TV station passed up video, freelancer says

When videographer Jud Morris captured images of two police officers kicking a man they mistakenly suspected of armed robbery, he thought he had some hot stuff.

But when he showed it to KCPQ-TV (Q13) nearly three weeks ago, the producers hesitated.

"They said, 'We're not going to run it,' " he recalled. "I'm like, are you guys serious?"

The station's news director, Steve Kraycik, said Morris is now a disgruntled former employee who has it all wrong. They were "deciding if, when and how we would air it," Kraycik said.

In any case, KIRO-TV aired the video Thursday night, along with commentary from an expert. It was a top local story through Friday. Other local news programs aired the video, too — including KCPQ, which could have had an exclusive story much earlier. KCPQ provided the video to The Seattle Times on Friday.

Why the seeming turnaround?

"No comment," said Kraycik.

Morris thinks KCPQ sat on the video because the station, which runs the program "Washington's Most Wanted," is too cozy with the police. Now he's in the middle of a dispute between the two stations over who actually owns the footage.

A year ago, Morris saw a program called "Stringers: LA" about people who make a living selling video to local news stations. He decided right then and there, "That's what I'm going to do the rest of my life." Before that, he had never touched a camera.

He bought equipment at a pawnshop. The next morning a taxi driver was killed in Tacoma, and it was his first story. Most nights he's out on the streets from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., listening to police scanners and looking for mayhem. Sometimes a news station pays him by the day; other times, he sells individual videos to broadcasters.

What happened the night of April 17 is in dispute.

What is clear is that KCPQ did not immediately air the video.

"They said it didn't look that egregious," Morris said, recalling that a key staffer was talking to the police as she was viewing it.

"I'm thinking this is kind of odd," Morris went on. "It's not something you want to leak to the police before you have even finished watching the video."

Kraycik declined to let a Times reporter interview the staffer in question, but said Morris' claim isn't true. Moreover, he said, Morris was on the clock at KCPQ when he took the video, using company equipment and a news van. If he was employed by KCPQ, he wouldn't have the right to sell the video to KIRO.

Morris said he did have a temporary full-time freelance gig with KCPQ, but had gone off the clock an hour before he shot the video and was using his own vehicle and equipment.

Frustrated that it hadn't aired, he posted it on YouTube. He was fired a short time later. That's when he went to KIRO with it, he said.

KIRO news director Todd Mokhtari said all his station did was buy video from a stringer KIRO had used in the past. He said KCPQ told him it might pursue legal action.

"They threatened me with their lawyer, so I let our lawyer know," he said. "I've never dealt with anything like this."

News researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com