Body is found after Police leave

My heart just breaks for this poor family. After police discovered the car, they searched around a bit and didn't find anything and had the car towed. Because it wasn't *protocol* they didn't call the registered owner (parents). The next day the parents worried about their son's disappearance found out about the accident and after searching the sceene discovered their own son's body.

http://www.latimes.com/news/yahoo/l...?coll=la-newsaol-headlines&ctrack=2&cset=true

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The parents of 18-year-old James Walsh said they were angry and confused about why their son had not been found sooner, and wonder whether he could have survived had deputies succeeded in their search.

Rick and Jeannette Walsh of Corona said they followed a debris trail from the crash site to their son's body in the brush less than 15 feet away.

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Deputies found the 2001 Oldsmobile Alero upright in a ditch near the road. The windshield and front driver's window were shattered, and there was significant damage to the body of the car, Quinata said.

The cause of the crash was under investigation Tuesday.

Deputies checked the area immediately surrounding the car, and the road, for anyone who might have been walking away from the accident, Quinata said. Protocol does not require deputies to immediately notify the registered owner — in this case, the parents — when an accident occurs, he said. After investigating for a couple of hours, deputies left the scene.

"They towed the vehicle and stowed it at a local tow yard," Quinata said.

When day broke Sunday and James had not come home, the parents said they began leaving messages on his cellphone and calling his friends. With no result, they called the Sheriff's Department and six hospitals.

So he was ejected from the car?

very sad story, heartbreaking that the parents found him - can you imagine??

Casshew said:

So he was ejected from the car?

very sad story, heartbreaking that the parents found him - can you imagine??

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Yep, he was ejected. They want to know if he was alive when the police towed their car. I can't even begin to imagine their pain . . .

That is so sad. I'd want to know if he could have been alive, too. I wonder who placed his license on his back? That is bizarre.

just 15 feet?? how hard is it to look within 15 feet of a crash to find the driver?? Sound awful suspicious though...I too question how the driver's license got on his back? Did someone find him and lay it there?

How sad for the parents

lady-eowyn said:

Did someone find him and lay it there?

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And if so, what else did they find in his wallet? Or was the wallet gone?

Not only is the license strange IMHO, but the fact that the police found a car crashed with blood around and collectively shrugged their shoulders and had the vehicle towed. How hard would have been to check it out a little further ? ? ? ?

golfmom said:

How hard would have been to check it out a little further ? ? ? ?

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Apparently not hard at all, given that the family was quickly able to follow a DEBRIS TRAIL right to his body!

And it seems to me that someone else was able to find him, too, and go through his wallet & leave his DL on his back.

This happened in Cincinnati, not long ago. They found that person right along side the the highway. It was rainy and cool the night of the accident and the officer didn't get out and walk up and down the highway. A look at the police video later showed what appeared to be a body on it. I don't blame these families for being upset.

http://wkrc.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=E41078ED-1A04-4B18-8419-C8068F66EB07

This is so sad. On top of dealing with the loss they have to wonder if he was laying there suffering....arrrrgghhh...!! How heartbreaking.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crash28apr28,0,5990216.story?coll=la-home-local

A preliminary autopsy determined that a UC Irvine student whose body was found more than 10 hours after Riverside County sheriff's deputies left the scene of a car crash had died "at or very near the time of impact," before the deputies arrived, sheriff's officials said Wednesday.
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Deputies checked the area immediately surrounding the car, and the road, for anyone who might have been walking away from the accident, Quinata said.

After investigating for a couple of hours, deputies left the scene, he said.

But Rick Walsh said Tuesday that the tow truck operator who removed their son's car Sunday morning told him that when he left the scene about 2 a.m., less than an hour after deputies arrived, the two deputies were wrapping up the paperwork and preparing to leave.

"It didn't take that much looking," Rick Walsh said. "There was a trail of things from the car" leading to the body.

Quinata said protocol did not require deputies to immediately notify the registered owner — in this case, the parents — when an accident occurred, a policy that was now being reviewed.

"I'm hoping I'm going to find his cellphone … some clue of where he was," Rick Walsh said.

They found a debris trail. They picked up CDs, pictures from his wallet and glass.

At the end of the trail they found their son cold and bruised, lying face down in plain sight with his driver's license mysteriously placed on his back, Rick Walsh said.

This just totally perplexes me :doh:

They find a wrecked car...and it's not protocol to contact the registered owners??!! Or assume that the drive is hurt and may be nearby??!!


Thank goodness they are looking in to changing their protocol :doh: