A real dogfight

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/15/2000

A KMSP-TV Minneapolis reporter is under investigation for lifting a videotape from a property under police investigation for evidence of dogfights.

Police have charged former World Junior Flyweight Champion Will Grigsby with staging dogfights.

A tape-which showed a dogfight-was copied, given to police and aired by the station. Sherburne County authorities interviewed reporter Tom Lyden, but no criminal charges were filed as of last week.

Lyden admits that he took a tape from a car parked at the property where 13 pit bulls had been seized. But, he said, the tape was clearly visible, and that the car didn't have any license plates, possibly having been abandoned. Many in the area's news community believe Lyden pushed the envelope too far. But the station has been behind its reporter, who has met with lawyers. "I was doing my job," Lyden said.

There had been three police searches of the property prior to the incident, and police had recovered other dogfighting tapes.