"All of the evidence in the case makes it clear ... that we took it seriously from the get-go," Baker told the council Monday. "I've spoken with all the officers. Any conclusion or allegation that the Durham Police Department didn't take this seriously is incorrect."
The alleged attack occurred in the early hours of March 14 and had been classified as a sexual assault by Durham Police by 2:50 a.m. Police did not obtain a search warrant for the house where the attack allegedly occurred until 6:55 p.m. on March 16.
This is 100% CYA horse hockey....
They cops didn't believe her, and/or she kept changing her story. The reason they didn't get a search warrant until late on the 16th was because the victim hadn't given a statement yet.. IMO this delay allowed her to "get her story straight"... It also allowed her (and others IMO) with a clearer head, to weave a few key details into her version to give some hint of validity. I'll bet a nickle the fingernails supposedly lost during the fight for her life were not in version 1, but were added when she had to come up with some explanation for what she was doing in the BR.
If they "took it seriously from the get-go" they would have had enough information early on the 14th to get a warrant.
To show how unseriously the LE were early on, look at Jason Bissey, who saw and heard so much. He said that he first learned about the allegations a week later through a neighborhood message board. So, police didn't even contact him the first week.
He then called the police, left a message, and spoke BRIEFLY the next day to lead investigator Ben Himan. It was another week, April 1, before he was asked for a statement.
Sounds like the Durham LE were engrossed in this case alright.
So she wasn't SCREAMING rape or saying "look at what they did to me"? No, she was sleeping it off with no convulsions (drug overdose).
What I find interesting about Baker's statement is that he confirms, obviously through the detailed information he has received from DPD, that the alleged attack occurred early on the 14th, not late on the 13th which is the timeline Nifong would like to embrace due to Reade's documented alibi. You'll recall that Nifong used a hypothetical "What if I have a different timeline?" in response to questions he was asked about what he thinks or has to say about Reade's alibi. Since the party photos came out and Reade's alibi was established, Nifong has tried to back the timeline up to discredit both, even going so far as to suggest that the 12:41 photo showing Crystal's leg hanging out of the door and the player standing there were taken an hour earlier and is actually her arrival, not departure. But Baker says the alleged attack took place early on the 14th, and his info would come from DPD reports, meaning he's not pulling it out of his butt the way Nifong does.