In Thursday’s column (9/19), The First Ward finally put all of the details leading up to the James Moriarity pursuit, his death, and the death of K9 Officer Hudson into one cohesive narrative. But I do need to make a minor correction.
The license plate reader that led to Moriarity’s final high-speed pursuit was mounted on a roadside pole, not in a Sheriff’s vehicle as previously stipulated. It’s a minor discrepancy, but it better explains why deputies attempted to stop him at Silver Glen and Randall Roads and not at the location the reader initially picked up the plate.
With those particulars in hand, let’s move on to what went wrong from the very start of this sad scenario, and who’s responsible for the bad decisions that led to tragedy. Then we’ll cover how this very public battle over Hudson’s death could ultimately lead to the death of an Aurora officer or Sheriff’s deputy. That discussion will include why chikenshit Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin has no right to criticize any law enforcement agency anywhere. For someone who stands all of four-foot two, he certainly has a flippin’ big mouth.
Lastly, as a result of two stellar sources coming forward as a result of part one, in part three I’ll tell you exactly what the State’s Attorney’s investigation findings will – or should – be, and why SA Jamie Mosser is sitting on that report.
The bottom line is, with one minor exception, the Aurora Police got it right from the start. Moriarity’s family made them aware of the situation, they knew they were dealing with someone who wanted to die, and they even managed to build a rapport with him through a series of cellphone calls. The fact their efforts were ultimately unsuccessful is a sad testimony to how far Moriarity had descended into the drug-fueled abyss.
After he carjacked the Mazda, the APD was spot on when they called off multiple pursuits after the speeds reached triple digits. Not only was it clear that Moriarity wanted to die, but he didn’t care how many people he might take with him. The APD knew where he lived and where the vehicle might be hidden, so they found the carjacked vehicle in short order.
And the garage stakeout was the perfect strategy. Moriarity hadn’t injured anyone yet, so they patiently waited for him to retrieve the Madza. Hain’s contention that the APD were “reactive” because they were just “sitting on it” is such pure unadulterated bullshit that even the Sheriff doesn’t believe what he’s saying.
Hain petulantly added, “That type of police work is baiting someone to get into a pursuit. I would say they escalated things. Get a warrant, and go into the apartment and grab the guy,” ultimately referring to the APD as clowns just for good measure.
Really Ron? I know you about as well as anyone and since when does police protocol dictate that the SWAT team should “go in” to a densely populated apartment complex at midnight when everybody’s home sleeping and “grab” a guy whose sole intent is to commit suicide? What could possibly go wrong with that? And when you consider the APD’s prescient application of a blocking vehicle and tire deflators, there wasn’t going to be another pursuit – until you got involved.
But for reasons we can only surmise, despite their more-than-reasonable plan, when word of the surveillance operation filtered up to him, Hain still insisted that the Mazda be “repossessed” forthwith!
Some sources said the divide between the APD and Sheriff started when Hain wanted to combine gang units, but they turned him down because they believe the inevitable intricacies would create more problems than they’d solve. Others suspect Hain’s excessive drinking was the catalyst behind this terrible decision. The question is, did the drinking start before or after Hudson was killed?
My theory is it was the former. Like most law enforcement officers, Hain has an ego, but regardless of any background noise between departments, the man I know would never callously compromise another jurisdiction’s sting just because he could unless he was drunk. To be fair, that’s just speculation.
The APD’s only error in all of this was giving up on the stakeout after the Mazda was towed because they thought Moriarity was onto them. Per one source, had a watch commander been on duty at that time of night, they probably would’ve overruled the on-the-scene sergeants’ decision to leave.
But to be perfectly clear, if the Sheriff hadn’t improperly intervened, the APD wouldn’t have been put in a position to abandon the surveillance. And a woman would have had to endure the nightmare of being carjacked, among other events.
Even if the APD had significantly erred, the subsequent questionable decisions on the part of the Sheriff and his command staff are incredibly difficult to fathom. Initiating a high-speed pursuit of a man with nothing to lose on Randall Road at rush hour? Who gave that order and why wasn’t it called off when Moriarity crossed the 100-mph mark? I can’t believe no unsuspecting motorist was that afternoon. The Sheriff’s office certainly knew where Moriarity lived because they were right there the night before.
When he finally crashed the Honda at Randall and Fabyan Parkway, and they had him surrounded and on the ground, they released the dog for no good reason. And Hudson was killed by friendly fire as a result, which only added to this eminently avoidable tragedy.
As for Mayor Irvin, who has all the morals of a rutting pig (How many baby mommas now, Richard – five?), after he hid under his bed leaving the APD twisting in the wind during the George Floyd protests, he has absolutely no grounds to weigh in on any law enforcement decision no matter how bad it might be. And no matter how absurd Hain’s comments have been, Irvin, who’s been hitting booze just as hard as the Sheriff, should learn when to keep his mouth shut. There’s no point in further stoking the flames by responding just because you can.
Why? Because there’s so much bad blood between the departments now that an officer might lose his life because of it. Here’s what I mean.
During Aurora’s recent Mexican Independence day festivities, traffic got so fouled up that the APD had to call for mutual assistance to restore order. Among the other departments that responded, three Sheriff’s deputies showed up to help out. But when Hain got word of it, he ordered those officers to leave the scene and told his command staff to ignore any further APD requests for help.
Despite the APD’s contention there will be no tit-for-tat, we both know that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Given the number of patrol cars on duty at any given point in time, Kane County will likely need the APD long before the APD needs them, which only serves to put every KC deputy at needless further risk.
So, Ron. As a concerned friend and the man who got you elected, I’m asking you to step down. And I’m making this request because, like the folks in the jail rehab you’ve helped so much, your life, and alcohol intake, are spiraling out of control. That means you can no longer do the job the people of Kane County elected you to do. I can provide specific examples of your inappropriate alcohol-fueled behavior, too.
Threatening to beat the crap out of Aurora Deputy Chief Matt Thomas at Fabyan Park? What purpose could that stupidity possibly serve? And what kind of example does it set for the men and women whose lives and livelihood depend on you? And the things you said at a gathering with children present made my toenails curl. I could continue, but I’ve made my point.
And it’s not going to get any better for your office in part three, particularly for Sergeant Widlarz.
Once you step down, please take the necessary steps to get your drinking under control. Please don’t destroy the rest of your life based on one bad decision. You’re not the only person who’s ever made one and most of us recover from them.
Speaking of part three, we’ll discuss what the State’s Attorney’s “on-going” investigation findings will be and how Mosser is sitting on that report because she doesn’t want to prosecute a cop during an election year.
Sadly, in the words of the great Warren Zevon, “It ain’t that pretty at all.”
