The Three Stooges As Police Officers

The Three Stooges As Police Officers

This article from the March 2, 2009 Kansas City Star would almost be funny, if it wasn't so tragically gruesome:

After two homicide victims were sent to funeral homes as natural deaths within two years, Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin on Monday called the system for investigating unattended home deaths “broken.”
“Everyone is deferring to someone else,” he said. “Somebody is going to have to take responsibility so this doesn’t happen again.”
Last month a 49-year-old man died and was sent to a funeral home as a natural death despite having three bullet holes, including two in his head.
In September 2007, a 77-year-old woman was sent to a funeral home as a natural death even though her jaw was broken and her throat slashed.
Both times, funeral home workers found the injuries and notified the medical examiner’s office.
Jackson County’s medical examiner, Mary Dudley, would not speak specifically about the two cases while addressing the Jackson County Legislature on Monday.
She said police and paramedics perform an “initial investigation” and police call to report the situation to her office. If the death is reported as natural, her office declines jurisdiction.

And how did they miss these?

Police said patrol officers are not experts in determining causes of death, have limited training in such matters and aren’t in a position to disrobe, move and inspect bodies.
“Our officers did nothing wrong,” Corwin said. “They followed a broken system that needs to be fixed. I’m not going to let them be thrown under the bus for something that’s been going on for years.”
MAST officials said their workers have no training in death investigation.
“We’re trained in determining that a death has occurred, then we remove ourselves,” said MAST spokesman Jason White.
He said paramedics discuss medications and medical history with police but don’t determine causes of death.

Gee, do you suppose those bullet holes in the head didn't leave a little mess that might have been a tipoff? And the slashed throat. Is that considered natural causes in Kansas City? How much do you have to "disrobe, move, and inspect" to see that?