Police leave without finding all victims
Questions follow a son’s tragic death - CNN.com
The pain of returning to the scene of their son’s death brought Arthur and Samantha Smith to tears, nearly two weeks after police failed to find his body and that of a friend, both thrown from a car in a high-speed crash.
But the Smiths also were angry as they walked Wednesday among glass, auto parts and debris from the single-car crash that killed their son Brandon Smith and his friend Dominique Green, both 18.
According to the Smiths, police did not respond adequately to pleas for help from two teens who survived the crash. Tapes of 911 calls support claims the teens — both of whom police say had been drinking — repeatedly asked for help finding their two other friends.
Now this is a bit of police procedure I didn’t know about. When did it become alright for the police to leave the scene of an accident before all the victims have been found? The police say the officers at the scene did search but they didn’t find them so I am not sure why they are bothering to argue that they searched in the first place. I can understand if you don’t know how many people are in the car that this could happen but there is no excuse for closing out the scene knowing there are two victims left.
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The police officers weren’t sure there were more victims at the scene. Two of the kids walked away from the accident and tried to leave the scene, in order to avoid consequences and sober up. The police considered the two teens confused, as they were both drunk and badly beaten up; their conclusion after several hours of searching was that either there weren’t two more victims, or they had left the scene of the accident as well.
Keep in mind, all were drunk, none wore a seatbelt, and the 17-year old driver was going too fast.
I’m still trying to understand why the police were at fault. The coroner says that they most likely died instantly of blunt force trauma. The description of where the father found them and the fact that they were flung out of a car that rolled 15 TIMES tells me that they most likely died instantly. Not to mention that they had to of been going extremely fast. There was obviously mass confusion at the scene. These kids were found in a RAVINE with high grass. I’m sure that it had to be a lot easier to see them when the sun came up.
I feel for these parents losing their children who were probably doing no more than alot of us did as immature kids. I know that they are hurting pretty bad, but calling for the police chief to resign? C’MON!!!
Its amazing officers who are here to serve are blamed for the actions of idiots. I can’t imagine why people don’t want to serve. Why not blame the parents for not instilling in their kids to wear seatbelts, or not to drink underage, or not to drive drunk, or flee the scene of an accident. The movie “idiocracy” comes to mind….that is exactly where this country is headed
Idiocracy is an understatement. It’s funny, but on the video the father says that he surveyed the area and didn’t see anything at first and was about to leave when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. THIS WAS DURING THE DAY!!! Imagine what it would have been like during the night.
I prefer to wait for all the facts to come in on whether or not these kids were drinking. Drinking plus a car wreck where you flip a car 15 times spells chaos and confusion.
Arthur Smith needs to quit blaming the police department and quit taking his anger over his son’s death out on the police department and go bury his son.
I’m not sure of the circumstances of the crash, but I am sure that these 2 young boys were left behind by professionals. The bottom line is that the police were negligent in their duties. There needs to be an investigation. Please let’s not niavely think that the police officers could be throwing dirt on these young boys to cover up their own faults. The bottom line is whether or not these children had an accident, the Police had a duty to find those other boys. It’s really sad, this case, and I hope we all stop judgung and sympathize for all parties involved. We have become so numb and immune to life that we just roll over and say mean things, forgetting that lives were lost.
No divers license + underage drinking + no seat beats + speeding = DEATH. Finding the bodies a few hours later is nothing compared the foolishness of the kids that got their buddies killed. The parents of the children are to blame as well. So the police didnt find your dead criminal sons body right away, so what they have better things to do such as protect living law abiding citizens.
God Bless all those who seem to want to pass judgement. Compassion seems to be quite void today in society. I pray for every family and every person whose lost a loved one, no matter the situation. My heart goes out to the family and all parties involved, including the officers. Alot of lives are affected by this situation and I do hope alot is learned. God Bless, and I do hope that nothing like this ever happens to those passing down judgement with such callousness.
Afetr seeing the surviving driver on TV the last few days he has obviously been coached on what to say and seems to have changed his story since the initial accident, or at least added details initally left out. I dont think it’s him though I thinks it’s his friends parents seeing $$$. People in gary should be thankful police are still willing to work in that city, and stop trying to jump on every miscue or mistake they make especially if it is an honest one. Like any of them are perfect.
Deena, does that father have any compassion for the police department? Apparently you don’t either, so stop doing what you’re telling us to stop doing. I don’t want to see you as a hypocrite.
Out of all of that has happened I do hope we have all gained a greater insight on life. The great thing about God is, that he shows us in so many ways that life is precious and we should value it. It seems so easy for us humans to become ungrateful and inhumane when situations don’t directly affect us. But oh, how we change our tune when the very thing we judge and crticize, lands on our doorstep. The great thing about life is that all those goods seeds you sew will provide you with an abundance of favor and blessings, but the flipside of that is, all the negative and evil things that are sewed have a way of boomeranging and knowcking us on our feet. So I say to everyone, examine your life, examine your deeds, plants good positive seeds, so that your life may be what God plans for it to be. God Bless.
When something bad happens to my children I will not blame others to try and cover up their own misdeeds. Neither will I hide behind God. I will be pious and not blame police or anyone else but I will expect my child for face the repercussions of crimianl acts he has commited. If a lawsuit comes out of this we know exactly who the vitims families whorship and its not God.
Hmmm… so we are for certain that the children were drinking huh…. we have convinced ourselves of this. It amazes me the things we selectively choose to believe in life. smile…. Out of all that has happened, children have lost their lives, parents have lost their children, communites are heart broken, people from all over are feeling this impact and we have decided to discuss how much of criminal, alcholics, with bad parents these teens are. We know nothing of the story that’s definite with the exception that the police(audio tape) knowlingly didn’t search for the missing victims. I honestly feel sorry for all parties including the police. I hope that my compassion for HUMAN LIFE has been conveyed in my participation today, not whether or not I think the teens and their parents are horrible beings. I hope you know that ALL sins are EQUAL. So before we condemn people for what WE percieve as horrible acts it is no diffrent in Gods eyes from you lying last night. God Bless and it’s been fun.
Im not a police officer but if i come across a crash site and two victems tell me more people were in the car, isnt a no brainer to look for them.How can anyone say different there is no excuse none at all.sayin they had been drinkin and wasnt wearing seatbelts means nothing.I kno plenty of teens who drink and drive and dont wear sealtbelts…….. these r KIDS~!!!!!!!!!!
The police messed up. To me it doesn’t matter whether the teenagers were drinking and speeding (if true). The accident occurred, people were injured and the cops should be there to help no matter the circumstances. THey did help but were negligent in that half hearted attempt to find the other victims. 2 people survived the crash so there is obviously a chance the other victims may have been alive. We put more of an effort when an airliner crashes into the ocean than what those 2 victims got.
Who am I, OR ANY OF YOU, to pass judgement on either party. Can we not find faults on both sides? Also, I would be very careful to say what I would do “if my kids” were in this situation. If you have not been in this situation you have NO WAY of knowing how you would react.. emotions and loss are powerful things. No father should have to find his son like that. In my opinion, that is the bottom line. The facts aren’t out to make any calls other than that one. My condolences go out to the families and friends who are suffering right now. None of us can know what they must be going through.
Deena, again it’s funny how ironic you are. You say it’s funny how “selective” we are in what we believe and what we don’t believe. Please don’t give me anymore God speeches. If God worked the way that you insist that he does, then those boys might have been found that night. What if it were God’s plan that they should not be found? You and all your cohorts need to stop preaching to the rest of us about what God thinks and why he makes certain decisions, because you don’t know.
Like I said before, what kind of compassion has that father shown for the Gary police department? He automatically jumps to his own conclusions, and we’re all supposed to take those as fact? Why don’t you go preach about sin and forgiveness to Mr. Smith? He’s let this tragedy overshadow his compassion.
One more thing. How can you say something as absurd as, “So before we condemn people for what WE percieve as horrible acts it is no diffrent in Gods eyes from you lying last night.” I lied last night? Are you God? Do you even know what I did last night?
Funny how this conversation has turned into a religious discussion. Your religion has nothing to do with this anymore than Mr. Smith’s belief of racism.
People saying that the police didnt look for the kids is BS. They looked but due to outdoor conditions, and dealing with drunk, injured kids(who I bet did not tell the truth to police who initially arrived on scene)they were unable to locate or even confirm that others were involved in the crash. Initial reports stated that the kids said they might have dropped off their friends. Since the driver has already proven that he is not trustworthy why is anyone listing to anything he says. He was drinking, he did cause an accident, flat tire is BS I’d like to see them prove it. The police tape doesnt prove they didnt look, it just records police mentioning that it doesnt look like anyone would have survived the crash. The family is also withholding the independent autopsy results, why?
Wow, quite a little argument going on here. I think the bottom line is that it is the professionals job to find the victims of the accident no matter what you think about how the father is acting now. I don’t think the police chief should resign nor do I think the officers should but it should be something that doesn’t happen. I don’t know if it was racism or not and I really don’t care. I know that just from the few commenters on this little blog there is plenty of people who are quick to point out what the victims did wrong. Don’t try to pretend that the police can’t become equally as jaded as those of you who here are talking about how horrible the parents or the dead themselves were. They should have been found, day or night, rain or shine, no one should have released the scene until all the passengers were found. No parent should have to go looking for their dead the next day because the police did a search but didn’t find them.
Let’s give the police the benefit of the doubt and say they thought the other boys were confused, before the scene was released and the search was called off they should have located the two by calling their homes etc etc. They just plain shouldn’t have left without confirmation that there weren’t others victims. You can talk about this until you are blue in the face and the facts are that the search was called off and the next morning it was a parent not the police that found the dead. It shouldn’t have happened. That is all there is to it. Now, all this other garbage is just superfluous. The police there need to reevaluate their accident procedure and put safeguards in place so that it doesn’t happen again. That is it. Who cares about all the rest of it.
It is simply absurd that the police on the scene didn’t do the job. I don’t care if the survivors were trying to get away from the scene or if they were drunk, once the police were told there were two more passengers they shouldn’t have left until they found them.
Read my post above police did their job. I agree through no one should resign, and a review of procedure should take place. Only way to prevent this from happening again is for kids to make better decisions, and all that involves.
Nate, I did read your post. Don’t care, they should have confirmed that the others were somewhere safe before they released the scene but you aren’t to agree with me and I probably won’t agree with you.
I wouldn’t hold my breath about kids making better choices. I sure didn’t at that age but I luckily lived in a small enough town that just about everything we did was on foot. While I am sure we were all a sight to see walking while intoxicated didn’t get any of us killed.
Most individuals posting are basing their arguments on facts that are still unclear to the public. Were the boys drinking or were they not? Were they belligerent or were they not? Were the cops racist or were they not? Did the boys speed or did they not? You can read this story on 20 different websites and get 100 different details. Keep in mind the media is going to be selective in what they tell you.
Therefore to keep from sounding completely ignorant and gullible it probably makes sense for people deciding to post an opinion to go with the FACTS. At this point one of the only facts we have is the quote from the police at the scene saying that they were told their were more kids in the car and they should be looked for. I don’t care who’s mama is black and who’s daddy is white and who was drinking beer and and who is christian - it is the JOB and RESPONSIBILITY of police officers to follow up completely with information they are given at a scene.
It is recorded on tape that there are more victims at the scene - so find them! and not just when it is convenient for you.
Since the driver is apparently not to blame here, why is nobody blaming the Fire Fighters and Paramedics who responded to the scene? Is it not their job to treat the injured? They actually had more people there than the police department.
I feel for all involved. Anytime there is a tradgety everyone second guesses themselves anyway. We can always find fault with someone or something. The fact that the club owner says the kids left earlier and with the alcohol that they had consumed makes me wonder if the boys are telling the truth. The cops say that there were others in the car, but that if they were not still in there that they probably walked away too. The two other kids had done that and one was flagging people down. Only one child seemed to have a cell phone and the other kids could have hitched rides. It seems there was a lot of confusion and understandably so. I would be suprised if there weren’t any. In the tapes it seems that the cops were confused also.
nates states
It’s funny, but on the video the father says that he surveyed the area and didn’t see anything at first and was about to leave when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. THIS WAS DURING THE DAY!!! Imagine what it would have been like during the night.
I have to agree. I also thought it unusual that the parent didn’t seem to be concerned about finding his son. It had been seven hours later and he was down at the scene looking for what? A cover up for the kids? I would be worried about the fact that my son wasn’t home. I think this whole thing about the cops is a smoke screen to cover up something more. Too many discrepencies.
David, I think you have totally missed the point. No one at all has said that the accident wasn’t the drivers fault, only that the police didn’t find 2 dead bodies that were a result of the accident. It isn’t the parents job to find their dead the next morning, it is the police’s job to find the victims before closing out the accident scene and calling off the search.
I also feel that Moore was coached. When I watched the video of him talking about the situation he gets nervous when he talks about what he told the cops and he has trouble making eye contact. That is usually an indicator that the person is lieing. Watch it for yourself.
I have to agree with dig ad veritas,the cause,and effect of the accident is not the issue here.The issue is why did the authorities leave the scene of the accident without thoroughly searching the area for the 2 missing boys! I’m a father of a teenage boy,and if I had to find my sons body at a scene of an accident, well, lets just say it’s every parents nightmare.As far as the police are concerned,When those who are there to protect and serve the public stop executing there duty,then they need to be removed from there position of authority.
I totaly agree with Dig Ad Veritas. I don’t care if drinking,speeding,or seat belts were the cause of the accident. I don’t care about any opinion about if God was to blame. The bottom line is the people that have jobs to take care of us, regardless of our stupidities, are not suppose to leave us to die. Those kids may or may not have been alive, but now we will probably never know. My husband is a volunteer firefighter and he said his post would never leave the scene until they knew without a doubt that the boys missing had been found,whether it be at the scene of the accident or at their homes. There is NO EXCUSE for what happened and as a mom, i too would be furious at the police dept. The “what if” would kill me.
To try and pin this soley on the cops is absurd. I find your statement about the fire department interesting because I am sure they were there at the scene. That car rolled 15 times and there was oil,gas and all kinds of stuff slung all over those bushes and grasses. If they Never leave the scene without a doubt why didn’t they find them? What about EMS and/or the fire department?
The fact that the boys weren’t doing what they were suppose to be doing was only to show that what they said they told police was maybe a lie.? Moore claimed that he was insistant that he said his friends were down there, but yet the parents weren’t even looking for the missing kids. Don’t you think that is odd? It seems to me that even the parents of the missing kids didn’t know where they were or were they use to their kids just not coming home? Moore didn’t insist to the parents of the kids that their sons might still be at the scene. I think that is the interesting thing. The father wasn’t there for the “what if”. 7 Hours after the accident the parents weren’t screaming about the kids missing. it wasn’t until they found them.I am a parent and if my child was suppose to be in a car with some friends and they had an accident and didn’t come home,I would be calling hospitals and any place I could to try and find my child. Instead they go to the accident scene to look around? What was Moore telling the parents of the missing boys? They didn’t seem any more worried about the boys than the cops and it was their children. I don’t think the cops,EMS, fire department or the parents knew where the kids were. EMS or the fire department never even said they looked for them or found them. I do believe the boys were telling different stories so the cops, fire department, or EMS didn’t know what to think. The tapes said that the boys had told them that if they weren’t still in the car that they probably walked off. There is a lot more to this story than what is being told on the boys part. I am not convince that the cops were at fault.