A New Jersey police sergeant is facing criminal charges after allegedly failing to respond promptly and properly to multiple 911 calls about a shooting that was later discovered to be a double homicide.
According to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée Robeson, Sergeant Kevin Bollaro of the Franklin Township Police Department was on duty on the evening of August 1 when several reports came in of gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 60 miles (96 km) west of Manhattan.
Instead of heading directly to the scene, investigators say GPS data and surveillance footage show Bollaro first drove nearly two miles in the opposite direction to stop at a bank ATM. Dispatchers continued to receive urgent calls from neighbors as Bollaro slowly made his way toward the area without activating his vehicle’s lights or sirens, according to prosecutors.
When Bollaro eventually arrived at the location of the first 911 call, he reportedly told dispatchers he heard nothing unusual and would check other nearby addresses. However, investigators say GPS data contradicts his report, revealing that he never visited those additional locations. Instead, Bollaro allegedly drove to Duke’s Pizzeria, where he stayed for nearly an hour, and then went to another restaurant for roughly the same amount of time.
Prosecutors accuse Bollaro of later falsifying his incident report, claiming he had canvassed the area when he had, in fact, already left for the pizzeria.
The following day, on August 2, the bodies of Lauren Semanchik, 33, and Tyler Webb, 29, were found inside a home just 600 feet (183 meters) from the location of the initial 911 call. Investigators determined that both victims had been shot dead by New Jersey State Police Lieutenant Ricardo Santos, who later took his own life.
Bollaro has been charged with official misconduct for knowingly neglecting his duties and tampering with public records for allegedly making false statements in his report. He is scheduled to appear in court on November 5.
Bollaro’s attorney, Charles Sciarra, called the charges “unfortunate,” telling the New York Post that “nothing Kevin Bollaro did or did not do that day impacted or could have stopped” the tragic killings.
Meanwhile, the families of the victims have expressed outrage, telling WABC-TV that they are “shocked at Sgt. Bollaro’s egregious conduct” and believe his actions reflect “the tip of the iceberg of failures” by both local and state police in handling the case.
