For those unfamiliar with my work for the now-defunct LS Meteor and my own publication – JAYWALKING – my name is Jay Walker. I am a reporter, investigatory journalist and part-time documentary filmmaker.
For over a year now, since arriving from the United Kingdom, I have travelled across the state of San Andreas and visited numerous cities in my quest to document the life and times of those risiding in the globally recognised crime-ridden bubbles that you call home.
This will not come as a surprising or controversial assessment of your surroundings. Simply a statement of fact that all too many have come to accept without adequate resistance. It has been a fascinating and eye-opening adventure. Sometimes exciting. Often tragic. Alongside day-to-day public interest stories of all kinds, it is my business to investigate and report on the unsavoury and the unscrupulous – whether they reside in the highest of offices or simply walk the streets with the rest of us.
Despite what you may have read in the press recently, I am not the devil nor his spawn. It is my hope that those who have met and dealt with me would back up this assertion. However, I accept that the picture may be cloudy for those that it has been my civic and professional duty to report on in the past. One such individual is local taxi magnate Oliver Patterson (Patterson Cab Company).
Mr. Patterson is an incredibly successful business owner and by all accounts, a very generous man. I was saddened and disappointed to see his misrepresentation of my work in his recent opinion piece. I have spent a considerable amount of time with Mr. Patterson since my arrival in San Andreas and on numerous occasions have relied on his support and guidance to not only build a business of my own but to simply survive in this unpredictable and sometimes dangerous world.
However, Mr. Patterson’s frequent downfall is the trust that he places in his employees. On numerous occasions, it has been my solemn duty to report on criminal acts and associations of the drivers of Patterson’s Cab Company. On one such occasion, a member of Mr. Patterson’s staff had broken in to my personal vehicle and had intended to await my return whilst in possession of a firearm. Thankfully I was privy to this act from afar and able to report the act to the local Police Department.
The public arrest of one of his employees as a result of my report enraged Mr. Patterson. He was unwilling to believe that a man under his employ could engage in such a heinous and unprovoked act which could have resulted in grave harm coming to myself. It is a pattern of behaviour which has tainted my personal and professional relationship with Mr. Patterson. Such is his faith in his employees that he has become blinded to the truth.
Although I respect Mr. Patterson enormously and his public service to this city is undisputed, I cannot turn a blind eye to the actions of a small number of his employees. What may start as petty theft and trespass may lead to an escalation of violence, endangering the public and the lives of our brave law enforcement officials (one of whom it was my humble privilege to save from such a tragic situation in recent days).
For as long as I remain in this country, in this state and in this city, it is my duty to serve you. I have no choice but to place my personal allegiances, friendships and relationships aside in order to shine a light on the darkest corners of our society – no matter the cost. I am sincerely sorry for the distress that my reporting has caused Mr. Patterson, but this is a personal and public plea for him to face the reality unfolding under his nose.
This state has not corrupted me. I have no criminal record. I have never seen the inside of a police processing department. I have not so much as a speeding fine to my name. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of a select few under Mr. Patterson’s employ. I implore him to see sense, reason and to carry out his own civic duty:
Cut loose those who corrupt your business and your good name. Let the world see the real Oliver Patterson without the unnecessary and continued distractions caused by those around you.
Before they do something which takes you down with them.