REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE (Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the
arrest.)
At
9:45 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call regarding a hit-and-run at the
intersection of Molly Barr and Lamar Avenue , Oxford MS. The caller identified herself
as Debbie Mason. Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 209 (Officer P.
Winston) was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 9:48 a.m. Upon
discovery of a body at 9:50 a.m., R/O notified Dispatch and requested
backup and medical assistance. Reporting Investigators (R/Is)
Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy were assigned and proceeded
directly to the scene. At R/Is' request, Coroner’s Inspector L. Johnson
and a CSU team were notified to respond to the scene. R/Is arrived at
the scene at 10:27 a.m. Upon arrival, R/Is found that R/O had secured
the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as
follows: Weather: Exterior crime scene location; Ambient Temperature:
approximately 52°F/11°C; Relative
Humidity: approximately 31%.
R/O
Winston made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary
and not verbatim. R/O was met at the scene of the accident by Debbie
Mason. R/O noted the body of an apparently dead adult male, later
identified as John Fitzgerald (Person 1) and an injured adult female,
later identified as Adela Fitzgerald. R/O then called for backup and
Crime Scene Tech Unit. R/O said YCFD EMTs R. Peterson and J. Bilkey
arrived at approximately 9:59 a.m. and, after confirming the victim was
deceased, brought the injured party to the hospital.
After
receiving the report from R/O Winston, R/Is conducted a preliminary
inspection of the scene.
In
the driver seat of the vehicle, R/Is observed a lifeless human body, a
male apparently in his early 50’s. Visual inspection indicated the
victim was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
Coroner's
Inspector Luwinda Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 10:41
a.m. and joined R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson
pronounced the victim deceased at 10:43 a.m. by visual observation that
the victim was not breathing and by tactile observation that the victim
did not have a palpable carotid pulse. Inspector Johnson visually
examined the posterior of the body and indicated that further details would be available in the official
autopsy report. After Inspector Johnson completed her initial
inspection of the body, she stayed with the CSU team to ensure
integrity of the body, while the team took photographs of the scene and
performed preliminary analyses, until the body could be removed from
the scene without affecting other evidence.
CSU
arrived at the scene at approximately 10:59 a.m. R/Is instructed CSU to
process the entire scene according to standard procedure.
CSU
will conduct a more intensive search and report their findings.
R/Is
left the scene at 11:34 a.m. Before leaving, R/I Murphy instructed CSU
to seal the scene upon completion or end of day suspension of
processing. CSU to notify R/Is of progress by the end of this date. As
of this filing, CSU is still actively processing at the scene.
At
the scene, R/Is interviewed witness Debbie Mason. (interview transcript
attached).
Body
of the deceased remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector
Luwinda Johnson. Deceased was removed from scene at 11:27 a.m. and
transported to the coroner's office for autopsy.
Evidence
remanded into the custody of Forensics Officer T. R. Douglas for
transport to the State Crime Lab for routine analysis. CSU is expected
to submit an inventory of items taken into evidence within fourteen
days of this report, with detailed report(s) of their findings to
follow at a later date. |
