CAL
December 30th, 2009, 05:31 PM
The video breaks my heart.:(
I don't blame the deputy constable for executing a judge's order - I blame the judge for not reviewing the case more thoroughly.
Link (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Constable_denies_wrongdoing_in_child_abduction_cas e.html)
The constable whose office was responsible for taking a screaming 10-year-old off his school bus in October — handing him over to a father with a history of kidnapping — said Monday his deputies did everything by the book.
“Officers are human beings but are not allowed to let their emotions rule their actions,” Precinct 3 Constable Mark Vojvodich said in lengthy statement submitted to media outlets.
Vojvodich, along with other Bexar County officials, has been criticized by cable news pundits since surveillance camera footage of the Oct. 15 incident surfaced last week.
In it, Jean Paul Lacombe is seen backing away from constables on the bus, repeatedly yelling, “Someone help me, please!” and accusing his father of beating him.
His father, Jean Philippe Lacombe, had obtained an emergency custody order from state District Judge Sol Casseb a day earlier using incomplete Mexican court documents. The two were supposed to show up in court the following Monday for a more thorough hearing, but they haven't been seen since.
Jean Philippe Lacombe, 41, is now wanted on felony kidnapping charges.
Officers are trained to recognize that parents sometimes coax their children to say negative things about the other parent, Vojvodich said Monday. Without corroboration of the allegations, deputy constables can't take sides, added Chief Deputy David Cleveland.
“We're not in a position where we have the option to question the judge,” Cleveland said, adding that by the time they get an order, evidence has already been weighed in court. “Our officers did follow procedures. There's no doubt what they did is correct.”
But responsibility can't be that easily averted, according to attorney Miguel Ortiz, who represents Jean Paul's mother.
Ortiz said he understood that the constables had orders to follow, but he questioned why they took the boy in front of his peers on a school bus when his home address was readily available. At some point, he said, they should have called other authorities.
“How many times does a child have to cry for help before a red flag is raised?” he said. “When they see this child pleading for his safety, they should have called Child Protective Services.”
District Attorney Susan Reed said she also wished the deputies had called CPS. When a child is screaming for help, “maybe you need to take your investigation a little further than the piece of paper in front of you,” she said.
But on the other hand, she said, the law needs to be a little more specific to address constables in civil situations.
“I don't know that there's a real good guidance for these guys,” she said.
Reed said she has asked Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, to take a look at the law.
I don't blame the deputy constable for executing a judge's order - I blame the judge for not reviewing the case more thoroughly.
Link (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Constable_denies_wrongdoing_in_child_abduction_cas e.html)
The constable whose office was responsible for taking a screaming 10-year-old off his school bus in October — handing him over to a father with a history of kidnapping — said Monday his deputies did everything by the book.
“Officers are human beings but are not allowed to let their emotions rule their actions,” Precinct 3 Constable Mark Vojvodich said in lengthy statement submitted to media outlets.
Vojvodich, along with other Bexar County officials, has been criticized by cable news pundits since surveillance camera footage of the Oct. 15 incident surfaced last week.
In it, Jean Paul Lacombe is seen backing away from constables on the bus, repeatedly yelling, “Someone help me, please!” and accusing his father of beating him.
His father, Jean Philippe Lacombe, had obtained an emergency custody order from state District Judge Sol Casseb a day earlier using incomplete Mexican court documents. The two were supposed to show up in court the following Monday for a more thorough hearing, but they haven't been seen since.
Jean Philippe Lacombe, 41, is now wanted on felony kidnapping charges.
Officers are trained to recognize that parents sometimes coax their children to say negative things about the other parent, Vojvodich said Monday. Without corroboration of the allegations, deputy constables can't take sides, added Chief Deputy David Cleveland.
“We're not in a position where we have the option to question the judge,” Cleveland said, adding that by the time they get an order, evidence has already been weighed in court. “Our officers did follow procedures. There's no doubt what they did is correct.”
But responsibility can't be that easily averted, according to attorney Miguel Ortiz, who represents Jean Paul's mother.
Ortiz said he understood that the constables had orders to follow, but he questioned why they took the boy in front of his peers on a school bus when his home address was readily available. At some point, he said, they should have called other authorities.
“How many times does a child have to cry for help before a red flag is raised?” he said. “When they see this child pleading for his safety, they should have called Child Protective Services.”
District Attorney Susan Reed said she also wished the deputies had called CPS. When a child is screaming for help, “maybe you need to take your investigation a little further than the piece of paper in front of you,” she said.
But on the other hand, she said, the law needs to be a little more specific to address constables in civil situations.
“I don't know that there's a real good guidance for these guys,” she said.
Reed said she has asked Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, to take a look at the law.