Eli Steele
Role at the time: Filmmaker, in a Fox News opinion column
Statement summary
In a Fox News opinion column, filmmaker Eli Steele argued that activists turned the man into a symbol by dismissing his criminal record, and said investigators and the courts should judge both the officer who fired and the man.
“The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful, and due process, which protects all individuals within this country, including those who are not citizens. ... So let the courts judge the officer who fired, and let them judge Oscar Belgal too.”
Why we used this label
The reference point is whether the ICE officer was justified in shooting the man in the car. Steele says "The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful" and asks the courts to "judge the officer who fired", leaving that question to investigators instead of answering it, so we labeled it Explicitly stayed out. The closest competing label is Challenged characterization, since most of the column disputes how activists portrayed the man; it loses because on the shooting itself he defers to the investigations.