NewsHound
07-02-2008, 05:12 AM
Notice of Possible Suit Filed in Death of CI
The attorney for Rachel Hoffman’s family said Monday that Tallahassee police “proximately” caused her death through errors that started with their “foolish” plan to have her buy drugs and a gun and ended with their failure to locate her, although she was just minutes away.
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Attorney Lance J. Block called the plan “pathetically marred” because police failed to immediately follow Hoffman after she left the area where she was supposed to make the buy, although she told her case officer where she was going: Gardner Road, just two minutes or so from where police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents had been monitoring her.
That’s where she is believed to have been shot dead May 7 with the very gun she was supposed to buy, Block wrote in a letter Monday to the city of Tallahassee.
“Based on what we know now, it seems painfully obvious that the Police Department was negligent,” Block said. “There are a lot of irregularities involved in the specifics of this case.”
Block put city officials on notice that a wrongful death claim could be filed against the city. Florida law mandates that such a notice be served six months before a local or state government is sued.
Block said he is waiting to see what the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which has taken over the investigation, uncovers before deciding whether to sue.
The city is bracing for a lawsuit.
“You would anticipate that when the six months run out that they’ll file a suit,” said City Attorney Jim English, who received the letter shortly after 11 a.m. Monday. “That’s the whole purpose of the notice.”
Police declined to respond to Block’s letter, saying Hoffman’s death is an active investigation.
Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, of Tallahassee, and Andrea Green, 25, of Perry, have been charged with armed robbery in the case and are being held at the Leon County Jail. A grand jury has yet to decide whether to file first-degree murder charges.
“I’d like to be able to provide a lot of the answers to these questions, especially for the family,” said David McCranie, a spokesman for the Police Department. “They want answers and they deserve answers and as soon as this case is resolved, we’ll be able to provide those answers.”
In the letter, which the Tallahassee Democrat obtained from English, Block writes that TPD endangered Hoffman’s life by making errors in secretly recruiting her as an undercover agent, setting up the drug buy and carrying out the operation.
It also casts doubt on the Police Department’s claim that Hoffman disobeyed orders when she drove to a location away from Forestmeadows Park on North Meridian Road, where the operation was to take place.
“It makes no sense that Rachel Hoffman would have knowingly disregarded TPD instructions,” Block wrote. “Her quest for leniency was conditioned on her cooperation, not insubordination. Her safety, her very life, was totally in the hands of the TPD.”
Although TPD is not commenting now, officers stated in a news conference after Hoffman’s death that she violated protocols. Block questioned why no proof has been cited. Block also questioned why police won’t say how long it took them to make the two-mile trip to Gardner Road after she stopped answering her cell phone and the listening device in her purse stopped working.
Block’s letter states that “some witnesses have told us that none of the TPD officers involved even knew where Gardner Road was located.” When police got there, all they found was a spent .25 caliber cartridge, two .25 caliber bullets and one of Hoffman’s black flip-flops.
“It is obvious that the city (of Tallahassee) should and will be held accountable for the disgraceful handling of this matter,” the letter states, “both before and after Rachel’s death.”
According to the letter, “some witnesses” said that police originally asked Hoffman to request two AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles from Green and Bradshaw.
When they told her they could not produce such “exotic weaponry,” the letter states, police asked her to try to buy a .25 caliber handgun — the very type of gun that was reported stolen May 5 from the car of a customer at the auto detailer where Green and Bradshaw worked, according to the letter.
“Rachel had no experience with guns,” Block said. “She was a 23-year-old college student who smokes marijuana. She wasn’t a gun dealer.”
Hoffman’s autopsy has revealed that she died of “multiple gunshot wounds,” but police have not said what type of gun was used to kill her. Her body was found in Taylor County on May 8.
In the letter, Block also challenges the Police Department’s assertion that Hoffman, a recent Florida State graduate, knew Green and Bradshaw. Rather, he wrote, she and police were made aware of the two brothers-in-law through a “fellow student” that Hoffman turned in to police after she was made an informant.
Hoffman began working with police after a search of her home April 17 uncovered marijuana and pills.
McCranie said Police Chief Dennis Jones looked forward to the end of the case against Green and Bradshaw so he could respond to the family’s concerns.
“One day, when the legal process is complete, all these things will be public record,” he said. “Our job right now is to make sure to get justice for Rachel Hoffman.”
To read the letter, click on the link at the top right of your screen.
Source (http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080630/BREAKINGNEWS/80630011)
The attorney for Rachel Hoffman’s family said Monday that Tallahassee police “proximately” caused her death through errors that started with their “foolish” plan to have her buy drugs and a gun and ended with their failure to locate her, although she was just minutes away.
Advertisement
Attorney Lance J. Block called the plan “pathetically marred” because police failed to immediately follow Hoffman after she left the area where she was supposed to make the buy, although she told her case officer where she was going: Gardner Road, just two minutes or so from where police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents had been monitoring her.
That’s where she is believed to have been shot dead May 7 with the very gun she was supposed to buy, Block wrote in a letter Monday to the city of Tallahassee.
“Based on what we know now, it seems painfully obvious that the Police Department was negligent,” Block said. “There are a lot of irregularities involved in the specifics of this case.”
Block put city officials on notice that a wrongful death claim could be filed against the city. Florida law mandates that such a notice be served six months before a local or state government is sued.
Block said he is waiting to see what the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which has taken over the investigation, uncovers before deciding whether to sue.
The city is bracing for a lawsuit.
“You would anticipate that when the six months run out that they’ll file a suit,” said City Attorney Jim English, who received the letter shortly after 11 a.m. Monday. “That’s the whole purpose of the notice.”
Police declined to respond to Block’s letter, saying Hoffman’s death is an active investigation.
Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, of Tallahassee, and Andrea Green, 25, of Perry, have been charged with armed robbery in the case and are being held at the Leon County Jail. A grand jury has yet to decide whether to file first-degree murder charges.
“I’d like to be able to provide a lot of the answers to these questions, especially for the family,” said David McCranie, a spokesman for the Police Department. “They want answers and they deserve answers and as soon as this case is resolved, we’ll be able to provide those answers.”
In the letter, which the Tallahassee Democrat obtained from English, Block writes that TPD endangered Hoffman’s life by making errors in secretly recruiting her as an undercover agent, setting up the drug buy and carrying out the operation.
It also casts doubt on the Police Department’s claim that Hoffman disobeyed orders when she drove to a location away from Forestmeadows Park on North Meridian Road, where the operation was to take place.
“It makes no sense that Rachel Hoffman would have knowingly disregarded TPD instructions,” Block wrote. “Her quest for leniency was conditioned on her cooperation, not insubordination. Her safety, her very life, was totally in the hands of the TPD.”
Although TPD is not commenting now, officers stated in a news conference after Hoffman’s death that she violated protocols. Block questioned why no proof has been cited. Block also questioned why police won’t say how long it took them to make the two-mile trip to Gardner Road after she stopped answering her cell phone and the listening device in her purse stopped working.
Block’s letter states that “some witnesses have told us that none of the TPD officers involved even knew where Gardner Road was located.” When police got there, all they found was a spent .25 caliber cartridge, two .25 caliber bullets and one of Hoffman’s black flip-flops.
“It is obvious that the city (of Tallahassee) should and will be held accountable for the disgraceful handling of this matter,” the letter states, “both before and after Rachel’s death.”
According to the letter, “some witnesses” said that police originally asked Hoffman to request two AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles from Green and Bradshaw.
When they told her they could not produce such “exotic weaponry,” the letter states, police asked her to try to buy a .25 caliber handgun — the very type of gun that was reported stolen May 5 from the car of a customer at the auto detailer where Green and Bradshaw worked, according to the letter.
“Rachel had no experience with guns,” Block said. “She was a 23-year-old college student who smokes marijuana. She wasn’t a gun dealer.”
Hoffman’s autopsy has revealed that she died of “multiple gunshot wounds,” but police have not said what type of gun was used to kill her. Her body was found in Taylor County on May 8.
In the letter, Block also challenges the Police Department’s assertion that Hoffman, a recent Florida State graduate, knew Green and Bradshaw. Rather, he wrote, she and police were made aware of the two brothers-in-law through a “fellow student” that Hoffman turned in to police after she was made an informant.
Hoffman began working with police after a search of her home April 17 uncovered marijuana and pills.
McCranie said Police Chief Dennis Jones looked forward to the end of the case against Green and Bradshaw so he could respond to the family’s concerns.
“One day, when the legal process is complete, all these things will be public record,” he said. “Our job right now is to make sure to get justice for Rachel Hoffman.”
To read the letter, click on the link at the top right of your screen.
Source (http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080630/BREAKINGNEWS/80630011)