Updated below
It's one thing to see the Phoenix New Times questioning the circumstances surrounding Pinal County Deputy Louis Puroll's shooting in last week's compelling story.
It's another thing altogether when an active Arizona Department of Public Safety sergeant calls out Sheriff Paul Babeu for his way of handling the investigation. That's what happened in a news segment that aired last night on KSAZ Channel 10, the Fox station in Phoenix.
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In short, Sgt. Kevin Wood said that the way Sheriff Babeu handled the investigation — calling in DPS to investigate the shooting, then limiting their role to that of crime-scene technicians — was very unusual.
In response, Babeu spokesman Tim Gaffney said it wasn't unusual at all for the department to handle an officer-involved shooting investigation focusing on one of its own.
Here's the text story, and the video:
Update:
The Arizona Department of Public Safety called a press conference today, and I assumed the department would back off Wood's statements. But alas they didn't, according to this story.
Wood himself spoke again — the fact that he wasn't hidden suggests that DPS wanted his version to get out — and dug in on his earlier line. The Republic reported it this way: "On Wednesday, Wood said his agency wanted to dispel a public 'misconception that DPS agrees with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.' "
