Spencer police twice visit scene of wreck without noticing body in car
SPENCER — Questions are being raised about why the body of a woman found in a wrecked car on Labor Day wasn't discovered sooner.
Incident log entries show Spencer police were notified late Sunday a vehicle had been seen leaving the road near NE 36 and Douglas by a witness identified as a delivery driver. The entry states an officer who went to the scene was unable to find a vehicle.
A second entry shows Spencer police were notified Monday morning that a passerby had spotted a white Pontiac G6 in a ditch in that general area. That entry shows the officer who responded to that call found the car, but did not notice anyone inside the vehicle.
The officer passed along what he had found to dispatchers, but held off on calling a wrecker to give the vehicle owner a chance to recover the car, records show.
Later that day, a tow truck operator saw the woman's body inside the vehicle. An entry shows that police were again dispatched to the scene after the operator reported what had been found.
Area resident questions Spencer police actions
Lisa Janloo, the Republican candidate seeking to represent that community in Oklahoma's House of Representatives, is asking why police who were called to the scene where the woman was found failed to do their jobs.
Janloo said she saw a Spencer police officer taking pictures at 10 a.m. at the accident near NE 36 and Douglas as she arrived at a nearby home owned by one of her relatives.
But much later the same day, Janloo said her relative contacted her to let her know wrecker operators had arrived on the scene to recover the car found in the ravine and they had called police after finding the woman's body inside.
Janloo said she later learned police had been contacted nearly 24 hours earlier by someone who had witnessed the car leave the road. She questioned why the officers hadn't done more.
"Why did it take from 10 o'clock the night before, until 10 o'clock the next morning, and then to finally do anything about it (did it take until) 7 o'clock that same evening," Janloo asked.
No foul play suspected in woman's death, authorities say
Spencer's city manager didn't respond to emailed and phoned requests on Wednesday on whether the city had opened an investigation into why it took the department's officers so long to locate the car and body inside.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, meanwhile, is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the woman, identified Wednesday as Cheryl Ann Mines of Oklahoma City. Foul play was not suspected Wednesday, sheriff's office spokesman Aaron Brilbeck said.
Janloo said she believes Oklahomans who pay tax dollars to support municipal police departments deserve better service than what they received on Labor Day.
"When we call 911, (we expect our tax dollars to pay for) our police, fire and emergency medical services to come to protect and serve, not to come halfway to do a job, say they don't see anything and leave," Janloo said.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Candidate asks why woman's body found inside car wasn't located sooner
