May 9, 2007 7:15 pm US/Eastern
Mount Kisco Police Probe Focuses On Single Officer
Westchester D.A. DiFiore Keeping Eye On Investigation
by Tony Aiello
MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. (CBS) ―
Ten days after the death of Rene Perez, the investigative focus remains on the Mount Kisco police, and one of three officers who interacted with the victim shortly before he was found dying from internal bleeding.
Officer Edward Dwyer and Lt. Edward Dunnigan joined Officer George Bubaris on the night of April 28, responding to a Lexington Ave. laundromat when Perez, heavily intoxicated, made an incoherent call to 911.
The cops reported Perez did not need police assistance, and they cleared the scene at 10:55 p.m.
Dwyer and Dunnigan immediately answered another call nearby, but Bubaris wasn't sent on another call until 11:39.
That means Bubaris had more than 30 minutes when he could have driven Perez to the roadside in Bedford, where passers-by found him at 11:35. The scene is six miles from the laundromat.
CBS 2 has learned police cars in Mount Kisco are not equipped with GPS units or tracking devices. So investigators are trying to track the movements of Bubaris by examining call activity on cell phone towers that serve the Byram Lake Road are where Perez was found.
The victim, a homeless alcoholic, was well known to local police as a troublemaker. CBS 2 has learned his blood alcohol level on the night of his death was more than three-times the legal limit.
As the investigation proceeds, the Westchester County district attorney is urging patience.
"No one should expect a knee-jerk response from my office," said Janet DiFiore. "We are carefully examining all the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Perez."
Wednesday, a PBA group said it had provided legal assistance to several officers connected to the investigation. The Mount Kisco mayor asked the police chief to put Bubaris, Dwyer, and Dunnigan on restricted duty, but it's not clear if the chief was going to comply.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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