Before Story Chat came online, I haven't had so much fun watching bugs crawl around since I pulled out an old stone wall in my yard.