What did ISP report really say about Pavlin case?

Remember when, just last week, the McHenry County Sheriff's Department made a big deal about saying its deputies were cleared by the Illinois State Police investigation in the case involving the Pavlin family? That's the case where Mr. Pavlin, then age 80, and Mrs. Pavlin, then age 65, were injured in their home after sheriff's deputies took their son into custody on a warrant.

Not only did the sheriff's department say that the deputies were cleared, but the editorial staff of the Northwest Herald pounced on me.

The June 1st letter to Sheriff Nygren is two paragraphs, and short ones, at that. In the first, it reads "...Illinois State Police investigators interviewed all known witnesses with the exception of Jerome, Carla and Carl Pavlin. The Pavlin's (sic) would not submit to an interview.

"This investigation revealed no criminal acts were committed by your officers. ..."

The letter was signed by Commander Terry Lemming, Illinois State Police, Region 1 Commander.

According to the lawyer for Mr. and Mrs. Pavlin, as reported in last week's Northwest Herald, the Pavlins unsuccessfully tried to arrange interviews, so it would be interesting to learn exactly how hard and by what means the I.S.P. attempted to interview them. I question whether "would not submit" is the right wording in Cmdr. Lemming's letter.

I know for a fact that the I.S.P. did not interview two people with knowledge of the events of that night, who would have shed important light on what happened. How is it that the I.S.P. didn't know of them? How hard did it look for all persons with knowledge?

In closing, Cmdr. Lemming invited Sheriff Nygren to contact him, if he (the sheriff) learned of other information pertinent to that case. Right! Like that would happen...

Here's my question to Cmdr. Lemming: "If you don't talk to the victims, how are you going to get the whole story?"