MCINTEE THE “GUMSHOE” …..
Dear Readers… For this writer March 9, 2010 cannot come soon enough!…Tuesday night’s Public Safety Discussion was just the latest “Deputy-sode” of McIntee muck and mire in the last three and a half years…… What is wrong up there?…
How can they sit up there and completely miss the mark …(pun intended)… on the substance of the story of the suicide which appeared first on this site shortly after the incident in May and again after the Mark Brown in-depth articles in the BTS Futures?…
How can they be so blind as to not realize that until Vice Mayor McIntee requested the police reports through the Town Manager as Vice Mayor (We know he cannot do e-mails but is he also incapable of doing public records requests…He did his e-mail request for the Mayor and Comm. Dodd as the VM through the Manager as well)…thus this report went to each of the Commissioners as well…Putting it on the agenda he made it part of the backup for the item further expanding its distribution which along with his statements on the dais made the Vice Mayor himself the FIRST person to publicly expose the name of the widow and her address!…
In what capacity was he speaking ?…If he was speaking as the Deputy Chief of the VFD he should have stepped down in front of the podium… and he should have been questioned by the commission as the rest of the public safety officers were….
This writer has watched over the years how this “Gumshoe” McIntee operates…You have to watch closely when McIntee does one of these numbers…and see how he diverts attention away from facts or self incrimination…it’s a trait that’s really quite well honed after 60+ years……Notice throughout this exercise McIntee never says his police report interview as witness #3 is incorrect…Notice McIntee never asks the Chief to ask BSO to re-interview him under oath and taped…He never does an “Esther Colon” and says “subpoena me”…”I won’t take the 5th”… Why because he knows the interview and the statement he made were true!…We have seen this before with past discrepancies…The McIntee on the dais…and the McIntee in the reports…Fl.Ethics Commission/ Fl.Elections Commission …and BSO… They’re always different… This time he put the onus on the widow…asking for the BSO to interview her…Having her taped for the interview with the “Editor” of the BTSTimes…Notice how he changes times… He arrived in 17 seconds per Chief Perkins at the podium…15 seconds according to the VFD Incident Report (270/300/ 400 ft. in 15-17 secs?)…Notice how he changes how many feet his home is from the suicide 400 ft…270 ft…300 ft…Notice how he says he heard the fire radio in the police report …In the 2nd version he was “directed to go there by the emergency dispatch” on his pager…knowing the only reason he and the VFD get these kind of call is because they have asked to be included on them as a practice…There is no need in a suicide to call the Deputy Chief of the local volunteer fire department to go to a suicide…Notice how he says he heard the woman screaming this time…this version from “around the corner”…inside her house…(is that possible?)…In his police statement he says the woman and the daughter followed him into the bedroom…Notice how he says “he made the decision to go in there and do whatever I could to help the woman”…was the house unlocked?…Did he break down the door?….Notice how he says “the gentleman had put a 45 caliber pistol to the side of his head and blew one side of his head off. He was lying in a position. There was no chance of recovery from. “I looked at him briefly 5-10 seconds,”…as opposed to his police report ” after taking a look at the victim he knew he was dead because of his color, he never checked his vital signs.”…He had time to decide it was a 45 caliber but not time to be the “First Responder” and do CPR….Notice how he says “I scooped up the daughter and the wife as they’re screaming and took them out of this terrible sight they were looking at and put them on the couch and consoled them as best I could.”…In the police report “McIntee then made everyone sit in the living room until the arrival of the police, which he said was almost immediate.”… He says from the dais “I got them to the couch and within 30 seconds the troops arrived. That would be the Chiefs, cops, deputies. They were all there., did a great job.”…But later when asked about entering against VFD SOPs (standard operating procedures) McIntee says ..” I was the first person there. They didn’t get there for a minute, minute and a half and if you think I’m gonna stand outside and with a woman and a kid screaming because I’m in jeopardy, the only life I’m jeopardizing is myself, you’re wrong.”…
McIntee used his usual tactics of comparing apples to oranges (with Jimmy-boy entering the fray in his comments)…by actually comparing a volunteer fireman entering a house where it was reported on the call “HER HUSB POSS SHOT HIMSELF…STILL LLONCONSCIOUS AND BREATHING UNCONSCIOUS OR STAB/GUNSHOT/PENETRATING TRAUMA UNCONSCIOUS OR ARREST (GUNSHOT!) HE HAS RECEIVED A GUNSHOT WOUND” …to the BSO bomb expert who entered the Hyperbaric explosion to save the little boy and his grandmother…with McIntee saying they gave him” a medal… (was that a hint to Jimmy-boy for as future agenda item?).. No gunshot reported at that explosion…and it was a policeman who responded to an explosion…not a volunteer fireman responding to a “possible suicide”…Notice how the little girl becomes the “baby”…and then he descends into a plug for the BTSTimes…an article coming next issue…a follow-up to the Truth “deflector” in the last issue?….He says “I never called her. I never asked for her cooperation”…Not quite what is being said in the background…He continues to ask the BSO Chief “to send somebody out to talk to her and release a sworn statement from her and then I can start looking for retractions.”…But later when the Mayor read the BSO Investigative Action Report (page 2) with his “Witness #3 statement” McIntee entered the master bedroom with the victim’s wife and daughter following him and after taking a look at the victim he knew he was dead because of his color”…. saying “those are pretty strong words and they came from you Vice Mayor”……McIntee countered careful not to implicate himself “No, they came from a Homicide Detective who is presently off sick and did not take any notes and who did not take any tape and who did not generate the report for 3 months.”..(Later when asked by Comm. Clottey about the 3 month gap from May to July BSO Chief Llerena replied it was “standard procedure” for death cases..Did the “seasoned police officer McIntee not know this?)… The Mayor did not back down…”So you’re calling this report [BSO] a lie?”… McIntee sidesteps and does not answer ..instead saying ” Well one of those reports I read Mayor was that I had my feet put up on the detective’s desk. He interviewed me in the fire station.”…McIntee could not say the report was a lie…because it is not…When the Mayor continued to push him on it…he further stepped aside from answering to again “offer up ” the widow…”and that’s why I’ve suggested the Chief [BSO] go interview the woman and get the inside story.”…But again did not offer up himself for another interview… The Mayor was strong and asked for “another investigation”..saying “Because looking at this information and reading what was in the original report we need to get to the bottom of this. We need to protect the citizens of this community and I would think Vice Mayor you would want that as much as I do.”…The Vice Mayor said “I do Mayor and I asked the the Chief prior to that dissertation to please do that.To contact…” (the woman…not him)…The Vice Mayor continued throughout to say the BSO was wrong in their investigation …He said he had asked for a “complete investigation” from BSO “Homicide” from her because “one of the problems was and she told us this was the day of the homi, suicide they talked to her and that night she was very distraught and they never went back to talk to her. I think they did this because it was a courtesy. It, they didn’t want to put her through that again and that made a lot of sense at the time….So according to McIntee BSO stopped investigating as a courtesy?… That’s a pretty serious charge against BSO…
Mark Brown the Editor of the BTSFuture’s had an opportunity to defend his reporting and himself after McIntee spoke first (not the “standard practice…usually public comment comes first)…He was steadfast after hearing McIntee say …”But when I read a description in a paper [BTSF] that is so opposite what happened it hurts and it’s evil and it’s slanderous. And I went to a lawyer and I’m, my aggressive moves that you heard yesterday [4 pm Comm. workshop “defamation” definition] in my initial statement and I’m not backing down. This was a hate filled article that did not tell the truth.” http://www.bytheseafuture.org/ He was armed and ready with 6 reports all used for the factual information found within the pages of his publication …Mark also met with the widow after she contacted him. (He brought her the police reports, which she had not seen until he showed them to her) …Mark told the dais he was glad the Vice Mayor chose to speak first and said “If the objective was to try and discredit me, I’ll tell you right now that I stand 100% behind my story. Everything I wrote down is documented in the public records that are available to all of you on this incident including the Vice Mayor’s statements on this, and I’m prepared to defend my story at anytime and in any forum.” http://www.lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov/town/backup2009.htm (scroll down to Public Safety discussion 7 a. Report on Suicide in Bel-Air) …Mark pointed out some of the content including the Vice Mayor’s statement and when he made the common mistake of calling it a “deposition” McIntee seized the opportunity to try and throw Mr. Brown off message by countering the mistake as ” untrue.”…Mark returned to pointing out the discrepancies between the 6 reports and the BTSTimes “version” along with this evenings statements made by the Vice Mayor. He said “I think there needs to be an investigation to find out why these stories are changing. But who’s gonna do it because you’ve got two commissioners with the VFD. The Town Manager hasn’t done any oversight of the VFD. She can’t do it. That leaves the State of Florida I think this commission should ask the Florida State Fire Marshal Office or the Florida Bureau of Emergency Medical Services to investigate this matter and find out why there’s these different stories now between the official reports and what we’re being told now.”…He went on about the Vice Mayor’s actions of entering the house and the Florida State Statute 112 concerning the Vice Mayor’s required assistance once he chose to become a “First Responder”…When Mark said the Vice Mayor said the man was dead …the Vice Mayor called out “point of order” saying “that’s an absolute lie,. I never said that, that’s an absolute untruth and another lie and you’re putting your foot deeper in it.”……The Vice Mayor said “I looked at him briefly , maybe 5-10 seconds sensed there was no hope.”..Mr Brown also knew from the VFD CAD report it said “DP12 ADV S7″…which is police “lingo” for dead…(it was odd because we hear S7 is not used by firefighters…must be more of that “seasoned cop stuff)… Mark continued after telling the Vice Mayor “It’s my turn to speak now I’ve listened to you.”…Applause came from the hall…..He spoke of the standard investigations done throughout the country in police departments and fire departments in reviewing the conduct of their members …The Vice Mayor he said should be treated the same way as a VFD firefighter who was suspended this past summer.. McIntee should be put on administrative leave pending the outcome…”If the investigators find he was negligent or otherwise violated the law then he should be put on trial or otherwise be held accountable for his actions.”….”It’s also time for this commission to pass a law that prohibits members of the VFD from responding to medical calls unless assistance is first requested by the BSO or AMR.”…The Vice Mayor had enough and called out “Time!”…the audience responded angrily…
Time came for the other Public Safety Officers to make their way up to the podium…First was LBTS-BSO Chief Llerena who would be facing his first head-on interchange with the Vice Mayor…(welcome to politics in LBTS Chief)…The Chief pointed out this investigation was never a homicide and there was never any indication of a suspicious death or any type of crime related to it. He explained the process of not taping or having sworn testimony statements in these cases. He said any issues of the VFD By-laws were not part of the homicide unit and they would not get into that… Well the Vice Mayor jumped onto that opening ..”Question for the Chief, there’s no crime here.” …Chief Llerena said “No sir, there was never any allegation of any type of a homicide.”…The Vice Mayor found just the way to go further away from his own role of entering the home contrary to VFD procedure and to keep off his “first responder” problem of not doing anything for the victim… He said he had asked the Chief to take the statement “from the poor woman, Is that correct?”…Chief Llerena said “Yes Sir, I’ve been authorized by the Chief of Detectives to comment to the best of my ability on the case. So I can relay that concern back to the Homicide Division, we have a victim advocate.”…
Commissioner Silverstone chimed in giving Mr Brown some BFF (Best Friends Forever) swipes for the article…his paper and skewing the papers report saying that McIntee calling off the rescue of an injured man would have been breaking the law if it happened…He tried to initiate some verification of it being punishable from Chief Llerena but the Chief could not comment on the matter due to unfamiliarity with statutes governing firefighters…( the CAD report in the VFD Incident report the DP12 S7 and the VFD June monthly report that shows the “04-May-09 S.E.15 Street medical, cancelled by DPC12)… Getting nowhere Jimmy went to AMR Lt. Brooke Liddle to address this asking who could call off the medics…Mr Liddle answered only law enforcement can cancel or prohibit them from entering a scene…Jimmy said” it was impossible for this to happen. He [McIntee] doesn’t have the authority to do it and if he tried nobody would listen to him anyway ….”…Too funny…Since when did this ever stop the VM?…Comm. Silverstone decided to go for the paper in an attempt to portray the BTSFutures as “nothing but a political format, a platform to use, it’s obvious to me.”…He then stated he hoped the Vice Mayor would follow through with his “promise of seeing this to the end.”…saying this reporting was what was dividing the town…Hmmm….
Commissioner Dodd asked AMR Lt. Liddle and VFD Chief Perkins the same question…finally getting to the reason …It’s nice to see a non-lemming in action…He asked each about their procedures for entering a “situation such as this”.. that AMR “are not allowed to go into the premises until cleared by BSO to do so”…The Lt. answered that is “standard AMR procedure.”…Comm. Dodd went further asking why the procedure was in place and he was told for the safety of the rescuer…Comm. Dodd said he had concern for the members of the fire department if they did not follow the same procedure…and went on to throw the Vice Mayor a bone about his days in Buffalo and his past a cop going to similar calls..but he reminded the Vice Mayor that now he enters as a VFD Deputy Chief…He went on to put Chief Perkins on the spot to answer the same question of procedures where a gunshot had been heard….Chief Perkins said ” Our procedures are the same as AMR. We have to stand outside until the scene is cleared by P.D., That’s the procedure” …It took from May to get the VFD Chief to admit the procedure was in place…Comm. Dodd asked what happens when “somebody doesn’t adopt that procedure?”…Perkins said the following ” Well, every call has a life of its own and Mr. McIntee made a judgment call and I weighed all the circumstances of what happened and I decided he did go against our procedure but it was justified.”…Comm. Dodd asked for more…”So that was the result of the internal fire department inquiry into this particular incident?”… Chief Perkins said ” Yes Sir, the decision came on me. I would either suspend him him for going against procedure or justify of. I felt he made a judgment and every emergency like that is a judgment call and because the woman was screaming, and there was a child involved. Yes it was against our procedures but they needed help.”…
What kind of internal inquiry was done and was the Town Manager informed in the process?…I sent a PRR to the VFD and the Town… The VFD responded…
……………………………………………
Public Records Request
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:30 PM From: “Barbara Cole”
To: Cheryl.Louvaris@lbtsfire.com
Chief Perkins, Cheryl : I am making a public records request for all correspondence , e-mails, memos or meetings between Town Manager Colon or any Town Staff and the VFD, Chief Perkins, Dep. Chief McIntee concerning the May 4, 2009 suicide incident on SE 15th St.
I am asking for any internal investigation report, documents on Deputy Chief McIntee ignoring VFD SOPs for entering a suicide scene against procedure. Chief Perkins acknowledged DP 12 did not follow procedure .
Please acknowledge this request.
Thank you Barbara Cole
Re: Public Records Request
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:08 PM
From:
“Cheryl Louvaris” <Cheryl.Louvaris@lbtsfire.com>
To:
“Barbara Cole” <barbarafcole@yahoo.com>
Mrs. Cole,
We received your request; unfortunately we have no correspondence that you request. The only report we have is the incident report in the CAD system which is now public information.
Cheryl Louvaris
Executive Secretary
……………………………………………………….
Back to the meeting…The Vice Mayor took yet another opportunity to go off topic when the Chief mentioned he was on scene in 2 minutes…Ah Ha…McIntee said the BTSFutures said the Chief was not there for an hour…”That’s an absolute untruth.” said McIntee…The Chief said he was there and “I’m dealing in facts.”…But which facts…The Chief in the exchange with McIntee states he has dispatch arrival times odf AMR 3 minutes 8 seconds/ Perkins 2 minutes and McIntee 17 seconds….The VFD Incident Report states on page 2 for DP12 (Dep. Chief McIntee ) Apparatus Dispatch Date and Time 17:11:51/ Apparatus Arrival Date and Time 17:12:35 / Response time 0:00:15 ….For C12 (Chief Perkins) “Apparatus Dispatch Date and Time 17:12:29/ Apparatus Arrival date and time 17:12:37 The mistake of the Perkins arrive on scene time was the “Arrive facility date and time 18:08:29″…it was an honest mistake…..Back to Comm Dodd…(McIntee was interrupting throughout the item and he carried on his behavior the rest of the evening…Time for the gavel!)…. Comm. Dodd asked about suspending people for going into a building without permission from BSO…asking AMR what they would do…The response “administrative leave”…He felt that should be a lesson for Chief Perkins …This is where McIntee said he was first…by a minute to a minute and a half and was going in no ifs, ands or buts ….He went on to try and engage the BSO Chief to compare a policeman going into a fire…and felt quite invigorated when Chief Llerena said “that would be a judgment call he would have to make.”…but the caveat was “we don’t have any specific policy”…VFD does…as stated by the Chief…McIntee was not deterred by this mere “detail” …this is where he went for the “medal”…the “hero got for going into the Hyperbaric explosion scene…
No wanting to be left by the wayside Jimmy-boy could not resist…he asked Chief Perkins if he [Jimmy]was allowed to go in the water to save someone drowning..The Chief said “Yes, you are.”…Comm. Silverstone puffed up and said “Do I need permission from anybody?”.. The Chief said he did not…but he said “you do need to contact dispatch to let them know so we all know that you’re in there”…Aw shucks…Jim was not going to let this bravado go “Just for the record if I see somebody out there, I’m going out. If I hear somebody screaming and I’m the first one there I’m gonna do something about it. If I can. I’ll make a judgment call obviously.”…You go Jimmy…you go!….
Commissioner Clottey had another chance to deal with a police issue… and she showed where she’s spending her free time lately (eeny….meany…miny…MOE)…saying it was unfortunate to “put a resident in our community through this.”…(The widow now lives in another town)…”But I do have a question of the Police Chief” (we held our breath, deja vue)… She followed the Vice Mayor’s lead about the May to July date on the investigative report…and it was explained by the BSO Chief as standard … Comm. Clottey said “I also have another question. When you have somebody commit suicide who’s not a public figure in any way shape or form is it common to put the family through something like this?…Chief Llerena just got a dose of “Cluelessness”…and answered “I’m not sure what you’re referring to?…Comm. Clottey “I mean the publicity is it common?”…Chief Llerena “That’s improper for me to comment on. That’s not part of the Sheriff’s office. In terms of the investigation it’s routine, it’s unfortunate but we do have to interview some of the victims and witnesses. That part of the investigation is very routine.”
Comm. Dodd stated a public statement containing the information about the investigative procedures might have alleviated the need for this exercise…the Mayor agreed but still trying to dodge the bullet of public opinion the Vice mayor went off point by inferring Comm. Dodd wanted the in-depth report of the event…when what Comm. Dodd and the Mayor wanted was just what Mark Brown wanted. Some real accountability and real action taken concerning a member of our town contracted public safety provider who breaks the rules….no judgment call just the rules in black and white….for as the Town Manger said the evening before… there is no gray…
What happens now…well, the Futures comes out on Friday…and you can bet the “Truth Deflector” will be ready, with laundry marker in hand …The Chief of the VFD who spent a long time one on one with Mark Brown after the exchange will be doing some fancy footwork to yet again deny his words to the “opposition” of the “Mc-Gang”…The Town might get my PRR back to me before next month and they may have more info than the VFD. …The Town Manager will continue to ignore this very real public safety issue…that effects us all and it should become a factor in her evaluation next Tuesday……
We have a rogue VFD Deputy Chief who believes he is above the VFD bylaws… and continues to believe his actions…are judgment calls that ONLY jeopardize him…we strongly disagree!….
Remember voters…..If your judgment call is to give him 4 more years with his BFF Jimmy-boy Silverstone (Batman and Robin)… Vice Mayor McIntee won’t just be content acting like the Police…he will be the Police in LBTS…… and that will jeopardize us all!….
more to come….
