Internal affairs officials have recommended two Chicago police officers and their sergeant be suspended from duty for the officers’ apparent failure to respond in a timely manner to Ronyale White’s repeated calls to 911 before she was fatally shot, sources said.
But while announcing the conclusion of the inquiry Monday, police failed to answer this central question: Why did it take these two officers at least 16 minutes to reach a scene less than 2 miles from where they took the dispatch call?
“We cannot say definitively or with certainty where they were,” said First Deputy Supt. John Thomas. “But we can say they were not where they were supposed to be in a timely manner–at Ronyale White’s home.”
The recommendation calls for the two patrol officers to be suspended for 15 days and their sergeant for 20 days, according to sources. But the officers have several avenues of appeal, and the recommendation must go up the chain of command before final punishments would be meted out.
The lack of information about what caused the delay frustrated and angered White’s parents, their lawyer said.
“After six weeks of investigation, this is appalling and unacceptable,” attorney Kathleen Zellner said. “They certainly have not answered any of the questions about what caused this delay or how to take corrective action.”
Thomas said an exhaustive investigation by internal affairs investigators determined the initial two Calumet District officers dispatched to White’s Far South Side home took an unreasonable amount of time getting there. The two officers signaled they arrived at 11:59 p.m., 19 minutes after White called police and at least 16 minutes after they were dispatched.
Thomas said a reasonable response time would have been 5 to 7 minutes. By the time the first squad car arrived at White’s house at 11:57 p.m. May 3, the 31-year-old mother of three had been shot and killed by her estranged husband, authorities say. The two officers facing suspension were the last to arrive.
The officers’ attorney, Joseph Roddy, has said they took the call from the dispatcher while they were still in the station house because roll call ran late. They were delayed further because they inspected their vehicle and equipment, a requirement before hitting the streets, Roddy has said.
Roddy maintained Monday the officers behaved properly.
Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, has said the officers also told investigators that while they were en route, they heard a report of White’s assailant fleeing the scene and they cut off their response to canvass the neighborhood.
Thomas, meanwhile, declined to say Monday where investigators believe the officers were. Officials interviewed 31 potential witnesses (18 police officers and 13 others), reviewed 911 dispatch tapes and conducted a “painstaking review” of surveillance tapes from nearby fast-food restaurants, Thomas said. The officers were not on the tapes, he said.
The investigation also cleared the 911 dispatcher and call taker of any wrongdoing, authorities said. But investigators faulted the officers’ sergeant for failing to monitor whether they had responded properly to the call. The sergeant should have acted when no police reported arriving at the White home in a reasonable amount of time, Thomas said.
The sergeant “was not vigilant in assuring a timely response,” the first deputy said.
The officers have three days to accept the disciplinary recommendations or dispute them before an internal affairs panel. Thomas said police were reluctant to reveal specifics of the investigation until the matter is settled.
Supt. Terry Hillard determines what discipline will doled out, although the officers can appeal his decision to the police board.
Authorities have said White called 911 four times from 11:40 p.m. to 11:50 p.m. In two of those calls, White said her husband, Louis Drexel, was armed. And in one call, muffled gunshots can be heard, a police spokesman said.
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Drexel was arrested later at his mother’s home and has been charged with first-degree murder.
Three lawsuits have been filed in connection with White’s slaying, accusing the city and its 911 center of failing to adequately protect the woman.