Felony drug possession, drug possession misdemeanors, multiple failures to appear in court, careless driving, and driving on a suspended license are just a few of the things both Tallahassee Police and the Tallahassee Democrat ignored in their cover up of the Ryan Ray body cam story.

Last Friday, The Capitolist published a story exposing Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) bodycam footage that raised serious questions about preferential treatment for Ryan Ray, a prominent Democratic aide to County Commissioner Jeremy Matlow and current chair of the Leon County Democratic Party. In the footage, police officers are seen encountering Ray intoxicated and slurring his words in the driver’s seat of his car, which was parked at a gas station. Strangely, the officers at the scene decided to let him go before doing any investigative work whatsoever.

But the real twist came when Tallahassee Democrat reporter Jeff Burlew published a story about the incident, too. Sadly, rather than advancing the story by digging deeper into why TPD appeared to bend standard procedure for Ray, The Democrat chose to instead expend most of its energy casting doubt on The Capitolist, questioning the story’s timing and motives in publishing the video, and attacking former Leon County Republican Evan Power, rather than scrutinizing the footage, holding police and elected leaders to account, and diving just a bit deeper into Ryan Ray’s driving history. Had they done so, they would have provided a valuable public service and fulfilled Tallahassee Democrat’s actual mission as the newspaper of record for Florida’s capital city.

Unfortunately, the Democrat’s first instinct wasn’t to dig deeper, it was to deflect the story and defend the liberal political figures who hold power in Tallahassee. Maybe Burlew himself is biased, or maybe he’s just lazy. Because with only a few clicks on a computer, The Democrat could have easily learned what the Tallahassee police officers on the scene failed to investigate: Ryan Ray has more than a decade worth of run-ins with law enforcement, and a track record of thumbing his nose at Florida’s laws and courts. That information could have and should have informed TPD’s decision making on the scene that night in 2022, and it should have informed Jeff Burlew and the Tallahassee Democrat’s reporting this week.

We’ll dive deeper for them.

First, a reminder of the previously known facts: During the initial incident, TPD informed Ray that they were letting him go before doing even the most basic investigation. Only after allowing Ray to call his girlfriend to take him home did the officers think to investigate the front end damage to Ray’s car – an investigation they never actually completed before Ray was whisked away from them.  And it’s not clear the police ever bothered to check to see if Ray had any outstanding warrants or a history of driving incidents or run ins with law enforcement. They might have been surprised at what they would have learned.

Ryan Ray is a traffic menace and shouldn’t be on Tallahassee’s streets at all. His record includes felony and misdemeanor charges for possession of controlled substances, drugs and drug paraphernalia, careless driving, several recent speeding tickets, driving without a license, driving on a suspended license, multiple failures to appear in court cases ranging from Sarasota to Tampa to Tallahassee, and finally, it appears that even today, he’s likely driving on a suspended license for failing to appear or pay a fine on a speeding ticket issued in April. In short, Ryan Ray does whatever he wants to do on Florida’s streets, and he doesn’t appear to care what the police or Florida’s courts have to say about it.

Instead of gathering those previously unreported and very relevant facts, Burlew and the Tallahassee Democrat rushed to defend Ray, highlighting a Facebook post from August 2022, where he celebrated 67 days of sobriety, framing his previous bad behavior as part of a larger recovery journey. They even quoted his boss, Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, reflecting on his own sobriety journey and supporting Ray’s efforts. This sympathetic framing might have been appropriate in a feature piece on Ray’s personal struggles, but falls flat in a news story on potential favoritism and public safety.

Lest there be any doubt about how the Democrat should proceed going forward, here’s a few questions they might want to look in to:

1. Why Didn’t TPD Follow Standard DUI Protocols?: In any DUI situation, verifying the driver’s identity and checking their background is basic procedure. They also should have investigated the cause of the front end damage to Ray’s car before deciding to let him go. Why did the officers decide so quickly that they were letting him go free?
2. Did Ray’s Political Connections Influence TPD’s Actions?: The bodycam video shows the officer recognizing Ray’s connection to Commissioner Matlow, referencing a bumper sticker on his car. Did this influence the officer’s decision to let Ray off with a warning? At what point did they know he was connected to Matlow?
3. Is Ryan Ray currently driving on a suspended license? Leon County court records show that he was ticketed in April 2024 for speeding, and ultimately failed to meet his obligations in court. Leon County suspended his license. So how’s he getting around these days?

What should have been a straightforward report on public accountability has turned into an exercise in deflection by The Tallahassee Democrat. By sidestepping key details and questioning The Capitolist’s intentions, The Democrat avoided the hard questions that should be at the heart of any coverage on this story: whether TPD’s leniency was influenced by political connections and why a public official with a concerning driving history continues to get a pass.

The public deserves an honest, thorough investigation, not a spin job that protects political allies at the expense of accountability. The facts, and the bodycam footage, speak for themselves. It’s time for Tallahassee’s top newspaper to follow those facts, or just admit they aren’t the “objective” news outlet they claim to be. At The Capitolist, we admit we have a center-right political bias. The Tallahassee Democrat on the other hand, just lies to its readers by claiming to be objective.