A New Jersey police officer is now facing the justice system himself over how he handled a call that ended in tragedy. A Franklin Township police sergeant is expected to be arraigned in court today after being indicted on misconduct charges tied to a double murder committed in the state last year.
At the center of the case is the officer's response to the initial emergency. Prosecutors say that after receiving several 911 calls, Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was slow to get to the scene.
The allegations go beyond a delayed arrival. According to prosecutors, when Bollaro did respond, he left quickly without properly investigating what was happening.
That failure, authorities say, carried a devastating cost. The bodies of the victims were not found until the next day, long after the initial calls for help had come in.
The two people killed have been identified by name. They were Lauren Semanchik and Tyler Webb, whose deaths turned what began as a call about a disturbance into a double murder.
Investigators have also accounted for who was responsible. Their killer was her ex-boyfriend, a state trooper, who then took his own life, closing off the possibility of a trial for the killings themselves.
Now the focus has shifted to the conduct of the responding officer. Bollaro was indicted on misconduct charges and is expected to face a judge at his arraignment today, in a case that puts a rare spotlight on how police handle the earliest moments of a deadly emergency.