Oh, shit.
That was my first reaction when I saw, minutes ago, that Missouri Highway/Water Patrol Trooper Anthony Piercy referred to drowning victim Brandon Ellingson as a “bastard” when telling a supervisor how the drowning occurred.
Of all the things that Piercy did wrong in arresting Ellingson May 31 at the Lake of the Ozarks, calling him a bastard after the fact could be the worst.
It’s certainly a knife in the hearts of Ellingson’s parents, Sherry and Craig Ellingson of the West Des Moines area.
I should say…another knife in their hearts. This one just has an extra twist to it.
The last couple of days, The Star’s Laura Bauer has been poring through more than 400 pages of documents and several videos of conversations and interviews that the Highway Patrol finally handed over to her after weeks of stonewalling.
Before I give you the context of the “bastard” reference, I want to say that The Star should submit Bauer’s stories — probably more than 20 by now — to the Pulitzer committee.
Because of her coverage, the story has gone from the initial account of the 20-year-old victim possibly jumping into the water voluntarily to Piercy…
— putting the wrong type of life jacket on him after cuffing his hands behind his back
— getting irritated at Ellingson’s friends, who were nearby at the start of the arrest
— failing to secure Ellingson in the boat
— roaring away from the arrest site at speeds of up to more than 40 miles and hour, then slowing down when he hit high waves
— seeing Ellingson’s feet go into the water, after his body
— trying, with little urgency, to fish Ellingson out of the water with a pole
— jumping in and trying unsuccessfully to save him when it was too late
And now this, calling Ellingson a bastard in a telephone conversation with a supervisor about an hour after the drowning.
The Star first posted the story with this latest development at 3:25 p.m. today and updated it at 9:52.
The story says that the recently released final investigative report includes many conversations Piercy had that were captured on cameras from patrol boats that responded to the incident. “In those talks,” the story says, “he detailed everything from how intoxicated Ellingson was and how he tried to rescue the college student to his own speculation on how much trouble he was in.”
Here’s the kick in the stomach. In a taped, six-minute phone conversation with Cpl. David Echternacht, Piercy said, among other things, that he was physically exhausted from jumping into the lake to try to save Ellingson and nearly drowned himself.
He went on to say:
“I’m banged up a little bit, but I’m all right. I don’t know if I’m sore from treading water with the bastard, but I just feel spent. … I thought I had run a marathon.”
He’s sore, he’s wiped out. Oh, gosh…At the same time, a fine young man who happened to make a mistake by getting drunk and then getting behind the wheel of his father’s boat was lying dead at the bottom of 69 feet of water.
Later in the conversation, Piercy refers to Ellingson as “the poor bastard” — that time, at least, indicating some remorse that the young man lost his life.
Nevertheless, let’s set the record straight right here, right now: The bastard was not Brandon Ellingson, it was Anthony Piercy and only Anthony Piercy.
**
The most prolific commenter to this blog, John Altevogt, a Wyandotte County, Kansas, resident, has been calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to review the Ellingson case.
Until tonight, I had thought that was very unlikely. But with Piercy’s oral degrading of a young man who just died while in his care and custody, I think Altevogt just might be onto something.
Des Moines attorney Matt Boles, who is representing Ellingson’s family, said he believed a review by the U.S. attorney’s office was a possibility. Bauer quoted him as saying, “I do not believe at this point that anyone can definitively say this is done.”
**
The only positive development in recent days, as reported by Bauer, is that Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Ronald K. Repogle expressed his condolences to the Ellingson family and said his agency was reviewing all policies and procedures.
Bauer didn’t specifically say so, but I presume that includes state officials’ decision a few years ago to combine the Highway Patrol and the Water Patrol.
Piercy, an 18-year veteran of the patrol, was starting his second season of water duty. His primary responsibility was highway patrol duty.
Replogle told Bauer that since Ellingson’s drowning, highway troopers who had been working part time on the lake have not been permitted to patrol on the water by themselves.
Well, thank God for that, and thank God that Repogle will review the water-highway patrol merger. Reversing that decision seems like a foregone conclusion. It also seems like a foregone conclusion that Anthony Piercy is not long for the Highway Patrol.
Finally, if you’ve been reading my posts on this story, you know I’ve been giving Gov. Jay Nixon holy hell for not reaching out to the Ellingson family and for not ordering a review of the water-highway patrol decision.
Now, more than ever, this situation cries out for Nixon to go to Clive, IA, where Ellingson’s parents live, and extend his condolences personally. He needs to go there with his big, fat governor’s hat in his hand and say, “On behalf of my state, I am so sorry.”
As I said, I put a call in yesterday to Nixon’s chief spokesman, Scott Holste, to try to find out what, if anything, the governor planned to do about this case. As I expected, I have not received a return call.
…My number is still good, Scott. Call me any time.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
What’s chilling to me is, the only remorse I hear in his voice is for the potential loss of his job, not for the fact that a young man just lost his life while in his care.
Excellent point, Gayle…
Glad you and Laura Bauer are staying on this, Jim. Justice must be served. The jury should go to jail. The story is horrific.
Laura
Thanks, Laura.
One thing needs to be said here, while Nixon twiddles his thumbs and Highway Patrol senior officials have tried to stonewall the media, Piercy’s colleagues at the Highway Patrol appear to be trying to put together an honest investigation of what went down that day. It does not seem to be their fault that justice has not been served in this case.
For example, the patrolman who interviewed the initial witnesses who saw Piercy’s calloused non-response to Brandon falling in the water fully expected to be subpoenaed but was never called by the prosecution. Indeed, much of the information Laura is reporting is coming straight from the investigations Piercy’s colleagues collected.
At the same time, Nixon has been a complete disgrace these past weeks. He went from being judge and jury while pandering to the mob in Ferguson on a case where we still don’t have all the facts to abdicating all responsibility in this case where mounds of evidence screams for action to be taken.
And yes, this case harkens back to the days in the deep South when all white juries in local courts failed to convict even the worst of the worst offenders engaging in racial violence. In those case the feds stepped in and filed criminal charges for those violating civil rights in federal courts. While the sentences weren’t as steep as the original charges, a lengthy sentence in a federal penitentiary isn’t exactly a vacation. Clearly, given Nixon’s inaction, the Patrol’s stonewalling and the prosecutor’s failure to put on even a semblance of a case that strategy needs to be re-visited.
That’s a very good point about the people who actually conducted the investigation. It appears that the investigators, under the direction of Cpl. Eric Stacks, went all out to determine what happened and didn’t attempt to whitewash the incident. The coroner took care of that.
The investigators should be particularly commended for the re-enactment of the boat ride, which was incredibly frightening and illuminating. I would presume that Corporal Stacks was the trooper who was in the position that Brandon would have been it, and it was Stacks who told the driver how fast to go and where to go. And it would have been Stacks who noted that when he was sitting in that cutout seat, his feet were dangling above the floor of the boat.
All in all, that re-enactment cast into sharp relief Piercy’s feeble attempt to divert the responsibility away from himself and toward Brandon…Even at this late stage, he should take full responsibility, apologize and submit his resignation. Let him stay on the school board, where he can’t kill anyone.
Great article Jimmy. Piercy’s reference to Brandon as a “bastard” an hour after killing him underlines my belief that Piercy didn’t regard Brandon as a human being and the reason for his less than urgent effort to save his life. To me he appears sociopathic with his “oh well” attitude.
My hope is that, in addition to Piercy suffering the legal consequences if his actions, those that have attempted to cover this up, namely the coroner and “special prosecutor” are exposed and also brought to justice.
Jimmy, I know the final report has been released. How does one obtain a copy of the report?
It’s probably available to the public, but they might want to charge you per page, and it’s more than 400 pages. If The Star had to pay, it did so gladly and easily.
I would suggest calling the Missouri Highway Patrol Headquarters in Jefferson City — (573) 751-3313. Another possibility would be to call or email Laura Bauer at (816) 234-4944 or lbauer@kcstar.com.
Thank you Jimmy.
Fitz, with your vast influence at The Star, perhaps you could get them to make a digital file available for download online.
It’s worth a shot…I’ll send Laura an email…Did you say vast influence? I think I’m more like influenza to a lot of people down there.
Whatever works.
Justice will be served. As the cliche goes, there are two sides to every story. Up until recently, the public has only heard the Trooper’s artfully-crafted version of a law-breaking-citizen-responsible-for-his-own-demise-and-thankfully-unable-to-take-the-life-of-the-just-doing-my-job-according-to-my-inadequate-training-innocent-trooper. The state has tried to serve up the incident as if Piercy was a victim.
Tragically, Sherry and Craig will never hug Brandon again. However, the Ellingsons will have justice.
The actors in this play are too foolish to pull off the farce. They should have at least faked justice. They showed no empathy to the family. They didn’t present both sides of evidence. They didn’t have any witnesses besides “their” victim. They didn’t practice all the possible “outcomes.”
I’m sure these points have all been made and my reiteration of facts and questions based on facts, have inaccuracies. Correct them. Re-appy my questions.
As Mom, with three children, who has been around water, who has no “training,” who is an observer of this travesty, I wonder what the difference is between negligence, recklessness and criminal behavior.
I believe Piercy’s lack of common sense is, at minimum, negligence. His lack of protocol, as a trusted officer of the state, is the definition of reckless. He is a Missouri State Trooper,who has received training, receives ongoing training and has years of experience. He is expected to uphold the law, at a minimum. He is expected to protect. He did not exercise common sense and Piercy did not uphold even the most basic of minimum standards. I believe the Ellingsons deserve answers to some basic questions:
~ Has Piercy arrested before while on water patrol? For what crimes? Did he need an understanding of life vests to arrest for those crimes?
~ Has Piercy received any training; boat operation, boat safety, boat speed, water safety, water rescue, terminology, how to identify intoxication, how to handle an intoxicated individual, etc.
~ Did Piercy believe Ellingson was intoxicated? If yes, how does highway or water patrol “care” for intoxicated individuals? Are they cared for like children, as they may not be able to function as adults?
~How can trooper, who arrests civilians for improper use or lack of proper life vests on a watercraft, not have proper training on types and uses of life vests?
~How can a trooper, who has enough training to drive a boat, not understand boating rule number one, how to use a life vest?
~How can anyone justify putting a life vest over an individual and not have enough common sense to pull arms through the arm holes (training not necessary)?
~If Piercy were putting a life jacket on a child, his own child perhaps, or the child of his supervisor, or the Governors child, for example, instead of this “bastard”, do you think Piercy would have understood how to attach the strap the goes between his legs, or buckle the front straps? Are these steps not evident?
~Since Piercy’s defense is lack of proper training and he has twenty or so years of experience, let me ask, how he handles intoxicated individuals in a patrol car. Does he ask them to put on their own seat belt or does he do it for them, especially when they are handcuffed? Why was Brandon not secured on the patrol boat?
~ How does a Trooper, as a function of his job, not understand proper speed of a patrol boat with passengers, of any kind, say the Governor’s children, or somebody who is believed to be intoxicated?
~ Is there ever an instance where a passenger on a patrol boat is secured to the patrol boat? Has Piercy ever secured a passenger on a patrol boat? Why? Why not?
~ If the Governor’s child was in the water, would Piercy use a hook to fish out the child?
~ Was there ever a sense of urgency? When? Why?
~ If the Piercy’s child was in the water, not able to swim, and Piercy was holding on to the child, would he have let go, when he got tired of treading water? Would he have remembered to attach the strap to his child and pull the rip cord to inflate a safety device?
~ Does the raft/safety device have instructions on the device, such as “pull here to inflate?” Or does use of that device require special training?
~ What about the witnesses who saw Brandon in the water? Did it appear Piercy had everything under control? If Piercy did not have everything under control, why didn’t he ask for help? Was Piercy in the water at that point?
If Piercy, admittedly, is so clueless, he doesn’t understand the proper use of ANY life vest, regardless of type, he will never learn. For that reason, he should be fired. His lack of proper judgement, attitude, lack of remorse and lack of empathy, is, well, criminal.
GREAT commentary Julie. I, for one, think Piercy’s lack of training is a convenient scapegoat. He’s either extremely incompetent or a liar. I believe the latter. He’s a sociopath that belongs in jail.
My wife Patty is of the same mind. She said a couple of days ago that she thought Piercy was playing up the supposed lack of training to try to mitigate his pathetic judgment and total lack of common sense.
Agreed, I was spelling out facts dispelling his argument. He has enough professional and LIFE experience. It was worse than pathetic judgement and incompetency. He wasn’t even ignorant. The travesty is that he had knowledge. His actions were a disgusting level of arrogance, which is why his actions are a reckless criminal act.
That is pathetic police work at best. Anyone, especially a law officer, should be held criminally liable for negligent homicide. The kid died with police handcuffs on…Also, the officer’s comment is not professional or respectful.