> "We've heard, anecdotally, reports of citizens and businesses being asked to pay a fee to operate within this area."
I dunno. She 'walked back' the statement. Maybe people were making that up to try to get the cops to retake the area? It could have also been absolutely true. Having lived in that area, I wouldn't put it past them.
The SPD was probably watching foxnews, reported what they were hearing on fox, which FoxNews then took as evidence that their reporting was accurate. There is a reason they call it an “echo chamber.”
> Honestly, it's impossible to know at this point.
What is possible to know is that she knew damned well that any statement like that would be repeated 10 times more than any later, retraction of those statements.
> Police chief Carmen Best walked back prior statements made by her own department, which have since circulated widely and attracted condemnation from conservative critics of the protesters.
Those same critics have almost certainly not retracted their comments based on her statements. She clearly understands how to effectively feed her biggest fans.
As it turns out she was, in fact, wrong or making it up.