It does seem a bit odd.
Did it ruin the crime scene, not likely.
But odd? Yes, I would say.
Entering crime scene with son raises legal questions for chief
Ken Rodriguez - Ken Rodriguez Express-News
Ken Rodriguez - Ken Rodriguez Express-News
The crime scene stretched across two city blocks on the West Side.
A high-speed chase July 19 ended with one fatality, a suspect charged with murder, a swarm of cops, paramedics and firefighters, and too many onlookers to count.
“It literally looked like people lining up for a day parade,” said one officer who worked the accident site. “It was havoc out there.”
A high-speed chase July 19 ended with one fatality, a suspect charged with murder, a swarm of cops, paramedics and firefighters, and too many onlookers to count.
“It literally looked like people lining up for a day parade,” said one officer who worked the accident site. “It was havoc out there.”
At the southwest corner of Zarzamora and Colima, a 60-year-old man lay dead inside the wreckage of a small red car.
Two weeks later, the gouges the car left on the curb remain visible from across the street, just outside a barbershop.
Two weeks later, the gouges the car left on the curb remain visible from across the street, just outside a barbershop.
It was here, four traffic lanes from the victim, that police ran another line of yellow tape to secure the inner perimeter of the crime scene.
With lights from patrol cars and EMS units flashing, Police Chief Bill McManus arrived with his 6-year-old son and slipped under the crime scene tape. No one suggests the chief's son contaminated evidence, but officers expressed serious concern about the legal ramifications.
With lights from patrol cars and EMS units flashing, Police Chief Bill McManus arrived with his 6-year-old son and slipped under the crime scene tape. No one suggests the chief's son contaminated evidence, but officers expressed serious concern about the legal ramifications.
“How are we supposed to explain that at trial?” one officer asked.
Added a second officer: “If I were a savvy defense attorney I would certainly bring it up. ‘Chief, what were you doing with your son at the crime scene? Why were you allowing him to go into the inner perimeter?'”
Added a second officer: “If I were a savvy defense attorney I would certainly bring it up. ‘Chief, what were you doing with your son at the crime scene? Why were you allowing him to go into the inner perimeter?'”
The answer to the first question: McManus says he was off-duty with his son when paged about a fatality in an officer-involved chase. With his wife unavailable, McManus took his son to the scene.
The answer to the second: The chief says it was too hot to leave his son in the car, and too hot to leave him standing outside the tape.
“To get out of the sun, we stepped under the tape to get into the shade,” the chief said. “We were not even close to the intersection where the cars collided.”
“To get out of the sun, we stepped under the tape to get into the shade,” the chief said. “We were not even close to the intersection where the cars collided.”
Officers dispute the “not even close” qualifier. I recently stood a few feet to the north of the Zarzamora Street barbershop. An officer told me that's where the chief and his son crossed the yellow tape — “well within 50 feet” of the deceased.
As he was getting briefed, McManus says a firefighter offered to place the boy in the fire truck. “I said, ‘That will be great,'” McManus recalled.
The 6-year-old climbed into the truck, which TV news video shows parked perhaps 15 to 20 feet behind the red car.
The 6-year-old climbed into the truck, which TV news video shows parked perhaps 15 to 20 feet behind the red car.
The chief says he spent 20 minutes at the site, then left with his son without contaminating the scene. “I wouldn't have had him there if it was inappropriate,” the chief said.
Police say a 6-year-old doesn't belong inside crime scene tape. “But who's going to tell that to the chief?” said one officer, who refused to be identified for fear of retaliation.
Police say a 6-year-old doesn't belong inside crime scene tape. “But who's going to tell that to the chief?” said one officer, who refused to be identified for fear of retaliation.
One McManus supporter says it's not uncommon for the chief to take family members to crime scenes. No big deal.
Really? In August 2007, the coroner in Columbia, S.C., publicly criticized the police chief there for taking his father and son to murder scenes — and risking the contamination of evidence.
In San Antonio, 19-year-old Justin Tony faces a murder charge in the Zarzamora fatality. A judge says every unauthorized person inside the crime scene will have to be accounted for during cross-examination.
“A jury is going to ask why a 6-year-old kid is walking around” a murder scene, the judge said. “It's not good police practice.”
The judge added: “From a parent's point of view: What's up with putting your kid around all that broken glass and a dead body?”
