"which led to police issue an Amber Alert" [sic]

Question

Budd, 43, is wanted in connection with the death of Justin Bird, 17, and the abduction of his ex-spouse's 17-year-old daughter, which led to police issue an Amber Alert for the girl yesterday. (Jonas Budd, suspect in abduction and fatal shooting, located in Saskatchewan - CBC news Feb.19 2015)

Is the bold part grammatically right? or Is it supposed to be "which led police to issue an Amber Alert"? Thank you.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about a typo — FumbleFingers, Feb 19 '15 at 22:43
I might join in the close voting on ELU, but not here on ELL. I can understand how a learner might wonder if this is a mistake, or a wording they simply haven't learned yet. — J.R., Feb 19 '15 at 22:55
I do notice the main text is correct, it's merely the photo caption that has the incorrect wording. — BCdotWEB, Feb 20 '15 at 10:01
@BCdotWEB Yes you are right. They must have corrected it later on. When I posted my question on the morning of 19th, it hasn't yet. — whitecap, Feb 22 '15 at 00:14

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 19 '15 at 21:16

11

Your interpretation is correct. The reporter was probably in a hurry, and made a mistake. Either of the following options would be correct:

which led police to issue an Amber Alert
which led to police issuing an Amber Alert

answered Feb 19 '15 at 21:16

Jasper

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...although pedants will argue that the second option is still grammatically incorrect: the gerund issuing cannot have a subject, but must instead take a possessive. The corrected second option is: which led to the police's issuing an Amber Alert – Quuxplusone Feb 20 '15 at 03:43
The second form may be grammatically incorrect, but nevertheless, it is commonly used, at least in my experience. – Bill Michell Feb 20 '15 at 08:54

"which led to police issue an Amber Alert" [sic]

1 Answers1