Columnist Sets Off Storm Calling Michael Brown 'Animal' Who Had To Be 'Put Down'Tom Kludt
The frustration from Charleston Daily Mail's editor and publisher Brad McElhinny was clear when TPM reach him by phone on Tuesday afternoon.
"I've had better days," he said.
His exasperation was understandable. On Saturday, Don Surber, the West Virginia paper's lone editorial columnist, took to his personal blog to offer his thoughts on "police brutality" and the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
"This summer I had an epiphany as I watched packs of racists riot in Ferguson, Missouri, in support of a gigantic thug who was higher than a kite when he attacked Ferguson Police Department Officer Darren Wilson, who unfortunately had to put this animal down," Surber wrote.
By Sunday morning, Surber appended an update to the top of the post and crossed out the final phrase of the sentence.
"I made a factual error. Michael Brown was not an animal but a man. Big. Brutal. High," Surber wrote in the update. "His death was a justifiable homicide and not a putting down."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/don-surber-michael-brown-animal-put-down-charleston-daily-mail-apologizes
