Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Gary Tragedy: Video from a survivor, Excuses & Excusers

Gary Teenager, Darius Moore, Victim of Accident speaks about situation


Gary Mayor: "Looks Like Somebody Messed Up"

Police Chief: But Gary Police Chief Thomas Houston defended his officers and emergency personnel Monday, saying they had received conflicting information regarding whether anyone had been left behind at the accident scene. Police also said the two survivors had been drinking and that one was legally drunk, though the chief would not specify who had been legally drunk at the time of the incident.

Furthermore, Chief Houston stood by the coroner's findings, saying officials told him, "No matter how much medical assistance was at the scene, there were no lives to be saved."
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How nice. The Police Chief is shifting the blame (if the driver isn't drunk (wasn't said), how is it relevant to the accident that another teenager did get drunk?) and downplaying the results (no lives to be saved.) And since when could a coroner do such an autopsy that quick? (Not to say the results are wrong, but there is a possible lawsuit here at stake, so yes, it is "interesting.")

I hope the Police Chief is fired for his attitude and poor control of his subordinates. No matter how you slice and dice this situation, two people were dead and left behind by those that should be the pillar of concern for all citizens. Since they refused to do their jobs, or listen, they should be brought up on some serious charges, and at least face removal from the police force.

Funny too that the 1st arriving officer's name hasn't been released. It seems the media hasn't tracked down that guy. I'll be curious to see the reaction then.

Some of the Message Board reactions REFLECT the Region's problems:

Commenter #1: Those of you STILL blaming the GPD need to become true adults, yes, I said it, you must be 12 years old to blame the cops. FYI, if it was my son or daughter (12 and 19) in that vehicle, if they were driving, hospital or not, I would have walloped them so hard that they would beg for drinking and driving #1, #2, I would scream at them as well as the ignorant parents of those kids NOT wearing seatbelts, I taught my kids better, obviously, they did not care about theirs to teach them to wear their seatbelts. It is NOT the GPD that murdered those 2 boys, it was Darius, FACE THE FACTS PEOPLE!

Commenter #2: As a mom i want to say my heart and prayers go to the victims.Do i think the boys should be held accountable for their actions if to be found guilty,YES. As for those saying that it wasn't the emergancy care workers fault two boys were left behind,where are you coming from? Being a emergancy care worker,there was no excuse not to find bodies 10 feet from the accident.As for you saying it's not their faults because the boys were drunk driving,that upserd.That's like saying we should not give cpr to a person thats had a heart attack because they are over weight and did it to themselves or not give care to a person with lung cancer because they smoked.Bottom line is when you become a emergancy care worker it doesn't matter if they did it to themselves or not,you help as much as you can. our job is not to judge it's to try and save lives.Also to that mother that says she watches every move her kids make and her youngest is 20,you've must of not done a good job not to trust them as adults.....

Commenter #3: Isn't Rudy Clay the same guy that gave us "Gary is not a violent city"? Now we get "looks like somebody messed up". Perhaps the kid that was driving drunk messed up, eh?

Commenter #4: It was an unfortunate accident and the cause was someone drinking and driving. However after reading the reports and listening to the news accounts (as a police officer) I believe that if the young man said there were other victims or even possible victims they should have looked for them and called fire aparatus if needed. The fault of the accident is one thing but the improper police response and fastest autopsy finding in Lake County history are another thing!!

Commenter #5: I'm not sure where you are a Police Officer at, but they need to send you back to training. As an accident reconstructionist, I can usually tell within the first 5-10 minutes on scene whether speed was a factor involved or not. Although the vehicle rolled down a hill, speed is required to generate the momentum required to make the vehicle roll, not just gravity. Speed has everything to do with the vehicle rolling in this case. Excessive speed would almost definitely be a factor. I agree, the investigation is not complete yet, and there are still alot of unanswered questions, but it comes down to the basic fact that these underage kids were drinking and driving, traveling too fast, and not to mention not wearing their seatbelts. The Coroners verdit states that they died on impact, and no amount of medical care was going to save them. So, now lets hold those responsible for the deaths responsible, namely the driver of the vehicle and those who supplied them the alcohol.

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Issues:
1) How quick others defend the cops and want to the teenagers to pay
2) You see that the mention of alcohol means that the police don't have to do their jobs, the kids are just stupid
3) The Blame Game has started. The Gary Police has shifted it to the teenagers. Trying to cover their tracks, getting autopsies done in record time, suddenly stirring the pot with alcohol, refusing to acknowledge their shoddy police work and not saying anything that can be considered a apology.
4) Officials have little to say that supports the belief they care. Gary Mayor is a real joke. The Police Chief is indifferent to the whole thing. "No lives to be save," must be nice for him to take such a cavalier attitude toward two dead teenagers that aren't his.
5) Those of you who claim to be professionals in emergency care, police work and crime investigation SHOULD all take note:
Do you allow haphazard, shoddy and indifferent natures to permeate your work?

Would you just blame the kids, forget that 6 hours passed before you got two other bodies out of the ditch? Saying, "Oh, well, they're dead. Let's get some lunch, eh?"

Is race the reason?
That the kids were out late?
Why does that matter in how you perform your duties, sworn and by grace of God?

Anyone calling for charges against the boy driving, while ignoring the cops' indifferent nature, is being racist, biased in favor of a "pro" and ignoring a human tenant: that all lives are equal, sacred and worthy of care.

And I duly hope you learn that lesson the hard way. What comes around goes around.


Just sad, sad, sad.

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