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Fairfax Cop Who Tipped Terror Suspect Helped Kill Training Program
by Steven Emerson
IPT News
May 9, 2008
A Fairfax County Police sergeant who admits tipping off a terrorism suspect that he was under FBI surveillance also helped kill what had been a successful intelligence and terrorism-related training program within his police department.
Sgt. Weiss Rasool was
sentenced to two years probation on April 22 after pleading guilty to illegally accessing a police database to run license tag numbers for a friend who thought he was being followed. Those tags traced back to FBI agents who had Rasool's acquaintance under surveillance as part of a terrorism investigation.
The Washington Post reported that Rasool cried during his sentencing and apologized for what he called "errors of judgment. But I never intended to put anybody's life at risk." The Post further reported:
"The target was arrested in November 2005, then convicted and deported, according to court filings in Rasool's case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanine Linehan said that the target and his family were already dressed and destroying evidence at 6 a.m. when agents arrived to make the arrest, indicating that they had been tipped off."
Now the president of an Arlington, Va.-based counterterrorism research center is asking Rasool's bosses to reconsider their 2006 decision to cease using training programs offered by the center. Complaints by Rasool and an officer from another local agency that the training was anti-Islam prompted Fairfax County police to break with the Higgins Center for Counter Terrorism Research.
In a letter to Police Chief David Rohrer written two days after Rasool's sentencing, Higgins Center President Peter Leitner said Rasool's complaints were unfounded and harmed his company's reputation:
"We were deeply disturbed and offended that the leadership of your Department sided with Rasool and essentially blackballed our non-Profit (sic) organization from teaching within your Academy. Several scheduled classes were cancelled and we were never invited back…
We were dismissed without recourse, suffered financial and professional reputation losses, and the resulting pressures caused serious damage to our ability to function properly. All on the basis of spurious charges made by someone who later proved to be unreliable -- at best."
Leitner said he has received no response to his letter.
"This is precisely why Fairfax PD needs our training," Leitner told the Investigative Project on Terrorism in an e-mail. "They need to learn about 5th column activities and penetrating agents. It also shows how ignorance and/or political correctness at the local level can jeopardize national security interests and assets."
Though he
pled guilty, prosecutors still complained that Rasool was not playing straight with them. They originally argued that Rasool deserved a sentenced at the low end of the federal guidelines. That changed after a defense sentencing motion cast his actions as a simple administrative oversight, and that had he submitted a relevant form, "it is possible the case would not be before the Court today."
Prosecutors then argued Rasool was not taking responsibility for his actions, saying he even claimed not to remember tapping in to the federal database and that he initially denied knowing the suspect or calling him. He confessed only after hearing a recording of the call.
"[A]s I told you, I can only tell you if it comes back to a person or not a person and all three vehicles do not come back to an individual person, so I just wanted to give you that much, uhh ok. Hope things work out for you," Rasool said in a voice mail message to his friend that was intercepted by federal investigators.
Rasool's attorney argued he was responding normally to a citizen's concern that he was being followed. "Rather," prosecutors responded, "the evidence is that the defendant was advising the target that he was being following by government vehicles."
In their
sentencing memo to the court, prosecutors made clear the severity of Rasool's breach:
"The defendant, through his experience with the police, had a basis to believe that the leasing company was used for federal law enforcement vehicles, but despite that, relayed the information to the individual. The defendant also checked his name and other names multiple times in NCIC without a legitimate law enforcement purpose to do so and to see if he or others he was acquainted with were listed on the Terrorist Watch List.
The defendant's actions damaged the integrity of the NCIC system and jeopardized at least one federal investigation. The defendant's actions could have placed federal agents in danger. The FBI has had to undo the harm caused by the defendant."
The Higgins Center had offered courses for years without any complaint, yet in June of 2006, that all changed. In a letter dated June 26, 2006 to Academy Director Major Tyrone Morrow, Higgins Vice President Brian Fairchild indicated six officers in total lodged complaints against his programs. But the complaints did not reflect the program's actual content, Fairchild said, noting that statements used to illustrate Islamist ideology come from the Islamists themselves. In addition, instructors repeatedly make clear that the Islamists expressing radical ideology do not reflect the general Muslim world:
"It appears that these officers misunderstood and/or are confused by the content of our courses which is solely to educate officers about Islamist terrorists and the international revolutionary Islamist movement that creates and supports them. We are surprised by the assertions in these complaints, because, in order to ensure that such misunderstandings do not occur, we clearly define our terms in lecture supported by PowerPoint slides.
In our seminars, we never criticize traditional Islam or Muslims. Quite to the contrary, we definitively and repeatedly state that the overwhelming majority of the 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide are fine people that have nothing to do with extremism or terrorism." (emphasis in original)
In one complaint, Fairchild noted, the officer praised Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, who founded the Pakistani Islamic group Jamaat e-Islami in 1941. Maududi, Fairchild wrote, considered non-Islamic governments to be evil and sanctioned their violent overthrow.
"One of Maududi's direct quotes concisely describes his views:
- ‘Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own ideology and programme, regardless of which Nation assumes the role of the standard bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State.'" (emphasis in original)
Rasool was under federal investigation at the time. In addition to running the license tag numbers, he admitted improperly accessing the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database 15 times in 2005-06, checking for his own name and the names of acquaintances. "The defendant did this in an attempt to determine if he or others were registered with the Violent Crime and Terrorist Offender File, which is a category of records maintained within the NCIC system," the plea agreement states.
In an interview, Leitner expressed frustration with the way Fairfax police officials treated him and his company. He called the complaints "nebulous," and said he was never given a full opportunity to rebut them. "It was very star chamber like."
Another officer who joined Rasool in complaining about the Higgins program works for an area sheriff's department, Leitner said. That officer claimed to be a representative from the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Leitner said.
In November 2006, Fairfax County Police Chief David Rohrer attended CAIR's 12 th Annual Banquet at the Marriott hotel in Crystal City. He credited CAIR with "helping police departments to better understand the Muslim community," adding:
"As we go forward, let us choose to make a difference and embrace a vision of peace and unity and hope. And let us choose for us and our children hope over fear, caring over indifference, tolerance over intolerance, acceptance over prejudice, and understanding over ignorance."
Among those writing to the sentencing judge in support of Rasool was CAIR governmental affairs director Corey Saylor. "I have always found Sgt. Rasool eager to promote a substantive relationship between the Fairfax County Police Department and the local Muslim community. His efforts played a significant role in improving trust in a time when mutual misunderstanding could easily severe (sic) all positive ties between these two groups."
Another letter of support came from Tyrone Morrow, the training academy major to whom Fairchild wrote his letter of appeal in 2006. Morrow, now retired, told the court he used to supervise Rasool and found him "to be of sound character and reputation."
Despite his plea to a misdemeanor, Rasool remains a Fairfax County police sergeant although he is under an internal affairs investigation.
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Force Science News #100
In this issue:
"The Pain Behind the Badge": Powerful new documentary explores officers' trips to the edge--and back.
Part 1 of a 2-part series
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A few hours earlier, Sgt. Clarke Paris, a veteran of 22 years on the Las Vegas Metro Police, had finished a shift on which he'd responded to 5 suicide calls, the victims ranging from a 70-year-old man to a 13-year-old boy.
Now he was lazily floating with his wife in their backyard pool, but the desert sun could not bake out of his soul an unsettling sense that "my suitcase was finally packed with more than it could hold."
He started to tell his wife that the job was getting to him, but he couldn't get a full sentence out before "I broke down bawling like a baby."
As he alternated between sobs and stuttered words, vivid career moments flashed back to him: the 4-month-old baby starved to death by its parents...the "little girl with the sweetest smile" whose stepfather had smashed her face so hard with his fist that he shattered her eye socket...the 2 Midwestern college girls who'd been tied up and sodomized at knife point, terrified, weeping and helpless...the drunk driver who ran over him when he worked motors....
When his wife was finally able to understand that an accumulation of typical cop stressors was sledge-hammering the man she perceived as "strong and brave and everything you think of in a police officer," she asked if he wanted to quit the force.
No, he insisted, he loved the job. What he wanted--the idea suddenly hit him "out of nowhere"--was to film a documentary that would illustrate the emotional price cops pay for their ringside seat at the human circus.
His wife was incredulous. Make a documentary? Paris by his own admission can't work his VCR!
Yet 15 months later, this determined sergeant is today the proud parent of a powerful film that in 104 compelling minutes shows how law enforcement officers can be pushed to the brink of despair by the things they experience and yet, with proper help, can be brought back to emotional wholeness that renews their zest for life and for their profession.
"Every day as a police officer you get slapped in the face with a dose of your own mortality. Over time, you're exposed to every bad thing that can happen to a human being," Paris told Force Science News. "You have to dissociate yourself from all that in order to function. You feel you can never let down that wall or people will think you're weak. But the toll of keeping up that front is so much greater than anyone can ever imagine."
His film, "The Pain Behind the Badge," focuses on 3 officers, each with more than a decade of service, who eventually reached a breaking point from cumulative emotional stress. Two actively plotted their suicides; the third, with a marriage crumbling in the wake of a fatal shooting, was potentially headed toward the same dire level of disintegration. All managed to revitalize their lost spirits with the aid of effective police counseling programs.
Paris hopes that from identifying with their experiences, other officers who are hurting (and may not even recognize the symptoms of dangerous distress) will realize they are not alone in their feelings and be motivated to seek help. And he hopes departments will be spurred to begin addressing a pressing problem in policing that too many have swept under the carpet for too long. "I want this film to save lives," he says.
It wasn't long after he launched his ambitious project that Paris made 2 "flabbergasting" discoveries that kept driving him forward, despite formidable obstacles:
- First he came across sobering statistics about police suicides. "Every year," he says, "2 to 3 times more officers commit suicide than die in the line of duty--roughly one officer every day. We're more danger to ourselves by far than the bad guys are."
- Second, he learned first hand that many administrators don't want the problem discussed. "Often when I approached departments looking for officers to interview, chiefs were afraid that talking about the stress of the job would make recruitment even harder or would affect the public's confidence if the outside world knew about this."
Despite repeated turndowns, Paris kept pushing until he found 2 long-time Las Vegas officers--Troy D'Ambrosio and Sgt. Ruben Hood-- and 1 from New York City--Jonathan Figueroa of NYPD--who were willing to tell their dramatic stories on camera. He recruited a cameraman, director and technical guru--Jonathan Giddinge, the founder of 100 Watt Productions and the son of a Vegas sergeant--who was willing to work on spec. And when a local businessman who'd promised to fully fund the venture suddenly got cold feet, Paris decided to pick up all expenses himself, drawing on "the Bank of Clarke's Credit Cards."
To date, he estimates, the project has cost him some $42,000 from his own pocket--and he considers it worth every penny.
In the film, the officers candidly recount their background on the street, their "breaking point" and their recovery. Three experts on police stress--Dr. David Joseph, a police psychologist from Oakland, CA; Philip Riccobono, a licensed clinical social worker and retired NYPD sergeant; and Sgt. Tom Harmon, director of the Las Vegas Police Employee Assistance Program--offer insights and observations about the universality of the officers' experiences and the techniques and benefits of practical intervention.
For each of the 3 officers, the tipping point at which the cumulative stress of working the street became overwhelming involved a life-claiming event.
Hood told the camera: "I've seen a lot of terrible things in my career. The thing that led me to collapse probably wasn't the worst thing--just the 1 thing at the right time that led to a perfect storm."
Specifically, he got into a down-and-dirty alley fight with "an incredibly strong" burglary suspect he was trying to handcuff. As Hood struggled furiously to get the cuffs closed around the man's wrists, he could "feel tendons in the suspect's arm tearing, his shoulder popping." All the while, the suspect was screaming, "Don't kill me!"
In the end, after being successfully restrained with the help of another officer and sitting quietly for a few moments, the suspect slumped over, dead.
In D'Ambrosio's case, it looked initially like he would be the fatality. When he pulled up at a house on a "threatening-suicide" call, a deranged teenager suddenly jumped on the hood of his squad, pointed a gun at him and threatened to "blow your fuckin' head off." "I never had a feeling of such extreme fear," D'Ambrosio says.
But fueled by anger at the prospect of his 6-month-old daughter being left fatherless, he ducked, whipped out his pistol and sent multiple rounds blasting through the glass and into the assailant. D'Ambrosio remembers "a wave of blood flying" from the suspect's body. When he realized he was alive and the offender was down, "I felt very good, but I also felt guilt about what I did to him. I didn't know how to handle it."
Figueroa had been a responder to the collapsed Twin Towers on 9/11, where the death toll among officers for a single day was record-breaking. For 3 months he joined in the grisly task of picking body parts ("a skull...a hand....") from the debris and experienced a corrosive sense of survivor's guilt.
Then on a shift when he was assigned elsewhere "to recoup," a plane crashed near New York City and he was sent to work that scene. Among the horrors he encountered there was the corpse of a woman still belted in her seat, holding her dead baby on her lap. "It seemed like an out-of-body experience," Figueroa recalls. "Nobody should have to see that."
At the time, he displayed no outward emotion. But several years later, after hearing that a 9/11 responder had died apparently from related health problems, Figueroa broke down crying uncontrollably at work. From there, things got "worse and worse," he said. "I couldn't think straight, I couldn't focus, I couldn't function, I couldn't even watch TV. All that seemed to happen on it was people getting killed."
He began suffering headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, palpitations, panic attacks. He lost 17 pounds, unable to eat without vomiting or being struck with severe diarrhea. He went 3 to 5 days at a time without sleep; "whenever I closed my eyes, I'd jump up in a panic. I started to see myself in the deaths I had seen." He went so far as getting a cat scan, thinking he might have a brain tumor.
Unable to see a way out, "I made up my mind," Figueroa says. "I was going to drag myself in to work, take my gun, and put it to my head and I was going to finally get some sleep. I couldn't take it any more."
After the death of the suspect he'd struggled to handcuff, Hood experienced a steep emotional descent as well. "Every bad call, every bad thing I'd ever seen, every smell, every feeling, every injury that I'd had or inflicted, it all came back. I just couldn't face it." When he insinuated at work that he was hurting emotionally, "I always got the same response: 'Aw, he was just a piece of crap. Why are you worrying about him?' People were trying to tell me how I should feel, and they didn't have a clue."
Hood started drinking "very heavily," crying a lot, not eating, not working out, not being able to sleep. "I felt this agony, misery, pain," he says. "I hated me." And in his mind's eye, he began to imagine "a faceless cop taking his life."
Hood decided that when his family was out on errands, he'd go out to their dog run and shoot himself--the dog run so as not to "get anything dirty in the house."
D'Ambrosio experienced many of the same symptoms of stress overload that the other 2 describe, but his despair never sank to the suicidal level. He did seem destined, however, to losing an important part of his life: his marriage.
Neither he nor his wife seemed able to initiate a discussion of his shooting, even though the repercussions of it were secretly eating at both of them. Rather than open up, they "just walked past each other in the house, day after day after day," while their relationship foundered.
After 3 years, when the strain finally reached a crisis point, the D'Ambrosios turned to the Las Vegas Police Employee Assistance Program for marriage counseling and, in the process, D'Ambrosio found that the therapy offered there helped him lay the lingering demons of his shooting to rest as well.
Figueroa and Hood, despite considerable initial skepticism, also got into counseling programs. In both cases, last-minute reflections on their families and a realization of how devastated their suicide would be to their loved ones kept them from pulling the trigger and launched them on a slow but successful climb back to emotional stability.
"I'm back to loving life and living in the moment," Figueroa says. "What's old is new for me again. I enjoy my job. I'm having fun. It's great for me to be back out there."
He says that the officer aid program that helped him, the volunteer Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance, gave him "the tools to deal with life, and that's so great because now I can deal with it."
In hopes of reaching the broadest possible audience with the message of hope his film conveys, Clarke Paris has applied to enter the documentary in 10 major film festivals throughout the U.S. and has sent copies to major television outlets to stir interest in prime-time broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Paris, a POST-certified instructor, is optimistic that as word of the film spreads individual agencies will engage him to screen it for their personnel and conduct an 8-hour training block he has built around it.
Enthusiastic about the documentary, Sheriff Douglas Gillespie, head of the Las Vegas Metro Police, has urged him to do whatever he can to get the message out. "He told me that too often administrators overlook this problem until it's too late," Paris says. "He has even agreed to take DVD copies of the film with him to law enforcement conferences to help heighten the awareness."
The mission is an urgent one, Paris says. Near the end of "The Pain Behind the Badge," the screen fills with these haunting statements:
- From 1997-2007, 1,800 officers were killed in the line of duty, while 4,900 officers committed suicide, according to the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation.
- Fewer than 2% of all police agencies have police suicide prevention programs.
- There are no federally funded programs in place for the prevention of police suicide.
- During the time it took to produce the film, an estimated 329 officers took their own lives.
[NOTE: Paris points out that no matter how dark a personal situation may seem, help for officers is available. For referrals and other assistance, LEOs or those concerned about them can call the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance at 212-298-9111 ( www.poppanewyork.org) or the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation at 866-276-4615 (www.psf.org). [Thanks to Las Vegas officer Bob Hindi and PoliceOne trainer Gary Klugiewicz for tipping us to this story.]
NEXT: how to help yourself or another officer when the stress of the job seems overwhelming.
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| Latest Connection Article
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Officer Charged in McIntosh Death
Family considers pursuing wrongful death lawsuit
By Chuck Hagee
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
After more than 11 weeks, the 22-year-old Fairfax County Police Officer who was driving the police cruiser that struck Ashley McIntosh's car the evening of Feb. 12 resulting in the 33 year-old teaching assistant's death has been charged with reckless driving.
The results of the investigation and the name of the driver were officially released by police late Friday afternoon. The one paragraph news release of the Fairfax County Police stated: "On Friday, May 2, Officer Amanda Perry was charged with reckless driving after a review of the evidence by the Commonwealth's Attorney. The charge stems from a fatal crash on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at the intersection of Richmond Highway and Boswell Drive. Perry was issued a summons at police headquarters. Officer Perry remains on restricted duty pending the outcome of an internal administrative review."
Reckless driving is a Class 1 Misdemeanor that requires a court appearance, according to Capt. Michael Kline, commander, Mount Vernon Station, Fairfax County Police. Anyone convicted of a reckless driving Class 1 misdemeanor can be fined up to $2,500 and sentenced up to 12 months in jail, according to Kline.
However, the finding of Commonwealth Attorney Raymond F. Morrough has not pleased the family and many friends of McIntosh. Regardless of the outcome of the court trial on the driving charge, they are exploring the possibility of suing both Perry and Fairfax County, her employer, for "wrongful death."
"I fully intend to be representing the family in a wrong death suit. We will be meeting later this week to discuss the entire matter," said Attorney Thomas Curcio, who has been representing the family since the accident in their efforts to expedite the investigation.
DURING MARCH and early April, the family collected more than 1,100 signatures on a petition calling for the police "to conduct a fair, impartial, and full investigation of the circumstances of this incident." That petition was presented to Fairfax County Police Chief David M. Rohrer during an early April memorial tree planting ceremony in Ashley McIntosh's memory.
"The charges should have been far more serious. Morrough explained his decision that the officer had a momentary lapse of judgment. I wonder what kind of charges a regular citizen would face. Would the police and the system also excuse them for a "momentary lapse of judgment?" said Ashley's father John McIntosh.
"Neither the Commonwealth Attorney nor police bothered to tell us of the decision in person. Morrough's office left me a voice mail at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Late on a Friday afternoon in the spring — seems like they were trying to minimize news coverage," John McIntosh said.
"The Commonwealth Attorney got the results of the police investigation on April 22. Did it take him 11 days to make a decision? Expecting it to be a fair decision with both the police and the Commonwealth Attorney on the same side is like expecting a fair decision from two people representing the same company," he said.
Ashley McIntosh’s mother, Cynthia Colasanto, echoed John McIntosh’s frustration. "I clearly was hoping for a much stronger charge and that she [Perry] would be held accountable for her actions. There clearly was a reason to release their decision when they did," she said.
"They said they tried to leave a message, but I can't verify that. There is no recording of such a message," said Colasanto. "When the Perry trial comes up in court, our whole family will be there."
The most scathing comment of how the entire incident was handled officially came from Ashley's sister, Meredith Heller. "Quite frankly, I am disturbed at the charges that Officer Perry faces and the lack of empathy shown by the Fairfax County Police Department and the Commonwealth Attorney's Office," she said.
"Any police officer, who runs a red light without the use of a siren, collides into my sister, killing her and does not offer an apology lacks the human element needed to serve and protect the public and should not be allowed to keep her job," Heller said.
"To define my sister's tragic death as a ‘momentary lapse of judgment,’ as Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond Morrough has, should be a sure fire red flag to this county, that our officers are not trained nearly as well as we had hoped," Heller said. "I had always thought that our officers were trained so that no lapses of judgement ever occurred, especially lapses that cost innocent victims, such as my beautiful sister Ashley, their lives."
"While some in the Fairfax County Police Department have noted that this will have a chilling effect on the decision-making process of officers when responding to call, I hope that chilling effect certainly reminds them everyday to proceed cautiously and carefully on our roadways, rather than proceed to calls at speeds and in conditions that are unsafe without the use of sirens and lights," Heller said.
HELLER’S REACTION about the impact of the Morrough decision on police stemmed from a statement she read, attributed to Officer Marshall Thielen, president, Fairfax County Police Union, that he was disappointed in Morrough's decision because "it could have a chilling effect on our officers in the future."
Supervisor Gerald Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) also decried the alleged statement. "I'm extremely disappointed in the police union's attitude and their statement to prejudge the law and the legal process," said Hyland. "As a former military prosecutor, I know the challenge to a prosecutor to weigh all the facts in any case to arrive at a fair conclusion. Leave the decision to prosecute or not in the hands of the Commonwealth Attorney, don't attempt to second guess him."
"My concern since the beginning of this incident is that the investigation be completed as soon as possible. It is now in the hands of the court," he said.
During the April tree planting ceremony, Hyland said, "My job is to make sure this investigation is objective, thorough, fair and complete. If it turns out that it was not conducted in that manner, we will go outside Fairfax County." There was no indication after the decision was announced that he considered the investigation anything but fair and complete.
One of the prime organizers of that tree-planting ceremony was a long-time friend of the McIntosh family, Tappy Phillips. Upon hearing of the Commonwealth attorney's decision she said, "We were all very disappointed with the charge. We felt the officer should be held to the same standards as any other citizen. Her job is to apprehend and bring to justice violators of the law not be a violator."
On May 2, Thielen issued the following official statement on behalf of the Union: "Today, Commonwealth Attorney Raymond Morrough elected to charge a Fairfax County Police Officer, a member of the Fairfax Coalition of Police, with Reckless Driving. The charge stems from an accident that occurred on February 12, 2008 in the Mount Vernon District of Fairfax County which tragically led to the death of a citizen. We are disappointed in Mr. Morrough's decision to charge our member with Reckless Driving. Based on our knowledge of the case, we believe our member did not operate her vehicle in a reckless manner. We hope for a more appropriate adjudication of this case and will defend our client in court."
The Union statement, which Thielen noted would be its only statement, also expressed the group's "deep condolences to the McIntosh family on behalf of our Union and the Officer involved in the incident."
THE NIGHT of the tragedy, Feb. 12, saw an ice storm that gridlocked Northern Virginia and left some motorists stranded on the ramps of the Springfield Interchange for up to eight hours. It had also made other roads such as Route 1 extremely treacherous.
"The police came to my door that evening and told me my daughter had been in accident and I needed to go to Inova Fairfax Hospital. They said they had no further details," said John McIntosh.
"That trip would normally take me about 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic. That night it took me over two hours, that's how treacherous the roads were," he said.
On Feb. 12, at approximately 5 p.m., Ashley McIntosh was leaving the Mount Vernon Plaza Shopping Center. She pulled out onto Route 1 to go north in her 2003 Toyota Corrola. She had the green light.
Coming from the south, at a speed not disclosed publicly thus far by the police or the Commonwealth Attorney's investigation, was Officer Amanda Perry, a one-year veteran on the county police force. She had her police cruiser lights flashing when she raced through the red light at Richmond Highway and Boswell Avenue on her way to a call reporting a fight.
The question was whether Perry had her siren on. Hyland, unofficially, answered that question at the tree-planting ceremony.
"The video, which was on in the police car and the testimony of six witnesses have verified that the siren was not on," he said that day. His statement was not challenged by Chief Rohrer, standing just several feet away.
Perry's cruiser struck McIntosh's Corrola at the front of the passenger side with such force that she was ejected onto the roadway. Perry received only a few minor injuries.
Weather conditions were such that it was not possible for a Medivac helicopter to land and transport Ashley to Inova Fairfax Hospital. That had to be done by ambulance. She died of her injuries two days later.
Neither Attorney Edward J. Nuttall, who represents the Union and Perry, nor Morrough returned phone messages left with their offices. Perry was unable to be reached. At this writing, a court date has yet to be established.
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| Hometown Heroes Death Benefit
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MEDIA ADVISORY
Press Conference
Date: July 11, 2007, 12:30 pm
Location: The US Senate, Dirksen Bldg. Room 628
Topic: In 2003, Congress unanimously passed the
Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act (P.L. 108-182) to give survivors’ benefits to the families of fallen public safety officers that suffer a fatal heart attack or stroke in the line of duty or up to 24 hours after a “non-routine stressful or strenuous” line-of-duty activity or training event. Almost four years after the passage of this act, 198 families of fallen public safety officers are still waiting to hear from the Department of Justice (DOJ) about their claims. Forty-eight families have been turned down, and only six families have received any benefits from this program.
Public safety groups have held countless meetings with DOJ and Bush administration officials, urging that these families be granted their benefits as directed by President Bush and Congress. In addition, a bipartisan group of 101senators and representatives sent President Bush a letter on June 7 expressing concern over the delays and the deviation from congressional intent.
Who: The president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, Chief Jim Harmes, will be accompanied by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Bob Etheridge (D-NC), officials from other major national fire and police organizations, as well as three surviving firefighter family members for this press conference to urge Congress to examine the implementation of this important DOJ program.
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