David James Elliot called 911 the night he was pursued and then shot by police.
Why did he call 911?
When did he call 911?
What did he say?
Was he in need of medical attention?
Was his life in danger?
Write Into Action first posed this question on March 22, 2015 in Was the David James Elliot shooting premeditated attempted murder? Bureau of Criminal Investigation probing ‘hit’ by rogue police?
Since then – compelling evidence continues to emerge that suggests law enforcement has willfully obfuscated, and continues to strategically confuse the true facts and circumstances that led up to David Elliot being shot in the Altru hospital parking lot – only feet from the Emergency Room door.
The latest act of obfuscation and manipulation comes in the form of a letter authored by Grand Forks County State’s Attorney David Jones, which was sent to UND Police Chief Eric Plummer, wherein Jones gives his official opinion that UND police officer Jared Braaten was justified when he shot David Elliot.
Jones issued his opinion on the matter despite the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) still investigating. Law enforcement originally claimed the BCI was the lead investigative agency on the case, which, they asserted, was why they couldn’t talk to the media.
Segments of Jones’ letter were subsequently published in the Grand Forks Herald to assure the public that Braaten acted reasonably, and that David Elliot would be facing felony charges.
However – Jones’ symbolic media gesture to Plummer provided details regarding the night in question that had never been heard before.
Using those details, the mystery surrounding the bizarre stalking of David Elliot by four separate law enforcement agencies through multiple jurisdictions is becoming less and less mysterious.
In fact, we may now see David Elliot’s defense against the felony eluding charges against him. Likewise – we may see the fact-set for any prosecution against select police officers involved in any plot to murder Elliot.
Among the most significant facts withheld by law enforcement is the bombshell revelation by Jones that David Elliot, himself, called 911 the night police were following him.
Another critical fact running tandem to David Elliot’s 911 call is Jones’ statement that the police were trying to stop Elliot so he could talk to Altru ambulance workers at the North Washington Street exit in Grand Forks, as he traveled south on I-29.
It took authorities one month to tell the public that David Elliot called 911 after the police began chasing him.
Why did law enforcement withhold that information?
Think about it.
The truth is almost always the simplest answer to any question.
So let’s examine the fact pattern and see what the simplest answers are.
At 10:40 p.m. on February 27, somebody called 911 to report a suspicious vehicle at the Wells Fargo Bank on South Columbia Road in Grand Forks. To this day, the police cannot explain what the caller thought was suspicious about the vehicle, nor will they disclose the identity of the caller.
That’s a problem.
Nonetheless, based upon that suspicious 911 call, the Grand Forks Police Department began following David Elliot. The GFPD asserts that Elliot then failed to stop at a stop sign. At that point, the officer attempted a traffic stop and Elliot fled; a high-speed chase ensued reaching speeds of 100 mph. The chase went as far south as Thompson, North Dakota until it was terminated by a supervisor because it was unsafe.
David Elliot, 41, has no criminal history and fleeing the police for something as trivial as a stop sign violation is not in his character.
That’s a problem.
Okay – so from the get-go the whole thing is suspicious.
At any rate - some time after the police began chasing David Elliot at 10:40 p.m., something happened that caused him to call 911, and resulted in an ambulance being dispatched to assist him.
Write Into Action contacted Altru regarding Jones’ statements about Altru ambulance workers being available to talk to David Elliot at the North Washington Street exit in Grand Forks.
“Unfortunately, this is not information we can disclose as it includes protected information about a patient. Our protocol is to have an ambulance respond to all 911 calls that are received from dispatch,” said Lindsey Reznicek, public relations specialist, Altru.
Well folks – we know from Jones that David Elliot called 911 – and its Altru’s protocol to dispatch an ambulance to “all 911 calls that are received from dispatch”.
“Officers tried to have Elliott pull over to talk with Altru ambulance workers at the North Washington Street exit, but Elliott would not stop, Jones' opinion says.” |
As you can see, the time of the David Elliot 911 call is critical – but Jones has not provided that key fact.
And then there’s this.
Why does Jones state that officers wanted David Elliot to “talk” to “ambulance workers”?
Why doesn’t Jones call the “ambulance workers” what they really are – they are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s).
EMT’s are not dispatched to “talk” to people.
Jones is a licensed attorney – he’s an intelligent man that went to college, folks – he knows a whole bunch of big words – he chose those elementary words and made vague characterizations of the situation with strategic forethought.
Think about it.
If there was an ambulance there to take David Elliot to the hospital Jones doesn’t want to tell you that.
EMT’s don’t get dispatched to “talk” to people that are having a bad day. They are not psychologists or therapists that go out to provide roadside counseling – much less to a patient surrounded by cops at gun-point. EMT’s are dispatched when somebody has a medical emergency.
Why would we not think David Elliot had a medical emergency? Why did Jones use words that did not reflect a medical emergency?
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photo by timothy charles holmseth Altru hospital's emergency room as it would have appeared in the dark to David James Elliot as he was being pursued by police. Despite his tires being flattened by spike strips, Elliot managed to get his crippled vehicle to the front of the E/R where he was then shot six times by police. He was un-armed. |
Let’s look at some other words Jones used.
“A state Highway Patrol trooper spotted Elliott’s pickup shortly thereafter near the Oslo, Minn., interchange with Interstate 29,” Jones said. |
“…spotted…”
That means, that at the time David Elliot was near the Oslo, Minnesota interchange, the State Trooper was already looking for Elliot and had a description of the vehicle.
By the way, the name of the State Trooper has not been released to this day. Why not? Does the North Dakota Highway Patrol think their special? Because they’re not. The Highway Patrol will turn this information over one way or another.
Lt. Dwight Love, GFPD, said the original pursuit of David Elliot had been terminated by a supervisor. So – why was the State Trooper looking for David Elliot and/or his vehicle in the first place?
Who told the State Trooper to do that?
And moreover – after the State Trooper “spotted” David Elliot’s vehicle, why did he only proceed to follow Elliot south down I-29?
Why didn’t the State Trooper pull him over?
He only followed him.
Then, the State Trooper was joined by Grand Forks County deputies near Manvel, North Dakota, who too began to follow David Elliot (Sheriff Bob Rost would later lie about the location of his deputies in a press conference, before getting caught in the lie and then telling the truth).
The distance between the Oslo, Minnesota interchange and Manvel, North Dakota is approximately nine miles. The distance between the Oslo, Minnesota interchange and the Washington Street exit in Grand Forks is 16 miles.
Why didn’t they pull David Elliot over?
What was going on?
For 16 miles nobody really knows exactly what was occurring.
The State Trooper and deputies waited until David Elliot approached the outskirts of Grand Forks. At this time, they attempted to force David Elliot to stop to “talk” to an “ambulance worker”.
Think about it.
That means, at this point, David Elliot has called 911 and an ambulance has been dispatched and arrived at the North Washington Street exit.
Here’s a novel question.
Did David Elliot call 911 to report something the State Trooper and/or county deputies did to him as they ‘followed’ him down I-29?
We don’t know what David Elliot told 911; and Jones didn’t tell us even though he knows.
If David Elliot had been declaring he was going to harm himself or making suicidal statements, the 911 recordings would be all over WDAZ, Valley News Live, and the Grand Forks Herald would publish the transcriptions.
Instead, Jones cites an unidentified police officer that claims David Elliott said something over the telephone which raised "concerns" that Elliot wanted to harm himself.
Write Into Action has transcribed what David Elliot heard when reached the Altru Emergency Room.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!