When members of the city’s Police Advisory Commission visit the District Attorney’s office to review the Nizah Morris case records shortly, they don’t expect to find a “smoking gun,” but they hope to address key aspects of the case that police haven’t explained.
Morris was a transwoman found with a fatal head wound on Dec. 22, 2002, shortly after receiving a courtesy ride from police. She died two days later from complications due to a fractured skull.
Police and the D.A. continue to investigate the homicide.
The PAC is trying to determine whether police violated any departmental regulations when handling the Morris matter.
Gender conflict in police report
Earlier this year, it was disclosed that the official police report for the Morris incident was redacted, either by the police or the D.A.’s office.
Two male references to Morris were deleted from the copy of the report given to the PAC eight years ago. The investigation-control number also was deleted.
An earlier PAC concluded that 9th District Officer Thomas Berry wrote the report at 16th and Walnut streets, where he spotted Morris, bleeding and unconscious.
Berry told the 911 call center that Morris was an intoxicated female who needed to go to the hospital, not an automobile-accident or crime victim.
Berry’s redacted report contains four female references to Morris and no male references.
Authorities refuse to comment on the redactions.
But an analysis of Morris records released so far indicates that Berry wrote the report after going to Jefferson University Hospital and learning that Morris had male sex organs.
Under police policy, sex organs define a person’s gender. Thus, Berry had an obligation to describe Morris as a male in his report.
But the situation was complicated because two 6th District officers were handling the investigation at Jefferson, Elizabeth Skala and Kenneth Novak.
They were dispatched to investigate Morris at Key West Bar, on the 200 block of South Juniper Street, earlier that morning. Skala got there first and gave the ride.
The duo continued their Morris investigation at Jefferson. But since they hadn’t gone to the injury scene, Berry was asked to write a report based mainly on information he gathered there.
The result was an incident report with conflicting references to Morris’ gender — four female and two male.
Berry apparently felt the need for most of the references to be female, because that’s what he believed Morris to be at 16th and Walnut.
But he also included two male references, evidently in light of the information he received at Jefferson.
Novak and Skala didn’t write reports.
Instead, they used Berry’s report as a basis for their Morris patrol-log entries, all of which depicted Morris as a founded hospital case, with no reference to gender.
Questions linger over whether confusion about Morris’ gender identity contributed to the convoluted nature of the officers’ paperwork.
Additionally, the PAC has cited Berry’s redacted report as a reason to develop a comprehensive redaction policy, in conjunction with the police and D.A.’s office.
911 identity blunder?
In 2006, authorities released computerized dispatch records for the 911 call placed at Key West Bar, where Morris was staggering out front, severely inebriated.
The records state that Skala told a dispatcher at 4:02 a.m. Dec. 22, 2002, that the Key West assignment was “unfounded.”
That was 45 minutes after the courtesy ride, and four minutes before medics began transporting Morris from Walnut Street to Jefferson.
Unfounded designations are for assignments that lack an actual 911 target at a location when police arrive.
Since Morris clearly was outside Key West when Skala got there, the unfounded designation remains puzzling.
But newly released documents may provide an answer.
They suggest that Skala deemed the Key West call unfounded because it was for a female who couldn’t walk, and Skala believed Morris to be an ambulatory male with no medical needs.
One document in particular, a 2003 interview with Berry, indicates that Skala thought she had an ambulatory male inside her patrol car during the courtesy ride.
In the interview, Berry described seeing Morris inside Skala’s car toward the ride’s end.
“It was in the 1400 block of Walnut Street,” Berry said. “The officer [Skala] was parked in the right running lane about half way down the block, and she had the rear door open and this male [Morris] was getting out. I asked [Skala] if she needed any help, and she said no, thanks anyway, she was just dropping him off. I just left after that.”
A 911-target blunder also would explain the lack of documentation for the ride, since officers aren’t required to document every ride they give — though they must document rides for 911 targets.
Supervision of officers
A 2006 internal PAC staff report posited that Skala violated two departmental regulations in the Morris case — one for full cooperation during an official investigation, and one for forbidding false statements during an official investigation.
Both alleged violations could have resulted in Skala’s termination from the force, if acted upon by police authorities.
The staff report also suggested that Skala be viewed as a suspect in the homicide.
But an earlier PAC disregarded the staff report. Instead, it issued an opinion calling for additional training for Skala, and an overall police policy on courtesy rides.
Neither recommendation has been implemented by police.
The staff report also cited “negligence” on the part of Berry, who didn’t take steps to preserve the Walnut Street crime scene, nor did he call for a supervisor to help assess the situation there.
During the 2006 PAC hearings, Skala testified that supervisors are supposed to spot-check officers’ patrol logs mid-point during their shift, by visiting them while on patrol.
Skala also testified that, at times, she didn’t fill in her patrol-log entries until the end of her shift.
Sgt. Michael Dougherty, who was the supervisor of Skala and Novak, didn’t spot-check their logs on the morning of Morris’ injury.
Instead, Dougherty reviewed the logs at the end of their shift.
The recently appointed PAC members may consider recommending that supervisors fulfill their spot-checking responsibilities on a routine basis.
Additionally, PAC members may consider recommending that officers fill in their patrol-log entries in a timely manner, so that spot-checking is meaningful.
In a related matter, sources say that Skala told the D.A.’s office that she called Dougherty on her cell phone and informed him of the ride, shortly before giving it to Morris.
The purported D.A.’s interview with Skala wasn’t released to the public, and it remains to be seen whether it will be made available to PAC members during their upcoming visit to the D.A.’s office.
Tim Cwiek can be reached at [email protected].