Court releases audio of 911 call that led to Luigi Mangione’s arrest | New York
The audio recording of the 911 call that led to Luigi Mangione’s arrest was made public after the press supported its release.
The audio recording was played in Manhattan state court this week during a hearing on evidence collected during Mangione’s arrest a year ago in the murder of United HealthCare senior executive Brian Thompson. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in December last year after the restaurant manager called 911.
“I have a client here who some other clients are suspicious of and suspect resembles the CEO attacker in New York,” the manager was heard saying during a court hearing on Monday. “They were really upset and wanted to come to me, and I said, ‘I can’t get close to him.'”
He told the 911 operator that the suspected man was wearing a black jacket, medical mask and a khaki beanie.
“He pulled his beret down, so all you can see is his eyebrows,” the manager said when asked for more details about his statement. The manager told the operator he was “Googling” them in an attempt to “calm them down a bit” and I said: ‘Guys, it’s a little hard to tell with their eyes and eyebrows…’
The 911 call played a pivotal role in police banishing Mangione, who faces state and federal charges in Thompson’s murder. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Joseph Detwiler, the Altoona police officer who first approached Mangione and arrested him, testified Tuesday that he knew who the principal was talking about in the 911 call because of the mask.
“We don’t wear masks,” Detwiler said when asked about mask culture in Altoona. “We have antibodies.”
Detwiler said it was clear the man aroused suspicion because “no one was wearing a mask” in Altoona.
“He had a mask on,” Detwiler also said. “So he had to be the one we were called there for.”
The release of that evidence marked a shift from Tuesday, when Judge Gregory Carro sided with Mangione’s defense on sealing materials pending trial. A reporter was escorted from the courtroom after standing up demanding to be heard during the sealing.
Members of the press in New York routinely stand up and demand to be heard in state and federal courts. Legal precedent makes clear that journalists have the right to be heard on access issues.
For example, a New York state court decision states: “The court must strictly adhere to the procedures set out in the controlling case law, including before closing the courtroom or sealing exhibits, giving members of the press interested in the matter a full opportunity to be heard, and obtaining specific findings to support its decision, without disclosing the matter or issue.”
At least one member of the press, Matthew Lee of Inner City Press, wrote a letter to Carro requesting that the exhibits be unsealed. Carro announced that some documents will be unsealed on Thursday. It is said that: “For those interested… some of the exhibits will be available shortly on the Prosecutor’s Dropbox.”
According to Molly Crane-Newman of the New York Daily News, Carro did not mention the journalist’s removal from court. The evidence released does not include everything that played out in court.
