New Jersey officer charged after going out for pizza instead of responding to shooting

"Franklin township police sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of 1 August when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) from Manhattan in central New Jersey, according to Hunterdon county prosecutor Renee Robeson's office. Rather than responding immediately, prosecutors say, GPS data and surveillance video show Bollaro drove nearly 2 miles in the opposite direction of the caller's location to a bank ATM."

"Dispatchers relayed other calls from concerned neighbors as Bollaro proceeded towards their locations without activating his police vehicle's emergency lights and sirens, they said. When he arrived at the location of the first caller, the officer told the dispatcher he didn't hear anything and that he would continue to the locations of the other callers. But Robeson's office said GPS data shows he never visited those locations before he asked the dispatcher to clear him from the scene."

"They say Bollaro instead headed to Duke's Pizzeria in Pittstown, where he remained for nearly an hour. Witnesses later saw him park and enter another local restaurant, where he remained for roughly another hour, prosecutors said. Bollaro later submitted a report in which prosecutors say he made false statements about the extent of his investigation. They note that during the timeframe he claimed to be canvassing the area, the officer was already on route to the pizzeria."

On the evening of 1 August, 911 callers in Pittstown reported gunshots and screaming while Franklin Township sergeant Kevin Bollaro was on duty. GPS data and surveillance footage indicate Bollaro drove nearly two miles away to a bank ATM instead of immediately responding to callers. Dispatchers relayed additional calls as he proceeded without activating emergency lights or sirens, yet GPS records show he did not visit those locations and instead went to Duke's Pizzeria and another restaurant, remaining for hours. Bollaro later filed a report prosecutors say contained false statements about canvassing. The next day, the bodies of Lauren Semanchik, 33, and Tyler Webb, 29, were found about 600 feet from the first caller's location; prosecutors say New Jersey state police lieutenant Ricardo Santos shot them.

Read at www.theguardian.com