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Feb 12, 2008 5:11 pm US/Central
Arizona Police Respond To Cover Up Accusation
NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Tuesday, police in Arizona respond to charges that they are covering up the murder of a Dallas firefighter.
Those charges were made Monday night by the widow of Charles Whitaker during an exclusive interview with CBS 11 News.
Whitaker and Reginald
Cuington were shot after leaving a bar near Phoenix where they had been watching the
Super Bowl.
Soon after Whitaker died from his injuries, police
released information that the two firefighters were subjects of a
counterfeit jersey investigation only two days earlier.
Ericka Whitaker insists that her husband was selling replica NFL jerseys, not counterfeit ones. "That was one of the reasons why he was down there, was his entrepreneurial spirit," she said.
Tuesday, police in Glendale, Arizona said they are convinced the jerseys are counterfeit and had an NFL representative with them at the time of the seizure.
The NFL licenses two classes of jerseys, authentic and replica. The numbers and letters are sewn onto authentic jerseys, while the replica jerseys have pressed on numbers and letters.
Glendale police say they watched the interview with Ericka, and said while they "feel for her loss," they stand by their decision to take the merchandise.
The information about the alleged counterfeit jerseys has added more confusion to the investigation, which has yet to produce any leads to solving Whitaker's murder.
"Instead of concentrating on who did it, it seems the negative publicity is only focused on who he was with and what they were doing, and trying to say that those jerseys they were saying were counterfeit, which is not true," she said.
Glendale police admit they do not know if the alleged counterfeit merchandise and the drive-by shooting are connected.
Meanwhile, funeral arrangements for Whitaker have been finalized. He will be buried at 11 a.m. Friday. Services will be held at the Potter's House on West Kiest in Dallas.
Cuington is out of the hospital and recovering back home in Dallas.
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