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A disc jockey’s truck was robbed early Friday morning in the Buckeye Lot on Gorham Street.
When walking back to his truck at approximately 1 a.m., the victim, a 28-year-old male from McFarland, saw his vehicle’s passenger door open with a person rummaging through it, said Joel DeSpain, spokesperson for the Madison Police Department.
To stop the suspect, Nicholas Gritt, 19, of Madison, the victim closed the truck door on the alleged perpetrator’s leg, but Gritt ran from the vehicle. According to DeSpain, the suspect was carrying a “Slim Jim” tool in one hand and an object under his arm.
Gritt took off heading westbound on Gorham Street. According the incident report, the MPD assisted the victim in the chase after it was alerted of the incident by a Dane County Communication Center.
According to DeSpain, members of the central district MPD were already patrolling the area.
“They started chasing (Gritt) and about same time a vehicle takes off west on Gorham. There is a possibility it was a getaway car. We couldn’t see the guy who was inside,” DeSpain said.
Gritt was eventually caught and charged with entering a locked vehicle, according to the report.
When the victim returned to his car, he saw his laser light, valued at about $1,200, was stolen as well as the face plate to his stereo, DeSpain said. The stereo in the truck was also disabled and removed from the dash, but it was found sitting on the truck’s floor.
Bill Knobeloch, parking operations manager for Parking Utility, said JBM Patrol and Protection Corporation, a security firm, often patrols the Buckeye Lot.
He added this is not the first incident when the MPD has been called down to the lot. Sometime last year, a stabbing occurred near the lot and the suspect’s knife was thrown into the lot.
Because JBM was there, the MPD was contacted to help look for the suspect’s knife, Knobeloch added.
“It’s an open lot and kind of a connector street between (Gilman and Gorham) streets,” Knobeloch said. “There’s a lot of head traffic through there.”
IP hash: 58d939ef
What bothers me about this article is this: 1. If it was Gritt in the car and the victim did supposedly “close the door on his leg” why wasn’t there any mention as to any kind of brusing on the perpetrator? 2. If a getaway vehicle may have been seen, did the victim loose the suspect before the police apprehended Mr. Gritt. and if so why wasn’t there any mention of that? 3. Where is the laser light, the faceplate, and or the slimjim tool, the article makes no mention of these items being recovered in the area or on the suspect, furthermore it goes purely on the statement made by Mr. DeSpain who creates an illusion that Mr. Gritt did infact have some of these item in his possesion. 4. If we still live in a country where one is innocent until proven guilty why can the writer assume that Mr. Gritt is infact the perpetrator? Additionally will she publish an article when Mr Gritt proves his innocence?
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So much for innocent until proven guilty. Another great piece of journalism from the Badger Herald.
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This article is completely outrageous. This story does not add up, and additionally this article is full of false information, Mr. Gritt did not have any bruises on his body. Also, why would they even a mention a get-a-way vehicle? Obviously if he say a vehicle and suspected it of having the robber in it, why would they go after and falsely arrest an innocent civilian.
Not only does this lower the reputation of a man who will be proven innocent at his trial, but it makes the reputation of this paper look horrible because it is printing false information and assuming that this man is guilty before any vital evidence against him has been given. In addition, if this “supposed” writer is going to write about a false arrest, hopefully she will have the decency to write about his innocence after it is proven.
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as we have all seen the badger herald writes articles that are “guilty until proven innocent”
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Well, once again the “Badger Safety Patrol News” flubs one of its insufferable “sensational street crime pieces.” I refer to the March 9, 2009 print-version article headlined “Parking lot robbed; local DJ’s vehicle ransacked.” It took Heather Burian no further along than the subtitle: “Madison man steals laser light, face plate; caught after pursuit” to screw things up. Why do I criticize Burian’s reportage so vehemently? Because this article identifies a SUSPECT (identified in the subsequent text as “Nicholas Gritt of Madison,”) yet the venerable reporter seems so utterly ignorant of the presumption of innocence that is at the very heart of English Common Law, and hopefully American jurisprudence as well, that she essentially appoints herself juror and pronounces Mr. Gritt guilty in advance. Hopefully Heather will allow due process to take its course before passing sentence as well.
I noticed some further, notable inaccuracy in the hard-copy paper as the article continues: “When the suspect returned to his car, he saw his laser light, valued at about $1200, was stolen as well as the face plate to his stereo, DeSpain said.” I only hope this particular typo was Ms. Burian’s responsabililty, and that MPD Spokesperson Joel DeSpain wasn’t the one who confused “victim” with “suspect!”
A number of Badger Herald articles and editorials have recently either reported that an “alleged rape” occurred at Sigma Chi fraternity, or else implored the community to give “the boys at Sigma Chi” the benefit of the doubt. Unpopular as this may be to say, such usage is appropriate, for the legal reasons I have stated above. Now your reporters and opinion staffers need to stay on the ball, and accord the same kind of basic impartiality to all those individuals appearing in the pages of the Herald. Even the rather hysterical Fox-network show “COPS” announces at the beginning of the episode that “All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”
You need to do better, folks. Respect the spirit of the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights, please! Sincerely, Dan A. Goldstein, Madison resident who long ago forgot his Badger Herald log-in password.
P.S.: Correct me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t this sort of alleged offense more accurately described as a “burglary,” as opposed to a “robbery?”
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Journalistic integrity compromised.
As a student newspaper, the Badger Herald fosters many talented, young journalists. Often, their articles provide readers with accurate and unique perspectives surrounding the greater UW community.
This article, contrarily, provides readers with a skewed image of a subject who is assumed guilty without proper investigation. Having written for a both the Herald and the Cardinal and understanding the deadline constraints associated with student journalism. I am (perhaps unjustly) assuming this article’s author read a police report in 15 minutes and penned an article in a couple of hours.
Minimal investigation was invested in this article. I would like to ask the author: did you try contacting the officer involved of the suspect? The victim? It seems to me these would be key interview when reporting any crime.
And to the editor who wrote the headline. I thought sensational journalism was left for the New York Post, The Enquirer, and Fox News. How many semicolons do you need to catch a readers attention? The subheading stands alone in shoddy writing. Innocent before proven guilty? Not when The Badger Herald decides to write a story.
Please refrain from these practices in the future and continue to provide the students at UW with the quality journalism we expect and often receive from this publication.
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I don’t understand how you can publish something like this. Mr. Gritt hasn’t been proven guilty, or been on trial for that matter, and shouldn’t be portrayed as a criminal. How can such slander be publicly printed? I think it’s best to get the facts before altering someone’s reputation so drastically. I’m thoroughly disappointed with this article and the way things were handled.
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This is absolutely horrible. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!!!! What a horrible article, poorly written and supported with NO FACTS. I will never read the badger herald again.
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I had read this same story, about this incident, but in The Capital Times, and in my opinion that article was written by a much better journalist. How can you put guilt on a man who hasn’t even had his trial? Nor is his side of the story said in this story either, why even write an article when you don’t have both sides of the story? Especially when you are going to put blame on him and just ASSUME he is guilty.
Maybe next time this “writer” should do a little more research instead of briefly glancing over a police report.
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Terrible journalism.
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What a bad article. I am now deleting Badger Herald from my favorites list.
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Nick Gritt Rocks!!!!!!!!!!(:
IP hash: a2006288
Nick Gritt Rocks!!!!!!!!(:
IP hash: a2006288
anonymous Nick Gritt Rocks!!!!!!!
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Nick Gritt Rocks!!!!!!!!