Arizona Republic Reporter Who Left Dog in Car Completed First-Offender Program

The story: Arizona Republic reporter Eugene Scott is arrested in August for leaving his puppy in a hot car. The dog wasn't hurt, but Scott was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty. The follow-up: Scott was placed in a Chandler court diversion program, which usually involves taking some kind of civic-lesson...

By Ray Stern

May 21, 2009

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The story:

Arizona Republic reporter Eugene Scott is arrested in August for leaving his puppy in a hot car. The dog wasn't hurt, but Scott was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.

The follow-up:

Scott was placed in a Chandler court diversion program, which usually involves taking some kind of civic-lesson classes. The Chandler prosecutor's office tells New Times Scott successfully completed the program and the charge was dismissed.

Our August 21, 2008 post about Scott jumped on the Arizona Republic for failing to write about its own reporter's arrest. The paper did cover the story five days later, after Scott was charged with a crime. Needless to say, newspapers don't typically wait until an official criminal charge before writing about crime suspects. But at least the paper didn't blow off the story entirely.

Scott, who still works for the Republic, declined comment.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.