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After an initial stumble, officials in Virginia Beach took responsibility for the mishap last month in which a man, asleep in a chair in the middle of the beach, was run over and killed by a city garbage truck.
The city paid for the funeral. A deputy city manager apologized. The chief prosecutor detailed the investigation and articulated a legal basis for his determination that criminal charges were not warranted.
But the city's decision to withhold the driver's call to 911 immediately after the accident simply because state law allows it is a move that unnecessarily stirs suspicion and undermines previous efforts toward transparency.
After Michael Knockett was killed on June 28, a city official said that the man had been in a depressed area of the beach and that the driver hadn't seen him. A tourist's photo taken moments before the truck hit Knockett showed him sitting in plain view on level ground.
Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant described the driver as "hysterical" after a beachgoer flagged her down, some 20 yards down the beach, and told her she had driven over a man. He said she rushed back to the scene, called authorities and began CPR.
The city's unwillingness to release a recording of that 911 call, however, casts unnecessary doubt on what happened, particularly given how the city's initial description of Knockett's position on the beach differed so significantly from the photograph.
Neither police Sgt. Richard Mlincsek nor Deputy City Attorney Roderick Ingram could provide a reasonable argument for withholding the tape from the public, other than to say Virginia's open-records laws allow them to lock it away, as The Pilot's Aaron Applegate reported last weekend.
Indeed, the city may well be within the law to withhold the tape as part of an ongoing criminal investigation file, even if police and the chief prosecutor have declared the case closed and no crime committed. But as countless government officials have learned, hiding information only tends to draw more scrutiny and distrust.
That's why government agencies in states including Florida, North Carolina and Texas frequently release 911 calls to the public. Unfortunately, in Virginia Beach, a wrongful death lawsuit may be the only choice the public, including Knockett's loved ones, will have to hear the 911 call and evaluate the city's account of this incident.
If that happens, more than credibility will be at stake.
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Homeless
Ok refresh my memory. If I am remembering correctly; this man was homeless. So with that being said; loved ones? Where were the loved ones when he was sleeping on the beach? If there is a law suit; I hope that it is tossed out since the only reason the so called loved ones would sue would be for the money and not because they were actually loving, caring people. Sad to see that may happen although I do hope some people have better sense.
Does it Matter?
I imagine it is not a criminal but a discretionary reason for not releasing the tape. The tape probably has graphic details of Mr. Knockett's condition given by a hysterical driver. Neither element of the tape would be favorable to the driver, the public or the family of Mr. Knockett. It seems our society is all too often condoning others making a profit on the everlasting fact that humans make mistakes. I'm sure his estranged family will hear it on the basis of the latter. There isn't a reason for the general public to care to hear it. I am bewildered by the overall thoughts of some. It was a tragic accident, why can't we leave it at that?