A year after Ellis Road police standoff little has changed [Bristol Herald Courier, Va.]
By Michael Owens, Bristol Herald Courier, Va. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The only noticeable difference is that the grass surrounding the house has grown waist high in some spots.
And someone nailed a wooden plank across the front entrance where a door used to be and scrawled the words "This is what
So far, an offer of
The offer could not be confirmed with the county's adjusters, Tri-State Claims in
"I want a brand new home,"
Police were looking for Junior
Following a daylong standoff involving local and federal police, an armored car, dozens of rounds of teargas, and a fire department,
Days later,
Since then, mother and daughter have struggled to replace everything lost in the fire -- medication, clothes, music albums and winter coats, just to name a few items.
After nearly a year of waiting, the two wonder if they will ever get their lives back on track.
"How can you just come in, destroy a person's home, turn their lives upside down, and walk away?"
Charity
"They came up to my door ... drawing guns on us," she said of the standoff's beginnings.
Mother and daughter heard sirens and stepped out the front door to find police officers on their lawn.
The pair told officers that
They offered a tour of the home to prove it, shows a review of the day's police radio traffic, but officers declined and took them into custody.
The two were among the last to know their home had been destroyed.
For them, most of that day was an endless round of fielding questions about
Police delivered the news of the destruction hours after the neighborhood, which had been closed to traffic throughout most of the ordeal, was opened and media crews had come and gone.
The shock was still fresh when police pointed them to a local
"I'd like to see you pick yourself up the day after you lost everything and go back to work and you're a nervous wreck,"
Displaced and with everything gone, the pair faced obstacles when trying to replace even the little things. For example, three days passed before
Winter arrived before they got the opportunity to shop for new coats.
They have spent the last year replacing lost clothes and accepting donated furniture.
"There's no way to replace everything,"
Friends and local churches have replaced some of their clothes.
But there are some items they know they will never be able to replace.
"Oh, it's been rough,"
A friend stepped in days after the standoff to offer them a two-bedroom rental home just a few miles from
The friend agreed to defer the monthly rent until after they get a new home, which the pair thought would have been found, bought and furnished months ago.
After a few seconds, she glanced back up and replied: "To me, nobody wants to accept responsibility."
Standoff
Incident reports by
"We were under the direction of the sheriff's department,"
Anderson's orders flowed from a command post comprised of his department's leading officers.
He ignored repeated warnings that a pyrotechnic teargas grenade meant for outdoor crowd control could spark a fire if thrown into the house, reports show.
"Their concern seemed to be the gas they had released so far had been ineffective and felt this type of gas would make the suspect come outside and end the incident,"
By then, police had doused the home with at least a dozen teargas grenades made for indoor use.
Anderson had a bomb squad robot drop the outdoor grenade in the living room anyway, reports show, and flames erupted minutes later.
Federal agents and police from
A single punch to the face whiplashed Roberts' head back, medical experts testified in December, and in turn ruptured blood vessels near the base of the neck. The resulting brain hemorrhage rendered Roberts unconscious and unresponsive before paramedics arrived.
Spradlin, who faces a decades-long prison stay, is scheduled to be sentenced
More discrepancies concerning the standoff cropped up in the following months. For example, police initially said they contacted Spradlin for several seconds on his cell phone, yet a
Other discrepancies include:
--Spradlin said he was never in his mother's home that day;
--
--Firefighters said they cut the hole in the floor that Anderson suggested Spradlin used as an escape hatch;
--Firefighters said the blaze likely would have killed Spradlin if he were inside;
The offer
Initially, the county's insurers,
Family lawyer
In a letter obtained by the
"I realize that your offer [of
County Attorney
"I haven't heard anything about it in months," Street said Friday.
(276) 645-2549
Twitter: @Mike_BHCNews
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(c)2012 the Bristol Herald Courier (Bristol, Va.)
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