Sandy Hook,Newtown,CT.,9/11 Calls:Police Response Coverup ?
Hearst Connecticut Newspapers sources said someone at police
headquarters ordered police responders to wait before entering the
school where, in less than five minutes, 20-year-old Adam Lanza had gunned down 20 first-graders and six educators before taking his own life as police closed in...........
On Thursday, some officials, including Newtown Police Union President Scott Ruszczyk, said the wait order was directed at ambulance personnel, not police, who he said entered the school as soon as they arrived.
"It's standard protocol not to send in unarmed people to a scene that
is not secure," he said, adding he is sure the order was meant for
medical personnel "because I spoke to the person who gave it."
Ruszczyk said the person was a Newtown sergeant, who he declined to
identify because he was not authorized to speak to that aspect of
the investigation.
But one of the two sources who listened to the tapes, addressing the
apparent warning to stay out of the school, reiterated Thursday: "I
think we thought it was the police."
Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe
declined to answer questions about the confusion, saying he believes
"the record will be cleared up in the near future," as soon as Monday,
when Sedensky is expected to release a 40-page summary of the monthslong
Connecticut State Police investigation of the shootings.
On Monday, a state Superior Court
judge in New Britain will rule on Sedensky's appeal and decide whether
the 911 calls should be made available to the public........
Sources told Hearst the 911 tapes don't include sounds of children in
distress as Lanza proceeded on his deadly rampage. The possibility of
audible cries from children on tape had been cited by many who opposed
making the recordings public. -newstimes.com
http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Llodra-now-favors-release-of-Sandy-Hook-911-calls-5000197.php
NEWTOWN -- Comparing the steady leak of information about the investigation of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School
to "Chinese water torture," First Selectman Pat Llodra said Thursday
she now believes recordings of 911 calls from the school should be
made public.
"Every day, there is something in the media that drags us back to
that terrible day," Llodra said. "I think everything that can be
released should be released."
Llodra, who had opposed making the recordings public, was reacting to
the report Thursday by Hearst Connecticut Newspapers in which sources
familiar with the 911 calls said they raised questions about the police
response last Dec. 14 to the second-deadliest school shooting in the
nation's history.
The 40-minutes of recordings are the subject of a legal battle between Danbury State's Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III, who is leading the investigation into the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, and the state Freedom of Information Commission, which in September ordered that the phone conversations be made public. Sedensky appealed that order.
Hearst Connecticut Newspapers sources said someone at police
headquarters ordered police responders to wait before entering the
school where, in less than five minutes, 20-year-old Adam Lanza had gunned down 20 first-graders and six educators before taking his own life as police closed in.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy,
speaking with reporters at the Connecticut International Auto Show on
Friday, said he understands the emotions of people such as Llodra, as
new details of the school murders emerge without a final report from
Danbury State's Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III.
"I saw her comments and the headline," Malloy said. "I understand her
frustration. I'm frustrated as well that the prosecutor's report has
taken this long a time. I am happy that the families have been briefed. I
have not received the report myself yet. I'll comment about the report
once I personally read it and I will read it as soon as it's provided to
me. I think all the information that is going to be made available, the
sooner it's made available the better, so that we can get further into
the healing process for the families that have been most
adversely impacted."
On Thursday, some officials, including Newtown Police Union President Scott Ruszczyk, said the wait order was directed at ambulance personnel, not police, who he said entered the school as soon as they arrived.
"It's standard protocol not to send in unarmed people to a scene that
is not secure," he said, adding he is sure the order was meant for
medical personnel "because I spoke to the person who gave it."
Ruszczyk said the person was a Newtown sergeant, who he declined to
identify because he was not authorized to speak to that aspect of
the investigation.
But one of the two sources who listened to the tapes, addressing the
apparent warning to stay out of the school, reiterated Thursday: "I
think we thought it was the police."
Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe
declined to answer questions about the confusion, saying he believes
"the record will be cleared up in the near future," as soon as Monday,
when Sedensky is expected to release a 40-page summary of the monthslong
Connecticut State Police investigation of the shootings.
On Monday, a state Superior Court judge in New Britain will rule on Sedensky's appeal and decide whether the 911 calls should be made available to the public.
`They did the best they could'
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has been critical of Sedensky for not
releasing the report sooner, said Thursday he couldn't make a judgment
on the police response until he sees the investigative report, which is
expected to be released Monday.
"Obviously, in the case of a mass shooting, there's a lot of chaos,
and that's true in these circumstances and we knew it was true that
day," Malloy said. "How this will all play out -- its coverage in the
report -- I don't have firsthand information, so it's hard for me to
otherwise comment."
But Malloy said it would make sense that the warning not to immediately enter the school was directed at medical personnel.
"You wouldn't send ambulance responders who are unarmed into an ongoing shooting situation," he said.
State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, whose district includes Newtown, said Thursday that he is frustrated.
"My first reaction is, without criticism of the news media, is one of
frustration that people somehow involved in the 911 report are leaking
information," he said. "It's also frustrating it's taking so long. The
families deserve to see what's in the 911 tapes."
McKinney said he "would hesitate to draw any conclusions until the
information and all the questions are answered. ... I think everybody
needs to be very cautious about jumping to conclusions before we have
all the facts."
Sources told Hearst the 911 tapes don't include sounds of children in
distress as Lanza proceeded on his deadly rampage. The possibility of
audible cries from children on tape had been cited by many who opposed
making the recordings public.
In his arguments for keeping the 911 calls secret, Sedensky said the
children were victims of child abuse, because they were shot and killed
by the gunman...........................
No comments:
Post a Comment