{"id":459,"date":"2005-03-08T10:48:27","date_gmt":"2005-03-08T14:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tradermike.net\/movethecrowd\/2005\/03\/911_is_a_joke_in_austin_tx\/"},"modified":"2005-03-08T10:48:27","modified_gmt":"2005-03-08T14:48:27","slug":"911_is_a_joke_in_austin_tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2005\/03\/08\/911_is_a_joke_in_austin_tx\/","title":{"rendered":"911 is a Joke in Austin, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"

All of these police and 911 dispatchers need to be fired for joking about a fire in a nightclub<\/a> the other day. I wonder how many times a day these kind of sentiments are expressed by cops across the nation. We only know about these clowns because they were bold enough to send all of these electronic messages…<\/p>\n

\nAUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Five police officers and four dispatchers were suspended for sending computer messages after a nightclub caught fire joking about the blaze and quoting a line from the song Disco Inferno— “burn baby burn.”<\/p>\n

Witnesses at the Midtown Live club saw the “burn baby burn” message on the computer screen inside an officer’s patrol car during the Feb. 18 fire. Police Chief Stan Knee said a commander and corporal who responded to the scene worked to calm angry witnesses.<\/p>\n

The club has a mostly black clientele, and there were suggestions after the fire that the messages revealed racial bias in the department.<\/p>\n

Documents released Friday indicate that after hearing a transmission about the fire, officer John Lengefeld sent a message from his patrol car to fellow officer Josue Martinez that said “burn baby burn.”<\/p>\n

Martinez replied that he was laughing, and “Those were my exact thoughts.” Other officers chimed in with more than two hours of messages.<\/p>\n

Among those receiving 15-day unpaid suspensions was officer William White, who sent a note that said, “U can smell from (Interstate) 35. It is the smell of victory.”<\/p>\n

Dispatcher Susan Negron wrote, “I have some extra gasoline if they need it,” according to the documents, and “My nite is made. I just had a lady ask me if it was burning. I said yep. She was upset. I was enthralled.”<\/p>\n

Dispatcher Ashlye Bauerle wrote, “You hear that Midtown is on fire!! The roof of a club. .. That’s funny! Gives a whole new meaning to the roof, the roof is on fire,” the documents said.<\/p>\n

Knee called the messages “inappropriate.” All the suspended dispatchers and officers said they regretted their actions and that their messages were intended as jokes. A sixth officer received a written reprimand.<\/p>\n

The messages also indicated that the officers were tired of responding to calls at the establishment. Statistics show that police responded to 129 calls last year for reports that included a stabbing, gunshots and public intoxication. The calls made Midtown the fifth busiest club for police response citywide, according to police statistics.<\/p>\n

Knee said a sergeant and an additional dispatcher remain under investigation\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All of these police and 911 dispatchers need to be fired for joking about a fire in a nightclub the other day. I wonder how many times a day these kind of sentiments are expressed by cops across the nation. We only know about these clowns because they were bold enough to send all of… Continue reading 911 is a Joke in Austin, TX<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":265,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/01\/08\/tivo_to_dvd\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":0},"title":"TiVo to DVD…","date":"January 8, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally, a solution for those of us with non-hacked Series2 TiVos to allow us to burn recorded shows to DVD -- TiVo and Sonic Team Up to Put TiVo on the Go.","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":392,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/09\/16\/kobe_bryants_admission_of_consensual_sex_with_a_second_woman\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":1},"title":"Kobe Bryant’s Admission of Consensual Sex with a Second Woman","date":"September 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I just saw this in the EUR. I can't say I'm surprised, but still... damn!!! KOBE'S VIRGINIA WOMAN: 'SI' reports on player's admission of consensual sex with a second woman. \"Sports Illustrated,\" journalist Jeff Benedict has obtained a sealed statement made by Kobe Bryant and recorded by police before he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":185,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2003\/09\/09\/ive_started_yet_another_weblog\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":2},"title":"I’ve Started Yet Another Weblog","date":"September 9, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"As if I wasn't stretched thin enough already, I've started another weblog. I mentioned the other day that I started a new business venture. I thought it would be a good idea to document my experiences in that venture so naturally a new blog had to be born. Feel free\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":493,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/04\/my-top-20-movies\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":3},"title":"My Top 20+ Movies","date":"March 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In answer to Trader X's question, here are some of my favorite movies. There's no way I can rank them beyond maybe the first three. Nor could I stop at just twenty so with the help of my historical rankings on NetFlix I've gone 40 deep. Depending on my mood,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":330,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/05\/21\/grief_without_closure\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":4},"title":"Grief WITHOUT Closure","date":"May 21, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's an article about my friend who was murdered in March. (I've copied the text of the article below) Grief WITHOUT closure Mysterious death leaves a father searching for answers David Simpson - Staff Thursday, May 20, 2004 Above his eyes, O.B. Okon's glasses perch on his forehead, making him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":298,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/03\/29\/a_bright_light_snuffed_out\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":5},"title":"A Bright Light Snuffed Out","date":"March 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been in a daze all day today after receiving the news that a dear friend of mine, Okokon B. Okon III, was murdered last night here in Atlanta. He was the victim of what appears to be a senseless crime. As usual, he was being productive. He was attacked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}