Published: June 26, 2009 11:37 pm      

PUBLIC SAFETY COMPLEX: Water, water everywhere

Falls Police expected a few “bugs” when they moved into their new headquarters on Main Street.

What they never imagined was the having to deal with “bugs” and floods.

While the new municipal complex’s state of the art high-tech security system has occasionally challenged city cops, that’s nothing compared to the discovery that sprinklers in the new city jail can be subjected to vandalism by inmates and when the water starts flowing, using the drains can be a little tricky.

Officers still were getting accustomed to the inner workings of the new jail when inmate Michael Raymond was brought in the morning of June 13, charged with filing a false report. Shortly after being placed in one of the brand-new, custom-built, $70,000 pod style cells on the male side of the jail, Raymond became a one-man wrecking crew.

First, the inmate ripped a cover off a light in the cell, damaging the fixture in the process. Then he began stuffing unidentified “items” into the toilet in the cell, causing it to backup and flood the cell with water containing urine and feces.

The pods are designed so all the mechanical components inside are controlled through an attached maintenance closet. Officers were able to stop the running toilet and move Raymond to another of the available male cells.

Not long after Raymond was placed inside the second cell, the jail officer heard what sounded like rushing water. When the officer went to check on the noise, he discovered that Raymond had pulled a fire sprinkler head off the ceiling of the cell.

“I just tried to get the piece of metal to slash my wrists,” Raymond explained. “I didn’t know the water would come out.”

Not only did the water “come out,” it was now streaming from the sprinkler and rapidly flooding the cell. Much to the surprise of the officers, there was no drain in the cell, and the water began to leak out into the hallway.

By the time officers figured out how to get the sprinkler system turned off, more than three inches of water had flooded the male side of the jail.

Police Superintendent John Chella said jail officers “learned a lot” about how to recover from the sprinkler flood after the first incident. However, no corrective measures to safeguard the sprinklers were taken.

The manufacturer of the cells reportedly advised police that an incident like what Raymond had caused couldn’t possibly happen. A source told the Gazette the manufacturer said an incident like that was “impossible.”

Chella said after the incident, the department contacted LiRo Engineers, who had acted as the project’s watchdog to make sure there were no construction flaws. Before LiRo responded, the jail got hit again.

This time, inmate David Sandy was placed in a cell early Tuesday afternoon and, in a fit of rage, attacked the sprinkler head.

“I got mad and punched the sprinkler,” Sandy told an officer as the flooding began again.

Once again, the male side of the jail was flooded, though not as badly as during the Raymond incident. Chella pointed out officers were able to shut off the water flow more quickly and were quicker to access drains in the jail.

“There are drains there,” Chella said, “but they’re capped because they lead to the sewer and there’s a concern with sewer gas.”

Chella said, after Tuesday’s incident, he renewed his call to LiRo to get the problem fixed.

“I told them this needs to get resolved quickly,” Chella said, “and I stressed quickly.”

Efforts to reach LiRo to determine what is being down about the jail flooding were unsuccessful. Repeated calls to LiRo Vice President Leonard DePrima were not returned.

Both Raymond and Sandy face criminal charges for their actions and Chella said some additional jail time won’t be enough punishment.

“We have told the district attorney that we want restitution for our clean up costs and the damages,” the police chief said.

Contact reporter Rick Pfeiffer

at 282-2311, ext. 2252.