This morning's paper carries a story about one of Island Lake P.D.'s finest who chased a speeder, according to the reporter's story, "past Prairie Grove Elementary School, likely at speeds between 80 and 90 mph". That would have been about 8:05AM on a school day.
The chase continued to Route 31, north into McHenry, through the jog of Route 31 at Route 120, and into the Meijer's parking lot. Then out of the lot and west on McCullom Lake Road, past Harrison Elementary School and into Wonder Lake, where the offender was finally stopped.
Island Lake Police officer David Walz said his "lights and siren were on the whole way." How nice. Was his brain working?
"My average speed was probably 80 mph." Not likely.
And about near-misses and close calls with accidents? "We came close several times, but fortunately we didn't have any collisions with anybody."
I'll tell you - Chief William McCorkle ought to have some heavy explaining to do to the Island Lake Mayor and the Village Trustees. His back ought to hurt after standing at attention for hours in front of Mayor Herrmann.
And Walz ought to be facing disciplinary AND traffic charges. There are times when you abandon pursuit, and that was one of them!
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22 comments:
What???? Wasn't Herrdmann listening to her PD radio that morning? The one stashed in her purse? Why couldn't she intervene then, and stop this chase cold?
IS the VOIL so hard up for ticket cash that we needed to chase a miscreant that was already identified, and a DRUNK-DRIVING lawbreaker at that, for more than 15 miles?
If this guy were so worthy of apprehension, why don't we have a story about the Wauconda PD chasing this guy instead?
As of this time, the Northwest Herald is not permitting reader comments on their story. Why not???
My quess is that they know the public will be PO'd. I'm told other agencies did not join in on this chase as their department chase policies prohibited it. It was all traffic charges, the officer knew the offender so what was the sense in endangering the public? This is purely cowboy mentality.
Walz amitted he averaged 80mph...the lowest post speed would have been 25mph...that's 55mph OVER the speed limit. To average 80mph he wold have had to be running over 100mph to get that average....Throw his sorry ass in jail!
And the chief was OK with that chase? He must have the same cowboy, lets go in with guns blazing, mentality as Walz. Somebody better pull the reins in before something worse happens.
Re: Your blog of the Island Lake Police Officer David Walz
Gus
If you actually talked with the officer himself, you might actually get the truth. The editors in the newspapers pick and choose WHAT THEY WANT in the paper. I am extremely disappointed in you and in the human spirit. You were referred to me for the purpose of helping me advocate for parents and kids being bullied. Now I see that you do exactly what the bullies did to my son for 9 years. They felt entitled to destroy his spirit,his soul,his self-esteem solely for their enjoyment. I am writing this personally because you are smearing the name of an honorable man without facts, without truth, just because... just because you want your voice to be heard. Do you think about your words? My husband's integrity and honor is beyond your comprehension. He strongly believes in the law, he would never compromise his integrity, his moral code, his values for his own motivation, pleasure, or to move up in the world like we have seen so many do.
Our son died after years of being bullied; daily, the bullies were entertained by destroying his being, he was beaten, mobbed, chocked, humiliated and they got away with it and were protected.
My son was a 2nd degree black belt, so why didn't he fight back? Because he didn't believe in retaliation and he CHOSE not to, not because he was a coward but because he couldn't hurt anyone. Everyone comments on how honorable my son is, never got in trouble, never disrespectful. That's the way he was and that was what he was taught by his parents, his mother and his father Officer David Walz. So like the school administrators and the bullies' parents, you aren't interested in the truth, you are only interested in entertaining yourself and that makes you no better then those adults who failed to protect my son and betrayed him, whom you claim to want to advocate for. You are destroying a good man's name and reputation for the fun of it without the facts. How dare you! I would definitely call that hypocritical. I will definitely not be referring anyone to you after seeing what you personally are capable of.
Nancy Walz
Hey Nancy -
I'm sorry to hear about your son - I'm sure I speak for most everyone here in regards to our not being able to even begin to imagine the torment and grief you and David have had to experience.
Knowing Gus for a number of years now, and being someone that logically disagrees with him quite frequently, I can't agree with your in any way linking or equating his stand on bullying as having any bearing on his valid commentary and viewpoint regarding other, entirely unrelated issues, or as any sort of betrayal.
And being someone who has been intimately involved in controversial news-worthy events in the past, when comparing my personal witness to reality vs. what was reported in the papers, I can honestly say you likely have a valid point in that regard.
While you once viewed Gus as a personal supporter and advocate to your way of thinking overall when it came to bullying back in the day, his loyalty to you in that regard does not require his suspension of strongly-held beliefs on other topics. Had he withheld commentary on this particular story, he would be guilty of being a politician, rather than as an advocate, statesman or erstwhile journalist.
I have a highly positive regard for our Officers – I know I’m not at all equipped to do the job they do. Were I subject to the truth recorded by the “dash cam”, my prosecutors would be on the losing end of many of my stops and arrests. How Officers like your husband are able to refrain from beating the sh*t out of their perps after the stunts they pull, I have no idea! Yet these Officers and your husband are duty-bound and professional enough to be able to consciously separate their own personal feelings and situations from those situations wherein they are enforcing the law. And so it is with this particular situation – while Gus was a valuable asset and advocate for you in the tragic trials you and your son experienced, fueled by his own strongly-held convictions on bullying, you cannot also expect him to remain silent on another issue on which he also has strongly-held beliefs. His past advocacy for an issue that’s meaningful for your family does not in anyway sincerely relate to the legitimacy of the current issue at hand. There is a logical, legal expectation that these two issues stand on their own merit – a dichotomy that your husband and other Officers must professionally face each day – their personal feelings and politics vs. the situation at hand.
In this particular case, as an arms-length armchair-reviewer of this incident and Gus’ commentary, while Gus alludes to your husband’s quotes from the event (the only quoted person in the story), you might also see that Gus asks far larger questions, which I believe to be the whole point of his commentary in the first place.
Unanswered and unasked, why did the Wauconda PD, where this incident originated, not also give chase? Also, what guidelines are in place for chases beyond jurisdictions? Was the McHenry PD and other jurisdictions notified of the chase in progress, and did they join in as well? As having been and “almost accident victim” of active police chases in progress, particularly during “rush hour”, I can validate Gus’ concerns over when a fugitive’s particular transgressions, and the PD’s need for apprehension and arrest, can sometimes be outweighed by the safety of ordinary citizens going about their own business – their rightful expectation.
The larger question though, was if there was adequate command and supervision of this incident by the PD and VOIL Administration. The former Chief was removed and demoted by politically suspect and autocratic means by Mayor Herrmann, as was the new Chief chosen and installed. Additionally, Herrmann has usurped all relevant laws and ordinances in doing so, in assuring her iron grip over the PD. THAT is the most relevant question being raised by Gus. If Herrmann wishes to exercise absolute control over the PD, she is entitled to glean ALL the credit, as well as ALL the liabilities for her unlawful, iron-fisted control of the PD.
THAT is the real issue, Nancy. David is just a mere pawn in this issue. I can assure you that it’s only Herrmann and her Herd of yes-men Trustees that view him this way. For my part, I see David and other Officers as victims of a corrupted, dysfunctional system. He did what he felt he had to do under the circumstances absent any involvement or direction from his superiors. Let’s see if McCorkle and Herrmann stand behind your husband, David.
Is it any surprise that no one other than your husband was available for statements to the Northwest Herald?
Either the reporter was lazy, or David's superiors were actively engaged in making themselves unavailable for comment.
I'll bet it's both.
I can't believe that Island Lake PD does not have a chase policy that prohibits chases in situations where a felony has not been committed. DUI and some sort of domestic, neither justifed a high speed chase. This speaks poorly of the leadership of Island Lake and of the quality of the officers common sense.
Dear David & Nancy –
After having previously posted, I reviewed the Legacy site for your son.
Truth be told, had I been one of Scott’s contemporaries at Johnsburg High, I would have been one of Scott’s friends - without question. I’ve already experienced 5 such losses myself, whether they be family or friends, I can honestly say that while I have no logical answers for what happens, my own view has been that due to the world as we know it to be, we do not even begin to deserve these lambs and saints in our midst. That we even have experienced such losses, I know that we can only understand what it is that should be, what it is that which Christ wishes for us all – that which is due all His Souls, yet as a society, we fail miserably to make use of their talents, their grace.
No doubt, your David shares much of what it is that we all wish to see be enforced, sustained and acknowledged in society. Your son could have had no better role models. His father’s - in what it is that he does every day of the week, or in yours - in support of the sanctity of his profession and the myriad worries and angst it causes you each and every day.
For all of those hopes from we, mere citizens, none of us expects that David should be “out there” without adequate supervision or input from those that should be “watching his 6”. In this particular instance, did he have it?
My guess is that he did not.
But please, do not assume that this situation has anything to do with anyone’s advocacy against bullying.
Please!
Please, Frank:
This speaks poorly of the leadership of Island Lake and of the quality of (THOSE) officer's common sense.
The common sense of those in a COMMAND position.
That is either both Herrmann or McCorkle.
The Sgt should have pulled the plug on this chase right away. All he/she had to say was DISCONTINUE.
I obviously need to change my name! How many Franks are on here?
My only question is...since when did it become the Police Officer's fault when the bad guy runs? If a suspect drives negligently while trying to avoid capture it is THEIR fault if something happpens. If the officer drives negligently during a pursuit and hits someone then it is the officers fault.
Why are we blaming the police for chasing suspects? You NEVER know what other crime they may have committed causing them to run.
I'm thinking Debbie was asleep in her cozy warm bed and hit the snooze button on the Bat phone. Oops! You snooze you loose. Good going Princess! Debbie Herrman: crummy Clerk; even worse Mayor
Frank, obviously it's not the Police Officer's fault when the bad guy runs. You said it correctly, when you wrote, "If the officer drives negligently during a pursuit and hits someone then it is the officers fault."
Departments have policies regarding pursuits. The policies are designed to reduce the danger and hazard to citizens, the driver being pursued and to the officer.
I wonder how many other departments and officers were involved.
How many of the 55 tickets will be dropped? How long did it take to write out 55 tickets?
Gee Gus, you'll probably have to ask Mayor Herrmann about whether or not the tickets get waived. Then she'll have to consult with her pocket attorney Scott Puma of Ancel Glink @ an easy $250 per hour. Then she'll call a meeting with her Chief de'jour. All in all you're probably never going to get an answer to that question.
The infraction developed in Wauconda, so why didn't Wauconda do the chase? Maybe they had better sense?
If the suspect crossed the state line into Wisconsin would Walz have continued the chase?
Frank said "If the officer drives negligently during a pursuit and hits someone then it is the officers fault. "
The officer was not drunk, the suspect was. The police knew who it was, he could have been picked up anytime and avoided killing children in the school zones, if that had happened, God forbid, who then pays the price for this indiscretion?
You can not blame Chief McCorkle, he was picked by Mayor Herrmann and is not a seasoned anything who has no business being a chief. Commenters are correct, cowboy mentality that has no place in a police department.
Nancy Walz wants to get the truth but offers nothing to the contrary to what has been printed and writes an expose' of superfluous information about her son, I have no idea how that correlates to a high speed chase, please help me understand.
For the sake of Island Lake, the VOIL PD and any innocent people along the way of this unnecessary chase, if is lucky that no innocent bystanders were killed or maimed, because if that would have happened, certainly a lawsuit would have ensued. Island lake would have lost and village attorney, Scott Puma, would see the "kaching" of cash register dollars. Can Island Lake afford any more unnecessary lawsuits of there own doing, after all this is what this is all about.
I do wonder, if, knowing that the assailant was driving while intoxicated, the officer/police department/village could be held liable for NOT pursuing the offender if said offender subsequently maimed or killed someone while continuing an un-pursued drive.
Shannon, there is so much wrong with this story, starting with an incomplete news article.
How would Ofc. Walz have known that the other driver was intoxicated? I suspect he didn't. If the driver's wife (or ex-wife) told the Wauconda police that he was driving drunk, that's not probable cause. Unless Walz could observe how the driver operated his vehicle, could he really stop him at all?
Remember, this was in morning rush-hour traffic. Crystal Lake or the County could have set up a roadblock at 176 & 31. Traffic had to be moving slowly north on 31. There were plenty of places for roadblocks. McHenry PD could have helped.
The whole story will be very, very interesting. Most of those 55 tickets will be tossed.
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