Investigation into the events at Geary High School in December have revealed some startling inconsistencies between what was reported to the Geary City Council and what Weatherford dispatch, other officers on the scene and school administrators noted.
A call came in to 9-11/Weatherford dispatch at 11:43 and 23 seconds that there was a fight and requesting law enforcement and emergency medical personnel.
Dispatch radioed Geary Police Department and Geary Chief JJ Stitt. That department had not notified dispatch the school resource officer was now employed by Blaine County Sheriff’s Office. There was no response from Geary PD.
A second call one second later came in to dispatch asking for help with a fight at the high school.
Dispatch radioed Blaine County SO at 11:44. It also radioed Geary PD at 11:45, to no response.
The school resource officer notified dispatch at 11:45 and 49 seconds he was on the way to the school. He arrived at the school and notified dispatch at 11:48 and 4 seconds that he had two juveniles in custody.
According to a statement written by the administration, the students were being walked out of the school by the principal, Jim Rainey. He further wrote that in spite of multiple calls there was only one altercation involving four students. Two were taken by the resource officer to the police department for statements while two others were being taken for treatment at a medical facility. One went by ambulance, the second was taken by private vehicle.
According to the call logs from Weatherford dispatch, it was nine minutes between the time of the first radio call to Geary PD and the time the chief was raised on his cell phone. There was no radio contact after three radio transmissions of different lengths. The chief said he was sitting in front of his radio system in the department office and had heard nothing. Dispatch conceded that it could be radio problems and other officers wondered if it was a volume control issue.
Blaine County Emergency Management, Stitt said, has not been able to pin down why no transmissions were heard inside the police department.
The Geary officers were logged enroute at 11:52 and 25 seconds. They arrived at the school, according to the chief’s report on the incident, 90 seconds after the phone call ended.
When the SRO, Jonathon DeJesus, saw Stitt and Sgt. Jeremiah Loper at the school he asked if it were OK to use the police department to take statements. He also asked them to remain at the school to handle crowd control, a request Stitt now says he does not recall.
DeJesus said Stitt and Loper came back to the police department in about 10 minutes. Within two minutes, the high school principal called DeJesus’ cell phone asking for law enforcement at the school because he was concerned there could be another fight.
Blaine County Undersheriff Eric Denning had heard the first call from dispatch when he was in Watonga and immediately started toward Geary. He radioed that he was at Geary PD at 11:56 and 29 seconds. He left the department and went to the school immediately. The Geary officers also went back to the school.
Once finished taking statements the SRO returned to the school, where only Denning remained on scene.
Review of tapes inside the building showed there was only one fight. “But it was hectic and there was a lot of talking among the parents on the scene,” DeJesus said during a telephone interview with Denning and Sheriff Travis Daugherty on the line as well. “It would have been stupid not to ask for help.”
Stitt, for his part, has backtracked on his claim that his department was sent the ‘disregard’ message four times by Weatherford dispatch.
“I said I was disregarded,” Stitt said this week. “I don’t know who disregarded me or who dispatched me. I was sent to the high school to assist BC 9 (DeJesus) with a fight. “
He said both he and acting Geary mayor Rocky Coleman have asked for an incident response review with the sheriff’s office, his department and Weatherford dispatch dissecting he event to determine where the disconnect occurred. That meeting has yet to be scheduled.
As to other claims, Stitt remains adamant that he and Sgt. Loper walked through the halls of the school, going room to room to determine if there was someone in hiding calling 9-11.
The administration, though, wrote that it did not happen, that there was no need of a room to room search and that the sheriff’s office actively managed the situation.
Stitt said he wants to get to the bottom of the confusion and communication is valued.