Illinois State Trooper Matt Mitchell was reportedly emailing his girlfriend and talking to her on his cell phone at more than 100MPH just before he lost control of his patrol car, according to a newspaper article today that referred to recently released documents in a federal lawsuit connected with the November 2007 accident near Belleville, Illinois.
Mitchell's patrol car crossed the median on I-64 and struck one car, then crashed into a second car, killing its two occupants. I recall a previous report that his speed may have been as high as 126MPH.
Mitchell survived and faces reckless homicide and reckless driving charges.
This cellular telephone use while on duty reminded me of a statement in one of the police reports published last week by the Northwest Herald in the Pavlin case. At some time after Deputies Jones and Bruketta arrived at the Pavlin residence, Deputy Jones stepped outside the residence to call Sgt. Pyle on his cellular phone and inform him of what was happening. This would have left Deputy Bruketta alone with the handcuffed son of the senior Pavlins in the house.
To what extent in law enforcement work do departmental rules allow communications between officers to be made off the police radio, where the conversations would be recorded? Is there, or should there be, a requirement that cellular phones will not be used for Departmental business?
When a call is going South, communications need to be on the air, so that all officers, especially those in the vicinity, know what is happening. Dispatchers and all supervisors can then also be aware of problems. Deputy Jones' report doesn't state how long he was out of the residence, and the Northwest Herald did not print any report of Sgt. Pyle.
Are there guidelines, procedures, rules, directives or General Orders at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department regarding use of cell phones while on duty?
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
6 comments:
How can you say its 126 mph, did they have a radar gun? You are going off assumptions as you have in the previous posts.
ace, my recollection from a previous news report about that accident is that it was an Illinois State Police traffic investigator who estimated the vehicle's speed at 126MPH when he left the roadway. So I guess you'd have to ask him how he determined that. Maybe from a "black box" in the patrol car?
How many patrol cars at the McHenry County Sheriff's Dept. have black boxes? Who sees the analyses from them?
I believe Trooper Mitchell was enroute to an accident scene at which emergency personnel, including police, had already arrived.
Would you agree that there was no need for him to be running at 100+MPH, if police had already arrived at the accident scene?
I thought accident investigators had a particular method used to determine the speed of a vehicle involved in a crash.
Gus
you really should seek some professional help. You write about something related to the State Police and turn it into an diatribe about the Sheriffs Department. Take a good look in the mirror pal, you need some professional intervention
joe, thanks for caring. I know; it's a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it.
I remember riding with an Arapahoe County deputy one night to a possible burglary-in-progress call. We were on a road somewhat like Route 120 east from Greenwood Road. For some reason, he thought it important to run at 100MPH.
I rode from the call with someone else! He was crazy!
Gus said...
joe, thanks for caring. I know; it's a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it.
**************
Who was it that elected you to do that job again? Oh yeah! NOBODY!
Maybe you can find some story about a cop in Pakistan that cut somebody off in traffic, then figure out a way to compare it to a problem with Woodstock PD or the County Sheriff's department or some other poor local department you wish would hire you to play at being the police!
Still waiting for you to answer MY question to you, Gus! Question too hard for you?
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