Only about 90 seconds passed between the time Denver police learned that an undercover detective was involved in a vehicle chase toward Lakewood and a collision that injured a bystander.
The time span was too short for the series of calls necessary to lock down Lakewood’s Molholm Elementary School, where Edith Mack — who was struck by the cop’s truck — worked.
Mack remains in fair condition at St. Anthony Central Hospital.
She was leaving the school after a meeting Wednesday when undercover detective Clement Bourgeois ran into her car two blocks from Molholm.
Emergency workers had to use the jaws-of-life to extract her from her vehicle. The process took about a half-hour, said Jefferson County schools spokeswoman Lynn Setzer.
Neighbors who saw emergency workers remove Mack from the overturned car, where she dangled from her seat belt, were upset by the length of time needed to free her, Setzer said.
Setzer and Lakewood Mayor pro-tem Bob Murphy were among the Lakewood officials who met with representatives of the Denver mayor’s office and Denver Police Department to discuss the incident this morning.
Jefferson County school officials plan to inform Lakewood residents by mail about the meeting and pursuit policy.
Denver dispatchers followed protocols and switched communication to a channel that allowed them to talk to Lakewood police as soon as they learned about the chase, said Mary Beth Klee, Denver division chief in charge of patrol.
“There was about a 90-second window of opportunity where the school could have been notified, but there just wasn’t time,” Setzer said.
Klee, who spoke at the meeting, wouldn’t comment on the time frame, saying she wouldn’t discuss what she told Setzer and the others.
Bourgeois was devastated that he had injured Mack, said Klee, who spoke with him after the accident.
Bourgeois, who joined the department in 1997, apparently violated Denver PD’s pursuit policy by engaging in a high-speed chase without emergency lights and a siren.
The incident is under investigation.
“This is a very unique situation in that it happened so fast,” Murphy said.
Murphy called the hour-long meeting at Molholm productive.
“I wanted to talk about communication and coordination protocols — were they in place, and were they followed — and the answer to that was yes,” he said.
Lakewood police are discouraged from engaging in vehicular pursuits because of the danger and rarely engage in them, Murphy said.
“The two communities have different policies, and that is just the way it is. We don’t do chases, and Denver does do chases, and the important thing to me was that we have policies in place to talk to each other,” he added.
“We do want all jurisdictions to know that within Lakewood, we want to minimize the possibility of pursuits,” Lakewood City Manager Mike Rock said Thursday.
According to Denver’s written policies, cars without lights and sirens aren’t permitted to engage in pursuits.
“The investigation has already started to make sure the policies were followed. Simultaneously, we will use this to review the policies,” Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said. He added: “Safety is our highest priority. We will address this as quickly as we can.”
Bourgeois, a member of a team of undercover agents, was pursuing a suspected member of a robbery ring responsible for at least 23 stickups in the metro area. The FBI has said the suspect should be considered armed and dangerous.
Bourgeois slammed into Mack two blocks from the school.
The Denver Police Department is investigating whether Bourgeois, who wasn’t injured, violated its pursuit policy. It says officers may initiate a chase only when a suspect poses an immediate threat to public safety or when the suspect has committed a felony with a deadly weapon.
Bourgeois, a member of the FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, had been watching Manuelito Gabriel Santistevan, 27, a suspected member of the “Hooded Safe Bandits.” They got that name because they enter businesses wearing hoods and masks, point guns at employees and order them to open the safe.
The gang has hit businesses including restaurants, stores and coffee shops.
The investigation has been a joint effort among a number of metro law-enforcement agencies.
Police also are seeking 25-year-old Tiffani Bryan in the case, who was last seen with Santistevan. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867).
Parents picking up their children after school Thursday at Molholm Elementary said they had mixed emotions about the chase being so close to the school.
“It’s a good thing and a bad thing,” said Vilma Caro-Dominguez, who was getting her third- and fourth-graders. “A bad thing because there are kids around, and there are people walking. But the good thing is, they’re doing their job. They’re getting the bad guys off the streets.”
Pat and Fred Trounce park every afternoon at the curb next to the school to pick up their grandsons. They said they often see people driving recklessly around the school.
But the police?
“They shouldn’t do that,” Pat Trounce said.
“But,” Fred Trounce responded, “if it has to be done to enforce the law, then I’m all for it.”
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
