July 20, 1995 - Part 3
July 20, 1995 - Part 3
(12:20:44) Senator BRYAN. I'd like to get a little bit more of a feel from Sergeant Braun and Detective Rolla. When you went into the Foster home that evening, my understanding is the two sisters were there, Mrs. Foster and the daughter, Laura, I believe the name was, was there; am I correct? Ms. BRAUN. Yes, sir. Mr. ROLLA. Yes, sir. Senator BRYAN. I guess it never gets any easier relating some tragedy of this magnitude to a personal family member? Mr. ROLLA. No. Senator BRYAN, Tell me how, in your own mind, you were going to communicate this to the family. Mr. ROLLA. We thought about different ways to put it, but you think about it, but until you're in a situ ation--every situation ends up being different. So I just came up with the most matter of fact way to say it, by being sensitive but not leaving a question that her husband was dead. Senator BRYAN. I suppose the thought runs through your mind, I wish somebody else was on duty tonight, relaying this kind of information? Mr. ROLLA. Boy, I wish somebody else was on duty that night. Senator BRYAN. In more ways than one, I'm sure. Sergeant Braun, is that essentially your feeling, too, as you were traveling out to the Foster home? Ms. BRAUN. As a matter of fact, John and I discussed it on the way, Usually the direct approach is the best way and, basically, that's the approach that John used. It's not that we were trying to just dig out information. I mean, we were trying to be somewhat sensitive to the needs of the family, and that's why we had agreed to allow Mr. Watkins and his wife to go with us for the notification. But, in turn, we still had a job to do. Senator BRYAN. You had lots of thoughts, I'm sure, tumbling through your mind as you're traveling out there about what you're going to do and how you're going to handle it. I have a lot of empathy for you. I wouldn't want that kind of a job, quite frankly. _You indicated, Sergeant Braun, that there were many things that you were doing, priorities that you had. I think in response to Senator Boxer's question you indicated with respect to the request to seal the office, that that was not uppermost in your mind in terms of the kinds of things that you were doing. I believe the record reflects that as you were dictating your after-action report, that particular request was not included in your report, if I recall? Ms. BRAUN. That's correct. My report, basically, just dealt with what I did at the scene. It really did not go into what I did at the home. John's report indicated what went on with the notification, and I probably should have done a separate report myself, but I didn't feel like duplicating what was being done. Senator BRYAN. I don't offer that in any criticism at all, just to try to get, basically, your state of mind at the time, Pin also led to believe, from reading the background information that was provided, that at the time, 2 years ago, there really was not an inves- 190 tigative manual that the department had that outlined all of the things that one ought to do with respect to an investigation involv- IV_ ing suicide. Ms. BRAUN. That's correct. Senator BRYAN. And that after this event-obviously, we all benefit from the experience of hindsight-that, subsequent to this'. event, there was a manual prepared that, in part, included how one handles a suicide investigation. Am I correct on that? Ms. BRAUN. That's correct. Senator BRYAN. any of the three of you have the opporturuty to comment or make suggestions or to any way participate in the database, for lack of a better term, as to what ought to be included in that manual? Ms. BRAUN. One of our most senior detectives in the office Wrote the manual and, of course, after this event occurred, there was a. lot of discussion in the office. I'm sure that was all taken into consideration when the manual was written. Senator BRYAN. Am I correct in terms of sequencing, the manual, is published after the events of July 1993? Ms. BRAUN. Yes, it was. Just for a little more, background, the office contained a number of senior-still does contain a number of senior detectives with 20-plus years on, that could retire tomorrow" and they felt the need to get some of this information down because of the situation that John and I had, where we both were very new' into the office and were thrown into a situation. So that would allow other people to have a checklist to go through and make sure that everything was done the way it was supposed to be done.