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From: Jasper
Date: 4/29/02
Time: 8:28:17 PM
Rovaan,
Yes, we know that the old man called 911. But we don't know when he made the call, who received it or whether it was routed to the nearest available squad car or Animal Control.
The fact that the man did get worked up enough about the barking to call 911 (Emergency) tells me that Heidstra's characterization of how the Akita was barking was right on. Bostepe's report that it sounded to him as though all of the neighborhood dogs were barking suggests that he made the call sometime after Tistaert's dog started yapping away. This might have either confirmed or refuted the time that Heidstra said he heard the "Hey! Hey! Hey!" (just before the second dog started barking).
The trouble is, we don't have a thing from the old man himself. Every word attributed to him is hearsay. We can't even say for sure that he called 911 or that he said he called 911. He might have said that he called the police. In any event, he demonstrated that he was an observant and concerned citizen who took action and wanted to share what he knew with the police. There is no excuse for not sending detectives out to talk to him.
What you said about Roberts and Nolan makes me wonder if, in fact, no detectives did speak to him. We know that Roberts and Nolan spoke with Schwab. We know that Roberts spoke with the plumber who said the saw a white Bronco with Al Cowlings license number. How do we know that he didn't talk to the old man? Given what we know about the man, it's hard to believe that no detective and no private investigator did talk to him.
Any ideas about the defense's apparent negligence? --Jasper