The Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD) records clerk that transcribed the 911 call that preceded the police shooting of David James Elliott, did not know the ‘time’ of the call she was transcribing for an investigative journalist.
It’s kind of important.
The 911 call set into motion a high speed chase, police shooting of an unarmed man, and the subsequent seizure of thousands of pills in the suspect’s vehicle (for which no criminal charges were ever brought).
“The Time was not stated within the PSAP recording of the call therefore I have no way of knowing the exact time of the call,” said Penny Johnson, Records Administration Bureau, GFPD.
Lt. Derik Zimmel, GFPD, said the document provided to Write Into Action “fulfilled” the records request. It’s not known why the GFPD would not consider the actual time of a 911 call to be part of any 911 records request.
Lt. Zimmel, as well as Becky Ault, director of Grand Forks County PSAP, both responded to subsequent requests for clarification – both stated the time of the call was 10:41 P.M., February 27, 2015.
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| Becky Ault, Grand Forks County PSAP Director |
However, the box allotted for “Time” remains empty in the actual transcription record.
Specific times are the key to understanding what occurred – and what did not occur.
Write Into Action’s request was for public records regarding an incident described in the official police shooting investigation conducted by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) that said, “The cleaning woman inside the bank called in the complaint around 11:30 p.m., to 11:40 p.m.”
Lt. Zimmel said, “No such record exists.”
However – there appears to be a significant event that occurred at 11:30 P.M. on the night in question.
The BCI interview of ND State Trooper Brittany Schmidt said, “Trooper Schmidt stated the original call in regard to this case came in around 11 p.m.”
The BCI report continued, “Trooper Schmidt stated at 11:30 p.m., the vehicle from the earlier pursuit was located in Grand Forks. There was no pursuit at this time.”
The vehicle was located?
No pursuit?
Why?
Another anomalous statement regarding time is found in the BCI interview of GFPD officer Chris Brown who said he witnessed the pursuit at around 10:30 P.M.; which is before the 911 call was even made.
“In regard to the first (1st) pursuit, Grand Forks Police Department Officer Chris Brown said that he was at the Altru Hospital Emergency Room with a female that refused to leave, and a pursuit began at about 10:30 p.m./10:35 p.m. Grand Forks Police Department Officer Chris Brown saw the first (1st) pursuit proceed northbound on South Columbia Road past the Altru Hospital, but he was not involved. Grand Forks Police Department Officer Chris Brown continued with his call at the Altru Hospital Emergency Room until around 11:00 p.m.” the BCI report said.
How did Officer Brown observe a chase that began at 10:30/10:35 P.M. that was going north on Columbia Road past Altru when the pursuit did not begin until shortly before 11 P.M.?
The 11 P.M. start time for the pursuit is verified in a short video clip published by WDAZ TV.
“It started around 11 p.m. Friday February 27th when Grand Forks police tried to pull over a suspicious vehicle. Instead the driver of the vehicle, David Elliot, took off at speeds of more than 60 miles per hour thru a residential neighborhood,” WDAZ reported.
So what pursuit did Brown observe at 10:30/10:35 P.M.?
Write Into Action has identified a myriad of anomolies that call the official narrative in question.
Write Into Action continues to request public records and will report to the public.
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