FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey police officer, Sergeant Kevin Bollaro, faces charges of misconduct after failing to promptly respond to reports of a shooting that resulted in a double homicide. Prosecutors allege that instead of investigating the 911 calls, Bollaro diverted to an ATM and a pizzeria.
On the evening of August 1, 2023, police in Pittstown, located approximately 60 miles from Manhattan in central New Jersey, received multiple 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming, according to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office. Despite the urgency of the situation, Bollaro, who was the on-duty officer, is said to have driven nearly two miles in the opposite direction of the emergency to visit a bank ATM.
While Bollaro was en route, dispatchers communicated additional calls from worried neighbors, yet he continued toward those locations without activating his police vehicle’s emergency lights and sirens. Upon arriving at the site of the initial 911 call, he reportedly told the dispatcher he heard nothing and intended to proceed to the other callers’ locations. However, GPS data indicates he did not visit those locations before requesting to be cleared from the scene.
Instead, Bollaro allegedly went to Duke’s Pizzeria in Pittstown, where he spent nearly an hour. Witnesses later observed him park and enter another local restaurant, where he remained for about another hour. Following these events, Bollaro submitted an incident report that prosecutors claim contained false statements regarding the extent of his investigation during that critical period.
The day after Bollaro's lack of response, on August 2, the bodies of Lauren Semanchik, 33, and Tyler Webb, 29, were discovered inside a home located roughly 600 feet from the initial 911 call's origin. Prosecutors state that the two individuals had been shot to death by New Jersey State Police Lieutenant Ricardo Santos, who later took his own life.
Bollaro has been charged with official misconduct for willfully neglecting his police duties and faces another charge for tampering with public records due to false entries in his report. He is scheduled to appear in court on November 5, 2023.
In response to the charges, Bollaro’s attorney, Charles Sciarra, described the situation as "unfortunate" in a statement to the New York Post, asserting that nothing Bollaro did or failed to do affected or could have prevented the tragic killings.
The families of the shooting victims have expressed their shock at Bollaro’s alleged misconduct, describing it as "egregious conduct." They believe this incident highlights significant failures by both local and state police in handling the investigation surrounding the killings.
