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We also found a story from our archives, when Noble was a part of this newsroom. It's from 2006, when he was covering the story on why members of the public should not be afraid to know their HIV status. Here's a snippet of that story:

Posted December 1, 2006
Dr. Beverley Barnett, PAHO
"As we say, what will be, will be."

And maybe that's the same attitude I took as again for the second time in three years I publicly took the test. There is counseling, blood is drawn and I got the results. It's a simple process and within a matter of one hour the test result is handed to me and for the record I'm negative. Reporting for 7NEWS, Alfonso Noble.

Under the weight of the controversy surrounding the quite transparent Jehovah's Witnesses claim, Panton has since retracted it.

In a press release sent today, Panton says, quote, "In my interview with members of the media yesterday I informed them that…my client, Mr. Alfonso Noble is a member of the Jehovah's Witness faith. It has come to my attention since then that Mr. Noble is not a Jehovah's Witness. I have also learnt from a Leader in the Jehovah's Witness that one of the doctrines of the faith is that they do not receive blood in respect of blood transfusions, (but) there is no such doctrine with regards to the giving of blood, particularly in circumstances of a Police investigation. In any event, it is Mr. Noble's constitutional right to refuse to give a blood sample." End quote. We note that failure to provide a sample is considered a minor offence, which carries a relatively small fine.

And while it is indeed a driver's choice not to provide a sample, in most cases, those same drivers get to go home after giving, or choosing not to give, a sample. But Noble was detained for four days.

Yesterday, ACP Chester Williams explained that police weren't doing it to be malicious. But, later in that interview Williams almost contradicts himself when he does concede that it is highly unusual for a detained person in an accident to be held for 80+ hours. Except in this case, it was a kind of passive-aggressive detention: Noble wasn't put in a holding cell; instead, he was allowed to stay in an office area with amenities not available to the average detainee.

We asked Williams to put it all in perspective:

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"Was he singled out for detention because he's a well-known UDP mouth piece?"

ACP Chester Williams - OC, Southside Police
"What the police were interested in first and foremost was to do things the right way and to do it by the books. We did not want to have any misstep in the investigation. The police would normally issue NIP in circumstances where it is difficult to ascertain what may have occurred on the scene, so the police investigation process will take a little while longer, so the police would normally do that. But from the police investigative view they are of the belief that a certain person may have been at fault, the police can proceed and prefer charges immediately without issuing an NIP."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"On the flip side of that, he was detained, you explained that for the 4 days. Was he given special treatment so far as, was he allowed to not be in the detention cell, but to be in an office at the Raccoon Street Station?"

ACP Chester Williams - OC, Southside Police
"Mr. Vasquez, I will say that accidents are for anybody. While yes he may not have been kept in the cell block, he was kept at the police station, not in any office with no other special treatment. So to answer your question, I will say yes and that was a discretion that I made being the person in charge of my station concerning the fact that it's an accident. It was not an intentional killing and it's an unfortunate situation that anybody could find themselves in at any given time."

Reporter
"Lots of people are involved in accidents and they sometimes are refused bail at the court. Mr. Noble not only was kept in a special place in the police station, he was also granted bail."

ACP Chester Williams - OC, Southside Police
"Mr. Parks, let's be real as what was said by Mr. Vasquez earlier, some people when involved with accidents, they don't even see the police station for an extended period of time. Mr. Noble was kept there for 4 days. So to some extent if you want to look at people being treated differently to some extent he has been treated differently by being kept in custody for 4 days."

Also, in our coverage of the story last night, we aired an interview with Andrea Myers, the grieving wife of the man Noble knocked down. In that interview she made generalized characterizations of Alfonso Noble, suggesting that he drank habitually.

We ought not to have aired those unsubstantiated comments, and - to avoid a lawsuit - we apologize to Noble for whatever personal inconvenience it caused him.