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Aiyana Jones murder turns spotlight on a nation hooked on reality TV
...Miss Jones’s killing may yet be ruled manslaughter but it is her death that has focused national attention on “ridealong” TV crews and Detroit violence.

Police claim that she was struck by a bullet in the neck after her grandmother jostled a Swat team officer who was inside the flat with a search warrant for a separate murder hunt. The family’s lawyer insists that the only shot was fired from outside the building, and claims to have seen videotape that proves it.

No one denies the existence of the tape: it was shot by a film crew following the Swat team for “The First 48, a reality series for the A & E network that focuses on the crucial first two days of murder investigations. A Supreme Court ruling bars the media from following police inside private homes, forcing the crew to wait outside while the team went in.

Geoffrey Fieger, the family’s lawyer and a prominent Michigan Democrat, believes that the cameraman missed nothing. Flanked by tearful family members at a news conference this week he told reporters that the raid began with a flash-bang grenade — or bomb — being thrown through the front window to stun anyone inside.

“Virtually simultaneously with a bomb being thrown through the window on to Aiyana, a shot is fired from outside on the porch into the home,” Mr Fieger said. “The shot is unquestionably fired from outside . . . while the officer is standing on the porch.”

The details matter because the officer in question, named as Joseph Weekley, has a record of questionable judgment and of blending TV appearances into his police work. Nicknamed “the brain” by his peers he has made regular appearances on The First 48 and has been profiled for a separate series titled Detroit Swat. He is also being sued in connection with a 2007 raid in which he and other Swat team members allegedly pointed guns at children and shot two dogs while pursuing an armed robber.

Marvin Barnett, another Detroit lawyer, suggested this week that the grenade was used mainly for the camera. Barbara-Rose Collins, a former city councilwoman, said despairingly: “Everybody wants to be John Wayne.”...