I end the year on a hopeful note because I know Nashville will recover from the Christmas suicide bombing, and COVID, and everything else that 2020 threw at us.

That said, there is plenty of frustration over the revelation that Tony Warner’s former lawyer called the police in August 2019 to let them know that Warner’s girlfriend thought he was making bombs in his RV. I’ve been quoted in multiple local and national media outlets about these events. There’s so much to say and work through on this. Understandably, none of the interviews and quotes have captured my full set of thoughts.

First and foremost, Nashville will rebuild and that will continue to be the #1 focus going forward. Most of us will not lose sight of the human component either. Real people have been impacted in many ways and it will take time to recover. None of us are going to forget the heroic actions of the young police officers that morning to protect and save lives. These stories will continue to be told in 2021 and beyond. I believe Nashville both can focus on these positives and also ask hard questions about the August 2019 bomb-making reports and how that information has been handled over the last week.

What do we know about August 2019?

I’m sure you all have read the extensive media coverage. In summary, lawyer Ray Throckmorton called the police in August 2019 because he was worried about two things — his female client was saying things that made him worried that she would hurt herself, and she was talking about Warner making bombs in the RV at his house. Police took the call. Police did not talk to Warner. Police did not observe any imminent danger or signs of a crime from the outside of the property and therefore would have needed a warrant to enter. Police did not seek a warrant. As of Chief Drake’s December 30, 2020, press conference, he was not able to say whether the complaint was “cleared” or if it just went to the bottom of a stack on someone’s desk. At this time, there is no public information available about whether the police ever made an active decision to stop working this complaint, or if it just slipped in importance to them and no decision was ever made one way or another about what to do next.

Chief Drake said at the press conference that attempting to get a warrant would have failed because they didn’t have any evidence. In discussing this, his explanation was that the woman was “emotional” and “suicidal.” When asked whether his department could have done more, Chief Drake said no, except there possibly could have been more follow-up…

There’s also a dispute between the police claiming that Throckmorton, acting as Warner’s lawyer, refused to permit access to the property and Throckmorton claiming that he was clear that he didn’t represent Warner and therefore could not grant access. It is undisputed that officers corroborated that there was an RV present, that there were more surveillance cameras at the house than you’d normally expect, that they couldn’t connect with Warner, and that a lawyer (former or current, depending on who you believe) refused access.

My questions about the events of August 2019 start with these:

• Objectively, this is a failure. “Warner, in the RV, making bombs” was what police were told in August 2019 and that’s what happened on Christmas 2020. So far, Chief Drake and Mayor Cooper are saying “hindsight is 20/20.” I don’t think we can accept that as the final answer. I think Nashville will insist on getting past the claim that nothing more could have been done and into looking at what policies, training, and practices would have prevented this suicide bombing.

• We have to look at race, gender, and geography and determine what, if any, role they played in how this was investigated. Many of you will recall the Oct. 2016 Driving While Black report that carefully outlined the racial disparities in traffic stops in Nashville. MNPD leadership (then Chief Anderson) fought like hell to avoid even the insinuation that implicit or express bias could be showing up in those numbers. Then a fancy out-of-town consultant replicated the same findings and finally the force reformed its traffic stop policies. This is not ancient history. This is recent. My opinion is that anyone who thinks that a report of bomb making by a 30 year old black Muslim man at a house in Green Hills wouldn’t have caused a different level of investigation is mistaken. I have said before and will say again that Nashville will be stronger by talking openly about these systemic issues.

• (Some people are claiming that my last point is an argument for violating more people’s rights and disregarding the need for probable cause more often. Not true. My point is that we should be talking about whether the standard for what constitutes probable cause is low for a person of color on a mundane drug charge compared to the standard for probable cause for a 63 year old white guy supposedly making bombs in an RV. Legally, there is no difference in the standard. Common sense tells us that sometimes different standards might be used in the real world. If so, that’s not okay and we should talk seriously about it.)

Moving on to Dec. 25 to 30

Chief Drake said at his press conference that he knew Warner’s name by late Christmas evening. We know that law enforcement was at the bomber’s house by mid-day on Dec. 26. Neighbors have been quoted in the media as saying they saw the first signs of law enforcement activity the night before.

By late afternoon on Dec. 26, Jason Steen from Scoop Nashville put out tweets saying that the former girlfriend had reported bomb building to the police “months ago.” On Dec. 29, Steen indicated that he put in a public records request on Dec. 26. We don’t know the timing, but it appears that at least the Tennessean and NewsChannel5 also made public records requests following Steen’s Dec. 26 tweets.

We don’t yet know when Don Aaron, the MNPD public relations guy, got the records requests. But I am confident that Steen, the Tennessean, and Newschannel5 all know how to immediate get in touch with Aaron and that Aaron is aware very quickly when any of them reach out. It is inconceivable to me that Aaron didn’t know about the requests for information about a previous bomb-making complaint before he went to bed on Dec. 26.

(UPDATE AT 8:55PM ON DEC. 31 — Steve Cavendish has posted on line that his research shows that Jason Steen did not make a public records request at all, that NewsChannel5 made its request at 3:52 pm on Dec. 27, and that the Tennessean made its request at 6:15 pm on Dec. 29. If this is accurate, then Aaron would have known on Dec. 26 if he was aware of Steen’s tweets, but not later than 3:52 on Dec. 27.)

Chief Drake said at his press conference that he first heard late on Sunday, Dec. 27 that there “might” have been a prior police interaction with Warner and his RV, and that it took all day on Dec. 28 and 29, and the morning on Dec. 30 to have him have enough information to share with the public. After having Dec. 27 to 30 to look into it, at the press conference on Dec. 30, Chief Drake was not able to tell us whether the complaint had been “cleared” or what happened with the complaint.

The department apparently responded late on Dec. 29 to the public records requests from the Tennessean and NewsChannel5 before responding to Steen. They quickly broke stories that night about the August 2019 report about Warner making bombs in his RV.

My questions about this period include:

• Is MNPD cherry-picking which records request to respond to and sequencing them strategically?

• I take Chief Drake at his word that he didn’t know about this until late on Sunday, Dec. 27. But does that suggest that Aaron sat on it for a day without telling Drake? Just from a purely investigative perspective — is it possible that MNPD withheld information about the August 2019 interaction from the FBI and TBI for this day? Were the FBI and TBI really working their tails off on Sunday, Dec. 27 on DNA and other evidence while MNPD (or Don Aaron?) was keeping it to themselves about the girlfriend’s report in August 2019? That doesn’t sound right, but we don’t know. The timeline begs as many questions than it answers. (UPDATE AT 8:55PM ON DEC. 31 — If it is accurate that MNPD didn’t know about the rumor online until NewsChannel5’s request at 3:52 pm on Dec. 27, then this paragraph is inapplicable. But it would in turn raise a question of how Warner could have been identified by Christmas night, but the department hadn’t yet dug up the previous encounter by Sunday afternoon.)

• During these days — Dec. 27 to 29 — Don Aaron was directing a significant campaign around the 6 young officers that worked so hard and bravely to save lives that morning. Those officers deserve every bit of the praise they are receiving. Anyone who knows Don Aaron, though, would tell you that he would have been keenly aware that the department was about to take a public relations hit when news of the August 2019 bomb-making report came out. I question whether Aaron intended to use Dec. 27 to 29 to build extra good will for the department before releasing the details about August 2019.

The Dec. 30 press conference

You can easily find media coverage about Chief Drake’s Dec. 30 press conference. I watched it.

It was hard to hear Chief Drake say that nothing could be done because the complainant was an emotional and suicidal woman. The department has ongoing challenges about female police officers complaining about discrimination. His explanation circles us back to the discussion about whether race, gender, and geography played a role here. Would a different profile for the complaining party or Warner have made a difference in how the investigation went?

We will also want to know an answer to whether someone made an affirmative decision to stop investigating, or if the file just receded in importance but was never resolved or — using the Chief’s term — “cleared.”

I was hoping to hear some version of “these are fair questions.” Or “I can see how this is troubling because our officers laid eyes on the very RV in responding to a caller saying bombs were being made; we don’t know when the investigation stopped or who made that decision; we’ll figure it out, let you know promptly, and strive always to do better.” Instead, we got, “nothing more could have been done — hindsight is 20/20.” It was disappointing.

What’s next?

Rebuilding is the #1 focus going forward. We will continue to focus on helping those impacted recover. We will continue to celebrate the human spirit and bravery that it took for the officers to run toward danger.

The questions about August 2019 and how that information has been handled over the last week need to be addressed. I don’t know yet the best path to get answers. Do we rely on an internal investigation at MNPD? Should the Council create an independent investigation? Is this something that is appropriate for the Community Oversight Board to review? I am sure this will be a topic for discussion in the new year.