The first episode of Collateral Damage
The story of Kathryn Johnston
Greetings, readers. Just a quick post today to let you know that the first episode of my reported podcast Collateral Damage is now out. You can listen or read the transcript here.
Episode One looks at the 2006 death of Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old Atlanta woman who was killed by police during a mistaken drug raid on her home. The police then tried to cover up their mistake by claiming Johnston was either dealing drug or allowing drug dealers to use her home.
The plot was thwarted by the harrowing heroism of Alex White, a police informant who refused to help the cops cover up her death. White’s courage would eventually bring an FBI investigation and the disbandment of the entire narcotics unit at the Atlanta Police Department.
You can also find it wherever you get your podcasts. Hope you’ll listen, subscribe, and — if you like it — give it a favorable review on your favorite podcast platform.
Additionally, we’ve put out a shorter introductory episode explaining why this project has taken on renewed relevance in the second Trump administration. Trump has used the threat of fentanyl to claim dangerous new powers, from his unilateral imposition of tariffs to the summary executions of people in international waters who the White House claims are smuggling drugs. I also look at the parallels between how the Nixon and Reagan administrations claimed sweeping powers by declaring drugs to be a threat to national security — including the power to deploy the military in American cities — and how Trump is now doing the same thing with immigration.
You can listen to or read the transcript for the introductory episode here.
Finally, be sure to check The Watch on Monday for a big story I’ve been working on for about three years. It’s about a man who was accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen children and how, despite the fact that he was never charged, the rush to judgment by politicians, a child services agency, media outlets, and a powerful law firm upended his life. Specialists who study these cases told me the saga reads like a like modern-day manifestation of the ritual sex abuse panic cases from the 1980s and 1990s.
I’ll end this post with the moving ballad that singer-songwriter and Atlanta native Shawn Mullins wrote about Kathryn Johnston’s death back in 2008.
This is a riveting and powerful program about what is wrong with our system. Radley Balko has done it again, delivering a sharp reminder that when something goes wrong when police invade homes, someone dies as a result, and the police are unwilling to admit error.