EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — KTSM 9 News received the top statewide honor Saturday night, April 13 for its special investigative series called “Dying for Answers,” chronicling how the police respond to people dealing with mental health issues and the unanswered questions these encounters often leave behind.
The station was honored at the Texas Association of Broadcast News Awards in Austin.
From left, KTSM anchor/reporter Karla Draksler, Assignments Manager Andra Litton and General Manager David Candelaria with the top award for Investigative Report for Medium Market at the Texas Association of Broadcast News Awards Saturday, April 13 in Austin.
KTSM won for Investigative Report in the Medium Market category. “Dying For Answers” was a five-part series that ran in September 2023. These reports documented the story of Daniel Diaz who died after being tased and beaten by seven El Paso Police officers in April 2021. It also looked at a pattern of similar responses by El Paso Police, police training and the future of the department.
A sixth part was recently added this past month about a encounter between police at UTEP that left another man, Ray Lara, dead in 2020.
The series was spearheaded by KTSM Assignments Manager Andra Litton and anchor/reporter Karla Draksler. Aaron Montes, with KTEP radio, also worked on the project as did former KTSM chief photographer Ruben Espinoza.
You can read and watch the report by going to KTSM.com, and going to the “News” tab at the top of the homepage, clicking on it and then going to the “Dying for Answers” category. You can also go directly to the stories by clicking here.
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