First they killed Kevin Price, now they are smearing his name

From PJ:

On August 12 of 2024, my friend Kevin Price was shot by a Fitchburg Police Officer in his own home after calling 911 for help. After 3 days ALONE in the hospital, he died. Then they contacted his family. 

Since then, the Fitchburg Police Department has purposely mislead the public, withheld information, and spread lies about my friend. Now, I believe there is a coordinated effort online to sway public opinion against him. 

At the end of December, a version of the bodycam footage from the officer who shot Kevin was uploaded to YouTube. This version of the footage has been modified and includes an AI generated voiceover and is 10 seconds longer than the officially released and redacted footage from the DCI/DOJ. We are currently analyzing the footage for further discrepancies from the original release. 

The space where the YouTube link was shared had a disproportionate amount of engagement following the link’s posting. It has been uncovered that at least one law enforcement official participated in amplifying this version of the bodycam footage. 

Due to differences between the officially released footage and the footage on YouTube, we believe the upload could have originated from an individual with inside access to police records.

Why now?

On December 30th, an in depth investigation by Faye Parks and WORT FM was released. The modified version of the bodycam footage was uploaded to YouTube on the same day. The publicly accessible version of the bodycam footage was released along with the DA’s decision not to prosecute on December 10th.

On January 6th, the Tone Madison article about what happened to Kevin was posted to the Madison, WI subreddit. Along with this, the following excerpt from the DCI Report posted as well:

“Sgt. Johnston stated that as they were dragging Kevin outside, he fell onto Kevin which caused some of Kevin’s blood to deposit on his uniform.”

After this excerpt was shared, an influx of comments began directing people to YouTube to watch the bodycam footage. Comments replying to these links swiftly condemned Kevin and justified the police officer’s actions. So far, one participant in these comments has been identified as a law enforcement official.

I believe that due to the in-depth report released by WORT in particular, LEOs or LEO adjacent individuals have begun to coordinate online to sway public opinion against Kevin and spread misinformation. I have been contacted by another individual who believes that the same coordination has occurred surrounding her husband’s death in a law enforcement incident.

I am sharing this information with as many people as possible in an effort to rally together support and make a concerted effort to push back against this kind of disinformation campaign we have become all too familiar with. Many of you have experienced or come across these kinds of tactics online before, especially surrounding anything COVID or election related.

Please help me in not only finding justice for my friend Kevin, but working to unmask the individuals involved in spreading disinformation online to such a devastating degree. Enough is enough.