I am not always correct, and I can admit when I am wrong, but my gut is telling me something stinks here.
Usually when I post a blog story I get plenty of calls about the subject of the posting. Many of the calls are usually from people familiar with the topic. Some pro, some con, but usually plenty of different opinions.
Jimmy Ngo was an exception to that. Now I have never met Jimmy, but plenty of people who know him have called me though. 100% of the people who called said they never knew or heard of him being involved with drugs. They all painted a picture of a hard working conscientious firefighter, committed to his career. I was told he always had a smile on his face and was professional and polite.
Most of his colleagues were surprised when the word of his shooting on Thursday April 20th began spreading throughout the Hartford Fire Department. People were totally amazed when the details of the arrest of Jesus Perez, the alleged shooter, began emerging this week. Perez's defense seems to be a picture he painted of a drug deal gone bad.
Those details are spelled out in the arrest warrant affidavit that led to Perez's arrest on attempted murder, assault, robbery and firearms charges this week.
It gets somewhat5 confusing when Detective Meier uses the first six pages of the affidavit to attempt to establish the background and the motive for the shooting. That theory sounds more like the opening of a John Grisham novel. Even though there are numerous references to the drug deal gone bad, there appears to be no attempt to verify the "third party" drug dealers identity, just that he was present. There is also no mention of the type of drugs, the alleged quantity or even if the location Perez claims the drugs were obtained was even a known drug location.
I know, I know, the "narcotics" and the "unknown third party " all disappeared after the shooting according to the eventually arrested shooter Jesus Perez. But that seems odd to me that several pages were allotted to Perez's theory of the crime, but nothing to attempt to verify that theory. and if you read the affidavit, Perez seems to have a credibility problem. Why would someone who claims he just witnessed a possible shooting not even call the Police, even anonymously if needed.
The part that confuses me though is that eventually revealed in paragraph 16. Detective Meier seems to make an abrupt U-turn and lays out a totally different version of the shooting, which seems to be a more factual version than the Grisham novel laid out previously. Jimmy Ngo identified Jesus Perez as the shooter . Ngo seems to make the claim it was because he told Perez he was cutting off the money train he had been providing to him.
Paragraph 16 also once again mentions the elusive "drug deal gone bad". Detective Meier states that the illicit drug deal was "several months" in the planning, yet the timeline doesn't add up. Roughly less than 2 months had gone by since the time Perez claims they began planning the drug deal in early February and the shooting on April 20th. Hardly the several months detailed in the warrant.
And the warrant affidavit is specific about the video obtained from surrounding businesses detailing the times of vehicle movement on the property, yet there is no mention of the vehicle containing the "unidentified third party". Could that be because there was no third party and the tale weaved by Jesus Perez was an attempt to just cover the shooting of Jimmy Ngo?
The charges in the arrest warrant would seem to confirm Jimmy Ngo's version, resulting in the arrest of Jesus Perez.
I would also question the legitimacy of Ngo's statements and how they would hold up in court considering Ngo had been shot in the head and was most likely under some serious medication at the time. And I would also wonder how someone could waive their Miranda rights under such conditions.
Sources familiar with the incident have told me that Ngo emphatically denies making any statements about his involvement in at drug deal, as claimed by the alleged shooter Jesus Perez. CSP claims there are audio and video recordings of NGO's statements, as well as written statements. It will be interesting to hear those recordings and see if Ngo appears lucid or disoriented in them.
Any one who watches any television knows that you should "lawyer up" under such circumstances, yet Jesus Perez laid out the details of the alleged "drug deal gone bad" in his first telephone conversation with the State Police detectives as detailed in paragraph 10. Perez spilled his guts to CSP Detective McGlynn less than 14 hours after the shooting, in a phone call none the less.
I know that the facts might look bad for Jimmy Ngo right now, but hopefully the people who called me in support of Jimmy will be proven correct as the facts unwind. There will be a quite a few disappointed people who had high hopes for a young Hartford Firefighter if it doesn't.
You can read the arrest warrant affidavit here
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12 comments:
Like I said Kelvin, this affidavit might as well be written with a freaking crayon.
Ngo is officially fired. Good job Detectives. It's sad this whole affair moves so fast. Monday, affidavit released. Thursday chief called him in, Friday Ngo is fired. I thought that chief promised an investigation.
Ngo told me he was in a state of heavy drug induced phase when these so called cops go and interrogated this poor young man. Ngo hardly remembers their conversation.
Ngo told me to the effect that these officers said : "we know you are a drug lord or something like that."
The nurse of Hartford Hospital had to kick these officers due to their appropriate demeanor to Ngo, especially the state Ngo was in. These cops forgot not to victimize a victim?
Again, do we have audio recording of these interrogation? How the hell are you going to interrogate someone at at Ngo state. What are they trying to do? Where is this imaginary drug?
Now Ngo has to go through hell hiring lawyers to retract the statement claiming Ngo involvement with narcotics. These cops ruin Ngo's life, literally.
Again, the shooting is about Ngo investment (has documents to back this up) into Perez autobody shop building.
nice to see chief Freeman has his firefighters back
2:34PM
Chief Freeman had a tough call to make.
Based on the information from the Connecticut State Police , whether factual or not, what other decision could he make? Chief Freeman has taken a hard line approach to drug and alcohol abuse and has apparently terminated other employees for abuse issues. I am confident if CSP statements prove to be less than accurate or factual, Chief Freeman will be the first person in line to make it right.
This matter is not going to go away, and in the subsequent trial and labor hearings, CSP will have to lay out their cards and we will see what the truth actually is
It sounds like CSP did the same level of factual investigation as they did in the Spell Investigation and overlooked important facts except what they wanted to see for the outcome they wanted.
They're obviously pretty good at that.
Hey you know Kevin, not bad hypothesizing. What you laid out is credible. The person who did the shooting never talks. Never. Incriminate himself? Never.
CSP shouldn't be allowed to conduct criminal investigations at this point, they're that bad. Just like they weren't allowed to conduct the Wethersfield kidnapping / assault investigation into two of their own. Wethersfield wanted it done right so they conducted the investigation, and a good one at that. Why? Because Wethersfield PD conducts way more criminal investigations than CSP. CSP knows how to patrol highways and conduct accident investigations, that's it!
Agreed. And just think, a CSP supervisor read and approved that crappy warrant. That makes it even worse.
Can we hear a recorded conversation Freeman-Ngo?
I question that hardliners approach to drug abuse. There's an individual in the north end with a long drug, sick time and A injury abuse that everyone ignores. He's been out for a year off on what? No doctor paper trail and never transitional duty. Until he gets terminated it will always be business as usual. Jimmy is in the media spotlight therefor it had to be dealt with. Let the media find out about this guy.
That CSP warrant was total crap. That detective, his supervisor and anyone that signed off on it should immediately be demoted back to patrol. In a warrant, if you can't verify some part of an event you mention in it IN THE WARRANT! Fact is no drugs were found and the warrant should of made specific mention of that rather than just taking Perez's word for it. Secondly, the warrant makes no mention what Ngo's medical state was when he gave the statement to csp which is interesting considering he was shot in the head. In my warrants, that's a no brainer. I always mention someone's medical state when I get a statement...seems like a common sense thing to do to me at least. CSP did a crap investigation just like in the Spell case.
It should be a mandatory requirement that any trooper or sergeant that makes detective and goes to an investigative unit must FTO with Hartford major crimes division (or another crime ridden city) for at least a year so they can learn how to investigate.
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