A New Jersey police officer, Kevin Bollaro, has been arrested and charged with official misconduct. He is accused of not adequately responding to a 2018 shooting rampage that resulted in the deaths of two victims. The tragedy, which unfolded on August 1, stemmed largely from the officer allegedly focusing on personal errands instead of his police responsibilities.
Prosecutors claim that Bollaro filed a fraudulent report full of inaccuracies. They mispresent the depth of his investigation into the 2019 shooting. GPS data and surveillance video indisputably establish that he drove almost two miles beyond the route indicated by the emergency calls. He took one other detour to a bank ATM before eventually arriving at Pittstown’s Duke’s Pizzeria to celebrate the accomplishment. He stayed at the pizzeria for close to an hour.
Locals identified the victims as Lauren Semanchik, 33, and Tyler Webb, 29. They were found dead the following day, nearly 600 feet away from where the initial 911 call originated. After leaving the pizzeria, eyewitnesses said that Bollaro parked his car and walked into another local restaurant. He wasted at least another hour inside that place.
Bollaro’s next court date is November 5. In his defense, his lawyer, Charles Sciarra, stated that “nothing Kevin Bollaro did or did not do that day impacted or could have stopped” the killings. Still, this lack of action has done nothing to lessen the families of victims’ anger that sparked this outrage.
Families of Semanchik and Webb expressed outrage over Bollaro’s actions, deeming them “egregious conduct.” They further described the situation as “the tip of the iceberg of the many failures by the local and state police.” Though written under quite different circumstances, their statements speak to the tragic dread, disappointment, outrage, and jasmine releases.
Robeson’s office has stated that Bollaro’s actions are a direct violation of his duties as an officer to protect and serve. When the officer arrived at the first caller’s location, he almost immediately advised dispatch that he never received a call. Rather than returning to the original reported scene, he bet and began to chase down other reported hotspots.