July 29, 1994 - Part 4
July 29, 1994 - Part 4
(15:40:46) The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Rolla, I appreciate the job you do and the professionalism, and so I do not want to be misunderstood when I say this. But I was struck by your description of going to the Foster home, to give the notice, I fake it, and to try to do an initial questioning and investigation. You found a lot of people, and I gather a somewhat chaotic scene. I am just trying to imagine what it would be like, and you correct me if I am wrong in the impression that I took, but I cannot imagine anything else, if you just take the case facts. The family finds out that the husband in the family, the father in the family has just died by suicide, everybody's in a state of shock and grief and other people are coming to console them and so forth. It seems to me, you have a job to do and I respect that, and I want you to be able to do it, bat it seems to me that if you show up at a scene like that, that is probably what you are going to find in most instances, isn't it? Mr. ROLLA. Well, let me explain to you. The only people at the house were Mrs. Foster and the daughter, Lisa. The CHAIRMAN. Probably the two most important people in his life. Mr. ROLLA. Right. And that would have been ideal circumstances to make a death notification, But we got a call from our field com- mander to call David Watkins, a White House person. He's a personal friends of Mr. Foster. His wife had just played tennis with Mrs. Foster that afternoon, and it is not uncommon on to bring a close family friend along 'for a notification for comfort and support. So, of course, we agreed and we went to Mr. Watkins' house to pick him up and his wife followed us over there. After we're parking the car, we're notified that both Mr. Foster's sisters and some other people were coming over there, could we wait for them. I said, no, I do not want to wait for them. The police knocking at your door at night- when you are missing a loved one for a while is bad enough. To have a trail of people outside is a circus atmosphere. I asked them to wait outside, but there were still 5 other people, besides the 4, myself and Investigator Braun, Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, 4 or 5 other people waiting on the landing, which they could see, and when they opened the door, they all came in. It was not ideal circumstances, It was beyond our control at that point, and the grieving and everything else, you are right, is perfectly normal. 83 The CHAIRMAN. I guess I am just trying to imagine the scene and I appreciate your describing it . I think to imagine Mr. Foster's sister arriving in a state of Sock and grief, and the others, I think in many families, that is exactly what would take place. I mean, You would suddenly have everyone coming to console the family and try to find out what happened in a state of shock, and I guess what I am saying is I realize that makes it harder for you to go in and be able to talk to the family and do what you need to do. But I think under conditions like this, it is very understandable to me that that would happen, and I can see why you might view it one way, and they would view it a different way. That is my point. You can see that, I am sure, Mr. ROLLA. I see it is very understandable. My only point that ever made was that when we asked was he depressed or certain questions, did they see this coming, that everything was a negative answer. And it comes out that he was and certain people in the family knew about it, and we just did not get much cooperation. Under the circumstances, you are right, it is a hard circumstances, The CHAIRMAN. Senator D'Amato Senator DAMATO. Senator Mack. The CHAiRmAN. Senator Mack, do you want to be recognized? Senator MACK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to continue along the line of questioning that the Chairman was pursuing with respect to what you experienced at the home. In looking through the materials that you have prepared for us, there is an incident that occurred, Ms. Braun, involving you. You were engaged in carrying out your responsibilities under a very difficult set of circumstances.