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| Brian Rohrbough listens Wednesday as his ex-wife, Sue Petrone, speaks at a news conference. They are the parents of Columbine shooting victim Daniel Rohrbough, who was killed in the attack. |
Posted on 01/04/2002 9:13:11 AM PST by Sir Gawain
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Rohrbough's parents contend their 15-year-old son was shot by Denver Police officer Daniel O'Shea and that Deputy Jim Taylor saw the shooting while standing near O'Shea.
In the tape, which was secretly recorded, a man said to be Taylor says he saw "20 or 30" kids running from the school when one of the boys dropped on the sidewalk.
"It was Dan, and I didn't know that until I seen the photo the next morning in the newspaper that it was the boy that I seen," Taylor said in a transcript of the tape released Wednesday by Daniel's father, Brian Rohrbough.
Taylor, 42, an officer since 1988, was placed on paid administrative leave after the tape recording was handed over to Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan on Wednesday.
In a hand-written statement issued Wednesday, Taylor said: "Rich Petrone asked me about what went on at Columbine and I made statements about what I had seen on TV or in the newspaper. It is not true that I saw Daniel Rohrbough get shot or any other person."
His statement was issued days after Sullivan said Taylor couldn't have seen what happened. Taylor could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Brian Rohrbough disputed the assertions made by Sullivan and Taylor.
"We know that's a lie because part of the recording included Pam's (wife of Deputy Taylor) comments confirming that he came home on the night of April 20th and said he'd seen a kid get shot and that the kid looked a lot like his son Brad (Taylor)," Brian Rohrbough said.
A lawsuit by Rohrbough's parents asserts that the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has covered up the investigation of the April 20, 1999, massacre. On Wednesday, the couple and families of three other slain students said they would welcome a federal grand jury investigation of the way the case has been handled.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office will review the friendly-fire allegations at the request of Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone.
The tape of the conversation with Taylor was made 11 months after the shootings. It was recorded by Rohrbough's mother, Sue Petrone, and his stepfather, Rich Petrone, at their home during a social visit by the Taylors.
Taylor did not know he was being recorded, according to Sullivan, although Taylor does not mention that in his statement. The practice is legal in Colorado. Sue Petrone and the Taylors had been close friends for 20 years.
Sullivan had said Monday that Taylor was nowhere near where Daniel Rohrbough was shot and killed.
Taylor "was never on the south/west portion of Columbine High School and as a result was never in a position to witness or hear a weapon being fired from that location," Sullivan said in a news release. "Deputy Taylor never heard any gun shots on April 20th and never saw any deceased victims on April 20th."
Sullivan said Taylor arrived at the law enforcement command post about 12:05 p.m. and was assigned to the east side of the school building five minutes later.
In the recording, Taylor is heard to say he was trying to get to the east side from the parking lot.
"I'd already pulled in the parking lot so I'm trying to beat feet to the east side of the building. I see this through my (car) window, and I'm getting called to respond to the other side of the building cause they got a shooter on the east side of the building," he says.
Taylor adds: "I remember a Denver cop or a Lakewood cop off to my left-hand side." Rohrbough's attorney, Barry Arrington, contends that cop was O'Shea, firing his 9mm machine gun.
"You could hear glass breaking," Taylor says. "You could see kids running everywhere and that's when I see the boy coming down the sidewalk you know, and I see him just fall down.
"That's the first thing I told Pam was that you know, I seen some kid get shot," he said in the recording.
I certainly hope this gets investigated. If it turns out one of the kiddy-killers did not infact shoot this kid, but was "Lubbocked" by a cop instead, a murder charge should be filed. Ballistics testing should prove which gun did the deed.
I effing well hope it's still legal to record a conversation in your own home in Colorado!
I don't minimize the kind of guts it takes to go into a building where armed murderers are holed up. But with the lives of kids and others at stake, that's what a SWAT team's job is supposed to be. If they didn't want to do it, they shouldn't be drawing their salaries.
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