I'm reposting this from another posting. On Monday at the start of business, I will attempt to confirm with the DOT plow driver that he/she looked into the car. At no time does the above press release explicitly say that the tow truck driver looked into the car.
UPDATE: On December 9, 2010 Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure reported to me that the plow driver who discovered Mr. Ealey's vehicle wiped snow off the window of the vehicle and looked inside. Because Mr. Ealey was reclined, his body wasn't visible to the plow driver and it was from that point on reported as and treated as an abandoned vehicle. I also learned, and this is again according to Sheriff McClure, that the closest Sheriff's deputy was in a different part of the county assisting a stranded motorist at the time Mr. Ealey's vehicle was reported as not containing a stranded motorist. Sheriff McClure reports that at no time did any Sac County Sheriff's Department employee visit the scene of Mr. Ealey's vehicle, which was one of 25+ vehicles reported as abandoned that day.
Copyright (c)2007-2010 Curtis Bloes All Rights Reserved
Wow....just wow....I was so hoping that Earl had passed away instantly, from a heart attack or something. Sure doesn't sound like it. Just doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeletePassin the buck...... Typical.
ReplyDeleteHot Potato, who ends up with it last, loses....
ReplyDeleteHow can you say they are "passing the buck"? They are still waiting for reports to come back and they have given more details than before.....just lay off of it!
ReplyDeleteThere is that phrase again, "abandoned vehicle" which should NEVER have been used until the car had been searched thoroughly. Lessons learned from searches after catastrophic events like hurricanes,tornadoes, etc. should be policy for all emergency personnel. Tennessee plates should also have raised some red flags? Hopefully law enforcement will review their SOP's and make needed changes. Curtis, it would be interesting to see what info is on the ISP's tow sheet.
ReplyDeleteI guess keys in Mr. Ealey's pocket probably rules out CO poisoning?
I dont get it who is passing the buck to who
ReplyDeleteThis is not passing the buck to anyone. It read plainly. Those who made claims on the other store need to start eating that crow and say you were wrong for what you claimed.
ReplyDeleteEating Crow??
ReplyDeleteEarl Ealey died, alone in the cold. He may have been alive when found. There is no crow to eat here.
Just disbelief and sadness.
Am confused.
ReplyDeleteIf the Iowa State Patrol notified the Sac County Sheriff's Office about a stranded vehicle, why is this not then the responsibility of Sac?
The Sheriff's Office then sent a towtruck. That ended their involvement. But why?
No matter how you read this, responsibility for this stranded vehicle was the Sheriff's. No matter how busy they were, they should have checked this vehicle. I do not know if it would have saved Earl, but we will never know it seems.
I'm reposting this from another posting. On Monday at the start of business, I will attempt to confirm with the DOT plow driver that he/she looked into the car.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE: On December 9, 2010 Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure reported to me that the plow driver who discovered Mr. Ealey's vehicle wiped snow off the window of the vehicle and looked inside. Because Mr. Ealey was reclined, his body wasn't visible to the plow driver and it was from that point on reported as and treated as an abandoned vehicle. I also learned, and this is again according to Sheriff McClure, that the closest Sheriff's deputy was in a different part of the county assisting a stranded motorist at the time Mr. Ealey's vehicle was reported as not containing a stranded motorist. Sheriff McClure reports that at no time did any Sac County Sheriff's Department employee visit the scene of Mr. Ealey's vehicle, which was one of 25+ vehicles reported as abandoned that day.
[EDITOR'S NOTE] I have rejected about 20 comments at this point because people keep mistakenly talking about the tow truck driver. I know "tow" and "plow" end with the same two letters but it's an important distinction.
ReplyDelete[END EDITOR'S NOTE]
Some people are either too ignorant to read or do not comprehend what they read. Anonymous 2:28 PM. The [CONTENT REMOVED] driver DID look in the vehicle,dumbass! Because Mr. Ealy was reclined in the driver's seat, he was NOT VISIBLE! Duh! Do you honestly think that the sheriff's office should check all apparently abandoned vehicles? Nothing better to do in a snow storm than check cars that appear abandoned, I guess. To hell with people that need real help, I guess you are saying. If nothing appeared suspicious, why would anyone ever need to follow up? Follow up on what?! Get real! Wish people would just give this a rest! Let the poor man rest in peace!
Sequence of events as has been made public:
ReplyDeletePlow driver contacts State Patrol radio based at Storm Lake re: stalled vehicle in roadway.
State Patrol radio contacts Sac County re: vehicle
Sac County contacts nearest tow service.
Tow service arrives at vehicle, does cursory check, due to circumstances, does not see individual in vehicle.
Tow service contacts State Patrol officer, declares vehicle abandoned and asks State Patrol to start tow report on vehicle.
State Patrol states if vehicle is not claimed within 48 hours (Monday), abandoned vehicle paperwork will be started.
The only involvement the Sac County Sheriff's Department had prior to the body being discovered was the dispatcher calling the tow truck. All other law enforcement contact was the State Patrol -- a trooper stated he would do the paperwork and reporting for the abandoned vehicle. How then is this the fault of the Sheriff's Office? It was not a deputy that made contact with the vehicle, at no time did the SCSD take on any responsibility dealing with the vehicle, nor should they have as another law enforcement entity had already volunteered to do so.
But yet people are still dead-set intent on blaming the Sheriff's Office.
Ignorance is the inability to change ones mind in the presence of facts.
I thought we should learn from our mistakes. Clearly mistakes were made.
ReplyDeleteSo, because he was reclined in the front seat and somehow not visible this ends it??
I would think checking stranded vehicles would be a priority. And there is a diference between abandoned and stranded. Quite a significant difference.
Because I question poor decisions that could be responsible for a man's death I am a "dumbass"?
What other people needed help during this timeframe?
Earl should not have died in vain, he deserves that. The truth should be something we are not afraid of.
The vehicle WAS checked - and after being checked, was declared abandoned. Because of a number of circumstances (reclined in seat, tinted windows, may or may not have been frost on inside of window), he was not visible. I can't say for sure, but I'd bet the tow truck driver knocked on the windows as well, or figured the noise of being hooked up to tow truck (or pulled down the road) would have woken anyone in the vehicle up.
ReplyDeleteThe truth that you are afraid of is, sometimes everything can be done right and things still turn out wrong. If I had to place a bet, I would say that Mr. Ealy was already deceased when the tow truck got to him - and at that point, the entire Sac County Sheriffs office and every active State Patrol officer in the area could have checked on the vehicle, and the only change in the outcome would have been the timeline of discovery of his body.
The person who declared this vehicle "abandoned" made the first mistake.
ReplyDeleteThis person was in no way Law Enforcement. If one window was to hard to look in, try another. Look at the license plate, do more to look into the vehicle.
The state patrol notified Sac because the vehicle was in Sac County. The Comm Center should have sent a deputy to the site. If not immediately then as soon as possible.
If the Comm Center had just the job to dispatch a tow driver that would end it. But the Comm Center is at the heart of the Sheriff's Office. Am hoping that they are in communication.
Poor decisions were made. Changes must be made in the future.
Sure it was checked, but obviously not very well.
ReplyDeleteThe report should have been, I cannot see into the vehicle to insure there is no one inside.
This report should have been done by Law Enforcement.
This report should have been done by the Sac County Sheriff's Department. Who was more responsible to insure public safety, the tow driver, plow driver or the Sac County Sheriff's Office.
The answer seems simple.
Vote for the Sheriff who will rescue you in a snowstorm.
A leader can delegate authority, but the responsibility will be his.
ReplyDeleteThe Sac County Sheriff's office delegated their authority to the plow driver/tow driver to determine the vehicle was not occupied. That determination that the vehicle was empty was wrong.
The responsibility for the mistake was the Sac County Sheriff's Office.
Everyone who thinks the Sheriff's department should get the blame obviously doesn't know how protocol works.
ReplyDeleteEverything that the Sheriff's Dept did is the same thing that has been on the books for years as standard operating procedure in instances like this.
Travel was not advised on that night, and many service agencies, such as police, sheriff's department, and state patrol will only respond if person injury report is involved. Well, there was not personal injury report because they were told no one was in the vehicle.
If a house was fully engulfed in flames where it would be dangerous and life threatening to send fire crews into the blaze and they were told no one was in the house and they controlled the fire and let it burn, later they find a body in the house, would you all blame the fire department for not finding the person? Think about it folks!
Too many people think Sac City and Sac County is a breeding ground for the next Oliver Stone movie with all the allegations of conspiracy going on. People, It's SAC CITY
Well, I'm done with the discussion- For all of those of you that are whining that the County should be cleared of it, I hope it's something that someday YOU will have to question about why something happened to a relative that seems "questionable"- and it is just dropped (and, it seems to me, that ANY ONE OF THE ONES that are defending things, if it was a relative of yours you would think differently). It sure is funny that the county called the tow truck, and they "expect" (I know that they may have "volunteered", but did the county say "no, we can get it, it's in our county")the troopers to do the tow sheet? Aren't the deputies in Early EVERY DAY since they ARE A CONTRACT TOWN? It wouldn't have been out of the way for them to do it....... I think the troopers had enough to cover that night as well, probably a county or TWO by themself...- don't make it their responsibility.
ReplyDelete