Monday, September 30, 2013

AN OLD SAYING "MANY TIMES THE COVERUP IS WORSE THAN THE CRIME"

It is pretty easy to tell the difference between transparency and a cover up, and this one has cover up written all over it.

A lot of things just aren't adding up with the Saundra Kee-Borges City car Accident, including her statement of apology.

One of the first things that raised red flags for me was the quickness that the HPD press release came out saying that Kee -Borges and the unauthorized operator of her city vehicle fiancée/boyfriend/significant other Terry Waller had  a green light and the accident was caused by the other driver. I e-mailed the HPD Public Information Officer, Lt. Brian Foley and asked how that determination was made. Was it from independent witnesses, maybe some video in the area or was it just Waller telling the officer he had a green light.Lt Foley was unsure and told me he would look into it

 The releases were quick to say that Waller and his fiancée/girlfriend/significant other Sandy Kee-Borges were the innocent victims at 2:17am as they were hit by an evading driver who ran a red light. Call me suspicious , but I just don't accept what a press release says as the truth.

The red flags were raised even more on Monday as I tried to get the incident reports regarding the arrest that Kee-Borges claimed as the reason she let Waller drive her car. I wanted to see the time lines and try to figure out where she was from the time of her sons arrest until the crash at 2:00am.

As I started pushing for the arrest report as well as the accident report, the barricades went up, mainly FOI reasons not to release the report. I called a staff attorney at FOI and got the other side. Their claims for exemption were not making sense.

I eventually received the arrest report for Garrett Borges, through alternative means, as well as the accident report and the attached supplemental reports from all officers involved, none through my FOI requests. I was told that the requests were being forwarded to Detective Wiebusch , since she was the FOI person at HPD.

When I spoke to the FOI Attorney, she offered to call Detective Wiebusch to clarify the matter. She called me back a short time later to say that Detective Wiebusch's voice mail said she was on vacation until October 14th. How convenient.

The time line and excuses are important to painting the full picture, but first, here is Saundra Kee-Borges statement she released earlier this morning.

STATEMENT FROM ACTING CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER SAUNDRA KEE BORGES
 
“Last Friday night while attending the NAACP dinner, I received a call from the Hartford Police Department regarding one of my children. I left immediately and drove to the Public Safety Complex on High Street in my city vehicle of which I have full commuter privileges.  An accident occurred as I was on my way home from the police station with my fiancé Terry Waller, a Deputy Fire Chief for the City of Hartford just after 2:00am. While driving through a green light, another vehicle struck us and then fled the scene. Terry and I were taken to the hospital, where he remained until late Saturday morning.  Thankfully we’re both OK and the police captured the individual responsible for the hit and run. 

I want to thank the Hartford Police and Fire Department, the ambulance crew for their quick action and I want to thank the staff at St. Francis for treating us with such care.  I also want to apologize to Mayor Segarra for any inconvenience or speculation this incident may have caused. Although Terry is a city employee, I should have driven myself. At that moment, I was deeply concerned for my child as any parent would be.”
 
Does anyone else find it interesting that the Mayor's office could release a statement on a Sunday night that he was cutting ribbons at 2 Hartford parks today, but not a word about his COO crashing her city car in a questionable accident?
 
As you can see, Kee-Borges also mentioned that green light again. The fact is that there apparently was no independent determination as to what happened, no video, not even other witnesses. The accident report says that Waller told the investigating officer he had the green light. Surprise, surprise. But apparently when a deputy Fire Chief says he has a green light, that is good enough to cite the other operator.
 
Now I will concede that the operator of vehicle #1 didn't help his credibility  when he ran from the scene, but does that increase Waller's credibility?
 
Sources have also confirmed that Kee-Borges received a phone call at the NAACP dinner sometime around 10:00PM. They said she appeared to be somewhat upset and her and Waller had some tense words before they left the dinner, supposedly to go attempt to bail out her son from the HPD lockup.
 
It appears they had to arrange for a bondsman since Garrett was not released until 5:00am Saturday morning, long  after the crash occurred. Sources have also confirmed that Kee-Borges and Waller had left the public Safety Complex before the midnight shift began arriving at 11:00PM. I have FOI'd the Police Department video to confirm this timeline as the front lobby area is recorded.
 
That then raises the question of where Kee-Borges and Waller were until the time of the crash at 2:17am the question. It potentially leaves over 3:00hours unaccounted for as to where the City Car was as well as where they spent the time and doing what?
 
Considering the crumpled up coupon from J's Crabshack that I found on the ground in the name of Saudra Borges, that might be a good spot to start.
 
Transparency means getting to the bottom of this matter , wherever it leads. We deserve no less and the credibility of the Segarra Administration, if there is any left , depends on it.
 
Where were they? Was alcohol involved? Why was the car still out long after any City business at the NAACP dinner had concluded. What was the blood alcohol content , if any, in Waller's blood ,which was most likely drawn at the hospital when he was treated. If they really want to clear the matter, I think Waller could voluntarily have that information released to HPD without the necessity of obtaining a search warrant for it.
 
It is hard to set a tone of accountability when those at the top are not held to the same standards as those they supervise.
 
In the meantime, any delay in releasing public documents stinks of a coverup, whether intentional or not, and HPD and Chief Rovella have done too good of a job establishing credibility  to get sucked into City Hall nonsense.
 
NOTE: regular readers of the blog are used to seeing documents and are used to reading the reports I refer to. Unfortunately, there is an effort to uncover my sources to keep the public's information from getting out. As documents and reports pass through the review process they are coded and signed  and it is somewhat easy to tell at what point I get the documents based on where they are in the process. So rather than risk  where in the process the documents came from, I have chosen not to post the actual reports until they are released through the regular FOI process.
 
 

 

14 comments:

  1. Wish you had been so thorough and suspicious when Rhonda Carroll had her accident in her city car.

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  2. When will all this drama end? Does Pedro really think that the taxpayer are that naive. To believe Sandra, when she has been involved in so much controversy. Never have I seen such a wimpy Mayor in Hartford's History, Pedro should just hand over his resignation and let Sandra run the City. How in hell can someone be so dishonest and have so much power over the Mayor. She has manipulate the Mayor to the point that he is being caught up in all her lies. What does Sandra knows??? What is Pedro afraid of?? Nor Sandra or Pedro were telling the truth. Her press conference was up right deceiving. And Pedro was lost for words.

    No doubt that Sandra should definitely get an Emmy for best actress.

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  3. Dear Kevin, I have written you three other times with accurate investigations and requested you don't post my comment. This time I write you about the officer that was to lazy to exit his car at a murder scene and as a result missed a deceased body. The officer I write about is will smith. Several days ago he ran a person on the f3 and was notified by dispatch the person had a warrant. Dispatch being ontop of their game notified the nearby town that we had a warrant from their town and they could pick him up. Upon the arrival of said town at 253 high it was learned that the warrant suspect was not there. Officer will smith was driving home when a supervisor made contact with him, smith stated he didn't want to arrest the man with a warrant because his shift was almost over!! Upon realizing he had messed up yet again, smith went out on eap and turned his gun in!!! Why do we allow these idiot cops to abuse the system? It is a clear violation of law not to follow a judges order wich is what a warrant is, arrest and fire him!!!!!

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  4. Want to really find out what kind of condition the both of them were in ....talk to the Fire personal that first showed up, they'll tell you if he was drunk or not, and to do that obtain a copy of the incident report, since it's public information....As for the Det.W she is a very straight forward person, goes by the books, and when on vacation, she is on vacation, believe me , she did not disappear because of this crap going on with the City,

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  5. I guess all it takes is an apology and all is forgiven, hopefully he remembers that next time some other city employee screws up. Sometimes when it comes to making the right decision as the "leader of the city" your beloved friend will have to go. Ask her for the set she has, strap them on and fire her ass. It's going to be really hard to get endorsements come election time when you treat the lower level worker the way you do and let these so called eliteiest types get away with everything included fat pensions and benefits for less work.

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  6. I see Deputy Chief Danny Nolan's take home car at my gym in Bloomfield all the time.

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  7. Not any more you don"t, those cars were all taken away

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  8. Kevin thanks once again for not posting my comment. It showes that this isn't a truly open blog but a controlled form of media to push your own agenda. Your no Robbin Hood. I'm covinced most of your posters don't make it on the page either. This blog is a scam.

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  9. As a moderator your supposed to screen out offensive language, and or improper comments. You chose to not post simply because I disagree. Your a fraud.

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  10. Anonymous 5;36 am you do know it's against the law to falsely slander someone and spread rumors you don't know to be true??!!! And if a officer is out on EAP that is personal and for the PD to release that would be subject to a federal lawsuit thats as bad as releasing someone medical records. And since this is a public website the owner of the blog is subject to a lawsuit too just food for thought??

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  11. Anonymous 11:56 am Let's be clear, unless you know it NOT to be true, there is no leg to stand on. Slander must be proven to be false to be actionable. In terms of the legality of the PD releasing the information, that has nothing to do with the owner of a blog with commentary. If a lawyer has a case for slander, they can subpoena the IP address logs for this site and try and link it back to the poster. It's unlikely that will ever occur because there is no case. The only person who faces virtually no liability here is Brinkman. The poster could stand in a public park and yell slanderous things. The city wouldn't then become liable in a situation like that, nor does Brinkman on his publicly accessible forum. Use some common sense with your veiled threats.

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  12. SOMETHING SMELLS.....M M M M, I WONDER IF THE MAYOR AND HIS EXECUTIVES REALLY KNOW HOW TO ACT LIKE EDUCATED ADULTS. DO THEY KNOW WHAT HONESTY IS? THE CAPITAL CITY IS IN DEEP TROUBLE AND THE TROUBLES KEEP GETTING DEEPER. WHAT IS NEXT?...STAY TUNED TO KEVIN.

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  13. I am so disappointed at the City Officials. They make and brake their own policies to their convenience. As I know there is a policy that applies to all city employees who get arrested after they commit a crime. They are suppose to be fired from their jobs, why Garrett Borges continues in his job? I am so tired of corrupted city official, and liars. It is time for Pedro to tighten up his belt and do what is right. These corrupt people are making him look like a real fool. We need a strong Mayor and not one that is manipulated by his subordinates. We like Pedro but we are tired of seen the COO running the show!

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  14. I am so disappointed at the City Officials. They make and brake their own policies to their convenience. As I know there is a policy that applies to all city employees who get arrested after they commit a crime. They are suppose to be fired from their jobs, why Garrett Borges continues in his job? I am so tired of corrupted city official, and liars. It is time for Pedro to tighten up his belt and do what is right. These corrupt people are making him look like a real fool. We need a strong Mayor and not one that is manipulated by his subordinates. We like Pedro but we are tired of seen the COO running the show!

    ReplyDelete