The following is a press release issued by Jefferson County Sheriff Greg
Morton:
I would like to address some of the issues that I have heard from the public
in reference to the incident at the Pandit property on Tuesday. One of the
biggest concerns that I have heard is why was no one charged with a crime.
Imagine yourself in a vehicle, in this case a crew cab ½ ton pickup and being
in the middle of a crowd that is irate and focused on you. I had made a choice
to try to re direct the Pandits back onto their property and off of 170th
Street. There were anywhere from 70 to 80 Pandits in this group. When I
realized that they were still coming on strong, I got back into my truck and
had the driver’s side window down and the truck was unlocked. They surrounded
the truck and were hitting the body of the truck, were on the running boards
rocking the truck, trying to rip the mirrors off the truck and so on. I was not
scared of these actions because they never attempted to enter the truck or try
to pull me from the truck. There were pieces of gravel coming into the open
driver’s window and I finally heard popping noises at the back of my truck. I
had no idea that they were throwing rocks at the rear window of my truck. The
only indication I had that this was happening was when a rock finally went
through the window shattering it. This happened in a time frame of about a
minute or so. I could not tell you who did what when during this time as there
is such a sensory overload. I decided that my presence was not helping the
situation and backed up and away from the crowd. I backed far enough away that
as they were picking up asphalt, rocks and whatever else and were throwing
these things at my truck, none of it came close. When they were around my
vehicle, they were 4-5 thick all the way around the truck. I believe that the
training and experience we receive in so many years in law enforcement helped
in my decision making and kept things from getting out of control. My main
focus was first and foremost for the safety of the public as this crowd was
becoming more and more agitated.
I backed up and waited for assistance which came in the form of many law
enforcement entities that were listed on an earlier press release including
Fairfield Fire. The group stopped at the bottom of the hill and John
Revolinski, who is part of the administration that looks after the Pandits went
to the group to speak to them. I and about 4 other law enforcement members went
to John and John advised that everything was okay. I do not believe that John
witnessed the incident where I was surrounded by the Pandits and had damage
done to my patrol vehicle. I explained to him what had transpired and also told
John that I was giving him 10 minutes to move the Pandits back to their
property or I would initiate the plan to move them. He did get them moved prior
to the 10 minutes. We staged on 170th Street at the east parking lot of the
Pandit property. At 10:00 a.m. I decided that things had calmed down enough for
us to secure everyone and we kept a presence throughout the day.
Because I had no way of identifying who damaged my vehicle, I could not charge
anyone with the offense. Once the Pandits were back on their property, they
mingled with other Pandits and we run into a false arrest situation if we
charge the wrong people. This does not mean that the investigation is over or
that there will not be charges filed. We need time to sort things out and
decide a course of action. Trust me when I say that there were and still are
contacts being made with other entities to assist us in this investigation. I
have also been in contact with the administration of Vedic City to try to
resolve any future confrontations with the Pandits.
The second thing that I hear about is that taxpayer money should not be spent
to repair my squad truck. That morning, I had told administrators of both Vedic
City and the Pandit project that I would be sending them the bills on the
repairs on the truck. Maureen Wynn of Vedic City called me yesterday and spoke
highly of the restraint and professionalism that was displayed by law
enforcement that day and also that all bills related to the repairs of my
vehicle were to be sent to her to be paid. This will be done. I also want
everyone to know that if this kind of behavior is displayed again, it will not
be tolerated by this office and we will once again restore order and protect
the public.
Gregg Morton
Jefferson County Sheriff
