As a University of Minnesota student intern in a Minneapolis City Council office in 2006, Tony Webster tried to chase down a complaint for a constituent who claimed to have been aggressively treated at a private parking lot after his car was booted.
As Webster's internship ended, he still didn't have answers from city regulators. He persisted — eventually getting access to records that revealed little oversight of private parking lots, where some enforcement agents kept guns and handcuffs. Oversight was subsequently tightened.
Webster, now 30, earns a living as a freelance software engineer whose passion is seeking — and usually winning — access to government information. The Twin Cities man describes government as a "wall of secrecy." He punches through that wall on his Twitter feed and blog, which have become must-reads for those interested in details of the killing of Philando Castile by St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez last July.
"I view police as having a lot of power, and that should come with accountability," Webster said. He extends that philosophy to government in general.
He alone found wrenching moments in the Castile files. He was the first to reveal a snippet of video showing Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, handcuffed in the back of a police car trying to console her 4-year-old daughter.
He tweeted a snippet of video showing Reynolds in a closed room with investigators at the moment the men informed her of Castile's death.
Webster also pointed out two small but significant details in a photo of Yanez: Castile's blood-spattered car insurance card still attached to the officer's shirt and a band on his wrist that reads, "Police Lives Matter."
Webster's insights from the Castile files add to piles of information he has provided to the public. He's a behind-the-scenes watchdog so effective that in recent months he's won awards.
