Rodriguez Series

2. Road Rage, Perhaps

Sergeant Rodriguez was having dinner with the mayor of Oceanview and the police commissioner when his phone rang, his Caller ID alerting him that Detective Marco Spinelli was calling. He excused himself and went outside to take the call. "Hello, Detective, what"s up?"

"Hi, Sergeant. We"ve got a gunshot victim in his car on Ocean Drive, right off exit 20. Looks like road rage. Can you drive out? We can use your help."

"Sure, I"m not that far away. I"ll be there soon." Rodriguez arrived at the scene a short time later and was briefed by Detective Spinelli who advised him that Trooper Jankowski found the car with the victim inside.

"Trooper Jankowski, I"m Sergeant Rodriguez. Tell me what you found."

"Well, Sergeant, I was on routine patrol when I saw this car half in the ditch and the body inside.”

"Did you notice any damage to the car?"

"I didn"t see any, Sergeant."

"What about tire marks? Did you notice any?"

The trooper responded, "No tire marks or skid marks. Looks like he never hit the brakes.”

Rodriguez examined the body with Detective Spinelli, “Looks like two or three headshots, Sergeant.”

“The driver’s side window is shattered and so is the back window. The entrance wounds are on the left side of the head.”

“It looks like the fatal shots were fired from the driver’s side.” Rodriguez searched the road for shell casings and other clues.

“Marco, stay with the body and get forensics over here. Trooper Jankowski, walk with me down the road. I"m thinking if the car ran off the road up there, he was probably shot somewhere back here and was able to drive just a little further before he died. So, how long have you been with Suffolk PD?”

"About two years, Sergeant."

"Is this your first dead body."

"Yes, Sergeant. I"ve seen a few car accidents but not like this."

"Yeah, you never forget your first one, Jankowski." Rodriguez shined the flashlight from side to side as they continued down the road. They located shell casings, five of them. “Here you go. We‘ve got three casings here and two more there.” Traffic began to build behind the police car parked sideways across the road, its lights flashing. The men stopped and turned back as a motorist yelled, "When are you guys going to open the road?”

Rodriguez yelled back, “You’ll be the first to know.” The two men walked slowly, the flashlight illuminating the road. Suddenly, Rodriguez stopped and pointed the flashlight at something laying on the side of the road. "What is that?"

Jankowski responded, "Looks like an old shoe. Maybe somebody threw it out of a car window." Rodriguez drew closer and replied, "That"s not a regular shoe. That"s a cyclist’s shoe. See those clips on the bottom? They attach directly to the pedals of the bike so your foot can"t slide off. These belonged to a serious bike rider."

"Sergeant, there"s blood on that shoe and the road.”

"I know. I saw it, too. Go get the forensic guys. I"m going to look around." Rodriguez began a slow descent down the embankment when his foot hit an object. He aimed his flashlight down at the obstruction, illuminating the mangled body of a man. Not far was a bicycle, the frame twisted and bent. He moved the flashlight over the body and noticed the victim suffered a nearly severed arm and twisted limbs. He also observed that the victim’s right foot was missing.

Just then, Trooper Jankowski began his descent to join Rodriguez. Seeing him coming, Rodriguez yelled up, "Don"t come down here, Jankowski. Send down the forensics team." Once the forensics team arrived, Rodriguez climbed his way up the embankment. "It"s messy. Now we got two bodies. This guy is banged up. Don"t go near that shoe; his foot is still in it.” Jankowski is staring straight ahead. “Hey, Jankowski, are you okay?”

"Yeah, I think so.” As they started to walk back, Rodriguez asked Jankowski what he thought had happened. “I think it was road rage."

Rodriguez challenged him, “Maybe, but how do you explain the shattered back window?”

Jankowski responded, “As the car drove away, the shooter fired, hitting the window.”

Rodriguez countered, “The cyclist was in front of the car when he was hit and thrown down the embankment. Someone else fired at the back of the car thinking the driver was getting away.”

“There was someone else involved who left the scene,” Jankowski offered.

Rodriguez continued, "Think about it for a minute. We found the casings behind us, the biker’s body down the embankment, and then the car.” The driver was shot back there, and the biker was hit around this area.”

“Look at the road. There’s the blood, and the severed right foot is there. The car continued a while and stopped just before the embankment.”

“Maybe it was another biker or another vehicle, but there was somebody else here who took off."

“So, Jankowski, what’s your first name?” asked Rodriguez.

"It"s William, but my friends call me Will. And you?"

"Rodriguez, but my friends call me Rodriguez.” He stopped walking and looked back towards the biker’s body. "A helmet—I didn"t see a helmet."

"Not every bike rider wears a helmet" Will replied.

"You"re right, but the serious riders always wear one because they know better. I"m going back to see if I can find one."

"I"m coming with you." The men reached the embankment and Rodriguez asked, “ you sure you wanna come down?” “Trooper Jankowski answered, “yeah i"m ok.” and they worked their way down to the biker’s body. Rodriguez shined his flashlight at the biker’s head and noticed marks on the biker’s face.

"See those marks? I"ll bet whoever else was here ripped his helmet off and took it. But why?”

Will replied, "Maybe it came off when he was hit by the car."

"No, I think his helmet stayed on. There’s no visible head trauma. You know what I think, Will? He had a go-pro on his helmet. A go-pro and the whole thing was recorded. Let"s go back and let the forensic guys do their thing."

As they were leaving, Detectives James McGraw and Andrew Davis arrived at the scene. Detective Davis was with Homicide and McGraw was an ex-homicide detective who was now an investigator with Internal Affairs. The men kept their distance; and McGraw shouted, “Hey, Rodriguez, why don’t you let Homicide take over?”

“You need to wake up McGraw; they already took the body away.”

“f**k you, Rodriguez.”

The next morning Rodriguez was in his office being besieged by the press looking for information about the previous night’s events. Detective Spinelli came into his office and whispered, “The mayor is on line two. Good luck, Sarge."

Rodriguez took a deep breath and picked up the phone. "Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you?"

"I"m fine, Sergeant. Did you get any sleep?"

“I got some. How can I help you, sir?

The mayor responded, "About last night, I want you to take this investigation over and pick a team to help you."

Rodriguez replied, "What about Homicide? Isn"t this their domain? Why me?"

“Yeah, it"s Homicide’s job; but I think you"re playing chess and they"re playing checkers, so I need you on this. The press is all over it; and I’ve got to tell them something, so pick a team and let me know who it is.”

“Fine, I"ll do it, but whoever I pick is non-negotiable."

“Okay, Rodriguez. Think about it and get back to me tomorrow.”

“I don’t need to think about it until tomorrow. My team is Detective Spinelli with Homicide and Trooper William Jankowski. He"s with Suffolk PD."

"I know Detective Spinelli, but what about this trooper? How much experience does he have with investigations?" inquired the mayor.

“Zero, but I can work with him and bring him up to speed. If he doesn’t work out, I"ll pick someone else.”

"Are you sure you want to work with someone green on this one?”

"Yeah, I"m sure. I think he"s going to be okay.”

"Okay, Sergeant. I"ll contact his commander. Just email me his name."