It has been two years to the day that our son was hit and killed by (in our opinion) an at fault driver. This post is about how three different police departments botched up the investigation.

Dustin was considered at fault before the departments even started investigating. The final disposition contradicts the witnesses’ statements including the driver. Time frames do not match up and very little “investigating” was done. The Township Police Chief Mr. Green said in a statement to the Saginaw News early that morning before Dustin’s name was even released

“The biker was likely trying to cross from the southwest side of Dixie to the northeast side”.

The article also states that they did not even know if he was walking or riding his bike so how could they say it was his fault already. All three local news stations also stated in their first reports of the accident that it was Dustin’s fault. No one even gave him a chance, except us, his parents. This is our chance to try and clear Dustin’s name and expose the blind investigating of our local police departments. I will touch on key points in the investigation with complete witnesses’ statements. The only thing that will be different from the original report is the name of the boy that was with our son.

Arrival On The Scene:

Officer Flemming – I observed what appeared to be feathers in the area of the turn lane. I observed both North and south bound traffic to be suddenly stopping……I observed a vehicle stopped directly in front of the unknown object. I activated my emergency lights and turned the patrol vehicle to block the left hand lane of southbound traffic. I realized the unknown object to be a person. I advised Central Dispatch. I observed Township Fire Chief Nelson to be stopped in his vehicle in the right hand lane of southbound Dixie. I observed the vehicle that had been stopped in front of the victim had now moved approximately 100 feet south of where I had first observed it. (Why did the driver move the vehicle after the police arrived? No one ever asked!)

While assessing the victim I observed a shoe and a pair of glasses approximately 200 feet north of the victim.

Officers Actions:

Officer Flemming – ….While moving my patrol car I observed a white male, approximately 15 years old walking northbound on north side of Dixie. I observed the male to be wearing a red and silver jacket. (This is important because for us the lighting has been a major issue in this investigation. The officer was able to see the boy walking on the other side of the highway and even in the “dark” conditions she was able to tell what color coat he had on. “This boy” was with our son at the time he was hit and was walking to find our other son to tell him.)

Lighting:

Officer Flemming– Original police report stated that the area was dark with no lighting.

Investigation Report– States At the time of the accident it was dark.

COMPLETELY FALSE!

The premise of the investigation was that Dustin was wearing dark clothing on a black bicycle on a dark highway, therefore the driver could not see him. Yet as you read the witnesses statement at least two other drivers seen him, the Fire Chief seen his body in the rear view mirror, and Officer Flemming was able to see his glasses and shoe 200 feet away. We drive this road every morning there are street lights on both sides of the highway every fifty feet, and flood lights in front of The State Police Post where the impact happened. You are able to see at least a half a mile down the road. The morning of the accident we watched Dustin ride his bike across Dixie Highway from our house, which is a block away and we were still able to see him when he entered the sidewalk.

  Read the rest of this entry »

I remember a time when I was truly happy, never an angry person, I would get upset about things, but always was able to brush them off. Patient with everything, taking life with a grain of salt, I always looked to the best of a bad situation.

Then that “day” happened, the day where LIFE kicks you in the ass, combined with a massive blow to the gut. Although it was two years it always seems like yesterday. It was Monday morning, my husband was home from work because his truck threw the transmission at the end of that previous week. Dustin was getting ready to leave for school, we were talking about today being his first day of wrestling practice. Dustin walked out the door and Darren was still getting ready for school. My husband was taking the dog out and I walked out on the porch, it was a very cold January morning. It was there that we watched our son peddle away on his bike. Shortly after that Darren left for school and we retreated to the computer for the morning news. We heard the emergency sirens and seen the Fire Rescue go by, as we often did, and I said I hate when the sirens go by right after the kids leave. The next thing I remember is Darren running through the door saying “Dustin had been hit by a car.” I will never forget the blood curdling scream I let out, as our daughter screamed and grabbed me. I told her he was fine and we were going to him. My husband was out the door running down the road before I could even comprehend what was happening. I grabbed my coat, tried to calm the kids for a second and I was off too. When I got out the door I could see the traffic was stopped and lined up Dixie Highway. Through the cars I went to the sidewalk and said to myself, these damn sidewalks, I wish they would f***ing shovel. I finally arrived at the police car that was blocking the road, and just grabbed my husband. I just blurted out “what was he wearing”, the officer said a blue coat, the most surreal feeling came over me and for a millisecond, I thought he was fine. I said Dustin had a black coat and then our life shattered, the officer was handed the yellow sports eligibility packet, the same folded packet Dustin had put in his pocket just 15 minutes before. I looked at the officer’s face and she did not have to say anything, We Knew, and again I let out that blood curdling scream.

The sun was rising that morning, to all our surprise we had not seen the sun in almost two weeks. I was in a daze with everything happening around me like a bad nightmare. As I was standing there again on the porch with the sun shining the rage hit, a rage I have never felt before. My blood was boiling and I just wanted to scream I am pissed at LIFE for letting us down! I was angry at everything, the media, the people around me, all the damn decisions you have to make immediately. They say this is a normal grieving process and that it will pass. Two years later, I am still just as angry.

That is why we started Boiled Over, because bad things happen to good people. Ranting and speaking what is on all of our minds is a good release. The one thing we wanted to do when launching this site was to focus on our son and the injustice we felt from the many people involved. The community showed tons of support, we couldn’t ask for more, but we felt a need for people to know the truth about what really happened to Dustin. We have written about the sidewalks, touched on the insurance company and tomorrow we will be posting about the “lazy” police investigation. Tomorrow will be the two year mark.

I am not one to knock my union brothers, but there comes a point where you just say give me a break. I am boiling right now because these “union brothers” have done enough to make me explode and today just puts the icing on the cake. Let me give you a little background on these particular “union brothers” I am talking about. I have worked for a company for eight years as a union ironworker connecting iron. I would work in just about any conditions as would my forefathers would. Within the first week of starting this job my foreman brought in another connector from the union hall. This guy smoozed with the boss, talked a lot of shit and before you knew it he had the foreman convinced to bring in his “connecting partner”. The two new guys proceed to take my connecting job and I was busted to a “lower” grade job. I even took a pay cut, until the owner of the company (great guy) took care of me and my pay. So the two new guys are connecting and the foreman thinks he has the A Team working for him. These guys “cry” about everything, slowing the whole erection of the building. One day last week they left after two hours while the rest of us continued to work because they were wet, today they showed up thirty minutes late and shut the job down because it is too muddy. Yeah you heard me because an ambulance could not get to the building if there was an accident they shut the job down. A crew of 20 guys had to go home without pay because “something” could happen on the job. See being in the union we as workers have the right to stop a job if there are unsafe conditions. Granted the mud on the job is knee deep, and I have worked in worse, but to say that we can’t work because an ambulance can’t get to them is crazy! Sounds like someone just wanted a day off work, so again they take the food out of my mouth! What a bunch of pussies, excuse the language but com’on any ambulance would park the 500 feet outside the construction fence and the EMTs would trudge through the mud to get to your ass. Then all the guys on the job would gladly carry the gurney to the ambulance that is what “union brothers” are about. It was a damn lousy excuse to get a day off work, because the boss called me at 1:30 and said the job was being grated be there tomorrow for work. It is people like this that give union workers a bad name and hurt our “brotherhood union”. Get a life, work honestly for what you have, respect others and we would all be a lot better off.

These Pictures were taken on Monday of the job we are working on at Central Michigan University

The Democrats have left Michigan behind in this presidential election. Yeah so, our crazy governor decided that if she upped the primary to January 15th that it would bring Michigan’s woes to the forefront of the election. WRONG! The fact that she “broke” the rules by holding the primary before Febuary 5th Obama, Edwards, Richardson, and Biden took their names off the ballot. Then the residents of Michigan were told that the Democratic National Convention would not count our democratic delegate votes. The only campaigning we received here in our state was from the Republican Party, well excuse me but most union workers do not vote Republican. We had no one speaking for the democrats except that “the state” was wrong for moving the primary. That does not help the average family here in a state where the unemployment rate has hit 7.4% compared to the national average of 4.7%. Those of us who live in this state have seen the decline that has a terrible hold on all of us. We are losing our good paying union jobs to other countries due to the “free trade agreement”. The crime rate has tripled in our area because people have no way to support their families. In an instance in Midland there was three bank robberies within a few days of each other, come to find out it is a retired librarian trying to make ends meet. That is no excuse to commit a crime, but people are at their wits end. The experts keep talking about the nation going into a recession, Michigan is already there. Now we have no one to represent us except for the Republicans. The people of our state have suffered due to the lack of campaigning and pulling of names from the ballot, not the state government. The state has hit its residents with tax increases, budget cuts and now our chance to learn more about the presidential candidates that are suppose to be bringing ideas to help all of us improve.

To make it worse the residents of Michigan can’t get out, our housing market is so bad that you could never sell your house to move to another state. We are the leader in union jobs, but have some boneheads out there promoting “the right to work” petition. They were set up at the polls yesterday telling the unemployed workers that it is their chance to get a job. WRONG! It is a way to lose the few high paying jobs we have left and allow cheap labor. Huckabee stated that right to work would be great for Michigan, guess he doesn’t know a lot about Michigan as a whole. Then McCain says that our auto jobs are lost forever and we must face that fact. Are you kidding me? Find ways to boost the auto industry not just assume it is lost forever. Stop giving tax breaks to companies that move their work force to Mexico! Romney just kept saying I’m good for Michigan because I was born here and my daddy was governor. Well Romney live here now with this state in recession and then tell us how much you can do for us.

So for now the residents of Michigan just hold our breathes and try to get by one day at a time, hoping that one day someone or something will come to our rescue before we all drowned.

OK so the dead beat parents post by apaquette was a big success, so I thought I would continue with a rant about a dead beat boyfriend. This guy really pisses us off! He is lazy, jobless, unmotivated, immature and oh yeah did I mention lazy? He has been with our daughter almost three years now and has worked less than 16 months! He graduated high school and wanted to be a “rock star” so he lived with mommy and daddy until they kicked him out. (numerous times I might add!) His excuse is always “I’m looking for a job, but there is nothing out there” I would have to agree that it is hard to find a job around here, but the local McDonalds is always hiring! Anything is better than nothing, especially when he promised our daughter he “changed” and would take care of her. Well she is the one working, paying the bills, cleaning the house, cooking dinner and asking her parents to borrow money. He is sitting on his fat ass playing Nintendo all day! We don’t know why she puts up with it, it is driving us crazy! He worked one job at Stanley Steemer that lasted three months before he was “laid off”. He throws it in her face all the time how he worked so hard and she never felt sorry for him. Well I have a new flash for you real people work for a living! She attended a class in November to get her CNA, while she was working and he says that is why they are in financial trouble. He said if she did not pay for that class then they would have money, well for one she now has a better job because she has her CNA and he doesn’t even work, maybe that is why they can’t pay their bills. This “boy” has never worked a hard day in his life, he is always whining and giving my daughter shit, well I have one thing to say……Have some respect, GROW UP AND GET A JOB!