Not to deflect anything away from what a vile crime was committed by these lowlife scum but the police couldn't have got a clearer message from the bank teller about the hostage situation in the house yet chose to concentrate on setting up roadblocks rather than gauge the real time situation in the house or have the paramedics or fire service on standby. And how low can the defence lawyers go by saying that the delayed response from the police allowed their clients to do what they did 
Horrible thing to happen to an innocent family, even the ago old advice of hand over your money and valuables to save yourself from harm doesn't apply anymore as these sort of scum have no care for basic compasson or humanity.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...y-saved-Police-reacted-quicker-jury-told.html
Horrible thing to happen to an innocent family, even the ago old advice of hand over your money and valuables to save yourself from harm doesn't apply anymore as these sort of scum have no care for basic compasson or humanity.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...y-saved-Police-reacted-quicker-jury-told.html
Could they have been saved? 'Hostage' police accused of being 'too late' to scene of Connecticut family massacre
Police officers responding to a hostage 911 call, where a family was brutally killed by two masked men, came under fire in court yesterday for not doing enough to save them.
The claims were made in the third day of a murder trial where Steven Hayes, 47, and Joshua Komisarjevsky, 30, are accused of raping and murdering Mrs Hawke-Petit and killing daughters Hayley, 17, and 11-year-old Michaela in an attack in their Connecticut home in July 2007.
Hawke-Petit had been taken to her local bank by one of the suspects to withdraw $15,000 in ransom money in the hope that her family's lives would be spared.
Mother-of-two Jennifer Hawke-Petit seen in a bank CCTV image withdrawing $15,000 in the hope that the kidnappers wouldn't hurt her family. Less than an hour later she and her daughters were dead
The bank teller raised the alarm and police were dispatched to the family's home but are said to have spent over 30 minutes setting up roadblocks and cordoning off the area instead of trying to gain entry into the house.
These were the precious minutes the two attackers allegedly used to strangle the mother in her living room and start the fire that claimed the lives of the two girls upstairs.
The jury heard Wednesday that half an hour after police were notified of the incident, no fire, ambulance, state police or other emergency authorities had been alerted.
Captain Vignola reportedly only called the fire department after the assailants had peeled away from the scene of the crime having stolen Hawke-Petit's SUV.
The perpetrators crashed into a police cruiser soon after, one block away, and a plume of smoke had began to rise from the rear of the home.
In court yesterday, Steven Hayes' lawyer said to the police captain in charge of the case: 'Not excusing what happened, the fact was you were too late correct?'
The captain replied: 'If we had any indication of violence I would have been the first one through the door.'
Dr William Petit is the only surviving member of his family. He managed to escape death by managing to free himself from being tied up in the basement
Jennifer Hawke-Petit had bravely tried to placate men who had allegedly burst into her home and held her husband and daughters hostage. CCTV footage showed the terrified mother's final attempt to save her family.
Seen in a grainy black-and-white image - taken by a bank's security camera - Mrs Hawke-Petit tells a bank teller that she must withdraw $15,000 or the men will kill her and her family.
Less than an hour later she and her daughters were dead.
Joshua Komisarjevsky, 30, and Steven Hayes, 47, are charged with numerous crimes including rape, kidnapping, burglary and arson. They face the death penalty if convicted
The chilling photo, and further horrific crime-scene images, were shown to a murder trial jury yesterday.
Many jurors were reduced to tears as they were the shown photos from the family's home, where Mrs Hawke-Petit was raped, murdered and burned in a house fire allegedly set by the accused.
Other photos showed Hayley stretched out on the floor on the landing at the top of the stairs. She had freed herself after being tied up and was apparently trying to save Michaela when she was overcome by smoke.
The jury was also shown pictures of her in her pyjamas - tied at the wrists to her bed and with her lower torso draped onto the floor.
The photos were so traumatic that Judge Jon Blue ended the day's proceedings early, due to the 'harrowing experience'.
The court heard that Mrs Hawke-Petit, 48, had received a time-stamped receipt for $15,000 from a local bank teller who she had bravely told that she, her husband Dr William Petit and their daughters were being held hostage in their home.
Bank CCTV footage show Jennifer Hawke-Petit leaving the branch after withdrawing ransom money. She had raised the alarm with the bank teller but police were too late to save her and her daughters.
Bank employees watched as the terrified mother took the cash and was driven away from the bank by one of the suspects.
The branch manager Mary Lyons called 911 relaying what had happened and telling the operator that the mother appeared 'petrified'.
In a recording played to the court, Lyons told the 911 dispatcher: 'We have a lady who is in our bank right now who says that her husband and children are being held at their house.
'The people are in a car outside the bank. She is getting $15,000 to bring out to them. [She says] that if the police are told that they will kill the children and the husband.
'They have their faces covered. She is petrified. They told her they wouldn't hurt anybody if she got back there with the money. She believes them.'
It was a promise that tragically - and brutally - was not kept.
The description of the vehicle was then broadcast on police radio and around half a dozen marked and unmarked vehicles were deployed around the perimeter of the Petit home.
Outrage had grown earlier in the day in the packed courtroom when public defender Thomas Ullman cross-examined a series of Cheshire Police officers regarding the perceived slow response to the 911 call.
Officers responded that they were following standard procedure in setting up roadblocks and cordoning off the area - time the two attackers used to strangle the mother in her living room and set the fire that claimed the lives of the two girls upstairs.
Around 40 minutes after Mrs Hawke-Petit had notified the bank teller of her family's plight, she and her daughters were dead or dying.
Officers tried to enter the burning house but they were not dressed in fire-protective gear and the heat and smoke proved too strong, the court heard.
Dr Petit was the sole survivor of the home invasion and was semi-conscious and bleeding profusely from blows to the head as he was tied to a support pole in his basement.
He managed to brake free from the basement and, with his feet still bound, rolled his body across two yards to summon help for his wife and children.
He arrived at his neighbour's house who didn't recognise him due to his injuries. The 911 states the neighbour said: 'Can I help you sir?'
Petit responded: 'Dave. It's me, Bill. Call 911'. The father of two stood up but then immediately fell down again.
If found guilty, both Hayes and Komisarjevsky face the death penalty
Hayes has repeatedly offered to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for a life sentence but these have been rejected by prosecutors.
Hayes and Komisarjevsky face numerous charges between them, including multiple murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary and arson.
The trial continues
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...y-saved-Police-reacted-quicker-jury-told.html
