Just damn.
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Posted on 03/15/2005 8:03:13 AM PST by mhking
Police apparently missed an opportunity to trap Brian G. Nichols in a downtown parking garage just minutes after Friday's courthouse shooting spree — the first of several lost chances to catch him that day. Two attendants at Five Points Garage said they heard a sport utility vehicle driven by Nichols smash through the gate and screech into the garage. Atlanta police units were just seconds behind. The attendants said they twice tried to show officers how to block the only exits from the garage at Wall and Peachtree streets, three blocks from the Fulton County Courthouse. Instead, a motorcycle officer and two squad cars sped into the structure after Nichols, leaving no one to watch for him at street level. Seconds later, Nichols calmly walked down a stairwell and out of the garage with two handguns tucked in his pants, the attendants said Monday. "He kept looking back to the steps," said attendant Frank Holston. A second attendant confirmed the story but would not give his name. Police asked, " 'Which way did he go?' " Holston recalled. "I told them this is the only way he can get out, down here, but they didn't listen. They could have gotten him here, but they didn't. All of them went up behind him." Atlanta police spokesman John Quigley said he was unaware of the exchange but said the department would review its actions at the garage. The attendants said they had not been questioned by police as of Monday. Police were chasing Nichols, who was being tried on rape charges, after Friday morning's shooting spree that left a judge, a court reporter and a sheriff's deputy dead. As he escaped from Five Points Garage, Nichols allegedly hijacked a tow truck on Peachtree Street. Within minutes, he allegedly carjacked at least two more vehicles, pistol-whipping one car's owner. More than 12 hours later, authorities say, he pistol-whipped another man and shot to death a federal agent. Busy hunting for green car The day was marked by a series of close calls and missed opportunities for police in their desperate search for a dangerous suspect. Authorities were thrown off the trail for most of the day when they started looking for a green Honda Accord that was stolen from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter. More than 12 hours later, police learned the car had never left the parking garage across from CNN Center. Nichols then most likely boarded MARTA at the CNN Center transit station, police said. He probably traveled one stop east to the Five Points station and then took the North Line to the Lenox station, police said. As Nichols apparently was catching the train, MARTA police were being pulled from the Five Points station to respond to the emergency at the courthouse, transit police said. Two hours later, at 11:31 a.m., Atlanta and MARTA police received a report that a man matching Nichols' description — wearing a blue blazer and no shirt — was walking near Lenox Squaremall, said MARTA Police Chief Gene Wilson. Police canvassed the area without success. Wilson, whose transit police were assisting Atlanta police, now believes it was Nichols near the mall. "With the information we have now it looks like a damn good lead," Wilson said. But police did not dwell on the Lenox area. "Again, we're thinking he's in a car miles away." Nearly 11 hours later, shortly after 10 p.m., Nichols allegedly held a woman at gunpoint and pistol-whipped her boyfriend at a Lenox Road apartment one block south of the mall. Police responded and a report says the couple and a third person believed the attacker was Nichols but were not sure. Quigley said several more Atlanta police and federal agents converged on the scene and remained until about midnight. The next morning, the body of federal customs agent David Wilhelm was found shot to death in a home he owned. It was a block away from the Lenox Road apartment. Wilhelm's pickup truck was stolen and driven to Gwinnett County, where Nichols allegedly held hostage a woman at about 2 a.m. He surrendered the next morning in her apartment. Who was in charge? It is still unclear which law enforcement agency was in charge of the manhunt. Quigley said Atlanta police "were the lead agency in investigating the homicide," but he stopped short of saying the department was coordinating the search for Nichols. Quigley acknowledged that the manhunt was led astray by the assumption that Nichols had fled in a green Honda. "Obviously, we were duped," he said. The Honda was found more than 12 hours later on a lower level of the garage. Police then looked at security videotape to discover Nichols had walked out — wearing a stolen blue blazer. Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington has said that police "were not thorough" in canvassing the garage where the Honda was parked. The department was chasing reports of carjackings, which stopped at the garage. "No one else reported a car taken — he was taking cars," Quigley said. They didn't think to look for him on foot. "Once you look through a different prism you see other things," Quigley said. "You broaden your spectrum and are open to other alternatives. "At the same time, we're getting hundreds and hundreds of tips and we're chasing them." He said Pennington has said "he will go back and review how things transpired. You can always improve things." — Staff writer Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Yet, the gun grabbers would have you believe that the police will protect you. To which I say...then why do you have a fire extinquisher in your home, won't the Fire Dept protect you?
Then again, facts don't count when you're dealing with feeeeeelings.
The same people who didnt shackle him after they found he had a shank and the same people who had a 5'3 and fifty something year old woman watching him were the ones out looking for him I guess
Did they sound like THIS!?!
Just another example of a beautiful American city ruined by the left.
Good post. When can we call you Governor?
Not trapping him in the parking garage probably saved Nichols' life, but I'm sure they would have tried to if they had been able to repsond in time.
I'm reminded of "First Blood" when the Sheriff is asking John Rambo's Colonel how he would handle it, The Colonel responds that they should just let him go and he would be picked up somewhere in Seattle on a misdemeanor and brought in without a fuss. The Sheriff then responds to the effect that this was not an option, the Colonel then tells him to make sure he brings a lot of body bags.
they probably did. thats the first thing I thought of. This whole thing is such a sad situation, but, if you follow the hostage's story, it may work out for the greater good, as he has a way to witness to other inmates behind bars now.
This is afirmative action at it's best !!
It's painful to watch Atlanta looking foolish, but I hope this cleans up some of the city circus we Atlantans have to deal with.
Atlanta PD didn't learn a thing after the Olympic bombing cock-up.
The ICE agent died so this piece of garbage can witness to our pieces of garbage?
And four people had to die for him to 'witness' to others behind bars?
Pardon my cynicism, but I don't think so!
The fall out of too many chase scenes and not enough real hunters. Anyone whose hunted deer or turkey knows you can't hunt by chasing -- you have to pick a good spot and wait.
Bump
you are both entitled to your cynicism. your beliefs are your own. only time will tell which of our perspectives on the issue is correct. There may be some good come of this yet. That is all I was stating.
The Atlanta police should have thought outside the box. The Marta transit system was a smart move on the part of Nichols. And once Nichols got to Lenox Square, he could travel unnoticed in the "green" area between Lenox road and GA 400, behind a 20 foot wall that hid him from travelers on GA 400. I'm not sure he did travel via the GA 400 route, but it was a perfect route for him to take.
How 'bout it. This is how Liberalism kills. Textbook example.
A lot of mistakes were made, but I find it hard to place too much blame on the APD. I'm pointing to the courthouse/jail for most of the fault.
Did anybody catch the Atlanta DA respond to the comment about having a 51-year-old 5'1" woman watch the suspect? He says it's not about size or strength, but it's about "heart". What a friggin' maroon.
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