Did Officers Stop For White Castle "Sliders" En Route To 911 Calls? Husband Murdered Ronayle White

NBC5.com ^ | 05.22.02

[Coleus]

White Castle Security Tapes Subpoenaed In 911 Investigation

Did Officers Stop For "Sliders" En Route To Distress Call?

CHICAGO -- A lawyer representing the family of a woman who was murdered as she called 911 has subpoenaed videotapes from two fast food restaurants.

NBC5's Derrick Blakey reported that while it's only a tip, the attorney would like to see security tapes from White Castle restaurants at 103rd Street and Michigan Avenue, and at 11th and Halsted streets. They want to determine whether the first Chicago police officers assigned to respond to Ronayle White's distress call went for "sliders" instead.

"They do have a number of cameras at each store and (because) they are in good lighting, they're able to show the license plate numbers, occupants of cars and other identifying information," Richard Mallen, attorney for the White family, told NBC5.

According to Blakley, Mallen was reluctant to guess how credible the tip might be without seeing the videotape. But the 103rd St. White Castle is known to be a popular stop for Fifth District police, who often go there for food or coffee during their shift.

White made three 911 calls before she was shot to death by her estranged husband, but the first of three squad cars dispatched arrived last, 17 minutes after the initial call. What's more, police have no systematic data on response times, because most officers don't use squad-car computer terminals, called PDTs, to report their arrival at crime scenes.

"The department policy is to respond on the PDT on arrival at your assignment, as soon as you arrive there," Fraternal Order of Police president Mark Donahue said. Blakely reported that he was told that the first car assigned to White's distress call did just that, but most do not. Police said further that it's not an issue, citing that out of 2.7 million 911 calls last year, there were only 130 complaints of slow response.

But without regular use of the PDT's, Blakley pointed out, no one knows how many other times response may have been slow with no complaint filed.

"The use of those terminals can only improve safety and service," said Mallen. "I cannot understand why they would not be used."

Blakley looked at just how seldom the PDT's are used and inside sources indicated that they are used on far less than 10 percent of all calls.

Donahue, newly-elected to his position, said his union wouldn't object to installing more sophisticated satellite tracking gear that can pinpoint every squad car at all times. Blakley's sources told him that in the past, the FOP opposed that, claiming it was "a big brother"intrusion.

 

Where Were Cops During Ronyale White's 911 Calls?

White's Mother Speaks Publicly For First Time

CHICAGO --

	PREVIOUS ARTICLES Firing Recommended For Cops' Delayed Response (7/2) Police Present Findings In Ronyale White Investigation (6/10) Judge Puts Hold On Cell Phone Records In 911 Investigation (5/24) White Castle Security Tapes Subpoenaed In 911 Investigation (5/21) 911 Operator Defends Delayed Response To Call (5/16) Lawsuit Filed In Death Of Ronyale White (5/15) 911 Operators Suspended In Investigation Of Delayed Response (5/13) Report: Police Responded Late To 911 Calls (5/8)

The case of Ronyale White's murder grabbed headlines when it was reported that she had made repeated calls to 911 but was killed, allegedly by her estranged husband, before police responded to the scene.

In an exclusive report, Unit 5's Renee Ferguson revealed that one of the responding officers was allegedly not in the squad car, and the other one was checking his personal message on his home answering machine -- while they were supposed to be headed toward White's house.

In an interview with Ferguson, Ronyale White's mother spoke publicly for the first time about the murder and the police response.

"It makes me feel ill," Lorraine White said.

White said she still finds it difficult to think about the last frightened and violent moments of her daughter Ronyale's life.

"I can't imagine what my daughter went through," White said. "I can only think, visualize it in my mind, because it never goes away."

More difficult, she said, is understanding how her daughter's pleas for help on the night of May 3 went ignored by two officers who were reportedly two minutes away but took 16 minutes to arrive. By then, Ronyale had been beaten and shot twice in the head.

"Every day I close my eyes, I see her in that window," White said. "Feeling how she felt -- I don't know, but I have a horrible feeling in my gut every night I close my eyes. I don't want to see another woman go through what my daughter did."

In her first call to 911, Ronyale told an operator that her estranged husband, Louis Drexel, was in her home, and she needed police to come.

Moments later, Ronyale made another call for help. By that time, Unit 5 learned, the situation in her far-south-side home had escalated. According to an amended complaint filed Wednesday, the 911 operator "...heard Ronyale White get attacked and scream repeatedly..." and "...knew that Drexel had a gun and was threatening to shoot...White."

FeedRoom
	Evidence In The White Murder

Where were the two officers who were sent to the scene?

Court records allege that one of the responding officers was not even in his assigned car:

"(He) was engaged in recreational/social activities beyond, outside of, and/or in violation of his duties as a Chicago police officer."

The complaint alleges that the other officer "...had a history of not responding to calls where a potential for violence existed."

Unit 5 found another possible reason why the officer didn't respond to White's repeated 911 calls.

Documents allege that he was "...making phone calls of a personal nature... to his home answering machine to check his personal messages at the time... White was being attacked."

Unit 5 also learned that Chicago police have no written regulations instructing dispatchers to not hang up on a caller who's being threatened by a person with a gun. A police spokesman told Unit 5 that those regulations are being rewritten in the wake of Ronyale White's death.

The two responding officers, Ferguson reported, have been suspended, and Police Superintendent Terry Hillard recommended that they be fired.

 

Police Present Findings In Ronyale White Investigation

 

911 Operator Defends Delayed Response To Call

 

Firing Recommended For Cops' Delayed Response

 

Ebony: Dying for love: the epidemic of domestic abuse cases.

 

Lisa Madigan - Attorney General

 

Northwest Indiana News: nwitimes.com - News

 

Chicago cop abuse

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

When I was a teenager (Jurassic period), "sliders" refered to really greasy french fries. (NW Wash. state)

If you've never had White Castle hamburgers (they're itty-bitty square things.......), then you'll have to understand that they are about 50% fat, 25% onion, and 25% beef parts.

[Rollee]

Their mentality is disgusting. I don't think I know of a Chicago cop that does not have that way of thinking. They have bought into the liberal notion that the government should take care of the peons, and that since they are agents of the government, they know so much more than us simpletons. I was very surprised when Officer Narrowminded said that he had no problem with me having a gun. I thought he would tell me that I was too emotional to safely use a firearm, since I am a woman.

[cyborg]

If they value a burger over a black woman's life then they should not be policeofficers. Fortunately where I live the cops are wonderful (sure pay them enough to boot). However that gun on the hip does something to certain people's mentality.

[Rollee]

I just remembered something else from that party. All of these cops were discussing their favorite places to sleep while on duty. One guy talked about waking up with drool all over his face and looking over at his female partner and she was asleep and drooling too. Sleeping cops. Not very comforting for the peons of Chicago, I would imagine. I wish I had a tape recorder that night - the rhetoric and stories were ridiculous.

[freepatriot32]

I didn't see the results of the investigation but if the story is true that the police were at White Castle eating "agita burgers" instead of answering 3, 911 calls in a span of 17 minutes then they should be in jail.

i agree but it doesnt go far enough mayor daly also needs to go to prison for public endagerment and manslughter if not actual first degree murder it was his lifelong policy against guns in chicago that made it posible for her to be murdered while she was unarmed

[Rollee]

You are right about deserving the job. The thing that makes me laugh about these guys (they are my husband's friends BTW) is that my black friends live in much nicer and cleaner homes than they do.

I have often wondered how they (the cops)can look down upon people who stand head and shoulders above them. What blows my mind even more is that they go to church every Sunday!

[wjcsux]

Dial 9mm instead of 911
I don't do 9mm's. Its nothing smaller than a .357 magnum or .45 ACP for me. If I have to use it, I want to be certain the perp won't get up again.

[Itzlzha]

The service the police provide is not the protection of any specific individual, saith the court, but the protection of "society in general" by taking reports of criminal activity, gathering evidence, and seeking out and apprehending suspected criminals for delivery into the court system.

Really? Then why do Politicians and their Families,JUDGES, Big FatCat Businessmen, Diplomats, and Sports Stars get POLICE PROTECTION?!

Aren't THEY "Specific InDUHviduals"?!

Nope...if that "law" is upheld, then NO POLICE PROTECTION for ANT Politcian or Judge can be allowed!

Case Closed!

I beg your pardon for my bellicosity, but the new Bush "Illegal Infiltrators are OK" Doctrine has pi$$ed me off ROYALLY!

[1rudeboy]

In Riss, the court held that

". . . to proclaim a new and general duty of protection in the law of tort, even to those who may be the particular seekers of protection based on specific hazards, could and would inevitably determine how the limited police resources of the community should be allocated and without predictable limits.

[]

Before such extension of responsibilities should be dictated by the indirect imposition of tort liabilities, there should be a legislative determination that that should be the scope of public responsibility."

In other words, the court held that it is not the business of the judiciary to declare that the police are liable for not providing 24-hour protection to an individual who is receiving threats, and if there should be liability, the legislature should be the one making the determination.

The holding in Riss does not have much (if any) bearing on this case.

[mvpel]

In California, at least, they passed a law to the opposite effect, prohibiting most causes of action in situations such as this, in Government Code Section 845:

Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for failure to establish a police department or otherwise to provide police protection service or, if police protection service is provided, for failure to provide sufficient police protection service.

[mvpel]

I finally dug my copy of Dial 911 And Die out of storage, and here's the section on Illinois:

Under Illinois law, city and county governments are generally not liable for failing to supply police protection.¹ Similarly, the governments are not legally liable for the injuries that police officers negligently cause while performing their official duties.² A "special duty" exception to the rule exists which, if proved, would allow a victim of police negligence to sue. To invoke the exception, the victim must prove all four of the following elements:

1. the police (government) was "uniquely aware" of the danger to the victim;
2. the police did or failed to do some specific act;
3. the act (or failure to act) was "affirmative or willful in nature;" and
4. the victim was injured while he or she was under the direct and immediate control of the police (government's employees).³

Can the city police be liable for failing to respond to a crime victim who dials 911?

Sit and Watch for the Police

Sylvia Galuszynski and her mother heard noises in the evening of January 24, 1984, and discovered an intruder trying to break into their Chicago home.⁴ At 9:45pm, Sylvia dialed 911 to report the imminent invasion. The 911 operator, a police department employee, answered the call, took the information, and told Sylvia to "watch for the police" because they were on the way.

The police were not on their way; they did not arrive until 10:10pm. By then, the armed invaders had attacked and injured Sylvia and her mother, and had stolen and injured Sylvia and her mother, and had stolen money, jewelry, and other items. Could Sylvia and her mother sue the police for failing to promptly respond to the emergency 911 call?

The Illinois court recited the statutory law: "Neither a local public entity nor a public employee is liable... for failure to provide adequate police protection or service, [for] failure to prevent the commission of crimes, [or for] failure to apprehend criminals."⁵ The Court went on to say that "the duty of the police is to preserve the well-being of the community at large." That duty "is generally not owed to specific individuals."

Sylvia and her mother would lose their case under the general rule. But what about the "special duty" exception (set forth above)?

The court held that Sylvia and her mother had offered evidence for the first three elements of the "special duty" exception. Then came the bad news: they had no evidence or proof of the fourth element. The two victims could not show that they had been under the "direct and immediate control" of the police when they suffered their injuries. The police had not placed the two women into danger by anything the police had done. Therefore, the Court held, the police had owed no legal duty to respond to protect the women from the ongoing attack.

Ditched, Battered and Bewildered

Even when the police are on site, they have little duty to protect citizens. Valiant Poliny and Donald Nagolski were walking in Chicago on July 20, 1985, when Rolando Calderon attacked and beat them.⁶ Witnesses took Nagolski to the hospital, while Poliny followed Calderon up the street. Soon Poliny flagged a police car and led the two officers to Calderon.

Calderon was standing with some friends, one of whom was Jose Rosario. While the officers were arresting Calderon, Rosario and another man verbally abused Poliny and threatened to hurt him because he had helped the police arrest Calderon. Poliny asked the officers to help him get to the station house to file his complaint. He also asked the officers specifically not to leave him alone with Rosario. The officers refused Poliny's requests and left the scene. Rosario attacked and battered Poliny after the police were gone.

Poliny sued the officers and the police department for negligently failing to protect him from Rosario. The appellate court of Illinois upheld the trial court ruling: Poliny's case was dismissed.

Under the general rule, the Chicago police owed no duty to protect Poliny. The "special duty" exception also did not apply, because Poliny "was not in the immediate control of the police when he was attacked by Rosario."⁷ The fact that the police knew of the threats against Poliny but just left him alone on the street to face the hoodlums, did not move the court even to allow a trial against the police.

Fortunately, Sylvia Galuszynski and Valiant Poliny survived the attacks on them... no thanks to the 911 operators or to the police. Would the attacks have taken place if the intended victims had been equipped and ready to defend themselves with firearms?

---

¹Leone v. City of Chicago, 619 N.E.2d 119, 121 (Ill. 1993); 745 Ill. Comp. Stat. 10/1-101, 10/4-102 (West 1992)
²Leone, 619 N.E.2d at 122.
³Id.
⁴The facts and law of this case are set forth in Galuszynski v. City of Chicago, 475 N.E.2d 960 (Ill. App. 1985).
⁵Galuszynski, 475 N.E.2d at 961, quoting the Local Government and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, §4-102, now codified at 745 Ill. Comp. Stat. 10/4-102.
⁶The facts and law of this case are set forth in Poliny v. Soto, 533 N.E.2d 15 (Ill. App. 1998).
⁷Id. at 18.

[Coleus]

city and county governments are generally not liable for failing to supply police protection. >>

then i hope the citizens can carry a gun for protection.

[Hacksaw]

Where I come from they are not called Sliders, they are called Belly Bombers (in the St. Louis Area)

We used to call them rectum rockets