Ambrosino Finally Fires Franklin: More Details Emerge that Make the Case Even More Confusing

Revere Police Sergeant Evan Franklin
(Christopher King Blogspot)

Despite being a few weeks late, Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino finally fired disgraced Revere Police Sergeant Evan Franklin, the ranking officer at the scene of Daniel Talbot's murder who fled when gunfire erupted while his colleague stayed behind to allegedly try to fire back or protect Talbot's civilian fiance. Unfortunately, Mayor Ambrosino's document outlining why Franklin was fired, while offering some more details as to Franklin's involvement in the shooting and subsequent fleeing that night, simply brings up more questions as to what really happened that night back in September on Revere High School's baseball fields.

In a scathing letter, Mayor Ambrosino detailed why he felt that Sergeant Evan Franklin no longer belonged on the police force. What is surprising is that it is not Franklin's fleeing from the scene of a shooting in which one of his own men was hit (Franklin and fleeing go together, as he fled from the scene of an accident in 1995 on Route 1), but the fact that he stopped officer Robert Impemba, who was responding to the shooting and ordered him to drive him home instead of going to help his fellow officers who were allegedly involved in a shoot out with gang members. Mayor Ambrosino wrote the following in his decision to can Franklin:

There is no evidence to support any claim that Sgt. Franklin got into the cruiser not knowing that Impemba was responding to the scene of a shooting. The evidence instead supports the finding that Franklin used his supervisory position to interrupt the emergency response of a police cruiser fairly close to the scene of a shooting, which in fact became a murder.

Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino
(Boston Globe)

While I would argue that Franklin's fleeing the scene alone warrants an immediate dismissal from the force, and his later actions would demand that Franklin give back the previous eight or so months of taxpayer money he has received by being on paid leave since the incident, Mayor Ambrosino sees it differently and, ultimately, he is sitting in the boss's chair.

I would, however, urge Suffolk County DA Daniel Conley to press charges against Sergeant Franklin for not only lying to State Police investigators, but also impeding Officer Impemba's response to the crime scene. A good place to start, depending on whether or not Franklin gave written statements, would be Chapter 268, Sections, 6A, 24, and 40. Those are simply the crimes that I found that I believe Evan Franklin committed that night (beyond leaving his firearm unsecured in the back of an unlocked vehicle belonging to Officer Soto, a felony.)

One question that arises is, why did it take Mayor Ambrosino so long to come to this decision? Is it not obvious, given Franklin's horrendous behavior, that he is unfit to be a police officer? I would have argued that he was unfit following his first committal of a crime when he fled the scene of an accident on Route 1, but it seems that common sense is a rare natural resource. Mayor Ambrosino also stated that he would probably have a decision a few weeks ago, but obviously that was not true. By sitting on this decision, it makes it seem that there are mitigating circumstances that are not being disclosed to the public. Neil Rossman, Evan Franklin's attorney, takes to blaming everyone else but Franklin for his client's behavior. He says that:

This had nothing to do with police work. It had to do with five knuckleheads drinking in a park at 2 a.m., who happened to have day jobs as police officers. It is tragic for everyone, especially Officer Talbot who had this needless interaction with these young thugs.

So, for those of you keeping track at home, the officers drinking at the scene (and Talbot's fiance) are knuckleheads and it is a tragic situation for Franklin because of the "interaction" with these young thugs. Again, ask yourself why would you even "interact" with these "young thugs?" It takes two to tango, and they could have just let Lodie roll through without exchanging words with him, but they chose not to. After the verbal altercation that could have either left or called for backup, but did neither. Instead, something highly mysterious happened that night, that gets more confusing and bewildering as more details emerge.

Impemba told Franklin that he was responding to a shooting at Revere High (the shooting that Franklin fled) but he instead ordered the responding officer to drop him off elsewhere. This poses a major issue, beyond the fact that Franklin acted cowardly and callous. Why would Sergeant Evan Franklin, an 11 year veteran of the force, order a responding officer who was going to the scene of an officer shooting to stop responding to drop him off at home? I want to revisit one of two scenarios that I brought up in my original post about Officer Talbot's murder:

Then there's scenario number two: these cops are at Revere High at 1 am for whatever reason, an argument or something occurs within the group, Talbot is killed by someone in the group with a non-department issued weapon, which they then break down and toss in a storm drain. Then the group comes up with a story involving a "homeless misfit", as the Herald describes him, and a group of his apparently unknown friends. Like something out of a movie.

Now add to that that Sergeant Evan Franklin flags down the responding officer and distracts him to buy more time for others at the scene to destroy evidence (the broken down handgun found in the storm drain) and come up with suspects (known gang members and a "homeless misfit"). In my original post I stated that I believed that what actually happened is somewhere between scenario 1 (the prosecutor's story) and scenario 2 (the above scenario, with newly added points due to more details emerging.)

Suffolk County DA Daniel F. Conley (Wikipedia)

I still believe this. I only throw out the second scenario as an extreme to show how, given the information the public has about this case at this point, the facts of the case can be twisted to portray a different story.

But I've said it before and I will say it again, something simply does not add up in this case and I fear that something is missing from what the DA and officials are feeding us. Some people will say that questioning the "official" account of what occurred that night is a slight to the memory of Daniel Talbot. I would argue the exact opposite: if you truly want justice for Daniel Talbot, you cannot sincerely look at the prosecutor's case and take it at face value given the incredibly nebulous details emerging.

To genuinely bring justice for Daniel Talbot, the absolute truth must be uncovered, not the most convenient story for prosecutors to put this tragedy behind everyone. If Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley wants to release public information regarding this case, starting at the very least with the videotapes from the cameras mounted on Revere High (paid for and maintained through taxpayer money), and that information corresponds to the story that his office is giving to us, then I will be the first to say Talbot's killers may be in custody. Until then, we are left guessing.