CNN ignited a firestorm of backlash over the weekend after characterizing what police called “felony murder” as a mere accident.
What is the background?
Two teenager girls — ages 13 and 15 — were charged with felony murder after allegedly carjacking Mohammad Anwar in Washington, D.C., last Tuesday.
Police say the teenagers attacked Anwar with a stun gun during the carjacking. The car later crashed, and Anwar died from injuries after being thrown from the vehicle. Anwar was a Pakistani immigrant who moved to America in 2014 to build a better life for his family.
The enhanced murder charges against the teenagers stem from a legal doctrine that “allows a killing that occurs in the course of a dangerous felony, even an accidental death, to be charged against the felon as first-degree murder,” according to Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
Video of the shocking incident later circulated on social media, showing the alleged carjacking in progress and the car speed away with Anwar hanging outside. The car can be heard crashing as the videographer races toward the scene. Nearby National Guardsmen pull the teenage girls from the wrecked car, which rested on its side, as Anwar’s mangled body twitched on the nearby ground. The video showed witnesses failed to provide Anwar with aid.
One of the teenage girls can be heard saying, “Please, my phone is in there. My phone is in there.”
What did CNN say?
The news outlet posted on Twitter Saturday that Anwar died because of “an accident in which he was fatally injured
“Police said the girls, 13 and 15, assaulted an Uber Eats driver with a Taser while carjacking him, which led to an accident in which he was fatally injured,” CNN tweeted, along with a link its story on the crime.
Police said the girls, 13 and 15, assaulted an Uber Eats driver with a Taser while carjacking him, which led to an… https://t.co/THc9u7xJN5
— CNN (@CNN)1616870584.0
What was the reaction?
CNN was universally condemned for its framing of what police say was “felony murder.” Many critics suggested the race of the suspects, both of whom are black, played a role in CNN softening the language used to describe the crime.
In fact, by Sunday morning, CNN’s framing of the crime as an “accident” was one of Twitter’s top trending topics with more than 100,000 tweets.
- “HEY! ANYBODY HOME? THIS IS NOT AN ‘ACCIDENT,'” liberal commentator Keith Olbermann said.
- “These girls made a whoopsie when they murdered this man. Total accident. They were in wrong place at wrong time! They’re good kids! Kids murder in cold blood/ make mistakes,” comedian Tim Dillon mocked.
- “Wonder what took CNN so long to report what the rest of us did days ago. Doesn’t advance their poisonous race narrative, that’s why,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham reacted.
- “A white man shoots 6 Asians and 2 white people, and he is a white supremacist.
A middle eastern man shoots up a store, and well, ‘Don’t jump to conclusions,’ they say.
2 young black girls assault a man with a taser and murder him, and it’s an accident.
Oh, the hypocrisy,” another person
said. - Two girls murdered a man after car jacking him. Fixed it for you,” another person responded.
- “They murdered him and one of the girls was more concerned with her cellphone still being in the car than the man she just murdered laying dead on the sidewalk,” one person noted.
- “If these girls were white, this headline would be worded much differently and the outrage factor would be dialed up,” another person said.
- “fair to ask why national media highlight certain local crime activity and not others,” one person suggested.
- “It’s always interesting how CNN and other news organizations are highly selective when determining whether or not it’s worth mentioning the demographics of those involved in incidents such as this,” another person noted.
- “So they ‘accidentally’ killed him?” another person questioned.
- “‘Fatally injured’ is a weird way to say MURDERED,” another person said.
Fortunately, more than $400,000 had been raised for Anwar’s family by Sunday afternoon.
Well of course the cartoon nitwit news (cnn) will change the facts, they always do, such as the guy that shot up the store in CO. saying g that he used a machine gun instead of a pistol yeah the cnn never gets it right without twisting things into a pretzel. You can bet they will never admit they were wrong. If this had been two white girls we would never hear the end of it and the girls would be tried in the news and never see a court room.
If the girls were white, they would be charged with a Hate Crime, dwarfing murder in the eyes of the liberal media.
hey ivan careful you RACIST. your RACISM is SHOWING. if those little girls were white, would they still be innocent little lambs?does this qualify as a HATE crime BECAUSE he’s a Muslim?
Another Asian American hate crime.
The fags at CNN need to have some accidents.
I’ll bet the initial reporter typed in tazes and spell check changed it to eats.
Were these 2 young children wrong? Yes! Did they taser the man and carjack his vehicle? Yes! Did they murder him? No! If I snatch an old ladies’ pocketbook and ran out into the street where she chases me and gets hit by a car and dies; did I murder her? No! Do I bear guilt in having snatched her pocketbook? Yes! That is the crime I’ve committed. But I did not murder her. This parallels that, whether we want to admit it or not! There was no malicious intent to take a life. America lives in a world of racist hate! It doesn’t care who it reflects the light on just to get the shine off of them. TRUTH! These girls were wrong, but what they aren’t guilty of is murder! And as a juror I wouldn’t convict them of it. Whereas racist America will say, let them fry, or let them spend the rest of their lives’ in prison. Damn shame! My prayers and support go out to both families.
A man died as a direct result of the actions of these two. DURING the commission of a felony. Definitely murder. Actually, YOU are the racist.
Well said Mr. Douglas
Mr. Douglas is ABSOLUTELY correct! And they KNEW they were committing a crime!
Your analogy is in error. If you take a pocketbook from an old lady, the old lady has the option to decide to chase you or not. In the case of a carjacking, the driver does not have an option. In a carjacking, the driver is being controlled by the carjacker and is at the total mercy of the carjacker. So yes, these girls did kill an innocent man in the process of committing their crime. What must be decided is Murder 1 or 2 or 3 or manslaughter. Bottom line, a man died at their hands and they must pay for their crime no matter what race they are or the victim was.
Too easy, murder, possibly murder 1. If these “children” had been white they would have been drawn and quartered by the left wing media but because these two juvenile delinquents are black, it was an “accident” and “kids will be kids”.
Are you really this stupid????????????
Just wondering who this Steve is asking “Are you really this stupid?????”
There are 8 comments ??
Even the article itself said that it is being treated as a Murder. So, get your bleeding heart liberal butt out of here. People like you are WHY our country is falling apart. Because you call everything racist, when its not. You claim people are sexist, when they’re not. People like YOU are the problem with America right now.
Hey Ivan, yes goober if someone dies because you feel entitled to that someone’s property and they die because you and your criminal arrogance – you are eligible to be charged with felony murder. I wonder, if you get to experience some lowlife accosting someone in your family that results in that family members death, would you vote to acquit that perp? No? I didn’t think so, course your family member is worth more than Anwar’s.
Jerk!
Ivan, you are ignorant of the law. If found guilty of the commission of the carjacking and the use of the weapon, yes the taser is a weapon, and the victim dies as a result, the girls can also be charged with murder. As for a hate crime, that would be more difficult to prove that the victim was singled out because of race, religion, or any protected demographic. And YES, if the old lady chased you after you stole her pocketbook and she was hit by a vehicle and died, you could be charged with murder or possibly a lesser charge of manslaughter.
ONE Down vote for Ivan. A lying, leftist, racist!
He was hanging out of the car and one of the girls continued to drive at high speed with him trying to hang on. Murder, plain and simple. So what will they get? Juvie until 18, then release. Let’s see, one is 13 and one is 15, so how long do we have to wait? What, they won’t show them getting out? Then we’ll never know. And when they get out, guess what? Welfare, free education, and what all.
Hey IVAN. . .go back to Russia you pin-head!
I agree with TLC and the other person that says the girls are responsible for the driver’s death.
He wouldn’t have died if they had not tassed him.
Ivan Hill is not correct in his analysis. Those girls are guilty no matter what color they are.
I’m not racist therefore I don’t enter the race into the fact that this man was killed because of
the actions of those 2 girls. You can’t change the facts so you can defend a race. That in itself
is RACIST.
This Crap is gettin’ Old!
they were carjacking someone’s car with a TASER gun. they weren’t borrowing DADDY’S car BECAUSE they didn’t have a license (not at 13 and 15).one said my cellphone is in the car. cold blooded murder. more concerned about the phone than the DEAD man BECAUSE of being carjacked. p.s.to comedian Tim who said that this was a whoopsie.no .it’s murder.
And CNN calls itself a news source??? Where are the white protestors and looters ready to take to the streets and harangue the black population with racism??? Where are the burning black businesses and the terrorized black business owners??? Where are the white domestic terrorists??? Inquiring minds want to know!
This crime was committed by Blacks. Which the sleazy scumbag LEFT is scared of casting as anything less than victims or saints.
Though its hard to say whether they targeted him because of race, or if they would have attacked a white person as well. I’m sure once they look at these two little punks social media they’ll have a better answer to that.
So, for now, I won’t call it a Hate Crime. People have abused that word so much its losing its real meaning. Perhaps it was a Hate Crime, perhaps it was just a pair of violent little thugs and he was their latest victim. Murders do happen every day. I’m not downplaying it, I’m saying let’s make sure they get punished properly.
We need to stop with the Witch Trial / Mob Mentality.
I wonder when their “life of crime” started? I assure you this was NOT their first foray into the world of a lowlife criminal.
DN☭………….sychopants………….☭NN, ☭BS, MSNB☭, NB☭
Well of course Communist News Network would frame the narrative in a way to protect those precious little she-boons! That’s what the left does!
Intent is an element of some murder charges. In some cases the intent to commit a felony where a death is a reasonably possible result will also result in murder charges. The cops in the George Floyd death are being charged with varying degrees of murder, yet it will likely be impossible to show any of them intended that he die. If their actions, or lack of actions, can be shown to have resulted in his death, and reasonably would have been expected to do so, then maybe they can be convicted of a murder charge. The kid’s casual treatment of other people’s rights and welfare are a sad commentary on much of today’s society. The conflicting demands for “justice” depending on the victim’s or suspect’s race, religion, social status, etc are more of the same.