Cal Skinner reports today on the three 9-1-1 calls from the McHenry County Sheriff's Department shooting range, after Deputy Eric Woods suffered injuries from a fragmented bullet fired at close range near him.
You can see photographs and listen to the calls at www.mchenrycountyblog.com/
In the first call, at first I could not understand the caller's name (Morrow?), although he did say he was calling from the range. When the male caller reported that they needed rescue at 2311 Hartland Road, he did not say that he was a deputy, that the injured party was a deputy, or that the injury was a firearms accident, and the operator did not ask! There seemed to be no curiosity about how a person suffered a shrapnel injury to a leg.
Why did he use a telephone, instead of using a department radio for direct contact? I mean, aside from the fact that reporters use scanners and civilians listen to sheriff's department frequencies.
The MCSD dispatcher then called the Woodstock Police Department, and the dispatcher there also displayed no curiosity about such a wound.
In the second call that was recorded on the sheriff's telephone service, the MCSD dispatcher was conversing with someone in authority who knew that Lt. Miller was at the range.
In the third call a deputy (Brian ???) called the sheriff's department dispatcher for a report number. Conversation in the background included mention of a helicopter, but Flight-for-Life is not mentioned in any reports. The dispatcher assigned Report Number 10270 for the injury at the range. Someone in the background could be heard groaning; probably Deputy Woods.
On the Wednesday two days after the shooting, I was told that Flight-for-Life had responded, but then a decision was made to transport Woods by Woodstock Fire/Rescue paramedic vehicle.
The McHenry County Blog carries photographs obtained from the sheriff's department showing shell casings on the ground, which were four feet from the metal target. Other photos show unarmed practice approaching the targets. Three casings were close together, but obviously they cannot "talk" and say at what targets their bullets were fired.
No re-enactment photos were apparently given to Cal Skinner. Probably none was taken. While everyone was standing around, that would have been the ideal time to re-position all deputies on that 8-member SWAT element, with a substitute for injured Deputy Woods.
Where's the photograph of that scene, damning as it might be?
I added this comment on McHenryCountyBlog.com, since one writer, Frankd Dojr thought no 9-1-1 call was placed:
"Frankd Dojr, the MCSD dispatcher at the sheriff's department answered the first call as "9-1-1 emergency. May I help you?"
"When you read the reports and try to piece together what really happened, you find out quickly that there are critical pieces of information missing, such as, 1. who fired; 2. how many rounds were fired; 3. at which targets did which deputies shoot; 4. was Flight-for-Life called or not: 5. did it arrive or was it called off after being dispatched.
"There is a suspicious that Woods was sent in first, so that others could gather around him and shoot, to give him a taste of what "action" might be like. His honest report will confirm that or dispel it. Cal didn't get Woods' report or Embry's report."
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8 comments:
Training incidents do occur and it is a fact of police training. If anyone thinks for one minute that there is some evil cover up, they are sadly mistaken. Each year officers are severely injured during training scenarios and even the most prestigious agencies (such as the FBI) suffer such accidents. Not to diminish this accident but bad things happen to good people
We are in the middle of a contentious Sheriff election and the Oliver Stone types, LIKE YOU GUS and this band of hateful buddies such as Zane Seipler love to find controversy where none exists. This is another case of how you love to add to the feeding frenzy.
I listened to the 911 call and it was handled professionally. There was no hysteria or indication of great bodily harm. Even Deputy Morrow described it as shrapnel wound. These deputies see serious injuries on a daily basis. If they feared the injury for their fellow deputy was critical, they would have stressed such urgency over the phone during the initial call.
These crazy allegations of hazing are just outright ridiculous. The targets are certified knock over targets and I pray that when the FINAL report is complete, it is published with such vigor as the sniping protagonist use with this unfounded hyperbole.
NotA, we won't know until we see Deputy Woods' thorough, independently-written report. And Embry's report.
Will he state why he didn't shoot on the first, nearest, vicious-dog target, only foor feet in front of him when he entered the room?
Had it been the "real deal", that dog would have taken him down. In an actual event, would others have shot at the dog and maybe shot Woods? Was he told to bypass the first (dog) target and go left?
Why didn't the next three in the room shoot the dog target? Why was the dog left to #5 into the room?
And why was a steel target placed only four feet into the room?
Read the target safety manuals about minimum safe distance to steel targets.
A contentious sheriff's race has absolutely nothing to do with this.
I was critical of sheriff's department operations and writing publicly about them for a long time before this sheriff's race.
The deputies and corrections officers, and the public, need the full story, and they are getting it only through the blogs.
What is the public getting from the Northwest Herald?
"Road rash."
Gus, you ask "Will he state why he didn't shoot on the first, nearest, vicious-dog target, only foor feet in front of him when he entered the room?" That may well have been a screw up on HIS or somebody else's part, Gus. This was a TRAINING exercise and, dare I say it, a learning environment. It wasn't perfect even though that's their intent - to make it so. Alright SOMEBODY may, repeat MAY, have screwed up in not taking out the dog first. Perhaps another target existed that posed even more of a threat to Woods, who knows? Certainly not me and, I doubt you have a clue either.
You are treating this like the Kennedy assassination for God's sake. What would you be saying if Woods or one of the others entering that shooting room had fired upon the lady holding the baby> Would you be screaming for a grand jury indictment?
Most Monday morning quarterbacks at least wait until all the facts are in before making a stink and giving their expert opinion on how the incident should have gone down - comfortable in the knowledge that they know what happened and can lay out "their master plan" to fit the end result. You don't even wait for that. Maybe the grand jury should investigate carefully... I've got it! Let's have them confiscate every weapon on the scene that day and see if any of them were altered in any fashion. Then, if there was any alteration, we can make that party report to his LT and explain why the weapon was altered. If he won't explain...
Gus,
Flight never even landed at the scene. They were put on stand by by the fire dept. Meaning that they get the bird ready and the pilot goes through his checks. Once rescue was on scene they assessed the injury and mad a decision that the helicopter was not needed to take the deputy to a level one trauma center. The Police have nothing to do with the Flight for Life!!!!!
Dam it now Bulldog....NOW YOU BLEW IT...Gus thinks the cops run EVERYTHING and until the November race is over, anything at the MCSO is going to be blown out of proportion
Hey, I thought maybe one of you guys might have let something slip about my not piling on and filing my own FOIA Requests.
Maybe I should. I might get different information, and then I could compare what I got (or didn't get) with what others have gotten.
Do you still think Woods' just has some "road rash" from the splatter?
The following comment was posted by a reader on 4/5/10 at 11:59PM to a different article:
"I hear Woods is going to be out for quite a while with his "road rash" injury."
Let's wish Woods a speedy and complete recovery and quick return to full-time work.
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