One of the reporters who works at the Marion County Record newspaper, that was raided by authorities earlier this month, filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief yesterday. Deb Gruver believes Marion Police Chief, Gideon Cody, violated her constitutional rights when he abruptly snatched her personal cell phone out of her hands during a search where officers also seized computers from the Marion County Records’ Office, according to the lawsuit. That August 11th search and two others conducted at the homes of the newspaper’s publisher and a city council member, have thrust the town into the center of a debate over the press protections in the first amendment.
Gruver, a veteran reporter with more than three decades of experience, says she is standing up for journalists across the country, and it is our constitutional right to do our job without fear of harassment or retribution, and our constitutional rights are always worth fighting for.
Gruver had the words “freedom of the press” tattooed on her right forearm the same day her lawsuit was filed.
