Saturday, November 17, 2012

Maine Corrections Officer: Fake Report?

From October 30th: 


MACHIAS, Maine — Sgt. Troy Lyons, a Washington County corrections officer, was assaulted by an unknown assailant Monday night as he was conducting a routine perimeter check outside the county jail.
Lyons sustained lacerations to his forehead and a bruised shoulder when the assault occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m. He was treated for his injuries at Down East Community Hospital in Machias and released.
We have nothing,” Sheriff Donnie Smith said Tuesday, referring to motive or suspects. “It happened back by the garage area, where it’s dark and there are no cameras. We’ve looked at all the video, and there’s nothing to go on there.”
Smith said no words were exchanged between Lyons and his assailant.
“Troy said he heard a noise and at first thought it was the wind.”
Smith said Lyons is temporarily off duty as a result of his injuries.

From November 16th:

Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith now believes that the reported Oct. 29 assault on Sgt. Troy Lyons, a Washington County corrections officer, outside the county jail may have never happened.
Smith said Thursday that Lyons has been suspended and that his employment may be terminated.
Lyons was treated the night of Nov. 1 at a local hospital for lacerations to his forehead and a bruised shoulder after he reported an assault that he said occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m while he was conducting a routine perimeter check.
“After a careful investigation we believe this did not happen,” Smith told The Bangor Daily News in an email. “I have suspended Sgt. Lyons and requested he take a polygraph so we could clear him of this issue. He was advised by the union not to participate. I have requested that his employment with the County of Washington be terminated.

A polygraph is to the benefit of the officer, if he is truthful.  
Had we had his original statement, we would have analyzed it for truth or deception.  In an assault case, it is not difficult to discern deception because we go by the "expected" and presuppose truth, only to be 'surprised' if he does not use language commonly associated with an assault, including sensory description.  
The question of termination, Smith said, will be on the agenda of the Dec. 13 meeting of the Washington County Commissioners.
Smith said Friday that the investigation into the alleged assault has concluded that Lyons’ injuries were self-inflicted.
Smith said Friday he’s uncertain what motive Lyons might have had for fabricating an assault report, “other than he is out of vacation and sick time.”

7 comments:

John Mc Gowan said...

We have nothing,” Sheriff Donnie Smith said Tuesday, referring to motive or suspects. “It happened back by the garage area, where it’s dark and there are no cameras. We’ve looked at all the video, and there’s nothing to go on there.”

Its convenient that it was dark and there were no cameras.

“Troy said he heard a noise and at first thought it was the wind.”

What was the the second thought he had.

Anonymous said...

If true; we need to give these LE officers a standing ovation when they determine these fake crimes to be fake. Like I said, IFF true.

Lucy said...

I wish there was more available on this, especially a statement from the officer. It's odd all the way around. Faking an assault with self-inflicted injuries sounds like an awful lot of trouble to go through for no reason other than an extra paid day off. He'd have to know that the alleged crime would be thoroughly investigated.

I suspect that he was assaulted, but was up to some shenanigans when it happened. Maybe he was meeting someone back there, and whatever they were doing went badly. This would explain his reluctance to take the polygraph. An alternate scenario is that he was startled by a raccoon or skunk or some such, took off running, tripped over his own two feet, and fell into a tree or the fence. He came up with the assault to save face. I haven't had my coffee yet and it's not too long after Halloween, so I'll go ahead and admit that my first thought upon readin this story was that he met Mothman out there in the dark. (Read The Mothman Prophecies, but not alone at night. It's a great book but very creepy.) No I don't think he actually met Mothman on his nightly rounds, although it would explain strange injuries and a false memory :)

Lucy said...

The timeline of this story is suspicious:

" Lyons sustained lacerations to his forehead and a bruised shoulder when the assault occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m. He was treated for his injuries at Down East Community Hospital in Machias and released."

This sounds like he was treated the night of the assault.

Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith now believes that the reported Oct. 29 assault on Sgt. Troy Lyons, a Washington County corrections officer, outside the county jail may have never happened. [...] Lyons was treated the night of Nov. 1 at a local hospital for lacerations to his forehead and a bruised shoulder after he reported an assault that he said occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m while he was conducting a routine perimeter check.

Did the assault happen on Mon, Oct. 29 or Thurs, Nov 1? Did he get treatment immediately or wait three days? Did he report the assault on Monday,and take time off, but then not go to the doctor until Thursday? (Many employers require a doctor's note for an absence of more than three days.) I can't imagine that he reported an assault and was not given immediate medical attention if only to document his injuries for evidenciary purposes? Or did he call in sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, and when he tried on Thursday was asked for an explanation and a doctor's excuse, and at that point say, "Oh by the way, I was jumped and assaulted on my rounds Monday night." ?

Granted Machias, Maine is not exactly the CSI capital of the world (unless you are talking moose crime) but this crazy timeline seems to violate basic common sense.

mommaklee said...

I thought the timeline was off too.

Anonymous said...

It looks like there was a news article on the 30th & a followup on the 16th. So if the Oct 30th article was written that day, the assault would've been reported on the 29th & the hospital treatment likely into the early hours of the 30th. So did the reporter just get the hospital date wrong in the Nov 16th article?


My thoughts go to worker's comp if not the lack of paid sick days sick days.

I have a friend in corrections who went back to work 2 days after an emergency appendectomy. A bruised shoulder & a head boo boo (stitches or not) wouldn't warrant time off.

Anonymous said...

Sorry bad paste job w/the sick days